Packing their belongings would take time for the Fang clan.
Yaoguang boarded the Void Disk with Fang Yueming and a small contingent of Fang clan elites, setting off directly toward the Yunxiao Sword Sect.
Only after boarding the Void Disk did Fang Yueming realize that Yaoguang and his companions did not represent an established local powerhouse. From their appearance, they seemed to have just migrated from one of the neighboring Great Worlds.
Upon learning this, however, Fang Yueming grew even more delighted.
Such external factions were exceptionally common on Beihai Star. Arriving in unfamiliar territory, they almost invariably sought to recruit local forces. Most migrants were ordinary, rather weak groups that had merely been fortunate enough to slip past the outer star bandits; their strongest members were often cultivators claiming to be at Soul Transformation whose true combat strength fell short of even a Radiant Sun Golden Core. Yet the faction the Fang clan had pledged themselves to this time was clearly formidable.
One could glean as much from the casual disregard they showed toward the Yunxiao Sword Sect, an organization led by an Incandescent White Golden Core.
If the Fang clan could seize this opportunity, their future would undoubtedly flourish. Reaching Constant Light would be a modest milestone, and even condensing a Crimson Golden Core would no longer be an idle dream. Over years of accumulation, if they could groom a cultivator under the age of sixty to form a Crimson Golden Core and join a pinnacle faction, the Fang clan would make a leap in social standing in one fell swoop.
After all, once a cultivator achieved a Crimson Golden Core and joined such an elite sect, they could claim the status of disciple. With that prestige alone, anyone who crossed their path would have to yield. The clan would truly rise from the lowest rungs of Beihai Star, possessing an identity that commanded respect rather than remaining an insignificant force whose name no one bothered to remember after its destruction.
***
As the Void Disk soared, they spotted numerous towns and faction settlements along the way. Compared to Huaigu City, these settlements were quite substantial, typically sustained by a single cultivation family or a cluster of families banding together for survival.
During the flight, Fang Yueming shared insightful observations of the terrain. "The Yunchuan Mountain Range spans three hundred thousand li. Its vast expanse rivals several provinces of the Dashang Immortal Dynasty. However, demons run rampant across much of it, and there are dead lands warped by the influence of Beihai Star itself. The only truly habitable regions are the east, south, and west, comprising a total of one hundred and three cities. Each city houses between ten thousand and one hundred thousand cultivators, bringing the total cultivation population to around four million..."
Yaoguang listened in silence.
He understood that when Fang Yueming referred to "cultivators," he meant those who had successfully completed Foundation Establishment. Those without Foundation Establishment were disregarded in the tallies of every faction except specialized forces like the Six Demonic Sects.
The only reason the Six Demonic Sects bothered counting mortals was that they were useful for refining treasures such as Myriad Soul Banners and Blood Demon Banners. To them, mortals were considered a viable resource. Many bandits stormed and pillaged cities solely to slaughter mortals, reap souls, or capture populations for the slave trade.
Because of an immortal-demon war that had broken out three hundred years ago and was only now winding down, the demonic path had been forced to contract its territory. As the mortal population under their control dwindled, the cost of cultivation materials like Myriad Soul Pearls had surged to ten thousand spirit stones, leaving many demonic cultivators lamenting that they could no longer afford them.
Anticipating this shortfall, the larger factions had long backed proxies beyond Beihai Star to plunder populations from neighboring Great Worlds and secure cultivation resources. The war between the Moon Demon Empire and the Cangwu Great World had erupted under precisely these conditions.
*Mortals...*
Yaoguang pondered the thought, sweeping his divine sense across the town below.
Beneath them were roughly thirty cultivators alongside more than a thousand mortals who had yet to establish a foundation. These people lived within the protective perimeter of a formation. Unless they attained Foundation Establishment, they would likely never step outside that safe boundary their entire lives.
Could beings who lacked even the right to walk the earth freely under the open sky truly be regarded by cultivators as fellow creatures? By the same token, would cultivators who had formed a core and enjoyed a millennium of life care deeply about Foundation Establishment or Unity Realm cultivators who lived only a century or two? If they invested genuine emotion, going away on a journey only to return and find those acquaintances dead of old age would bring nothing but sorrow. Over time, Golden Core cultivators naturally lost the inclination to invest anything in those at Foundation Establishment or Unity.
Similarly, a Crimson Golden Core could crush hundreds or thousands of ordinary Golden Cores like ants. In their presence, lesser cultivators had to tread on eggshells, plagued by unease; why would such a superior being associate with them? Without interaction, even if an acquainted Golden Core perished, the Crimson Golden Core cultivator would feel little emotion. People rarely empathized with beings they neither knew nor engaged with.
This held true for cultivators, for Golden Cores, and likewise for Void Piercing Realm experts who enjoyed lifespans of ten thousand years. It had long ceased to be a division of social class; it was a divergence of species.
Even among ordinary mortals sharing the same hundred-year lifespan, those at the pinnacle of power looked upon the lives of the lower classes with cool detachment. How much more aloof would peak cultivators be toward what was practically an entirely different species? Expecting them to care about the lives of ordinary people was as fanciful as expecting an ordinary mortal to fret over the livelihood of an ant colony on the hill behind their house.
*In places with established order, high-level cultivators maintain some degree of restraint toward ordinary people. But the cutthroat competition of Beihai Star amplifies coldness and malice to their absolute limits... In ancient eras of war, rulers held power over life and death; why would it be any different now?*
Yaoguang steadily adjusted his outlook. Since he had arrived on Beihai Star, he had to compel himself to accept its rules. At least until he gained the authority to set them.
***
After less than an hour of flight on the Void Disk, Fang Yueming respectfully spoke up. "Perfected Yaoguang, the Yunxiao Sword Sect lies just ahead. Their scouts have almost certainly detected us by now..."
"Understood," Yaoguang replied. Then, sending a voice transmission to Li Hanqiu, he said, "True Monarch, the rest is in your hands."
"Very well."
Li Hanqiu gave a slight nod.
Relying on the Realm Stabilizing Ring, his combat prowess fell short of a true Void Piercing Realm expert, but dealing with an Incandescent White Golden Core was effortless. His figure vaulted into the sky, crossing the distance in a few rapid shifts to appear directly above the Yunxiao Sword Sect.
The Yunxiao Sword Sect had already activated its mountain-protecting formation the moment it sensed a colossal object like the Void Disk approaching. Radiant light swirled across the barrier, sealing off the core grounds of the sect. As for the cultivators and outlying settlements surrounding the perimeter, the sect abandoned them without a second thought in the face of imminent peril.
Upon Li Hanqiu's arrival, Long Wuyin, the Supreme Elder of the Yunxiao Sword Sect, cupped his hands in greeting from within the formation. "I wonder which True Immortal graces our Yunxiao Sword Sect with their presence? Forgive our failure to welcome you properly."
Without pause, he added, "Our sect is currently locked in battle against our rival, the Xuanguang Sect, and we cannot invite you inside for hospitality. Please favor us with your esteemed name; once the war concludes, the Yunxiao Sword Sect will surely prepare generous gifts and come to your door to apologize."
His conduct was impeccably polite.
Li Hanqiu offered no reply. He simply extended a hand and pointed at the protective formation spanning a hundred li.
The next instant, ripples of warped space capable of tearing all creation apart unfurled from his fingertip, crashing against the grand mountain-protecting formation.
Under the impact of this spatial distortion, the barrier—sturdy enough to withstand an Azure Blue Golden Core for a short time—shattered like paper, violently shaking before disintegrating in less than a single breath.
The moment the formation shattered, countless Yunxiao Sword Sect elders anchoring the barrier coughed up blood, and numerous structures serving as the formation's foundation collapsed. Within the shattered defenses, the lingering trace of cunning in Long Wuyin's eyes was instantly swallowed by despair.
"Void Piercing!"
He had originally considered that if the intruder were mediocre or evenly matched with him, he would sacrifice the entire sect if necessary to seize the clearly extraordinary treasure behind the man. But the moment Li Hanqiu struck, the sheer display of terror—power that should not exist at this stage—crushed every shred of hope.
Amid panicked, despairing screams, the Incandescent White Golden Core cultivator lacked even an ounce of courage to stand against Li Hanqiu. As the formation collapsed, he dissolved into a sword light, fleeing into the distance at full speed.
Sect?
Disciples?
Kin?
None of it mattered!
At this moment, his only desire was to put as much distance as humanly possible between himself and this Void Piercing figure. After hurtling through the sky on his sword, a crimson glow surged over his body as he resorted to a forbidden escape art, fleeing desperately for his life.
Unfortunately, the chasm between them was simply too wide.
Before a Void Piercing cultivator, an Incandescent White Golden Core was helpless. Even the absolute top Azure Blue Golden Core true disciples from the Ten Immortal Sects could scarcely turn the tables. Anyone capable of preserving their life before a genuine Void Piercing expert would be hailed as a once-in-ten-thousand-years genius.
Li Hanqiu did not even shift his stance. Channelling the power of the void, he projected a gravitational force rivaling that of a primal cavern directly onto Long Wuyin.
Then, he made a tearing motion in midair.
"No! Mercy...! The Yunxiao Sword Sect will gladly serve you as loyal hounds...!"
A shriek of pure terror tore from the Supreme Elder's throat.
The next instant, his entire body was twisted and pulverized beneath the primal cavern-level gravity. Even though his Incandescent White Golden Core flared with dazzling brilliance in its final moments, buffeting the terrifying pull, the intense heat and blinding light could not escape the gravitational grasp. After flickering briefly, it was swallowed by the primal cavern's force.
He died on the spot.
The stray gravitational aftermath swept across the land like a tidal wave, ripping soil and trees from the ground across a radius of a hundred li and flinging them into the void. The atmosphere and omnipresent spiritual energy formed a colossal vortex pulled by the gravity, threatening to overturn the skies for hundreds of li around.
Yet as the glare and heat from Long Wuyin's self-destructing Golden Core were snuffed out into nothingness, those disturbances subsided as well.
A void spanning a hundred li in diameter had opened in the vault of heaven.
Considering that the Nine Cauldrons Sect needed to borrow the Yunxiao Sword Sect's territory for temporary encampment, Li Hanqiu did not let the destructive forces run wild. As the gravitational pull contracted violently, the blast of the self-destructed Incandescent White Golden Core was compressed by the primal cavern force into a single white speck, until it was crushed into complete extinction. He had even reined in his power, ensuring that the Yunxiao Sword Sect's mountain gate was not swallowed whole.
*Void Piercing level power...*
Yaoguang sighed inwardly.
At this moment, he suddenly grasped why the Battle Immortal path endured on Beihai Star despite its glaring flaws. The growth in combat power was simply too swift. A year ago, Li Hanqiu's cultivation had been inferior to his own, yet now, the man had left him far behind.
While Yaoguang had been somewhat prepared mentally, Fang Yueming—having just witnessed the unmitigated release of Void Piercing power with his own eyes—had only one thought left in his head.
*We struck gold! The Fang clan... is going to make it big!*
Chapter 271