The Modern Martial Immortal

Violent roars and tremors began echoing across Heavenly Venerable Jiang's peak.

The grotto-heaven and the Primordial Void simply would not become compatible, and Heavenly Venerable Jiang grew more and more frantic, sinking into deep despair. "Why! Why?!"

Refusing to accept it, he kept trying to merge the powers of grotto-heaven and Primordial Void into one, to refine the void into something real and bring forth a true grotto-heaven.

But the Primordial Void's power was on the verge of slipping loose entirely, and the mental grotto-heaven he had carved open by burning his Dharma Form's power was gradually collapsing along with it!

To the many Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals of the Cangwu lineage watching with hope and longing, the sight was impossible to accept.

"Failure?! How?! Heavenly Venerable, how could this happen?!"

"His Azure Golden Core foundation ran so deep, and he had the Supreme Jade Emperor standing as his protector. He should've had more than a fifty percent chance of succeeding. How could he possibly fail?!"

"No! This isn't real! Our lineage poured every resource, every ounce of effort and lifeblood into Heavenly Venerable Jiang. How could he fail? How could he possibly fail? How dare he fail?!"

One after another, the Cangwu lineage's battle immortals raged in shock and fury. Deep hatred welled up in some of their eyes, the bitter hatred of iron that refused to become steel, mixed with resentment that he had devoured so many of the Cangwu lineage's resources only to repay them with this.

"No! No! No!"

While the Cangwu lineage seethed, Heavenly Venerable Jiang, still in the middle of his attempt at the Void-Piercing Realm, was gripped by a terror unlike anything he had ever known.

His Dharma Form's power was burning to ash, his Primordial Void was moments from collapse, and every second of it hammered at his heart, making him feel with perfect clarity just how close death had come.

It seemed that in the very next instant, the Primordial Void would break loose and the erupting force would swallow him whole, erasing every trace he had ever left on this world.

That unprecedented emptiness, that unprecedented terror, drove his gaze helplessly toward the Supreme Jade Emperor.

"Save me, Master! Save me!"

Not far away, the Supreme Jade Emperor frowned, his eyes frigid. Sensing the utter failure of Heavenly Venerable Jiang's advancement, he could not hold back a snort. "Fifty percent odds, and you still managed to fail! Heavenly Venerable Jiang, you disappoint me beyond words."

He swept his sleeve sharply. "Your advancement has already failed completely, but you still have some foundation left. Convert at once to the path of a Void-Piercing battle immortal, and I'll let you keep your life!"

With that, he paid no further attention to Heavenly Venerable Jiang, who had just lost all chances of advancing again in the future, and turned, leaving the peak.

The despairing Heavenly Venerable Jiang, hearing the Supreme Jade Emperor's guidance, suddenly saw a thread of survival as though discovering a new continent.

The Void-Piercing battle immortal path had its many drawbacks, but it beat being reduced to dust mid-advancement. Where there was life, there was hope!

As long as he survived, then even as a Void-Piercing battle immortal, with his talent and potential he might still master the Nine Refinements of Star Ring on that foundation, become a true Void-Piercing Realm cultivator, and from there set his sights on the Void-Refining Realm, the Void-Shattering Realm, and even the Dao Lord Realm!

With that thought, a survival instinct fiercer than anything he had ever felt blazed up inside him. He forcibly held back what remained of his Dharma Form's power, abandoned the grotto-heaven, abandoned the merger, and threw everything he had into maintaining the Primordial Void state.

Having spent years among the Cangwu lineage's many battle immortals, he understood their conversion method intimately, and with that wealth of experience, his conversion into a Void-Piercing battle immortal went remarkably smoothly.

Before long, he had brought the rampaging Primordial Void under control.

The fierce burning of his Dharma Form's power had gravely wounded his psychic mind, an injury to heart and soul that might take who knew how long to recover, but at the final moment, he had cheated death by converting to the battle immortal path.

"Phew!" It was a long while before Heavenly Venerable Jiang finally let out a long breath.

Only after he had somewhat stabilized his Primordial Void did he have the leisure to look around.

That was when he discovered that all the onlookers had gone. Only the Cangwu lineage's many Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals remained on the peak, and every one of them was staring at him in silence.

The feeling made Heavenly Venerable Jiang distinctly uncomfortable. A pack of battle immortals with no future left, daring to look at him with those eyes.

Then something else occurred to him. He was one of them now, a Void-Piercing battle immortal. At the thought, this prodigy of Cangwu felt a stab of anguish.

"Damn it, this is all Yaoguang's fault. If not for news of him, Master would never have pushed me to break through so quickly, time and again. And if Master hadn't pushed me, how would I have failed my advancement and been forced onto the battle immortal path just to survive?"

Heavenly Venerable Jiang's mood was foul. Still, he knew that he had disappointed his master beyond measure, and could forget about any support from him for a long time to come. And without his master's support...

His gaze drifted toward the Cangwu lineage, those "poor country relatives" of his. After a long moment, he squeezed a smile onto his face. "Elders Xie Xiong, Greene, Li An. In that attempt just now, I glimpsed the true essence of the Void-Piercing Realm. I fell at the final step, yes, but give me one more try, and reaching the Void-Piercing Realm will be effortless. So I've decided: I will take the path of the Nine Refinements of Star Ring and recultivate into a true Void-Piercing cultivator! It will take some time, but I believe that day is not far off."

His words brimmed with confidence, as though he had recovered all the pride of the man who had been a true disciple of the Taiyi Core Sect, a direct disciple of the Supreme Jade Emperor, and ninth on the Void-Piercing Realm Candidate Rankings. And he meant for that pride to sweep up the Cangwu lineage along with him.

Unfortunately, in the past his words had moved them only because they had been full of hope for him, easily stirred into sentiment by his speeches. Now...

Xie Xiong let out a sigh, and in that instant he seemed to age all at once.

"Heavenly Venerable Jiang!" Li An's eyes went wide as he pointed at him. "Our lineage spared nothing in supporting you. All these years, every resource we had was poured into you, all so you could rise high and bring glory to our lineage. And this... this is how you repay us?! How dare you! How dare you?!"

"Worthless!" Greene's rebuke was merciless.

Nor was it just the three of them; the other battle immortals were equally heartsick.

"Heavenly Venerable Jiang, you have disappointed us beyond words."

"No matter how brilliant you looked before, when it came time to actually advance to the Void-Piercing Realm, you advanced into a battle immortal! You're simply a piece of trash that is trying to look good!"

"I said it from the start. We should never have pinned our hopes on someone so stubborn and self-righteous. A man this petty, who repays every slight in kind, how could he ever properly comprehend the mysteries of the void and advance to the Void-Piercing Realm?"

"We were all taken in by him. If we'd spent even a portion of our lineage's resources on someone else, we might have raised a Void-Piercing Realm cultivator long ago. Why would we still be waiting?"

Voice after voice poured from the assembled battle immortals, and as Heavenly Venerable Jiang listened, his face cycled from livid to ashen.

Finally unable to bear it, he roared, "Enough! As if advancing to the Void-Piercing Realm were ever that easy!"

A battle immortal immediately stepped up to fire back without mercy. "Then what about Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang? He's younger than you, and he didn't just advance smoothly to the Void-Piercing Realm, but he's already reached the Void-Refining Realm.

Recently, he broke the Yin Lunar Sect's invasion at the Southern Capital, slew two Void-Shattering and five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators, and is hailed as invincible at the Void-Refining Realm, his name resounding across the North Sea! I know a heaven-sent prodigy like Yaoguang is rare in this world. But if you had even a tenth of what he has, we wouldn't be this disappointed."

"You guys... You guys..." Hearing them invoke Yaoguang, and knowing better than anyone the gulf between them, Heavenly Venerable Jiang choked with fury until it finally burst out of him. "If you all hadn't kept dangling Yaoguang in front of me, rattling me until I couldn't think straight, why would I have attempted the Void-Piercing Realm before I was fully prepared?! Hmph! You couldn't give me any real help, yet you never tired of flaunting Yaoguang's achievements. He only has that strength because he threw in with the Penglai Dao Lord. And you? Are any of you Dao Lords? If even one of you had been a Void-Refining cultivator and fetched me a few Dao Artifacts, I would never have had to gamble my life! You bear most of the blame for my failure to reach the Void-Piercing Realm!"

The battle immortals were stunned speechless. Heavenly Venerable Jiang had twisted logic in his favor before, but back then his cultivation had been advancing rapidly, and his performance was outstanding, so they had grudgingly swallowed it.

Now he walked the same battle immortal path as they did, and instead of reflecting on himself, he shoved the blame onto them?

Greene and Li An were so angry they actually laughed.

"Never in my life have I seen anyone so shameless!"

"Forget it, forget it. We were the blind ones, pinning our hopes on an ingrate like you... That's right, Elder Wan warned me long ago that all our unstinting support might backfire and make us end up raising a wolf amongst us. And now... we reap what we sowed! We reap what we sowed! We brought every bit of this on ourselves!" With a bitter laugh, Li An transformed into a streak of light and flew off toward the Cangwu lineage's grounds.

Greene cast Heavenly Venerable Jiang one icy look. "I finally see your true face. From this day on, you are no longer one of our lineage. The Cangwu lineage is finished with you."

With that, he followed close behind Li An.

The others, Xie Xiong and the remaining battle immortals, each gave Heavenly Venerable Jiang a cold glance and departed one after another. In the blink of an eye, the peak, already half-emptied, grew more desolate still.

"You... You..." Heavenly Venerable Jiang's face was ugly. "Turning your backs on me just like that? You really think I can't succeed without the Cangwu lineage's support? Fine! Just wait. Fortunes turn, rivers change course. I, Heavenly Venerable Jiang—"

"Heavenly Venerable Jiang!" A voice cut in. "You have advanced as a Void-Piercing battle immortal and are no longer a true disciple. You are hereby ordered to vacate True Disciple Peak within three days. As for your new assignment, await further word."

Heavenly Venerable Jiang's temper flared on instinct, but when he registered the newcomer's identity, a direct disciple of the sect master, he forced the fury back down. "Senior Brother Zhao Yang, what brings you here..."

The Void-Piercing cultivator did not engage him at all, replying with cold formality, "That is all. Move out of the True Disciple Peak within three days. Don't make trouble for yourself."