Beaten into Submission

"You..." Humiliated and berated so mercilessly, Zhen Xuanyuan's face darkened. Yet, having regained his composure and recognized Yaoguang's terrifying strength, he did not strike again. Instead, he said in a heavy voice, "Yaoguang! Even if Jing Yuntian was at fault, you should not have killed him! He was a Supreme Elder of our Heavenly Dao Sect, part of our foundation, and I am the Chief Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Dao Sect, duty-bound to answer for every member of the Supreme Elder Council..." "Since you choose to shield Jing Yuntian, who colluded with demonic cultivators of the Shadow Moon Sect, then you must have had a hand in it as well. In that case, I'll send you both on your way together!" Yaoguang pivoted, his entire body glittering with starlight. Raising his right hand, he slashed empty-handed toward Zhen Xuanyuan. Clang! As his hand came down, the Swimming Dragon Sword, gleaming like golden light, let out a clarion cry. Stirring the Grand Dao of the Void, it cleaved down toward Zhen Xuanyuan with a thunderous roar! "You?!" Zhen Xuanyuan's eyes went wide. "You dare strike at me too?! Yaoguang, have you lost your mind?!" A bracelet on his wrist rippled with another ring of flowing white light, sweeping forth to bind the Swimming Dragon Sword as it cleaved downward. Meanwhile, a palm-sized spike materialized in his other hand, swiftly brewing a horrific energy capable of shattering the void itself. *A high-grade Dao artifact, and... the Great Void Disintegration Art.* Years ago, Yaoguang had considered cultivating this path, but with so many other Great Daos demanding his mastery, he had temporarily set this art aside. Even so, he understood it intimately. It was one of the unique Dao arts belonging to the Grand Dao of the Void. It was also virtually the most potent slaughter art within that Dao! Every Great Dao required the void to serve as its vessel. By collapsing the opponent's Grand Dao of the Void, this art struck straight at the very foundation of a cultivator's Dao, obliterating their grotto-heaven and Dao seed in one fell swoop. To unleash such a lethal art without hesitation... Clearly, this Chief Supreme Elder was not nearly as fair, just, and high-minded as his words made him out to be. Yet, amplified by the Wuji Sword, the Void Sword unleashed through Yaoguang's Swimming Dragon Sword was simply not something Zhen Xuanyuan's Suppressing the Firmament could withstand. Wherever the blade pointed, the incandescent white halo capable of sealing the void was sliced to pieces. Having sundered Suppressing the Firmament, the keen edge of the Void Sword pressed forward unabated, slashing toward Zhen Xuanyuan. *Something isn't right!* The Chief Supreme Elder's expression shifted. Earlier, when Yaoguang used the Grand Dao of the Void to shatter his Suppressing the Firmament, he had assumed Yaoguang relied on that Dao artifact, the Heaven-Sealing Stele. Now that he was directly clashing against Yaoguang's Dao art head-on... He abruptly discovered that the other man's Dao art was illogical in its sheer might. Particularly when Yaoguang aimed this Void Sword at him: the dense Dao charm stirred by the void's power gave the fleeting impression that the power of the Grand Dao of the Void had truly manifested, projecting itself onto the Void Sword and crashing down in the form of this very art. *A Dao Lord?! No! If a Dao Lord took action, how could I still be drawing breath? An innate Dao art! It is an innate Dao art brought to perfection and then elevated to consummate mastery through a void Dao seed!* Zhen Xuanyuan seemed to realize the truth, and his face drained of color. "Your innate Dao art isn't Void Flicker at all! Void Sword is your true innate Dao art!" Believing he had uncovered the secret, Zhen Xuanyuan violently redirected the Great Void Disintegration Art he had been gathering, blasting it toward Yaoguang's descending Void Sword. Two void Dao arts geared toward pure slaughter collided in the void, instantly ripping space apart. A pitch-black rift split open between them like a ghastly wound across the sky. A clash of void power of this magnitude seemed too immense even for the Twelve Fiendgods Sky-Sealing Formation to fully suppress. Limitless streams of light surged into the clouds, scouring this stretch of void to continuously neutralize and swallow the shockwaves, preventing the dispersing energy from wreaking catastrophic devastation upon their surroundings. With that single blow... The might of both Dao arts melted away in the void, ending in a dead heat. This outcome took Yaoguang somewhat by surprise. "It seems your innate Dao art isn't Suppressing the Firmament as the outside world believes, but this Great Void Collapse. A high-grade Dao artifact paired with a consummate Great Void Collapse Dao art... No wonder you've held firmly onto your seat as the Heavenly Dao Sect's Chief Supreme Elder." He saw through Zhen Xuanyuan's true trump card at a glance. While his Two Realms Ruler and Heaven-Sealing Stele had been upgraded to high-grade Dao artifacts, the Swimming Dragon Sword had yet to be nurtured to that stage. He had previously assumed that possessing the Wuji Sword would allow him to replace the Swimming Dragon Sword, not anticipating that the properties of a pinnacle Dao artifact differed significantly from those of a high-grade one. Under these circumstances, after cleaving through Suppressing the Firmament, the Void Sword had failed to shatter Zhen Xuanyuan's consummate Great Void Collapse. Yet, having witnessed the terrifying might of Yaoguang's Void Sword, Zhen Xuanyuan no longer had any stomach to continue fighting. Fighting further... Would mean putting his life on the line. "Yaoguang! Enough!" Zhen Xuanyuan said in a heavy voice. "I will convene the Supreme Elder Council regarding this matter shortly..." "Not enough! You were the ones who struck first and initiated this conflict. When it ends... is up to me." Yaoguang waved his hand, and amid flashing sword light, another Void Sword condensed. "Yaoguang, you... you have become far too arrogant!" "The arrogant ones are you lot." Yaoguang shook his head. "Words are useless. Once you understand fear, you'll naturally learn how to speak with courtesy." "You!" Zhen Xuanyuan roared in fury, shouting toward Gu Li nearby, "What are you waiting for?! Attack and bring him down!" At the same time, his divine sense surged as he projected his voice across the sect: "Yaoguang has fallen into the demonic path! He dares raise his hand against me, the Chief Supreme Elder! Branch masters of the four lineages, activate the Twelve Fiendgods Sky-Sealing Formation!" "Understood!" Receiving their orders, the four branch masters answered without hesitation, rapidly flitting toward the formation's vital nodes. The sect-guarding grand formation, already halfway activated by the intense energy fluctuations spilling from within the sect, suddenly flared with radiant light. In the void above, the illusory silhouettes of twelve fiendgods began to coalesce. Seeing this, Supreme Elder Chiyun could no longer sit idly by. He hurriedly called out, "True Monarch Xuanyuan, why must it come to this? Must blood be spilled among our own Heavenly Dao Sect before we call a halt?" He then turned his gaze toward Yaoguang. "Sect Master Yaoguang, Jing Yuntian is already dead. Please stay your hand!" "Stay my hand?" Yaoguang looked up at the twelve fiendgod phantoms slowly materializing in the firmament. "Do you truly believe this formation can suppress me?" He merged his sect master token with the Heaven-Sealing Stele. Then, he hurled the newly transformed high-grade Dao artifact into the sky. A space-suppressing power, infused with a faint trace of administrative authority over the grand formation, rippled rapidly from the artifact, rolling across the entire Twelve Fiendgods Sky-Sealing Formation in visible waves. Beneath the wash of these void ripples, the grand formation that was on the verge of full activation suddenly seemed to rust and seize. The speed at which the fiendgod phantoms condensed dropped drastically. At this rate... It would take at least a dozen breaths for the formation to function properly. "What is happening?" Shock filled Supreme Elder Gu Li's eyes. "The formation is suddenly stalling?" "It's you?!" Zhen Xuanyuan's glare locked instantly onto Yaoguang. "Who leaked the secrets of the Twelve Fiendgods Sky-Sealing Formation to you?! Who was it?!" Yaoguang paid him no heed. The fully coalesced Void Sword slashed down with ruthless finality. "You..." Zhen Xuanyuan began to realize that the situation was slipping entirely out of his control. Yaoguang could actually interfere with the operation of the Heavenly Dao Sect's protective mountain array?! How could that be possible?! Though his heart sank to the abyss, his hands did not falter for a moment. The power of Suppressing the Firmament was laid out around his body, erecting a layer of spatial defense. The Great Void Collapse Art gathered with blistering speed. "At best, your innate Dao art is only equal to mine. But I am not fighting alone..." As he spoke, Gu Li had already prepared an even more formidable Dao art, forming a colossal sword of aurora that crossed the void to slash down toward Yaoguang. Yet Yaoguang's expression remained as calm as ever. It was as though every twist and turn lay entirely within his calculations. In the next instant, having unleashed one Void Sword, he condensed a second with unbelievable speed. It tore down right on the heels of the first. Zhen Xuanyuan, having just exhausted his strength within the sealed domain of Suppressing the Firmament to blast the Great Void Collapse Art against Yaoguang's first Void Sword, saw his pupils violently contract. *How can this be?!* Even as the thought flashed through his mind, a void Dao artifact on his person combined with an art akin to Void Flicker, wrapping around his frame and shifting him into another patch of space in the blink of an eye. Yet Yaoguang was currently in his True Spirit Light state. The moment Zhen Xuanyuan invoked his displacement art, the second Void Sword altered its trajectory in lockstep, cleaving down thunderously. The might radiating from the blade even sent tremors through the surrounding space, throwing the local void forces into total disarray. "Not good!" Seeing the Void Sword bearing down on him, Zhen Xuanyuan cast forth a Dao artifact similar to the Heaven-Sealing Stele, instantly erecting a sealed space to trap the void blade within. Though the Void Sword tore through it an instant later, Zhen Xuanyuan used that split second to retreat wildly, hastily gathering another Great Void Collapse Art. "A futile struggle." Buzz! Yaoguang's figure flickered. Casually slipping past Supreme Elder Gu Li, who had lunged at his back, he appeared directly before Zhen Xuanyuan. Raising an empty hand, another Void Sword coalesced. Under the enhancement of the Torrent of Time art, a second Void Sword immediately surfaced behind it. Witnessing those two Void Swords materialize with impossible speed... Terror finally seized Zhen Xuanyuan's eyes. "A time Dao art?!" He let out a low cry, attempting to shift away once more. Yet as the first Void Sword slashed down, the tremors its blade sent through the void made it impossible for him to tear through space and escape. Seeing the Void Sword drawing closer and closer, he jerked his arm, causing an avatar to appear in the void to block the sword's path. Meanwhile, he gathered another Great Void Collapse, shattering the descending Void Sword with a deafening roar. Yet having shattered one, a second was already upon him. Worse still... A third was forming in Yaoguang's grasp... No! A third and a fourth were condensing simultaneously! Even if he exhausted every trump card he possessed to destroy this second Void Sword, how could he possibly withstand the third, the fourth, or even a fifth and a sixth?! At this thought, bitter regret over meddling in this affair flooded his mind. "Hold! Stop! Yaoguang, Jing Yuntian and the Jing family colluded with demonic cultivators—he deserved to die by your hand! If you have other demands, we can sit down and talk them through! We are fellow Void Shattering cultivators of the very same sect, bound to see each other day in and day out! Why must we push things to the point of bloodshed?!"