Big Fish

*Whoosh!* With a single flicker, Yaoguang materialized in the sky above this small city, which spanned barely three thousand li across. At this moment, the entire city seemed submerged in deep slumber. Everyone had turned deathly pale, trapped within terrifying nightmares. Innumerable horrific thoughts spawned from these nightmares rose like mist, gathering into a grotto-heaven hovering above the city. This grotto-heaven resembled a mirage, as well as a shimmering veil of light, relentlessly devouring the nightmare-born thoughts while draining the essence, qi, and spirit of all living souls within the city. If this continued, within ten days at most, every cultivator in the city would have their essence, qi, and spirit completely sucked dry by these violent emotional shifts and perish. As for the nearly one million mortals living here... The demonic cultivator had likely occupied this small city for a day or two already. Mortals could never endure for so long, and their essence, qi, and spirit had already failed, leaving them long dead. Arriving over the city, Yaoguang waved his hand. The grotto-heaven blanketing the skies was torn apart instantly, as if struck by a divine blade of celestial wrath. This sudden blow jolted the Void Piercing demonic cultivator with shock. "Heavenly Dao Sect's Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang?!" The instant he recognized who had arrived, this Void Piercing expert did not dare fight to the death. The moment his grotto-heaven was ripped open, he seemed to execute some life-preserving secret art. The void boiled away like steam, rapidly breaking apart into two clusters of mist that surged toward the distance in flight. The Demonic Dao had no fixed form. Nearly no demonic cultivator possessed a permanent physical body. For this very reason, whenever they suffered an attack, they could alter their forms at the very first instant. However... While such a technique gave them an overwhelming advantage against low-level cultivators, it was of little use against Void Piercing experts who had mastered the power of the void—especially a Void Refining expert like Yaoguang, who had planted a void Dao seed. As the Void Piercing demonic cultivator dispersed into two plumes of demonic mist to flee, Yaoguang's grotto-heaven manifested. With a gesture of his empty hand, the power of his grotto-heaven projected outward, like planting a black hole node within the two plumes of demonic mist, greedily beginning to swallow them. Even though the demonic mist shared void properties and could warp space itself, it was swiftly refined before the power of Yaoguang's grotto-heaven. The entire scene resembled a black hole devouring two stars, except these stars were made of demonic mist. No matter how frantically the Void Piercing demonic cultivator struggled, he could only watch his true body plunge headlong toward Yaoguang's grotto-heaven. "Damn it!" Cornered by mortal danger, the demonic cultivator made a ruthless, split-second decision. The demonic mist transformed into absolute darkness, cutting off everything in the surroundings. Even the power of Yaoguang's grotto-heaven seemed shrouded by this gloom, leaving him momentarily unable to lock onto the demon's true body. "An innate Dao art derived from the Grand Dao of Darkness?" Yaoguang's expression remained calm. The True Spirit Light shone forth. Under its radiance, the grotto-heaven awareness that had been obscured by the Grand Dao of Darkness clearly captured the cultivator's true body. The next instant, Yaoguang stepped across the void, flickering through space to appear directly above the demonic cultivator's true form. His grotto-heaven manifested once more, dragging the demon along with all the surrounding space inside. "How is this possible?! Even Void Refining experts can barely detect my Darkness Shadowlessness! That was why the sect dispatched me into the Southern Domain... How could you..." The Void Piercing demonic cultivator was both panicked and furious. His true body, formed of demonic mist, shifted constantly as he tried every trick to break free from the grotto-heaven's refinement. Yet... As Yaoguang's grotto-heaven operated with increasing ferocity, the demon could only helplessly watch as more and more of his body was refined, reduced to nourishment for Yaoguang's grotto-heaven. "Stop! Yaoguang, if you kill me, you will completely offend our Shadow Moon Sect! Your Heavenly Dao Sect master has always had a tradition of suppressing prominent deputy sect masters! Within your sect, the sect master watches you like a tiger eyeing its prey. If you offend our Shadow Moon Sect on top of that, beset by troubles within and without, your days as the ruler of the Southern Domain will soon come to an end!" The demon's divine mind surged repeatedly through the mist. "Spare me! I can plead with my sect to stop targeting your Southern Domain! We can even join forces to help you stand against Zong Wenxian!" Every pulse of his divine mind carried an uncanny ripple that seemed to compel anyone who heard it to believe his words unconditionally. This was another of his Dao arts—Heart-Befuddling True Words. Unfortunately... Yaoguang did not even need to employ a soul-defense Dao art like Taishang Selflessness. Merely maintaining the state of True Spirit Light was enough; its innate nature easily dispersed the bewitching influence of this barely entry-level Heart-Befuddling True Words. "Knowing full well that the Southern Domain is my territory, you still dared to run wild here... Let me use your lives as a warning to the Shadow Moon Sect, so they understand the price of stepping foot in the Southern Domain." Yaoguang spoke calmly as his grotto-heaven accelerated its operation. Under the domineering might of the void, the demonic flames that made up the cultivator's true body were ground flat and crushed completely, reduced to pure void power that fed into the grotto-heaven. No matter how desperately he struggled and resisted, it was entirely futile. In barely half an hour, the demonic cultivator had been thoroughly refined, becoming nourishment that strengthened the grotto-heaven. Finally, Yaoguang clenched his hand in empty space, and three clusters of demonic mist condensed in his palm, resolving into three spirit treasures. "Pauper," he muttered. "The Dao arts wielded by this Void Piercing demonic cultivator weren't oriented toward slaughter, sacrifice, or bloodletting... Meng Prefecture must have at least a second Void Piercing expert." Yaoguang understood the situation. Recalling the nearest city, he cast Void Flicker in the next instant, vanishing from this small city. With the demonic cultivators' infiltration of Meng Prefecture running so deep, the resident clan stationed in the prefecture had likely already surrendered to the enemy, so he naturally wouldn't bother asking the local families for information. In any case, with his mastery of Void Flicker, conducting a sweep across Meng Prefecture wouldn't take much time at all. *** Perhaps because he wiped out every demonic cultivator wherever he appeared, or perhaps because slaying a Void Piercing demonic cultivator had put the Shadow Moon Sect on high alert, Yaoguang found not a single demonic cultivator when he reached the nineteenth city. Yet judging from the lingering traces, this city had clearly been ravaged by demonic cultivators. In fact, they had departed only recently. *Sensed the danger? Understandable. With the fall of a Void Piercing expert, any faction would realize the peril and beat a cautious retreat.* Following the tracks the demonic cultivators had left behind in their haste, Yaoguang pursued them with a single flicker. After chasing for less than forty thousand li, a group of over a dozen demonic cultivators entered his perception. *Whoosh!* Appearing before them, he wasted no words on these fiends, whose strongest was barely of the ninth rank. Releasing his grotto-heaven, he scooped them up all at once, then used its power to refine them one by one. Demonic cultivators often had no fixed physical form and could be viewed as energy constructs. Refining them in this state was on par with absorbing precious cultivation resources. Of course, only Void Refining powerhouses possessed the ability to refine demonic cultivators like cultivation goods. Void Refining! Void Refining! Its very premise was to take all things in heaven and earth as nourishment to replenish oneself and enlarge one's grotto-heaven. Living souls could be refined; the sun, moon, and stars could be refined; even time and the void itself could be refined. The only difference was that some things yielded quick results, while others refined more slowly. While refining these demonic cultivators, Yaoguang noticed something. Reaching out with an empty hand, he plucked a transmission jade talisman from one of the cultivators undergoing refinement. Sweeping it with his divine mind, he quickly deciphered the message within. *“An unknown powerhouse has arrived! Gather immediately at Xuanmeng City to retreat!”* "Xuanmeng City?" Yaoguang crushed the jade talisman. Recalling the location of Xuanmeng City, he did not care in the slightest whether a trap awaited him there; he summoned his Void Disk directly and flew toward that city. With his current strength... Looking across the entire realm, as long as he did not run into a Dao Lord or a demonic cultivator whose abilities completely countered Void Flicker, there was nowhere in the world he could not roam freely. *** In less than half an hour, the Void Disk carrying Yaoguang appeared outside Xuanmeng City. "Hm?" The moment he arrived at Xuanmeng City, Yaoguang noticed something amiss. Danger. A sense of danger lurked within this city. However... "The threat isn't overwhelming! If my assessment is correct, a Void Refining demonic cultivator must be hiding inside." Yaoguang pondered for a moment. These demonic cultivators had clearly investigated the forces at his disposal. Aside from him, the strongest person on his side was Qi Sha. If Void Piercing demonic cultivators ran amok at the border, the person he dispatched ought to have been Qi Sha, a peak Void Piercing expert wielding the Grand Dao of Destruction. Thus, had Qi Sha actually received this news and come to Xuanmeng City, an ambush by a concealed Void Refining expert would have been more than enough to bury that peak Void Piercing cultivator here. Furthermore... Even if a Void Refining expert had been drawn here, it wouldn't have mattered. The Shadow Moon Sect had Void Refining experts of their own, and with Void Piercing demonic cultivators assisting from the side, who would emerge victorious remained to be seen. "Void Refining... You've arrived at just the right time." Yaoguang stowed the Void Disk and brought out the Two Realms Ruler. "The Dao artifact auction hasn't even begun, and only a handful of Void Refining experts have arrived, yet many have already begun stirring up trouble and disrupting order in Nandu... In the final analysis, my deterrence simply isn't strong enough. And to elevate that deterrence... what carries more weight than slaying a Void Refining demonic cultivator?" The next instant, his figure flickered and appeared directly over Xuanmeng City. This city had originally been a major metropolis in Meng Prefecture, home to several hundred thousand cultivators—and tens of millions of living souls if counting mortals. Yet now... It had also been reduced to a city of the dead. Countless strands of demonic qi, varying in intensity, permeated every corner of the city like a colossal net, or a gaping, bloody maw ready to swallow any living being that set foot inside. Even Yaoguang... In their eyes, was no exception. *Buzz! Buzz!* The moment Yaoguang appeared above Xuanmeng City, several divine minds began vibrating in unison. "A void-traversal method?! A big fish has taken the bait!" "Wait, let me see who it is! Heavenly Dao Sect's Deputy Sect Master, Ruler of the Southern Domain, Yaoguang?! Hahaha! A big fish! A truly massive fish!" "Lord Xie Tong, though your fishing tactic was simple, it has reeled in the Heavenly Dao Sect's greatest treasure in the Southern Domain!" Upon recognizing the newcomer's identity, all these divine minds erupted with uncontrollable delight. Soon, a humanoid creature bearing six arms and three pairs of eyes emerged in the sky above the city. Judging from the spatial ripples stirred up by the energy fluctuations radiating from his body, this was unmistakably a Void Refining expert! A Void Refining demonic cultivator!