The Modern Martial Immortal

"As expected, walking the human immortal path to completion before Dao Integration is nearly impossible," Yaoguang said.

Top-tier Dao Artifacts were already beyond ordinary and high-grade Dao Artifacts; they were projections of the Great Dao. But the power of a mere projection was clearly not enough.

Walking the human immortal path to the end required Great Dao power that was entirely one's own. A human immortal path built on such projections was the moon in a mirror, the flower in water, a castle in the air with nothing beneath it.

So much so that when he tried to pour all his essence, qi, and psyche into the three top-tier Dao Artifacts, he found he couldn't. At most, he could exploit the artifacts and the nature of the human immortal path to greatly strengthen his essence, qi, and psyche.

So I can't simply ascend to the heavens in a single step... That's reasonable. Besides, the three artifacts amplified my essence, qi, and psyche by fusing them into the Great Dao projections. I can mobilize Great Dao power almost as freely as if I had integrated with the Dao. It may only be a projection's power, but the way I command the Great Dao is entirely different now... Yaoguang thought.

Sensing the changes within his own body, and the three top-tier Dao Artifacts glowing radiantly inside him, Yaoguang felt his emotions stir.

Before, if he wanted to draw on Great Dao power, he had to rely entirely on Dao Techniques to call it forth. Now he could touch it directly. It was the difference between texting someone and video calling them.

Above that would be meeting them face to face.

Amid these thoughts, Yaoguang produced a jade talisman and sent a message. "It's almost ready."

The Penglai Dao Lord's reply came back quickly. "By my estimate, the Central Heaven Dao Lord will be arriving in six months. You need to start spreading the news now, or there won't be time."

"We proceed as planned from here," Yaoguang said with a smile. "The top-tier Dao Artifact I'm refining for you is entering its critical phase, and the process can't tolerate any interference. To keep the risk to a minimum, you intend to give every power that might move against the Heavenly Dao Sect a warning rap..."

"Let's go for the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign." The Penglai Dao Lord had picked her partner in the act. "The reason your southern domain forces halted their advance against the Yin Lunar Sect is that you fear this fiend sovereign's strength and worry he'll ignore the rules and come at you directly. He also joined hands with others to surround me not long ago, which makes him the perfect opponent."

Her psychic thought carried an easy note as she finished. "Of course, the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign is excellent at preserving his own life, so he won't botch the act. And since he's got almost no killing power, leaving once the Unchained Dao Lord shows himself will be simple enough."

"Good." Yaoguang nodded. "Handle it as you see fit, Dao Lord."

He added with a smile, "Would you like to verify exactly where I stand now and see whether I can hold the Unchained Dao Lord for some time?"

"Never mind. I'll put a little faith in you. In any case, the greatest danger in this falls on you. At most, I'm doing things I meant to do anyway, and even if something goes wrong on your end, all I've lost is a wasted trip." The Penglai Dao Lord did not press the point.

They got along well enough, but a certain sense of boundaries still had to hold between them.

"Then thank you for the trust, Dao Lord. I'll adjust my condition now and get ready for the show," Yaoguang said.

"Alright," the Penglai Dao Lord answered, and vanished without a trace.

Yaoguang then sent word to Zhen Xuanyuan, who had already returned to the Heavenly Dao Sect. "Are the arrangements for receiving the Central Heaven Dao Lord in order?"

"Everything is ready. The moment he arrives, it all goes into motion, and the Dao Lord will certainly see how the Heavenly Dao Sect respects and supports him," Zhen Xuanyuan answered at once.

"Good. We'll set out when the time comes," Yaoguang said.

"Yes," Zhen Xuanyuan replied again. But when he sensed that Yaoguang was about to end the communication, he spoke up with some concern, "Sect Master, do we really have to go all the way out to the starry sky to receive him?"

"The other factions are all holding receptions of their own, and some are going further out than our sect. If we make no gesture at all, how will the Dao Lord see us? How will the other factions see us?" Yaoguang said, then simply gave the order. "Do as arranged."

"Sect Master, your situation is somewhat different..."

"I know what you want to say. But you're overthinking it," Yaoguang spoke with absolute confidence. "The Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord's death is a fresh cautionary example. Anyone thinking of acting rashly has to weigh whether he'll follow the man into the grave. On top of that, the trip out and back takes less than an hour, and four other Dao Lords are traveling alongside him. What crooked heretic is audacious enough to try something against me at a moment like that? Wouldn't it be slapping five Dao Lords in the face at once?"

𝖿𝓇𝘦ℯ𝖜𝔢𝒷𝗻𝓸𝓿𝑒𝗹.𝚌𝘰𝐦

Hearing that, Zhen Xuanyuan relaxed. Thinking it over carefully, he decided he had been placing too much weight on Yaoguang.

Even if a Dao Lord made a move, they would target the artifact paragon behind Yaoguang. Yaoguang himself was not yet worth a Dao Lord offending five others when the Dao contest was this close.

As for Yaoguang's overflowing talent and his prospects of one day becoming a void Dao Lord, that was a matter for the future. However gifted a Void-Shattering cultivator was, achieving Dao Integration was extremely difficult.

Historically, even the person ranked first on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings had no better than ten to twenty percent chance of becoming a Dao Lord, let alone the second or third.

Dao Lords who envied genius didn't mind erasing a gifted Void-Shattering cultivator when it was convenient. But nine out of ten would hold back if asked to take enormous risks to assassinate one.

Zhen Xuanyuan pushed down his excess worry and said at once, "I'll begin the final preparations. Nothing will go wrong with the reception protocol."

"Go on," Yaoguang said, and ended the communication.

He sat in Heaven-Forsaken Valley, taking in his surroundings while also assessing himself.

"I already got two hundred years old before I even noticed," he said quietly.

Even though at least most of those two hundred years had gone into refining a handful of top-tier Dao Artifacts, he had nonetheless been cultivating for over two centuries.

The Penglai Dao Lord had taken two hundred years to reach the Void-Shattering Realm. And he was two hundred years in and still at the Void-Shattering Realm. By that measure, his talent might exceed hers, but they stood on the same tier.

Fortunately...

"The final moment is almost here. Whether I can step into a broader world comes down to this chance," Yaoguang murmured.

It was a while before he spoke again. "Fenghua. Yaoxue."

"Sect Master." Tang Fenghua and Su Yaoxue appeared one after the other, and Yaoguang's gaze settled on them both.

With Yaoguang's help in his spare hours over the years, Tang Fenghua had broken through to the Void-Piercing Realm. But he had never joined the Heavenly Dao Sect, much less become one of its true disciples, so he could not enjoy the treatment accorded to a young sect master.

As for Su Yaoxue, Yaoguang looked her over carefully and nodded slightly. "Good. Your Void-Refining Realm has stabilized."

"Thanks to your attentive instruction and the Dao Lord's," Su Yaoxue said, bowing.

Ever since Su Yaoxue broke through to the Void-Piercing Realm, Yaoguang had kept her by his side and personally guided her cultivation.

While he and the Penglai Dao Lord were refining the Eight Desolations Mirror and the Horizon Diagram, the Dao Lord had been generous with her pointers as well.

And so, six years ago, eighty-two years after advancing to the Void-Piercing Realm, Su Yaoxue had reached the Void-Refining Realm.

Yaoguang accepted the bow. Without guidance from him and the Penglai Dao Lord, someone with her level of talent and comprehension could have never broken through to the Void-Refining Realm in such a short time.

Even with abundant resources at hand, it would have taken ten times as long. And had she been forced to earn her own resources like every other Void-Refining cultivator, whether she would have reached that realm in this lifetime at all would have been anyone's guess.

"Going from the Void-Refining Realm to the Void-Shattering Realm demands less in the way of insight into the realm and more in the way of resources. I've already prepared those for you; Yaoyu will hand them over when the time comes. Everything else is up to you," Yaoguang instructed.

"Thank you, Sect Master." Su Yaoxue bowed again.

Sect Master... Yaoguang heard the way she addressed him, considered it for a moment, and said, "You can call me by my name, the same as Yaoyu does."

Su Yaoxue froze, and a strong surge of emotion welled up in those calm, rational eyes. Beside her, Tang Fenghua glanced over, full of envy.

As things stood now, with Yaoguang's standing rising ever higher, only two people were qualified to call him by name. One was Su Yaoyu. The other was Li Hanqiu.

And even Li Hanqiu, to protect the face of the Heavenly Dao Sect's sect master, addressed him as "Sect Master" in public much of the time.

Su Yaoxue gaining the right to use his name outright was proof beyond doubt that she had won his complete recognition.

Her emotions churned for a good while before she managed a single word. "Yaoguang."

"Mhmm." He nodded. "In all these years of cultivation, you haven't taken a single break. You'll wear yourself down. I'm giving you a year off. Go spend it properly with Yaoyu, and with Yaoshuang and Yaoqin."

Su Yaoxue asked at once, "Will you come too?"

Yaoguang was about to refuse on instinct. But when he caught the trace of longing in her eyes, he hesitated. It was a while before he said, "I don't think I've been back to the Southern Capital in some time."

He raised his head. "Let's go take a look, then. I can see how the Nine Cauldrons Sect has been developing while I'm at it."

He gave a soft laugh. "As I recall, several of the Nine Cauldrons Sect's core talents broke through to the Void-Piercing Realm in the last few decades?"

"Yes. Lin Xia, Xu Nianhua, Shen Qinglian, Sect Master Li..." Su Yaoxue answered.

Where some succeeded, others failed. Leng Jun, Huang Tianhao, and Lou Yuyu had all fallen on the road to the Void-Piercing Realm.

Of those, Lou Yuyu had been fortunate enough to switch to the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal path and still had a chance to turn things around. Leng Jun and Huang Tianhao, on the other hand, had been reduced to ashes.

Yaoguang had given them the finest cultivation arts and funded them with enough resources for each of them to reach the peak of the Azure Golden Core Realm, yet failure and death still could not be avoided completely.

"Let's go. I'll pay the Nine Cauldrons Sect another visit and see some old faces," Yaoguang said.

After this meeting, the gap in status between them would be that of heaven and earth, cloud and mud.