Difficulty

"The Dao of Time." Yaoguang looked at the Time Dao seed within him. Among the forty-nine Grand Daos circulating from the Gate of the Immortal Realm on Beihai Star, there was no Grand Dao of Time. In other words, if he entered the Gate of the Immortal Realm as a Dao Lord of Time, there wouldn't even be any Dao Contention; he could simply walk straight in. Yet the prerequisite was... ...that his crafted Time Dao Lord avatar could successfully integrate with the Dao. After pondering for a moment, Yaoguang focused his attention on the [Merchant] and [Demon Hunting] branches. "Earlier, I acquired a great deal of resources—congratulatory gifts from others for my ascension to Dao Lord. As I stepped into the Dao Integration realm, these items were all counted as 'trade' experience and pooled around the Merchant branch. Furthermore... the broken Air-Ban Tower gained from slaying Jimie and the Demon Saint essence from slaying Kunpeng are all of immense value..." Yaoguang paused a moment at this thought. In fact, the Heavenly Demon body of Demon Saint Yulin was also worth a great deal, but since he had already gifted it to Dao Lord Penglai, there was no need to dwell on it. The investments and gifts of others, the spoils of war from slaying Dao Lords and Demon Saints, combined with the immortal artifact materials gifted not long ago by Dao Lord Juntian... The final accumulated "experience" was quite substantial. Of course, due to the rise in labor costs brought on by the growth of his personal "value," even all of these earnings combined fell slightly short of what he had gained from [Demon Hunting]. "Though it's a bit less..." Yaoguang focused his attention on the [Dao Integration: Void] branch. In the next moment, whether from Merchant or Demon Hunting, all the nutrients poured into this branch without reservation. As a massive flood of information regarding the Dao of the Void surged in, this branch grew vigorously. Soon, the branch's progress soared all the way to 101/10,000. With this progress, he had fully stepped into the realm of an Immortal Venerable. Yet Yaoguang paid no heed to the change in progress, instead focusing his mind on digesting the vast amount of information he had just received. Amid this information was a vast wealth of lore on the Dao of the Void, but what truly surprised Yaoguang were the factions behind it. "Creation Group, Tianyuan Group, Shenluo Group, Changsheng Group..." He closely examined the various cultivation methods one by one. The vast majority of these methods actually originated from the Nine Great Groups, led by the four above. Not sects! Groups! This designation—familiar yet alien—gave him an indescribable sense of dissonance. He felt that something was off, yet could not pinpoint what. Furthermore, once cultivation arts reached the Immortal Venerable level, they seemed to suddenly hit a bottleneck. No! More accurately, once they reached the immortal level, they fell into a kind of stagnation. Not only did they become scarce, but every one of them harbored certain defects. Or rather, incomplete innovations. "So... in theory, even the cultivation arts circulating from the Immortal Realm only support cultivation up to the immortal level? To take another step beyond the immortal level and achieve Immortal Venerable, one can only rely on self-creation? If you succeed, you become an Immortal Venerable; if you fail, you remain an immortal forever?" Yaoguang deduced this conclusion from these methods. If that was the case... ...he would likely have to pause his progress along the path of [Dao Integration: Void]. Requiring self-created methods meant he had undoubtedly touched upon a certain bottleneck. And while a self-created technique might enable its creator to attain Immortal Venerable, another immortal walking that same path might not necessarily reach the same height. Therefore, if he continued advancing [Dao Integration: Void] in the future, even if he pushed it to 999/10,000 and obtained various Immortal Venerable inheritances, they would probably only be "exclusive" arts deeply stamped with the individuality of their creators. "Now that my realm has reached Immortal Venerable, I should bring my actual strength up to match it first. Once I truly possess strength at the immortal level, it won't be too late to raise my realm further. Besides, I walk the Path of the Human Immortal. To become an immortal on this path, one must forge three immortal artifacts. Only by possessing immortal artifacts can one bear the power of the Grand Dao of the Void at the one-thousandth level. If the immortal artifacts aren't forged, then even if that share of the Grand Dao of the Void were placed right before me, I..." Yaoguang gave it a thought. Actually, he would still be able to hold onto it. After all, his realm had already reached Immortal Venerable. But any other practitioner of the Path of the Human Immortal given a one-thousandth share wouldn't be able to grasp it. It was like trying to fit a bucket of water into a cup. Amid his musings, he took out the broken Air-Ban Tower. After inspecting and analyzing it, he quickly activated the grand formation of Tianqi Valley, using the valley's environment to try and extract the Lingyun Mysterious Crystal from the Air-Ban Tower. "The properties of Lingyun Mysterious Crystal align quite well with Guixu Mysterious Crystal. If all goes smoothly, infusing this crystal into the Bahuang Mirror should allow me to forge the immortal artifact, the Ten Directions Sky Mirror." Yaoguang made a brief estimation. He focused his mind on the [Artifact Crafting] branch. Immediately after, his brow furrowed. Although the Artifact Crafting branch had reached Level 16, its progress was actually only at 1%. That 1% had only been raised by investing a massive quantity of immortal artifact materials to forge pinnacle Dao artifacts one after another. With this level of crafting attainment, forging a genuine immortal artifact was not impossible, but it would be exceedingly difficult, time-consuming, and exhausting. And judging by the trend... Even if he were constantly supplied with immortal artifact materials to practice with, raising the progress to 100% would take at least ten thousand years. Ten thousand years was nothing, but the key issue was that during these ten thousand years, he would have to process and forge at least four to five hundred portions of immortal artifact materials. Four to five hundred portions of immortal artifact materials, even the most ordinary ones, would be worth forty to fifty trillion. What an astonishing fortune was that?! Whether all the net worth of every Dao Lord in this generation's Dao Contention on Beihai Star combined could match this figure was unknown. In other words, it would take one or two hundred Dao Lords bankrupting themselves to supply him just to raise his artifact crafting skill to Level 16 perfection. That was completely unrealistic. "I still have to rely on 'nutrients' to push up my Artifact Crafting level. If I can raise it to Level 17, then when I forge an ordinary immortal artifact like the Ten Directions Sky Mirror, not only will the success rate be assured, but the crafting speed will be significantly faster." And as for gaining nutrients... ...there were only Merchant and Demon Hunting. "On the Merchant side... forging pinnacle Dao artifacts is much easier for me now. Even without Dao Lord Penglai's help, I could produce Void-type pinnacle Dao artifacts at a rate of one every fifty years. However, buyers of Void-type pinnacle Dao artifacts would all be Void Dao Lords, and selling pinnacle Dao artifacts to them... is hardly appropriate. Meanwhile, pinnacle Dao artifacts of other Daos take considerably longer to forge, unless the Dao Lord placing the order is willing to assist me..." Yaoguang pondered. Forging Dao artifacts for sale was a troublesome process, and under the influence of "labor value," the ultimate returns had already declined compared to before. Rather than doing that, [Demon Hunting] was far more straightforward and satisfying. "Aside from Jimie, Kunpeng, and Yulin, who have already fallen, those who participated in besieging me also include the two Dao Integration experts, Black Moon and Guangmang! Among them, Demon Venerable Black Moon is a prime target I must deal with next. Slaying this demon venerable will allow the Southern Domain to continue expanding, fully incorporating the former territory of the Shadow Moon Sect into the Southern Domain's borders and serving as the foundation of the Nine Cauldrons Sect!" Yaoguang reached a decision. Adjusting his state... ...the next targets were Black Moon and Guangmang! Moreover, even if he struck against these two, it wouldn't cause too much panic on Beihai Star. After all, this was an act of vengeance, justified and righteous. "Black Moon and Guangmang aren't Void Dao Lords. Dealing with them won't be as effortless as crushing Jimie and Kunpeng; it will require some effort. What's more, considering that every Dao Lord possesses ample trump cards and will immediately call upon allies, I must make thorough preparations." Yaoguang swiftly browsed through the various Dao arts he could cultivate. All of these Dao arts ultimately pointed toward the final Origin Dao Art. As a Void Dao Lord, his Origin Dao Art was the Great Void Art. To master the Great Void Art meant a cultivator possessed the qualification to become an immortal. That is, having at least a one-thousandth share of the Dao of the Void. Yaoguang's realm had already reached Immortal Venerable; whether in the share he could accommodate or his application, understanding, and mastery of the Dao of the Void, he had attained the Immortal Venerable level. Yet his "share" was only three. Even the cleverest housewife could not cook a meal without rice. With a share of only three... ...even for him, casting the Great Void Art would not be an easy feat. "If the Wuji Sword, Bahuang Mirror, and Endless Tower all transform into semi-immortal artifacts, then with the amplification of semi-immortal artifacts and my Immortal Venerable-level understanding and mastery, I could forcefully unleash the Great Void Art, matching an immortal with every gesture... Slaying Black Moon and Guangmang would be like crushing dry weeds. But with Level 16 at only 1% progress, upgrading three pinnacle Dao artifacts to semi-immortal artifacts..." Yaoguang made a brief calculation. Upgrading each one would likely take three to four hundred years. Upgrading a pinnacle Dao artifact to a semi-immortal artifact in just three to four hundred years was an efficiency that would send any Dao Lord into wild ecstasy. But to Yaoguang... ...it was far too slow. "Upgrading the three pinnacle Dao artifacts to semi-immortal artifacts takes too much time, and my personal strength... cannot annihilate Demon Venerable Black Moon with overwhelming swiftness. When the time comes, the other demon venerables of the Six Demon Sects will surely rush to his aid..." Weighing the situation, Yaoguang decided to call in help. He took out a transmission jade talisman and contacted Dao Lord Penglai directly. "In theory, I should be consolidating my realm right now, but in truth, there is no such concept as consolidating a realm for me. Ten days to half a month is all I need to adapt to Dao Lord-level power. In other words, I can strike at Demon Venerable Black Moon right now. And Black Moon probably wouldn't dream that I would come after him so soon. Even if he were to take precautions, it would likely be over a decade from now... This gives me the element of surprise." As he waited for Dao Lord Penglai's reply, Yaoguang pondered. Soon, a wave of divine sense pulsed from the jade talisman. "Dao Lord Yaoguang?" Dao Lord Penglai sounded somewhat surprised. "Don't you need to consolidate your realm? The shift from Void Shattering to Dao Integration is no small leap—it's an all-around qualitative ascension and transformation." "You should know that my realm has already surpassed that of ordinary Dao Lords," Yaoguang said. "True enough. Then what do you need me for?" "During my Dao Integration, those who directly and indirectly attacked us weren't just Jimie, Kunpeng, and Yulin. There were also Black Moon and Guangmang." "You mean..." "We join forces and destroy Black Moon," Yaoguang stated his purpose plainly. "I knew it." Dao Lord Penglai was not surprised in the least. She asked briskly, "When?" "Now."