Strength

As the Golden Book of the Great Dao manifested and figures from the Heavenly Dao Sect's upper echelons appeared one after another, the other disciples of the sect were also stirred into commotion. For a time, chatter broke out endlessly among the disciples. "Someone wants to challenge the true disciples of the Eighty-Eight Peaks? Are they out of their mind?" "Yaoguang? I remember everyone in our sect's top ten—even the top hundred—inner disciples, but there's no one by that name at all! What obscure corner did he pop out of?" "Wait, that name rings a bell. Not long ago in Haizhou Prefecture of Great Shang, someone wiped out half the Xi family and slew two Void Piercing Battle Immortals and two Deep Blue Golden Cores... wasn't he called Yaoguang?" "It's not just the commotion in Haizhou Prefecture. Jiang Tianzun, a true disciple of the neighboring Taiyi Immortal Sect, secretly offered a bounty of a million Pure Yang Great Pills for someone by that exact name. If it isn't a mere coincidence, this Yaoguang must truly have some real skill." Inner disciples and even true disciples exchanged remarks back and forth. Summoned by Venerable Golden Book, the true disciples who were free rose one after another and rushed toward the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform. After all, if they did not show up, Venerable Golden Book would treat it as a default forfeiture. None of the true disciples were willing to simply let their reputations become stepping stones for someone else. Naturally, a few true disciples cared nothing for such vanity. To their thinking, if even the top ten true disciples failed to take Yaoguang down, their own presence would be pointless anyway. They simply did not bother wasting their time. Such disciples were in the minority, however. Setting aside those few, as well as those currently in secluded cultivation or away from the sect who could not make it in time, a full forty true disciples arrived at the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform. Looking at the figure brought over by Venerable Golden Book, who had already reached the center of the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform, their eyes filled with surprise. *** "It really is him?!" Outside the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform, Deacon Xiang Yunlong stared at Yaoguang upon the stage, his eyes filled with disbelief. Yaoguang routing a ninth-rank great demon had profoundly shocked him, convincing him that the young man possessed astonishing potential and the makings of a true disciple. Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined Yaoguang would charge at the status of true disciple in such a manner. It was... Crazy did not even begin to describe it. On the other side, the true disciples who had been alerted also wore solemn expressions. Every true disciple was effectively the sovereign of a regional faction and possessed their own intelligence channels. Naturally, they had long known of Yaoguang's glorious battle in Haizhou Prefecture. In particular, the later news that True Disciple Xuan Shuang had fallen by Yaoguang's hand made it impossible for these true disciples to be even slightly careless. For a time, all sorts of thoughts flickered back and forth among the true disciples via divine mind. "Setting aside the Xi family's two Void Piercing Battle Immortals, three Deep Blue Golden Cores alone have fallen by Yaoguang's hand. Among them, we all know Xuan Shuang's strength. His Scarlet Gold Divine Phoenix Body was perfected; had he realized things were dire and focused solely on fleeing, probably no one except Senior Brother Yan Huang and Senior Sister Lingxi would have had absolute certainty of killing him. From this, it is clear that Yaoguang's true strength can rank in the top ten among our Heavenly Dao Sect's eighty-eight true disciples." "It would be unseemly for all of us true disciples to swarm him at once. I think we should select a few representative disciples to fight him... Otherwise, once he becomes a true disciple in the future, wouldn't we have offended him completely?" "I think we should ask Senior Brother Zhang Qing to test the waters first. Once Yaoguang's depth is gauged, Senior Sister Lingxi can strike to decide the match! As for Senior Brother Yan Huang, he will hold the rear to ensure complete certainty." As the true disciples conferred, they quickly reached a consensus. Yuan Miaoyi, Master of the Immortal Lineage, had intended for several dozen true disciples to swarm him together, but... The special status of true disciples meant that even a Lineage Master could not directly issue commands to them. Furthermore, if the Heavenly Dao Sect truly allowed several dozen true disciples to gang up on him... Win or lose, such shameless conduct would deal a massive blow to the Heavenly Dao Sect's reputation. At that moment, a faint pressure carrying the profound power of Dao charm rippled outward from the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform. "The battle for true disciple status begins. Anyone who does not acknowledge Yaoguang's promotion to true disciple may take the stage to challenge him. When no true disciples remain to challenge, it shall be deemed a success, and Yaoguang will automatically be promoted to true disciple." It was Venerable Golden Book speaking. Although this artifact spirit merely acted in accordance with the rules inscribed upon the Golden Book, those rules carried supreme authority within the Heavenly Dao Sect. Even Zong Wenxian, Sect Master of the Heavenly Dao Sect, had no power to override them. The moment he finished speaking, the gaze of every elder and disciple above and below the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform converged upon the group of several dozen true disciples. Having completed their deliberations... Zhang Qing, ranked tenth among the Eighty-Eight Peaks, leaped into the air and transformed into a streak of flowing light, descending straight onto the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform. "Junior Brother Yaoguang... or perhaps I'll soon have to call you Senior Brother Yaoguang. You have certainly stirred up quite a massive storm, brother." Zhang Qing smiled and cupped his hands toward Yaoguang. Facing a prodigy of boundless potential with whom he held no blood feud, he naturally would not offer any verbal offense. "I was forced into this by circumstance. Jiang Tianzun of the Taiyi Immortal Sect pressed me aggressively, and elders of our own sect colluded with him. I had no choice but to attain the status of true disciple through this method to break the deadlock," Yaoguang said. As this concerned sect elders, Zhang Qing was unwilling to comment further lest he be drawn into the vortex. He simply cupped his hands and said, "In that case, for the sake of the Heavenly Dao Sect's true disciple standing, forgive my offense." Yaoguang smiled faintly. Since the true disciples of the Eighty-Eight Peaks did not plan on challenging him one by one, he had no intention of playing the pig to eat the tiger either. With a thought, the phantom of a Deep Blue Golden Core surfaced behind him. Like a blue sun ascending into the sky, it instantly engulfed the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform across a radius of dozens of li. Because the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform soared into the clouds like a sharp sword piercing the firmament, the phantom of the Deep Blue Golden Core, spanning hundreds of li, entirely enfolded the summit. Viewed from afar, it looked like a great sun crowning a mountain peak, illuminating heaven and earth and bathing even the sea of clouds surrounding the mountain in a deep, radiant azure. As the phantom of this Deep Blue Golden Core manifested, its unbelievable stability and density formed a terrifying force field that continuously radiated outward. In a daze, the crowd felt as though they were gazing not upon an azure star, but rather upon a primal cavern manifested by a Void Piercing Battle Immortal. Leave alone Zhang Qing standing directly before Yaoguang—even Lingxi and Yan Huang, who had not taken the stage, underwent a drastic change of expression. "Such momentum... Even a Void Piercing Battle Immortal would be nothing more than this, wouldn't they?" "Rumors outside claimed Yaoguang only killed the Xi family's two Void Piercing Battle Immortals after long premeditation, but looking at this now... that may not have been the case! With such strength, as long as his void attainment is slightly higher, he could very well capture a Void Piercing Battle Immortal's primal cavern frequency during an engagement and kill them in a single strike." "Theoretically, a Void Piercing Battle Immortal's combat power can reach up to 10,000,000, but that refers to when they stake everything and burn their very essence. In conventional combat, so long as that Void Piercing Battle Immortal harbors even a shred of hope for survival, their output only reaches 3,000,000 to 4,000,000. With that level of combat power... they might not be able to kill Yaoguang in a very short window!" If a Void Piercing Battle Immortal could not kill a Deep Blue Golden Core in short order, the one to die would be himself. "I have a sword strike. Please appraise it." Having manifested his Deep Blue Golden Core and effortlessly warped the void through its power, Yaoguang swung the Swimming Dragon Sword in his hand. It turned into a streak of golden light, smoothly driving ripples in the void to form a sweeping void tsunami that came crashing down. Back when he was still an Incandescent White Golden Core, executing his Sky-Cleaving Strike relied entirely on his Child of the Void talent to seek out void ripples, push them into a void tsunami, and then condense the tsunami's force into a single point before blasting it downward. Now, however... Having cultivated a supergiant-form Deep Blue Golden Core so stable and dense it bordered on a miniature primal cavern, he could fully proclaim—he was the tsunami. Rumble! Guided by the Swimming Dragon Sword, the void ripples crashed downward with a roar. That vast momentum, making one feel as though they were facing a direct strike from a Void Piercing Battle Immortal, caused Zhang Qing's face to pale drastically. A supreme divine ability?! This was practically a supreme divine ability on the verge of metamorphosing into a Dao technique, was it not? If he were given a Dao artifact, this supreme divine ability would immediately possess the might of a Dao technique, enough to threaten a genuine Void Piercing elder! The next instant, Zhang Qing opened his mouth and spat out a fierce sword light that shot straight into the high heavens, carrying a sharpness that tore through all things in the void as it slammed violently against the Sky-Cleaving Strike. A supreme divine ability—Taibai Void-Shattering Lightning-Transforming Sword Qi. The sharpness demonstrated by this supreme divine ability was enough to shatter even the Scarlet Gold Divine Phoenix Body cultivated by Xuan Shuang with a single sword strike. Yet when it collided with Yaoguang's thundering, crushing Sky-Cleaving Strike, it was like a sandcastle before a tsunami, instantly snuffed out and shattered to pieces. After obliterating the sword qi, the force of the Sky-Cleaving Strike continued crashing down with barely any diminution. Seeing this, Zhang Qing, who bore the brunt of the attack, turned deathly pale. The disparity was simply too immense. Such a gap... It was far too vast. There was simply no fighting this. "I forfeit! I forfeit!" the true disciple shouted without hesitation. With a flash of sword light, his body shot wildly away from the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform. At the same time, radiant light swirled across the Heavenly Dao Sword Platform as the numerous formations upon it activated one by one, instantly neutralizing the spatial force contained in the Sky-Cleaving Strike. Taking advantage of the moment, Yaoguang waved his hand, and the Swimming Dragon Sword flew back into his grasp. "Thank you for yielding," he said calmly, then turned his gaze toward the dozens of true disciples. "Who is next?" The moment those words were spoken, all the true disciples fell completely silent. They had seen the might of the supreme divine ability Yaoguang had just displayed; it had already exceeded the bounds of a normal supreme divine ability. Calling it a quasi-Dao technique was not an exaggeration in the slightest. Zhang Qing had been defeated in a single exchange. If someone else took his place... The crowd's gaze could not help but fall upon Lingxi and Yan Huang. "Senior Sister Lingxi..." someone beside Lingxi whispered. Before he could finish, Lingxi suddenly remarked, "He possesses a special constitution." At those words, the people around her were startled. A special constitution?! In the path of cultivation, there was the matter of spirit roots, divided into four grades: inferior, medium, superior, and zenith. However, on Beihai Star, pill-based cultivation was wildly popular, and with wondrous pills like Pure Yang Great Pills that possessed virtually no pill toxins, the disparity in spirit roots had been minimized to the utmost. Yet a special constitution was different! Almost every special constitution could resonate with a particular Great Dao. Those blessed with such talent might not display extraordinary prowess during the Golden Core stage, but once they began cultivating Dao techniques, they were bound to achieve twice the result with half the effort, advancing by leaps and bounds. "A spatial-type special constitution," Lingxi said. "With such a constitution, once he advances to the Void Piercing Realm, he is bound to shine with immense brilliance. Moreover, given the combat power he just displayed... even if I went up, I might not win. Rather than that, it is better to forge a good relationship." She smiled faintly. "I won't go up and make a fool of myself."