Nandu.
Having received word in advance, a select few core figures, including Li Hanqiu and Wan Liugui, were already waiting here.
As Yaoguang stepped out from the teleportation array, delight washed across everyone's faces.
"Sect Master Yao—"
Li Hanqiu started to greet him, but immediately realizing his mistake, he bowed deeply. "Dao Lord Yaoguang!"
Beside him, the others looked at the arriving Yaoguang and offered their greetings as well. "Greetings, Dao Lord."
Yaoguang's gaze swept over them.
Only four people had come to receive him: Li Hanqiu, Wan Liugui, Li Qingshan, and Su Yaoxue.
All of them were his own people.
He smiled and said, "Why be so formal? You should know by now that I care nothing for empty courtesies."
"To bow to a Dao Lord is a lifelong honor for Void Piercing cultivators like us. Dao Lord Yaoguang, please just indulge this little wish of ours," Li Hanqiu replied, his face practically overflowing with joy.
Su Yaoxue, Li Qingshan, and Wan Liugui also looked Yaoguang up and down with wide eyes.
When they sensed the Dao rhyme naturally radiating from his every movement, their excitement became almost impossible to contain.
Wan Liugui in particular possessed a profound foundation and walked the Void path just like Yaoguang. Merely sensing the power of the Dao rhyme emanating from Yaoguang made him feel as though his comprehension of Void Dao arts had leaped to an entirely new level.
If he could serve at his side for a time...
Within just a few years, achieving Void Refining would hold immense promise.
"Dao Lords truly are a rare sight," Yaoguang said with a laugh. "Before long, I'll be in Tianqi Valley crafting artifacts for hundreds of years. You may all come along. Whether you call it looking after my daily needs or contemplating the Void Dao rhyme around me, after a few centuries, you'll be with me until the novelty of a 'Dao Lord' has worn off completely."
"A Dao Lord represents the Grand Dao itself. Unless one thoroughly comprehends the Grand Dao and becomes a new Dao Lord, staying by your side will bring new insights and inspiration every moment," Wan Liugui said at once.
Li Hanqiu and Li Qingshan nodded deeply in agreement as well.
Yaoguang did not dwell on the matter, saying simply, "I am heading to the border. Prepare yourselves here and keep the city-defending formation active. There will be a period of upheaval ahead. If the situation turns unfavorable, retreat through the teleportation array to the Heavenly Dao Sect. If all goes well... the Nine Cauldrons Sect will be truly reborn from the ashes upon the territory of the Shadow Moon Sect."
Li Hanqiu's heart stirred, and he quickly caught on. "Dao Lord, are you... about to make a move on Demon Venerable Black Moon?"
Only by eliminating the Dao Lord backing a top-tier grand sect could one truly claim its territory and influence.
Immediately after, an instinctive concern arose in him. "Could that be a bit too rushed?"
"Only by catching him off guard can we deliver a fatal blow to Demon Venerable Black Moon," Yaoguang said without explaining further. "I know what I am doing. You just need to make the proper preparations."
Hearing this, Li Hanqiu, Wan Liugui, and the others indeed asked no more.
After all these years together, they had long placed a near-blind trust in Yaoguang.
Since he said he knew what he was doing, they could simply treat it as foolproof.
After giving a few brief instructions, Yaoguang did not linger in Nandu.
Dao Lord Penglai had already set out.
Unlike a Void Dao Lord like him, she could not move in secret or leave her tracks untraceable.
In head-on combat, relying on her Grand Dao of Origin, Dao Lord Penglai would not flinch even when fighting three or four at once.
Yet in footwork and concealment, her abilities left much to be desired.
That was also why Demon Saint Yulin had managed to skirmish with her across the Deep Blue Sea for several centuries back then.
...
As Yaoguang channeled the power of the Grand Dao to execute Void Blink, each step carried him easily across millions of li.
And this was while maintaining a relatively relaxed pace.
Otherwise, a single stride would span not just millions of li, but tens of millions, or even dozens of millions.
Before long, his figure arrived at a fortress on the border of Wuzhou.
Within this fortress, he sensed not only Mo Xie's aura, but also three Void Shattering cultivators of the Void path, including Perfected Lord Xujin.
With a single Void Blink, Yaoguang appeared inside Perfected Lord Xujin's palace, without the perfected lord noticing in the slightest.
Such ghostly, elusive movement...
It finally gave Yaoguang a taste of the mystique Dao Lord Penglai had possessed every time she used to appear out of nowhere.
However, now that someone stood openly within his palace, Perfected Lord Xujin quickly reacted, crying out in shock, "Who—"
When he clearly saw Yaoguang's figure standing in the hall, terror, dread, and joy surged through his eyes all at once.
For half a breath, the other emotions fell away, leaving only an almost surreal delight. "Dao Lord Yaoguang!"
Relying on that joy to suppress everything else, he bent into an exaggerated, sweeping bow before Yaoguang. "Greetings, Dao Lord! Congratulations to the Sect Master on smoothly integrating with the Dao and becoming a Dao Lord! From this day forth, the universe is vast, and you may roam it at will!"
Yaoguang understood why this Void Shattering cultivator on the Dao Lord Candidate List had gone through such an emotional rollercoaster.
The terror and dread were likely shock that Yaoguang had stepped into the Dao Integration realm so quickly.
As for the feelings suppressed beneath that unreal delight, they were probably mostly envy and jealousy.
Yet he did not expect much from Xujin and the others. As long as they were useful, that was enough.
Moreover, once news of his ascension to Dao Lord spread to them, any improper notions they harbored would be thoroughly suppressed.
Whether Void Shattering experts or top figures on the Dao Lord Candidate List, serving a Dao Lord was nothing shameful.
If anything, should that Dao Lord grant them status, it was an honor.
And Yaoguang treated them far better than Dao Lord Yuanxu ever had.
Once they fully accepted the fact that he was a Dao Lord, they would only feel relieved and overjoyed about their past surrender.
"No need for formalities. Next, I need to make a move on Demon Venerable Black Moon of the Shadow Moon Sect. In a moment, I will notify Qi Sha of the Battle Lineage. Assemble your elites and join them to accompany me to the Shadow Moon Sect. Once I slay Black Moon, you must execute as many of the remaining demonic cultivators as possible, minimizing any risk of them plaguing this land in the future," Yaoguang ordered.
"Slay Black Moon!"
Hearing Yaoguang speak so casually of slaying an Integration Realm demon venerable sent a chill through Perfected Lord Xujin's heart.
Following that chill, he could not help but recall Yaoguang's battle record that had already spread across Beihai Star upon his Dao Integration.
Slaying Demon Venerable Black Moon...
This was definitely no empty boast.
The title of top Dao Lord had been carved out by his sheer combat achievements.
At this thought, Perfected Lord Xujin's spirits lifted, and he cupped his hands vigorously. "We respectfully obey the Dao Lord's decree!"
Yaoguang nodded.
Speed was of the essence. After giving his instructions to the leadership present in the city, including Perfected Lord Xujin and Mo Xie, he executed Void Blink once more, heading straight for the headquarters of the Shadow Moon Sect.
...
Within the headquarters of the Shadow Moon Sect, the mountain-protecting formation was already active.
A rank fifteen formation required up to a million Pure Yang Great Pills just to run for a single day—amounting to three hundred million a year. Running it for eight to ten years would burn through billions. Such consumption was no small sum even for a Dao Lord.
Except during the most ferocious decades when the Dao Contention truly arrived, very few sects kept their mountain-protecting formations active for long stretches.
Yet to guarantee absolute security, Demon Venerable Black Moon had accepted this cost.
However...
That was all.
Demon Venerable Black Moon seemed to believe that the recent assault had ended and the curtain had fallen; he never expected Yaoguang to target him at this time.
After all...
Having just consecutively slain several Dao Lords, making another move right now would cause too much of a negative uproar.
As a result, he had not gone into hiding, nor had he sought refuge with major sects like the Heavenly Demon Sect to avoid trouble. Instead, he stayed within his own sect, relying on the mountain-protecting formation's protection while refining certain curious treasures.
Regrettably...
The mountain-protecting formation he deemed so safe had been studied by Yaoguang a hundred years ago.
Yaoguang had long harbored the ambition to have the Nine Cauldrons Sect take over the Shadow Moon Sect's territory and become the eleventh sect of the Immortal Dao.
Naturally, he had long researched the Shadow Moon Sect's mountain-protecting formation, one of the greatest obstacles to that goal.
Even though the formation was fully activated, when a rank sixteen formation master struck with meticulous preparation against an unsuspecting target, a few calculated maneuvers after Yaoguang breached the barrier caused the formation to grind to a halt.
Still, the formation was not entirely useless.
The moment it stopped, Yaoguang's figure was immediately exposed.
Demon Venerable Black Moon's divine sense instantly detected the intrusion, and his face twisted in horror. "Yaoguang!? How dare you?!"
Having suppressed the formation's operation, Yaoguang did not hesitate for an instant, bringing down a Great Annihilation Art.
The Great Annihilation Art was rooted in the Great Void Disintegration Art, simplified from the Great Void Art that Yaoguang could not yet cast. In colloquial terms, it could be considered a quasi-immortal art on par with a semi-immortal artifact.
As such a quasi-immortal art slammed down, the resulting void tremors instantly crushed the secondary formations above the Shadow Moon Sect and the demonic cultivators maintaining them into dust.
Feeling the terrifying force of collapsing void, Demon Venerable Black Moon had no intention whatsoever of fighting Yaoguang head-on. Transforming into a surge of black flames, he bolted toward the formation node Yaoguang had suppressed.
It seemed he wished to reactivate the suppressed formation.
At the same time, he sent urgent transmissions to the other eight demon venerables of the Six Demon Sects: "This brat Yaoguang has gone mad! He seeks to slaughter our Six Demon Sects! He is currently running amok in my Shadow Moon Sect! I implore all fellow Daoists, in the name of our Six Demon Sects' alliance, to come to my aid with all haste! Afterward, I, Black Moon, shall present lavish gifts in thanks!"
The message naturally provoked fury among the demon venerables.
"Yaoguang!? How dare he?! What sheer audacity!"
"Are the Dao Lords of the Ten Immortal Sects all mute? Can none of them properly discipline him?! He understands no decorum at all! To recklessly murder an Integration cultivator before the Dao Contention has even begun, acting with such brazen arrogance—is he not afraid we will unite with other Dao Lords to attack him en masse?!"
"Regardless, let us retrieve Black Moon first and repel this arrogant, newly ascended Dao Lord before doing anything else."
The demon venerables responded one after another.
Yet those genuinely willing to ride to the rescue...
Were exactly as Yaoguang had analyzed beforehand:
Only the three Dao Integration experts: Demon Venerable Xiantian, Demon Venerable Huangquan, and Demon Venerable Jiuyou.
And along the path of their reinforcement, Dao Lord Penglai had already arrived in time to intercept them.
Chapter 480