Confidence

"Dao Lord Tianming... that's quite a grandiose Dao title," Yaoguang remarked. Then he got down to business. "The Destruction God Venerable led five God Venerables out of the God race's territory to intercept Dao Lord Tianming? What about Radiance? Is he among them?" "The God race naturally knows you have your eye on Radiance, so they didn't let him leave. He and three other God Venerables are guarding the God race's territory." Dao Lord Penglai explained, "The God race's cultivation system is somewhat unique. Stationed at their home base, a God Venerable drawing upon the power of their Divine Kingdom generally commands combat strength comparable to a renowned Dao Lord. If pinnacle grand formations are further laid around those Divine Kingdoms, they can even put up a fight against a pinnacle Dao Lord in person." Yaoguang naturally understood this. The God race's system followed the path of Earthly Immortals. And an Earthly Immortal, within their own grotto-heaven blessed land, possessed combat power comparable to a Heavenly Immortal. "Able to put up a fight even against pinnacle Dao Lords... In other words, I won't be able to breach Radiance's Divine Kingdom anytime soon, and on top of that, three other God Venerables are held in reserve at their base... Troublesome," Yaoguang said. "Divine Kingdoms? Why fight the God race's Dao Integration experts inside their Divine Kingdoms?" Dao Lord Penglai found this somewhat peculiar. "Hasn't the Destruction God Venerable taken five God Venerables to intercept and kill Dao Lord Tianming? The Dao Lords of the Four Great Celestial Dynasties won't just sit idly by. Dao Lord Shilong of the True Dragon Celestial Dynasty rallied Dao Lord Yuanjian of the Tianyuan Celestial Dynasty and paid a hefty price to enlist Dao Lord Biluo of the Tongtian Sect—one of the Three Immortal Martial Sects—to go together and rendezvous with Dao Lord Tianming. In other words, Dao Lord Tianming's side also has four Dao Lords. Well, do you see my point?" Yaoguang was startled, then immediately saw the light. "I should coordinate with the Four Great Celestial Dynasties to intercept and kill the six God Venerables led by the Destruction God Venerable?" "Of course. Sooner or later, you will strike at God Venerable Radiance; in other words, he is an enemy you must kill. The only reason you haven't acted yet is out of concern that the Ten Directions God Race would swarm you in retaliation. But what if the God Venerables of the Ten Directions God Race suffer catastrophic losses—or what if the entire Ten Directions God Race is shattered? When that time comes, without the banner of the Ten Directions God Race behind him, with your strength, wouldn't dealing with a lone God Venerable Radiance be as simple as killing him whenever you please?" Dao Lord Penglai said. Yaoguang listened... And found it made a lot of sense. God Venerable Radiance had the backing of the Ten Directions God Race? Then just wipe out the Ten Directions God Race. How simple was that? "The Destruction God Venerable is clashing fiercely with Dao Lord Tianming and the others alongside the five God Venerables. All you need to do during the fray is eliminate one or two God Venerables—three or four would be even better—which will undoubtedly deal a devastating blow to the Ten Directions God Race. When that happens, crippled and bleeding, how could the God race have time to meddle in the mess between you and God Venerable Radiance? They might even hand him over to quell your fury." "It's also possible the Destruction God Venerable might rally the remaining God Venerables to fight me to the bitter end." "Then prioritize slaying the Destruction God Venerable, then eliminate the Slaughter God Venerable, leaving no prestigious God Venerables in the Ten Directions God Race a chance to rally the rest." "Makes sense." Yaoguang nodded in deep agreement, while also sighing slightly in wonder. "A grand battle involving ten Dao Integration-level figures... Is Beihai Star playing at such high stakes now?" "The Dao Contention is drawing near, so clashes between Dao Integration figures are naturally multiplying." Dao Lord Penglai considered a battle of this scale quite normal. Having said that, she paused for a moment. "The only issue right now is whether all six God Venerables of the God race mobilizing at once might be a trap targeted at you." "A trap? You mean they've allied with the Dao Lords of the Void?" Yaoguang asked. "Or perhaps Dao Lords of the Void allied with the God race?" Dao Lord Penglai added, "We cannot rule out that possibility." Yaoguang pondered in silence. "So, do you intend to make a move? If you plan to give it a try, I can help," Dao Lord Penglai offered, then followed up, "But you have to help upgrade my Human Emperor Sword into a semi-immortal artifact." "Upgrading it to a semi-immortal artifact was already part of my promise for your assistance back then," Yaoguang said. "..." Dao Lord Penglai fell silent for a moment. Yaoguang couldn't help feeling a bit surprised. Then, as if realizing something, he asked, "Are you out of materials to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword?" "My material consumption has been a bit high lately," Dao Lord Penglai said tactfully. Yaoguang thought back to the copious materials he had received from Dao Lord Penglai, as well as the materials consumed in refining two pinnacle Dao artifacts for her... So, Dao Lord Penglai... had been plucked dry by him? Upon reflection, Yaoguang could understand. Dao Lord Penglai wasn't necessarily all that wealthy. How long had she even been a Dao Lord? Her resources had largely been plundered from the Tianhai Sword Pavilion and the Nine Demon Immortal Lineages. Not long ago, to support his artifact refining, she had invested no less than three hundred billion in him. Three hundred billion... that was practically the entire net worth of a veteran Dao Lord. For a newly ascended Dao Lord like Penglai to produce that much was already impressive. Of course, it also had to do with Dao Lord Penglai's terrible financial management. If she had known she wouldn't even have the materials left to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword to a semi-immortal artifact, she shouldn't have had the Worlds Apart Diagram refined. And she called herself a Dao Lord! Spending money without a shred of planning. What a spendthrift. Well, even though most of those resources had ended up in his own pocket, that didn't stop Yaoguang from passing that judgment on her. After pondering for a moment, Yaoguang inquired, "The matter involves the Four Great Celestial Dynasties. Surely the Four Great Celestial Dynasties wouldn't ally with the Ten Directions God Race, right? They are human factions, after all." "I only fear the Four Great Celestial Dynasties are unaware of such a plot." "Since you know the True Dragon Celestial Dynasty paid a hefty price to invite Dao Lord Biluo to act... did they invite you as well?" Yaoguang asked. "No," Dao Lord Penglai denied, but immediately added, "I approached them of my own accord." "Approached them yourself..." That significantly lowered the suspicion on the Four Great Celestial Dynasties. "Did they agree?" "No. They merely asked me to hold the line at Beihai Star and promised a reward once it is all over," Dao Lord Penglai replied. Yaoguang nodded slightly. The Four Great Celestial Dynasties were not entirely at ease with Dao Lord Penglai. Although the Four Great Celestial Dynasties and the Ten Immortal Sects both belonged to the human camp, they ultimately had different philosophies of development. Furthermore, Dao Lord Shilong and the others felt that the four of them were sufficient to safely bring Dao Lord Tianming back, so they naturally were unwilling to spend more money. Yet, wary of Dao Lord Penglai's reputation as the number one Dao Lord of Beihai Star... they paid a bit of protection money to keep her appeased. In this case, the Four Great Celestial Dynasties were uninvolved. If there truly was a trap, it was laid jointly by the God race and the Dao Lords of the Void. As for the God race's power... the Dao Lords of the Four Great Celestial Dynasties should be able to withstand it. In other words, even if it was a trap, all he would have to deal with were the Dao Lords of the Void. If it was only Dao Lords of the Void... Yaoguang smiled slightly. "I understand." He said straightforwardly, "Then I ask Dao Lord Penglai to join me in battle. Let us go deal with the God Venerables led by the Destruction God Venerable!" "Good!" Dao Lord Penglai agreed decisively. "This conflict was sparked by the Four Great Celestial Dynasties and the Ten Directions God Race. Even if the fallout is massive, the Four Great Celestial Dynasties will share the burden, and everyone's eyes won't be solely fixed on us. Moreover, with the Dao Contention approaching, the fall of some Dao Lords is quite normal now. We can completely unleash our hands without restraint." "That sounds good," Yaoguang agreed with a smile. In truth, he already understood Dao Lord Penglai's real motive in pushing for this. She was broke, yet she wanted to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword. The Four Great Celestial Dynasties paid a hefty sum to invite other Dao Integration figures to assist... but no matter how hefty, one hundred billion was about the limit. A Dao Integration expert's net worth, however, often reached two to three hundred billion, and most Dao Integration experts preferred keeping valuable materials on their own person. So... she had set her sights directly on those God Venerables themselves. As for why she brought him along... this kind of behavior drew too much hatred and could make other Dao Lords feel endangered, so she needed someone to share the attention. In addition, she was a Dao Lord of the Origin Dao. In a direct clash, relying on the vast, profound advantage of the Origin Dao, she could pummel any opponent to death, and even if she couldn't bludgeon them to death, she could wear them down. But if an enemy chose to flee, she was somewhat helpless. Yet Yaoguang... could effortlessly run down any Dao Integration figure trying to flee for their life. One had to admit, this Dao Lord Penglai was exceedingly bold. Even so, he said nothing more and simply replied, "Without further delay, let us follow them." "My thoughts exactly." "The battlefield is in the extraterrestrial starry expanse, so we have quite a distance to cover. Lest you fall behind... shall I come pick you up?" "Then I will trouble you." Dao Lord Penglai and Yaoguang quickly reached an agreement. Yaoguang packed up his things, flickered, and departed the Heavenly Dao Sect like a ghost. Dao Lord Penglai wanted to intercept and kill God Venerables—and perhaps even Void Dao Lords—to strip them of materials in preparation for upgrading the Human Emperor Sword. Yaoguang himself... likewise needed to hunt down opponents to push his [Artifact Refining] level up as quickly as possible. Otherwise, as the opening of the Gate of the Immortal Realm drew nearer and nearer, he feared it would be difficult to upgrade the Eight Desolations Heavenly Mirror, the Endless Tower, and the Wuji Sword into true immortal artifacts before the time arrived. And if he couldn't upgrade them all into immortal artifacts... his plan to use the arrival of the Dao Contention to sweep aside all Dao Lords of the Void would likely be hard to achieve. After all, there were too many Void Dao Lords; the number he had to confront wasn't merely one or two, but forty or fifty, perhaps even sixty or seventy. Therefore, since there was an opportunity to rapidly advance his [Artifact Refining] by hunting down Dao Integration experts, he naturally wouldn't refuse. Naturally, this process inherently carried danger. If the God race and the Void Dao Lords had truly allied and laid a trap, the number of Void Dao Lords participating would certainly not be small. It wouldn't be surprising if there were over a dozen. Such a lineup... was more than enough to wipe out any two pinnacle Dao Lords. However, his Immortal Venerable-level attainment in the Void and the two semi-immortal artifacts he had refined over these past two hundred-plus years... gave Yaoguang the confidence to face over a dozen, or even dozens, of Void Dao Lords. "If it's not a trap, I'll harvest two or three God Venerables. If it truly is a trap and a mass of Void Dao Lords is lying in wait, hoping I'll throw myself into the net once I'm far from Beihai Star and the other Dao Lords of the Ten Immortal Sects..." A sharp glint flashed in Yaoguang's eyes. "Then let us see who is the hunter, and who is the prey."