The Modern Martial Immortal

In the vast starry sky, years and months went uncounted.

A luxurious warship sailed steadily through the void, like a fortress in the sky. It possessed astonishing travel capabilities; each time it crossed a void node, it could cover several thousand, even tens of thousands of light-years.

On the warship's upper deck, five figures sat together talking and laughing. The Dao resonance drifting off them was enough to bring enlightenment to any Void-Piercing cultivator who saw it.

That resonance alone proved their identities. Every one of them was a figure at the Dao Lord Realm who had successfully integrated with the Dao.

On the middle deck, Void-Shattering cultivators gathered in groups with the occasional Void-Refining cultivator among them, passing the time in idle conversation about everything they had seen on this expedition.

"The starry sky is vast. Truly, every kind of strange thing is possible."

"We ran into a peculiar civilization this trip. They have converted their entire population into artifact spirit form and called it 'quantum ascension' to achieve a convergence of information. Their strength wasn't bad either. None of us could take them down, and in the end we had to trouble our master to act personally. He refined the whole civilization into a single artifact spirit, one quite useful for calculation and optimization."

"We ran into that kind of lifeforms before. Nothing much to it. What I found was a civilization that had pushed together many high-mass Primordial Voids in the universe to form a Great Wall of Primordial Voids. Spectacular in scale. Our master actually took it for an enormous gravity source and wanted to see whether some massive celestial body lay inside."

"Speaking of that Great Wall, it reminds me of a star spirit, or rather... they call themselves plasma life. That plasma life form was overflowing with talent and had directly derived a super blue giant form, over ten thousand times the mass of any Azure Golden Core. Genuinely gifted. If a life like that could follow the star spirit system's path, it would finish accumulating enough resources to reach the Void-Piercing and Void-Refining Realms in no time! Still, those not of our kind are bound to be of a different heart. In the end, I was lucky enough to obtain a top-tier stellar core, of such high quality that it wouldn't be out of place in refining a top-tier Dao Artifact."

"Top-tier Dao Artifact material? That's a haul worth billions. Ying Feng, you really are lucky."

More than a dozen of them, each qualifying as a Dao Lord's direct disciple, and some of them figures on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, sat together exchanging pleasantries.

At the mention of top-tier Dao Artifact material, Perfected Lord Ying Feng suddenly turned his gaze on a woman in a fiery red robe with an air about her that was sensuous and captivating. "Ni Chang, your Heavenly Dao Sect has made quite a name for itself on the North Sea Star lately. That new sect master Yaoguang above all. He pulled in an artifact paragon for your sect, someone qualified to attempt a top-tier Dao Artifact. Skill like that is the very summit of the craft."

Perfected Lord Ni Chang did not find the remark strange. Dao Lords brought their closest and most valued disciples out to roam the starry sky, but that hardly meant they knew nothing of news from the North Sea Star.

The North Sea Star was their true foundation, and they followed word from home closely. So naturally, Yaoguang, whose reputation had exploded there in recent years, had become known to every last one of them.

"Whether that artifact paragon can actually refine a top-tier Dao Artifact is still an open question. It's too early to be handing out assessments," Perfected Lord Ni Chang said with a smile.

"Setting the artifact paragon aside, Sect Master Yaoguang himself is formidable enough. From first appearing on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings to fighting his way to second place in one breath took him only a few decades." As he spoke, Perfected Lord Ying Feng turned to look at a gentle, refined-looking man. "Martial Paragon Perfected Lord, care to offer a comment?"

"Me?" the refined man, the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord, said with a laugh. "What comment could I offer? I'm old news. With the rankings shifting along, I've already slipped to fourth on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. If you really want a comment, you should ask Tian Xiao. He's the one with the standing to speak about Perfected Lord Yaoguang."

Having redirected the fire, he made everyone's eyes shift toward a white-haired man who had been looking at a star chart. Sensing it, the man set the chart down with some resignation. "Martial Paragon is too modest."

Smiling, he said, "The Dao Lord Candidate Rankings are judged on personal combat strength. Martial Paragon has spent these years far from the North Sea Star, and though he's braved countless dangers and been through round after round of tempering, none of those records ever reached the North Sea Star, so the rankings never updated to reflect his strength. If we're talking about actual strength, there's no comparison between the two of them."

He finished and turned quickly to Perfected Lord Ni Chang. "My apologies. I don't mean to look down on Perfected Lord Yaoguang. I'm only offering a personal opinion on how the rankings are ordered..."

"There's no need to explain, Senior Brother Tian Xiao. I understand," Perfected Lord Ni Chang said. "When I left the North Sea Star, Senior Brother Jinghong was, in my eyes, an unbeatable existence. Yet looking back now, he doesn't seem quite so special anymore. If I exchanged pointers with him again, saying I'd defeat him might be arrogant, but ending up in a draw wouldn't be difficult. And am I not a nobody on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings?"

She added with a smile, "Yaoguang's so-called second place is worth watching for the spectacle. No need to take it seriously."

"I'd say Sect Master Yaoguang's ranking carries some real weight," the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord said. "The reason he shot to second on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings in a few decades is that he carved his way there with real combat achievements, using his own strength. I've read his file. In a few short decades, he cut down sixteen fiend lords of the Yin Lunar Sect and divine sovereigns of the Light Divine Race. He's a killing machine reincarnate, with a ferocious name to match."

"Now you've made me curious. I hope that once we're back on the North Sea Star, I'll get a match against this Perfected Lord Yaoguang and see whether he really has the strength his ranking suggests," Perfected Lord Ying Feng could not help but say.

He himself stood fourteenth on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. He had not broken into the top ten, but he had been out roaming with his master for three thousand years.

The version of him from three thousand years ago had already ranked fourteenth, and after three thousand years of bitter cultivation he reckoned his strength was not far off the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord's, and that was the current Martial Paragon Perfected Lord.

Against the man as he had been when he first entered the rankings at third, victory would be more than assured.

Now that his cultivation had borne fruit, he wanted to show himself on the North Sea Star stage, make his name known across it, and build the confidence and fortune he would need to attempt Dao Integration once the great age of the Dao contest arrived.

This Yaoguang, who had entered the rankings and climbed to second in a mere few decades, was clearly the best possible stepping stone.

"For the thousand years before a new Dao contest, the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings are a joke. Every true expert, every gifted perfected lord with real hope of becoming a Dao Lord, has gone off roaming the starry sky with a Dao Lord master. When the cat's away, the mice will play. With us returning, though, that list should regain some weight soon enough," another Perfected Lord said.

This was Perfected Lord Jing Mo, direct disciple of the Pill Cauldron Dao Lord of the Hundred Herbs Sect, one of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects.

He too had been on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings before leaving the North Sea Star, though far down the list at thirty-first. Speaking up now, he clearly harbored the same thought as Perfected Lord Ying Feng: to carve out a name of his own on the North Sea Star.

Nor was he alone. Several others in the crowd who were also ranked, or who reckoned their cultivation had risen sharply since leaving the North Sea Star, chimed in.

"I'd like to look at this young talent's methods myself."

"Second on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. Not just anyone is qualified to sit there."

"True enough. Yaoguang's record isn't bad, but which of the opponents he cut down was worth mentioning? The only one, Yinghuo, was the sort who would become useless the moment he left his earthly divine kingdom. Swap me in, and I could get the same results."

The perfected lords passed judgment as though no one else were present. Yet not one of them proposed challenging Tian Xiao or Martial Paragon.

Bullies always pick on the weakest. Those two had been famous for years, and until they understood what methods and hidden cards the pair held, no one intended to challenge them rashly.

Attempting Dao Integration takes momentum, as well as the resolve and conviction that no one can match you. Climbing the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, especially the top ten, or the top three, proves beyond doubt that you are one of the strongest under heaven. That was the whole intent behind establishing the rankings. The Martial Paragon Perfected Lord mused, then shook his head inwardly.

Those with truly outstanding confidence had already risen past the rankings and truly had genuine, invincible momentum.

Perfected Lord Tian Xiao, for instance. He had steered the conversation toward the man not because he thought Tian Xiao was stronger, but because, in his view, the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings had ceased to mean anything to Tian Xiao.

He was a truly invincible perfected lord, unmatched among Void-Shattering cultivators! He needed to explain himself to no one and needed no one to prove it for him.

"Since so many of you want to spar with Yaoguang, I have a piece of news," Perfected Lord Ni Chang said, seemingly rather keen to watch the fun. "When we reach the North Sea Star, Yaoguang will be leading a party out to welcome my master back in person. When that happens, you may as well seize the opportunity."

"Oh? Such a fine coincidence?"

"Excellent. Fighting out in the starry sky means we can do so freely."

"Haha, I'm going first when the time comes. Nobody will fight me for it."

One perfected lord after another chimed in, suddenly excited.

Listening to them, Perfected Lord Ni Chang glanced out the window.

That Yaoguang. His standing in the Heavenly Dao Sect was too high, and he acted with far too little restraint. He had even dared to kill Bu Zhou.

Bu Zhou's conduct over the years hadn't been especially likable, but he had nonetheless been her senior brother, and when she first joined the sect, he had looked after her more than once.

As a Dao Lord's direct disciple, if he were to be killed, their master should have done it personally.

Yaoguang? What right did he have to overstep and do it in their master's place? What qualified him?

These people would give him a good rap on the knuckles and teach him that there were people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens. Perhaps that would make him stop doing as he pleased in the Heavenly Dao Sect.𝙛𝕣𝖊𝚎𝑤𝘦𝕓𝓃𝕠𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝑐𝕠𝑚