The Modern Martial Immortal

"Uhh..."

Hearing Yaoguang's blunt question, Zhen Xuanyuan and the others turned their eyes to Supreme Elders Dong Xi and Yuan Xing at once.

The few of them exchanged a glance, and Supreme Elder Dong Xi stepped forward. "Sect Master, Zong Wenxian says he intends to keep pursuing the matter of the Light Divine Race Dao Lord's cache and has no time to return. Besides, he says the Heavenly Dao Sect's starry sky holdings need someone stationed there to ensure nothing goes wrong, so he'll remain in the starry sky for a long while. Nonetheless, the Heavenly Dao Sect cannot be left without a Sect Master, so... he's willing to step back behind the scenes and become a supreme elder. The position of sect master should pass to a top-tier Void-Shattering cultivator with more ability and better qualifications, meaning yourself, Sect Master Yaoguang."

"Oh?" Yaoguang was somewhat surprised by what Dong Xi said.

But a moment later it struck him as entirely reasonable.

Zong Wenxian didn't dare come back.

He had moved against the southern domain's development several times over and oppressed Yaoguang during Yaoguang's time as deputy sect master. By now, bad blood had built up between them.

Now, realizing that Yaoguang was unstoppable, that he had soared beyond any hope of being held down, Zong Wenxian had no choice but to hand over the sect master's seat. As for him, he naturally had to hide as far away as possible, never daring to set foot in the Heavenly Dao Sect again, lest he follow in the footsteps of Jing Yuntian and Bu Zhou.

"Furthermore, Supreme Elder Zong has gained a fair amount from his time roaming the starry sky, and he specifically entrusted me to deliver part of those gains to Sect Master Yaoguang, calling it a congratulatory gift for your succession as sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect." Dong Xi stepped forward and offered a storage treasure, still sealed with psychic thought. "Because of the Light Divine Race's disturbances, Supreme Elder Zong says the situation out in the starry sky is too volatile for him to attend your succession ceremony in person. He asks for your understanding..."

"Sensible of him," Yaoguang said.

He accepted the storage treasure without any hesitation.

He checked the contents with his psychic thought, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. Inside were materials for refining a top-tier Dao Artifact.

Even among top-tier Dao Artifact materials, these ranked at the very top. Put through the hands of a level 18, or even a level 17 refiner, they could serve as auxiliary materials for refining an immortal artifact. Their value might fall short of ten billion, but not by much.

Yaoguang could've spent up to twenty billion for the same materials during his premium buying spree, as he was just planning to throw money at people until they agreed to sell. And yet, Zong Wenxian had simply parted with a gift like that...

Money to buy his life, then? But...

"In the several thousand years since Zong Wenxian took the sect master's seat, there's no counting how many peerless talents of the Heavenly Dao Sect he suppressed under his hand, forcing them to fade into oblivion. Shen Junyan, Jiang Guike, Chu Gushan, Qin Shiyue, and more. And those who refused the humiliation and resisted to the end died with that grudge unresolved, crushed by his iron fist. Faults of that sort cannot be wiped away with one careless stroke," Yaoguang said calmly, and the words made Dong Xi, Yuan Xing, and Gu Li lurch inwardly.

Even Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, and Perfected Lord Liao Chen felt their scalps prickle.

How long had it been since Yaoguang reached the Void-Shattering Realm?

In a few decades, he had cut down two supreme elders, Jing Yuntian and Bu Zhou, one after the other, and the Void-Refining Realm, Void-Piercing Realm, and lesser disciples caught up in the fallout were beyond counting.

They really did not want to watch the Heavenly Dao Sect keep churning like this. As for Zong Wenxian oppressing those deputy sect masters, that was simply how the Heavenly Dao Sect operated internally.

So hearing Yaoguang speak as though he meant to exterminate Zong Wenxian, the supreme elders all frowned and sighed inwardly.

A new sect master taking office and clearing out the faction left behind by the previous one was standard practice. Yaoguang's approach amounted to nothing more than giving no quarter and pushing the matter to its absolute limit.

As he spoke, Yaoguang watched the reactions of the several supreme elders. Not one of them stepped forward to object, which, in truth, surprised him a little.

After all, once he set the precedent of killing a former sect master, if that custom took root, from then on, every sect master would oppress any deputy capable of challenging him far more brutally, having far fewer scruples.

If that happened, there would no longer be a bottom line. Since matters already stood like this...

"Sect Master, in my personal opinion... it would be better to handle the previous sect master according to the sect's established custom," Supreme Chi Yun said, stepping forward and steeling himself.

"Oh?" Yaoguang's gaze settled on the supreme elder. "Why? If I'm not mistaken, your interests and Zong Wenxian's don't align."

"It's only a suggestion... If you find it inappropriate, treat it as though I never raised it..." Chi Yun said, waving a hand.

Yaoguang's fearsome reputation was fresh in everyone's mind: one man crushing an entire sect, wiping out seven of the Yin Lunar Sect's Void-Shattering cultivators. The fact that Chi Yun could say such a thing at such a moment already counted as having principles.

After all, this was the North Sea Star! The weak were meat for the strong, and power alone commanded respect. How many were truly willing to abide by rules?

Yaoguang heard him out and smiled. "Since Supreme Chi Yun has spoken up..."

His gaze swept over the several supreme elders present. "Zong Wenxian's faults can hardly be wiped away so lightly. But in consideration of his stewardship of the Heavenly Dao Sect these many years, where if not merit then at least toil is owed him, and since he requested the posting to the starry sky himself, let him have his wish. Let him hold that post for a thousand years."

A thousand years from now, he would absolutely have become a Dao Lord. He might well have entered the Immortal Realm alongside the Penglai Dao Lord, and even if Zong Wenxian wanted to come back then, it would no longer concern him.

Hearing this, Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, Liao Chen, Dong Xi, and the other supreme elders let out a small breath of relief and gave fist-and-palm salutes. "Sect Master, you are wise."

"Supreme Zong will surely be grateful for Sect Master Yaoguang's magnanimity when he learns of this."

"Sect Master Yaoguang acts with great righteousness!"

Several of them spoke as one. They all understood perfectly well that Yaoguang was sparing Zong Wenxian for the sake of the Heavenly Dao Sect's future order, to demonstrate the proper values of morality and ethics, and it fully merited the phrase "great righteousness."

"We'll go arrange the sect master succession ceremony at once," Zhen Xuanyuan volunteered.

"Go ahead," Yaoguang said. "While you're sending out invitations for the ceremony, announce something else at the same time and spread it to every sect."

He laid it out with a smile. "At the commission of the Penglai Immortal Sect's Dao Lord, from this day forward the Southern Capital will attempt to refine a top-tier Dao Artifact. Since certain materials are still lacking, we are purchasing top-tier Dao Artifact materials from the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects, the Three Great Martial Dao Sects, the Four Great Immortal Dynasties, and the Six Buddhist Temples. Materials pertaining to the Great Dao of void and the Great Dao of origin are our priority, and depending on quality, we'll pay a premium of up to double!"

At those words, Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, Liao Chen, Dong Xi, Yuan Xing, Gu Li, and the other supreme elders froze; then, one after another, their eyes went wide.

"A top-tier Dao Artifact?!"

"Sect Master, are you saying that the artifact paragon behind you... The Southern Capital wants to refine a top-tier Dao Artifact?!"

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"H-How is this possible?!"

Decades ago, the Southern Capital, which belonged to Yaoguang, had already begun taking commissions, refining custom Dao Artifacts to order, and over the years several had been delivered one by one.

Those artifacts all appeared to have been improved from spoils of war, but the ability to improve a Dao Artifact until it matched a client's requirements exactly was itself proof enough of that artifact paragon's standard. So the Heavenly Dao Sect, along with many other powers of the human race, had never doubted that an artifact paragon stood behind the southern domain.

But commissioning a Dao Artifact was one thing; commissioning a top-tier Dao Artifact was another entirely.

On the North Sea Star, those who owned high-grade Dao Artifacts were essentially all figures on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, or the heads of top-tier factions and the favored direct disciples of Dao Lords.

For someone like Zhen Xuanyuan, possessing a high-grade Dao Artifact without any Dao Lord backing him was entirely due to an enormous stroke of fortune and could only be regarded as an isolated case.

If that was true of high-grade Dao Artifacts, top-tier ones went without saying, for they could measurably boost even a Dao Lord's combat power.

And now the artifact paragon behind the Southern Capital meant to attempt refining one...

How could that possibly be?!

"Sect Master Yaoguang, i-is this true?!" Zhen Xuanyuan could not help but ask. Then something occurred to him, and he hurriedly added, "I don't doubt you, Sect Master Yaoguang, it's just... a top-tier Dao Artifact! How could anyone who isn't a Dao Lord possibly refine a top-tier Dao Artifact?!"

"It's only an attempt," Yaoguang said. "You should know that less than a thousand years remain before the Gate of the Immortal Realm opens. When it does, the Dao contest between Dao Lords will inevitably erupt, and in that situation every Dao Lord has to be fully prepared. Even the Penglai Dao Lord, called the strongest of the North Sea, is no exception.

"On top of that, she recently obtained from the Heavenly Sea—

"Well, let's just say she happened to obtain a piece of immortal artifact material of huge value. If she can acquire other top-tier materials, immortal artifact materials even, and pile them all into a single Dao Artifact, it may be possible to forcibly raise a Dao Artifact that could only have reached the high grade into a top-tier Dao Artifact."

He smiled. "So during this period, having been commissioned, I need to buy up more top-tier Dao Artifact materials and immortal artifact materials. As for Pure Yang Grand Pills and Void Dao Pills, those are no problem at all. The Penglai Dao Lord has funded me quite generously."

"Refining a top-tier Dao Artifact by piling on materials..." Hearing that, Zhen Xuanyuan found the whole deal far more believable.

In the world as it stood, many of the top-tier Dao Artifacts in Dao Lords' hands had been produced exactly that way.

Dao Lords had immense lifespans, and if one such cultivator was willing to spend tens of thousands of years studying artifact refinement and got lucky enough to obtain a piece of primary material for forging an immortal artifact, they could generally refine a top-tier Dao Artifact on their own.

Except even a top-tier Dao Artifact only raised a Dao Lord's combat power by ten or twenty percent, so not every Dao Lord chose to squander tens of thousands of years on artifact refinement.

They preferred seizing every opportunity against the clock, drilling their Dao Techniques, or roaming the starry sky in search of fortune. Because of those differing choices, Dao Lords with top-tier Dao Artifacts were comparatively few.

"I'll have the news sent out at once..." Zhen Xuanyuan said, then paused slightly. "Though it would be best if the Penglai Immortal Sect cooperated on their end as well. If we could get that Dao Lord to speak up alongside us, better still. Otherwise, there may be some trouble."

"Don't worry, the Penglai Dao Lord will be announcing it shortly." Yaoguang thought for a moment. "As for the Central Heaven Dao Lord, I'll bring him the news personally."

He glanced at Zhen Xuanyuan. "I do have the authority to speak with the Central Heaven Dao Lord directly now, don't I?"

"Of course." Zhen Xuanyuan nodded his head slightly. "You may take up the sect master's seal from the Golden Book Venerable right now and take command of every apparatus of the Heavenly Dao Sect, the highest-level communication array art included."