Sacred Artifact

In another stretch of void. The thirty-one Dao Lords of the Star Slayer Alliance remained where they were, quietly sensing the shifts in their surroundings. Jiugong, Zhuanhe, and the others pushed their perception Dao arts to their absolute limits. The fall of a Dao Lord triggered tremors across the Grand Dao. Although the demise of multiple Dao Lords caused these tremors to overlap—potentially leading distant cultivators to miscalculate the exact number of casualties—with careful sensing, the capabilities of a Dao Lord still allowed them to distinguish the truth. Yet at this moment... "It has stopped," Dao Lord Zhuanhe said. Dao Lord Jiugong nodded slightly. "The battle has indeed ceased." With that, his gaze swept over everyone present. "I must trouble those among you skilled in reconnaissance to go and ascertain the situation over there." Yet his words were met with silence; not a single Dao Lord responded. Many even harbored a glimmer of dread in their eyes. This sight caused Dao Lord Jiugong to frown slightly. In the end, he turned his gaze toward a Dao Lord who cultivated the Grand Dao of Darkness. "Fellow Daoist Longying, the Grand Dao of Darkness you cultivate is enigmatic and unpredictable. Even if you were to confront a pinnacle Dao Lord face-to-face, you could still withdraw with ease. I must trouble you to make this trip." A pinnacle Dao Lord!? The one fighting over there was a Dao Sovereign-level figure! Had he not "seen" that the Xingri Sect's forces were practically wiped out at his hands? In just half a day, more than a dozen Dao Lords had perished. Longying could by no means guarantee that he would be able to escape unscathed if targeted by that Dao Lord... Dao Sovereign Yaoguang. At this thought, an expression of distress appeared on his face. "Alliance Leader, it is not that I am unwilling to do my utmost, but after the intense battle just now, repeatedly drawing upon the power of the Grand Dao to cast Dao arts has left my essence and energy unstable. I can no longer cast dark Dao arts flawlessly to conceal myself. If I go to scout in this state, I will inevitably be detected by Yaoguang, startling the snake and ruining Alliance Leader's grand design. Please, Alliance Leader, find someone better suited." Hearing this, Dao Lord Jiugong's brows furrowed. Only now did he realize that many Dao Lords were looking at him with shifting, evasive gazes. If not for the fear that speaking up to leave right now risked getting targeted as an example, some Dao Lords would likely have deserted the battlefield already. It was even foreseeable that unless the Xingri Sect were completely annihilated after today, it would be virtually impossible for him, as the leader of the Star Slayer Alliance, to raise his arm and rally over forty Dao Lords ever again as he had today. After all... The losses in today's battle were simply too catastrophic. Eleven Dao Lords! Their side had lost eleven Dao Lords! A casualty rate approaching thirty percent! Had they not achieved a local victory, the remaining Dao Lords probably would have broken and scattered in utter rout on the spot. Yet having come this far, Dao Lord Jiugong could not beat a retreat. If he failed to produce decisive results, the Star Slayer Alliance would exist in name only after today. Immediately, he turned his gaze toward another Void Dao Lord skilled in movement techniques. Before he could speak, however, that Void Dao Lord chimed in preemptively: "Alliance Leader, it is actually quite simple to determine whether Dao Sovereign Yaoguang still possesses combat capability. We only need to see whether he launches an attack against the Xingri Sect. He has slain so many of their people—it even seems Sect Master Dao Sovereign Jinguang died by his hands. An irreconcilable blood feud now exists between them. Under these circumstances, if he possesses any strength to spare, he will undoubtedly pursue the momentum of his victory and crush the Xingri Sect before their other powerhouses can assemble. But if he remains motionless, it proves... he is at the end of his tether as well. At that point, we can bide our time and act as the opportunity arises." These words instantly drew nods of approval from many Dao Lords. Yet in Dao Lord Jiugong's eyes, this was nothing more than an excuse born of cowardice and dread. Without even the courage to step forward and investigate right now, what if Yaoguang really was at the end of his tether? Who among them would dare make a move to intercept and kill him? Moreover, even if Yaoguang were truly exhausted, by sitting idly by right now, wouldn't he have recovered by then? Therefore, no matter what, he had to ascertain Yaoguang's exact current state. "Then we shall all go together! I refuse to believe that after enduring such an intense battle, he can still do anything against thirty-one of our Dao Lords! If he truly can, then Yaoguang is unequivocally invincible beneath the heavens, any resistance will be meaningless, and we shall wholeheartedly revere him as the Master of the Universe!" Dao Lord Jiugong declared with categorical conviction. His gaze swept across everyone present, bearing a faint undercurrent of coercion. Clearly, while his deterrence still held sway, he intended to lead everyone in a final gamble. Though some Dao Lords wished to object, all of them were well versed in self-preservation, and each knew that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. When everyone harbored such thoughts, it naturally amounted to no one stepping forward in dissent. Dao Lord Jiugong clearly understood this dynamic as well, which was why he dared to issue such a forceful command. And so, sweeping along the thirty-some Dao Lords with him, he headed straight toward the starry expanse where Yaoguang and the Xingri Sect's Dao Lords had fought their decisive battle. ... Within the Ten Directions Heavenly Realm. Looking upon the Wuji Sword—which, though radiating razor-sharp brilliance, was still not quite ready to complete its transformation—Yaoguang was not particularly surprised. "Refining immortal artifacts is much like a Dao Lord's cultivation. Upgrading a Dao artifact into an immortal artifact theoretically requires sacrificing ten Dao Lords, while refining an immortal artifact into a high-grade immortal artifact likely demands the sacrifice of a hundred Dao Lords. Of course, unlike the shares an immortal requires to become an Immortal Venerable, the hundred Dao Lords required for an ordinary immortal artifact to transform into a high-grade immortal artifact can be substituted with various immortal artifact materials. Roughly speaking, if refined properly, one portion of immortal artifact material is equivalent to one Dao Lord." With Yaoguang's current realm and artifact crafting mastery, it was naturally easy for him to discern the requirements for transforming the Wuji Sword into a high-grade immortal artifact. Yet that was not the focal point. The focal point was... "Having previously slain four Dao Lords of the Star Slayer Alliance, followed by executing thirteen and then eight Dao Lords of the Xingri Sect... the experience to raise the 'Artifact Crafting' branch by another level is finally sufficient." Yaoguang took a deep breath. He focused his spirit onto the [Artifact Crafting] branch. Without a shred of hesitation, whether it was the experience accumulated on the [Demon Hunting] branch or on the [Merchant] branch, at this moment, he channeled it all into the [Artifact Crafting] branch. Under the vast infusion from the branches, countless methods for refining pinnacle immortal artifacts surged forth. Mastery over one brought mastery over all. Once he grasped the method to refine a pinnacle immortal artifact of one Grand Dao, learning the refinement methods for pinnacle immortal artifacts of other categories of Grand Daos was merely a matter of time. Just like now, the refinement methods for pinnacle Dao artifacts of countless Grand Daos were virtually all mastered by him. Although the number of choices available for pinnacle immortal artifacts of each Grand Dao grew fewer and fewer, every single one existed. Yes! Every single one! Yaoguang saw the methods for refining pinnacle immortal artifacts of the mysterious Grand Dao of Samsara among the core Daos. He also saw how pinnacle immortal artifacts of the Grand Dao of Time were nurtured. He even glimpsed the true nature behind refining pinnacle immortal artifacts of the Grand Dao of Karma and the Grand Dao of Destiny. Unfortunately... Because he had never truly touched or comprehended the two Grand Daos of Karma and Destiny, even with the methods for refining pinnacle immortal artifacts of these two Daos before him, he could understand only fragments. Moreover, compared to the refinement techniques of other immortal artifacts, the refinement methods for these two types of immortal artifacts demanded external materials that were immeasurably higher. It felt not so much like instructing one how to refine pinnacle immortal artifacts of these two Grand Daos, but rather directing one to seek out the innate treasures born at the dawn of the universe that harbored these two Daos. This discrepancy quickly led Yaoguang to realize something. "My suspicion was correct." Yaoguang murmured softly, "The Grand Dao of Karma and the Grand Dao of Destiny already have Dao Ancestors. Both Daos have already been claimed, to the point that no refinement methods for immortal artifacts of these two Daos have ever been derived or passed down—even my 'Higher-Dimensional Cognition' cannot find them." All that could be found were these refinement methods that could barely be considered artifact crafting methods at all. This realization stirred a wave of shock within his heart. Yet at this moment, as the flooding knowledge finished depicting the "refinement" methods for pinnacle immortal artifacts of the Grand Daos of Karma and Destiny, it shuddered slightly. In the next instant, he distinctly felt his consciousness being elevated. It was like viewing an electronic map and suddenly zooming out: streets turned into a city, then a province, a country, a continent, a planet, a star system, and finally an entire galaxy... Distances so vast and boundless as to be inconceivable were traversed in an instant with this elevation in visual dimension. Only then did Yaoguang realize that, without his noticing, his [Artifact Crafting] branch had already broken past the shackles of Level 18, climbing to Level 19 and continuing to evolve forward. And within this evolution, Yaoguang finally caught sight of the realm beyond pinnacle immortal artifacts! That was... Combination. The combination of different Grand Daos with one another. And this touched upon a key principle that Yaoguang had long recognized, yet had never been able to delve into deeply. "The three thousand Grand Daos are the foundation that constructs the entire world. They never existed in isolation; they are a unified whole!" The refinement of Level 19 supreme sacred artifacts was established upon this very logic. Combination! A limit on the quota of a single Grand Dao? Then combine two Grand Daos! If two were not enough, then three, four, six, ten, a hundred, or even a thousand, three thousand! Dao and Dao were interconnected, forming one unified entity. And the powers capable of achieving this—of integrating all Grand Daos... There were only four! "Destiny, Karma, Time, Void," Yaoguang muttered to himself. The supreme Grand Daos. Destiny governed the three thousand Grand Daos. Karma linked the three thousand Grand Daos. Time represented the process through which the three thousand Grand Daos operated. Void served as the foundation that bore the three thousand Grand Daos. At this moment, he finally understood the true significance of the supreme Grand Daos. He likewise understood why Level 19 immortal artifacts were called supreme sacred artifacts. "Only by cultivating a supreme Grand Dao and using it as a guide can one forge a supreme sacred artifact." At this time, Yaoguang thought of concurrently cultivating multiple Grand Daos. Cultivators in the Void Shattering stage often already concurrently cultivated other Dao arts. Even more so for Dao Lords, immortals, and Immortal Venerables. Some ancient immortals had cultivated dozens or even hundreds of Grand Daos concurrently. They would combine these Dao arts to amplify the power of their origin immortal arts, giving birth to brand-new immortal arts. This was the domain involved in battles between Immortal Venerables above the level of ordinary immortals. "The fusion of Dao arts... It is already like this when one is on the verge of stepping onto the Grand Dao of Heavenly Immortals." Yaoguang felt a flicker of enlightenment. He faintly understood why the immortals of the Immortal Realm believed the path of the Heavenly Immortal was truly the most correct path. This path was indeed the strongest, and also the one offering the greatest hope. For if there truly existed a brand-new realm above that of a Dao Ancestor... It would inevitably belong to a cultivator capable of uniting the three thousand Grand Daos into one. A realm that held dominion over all three thousand Grand Daos, as well as the entire universe. That was... "The Universe Ruler!"