The Pact

"We will renegotiate the pact forbidding Golden Cores from interfering in the Cangwu Great World." Yaoguang turned his gaze toward Qiao An with a faint, half-mocking smile. The faces of Qiao An, Zhan Ke, Lu Xi, Miller, and the other Golden Cores looked rather grim. Yet beneath the sullen expressions lay an unparalleled gravity. "Then let us sign it. We'll return to the Cangwu Great World first. However..." Yaoguang paused briefly. "I am merely a Crimson Golden Core. If you wish to restrict me, shouldn't other Crimson Golden Core-level powers be restricted as well?" "Though you possess a Crimson Golden Core, you..." To the side, Lu Xi opened his mouth to object. Yet Yaoguang seemed to recall something and added another comment: "Moreover, this Golden Core of mine is merely an external core; it cannot truly even be counted as a genuine Crimson Golden Core. Therefore, not only must the power of other Crimson Golden Cores be restricted, but the strength of Star Gods and divine beasts must also be bound and brought under this agreement. Otherwise, I would find it hard not to suspect that you are deliberately targeting me alone." These words caused the hearts of the Golden Cores from the two great immortal sects to sink. Still, when they reflected on the strength Yaoguang had displayed in this battle... No matter what, they had to drag him into signing this pact. Otherwise, with an anomaly like him threatening to transcend the boundaries of the board, the game across the Cangwu Great World could no longer be played. "Then let us convene a Cangwu Conference and have all member factions attend to jointly negotiate this brand-new pact," Qiao An said. His attitude was resolute. "Very well," Yaoguang said calmly. "However, please make haste. Moving forward, I intend to accelerate my cultivation to complete the forging of a third-order Star God body as soon as possible." The moment these words left his mouth, the sense of urgency pressing on Qiao An, Lu Xi, and the others tightened by another degree. After a brief negotiation, the four factions quickly parted ways. Yaoguang traveled alongside Li Hanqiu's contingent, while the Myriad Beasts Sect departed as their own group. Meanwhile, Miller, Zhan Ke, and their companions traveled with Lu Xi and Qiao An. Before long, their group rendezvoused with Feng Ao and Lin Deng. Of those two Dharma Idols, one remained on full alert while the other maintained a small-scale Virtual Spirit Realm. Inside this Virtual Spirit Realm, more than a dozen Golden Cores from the Wuji Astral Palace and the Immortal Alliance had already gathered. The moment they sensed the incoming divine sense ripples from the group, they immediately pressed with questions: "What on earth happened?! How could the two of you Golden Cores join hands and still lose?!" "Did my eyes deceive me, or was our perception clouded by the Nine Cauldrons Sect's Dharma Idol?! Is that Yaoguang truly so formidable that he could defeat both of you at once?!" "This defies logic! We are all Radiant Sun Golden Cores who took unconventional paths. By what right does Yaoguang possess such means? Could it be... that he truly obtained the complete legacy of Beihai Star and mastered it to success?!" One Golden Core True Person after another broadcast their divine sense. Though they had not been present on the battlefield, they had witnessed the events on Planet 6713 through various means. Every single transmission was laced with disbelief. The outcome of this battle... It completely overturned decades of accumulated understanding. To claim it had rewritten the recent history of the Cangwu Great World would be no exaggeration. Hearing the relentless inquiries, Miller and Zhan Ke were reluctant to dwell on the subject, but they had to face reality. After exchanging a look, Miller spoke first: "I am ninety percent certain that Yaoguang has indeed obtained the complete legacy of Beihai Star. Otherwise, there is no explaining how he could cultivate all three paths simultaneously and advance each to such a level!" Zhan Ke followed up, "Yaoguang's raw strength isn't exceptionally great... of course, it isn't weak either. Relying on the bursts of power his physique can freely endure and the precise control his divine mind exerts over his strength, he can barely match us Radiant Sun Golden Cores. But... the stability of our Golden Cores is far too poor. Once a battle drags out and our cores lose balance, only defeat and death await us. Exploiting this exact flaw, Yaoguang developed a secret art tailored to unravel Golden Core stability, instantly plunging us into a severely disadvantaged position." These words left the assembled Golden Cores staring at one another in silence. Miller endorsed the assessment: "Zhan Ke speaks the truth. Unless one of us completely disregards the state of our Golden Core and unleashes full power right from the start in a suicidal bid to perish together, we cannot defeat him! Facing him alone, two together, or even three at once will make no difference! He needs only to fight while retreating, and he can drag every one of us until our Golden Cores spiral out of control!" "If we unleash full power right from the start... can we kill him?" a Golden Core asked at that moment. Miller fell silent for a time. Only after a long while did he reply, "If he perceives our determination to fight to the death and turns to flee... I cannot guarantee it." An uproar broke out across the field. What did Miller's words imply?! They meant that even if one of their Golden Cores went all out, resolved to die alongside him, they might not even have a guaranteed chance of dragging him down to the grave! Yaoguang possessed the ability to slay them, yet even if they threw their lives away, they might not take him with them. The nature of such a threat... That changed everything completely! "How could this be..." "Damn it, just how does that Yaoguang cultivate?! How could the Nine Cauldrons Sect foster such a monster?!" "This likely has nothing to do with how he cultivates; he simply happened to acquire the Beihai Star legacy before we did!" Every Golden Core felt the immense pressure radiating from Yaoguang's existence. The weight was so suffocating... It seemed poised to shatter the longstanding balance of the Cangwu Great World. "We should unite and demand that he make the cultivation methods of Beihai Star public! Such arts should benefit all cultivators; they shouldn't belong to him alone!" a Golden Core from the Immortal Alliance asserted. "Indeed! The reason he obtained the Beihai Star arts must be that some senior transmitted them ahead of time, yet he kept them for himself. Such conduct is utterly shameless!" a Golden Core from the Wuji Astral Palace chimed in. Hearing these words, Qiao An, Lu Xi, Zhan Ke, Miller, and the others frowned. Already in a foul mood after losing all his spirit treasures, Zhan Ke could not resist snapping back, "And what if he refuses to hand them over? Which of us will step forward and force him? Will you?" That single question choked off both Golden Cores from the Wuji Astral Palace and Immortal Alliance. What a joke. Miller had already stated that even if they threw caution to the wind and staked their lives from the very beginning, they were not certain to kill him. In that case, whoever stepped forward would simply be the first to die. And worse... That was not even the most terrifying part. The true nightmare was that if they failed to kill Yaoguang on the first attempt, he would merely need to hide in the shadows and pick off their Golden Cores one by one whenever they were alone... Every Golden Core would live in ceaseless dread. After all, he was also a peak Dharma Idol; concealing his presence and striking from the dark would be child's play for him. "He must be bound by the pact! We must re-sign the agreement that forbids anyone from interfering in the Cangwu Great World!" At this point, Qiao An once again emphasized the severe threat Yaoguang posed to the balance of the Cangwu Great World. This time, no one raised an objection. "Indeed. If he does not act by the rules, the destruction he could inflict upon the entire Cangwu Great World would be catastrophic." "If he demands that Crimson Golden Cores, Star Gods, and divine beasts be included within the scope of the pact, we shall do as he says." "This Yaoguang... cannot be treated as an ordinary Radiant Sun Golden Core. No amount of caution is excessive." One Golden Core after another voiced their agreement. Immediately, they coordinated their efforts to persuade the factions commanding Crimson Golden Cores, Star Gods, and divine beasts, ensuring they seized the moral high ground first. As long as that righteous pretext held, even if they could not defeat Yaoguang, he would never dare to act with total impunity. After all... In ten to twenty years, the mighty figures from Beihai Star would return. Only then would the dust truly settle. *** In contrast to the heavy hearts weighing upon the Golden Cores of the Immortal Alliance and Wuji Astral Palace, Li Hanqiu's face was bathed in smiles. "Hahaha! Yaoguang, you've far exceeded my expectations! I believed tangling with two Radiant Sun Golden Cores was your absolute limit, yet not only did you defeat them, you did so with such ease... Remarkable! Utterly remarkable!" The emotion carried through his divine sense transmission was lighter and more relaxed than ever before. "The path of the Golden Core in the Cangwu Great World pushed things to an extreme. Although circumstances were unique back then—failing to do so meant the Cangwu Great World faced defeat and annihilation—those compromises left them vulnerable against orthodox cultivators. I merely targeted that exact weakness to intimidate the pair of them, leaving them too wary to act recklessly," Yaoguang remarked. "A win is a win!" Li Hanqiu laughed. "With this single battle, our Nine Cauldrons Sect's prestige has been completely established. From now on, they will never dare to bully us as they please just because they possess superior numbers of Golden Cores, Star Gods, and divine beasts. Naturally, they will surely find ways to restrict you next. After all, you now stand half a realm above those Golden Cores, and they dread you deeply." Yaoguang nodded. "In the end, those Golden Cores possess the power to destroy the Cangwu Great World. If matters ever reach the point of flipping the table, there will be no victors. Therefore, keeping the intensity of our conflicts within certain bounds is necessary. And once the interference of Radiant Sun Golden Cores, Crimson Golden Cores, Star Gods, and divine beasts is removed from the Cangwu Great World, I am confident that with our sect's strength and foundation, defeating all competitors and unifying the Cangwu Great World over the next ten to twenty years will be merely a matter of time." "Indeed." Li Hanqiu smiled broadly. "Our Nine Cauldrons Sect fears no conventional forces, nor do we fear power at the level of Golden Cores, Star Gods, or divine beasts." He looked toward Yaoguang. "The Mystic Origin Creation Technique cultivates essence, qi, and spirit together. Over these years, my physique and nascent spirit have grown, and having now refined the Convergence-Dispersion Ring you provided, the stability of my Golden Core has improved dramatically. Give me another year or two to thoroughly settle its condition using the ring, and entangling three to five Golden Cores will no longer be a difficult task for me." "Oh? That would be ideal," Yaoguang said. If Li Hanqiu could hold down three to five Golden Cores on his own, the Nine Cauldrons Sect would truly stand at the pinnacle of the Cangwu Realm in peak combat power. Just then, Li Hanqiu seemed to receive a message, a subtle shift appearing between his brows. He turned toward Yaoguang. "Yelisa of the Myriad Beasts Sect and several of their Golden Cores wish to speak with us." Hearing this, Yaoguang quickly deduced what they wanted to discuss. He offered a faint smile. "Then let us speak with them. Only a dozen or so years remain; it is time for the situation in the Cangwu Realm to become clear."