Over the next leg of their journey, Yaoguang deliberately released some of the aura of his Incandescent White Golden Core, and their flight indeed proceeded much more smoothly.
Even when passing factions locked in life-and-death struggles, those combatants broke off their battles the moment they sensed his presence from afar. Abandoning their pursuits to wipe out their rivals, they scattered in panic, not daring to cross paths with Yaoguang at all.
"The Sea of Chaos truly lives up to its name. How long have we been flying? We've already encountered no fewer than five skirmishes. And that's with me displaying the cultivation of an Incandescent White Golden Core to nip potential threats in the bud. If we were truly just two Crimson Golden Cores—or worse, merely in the Constant Light realm—even without running into terrible weather, we could never hope to cross the Sea of Chaos alive."
Yaoguang remarked with a sigh.
Beside him, Xu Nianhua nodded in profound agreement.
On Beihai Star, reaching the Core Formation realm was already considered a mark of accomplishment, serving as the benchmark for securing an official post in Great Shang. Those in the Heavenly Fire and Constant Light realms could already be considered minor experts.
Within Great Shang's hierarchy, while that might not guarantee high status and great authority, living a comfortable, leisurely life was easy enough.
In a remote frontier city, one could even head a small department.
As for reaching the Crimson Golden Core, that went without saying; such cultivators were considered mid-level figures in Great Shang, and the lords of some small cities possessed no more than this level of cultivation.
Yet in the Sea of Chaos, such strength offered not the slightest security. Anyone traveling alone at that level became the easiest target to hunt—neither overwhelmingly powerful nor completely penniless, usually possessing a tidy sum of assets.
They flew onward, and midway through their journey, Yaoguang seemed to sense something.
He turned his divine mind toward a fleet of ships that appeared to have just finished a raid, returning laden with plunder.
The banners flying from the fleet...
Black dragon banners?!
The Black Dragon Pirates?
As Yaoguang's divine mind detected the fleet, someone aboard the ships also noticed the pair's presence through some unknown means.
Yaoguang keenly felt a thread of divine mind probing in his direction.
Though extremely subtle, he could still sense the malice within it.
The owner of this divine mind, like him, was an Incandescent White Golden Core.
Upon feeling Yaoguang's deliberately projected aura—identical to his own Incandescent White Golden Core level—that Golden Core cultivator withdrew his divine mind.
Seeing this, Yaoguang pulled his divine mind back as well.
Yet just as he did so, that same divine mind probed back in an even more stealthy fashion, unexpectedly planting a tracking mark on Xu Nianhua beside him.
Had Yaoguang's divine mind realm not been just one step shy of a True Spirit—merely needing to grasp the shift between illusion and reality to refine the void into substance—he might not even have noticed the mark's existence.
It was a beacon used for navigation and pursuit.
After mulling it over for a brief moment, Yaoguang let out a cold chuckle of amusement.
The contact between their divine minds had effectively been an implicit clash.
In such an encounter, Yaoguang had assumed that as fellow Incandescent White Golden Cores, they held mutual wariness; having brushed past one another, both sides would withdraw and mind their own business.
Yet in the eyes of that Black Dragon Pirate Golden Core...
Minding one's own business meant Yaoguang was wary.
And being wary proved that Yaoguang was, at most, at the same level as him.
The same level...
Then he could be robbed!
At most, the pirate simply lacked the numbers at the moment and needed to muster more hands.
Leaving such an obscure mark on Xu Nianhua made his malice plain as day.
"As expected, on Beihai Star—especially in a place like the Sea of Chaos—the greatest danger is never the harsh environment or extreme weather. It is people! Hell is other people!"
He turned his divine mind back toward the fleet.
'The Black Dragon Pirates are considered one of the largest pirate forces in the Sea of Chaos. Their chief, Tong Yan, ranks fifth on the bounty board. Having formed an Azure Blue Golden Core, he is a figure with a thirty to forty percent chance of breaking through to the Void Piercing Realm. Over the years, he has frantically plundered resources to exchange for Dao pills and charge into the Void Piercing Realm. Still, because he has sharp eyes and avoids the top factions, his bounty isn't as absurd as Gu Zhenyi's, but it's still worth three hundred thousand Pure Yang Great Pills!'
Information about this outfit flashed through Yaoguang's mind.
Tong Yan's recorded combat power on paper was 760,000.
However, for the chief of a pirate band capable of roaming freely in the Sea of Chaos for over a century, one didn't even need to guess to know he possessed hidden trump cards.
Such people were not within Yaoguang's intended hunting targets.
However...
An Incandescent White Golden Core!
A lieutenant who was at most a second or third chief actually dared to target him?
"Follow behind and clean up the battlefield," Yaoguang instructed beneath Xu Nianhua's puzzled gaze. He then leaped into the air, transforming into a golden sword light that shot straight toward the fleet.
Aboard the fleet, the Third Chief, an Incandescent White Golden Core cultivator, appeared to have withdrawn his divine mind, but in truth he had never lowered his guard against Yaoguang.
He had already sent word to the First Chief.
An Incandescent White Golden Core...
Especially an isolated one who flew no sect banner—other factions might not dare provoke him, but if the Black Dragon Pirates decided to rob him, they would rob him.
If one feared death, one wouldn't become a pirate.
Under these circumstances, when he noticed Yaoguang suddenly veer and fly toward his position, the Third Chief was taken aback.
In his caution, he gave an order: "A fish dared slip right to our doorstep? Count him unlucky! Jiang'er, there's a little fish over there. Take a squad, rob them, leave no survivors, and keep the loot."
"Yes, Foster Father."
The Radiant Sun Golden Core named by the chief acknowledged the command and quickly led his squad into the air, flying toward the indicated direction.
Meanwhile, the Third Chief himself took to flight under the pretense of scouting ahead, distancing himself from the fleet.
"Think you can run?"
The Boundary-Crossing Ruler glowed around Yaoguang. As he executed the supreme divine ability, the Nine Transformations of Heavenly Walk, a single bound brought him directly before the squad led by the Radiant Sun Golden Core. Before they could even react, the Swimming Dragon Sword stirred ripples across the void, darting like a golden swimming dragon through space to pierce clean through the Radiant Sun Golden Core and six Crimson Golden Cores in an instant. Immediately after, Yaoguang leaped forward again, giving chase to the Third Chief.
"Not good!"
Seeing Yaoguang strike with explosive lethality, the Third Chief was scared out of his wits.
Especially when the corner of his eye caught the reading on his combat power detector instantly skyrocketing, frightening him into activating a forbidden art without hesitation, causing his flight speed to surge dramatically.
Yaoguang's divine mind locked onto the Incandescent White Golden Core.
Yet as he swept over the Black Dragon Pirate fleet, the Swimming Dragon Sword split from one into two, two into four, four into sixteen, and sixteen into two hundred and fifty-six beams of sword light. Like a golden storm, they bombarded every Radiant Sun Golden Core, Crimson Golden Core, and Constant Light realm cultivator in the fleet below.
Among the Radiant Sun Golden Cores, experienced fighters had already sensed something was amiss when they saw the Third Chief suddenly fly off.
Seeing the onslaught of golden sword light, they immediately leaped into the air, attempting to flee the battlefield.
However...
The golden sword lights formed by the Swimming Dragon Sword were too fast.
They seemed to ignore the barrier of empty space, arriving instantaneously.
Even though these Golden Cores detected the mortal danger through their wealth of combat experience, no matter how they dodged and maneuvered, they could only watch in terror as the sky full of golden rays pierced through their bodies one by one.
In the end, they were despairingly incinerated into cinders by the terrifying heat imbued within the sword light.
Having spent a brief moment eliminating this group of cultivators, Yaoguang accelerated once more.
Empowered by the Boundary-Crossing Ruler and the Nine Transformations of Heavenly Walk, even though crushing the fleet had cost him a bit of time, the distance between them continued to close.
'How can he be this strong...? We're both Incandescent White Golden Cores, so how can he be so terrifyingly powerful?! Which sect's true disciple is this?!'
The Third Chief fled in sheer panic.
At this moment, he realized beyond a doubt that he had kicked an iron plate.
To erupt with such frightful combat power at the Incandescent White Golden Core realm meant he unquestionably possessed a supreme divine ability.
And the privilege to cultivate a supreme divine ability...
Was the hallmark of true disciples from top sects!
When true disciples from great sects went up against rogue cultivators like them at the Incandescent White Golden Core stage, slaughtering across realms or obliterating peers was far from an empty boast.
'Damn it! I thought our base was nearby, and on top of that, this Incandescent White Golden Core didn't display the slightest air of arrogance, completely lacking the demeanor of a great sect's true disciple. He looked like an easy mark delivered right to my doorstep, which is why I planned to rally my brothers to take him down. Who would have thought...'
The Third Chief cursed inwardly.
*You're a true disciple of a great sect—when your divine mind met mine, what did you mean by backing away so "fearfully"?!*
*Shouldn't you have barked an aloof 'Insolent!' and ordered me to slap my own mouth and apologize?*
*Then I could have slapped my cheeks twice, heaped on a bit of flattery, given you face as a great sect's true disciple, and let the matter drop with no harm done!*
*And yet...*
*You completely discarded the script?!*
Seeing Yaoguang closing in behind him, he gritted his teeth as his Incandescent White Golden Core shuddered violently, showing signs of localized collapse.
This collapsing impact triggered a violent surge of energy that spiked the speed of his forbidden movement art, barely matching Yaoguang's velocity.
However, this method of collapsing one's own Incandescent White Golden Core to convert it into raw energy clearly inflicted severe trauma upon the cultivator.
Even if the Third Chief managed to make it back alive, his vital vitality would be critically depleted.
Yet when fleeing for one's life...
No measure was too extreme.
One in front and one behind, the two streaked through the air as golden flashes, covering over a thousand li in no time.
And right at that moment, a vast, surging aura rolled in from the horizon.
Accompanied by it were what seemed to be five energy fluctuations of the same tier as the Third Chief's.
However, three of them were visibly unstable.
Sensing these auras, an ecstatic joy of having escaped death surged into the Third Chief's eyes. His divine mind erupted, carrying his voice across a thousand li: "Big Brother, save me!"
At the same time, he pushed his forbidden art even more recklessly, seeking only to hold out until the moment he could rendezvous with the First Chief.
"The Black Dragon Pirates?!"
Yaoguang frowned. 'How could they be so fast?!'
He quickly realized that this fleet had apparently just completed a raid.
And after completing a raid, what would they do?
Naturally, return to base.
Could it be...
The Black Dragon Pirates' stronghold was right nearby?
After all, these pirate bands relocated their headquarters every few days; no faction truly knew where they were.
It was not impossible that bad luck had caused him to stumble right into the Black Dragon Pirates' nest.
The Black Dragon Pirates...
Tong Yan was a figure with a combat power as high as 760,000...
After a moment, however, Yaoguang shook his head.
"Since I'm already here."
He looked up, his gaze fixing on the six surging auras bearing down on them. "In that case, I might as well wipe out the Black Dragon Pirates. With that bounty of three hundred thousand Pure Yang Great Pills, achieving an Azure Blue Golden Core will become that much easier."
Chapter 286