Secret Treasury

"Another skill temporarily maxed out." In the void, a flying boat was hurtling at extreme speed toward the dwelling place of a demon lord. This flying boat had been seized after slaying Demon Lord Tianyu. A void-type flying Dao artifact. Its performance... could not be considered particularly stellar. It was merely an ordinary Dao artifact. If put up for auction, its price would fall somewhere between 1.2 billion and 1.4 billion. For Yaoguang, with the Wuji Sword and Two Realms Ruler in hand, traveling via Void Flicker was far swifter than relying on a flying Dao artifact. However, simultaneously activating two Dao artifacts and unleashing Void Flicker at full strength imposed a drain that even he—having reached the Void Shattering realm and possessing Sovereign Human Emperor—found difficult to sustain continuously. Considering that the upcoming battles would likely all involve tough nuts to crack, he needed to calm his intensely churning grotto-heaven as soon as possible and restore himself to peak condition. As he pondered, he glanced at the [Demon Hunting] branch, which had just been pushed to level fifteen at 100%. Compared to Trace Origin and Hunting Instinct, the Dao Fruit divine ability granted at level fifteen was somewhat underwhelming. "Apex Predator." After sensing the mechanics of this innate divine ability, Yaoguang sighed softly. "Through the aura of an apex predator, it can deter life-forms weaker than oneself, with a certain probability of forcing them to submit... It only works on life-forms weaker than me—what use is that?" Shaking his head, he withdrew his mind from this talent. It was a slight pity that level fifteen yielded only such a Dao Fruit divine ability. Yet the vast array of talents he had acquired over the years had also taught him that not every talent would markedly bolster his combat prowess. Low-level talents he had gained in the early days, such as Sense and Formless, were now completely useless to him. "There's still a bit left. Next..." Yaoguang cast his gaze toward the [Merchant] and [Alchemy] talents. Considering that alchemy typically demanded a tremendous investment of time, he decided to channel the remaining "experience" into the [Merchant] talent to see if it could trigger a qualitative transformation. After all, since stepping foot into Shadow Moon Sect territory, he had slain five plus one Void Shattering cultivators. The intact Dao artifacts he had collected numbered no fewer than ten, alongside a dozen or so damaged ones he had shattered. All of these could be described as an immense fortune. If the [Merchant] profession possessed something extraordinary... "As expected, I shouldn't have pinned too much hope on it." After briefly digesting the information from the [Merchant] branch, now raised to level thirteen, Yaoguang grumbled weakly. The talents granted by Merchant... really were strictly merchant-related talents. For instance, increasing verbal charm, boosting others' trust in him, granting more accurate appraisal abilities, and the like. The only talent that could passably be considered useful was called Merchant's Intuition—even for an item or material he had never seen before, he could roughly gauge its value. This would at least prevent him from overlooking precious treasures while treasure hunting. Then again, if something was truly a treasure, it would naturally manifest all manner of miraculous phenomena. Once such phenomena revealed themselves, he was unlikely to miss them anyway. Still rather useless. While lost in thought, Yaoguang arrived above a sect built atop a mountain range. Checking his memory, the ruler of this sect was Demon Lord Zhouyin, and the sect he had founded was called the Tianzhou Sect. Within the Shadow Moon Sect, there were many such smaller factions. Evidently warned in advance, all the cultivators throughout the Tianzhou Sect were now on full alert, and the grand formation blanketing the skies over the sect had been completely activated. Yaoguang looked it over briefly and was surprised to discover that this formation's caliber was hardly inferior to the original, unmodified Heavenly Capital Dragon-Slashing Formation. If presided over by a Void Shattering cultivator... three to five Void Shattering experts would be trapped within, unable to break free anytime soon. Even if an expert on the Dao Lord Candidate Roll took action personally, destroying such a level-thirteen formation helmed by a Void Shattering cultivator would require considerable effort. And this was Shadow Moon Sect territory. If he failed to breach the formation in short order, other Shadow Moon Sect experts would inevitably arrive through teleportation formations to reinforce it, leaving him to face a siege by the entire sect's powerhouses. However... Yaoguang observed the formation from outside for a moment and soon discerned something. He smiled faintly. "Not bad, quite a turtle shell. Since the sect-protecting grand formation is fully activated, they probably won't be leaving anytime soon." He marked down the Tianzhou Sect. Immediately afterward, his figure flickered as he rushed toward the territory of the next Void Shattering supreme elder, Demon Lord Jinni. While traveling toward Demon Lord Jinni's domain, he continually searched his mind for ways to unravel the Tianzhou Sect's grand formation. After only a short while... *Found it,* Yaoguang thought to himself. Still... *A bit troublesome. With my current strength and methods, breaking this formation in a short time is still rather difficult...* If he could not break the formation outright, he could simply interfere with its operation. At the same time, he could infiltrate the formation first, destroy the teleportation formation connecting it to the Shadow Moon Sect to avoid being besieged, and then deal with Demon Lord Zhouyin. "Let's see if I can find the next demon lord. If not, Demon Lord Zhouyin will be the last Void Shattering demon cultivator I can kill. Killing any more... and the Shadow Moon Sect will go completely mad! If they summon their Black Heaven Demon Venerable back ahead of schedule, it will be troublesome," Yaoguang mused. Before long, the flying boat he rode arrived above a city. Yet, compared to the Tianzhou Sect, this city was essentially deserted. Although quite a few demon cultivators remained behind, aside from a few Void Piercing Battle Immortals, there was not even a single genuine Void Piercing cultivator. "Hm? I don't sense a teleportation formation in this city? The city's master is Demon Lord Jinni? A Void Shattering cultivator who advanced within the past millennium... Ah, right. The last time Black Heaven Demon Venerable returned was two thousand six hundred years ago, when Jinni hadn't yet achieved Void Shattering. That demon venerable wouldn't have set up a teleportation formation for him in advance. In that case..." Yaoguang's gaze swept over the Void Piercing Battle Immortals, and his figure flashed, appearing directly beside one of them. Seeing Yaoguang materialize abruptly, a flicker of despair crossed the Battle Immortal's eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something... Yet in the very next second, his body shattered to pieces, and Yaoguang extracted a wisp of heavenly demon origin that had not been fully digested. "Trace Origin." Triggering the divine ability, Yaoguang quickly traced the source of this heavenly demon origin. And the location of that source... "Over there!" Yaoguang looked in that direction, then cross-referenced it with the location of the Shadow Moon Sect, feeling somewhat surprised. "He isn't fleeing toward the Shadow Moon Sect headquarters? Or rather... did he take a detour intentionally to avoid getting intercepted on the way?" He briefly estimated the distance... If this demon lord had bolted with all his might toward the Shadow Moon Sect, Yaoguang might not have given chase given the distance. But now that he had taken the long way around... Pursue! "Clever, but too clever for your own good." This time, Yaoguang no longer piloted the Dao artifact flying boat to conserve his grotto-heaven's energy. Instead, he directly activated the Wuji Sword and Two Realms Ruler, unleashing Void Flicker at maximum speed. A single flicker traversed hundreds of thousands of li. In a single breath, he could execute Void Flicker multiple times. Traveling in this manner, the distance between him and Demon Lord Jinni rapidly closed. Just as Yaoguang circulated Sovereign Human Emperor once to replenish his depleted energy, a Dao artifact flying vessel steered by a Void Refining demon cultivator appeared before his eyes. His divine sense swept across it: the strongest presence aboard appeared to be that single Void Refining demon cultivator, accompanied at most by two Void Piercing demon cultivators and a cohort of Golden Core demon cultivators. Yet whether through his "Trace Origin" divine ability or the Light of True Spirit, both told him that a big fish still lurked hidden inside the vessel. Nowhere to hide. Under his dual talents, no matter how the Void Shattering demon lord within attempted to conceal himself or restrain his aura, he ultimately had nowhere to hide and no way to evade detection. *Whoosh.* Empowered by the Torrent of Time, two Void Swords slashed down simultaneously. And they were aimed precisely at Demon Lord Jinni, who was doing his utmost to suppress his aura aboard the vessel. Sensing the terrifying edge of the Void Swords, Demon Lord Jinni could conceal himself no longer. His figure shot up, bursting out of the vessel. Yet he did not harbor the slightest thought of fighting Yaoguang. The instant he broke out, he unleashed six wondrous items. From each wondrous item erupted astonishing Dao rhythm, packing a terrifying might in no way inferior to a Dao art unleashed at full power by a Void Shattering expert. In other words, unleashing these six items simultaneously was equivalent to a synchronized barrage from six Void Shattering cultivators. However, even with such formidable means at his disposal, the demon lord dared not follow up with an attack. Instead, while the wondrous items were unleashed, he tore open a talisman and vanished from the area in the blink of an eye. Even though Yaoguang immediately manifested the Heaven-Sealing Stele, it surprisingly failed to lock down his figure. "Hm? A Greater Teleportation Talisman? At this level... it was likely crafted personally by a Dao Lord." Yaoguang was slightly surprised. In the next instant, the Void Swords cleaved through the barrage of Dao arts, instantly shattering five of the six. The remaining one broke past the interception and barrier of the Void Swords, slamming against Yaoguang's body. Yet as starlight shimmered, his body gleamed as if with glazed light, dispelling the force of the Dao art outright. "Think you can get away?" Yaoguang stepped into the void, traversing space in the blink of an eye and pursuing hundreds of thousands of li away. "Hm?" Reaching his destination, Yaoguang was mildly surprised. He had actually... lost Demon Lord Jinni's trail. No matter. He turned around and reappeared above the vessel. With a flick of his finger, a Great Annihilation Sword Qi blasted downward. On the spot, the demonic bodies of the Void Refining and Void Piercing cultivators aboard the vessel were completely blown apart. Next, with a sweep of his grotto-heaven, the Void Refining cultivator and the two Void Piercing demon cultivators were suppressed inside. Yaoguang drew a wisp of heavenly demon origin from one of them and activated the power of Trace Origin, quickly sensing something. "Blinking in place?" Turning his gaze, his eyes settled upon a mountain peak merely a thousand li away. Immediately after, Great Annihilation Sword Qi bombarded down. Under the destructive might within the sword qi, the small mountain dozens of li wide was obliterated into nothingness. A figure concealed in that area promptly shot into the sky, the demonic flames around him drastically weakened compared to before. "So many Dao Lord talismans? It seems you obtained a Dao Lord secret treasury." Though framed as a question, Yaoguang's tone was completely certain. Anything capable of evading the perception of his "Light of True Spirit" had to be a soul-type Dao Lord talisman. "Sect Master Yaoguang, appease your wrath!" Demon Lord Jinni conceded with remarkable swiftness. "As long as you spare my life, I will tell you immediately where the Dao Lord secret treasury is!" "If I kill you, I can naturally find the treasury from you as well." Yaoguang once again manifested the Heaven-Sealing Stele, locking down the space. A fresh Void Sword slashed down immediately after.