The Modern Martial Immortal

In the Penglai Immortal Sect, Shi Lin summoned her three juniors and handed them a jade talisman without preamble. "See for yourselves."

"What is it?" Zhan Xiao was puzzled, but he took the talisman and examined it right away. A single glance was all it took for his expression to change drastically. "This... how is this possible?"

"What has our junior brother so rattled?" Unable to resist, Leng Qingqiu extended a psychic thought of her own. But once her psychic thought took in the information within, the deputy sect master of the Penglai Immortal Sect cried out in shock as well, "Impossible!"

"Senior Brother? Senior Sister?"

Shui Yunhan could sit still no longer and quickly sank her psychic thought into the talisman too. When she saw what it contained, the blood drained from her face

For a long moment, she could only stare blankly at their eldest senior sister, Shi Lin. "That deputy sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect, Yaoguang... alone, with a single sword, fought his way into the Yin Lunar Sect, slew seven of its supreme fiend lords, and managed to force the survivors to seal the sect's gates? One man crushing an entire sect? I-Is this true?"

"The whole world knows of it by now. It is true." Shi Lin sighed. "Back when Yaoguang shook the world by slaying the Eight Desolations and Dark Fiend Lords, both Void-Shattering fiend lords, you said he had merely leaned on the advantage of his arrays, that he lacked real ability. Later, in the Heavenly Dao Sect, he killed Jing Yuntian, a Void-Shattering expert who had colluded with the Yin Lunar fiendish cultivators, then fought two at once and defeated the combined might of Zhen Xuanyuan and Gu Li. You called that an inside act, and even had the gall to claim you could do the same once you reached the Void-Shattering Realm yourselves. So what about now?"

She swept her gaze over her juniors. "The fall of the Yin Lunar Sect's seven Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators has been confirmed by the hidden agents of many factions, and the sect itself has been forced to pull back all its forces and shut its gates. Surely you won't reach for yet another excuse and claim the Yin Lunar Sect is gambling its own reputation to help Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang stage a sham?"

"H-How can this be..."

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Leng Qingqiu thought back to the first time she had met Yaoguang. Back then, he had clearly been a mere Void-Piercing cultivator... or rather, he had only just broken through to the Void-Refining Realm.

It was only thanks to his life-bound Dao Technique that he had been able to barely escape with his life from her, Zheng Yang, and Xuan Yin, three Void-Refining experts.

But now... How long had it been? A few decades, no more than that. Not even enough time for her to master a single Dao Technique! Yet, in the blink of an eye...

"How did he... grow that strong?" the deputy sect master murmured.

"This has to be Mas... has to be..." Zhan Xiao opened his mouth, about to say that their master was playing favorites and secretly backing Yaoguang. But the words died before he could finish.

Shi Lin knew exactly what he had meant to say. This time, she spared no thought for her juniors' feelings and spoke bluntly, "Secret backing? Even with a Dao Lord's full support, who could actually reach such heights?"

She pressed on. "The eldest imperial prince of the Heavenly Origin Immortal Dynasty, Yuan Wuxiu, is prodigiously gifted and reached the Void-Refining Realm within a century. Three hundred years ago, when the Origin Sword Dao Lord returned from the starry sky, the prince began cultivating at his side. Yet, even after three hundred years, he still ranks nineteenth on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings!

"The direct disciple of the Azure Firmament Dao Lord of the Heaven-Reaching Sect received that Dao Lord's personal guidance for several hundred years, then cultivated bitterly for three thousand more after the Dao Lord departed. He is over 4,600 years old today, ranks tenth on the candidate rankings, and the Void-Shattering cultivators he has slain in his entire life can be counted on one hand.[1]

"Even the Void End Perfected Lord, the direct disciple of the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord, who followed that Dao Lord for a full three thousand years and has cultivated for eight thousand, ranks sixth on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings and cannot crush an entire sect alone!"

The eldest senior sister, usually so amiable, raked her eyes across the three of them. "Yaoguang has cultivated for a mere hundred years. Even with a Dao Lord guiding him at every turn, how could he have come this far without overflowing talent? And you? Add up all the guidance our master has given you, and it comes to roughly a hundred years as well, yet not a single one of you has even broken through to the Void-Shattering Realm. What right do you have to sit here acting high and mighty?"

The tirade left Zhan Xiao, Leng Qingqiu, and Shui Yunhan speechless. Shui Yunhan in particular shrank into herself.

Zhan Xiao and Leng Qingqiu had at least only failed to reach the Void-Shattering Realm. She was a Dao Lord's direct disciple, and had spent more than a century in the sect, but she had yet to break through even to the Void-Refining Realm.

She had once been so pleased with herself for reaching the peak of the Void-Piercing Realm in under two hundred years, but compared to Yaoguang...

Well... There was no comparison to be made at all.

"Today I have to admit that I have failed as your eldest senior sister. I have completely failed to educate you and to teach you discipline." Shi Lin let out a long sigh. "You keep insisting that Yaoguang was a product of Master's nurturing. In truth, Master might have helped him here and there, but that help was not one ten-thousandth of what she has given us. You should be able to work that out yourselves. She has been preparing for the Dao Contest while keeping constant watch on the Jade Scale Demon Paragon's movements. She simply does not have the time."

Zhan Xiao and Leng Qingqiu fell silent. Their master was indeed very busy. And besides, just as Shi Lin said, even if their master truly had been secretly supporting Yaoguang, cultivating to such a level in mere decades would be a boast worthy of any Dao Lord.

"In fact, right now I would rather Yaoguang really were a piece Master nurtured in secret. Compared to him, we of the Penglai Immortal Sect are simply unworthy. The day Master steps through the Gate of the Immortal Realm and ascends, the entire Penglai Immortal Sect will almost certainly crumble overnight. If Yaoguang were here to take charge of it, at least the sect's legacy could be carried on," Shi Lin said wearily.

"Let Yaoguang take charge of the Penglai Immortal Sect?" Leng Qingqiu froze, then burst out, "I refuse!"

Zhan Xiao hurried to chime in. "Exactly, Eldest Senior Sister. We built the Penglai Immortal Sect with our own painstaking efforts. We can't just hand it to an outsider... Even if he really is a disciple our master secretly took in, a disciple who can't be acknowledged openly could never truly inherit the sect's legacy or lead it to prosperity with a sincere heart. For all we know, all he'd care about is the sect's profits. Once he became sect master, he'd bleed us dry."

"The Penglai Immortal Sect's profits? Bleed us dry?" Hearing this, Shi Lin laughed out of sheer anger. "How much profit do you think the Penglai Immortal Sect makes? Without Master's subsidies from time to time, we can't even break even. Our yearly income is less than a hundred million! Once Master is gone, the Penglai Immortal Sect will be nothing but a mess! And do you know what Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang's southern domain earned this year? Let me tell you. Three hundred million! His southern domain alone brings in triple what our sect does! And once they boost the southern domain's productivity, their future income is certain to climb to five hundred million, or even a billion!"

She stared at her junior brother. "Stop squatting in your little corner of the Deep-Blue Sea and go see the world! With returns ten times or more than ours at his fingertips, do you really think he would spare a glance for our Penglai Immortal Sect?"

"Five hundred million and a billion are future earnings. Right now it's only three hundred million, isn't it? If the Penglai Immortal Sect can raise the income by thirty percent, how could they simply ignore us?" Leng Qingqiu said, then added flatly, "In any case, I will never accept him ruling the Penglai Immortal Sect."

Shi Lin had only heard similar remarks from the Penglai Dao Lord herself, and had raised them now to test her juniors. Seeing how they reacted, and recalling her master's tone at the time... In that moment, the acting sect master's last hopes for them died.

After a long while, she said slowly, "Whether you agree doesn't matter. If that day really comes, then at worst the Penglai Immortal Sect splits in two. Those willing to join me in serving under Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang will follow his orders. Those unwilling... for the sake of our years together, I won't force you."

"Split the sect?" Shui Yunhan panicked at once. "Eldest Senior Sister, are you going to stop taking care of us?"

"That's right, Eldest Senior Sister. We agreed the Penglai Immortal Sect was one family. How could you cast us aside?" Leng Qingqiu said with resentment.

"Even families quarrel over differences and go their separate ways. Isn't that perfectly normal?" Shi Lin said calmly. "What I described is only a possibility, but if you carry on like this, there is every chance it becomes real. And when that day comes, the only people you will have to rely on are yourselves."

"Eldest Senior Sister! How can you say that?"

"If you really believe you're capable, that you can do better than Yaoguang, then you should be glad to see the sect split. Or is it..." Shi Lin looked at them, then said, "That you are fully aware you lack the capability, yet insist on clinging to your positions and refuse to let someone more capable lead you?"

"Eldest Senior Sister—"

Leng Qingqiu tried to say more, but Shi Lin cut her off. "Enough. If you can let this shame spur you to cultivate earnestly and show enough potential and talent, Master will certainly invest heavily in you and entrust you with great responsibilities. But if you never manage to amount to anything..."

She sighed, weary to the bone. "Then so be it."

***

Yaoguang had no idea the Penglai Immortal Sect was facing a schism over news of him.

At that moment, he was shadowing Qi Sha in secret as the southern domain's forces pushed into Yin Lunar Sect territory, swallowing up the sixteen states bordering the sect one after another.

He had assumed the Yin Lunar Sect would leave contingencies buried in those lands, but their withdrawal turned out to be remarkably clean.

Never mind Void-Piercing, Void-Refining, or Void-Shattering cultivators; they had not even left behind more than a handful of Void-Piercing battle immortals. All resources and personnel had been pulled back to the area around their main sect headquarters.

The southern domain armies under Qi Sha, Chu Gushan, Qin Shiyue, and the others advanced with no opposition.

Yaoguang surveyed the area near the Yin Lunar Sect's headquarters one more time. Seeing their grand array in a half-activated state, he chose not to barge in. Once he had confirmed the sect had truly sealed itself off, he returned to the Southern Capital.

By the time he arrived, Li Hanqiu, Wan Liugui, and the others had just finished refining the Dao Artifact flying vessel he had bestowed on them and stood ready to return to the Great Cangwu World.

Seeing nothing else that demanded his attention, Yaoguang wasted no time. Taking Li Hanqiu and a select hundred or so with him, he piloted the Dao Artifact flying vessel to rise and take to the skies, heading straight for the starry expanse beyond the domain.

1. Editor's note: I'm pretty sure that the author said Jinghong was "at the very bottom of the top ten" in chapter 426, but I double-checked here, and he seems to have changed his mind. ☜