A Crushing Blow

Penglai Immortal Sect. Shi Lin summoned her three junior martial brothers and sisters, directly handing a jade talisman to the three of them. "See for yourselves." "What is it?" Zhan Xiao was bewildered, but he took the jade talisman and checked it immediately. Yet with just a single glance, his complexion changed drastically. "This... how is this possible..." "What could cause Junior Brother to lose his composure like this?" Leng Qingqiu could not resist sending out a strand of divine sense. Once her divine sense read the information within, this deputy sect master of the Penglai Immortal Sect also cried out in shock, "This is impossible!" "Senior Brother, Senior Sister?" Shui Yunhan could sit still no longer and swiftly probed her divine sense into the jade talisman as well. After reading the contents inside, her face turned pale. After quite a while, she looked dazedly at Eldest Senior Sister Shi Lin. "Heavenly Dao Sect's Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang... alone with a single sword, charged into the Shadow Moon Sect, slew seven Supreme Demon Lords of the Shadow Moon Sect, and forced them to seal their mountain? Suppressing an entire sect alone? Is... is this true?" "This matter is now known to all under heaven. It is absolutely true." Shi Lin sighed as she spoke. "Back then, when Yaoguang shook the world in the Southern Domain by slaying the two Void Shattering demon lords Bahuang and Darkness, you claimed he only relied on the advantage of formations and that it wasn't true ability. Later, when he executed Jing Yuntian in the Heavenly Dao Sect for colluding with Shadow Moon demonic cultivators and fought one against two to defeat the combined forces of Zhen Xuanyuan and Gu Li, you claimed it was an internal show, even shamelessly boasting that once you reached the Void Shattering realm, you could achieve such cultivation as well. And now?" She looked at her junior brothers and sisters. "The fall of the Shadow Moon Sect's seven Void Shattering demonic cultivators has been confirmed by hidden operatives from numerous factions. The Shadow Moon Sect has even been forced to withdraw all its forces and shut its gates. Surely you have no other excuses now, thinking that the Shadow Moon Sect would sacrifice its own reputation just to help Sect Master Yaoguang stage a fraud?" "How could it be... how is this possible..." Leng Qingqiu recalled the first time she had met Yaoguang. Back then, he was clearly just a Void Piercing cultivator... All right, even though he had broken through to Void Refining, he had only just broken through. Relying entirely on the sheer might of his natal Dao art, he had barely managed to escape with his life from the hands of the three Void Refining cultivators: herself, Zhengyang, and Xuanyin. Yet now... How much time had passed?! Merely several decades. Not even enough time for her to cultivate a single Dao art! Yet when she snapped out of her daze and looked back... "How could he... be strong to such an extent?" this deputy sect master murmured. "This must be Mas... must be..." Zhan Xiao opened his mouth to say that their Master had played favorites and secretly supported Yaoguang. Yet having barely begun the sentence, he could not bring himself to finish it. Shi Lin, however, knew what he wanted to say. This time, she no longer spared her juniors' fragile pride, speaking bluntly: "Secret support? Even with the full support of a Dao Lord, who could truly achieve such heights?" She continued rapidly: "First Prince Yuan Wuxiu of the Tianyuan Immortal Dynasty is extraordinarily gifted and attained Void Refining within a century. Three hundred years ago, after Dao Lord Yuanjian returned from the starry void outside the realm, Yuan Wuxiu has remained cultivating by his side. Yet to this day, three hundred years later, he is still only ranked nineteenth on the Dao Lord Candidate List! The personal disciple of Dao Lord Biluo of the Tongtian Sect likewise received centuries of direct personal guidance from that Dao Lord, and then cultivated bitterly for three thousand years after the Dao Lord departed; today, over four thousand six hundred years old, he ranks tenth on the Candidate List, yet the number of Void Shattering cultivators he has slain in his entire life can be counted on one hand. Even Dao Lord Yuanxu's personal disciple, True Monarch Xujin, who followed that Dao Lord for three thousand years and has cultivated for eight thousand years to this day, ranking sixth on the Dao Lord Candidate List, cannot achieve the glorious feat of suppressing an entire sect alone!" Having said this, this usually gentle Eldest Senior Sister swept her gaze over them. "Yaoguang has cultivated for barely a century to this day. Even with constant guidance from a Dao Lord, if not for peerless talent, how could he reach such heights? What about you? Adding up all the scattered times Master guided you, it comes out to roughly a century as well. Yet you haven't even broken through to the Void Shattering realm! What right do you have to act haughty and throw your weight around?" Her words left Zhan Xiao, Leng Qingqiu, and Shui Yunhan utterly speechless. Shui Yunhan, in particular, shrank her head back in embarrassment. Zhan Xiao and Leng Qingqiu at least had only failed to reach Void Shattering, but as for her... As a personal disciple of a Dao Lord, having joined the sect for over a century, she had not even broken through to the Void Refining realm. Originally, she had been quite smug about reaching the peak of Void Piercing in less than two hundred years of cultivation, but compared to Yaoguang now... No! The two could not even be mentioned in the same breath. "To this day, I must admit that as Eldest Senior Sister, I have failed in my duty. My education and discipline of you have been a complete disaster." Shi Lin let out a long sigh. "You constantly claim Yaoguang was groomed entirely by Master, but in reality, Master might have aided him slightly, but that aid was not even one ten-thousandth of what she gave us! You should be able to deduce this from the fact that Master has been preparing for the Dao Contention while constantly monitoring Demon Saint Yulin's movements. She simply does not have the time." Zhan Xiao and Leng Qingqiu fell silent. Their master was indeed very busy. Moreover... Just as Shi Lin said, even if Master really had secretly supported Yaoguang, for Yaoguang to cultivate to such an extent within a few decades would be enough to serve as bragging rights for any Dao Lord. "In fact, right now, I would rather hope that Yaoguang truly was a chess piece secretly discovered and groomed by Master. Compared to him, we of the Penglai Immortal Sect are far too incompetent. In the future, once Master steps through the Gate of the Immortal Realm and ascends to the Immortal Realm, nine times out of ten the Penglai Immortal Sect will collapse immediately. If Yaoguang were here and took charge of the Penglai Immortal Sect, at least the heritage of the sect could be preserved and carried on," Shi Lin said with a hint of helplessness. "Let Yaoguang take charge of the Penglai Immortal Sect?" Leng Qingqiu froze, then cried out immediately, "I disagree!" Beside her, Zhan Xiao quickly chimed in, "Indeed, Eldest Senior Sister! We poured our heart and blood into developing the Penglai Immortal Sect. Under no circumstances can we let an outsider benefit from it... Even if he might be a disciple Master accepted in secret, still... a disciple kept in the dark like that, how could he properly inherit the sect's heritage and sincerely lead the Penglai Immortal Sect to prosperity in the future? Who knows, maybe he only cares about our Penglai Immortal Sect's interests and will ruthlessly exploit us after becoming Sect Master!" "Penglai Immortal Sect's interests? Ruthlessly exploit?" Hearing Zhan Xiao's words, Shi Lin was so exasperated that she laughed. "How much profit do you think the Penglai Immortal Sect even has? If Master hadn't subsidized it from time to time, the Penglai Immortal Sect wouldn't even be able to break even! Its annual revenue isn't even one hundred million! Once Master leaves, the Penglai Immortal Sect will be nothing but a mess! And do you know what Sect Master Yaoguang's Southern Domain earned this year? Let me tell you! Three hundred million! His Southern Domain makes three times what our Penglai Immortal Sect does! And as they unleash the full productivity of the Southern Domain, their future revenue will surely break through five hundred million, even a billion!" She looked at her junior brother. "Stop confining your eyes to your little patch of land in the Deep Blue Sea! Go out and see the world! With an income ten or dozens of times higher than ours in his pocket, do you think he would even care about our Penglai Immortal Sect?" "Five hundred million or a billion is only future earnings. Right now, isn't it still three hundred million? The Penglai Immortal Sect could increase their revenue by thirty percent, so how could they ignore it?" Leng Qingqiu argued, immediately adding, "In any case, I will never accept him taking charge of the Penglai Immortal Sect." Shi Lin had only heard some similar remarks from Dao Lord Penglai and was merely testing the waters with her juniors. Seeing their reactions... Recalling Master's tone at the time... At this moment, this acting sect master was completely disappointed in them. After a long while, she spoke slowly: "Whether you agree or not is irrelevant. If that day truly comes, at worst, the Penglai Immortal Sect will split into two sects. Those willing to follow me and swear allegiance to Sect Master Yaoguang will follow Sect Master Yaoguang's orders. For those who aren't, out of our bond as fellow disciples, I won't force you." "Split the sect?" At these words, Shui Yunhan panicked. "Eldest Senior Sister, are you abandoning us?" "Yes, Eldest Senior Sister! We agreed that the Penglai Immortal Sect is one family. How could you abandon us?" Leng Qingqiu said, aggrieved. "Even a family quarrels over differing views and splits up households. Isn't that normal?" Shi Lin said calmly, "Although what I mentioned is merely a possibility, if you continue like this, the possibility of the sect splitting becoming reality is very high. When that time comes, the only ones you can rely on will be yourselves." "Eldest Senior Sister... how can you say that..." "If you truly believe you are capable and can do better than Yaoguang, you should be happy about splitting the sect. Or perhaps..." Shi Lin looked at them. "You know full well you lack the ability, yet you insist on clinging to your positions, unwilling to let someone more capable lead you?" "Eldest Senior Sister..." Leng Qingqiu wanted to say more, but Shi Lin cut her off: "Enough. If you can learn from shame, cultivate diligently, and demonstrate sufficient potential and talent, Master will surely nurture you with great resources and entrust you with heavy responsibilities. But if you continue to accomplish nothing..." She sighed in exhaustion. "Let it end here." ... Yaoguang had no idea that the Penglai Immortal Sect was facing a schism because of news about him. At this moment, he was secretly following Qi Sha, leading the forces into the Shadow Moon Sect's territory, swallowing the sixteen provinces bordering the Shadow Moon Sect one by one. He had originally expected the Shadow Moon Sect to leave behind some hidden traps on these lands, but it turned out... The Shadow Moon Sect had withdrawn completely. Never mind Void Piercing, Void Refining, or Void Shattering cultivators—they had not even left behind many Void Piercing Battle Immortals, pulling every last one back near their main mountain gate. Under these circumstances, the Southern Domain army led by Qi Sha, Chu Gushan, Qin Shiyue, and the others advanced like a knife through bamboo. Yaoguang made another trip around the Shadow Moon Sect's headquarters. Seeing the semi-activated grand formation, he did not rashly charge inside. After confirming that the Shadow Moon Sect had truly sealed its mountain, he returned to Nandu. When he returned to Nandu, Li Hanqiu, Wan Liugui, and the others had barely finished refining the Dao artifact flying vessels bestowed upon them by Yaoguang and were prepared to return to the Cangwu Great World. Seeing that there were no major matters remaining, he wasted no time either. Leading a small group of around a hundred people, including Li Hanqiu and the others, he piloted a Dao artifact flying vessel and soared into the sky, heading straight for the starry void outside the realm.