A Thousand Years

“Refine these shares first. I will find a way to trade and exchange for the rest on your behalf, though it will take some time,” Xuanqing explained. Yaoguang was silent for a moment, said nothing in objection, and simply nodded. Every conglomerate did everything possible to hoard shares in various Grand Daos, specifically so they could be brought out at critical moments to trade with executives from other groups. Such dealings were commonplace among the Nine Great Conglomerates and the smaller corporations alike. Many small conglomerates and minor companies had made a fortune from it. Xuanqing worked with great efficiency. Three days later, the first immortal carrying dozens of shares of the Grand Dao of the Void was brought into what had once been Immortal King Yuxiao’s private cultivation abode. This was a mountain spanning three thousand li across, standing on a floating island. Densely arrayed across the mountain were numerous formations. The highest-grade among them reached the level of a superior immortal formation—a Rank 17 immortal formation—capable of exerting tangible influence even in clashes between Immortal Kings. Because only three thousand years had passed since Immortal King Yuxiao fell and no new Immortal King had been born in Creation Group, this cultivation chamber had naturally remained vacant. Now that Yaoguang had arrived, this cultivation chamber, along with the series of office spaces and fixed assets once belonging to Immortal King Yuxiao, was naturally transferred into his hands. He estimated the value to be at least several hundred thousand immortal coins. In terms of purchasing Dao shares, that was enough to buy dozens. However, the majority of these were fixed assets and not easily liquidated. “Chairman.” The True Immortal who had been brought here looked with some excitement at Xuanqing and Yaoguang waiting in the cultivation chamber. In theory, cultivators of Creation Group did not wear suppression bracelets. Yet this time, having received who knew what order, this immortal had proactively put on a suppression bracelet. In other words, if Yaoguang wanted to deal with him, there was no need to worry about the slightest danger. “I leave him to you,” Xuanqing said, not sparing the True Immortal even a single glance. He was merely a vessel for Dao shares. What was there to care about? “Let me know once you finish refining him, and I will have the second one brought over. Back then, to facilitate transactions, we prepared both large and small portions across True Immortals and Dao Lords. There are plenty of them.” “Very well.” Yaoguang nodded. Standing to the side, the True Immortal was somewhat bewildered by what he heard. Yet as a True Immortal, he had caught wind of various rumors. Coupled with the fact that Xuanqing had already begun pushing for Yaoguang to enter the board of directors during this period, he quickly connected the dots and asked respectfully, “Are you… Director Yuxiao?” “Yes,” Yaoguang answered, following the method obtained from “Immortal King Yuxiao” to activate the various formations throughout the cultivation abode at an unhurried pace. “Should Your Highness have any orders, Chunyang will spare no effort to carry them out! Even if it takes everything I have, I will never fail Your Highness’s trust…” The True Immortal beside him continued to profess his loyalty effusively. Between the lines, he also displayed his own competence, hoping to earn the satisfaction of this Director Yuxiao who was reportedly returning to the board. Only after activating the formations did Yaoguang turn his gaze upon the True Immortal. “Achieving the rank of True Immortal is no easy feat. Tell me your story.” Seeing Yaoguang ask, the True Immortal who called himself Chunyang held nothing back: “Subordinate ascended from the starry skies of the lower realm. I was born into a cultivation clan whose strongest member was merely at the Golden Core realm. Showing remarkable talent from childhood, I carried the heavy hopes of my clan and was nurtured with great care. It took me over thirty-nine years to achieve a Golden Core, after which I was sent to the premier sect of our star domain—the Shengqing Sect. Later, I engaged in bitter cultivation within the Shengqing Sect for eighteen hundred years, achieved Void Shattering, and took a Dao Lord as my master. After another four thousand years of settling and tempering myself, I finally became a Dao Lord.” When he reached this point, he sighed with emotion. The journey of fifty-eight hundred years to become a Dao Lord had clearly not been easy. “After becoming a Dao Lord and going through two Dao Contentions, I earned an ascension quota, entered the Immortal Realm, and learned that the Shengqing Gate was an orthodox lineage left in the lower realm by the great Immortal Venerable Shengqing. As Immortal Venerable Shengqing is a high-ranking executive of Creation Group, I traveled hundreds of millions of li to reach the conglomerate. Passing numerous rigorous assessments, I became a formal employee of Creation Group. After working diligently and conscientiously for one hundred and thirty thousand years, I caught the eye of Immortal Venerable Shengqing, who served as corporate president, and was promoted to assistant to the president.” Speaking up to here, an indescribable sense of honor and pride surfaced on the True Immortal’s face. It was as if being promoted to this position was the greatest achievement of his life. “Rumors circulate on the outside that the Nine Great Conglomerates have monopolized all resources in the Immortal Realm, forcibly draining the immortal qi that once evenly sustained the various continents, domains, and cities, leaving cultivators outside the Nine Great Conglomerates no room for advancement. What is your view on this?” “I do not agree with that claim.” The True Immortal held his chest high and said proudly, “The technology used by the Nine Great Conglomerates represents the future direction of development for the Immortal Realm. Resources inherently need to be sufficiently concentrated to cultivate top-tier talents. Why should ordinary cultivators, who possess not a shred of talent, squander such precious and abundant resources? I would even suggest monopolizing all cultivation methods in the Immortal Realm, forbidding anyone from teaching them outside, and establishing a talent assessment system where only the exceptionally gifted may join the conglomerates and receive opportunities to cultivate. Only in this way can precious resources be utilized where they are needed most.” Yaoguang looked at the True Immortal, quickly realizing that talking about such matters with people like him was entirely pointless. Among those who had managed to cultivate into Dao Lords, which one had not climbed to the top over mountains of corpses? Especially the Dao Lords of the lower realm! Might makes right! The notion that the strong owned and dominated everything was already deeply etched into their very bones! At present, Creation Group was overwhelmingly powerful, so in his eyes, everything Creation Group did was correct. In that case… “I am stronger than you, so everything I do will also be deemed completely correct by you,” Yaoguang murmured. The True Immortal froze, not grasping the true implication behind Yaoguang’s words, yet he still responded solemnly and respectfully, “Your Highness’s every decision is bound to be wise, and I will support any decision you make without reservation.” “I understand,” Yaoguang said calmly. “Then now, offer up everything you have to me.” Under the True Immortal’s gaze, which held a trace of anticipation amidst his astonishment, Yaoguang struck without warning, instantly obliterating his immortal body. The unique environment of the Immortal Realm made it so that even a soul as formidable as a True Immortal’s could not withstand the crushing weight of the Three Thousand Grand Daos, immediately annihilating his consciousness. Even in death, he seemed to believe that he had found favor with the chairman and Director Yuxiao, on the verge of soaring to great heights. Having slain this True Immortal, Yaoguang brought out the River of Time and began refining this supreme sacred artifact. At the same time, he refined the True Immortal’s shares, elevating his strength in the Grand Dao of the Void. Not only that. The energy in the [Demon Hunting] branch of the Glazed Treasure Tree also began to climb. He glanced at this branch, then at the energy in the [Merchant] branch that had grown after “inheriting” Immortal King Yuxiao’s assets. Without hesitation, he poured all of it into raising his realm in both the Grand Dao of the Void and the Grand Dao of Time. … In the time that followed, Xuanqing, as the chairman of Creation Group, brought the full weight of his connections to bear, constantly trading shares of other Grand Daos for shares in the Grand Dao of the Void and the Grand Dao of Time. He even mobilized the resources of Creation Group to search for native cultivators, dispatching his own subordinates as well as those loyal to Immortal King Yuxiao to strike down and capture Dao Lords and immortals among the native cultivators, thereby accelerating the acquisition of shares in the Daos of the Void and Time. Meanwhile, Yaoguang’s true body in the lower realm’s universe resumed his purge of Dao integrators throughout the vast starry sky. As for the Creation Sect… It had already become history. While purging ordinary Dao Lords, whenever he caught wind of special beings such as “invincible Dao Lords” or “Dao Sovereigns,” who were exceptionally rare among normal Dao Lords, he would immediately rush over to destroy the essence of their immortal spirits. Every time he completed the annihilation of an immortal spirit, his [Immortal Spirit] branch grew slightly, and along with it, his familiarity with the operational patterns of the Lord of Yuanxi deepened by another fraction. Dimly, Yaoguang had already deduced the true level of the Lord of Yuanxi. It was not Level 21 or Level 22 as he had previously speculated, but Level 20, just like the Nine Great Sovereigns. It was simply that the Lord of Yuanxi’s Level 20 represented the will of all living beings and the will of the Hunyuan Realm. Empowered by these forces, it counted as the apex of Level 20. By contrast, sovereigns like the Lord of Creation, Lord of Xiyu, Lord of Changsheng, and Lord of Tianyuan were ordinary Level 20s; their power was not as vast and boundless as that of the Lord of Yuanxi. It was also for this reason that the Nine Great Sovereigns, when joining forces, could influence and sway the decisions of the Lord of Yuanxi. Under the combined purges of his true body and avatar, his ranks in the Grand Dao of the Void, the Grand Dao of Time, and the immortal spirit grew rapidly. Along with this, the grade of the Grand Dao Pagoda rose continuously. The power of the Grand Dao of the Soul, which he had made a priority to develop, had already reached a stage comparable to top-tier immortal artifacts. If placed in the hands of an Immortal Venerable, that Immortal Venerable could even wield such a top-tier immortal artifact to clash a round or two against an Immortal King. Through prolonged purging and slaughter, his reputation gradually spread outward. However… The universe was far too vast. And Yaoguang’s speed was far too great. Executing composite immortal arts like Sky Rift Streamer in conjunction with the immortal artifact that was the Grand Dao Pagoda allowed him to traverse over a hundred billion light-years in several centuries. Furthermore, his continuous study of the “Thousand-Year Great Dream” and “Higher-Dimensional Cognition” made him increasingly proficient at using “higher-dimensional vision” to hunt down other Dao Lords. Time flowed swiftly amidst this constant traversing back and forth. This time, a full thousand years passed. With the accumulation of a thousand years, his realm in the Grand Dao of Time reached the level of an Immortal King. Once reaching the Immortal King level, he concentrated all his focus on the [Void · Dao Integration] branch. Under the joint hunting efforts of Shaohua in the Immortal Realm and Yaoguang’s true body in the lower realm, the progress of this branch had climbed to an unprecedented 9,855/10,000, bringing it within arm’s reach of the consummate realm comparable to a Dao Ancestor. Yet just as he was on the verge of maxing out this branch, movement stirred over at the Tianyuan Group. Sensing that Creation Group was nurturing another Void Immortal King, Immortal King Tianyu—whose formidable strength bordered on that of a major conglomerate’s chairman—began targeting Creation Group. While constantly stirring up trouble for Creation Group, he also contacted directors within Creation Group with whom he was acquainted, launching attacks directed at “Immortal King Yuxiao.” All at once, the Shaohua avatar, who had been quietly developing under Xuanqing’s protection, had no choice but to step into the open.