Consolidation

Heavenly Dao Sect. Nine Cauldrons Peak. The terrifying pressure that had enveloped the summit of the mountain three years ago had grown weaker and weaker, and by now, it had vanished entirely. It was as though a colossal celestial body had slipped directly into another parallel space, no longer able to exert any influence on the existing material world. Such a change... "The grotto-heaven's evolution has reached its peak. What follows is tailoring adjustments to suit my chosen Dao techniques." Yaoguang's figure stood amidst a distortion of void. At first glance, he seemed within arm's reach, but closer observation revealed he appeared to dwell in an entirely different world. "The five divine abilities I cultivated before have also naturally transformed into Dao techniques." As Yaoguang spoke, he glanced down at his body, which was being washed over by streams of starlight. The Starlight Glazed Body, which pointed straight toward the Grand Dao of Stars. A moment later, as if struck by a thought, his figure flickered and reappeared at the edge of the peak. The Dao technique born from the Nine Heavenly Transformations—Void Flicker. As for the remaining three Dao techniques—the Void Sword evolved from Sky-Cleaving Strike, the Taishang Selflessness evolved from Taishang Emotion Severing, and the Kunpeng Sky-Devouring Technique whose name had not changed—he couldn't be bothered to display them one by one. Otherwise, a careless strike from the Void Sword might cleave this entire mountain of his in two. "Now that I've reached the Void Piercing realm, the Swimming Dragon Sword offers very little boost to my strength. In that case... it's time to give it a try." Forming a sword seal with his fingers, Yaoguang summoned the Swimming Dragon Sword, which promptly appeared and circled around him. Sensing the spirituality radiating from the flying sword, he said, "Little fellow, I'm going to bestow a stroke of good fortune upon you. Whether you can grasp it depends on yourself." Gripping the sword, he knew that after so many years of painstaking nurturing, the moment had finally come to test the results. "Artifact refinement... begin." Executing the Entering the Dao divine ability, the dormant Dao rhymes within this top-tier spirit treasure were aroused in the very next moment. The full potential of the Swimming Dragon Sword was laid bare before him. Yet unlike before, when he could only rely on the spirit treasure's own efforts, this time, having achieved Void Piercing, he could pinpoint with absolute precision the void power within the Swimming Dragon Sword... To be exact, the portion belonging to "Void Cleaving." Channeling the power of Void Cleaving, he drew together all the Dao rhymes within the spirit treasure, allowing it to grow and strengthen rapidly. By the time the Dao rhymes of the Swimming Dragon Sword's other materials were completely consumed and devoured, an invisible void blade suddenly burst forth from the weapon. "It succeeded." A faint smile appeared in Yaoguang's eyes. The Swimming Dragon Sword had directly completed its transformation from a top-tier spirit treasure into a Dao artifact. And more than that... It was a Dao artifact perfectly suited for Dao techniques like the Void Sword, which could perform feats such as the Great Void Cleaving. With the Swimming Dragon Sword, the power of this Dao technique in his hands had doubled. Were he to slash down with this sword, not to mention those in the Void Piercing realm, even Void Refining realm masters of the caliber of Peak Masters, Lineage Masters, or Deputy Sect Masters would not dare take it head-on. "This is a means capable of threatening the Void Refining realm." With that, Yaoguang turned his gaze toward the Longxiang Flying Ark... "Unfortunately, the Longxiang Flying Ark is a flight Dao artifact designed for long-distance travel. It doesn't synergize well with a Dao technique like Void Flicker, which demands rapid activation to tear through space. If I want to upgrade an artifact to match Void Flicker, my only option is to work on the Two Realms Ruler. If the Two Realms Ruler can transform into a Dao artifact according to my design, then even if I face a Void Refining expert and can't win, I'll have great confidence in retreating safely." Naturally, this assumed the opponent lacked void-sealing Dao artifacts and had not mastered similar Dao techniques. Even so, his primary focus going forward would remain upgrading the Two Realms Ruler. Pondering this, Yaoguang's gaze fell back upon the Swimming Dragon Sword. Reflecting on the process of the Swimming Dragon Sword transforming into a Dao artifact... A few ideas gradually formed in his mind. "When ordinary artifact refinement masters want to forge a Dao artifact, to say nothing of the time spent gathering materials, the hands-on process from forging to success takes an extraordinarily long time. Depending on their refinement attainments, it often takes decades or even centuries, and in the end, there's always the possibility of failure. Because of this, Dao artifacts are both scarce and exorbitantly expensive. In the entire Heavenly Dao Sect, counting all the Peak Masters, Lineage Masters, and Deputy Sect Masters together, fewer than half possess a Dao artifact..." Of course, some might keep their Dao artifacts secret to hide their true strength, but at most, fifty to sixty percent of Void Refining experts might possess one. Yet this alone demonstrated how precious and rare Dao artifacts were. "Other refinement masters exhaust mind and body to forge a Dao artifact, but I can use Enlightenment on the artifact spirit of a spirit treasure, then employ the Spirit Nourishing Technique and Treasure Refining Technique to let the spirit treasure cultivate on its own. When the time is right, I can take a chance with 'Entering the Dao.' While there is still a chance of failure, with my level-fifteen refinement attainment—capable of forging even top-tier Dao artifacts—the success rate is definitely above fifty percent." Yaoguang weighed the odds. A fifty percent success rate was by no means low. The key was efficiency: it required very little of his time and energy, needing only periodic "nurturing." By this method, he could nurture a top-tier spirit treasure to the threshold of Entering the Dao in just three to five years. Even factoring in the chance of failure from bad luck, eight to ten years would be plenty to produce a Dao artifact. "The cost of a Dao artifact, if I'm frugal, can be compressed to within a million Pure Yang Great Pills. Even if I spend more for greater speed and a higher success rate, the cost would cap out at ten to twenty million Pure Yang Great Pills. But once it transforms into a Dao artifact, it can sell for around a billion. That's a hundredfold profit." A hundredfold profit! Just how much [Merchant] experience would that yield?! At that thought, Yaoguang could hardly sit still. He "looked" at the ancient tree within his spiritual world... The [Pill Refining] branch had finally been unlocked, but for now, it wasn't needed. The revenue from selling Dao artifacts would be more than enough to cover his daily expenses. Besides, progressing from Void Piercing to Void Refining didn't require piling up massive quantities of resources. It was cultivation in the Void Refining stage that demanded immense "quantity." As for Void Shattering... That seemed to be a realm that emphasized "comprehension" once again. One would observe the Three Thousand Grand Daos, elevating their comprehension of the Dao until their lifebound Dao technique reached perfection, then use the Dao seed forged through that lifebound technique to unite with the Dao and become a Dao Lord. With his higher-dimensional perception, Yaoguang had always traversed such realms with relative ease. "Following this trend, Void Refining... will take some time, but once I get through the Void Refining stage, the day I become a Dao Lord shouldn't be far off. A rough estimate... a hundred years?" Pondering this, Yaoguang shook his head. In terms of cultivation, he hadn't even reached Void Shattering yet, and his understanding of that realm was based merely on hearsay without detailed knowledge. To dream of becoming a Dao Lord in a hundred years under such circumstances was rather presumptuous—it showed utter disregard for those Void Shattering experts who remained bitterly stuck before the threshold of Dao Lord, or who had survived countless brushes with death to finally unite with the Dao. After slightly concealing the Dao rhymes radiating from the newly ascended Swimming Dragon Sword, Yaoguang waved his hand, and the mist cloaking the main peak immediately parted. The moment the mist dispersed, Chief Manager Lü Suoyu and the nine managers of Nine Cauldrons Peak realized that Yaoguang had concluded his seclusion. Without needing to be summoned, the group swiftly gathered below the main peak, awaiting his call. "Come up." From an elegant pavilion beside the plaza, Yaoguang's voice rang out. At once, the group ascended the main peak together. "Greetings, Junior Sect Master." "Has anything happened over the past three years?" Gazing out at the endless sea of clouds before him, Yaoguang inquired. "The ancestor of the Chi family, Chi Yu, sent a generous gift, saying it was acquired from wiping out the Xuan family." "Elder Tongming, a Void Piercing elder of the Heaven Lineage, came to visit two years ago and left a gift as well, offering his apologies regarding the matters at the Sea of Chaos and the Deep Blue Sea." "Ling Ruogu, a Void Piercing elder of the Ling family, also came to pay his respects. Upon learning you were still in seclusion, he and Lingxi presented a generous gift before departing..." The managers responded one by one. "Have any true disciples achieved Void Piercing?" Yaoguang followed up by asking, "Not just in the Heavenly Dao Sect, but in the Taiyi Immortal Sect as well." "None," Chief Manager Lü Suoyu replied. "Over the past three years, not a single true disciple across the Ten Immortal Sects has made the breakthrough! Even the top ten of the Void Piercing Candidate Rankings have remained unchanged, though..." "Not a single person across all Ten Immortal Sects achieved Void Piercing?" Yaoguang had no interest in shifts on the Void Piercing Candidate Rankings, but... "Every true disciple who forms an Azure Blue Golden Core usually has a thirty to forty percent chance of advancing to Void Piercing... Yet now, across three full years, not one true disciple in the entirety of the Ten Immortal Sects made the breakthrough? Adding up the true disciples of the Ten Immortal Sects, there must easily be a thousand, right?" He was genuinely surprised. "Across the Ten Immortal Sects, there are a total of one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight individuals listed as true disciples," Lü Suoyu answered truthfully. "Furthermore, what you asked about, Junior Sect Master, was true disciples advancing to Void Piercing. An Azure Blue Golden Core advancing to Void Piercing and a true disciple doing so are two different matters. True disciples who fail to enter Void Piercing before turning three hundred automatically become deacons. But before age three hundred, those who truly have a thirty to forty percent certainty of attempting the breakthrough to Void Piercing are an extreme minority. In other words, the vast majority of Azure Blue Golden Core cultivators attempting Void Piercing are in their five or six hundreds; they are no longer true disciples." Hearing this, Yaoguang felt a sense of realization. Age. If he remembered correctly, Yan Huang was already over two hundred and sixty years old. Lingxi had cultivated for more than two hundred and thirty years as well. Though relative to a Golden Core's millennium of lifespan, that was merely equivalent to being twenty-six or twenty-three years old for an ordinary person. "In addition, competition on Beihai Star is extraordinarily fierce. Even among those as formidable as Azure Blue Golden Core cultivators, less than half actually survive until the moment they can attempt Void Piercing. Many either perish along the way or are forced to switch to becoming Battle Immortals. In other words, out of a cohort of eighty-eight true disciples, fewer than ten will ultimately achieve Void Piercing successfully." "Fewer than ten..." And that was when expanding the timeframe for a single cohort of true disciples over five to six hundred, or even seven to eight hundred years. Hearing this number, Yaoguang faintly understood why the emergence of every single Void Piercing expert warranted a grand banquet celebrating across the world by a top sect. Because his own breakthrough to Void Piercing had been relatively straightforward, he had assumed it was the same for others. In reality, the path to Void Piercing was far more difficult than he had imagined. Which meant... His weight as a Void Piercing expert who had leaped straight from true disciple to junior sect master was even heavier than he had anticipated. "What about the gifts from those elders?" Yaoguang asked. Lü Suoyu promptly presented several spatial artifacts. Yaoguang scanned them one by one. Inside were mostly Void Dao Pills, along with various void-attribute materials. For someone with a void-type special constitution, such materials were perfectly suited. Examining them for a moment, Yaoguang soon noticed something. "A Void Boundary Stone?" They were actually willing to part with a heavenly treasure worth tens of millions of Pure Yang Great Pills?! "Whose spatial artifact is this?" Yaoguang asked at once. "Elder Tongming's," Lü Suoyu replied immediately. Looking at the Void Boundary Stone inside, Yaoguang realized why this elder had presented such a lavish gift. Thinking back on how the elder had "targeted" him, while conflicts had existed, the elder hadn't inflicted any substantial harm on him, nor had he acted beyond his official authority... Of course, in a place like Beihai Star, questions of authority didn't matter—if you made a misstep, you paid the price. And a single Void Boundary Stone... Worth over ten million, it could very well allow his Two Realms Ruler to complete its transformation into a Dao artifact if all went smoothly. As retribution, it was sufficient. Having just become junior sect master, he needed to establish his standing in the Heavenly Dao Sect, so it wouldn't do to make too many enemies. With that, he nodded slightly. "Prepare a banquet for me. I wish to host Elder Chi Yu, Elder Tongming, and Elder Ling Ruogu. There are matters I wish to discuss."