Chapter 443: A Congratulatory Gift
"Making me your shield... You really thought things through," the Penglai Dao Lord said with a smile.
"There's no other way. If I announce that we are going to refine a Dao Artifact of that caliber for you and start buying up top-tier Dao Artifact materials, whether or not people believe it, they'll at least give us some face. Otherwise, if I try on my own and the word spreads, I won't be able to acquire a single material," Yaoguang replied.
Materials of that strategic value were the kind many factions hoarded until the day they died. Wanting to buy them was one thing; actually buying them was another.
"Aren't you afraid I'll be unable to resist getting greedy over those hundred-billion-level resources you're carrying?" the Penglai Dao Lord said with a smile.
"I trust that your vision goes further than that." Yaoguang smiled back. "Your goal is to enter the Immortal Realm. Compared to that, a hundred billion is nothing. Even a trillion wouldn't be worth a second glance."
"Alright, stop flattering me. Any more and I'll be embarrassed," the Penglai Dao Lord said, her words bright with laughter.
"I'm only stating the truth," Yaoguang answered, smiling as well.
"This won't affect the refinement of my Dao Artifact, will it?" the Penglai Dao Lord asked.
"Without any accidents, in fifty years I should be asking you to work with me. If all goes smoothly, in sixty years you will have a top-tier Dao Artifact you're satisfied with," Yaoguang said.
"That works." The Penglai Dao Lord paused, then asked curiously, "This is obviously related to your secrets, but... why the sudden urge to buy materials and refine a top-tier Dao Artifact?"
"It has to do with Dao Integration," Yaoguang said. "The more I learn about top-tier Dao Artifacts, the more I realize that an artifact of that kind can, to a certain degree, let a cultivator feel the mysteries of Dao Integration ahead of time. So if I really can refine one or two top-tier Dao Artifacts suited to me, or even an immortal artifact... I imagine it would substantially raise my odds of succeeding at Dao Integration."
"A top-tier Dao Artifact raising the success rate of Dao Integration..." The Penglai Dao Lord considered this for a moment, then said suddenly, "I've never owned a top-tier Dao Artifact myself, but the theory might be reasonable."
She glanced at Yaoguang. "The Heavenly Dao Sect, along with the Taiyi Immortal Sect, Three-Qing Temple, Heavenly Origin Immortal Dynasty, six Immortal Dao factions in all, have almost never had a gap in their Dao Lords. Sometimes two or three Dao Lords appear in the same era. The Three-Qing Temple with its three Dao Lords in one sect is the best example right now. And every single one of those factions, without exception, possesses a semi-immortal artifact!"
In a certain sense, a semi-immortal artifact was nothing more than a top-tier Dao Artifact refined using immortal artifact materials.
"I think the odds are high too, but it would have to mesh perfectly with one's own life-bound Dao Technique," Yaoguang said.
"Life-bound Dao Technique..." As the Penglai Dao Lord turned it over in her mind, she reached out a hand, and formless ripples spread through the void, as though a world were slowly unfolding.
But as the Dao Lord extended her thumb and forefinger, the space between them contracted without pause, and the unfolding world drew rapidly shut along with it. In the end, it became a crystal, clear and lustrous, seeming to hold an entire heaven and earth inside it, resting in her palm.
"This is..." Yaoguang's pupils constricted at the sight of the crystal.
𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"Your life-bound Dao Technique is derived from the Great Dao of void. This is a Guixu Mystic Crystal I obtained from the demon race. It can serve as the primary material for an immortal artifact." The Penglai Dao Lord handed the crystal straight to Yaoguang. "Consider it an early congratulatory gift for your breakthrough to Dao Lord."[1]
Yaoguang took the supreme treasure at once. Put on the market, it would have been worth at least a hundred billion.
He wanted to refuse politely, but...
This Guixu Mystic Crystal, capable of serving as the primary material of an immortal artifact, was simply too important to him. It was like pushing his progress toward Dao Integration from one third straight to two thirds, so there was no way he could actually refuse.
He entirely dropped any pretense and simply said, "Thank you."
"Mhmm. I'll put the word out that I've commissioned you to refine a top-tier Dao Artifact." The Penglai Dao Lord finished, then added, "Though even if you only said you'd try refining one, it's easy to predict that many covetous eyes will be turning your way after this..."
"With you backing me, until I'm confirmed to genuinely have the ability to refine a top-tier Dao Artifact, every Dao Lord will only watch and probe, won't they?" Yaoguang said, then added, "And by the time you ascend, I believe I'll have the strength to handle Dao-Lord-level threats."
Hearing this, the Penglai Dao Lord smiled faintly. "This confident look of yours is what I like to see."
She turned her gaze toward the distant pond where the jade-green leaves stretched to the horizon. "Go and buy what you need. So long as you don't provoke too many Dao Lords into joining hands against you, I can hold off a handful for you. Keeping you alive won't be a problem, at least."
"I've never had the slightest doubt about your strength," Yaoguang said gravely.
"There's always someone stronger, always a taller mountain beyond the mountain. Don't take this title of mine, number one Dao Lord of the North Sea Star, too seriously. Get my Dao Artifact refined as soon as you can, and I'll have an easier time dealing with those Dao Lords when they come probing," the Penglai Dao Lord said, not forgetting to press him.
"You'll hear from me soon." With that, Yaoguang wasted no time and took his leave. The Penglai Dao Lord didn't try keep him.
***
Off to the side, acting sect master Shi Lin listened to the exchange between Yaoguang and her own master, and for a long while, none of it registered.
By the time she fully digested what Yaoguang's words implied, this utterly unremarkable Void-Shattering cultivator couldn't help but stare wide-eyed.
She fell into deep thought. Artifact paragon! That unfathomable artifact paragon of the southern domain is Yaoguang himself?!
A cultivator with barely a hundred-something years of cultivation behind him... and he's not only ranked in the top ten of the Dao Lord Candidates Rankings, but also so exquisitely skilled in artifact refinement that he can produce Dao Artifacts?!
And even then, refining Dao Artifacts would have been one thing! As Master said, never measure a genius by ordinary standards!
But the "problem" is that we're talking about top-tier Dao Artifacts! What Yaoguang and Master's conversation has just implied is that he can refine top-tier Dao Artifacts capable of meaningfully boosting even a Dao Lord's strength!
H-How can this possibly be true?! Even among Dao Lords, refiners who can reach that step are exceedingly rare. And Yaoguang is just a Void-Shattering cultivator!
How can anything so absurd exist?! Does the gap between one person and another really have to widen to the point of overturning everything one believes?! Is there any room left for ordinary people to live at all?!
Only after Yaoguang had taken his leave did Shi Lin barely manage to recover from the shock.
After seeing him off, she returned to the Penglai Dao Lord's residence, and the Void-Shattering cultivator could not hold back. "Master, Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, he..."
"A peerless genius!" The Penglai Dao Lord knew what she wanted to say, and at the same time couldn't help but voice her admiration. "Even more remarkable than I was back in my day. If he fails to become a Dao Lord in the future, that would be a terrible shame."
Shi Lin gasped. Yaoguang is actually that remarkable?! Compared to him, Tai Qingzi and Qin Xianhuang, the ones Master has also quietly helped over the years, are not even in the same class.
"I always thought Master's talent was the finest under heaven. I never imagined this man surpassed even Master..." Shi Lin said it before she could stop herself, not noticing how presumptuous her words were.
The Penglai Dao Lord, however, only smiled without taking offense. "So, do you still have complaints about my decision to choose him as a backup plan for the Penglai Immortal Sect's survival?"
"No." Shi Lin answered at once. "The Penglai Immortal Sect, everything this disciple has, all of it was granted by Master. I have never had a single complaint."
"I believe that's what you really think..." The Penglai Dao Lord turned her head. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said for everyone else."
For a moment, Shi Lin did not know how to respond. Only after a while did she say, "I'll talk to my junior brothers and sisters..."
"No need. Respect other people's fates," the Penglai Dao Lord said calmly. "Didn't the Central Heaven Dao Lord let Perfected Lord Bu Zhou fall at Yaoguang's hands without a word of protest?"
"Uhh..." Shi Lin was at a loss. She had no idea how to answer that.
"Go on. Share the news about the Dao Artifact in my name," the Penglai Dao Lord instructed.
"Yes." Shi Lin answered, bowed, and withdrew.
***
Elsewhere, after finishing his visit to the Penglai Dao Lord, securing protection, and even obtaining the Guixu Mystic Crystal on top of it, Yaoguang headed back toward the Heavenly Dao Sect with a full haul.
On the way, he went through the storage treasure the Penglai Dao Lord had given him earlier. The materials inside were likewise worth hundreds of billions, and many of them could serve as matching auxiliary materials for a top-tier Dao Artifact.
It's a shame. The materials in this treasure amount to payment for that top-tier Dao Artifact, and until I finish refining it, this transaction doesn't count as complete. Even the Guixu Mystic Crystal counts as a congratulatory gift for achieving Dao Integration, so until I actually achieve Dao Integration, it won't fall within the Merchant's calculations either... Yaoguang thought with regret.
Otherwise, if he could have factored in those two hundred billion in returns, the growth progress of the Dao Integration branch would have risen by at least fifteen hundred-thousandths.
While Yaoguang was deep in thought, the warship tore through the sky, heading straight for the Heavenly Dao Sect.
The moment it entered Heavenly Dao Sect territory, the sect's monitoring systems detected its arrival. But when they learned it was Yaoguang returning, the entire Heavenly Dao Sect sprang into motion.
By the time he arrived, not only had Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, and Gu Li come out to receive him, but even Dong Xi, Yuan Xing, and Liao Chen, the supreme elders he had never met before, appeared at the same time, waiting outside the sect-guarding grand array to welcome him.
Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, and Gu Li were familiar faces among them, but the sight of Dong Xi, Yuan Xing, and Liao Chen seemed to remind him of something.
Zong Wenxian had apparently taken those supreme elders and fixed his sights on the Light Divine Race, all for the sake of the cache left by the departed Wheel-Turning Dao Lord. But now...
The cache had already become his spoils, and he had killed off most of the Light Divine Race's divine sovereigns. The matter was settled. He had no idea where Zong Wenxian was at this moment.
At that thought, Yaoguang, who had originally meant to go straight to the Golden Book Venerable and sift through the Heavenly Dao Sect's treasury for top-tier materials, suddenly had no hurry at all.
So when he saw Zhen Xuanyuan approaching with several supreme elders in tow, he asked outright, "Where's Sect Master Zong Wenxian? Has he returned? Send him to see me."
1. Guixu is a location in Chinese mythology where all water, including the Milky Way, flows into a bottomless void. Even as water keeps flowing into it, the amount of water in it never changes. The term is a conglomeration of the characters for "return (to)" and "ruins". In interpretations of Guixu, the xu is sometimes conflated with its homophone, the Daoist concept of xu (虚), or an equilibrium state of emptiness or purity that one achieves through attunement with the Dao. ☜