The Modern Martial Immortal

"Gu Li! Zong Wenxian gave your family countless resources, and at the critical moment you actually..." Watching Gu Li turn and leave, Perfected Lord Bu Zhou's eyes burned with fury. What he failed to notice was that Perfected Lord Jinghong had glanced his way as well.

After a long moment, the perfected lord put away the Great Dao essence in his hand.

"I did not come here intending to fight you. Though I won't deny it: my way of handling matters is to trade blows with the other party first. Once they've been beaten into submission, the talks that follow tend to go much more smoothly," Perfected Lord Jinghong said. "Truth is enacted by defeating one's opponents time after time, then persuading them. By convincing through reason, one's every word and deed become truth itself. That is my path of cultivation."

"And what if you can't beat your opponent, and can't produce a truth persuasive enough to win them over? How do you clean up afterward?" Yaoguang said.

"Which is why... I rarely fight those I cannot defeat." Perfected Lord Jinghong sighed. "Unfortunately, walk the riverbank long enough and your shoes will get wet. You had defeated Zhen Xuanyuan... A formidable achievement, yes, but I still refused to believe that someone with barely a century of cultivation could stand equal to someone on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. So I acted anyway, and ran straight into a brick wall."

He lifted his head to the sky, his gaze seeming to pierce the void into the boundless depths of the starry sky. "My master always said that while I am a genius, my power comes from diligence and unbending persistence, and I stand below the truly peerless prodigies. I never quite understood him. Only after seeing you and crossing swords with you did I truly grasp what it means to speak an unshakable truth, what it means to touch upon absolute truth."

Yaoguang studied Perfected Lord Jinghong. This perfected lord was no mere senior brother to Perfected Lord Bu Zhou; he was the eldest of the Central Heaven Dao Lord's surviving disciples, nearly nine thousand years into his cultivation, older even than Bu Zhou.

He took nine thousand years to climb into the top ten of the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. One might call him inadequate, and yet he had outstripped nearly every Void-Shattering cultivator under heaven. One might call him brilliant, and yet at nine thousand years old he remained a Void-Shattering cultivator. The Central Heaven Dao Lord's appraisal was evidently fair.

At that thought, something clicked.

"You're repairing the damage this defeat did to your Dao of truth?" Yaoguang asked.

Perfected Lord Jinghong smiled faintly. "Our battle had no victor, but the Dao of truth I cultivate has suffered a setback, and the backlash is certain. Withstanding it by my own command of the Great Dao of truth might make my cultivation drop. But if I bear it by leaning on my master's teachings, I can greatly reduce the damage; at worst I'll be in low spirits for a while, and if I can kindle that courage born of shame deep in the heart, I might even climb a step higher."

He paused. "The Great Dao of truth has glaring strengths and glaring flaws. Everything turns on how its cultivator faces them."

Yaoguang nodded. One-on-one, the Great Dao of truth was a genuine headache. But its visible flaws also explained why Perfected Lord Jinghong, though a top-ten figure on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, had always sat at the bottom of that top ten.

Which one of the candidates ranked above him was not versed in several Great Dao, wielding several, even a dozen, perfection-stage Dao Techniques?

"Yaoguang, your talent is high, exceedingly high. Talent and ability like yours shouldn't be squandering precious time on power struggles inside the Heavenly Dao Sect," Perfected Lord Jinghong said. "I can take you to the stellar core to cultivate. The Gate of the Immortal Realm hasn't opened, but even just standing before it would aid your comprehension enormously. And with your strength, no one would dare say a word if you claimed a place in the gate's innermost circle."

"That's no concern of yours." Yaoguang said, "Let's talk instead about what this expedition of yours has cost my southern domain."

"Cost..." Perfected Lord Jinghong thought briefly. "I can announce before the Heavenly Dao Sect that from this day on, I will support you to be the sect master. How is that?"

Yaoguang was somewhat taken aback. Had Perfected Lord Jinghong switched allegiance that easily? His gaze slid to Perfected Lord Bu Zhou.

Perfected Lord Jinghong knew exactly what he meant to ask, and answered outright. "To me, what matters most about the Heavenly Dao Sect is stability. Zhen Xuanyuan, Zong Wenxian, Chi Yun, Liao Chen, Gu Li, Bu Zhou, whichever of them holds the sect master's seat is unimportant. I chose to back Zong Wenxian partly because of my junior brother Bu Zhou, yes, but that was never the main reason."

He said calmly, "At the end of the day, Zong Wenxian has real ability. Under his administration, at the very least, the Heavenly Dao Sect has gone thousands of years without a single upheaval."

"Oh? I assumed you'd fight me to the bitter end for Perfected Lord Bu Zhou's sake," Yaoguang said.

"Impossible." Perfected Lord Jinghong's tone stayed flat. "Several thousand years have taught me perfectly well about what sort of man my junior brother is. I indulged him before because his actions served the goal of a stable, steadily developing Heavenly Dao Sect. But now? Keep backing him, and the sect will soon fall into chaos, civil war, and even a schism wouldn't be out of the question. As matters stand, backing you is the best choice to restore the stability of the Heavenly Dao Sect and put it back on its proper track."

Yaoguang reconsidered his opinion of the Heavenly Dao Sect's strongest Void-Shattering cultivator. No matter what one might say, the man saw problems very differently from his peers.

"Actually, I don't quite understand it. With talent like yours, why covet the position of the Heavenly Dao Sect's sect master at all?" Perfected Lord Jinghong seemed genuinely puzzled. "For people like us, one's own strength is the only reality, the only thing that endures. Power, position, profit... Once we have enough strength, those things fall into our hands of their own accord. And if our strength falls short, then whatever we seize by force will sooner or later be taken from us anyway."

Yaoguang didn't answer. He just said, "Go make your announcement. Sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect... I'm truly interested in that position, after all."

Perfected Lord Jinghong had laid everything bare. Perfected Lord Bu Zhou mattered far less to him than outsiders believed, and between Perfected Lord Jinghong and Yaoguang there was no direct conflict at all.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

That being so, there was no need to fight to the death. Besides, while they had exchanged blows, neither made a true killing move, which left room to settle things this way.

"As you wish." Perfected Lord Jinghong nodded slightly, then added, "And since I now know the Heavenly Dao Sect has an expert like you, the matter of the Light Divine Race on the battlefield beyond falls to you to resolve. I shall return to the stellar core to cultivate in seclusion..."

He let out a long sigh. "The time I have is running short."

"Fine. But when to strike is my decision," Yaoguang said.

"Just don't let the Heavenly Dao Sect incur losses serious enough to shake the balance. I have no wish to be dragged out of the stellar core again in a few years. Positions in the inner circle near the Gate of the Immortal Realm are fiercely contested; give one up, and winning it back takes a lot of effort," Perfected Lord Jinghong said.

"I know what I'm saying. While I stand, the Heavenly Dao Sect will not fall into chaos," Yaoguang said calmly. "Of course, if you can't trust that, and let someone talk you out of the core with a few sentences, don't blame me."

"I trust you." Perfected Lord Jinghong gave a fist-and-palm salute, and without so much as a parting glance at Perfected Lord Bu Zhou, his figure flickered and receded toward the sky's end.

Nine thousand years old... His lifespan was near the end.

"Senior Brother?!" Watching Perfected Lord Jinghong abandon him exactly as Gu Li had, Perfected Lord Bu Zhou's face turned ugly.

Weighing Yaoguang's terrifying strength, he dared not spit out even a single threat. He deployed his flying Dao Artifact and rose into the air, chasing after Perfected Lord Jinghong.

But the instant he moved, Yaoguang was already ahead of him, barring his way.

"Perfected Lord Bu Zhou. Your slanders against me require an explanation. Otherwise... While I may spare your life, your grotto-heaven must be broken, so you understand the price of a loose tongue," Yaoguang said evenly.

Break his grotto-heaven?! That fate was worse than killing him!

"Yaoguang! I am the Central Heaven Dao Lord's direct disciple! You dare treat me so over just a few offensive words?"

"So long as your life is spared, I imagine the Central Heaven Dao Lord will raise no objection," Yaoguang said.

"Impossible! My master will see justice done for me! If you don't mean to make an enemy of a Dao Lord, let me leave!" With that, he wheeled in a new direction and hurled himself away.

Yaoguang followed behind him, unhurried, neither closing the gap nor turning away. Perfected Lord Bu Zhou's anxiety climbed, but against an enemy this strong, there was nothing he could do except flee at full power; there was no one he could call to, not any longer.

Still, Yaoguang trailed him, unhurried, and Bu Zhou couldn't guess what he was thinking.

Damn it! Perfected Lord Bu Zhou cursed inwardly. He could not fathom what Yaoguang was after. Had the battle with Perfected Lord Jinghong wounded him? Or...

"No! I can't gamble on it!" His expression turned cold. "Gu Li has betrayed Zong Wenxian too. Zhen Xuanyuan and Chi Yun sold themselves to Yaoguang long ago. Within the Heavenly Dao Sect, there is not one supreme elder left who would answer me. Only an outside power can frighten him off..."

And among the factions bordering the southern domain, what outside force could frighten off Yaoguang, if not the Yin Lunar Sect?

Yaoguang had slaughtered two of their Void-Shattering and five of their Void-Refining fiendish cultivators not long ago; the sect was certainly plotting its revenge. If he fled into the Yin Lunar Sect's territory, their Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators would swarm out, trying to encircle and kill Yaoguang, and he might be able to use that opening to escape with his life.

Having made a decision, Perfected Lord Bu Zhou sped up even more, making straight for the Yin Lunar Sect.

"Right direction," Yaoguang remarked placidly.

If the Heavenly Dao Sect lost a supreme elder inside the Yin Lunar Sect, and a Dao Lord's direct disciple at that...

After that, no slaughter he unleashed in the Yin Lunar Sect could be called excessive. And with a Dao Lord's direct disciple involved, even the Yin Lunar Sect's own Dao Lord would not dare step lightly into the field, for fear of igniting a war between Dao Lords.

That, and that alone, was the value of keeping Perfected Lord Bu Zhou alive.