Chapter 264: Facing Each Other
"The Great Cangwu World." Heavenly Venerable Jiang looked at the world beneath his feet, one that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
It was familiar because he had grown up in this world. Here, he had cultivated, refined qi, advanced through the Foundation Building Realm, and ultimately established an immortal foundation, becoming the Artifact Sect’s Daoist Seed, the one the entire sect had regarded as its future.
At the same time, it felt unfamiliar because, in his less than a hundred years of life, he had spent most of that time in a different world. A world where cultivation had flourished and developed further, and where resources had been far more abundant.
The North Sea Star, a cultivation world that was the equivalent of vast space compressed and condensed into solid form, eventually becoming something like a planet... Or rather, a crystallization of that universe, the heart of the world.
It was like a student who had grown up and gone off to work in a prosperous city, only to return home twenty years later, after achieving success. That naturally gave rise to a feeling that was both familiar and strange. But compared with the anticipation he had felt before returning, his heart now held not the slightest trace of ease or joy.
"Tianzun, do not lose all hope in Cangwu. The world is vast, and there will always be a few rotten elements. Your emotions should not remain sunk in this negative state. Instead, you should use this violent emotional upheaval to face yourself, see through your true nature, and condense your true spirit." Wan Liugui spoke with a grave expression as he tried to persuade him.
The most important step of the Void-Piercing Realm lay in seeing through the true nature of one’s Dharma Form, that is, one’s truest inner self.
Only then could one refine the void into reality, condense a true spirit, and finally use that true spirit as the foundation to split open heaven and earth, generate a grotto-heaven, and lay the groundwork of the Void-Piercing Realm.
A Void-Piercing Realm cultivator without a true spirit was incomplete, just like him, just like the other Void-Piercing Realm cultivators of the Cangwu lineage, and just like those Golden Core cultivators who had taken such unorthodox paths.
"Elder Wan, I know what I am doing," Heavenly Venerable Jiang answered calmly. "I destroyed that planet because once my family was gone, there had been no reason for that planet to continue existing. But the Great Cangwu World is, in the end, the homeland that raised me. I would naturally not destroy the entire Cangwu along with it."
He still needed to continue gaining the support of the Cangwu lineage within the Taiyi Immortal Sect. If, in a fit of anger, he destroyed Cangwu now, who knew how many people he would offend.
Besides, a great world could still produce some resources for him. Their quantity and quality might have been ordinary, but they were better than nothing.
He understood very clearly the balance between acting on impulse and preserving his people and interests.
Wan Liugui, standing to the side, still did not agree with Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s way of doing things. But Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s momentum had already become unstoppable. Since being taken in as a disciple by the Supreme Jade Emperor, everyone in the Cangwu lineage had viewed him as the hope who would lead their branch to rise. Under such circumstances, Wan Liugui’s personal opinion no longer mattered much.
In the brutally competitive Great Cangwu World, ordinary cultivators could only survive by banding together.
Though he had reached the Void-Piercing Realm, he had walked the battle immortal path, which meant he still did not count as a true powerhouse or great figure.
"Heavenly Venerable Jiang."
"We welcome your honored arrival."
"Sixty years after your departure, you have returned to Cangwu. All of Cangwu is honored by your presence. Every one of us takes pride in your glorious achievements."
Susan, Johan, Yang Han, Lu Xi, and the others hurried over and paid their respects to the group that had arrived by distorting space.
But Heavenly Venerable Jiang did not even glance at them. He simply said in an indifferent tone, "Where is Su Yaoguang?"
The moment those words fell, everyone present was stunned.
Su Yaoguang? Who's that? Wait! Su Yaoguang... Yaoguang?
Johan, who reacted more quickly than the others, immediately said, "Heavenly Venerable, are you looking for the master of the Yaoguang World, Perfected Master Yaoguang of the Nine Cauldrons Sect?"
As he spoke, his gaze swiftly shifted toward the distant stellar mass that had continued collapsing inward and had now shrunk to only a few thousand kilometers across.
No! It could no longer be called a star.
Brilliant yet shadowy flames had dyed that region into a three-dimensional black-and-red ring, and at the center of that ring, a terrifying aura was radiating from within. That sign...
"Has another person in the Great Cangwu World actually broken through to the Void-Piercing Realm?" Wan Liugui glanced at it and then frowned. "This breakthrough is far too forced. Its stability is so poor that even if he never fought, he probably would not last more than five years at best, and three in the worst case."
Once a Void-Piercing Realm cultivator opened a grotto-heaven with a true spirit and housed power within it, that power became vast and stable. With such strength added to themselves, they could distort space-time to lessen the erosion of time itself, allowing them to live easily for more than ten thousand years.
They were said to possess boundless longevity. But Void-Piercing Realm cultivators on the battle immortal path did not belong in that category.
Not only were their states extremely poor, with their Primordial Void liable to collapse at any moment, but their lifespans did not increase in the slightest. Living for a thousand years was already considered a long life.
Many Void-Piercing Realm cultivators on the battle immortal path were just like the Core Formation cultivators of the ancient Great Cangwu World and could only live between three and five hundred years.
If the Primordial Void they opened was unstable, then those three to five hundred years could directly become three to five years.
Back when they had counterattacked the homeland of the Lunar Fiend Empire, many Golden Core cultivators who had successfully broken through to the Void-Piercing Realm had died in that very battle. They had broken through only to die almost immediately, their lifespan lasting no more than a few days.
That kind of tragedy still remained vivid whenever one thought back on it.
Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s gaze, however, did not linger for long on this being of the Great Cangwu World who was breaking through to the Void-Piercing Realm.
In Master’s words, battle immortals are cannon fodder. Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals are merely slightly higher-level cannon fodder. They are tools that are better than cattle and horses. When they are useful, we can show them a little courtesy. When they cease to be useful, there is no need to care, just let them live or die on their own. They are not on the same level as cultivators like us.
His gaze followed Johan and the others and landed directly on a figure standing not far from that Void-Piercing Realm cultivator.
Though that person had changed slightly, Heavenly Venerable Jiang had still recognized him at once based on the information he had obtained by interrogating those in the Yaoguang World.
"Su Yaoguang." He looked at Yaoguang calmly, as though he were stating something perfectly ordinary. "For the sake of our shared Cangwu lineage, I will give you a chance to kill yourself. If you do, I will only kill all of your family members, rather than destroy the entire Nine Cauldrons Sect."
Yaoguang looked at Heavenly Venerable Jiang.
Compared with the auras radiating from the other Golden Core cultivators, which had resembled blazing suns illuminating tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers around them, Heavenly Venerable Jiang, though still imposing and still carrying a heavy, abyss-like majesty that made others unable to meet his gaze directly, was far more normal by comparison. Compared to those Golden Core cultivators who shone everywhere they went, he appeared almost ordinary.
If he concealed his aura, he would have been no different from any normal cultivator.
He had returned to simplicity. Or rather, his control over his own power had already reached the absolute peak.
"Was it you who destroyed the Yaoguang World?" Yaoguang asked.
"If no one from my family remains, then that star naturally loses its reason to exist. Just like now. Once I kill all of your family members and erase everything connected to you, it will at least ease the grief in my heart somewhat. After all, I am currently at a critical stage of cultivation. You should never have caused fluctuations in my emotions. That price is not something anyone in the Great Cangwu World can afford," Heavenly Venerable Jiang said calmly.
"So, I should be thanking you for your generosity and mercy?" Yaoguang replied.
Before he could say anything more, Susan shouted sharply, "Su Yaoguang, have you lost your mind?! Didn’t you hear what Jiang’s direct disciple said?! Kill yourself immediately and you might still preserve the Nine Cauldrons Sect! If you provoke unnecessary emotions in him, or worse, stir his anger, then even if every single one of you dies ten thousand times, it still won’t atone for your sins!"
Hera followed coldly, "To cut the grass, you must remove the roots. When detroying a sect, not even chickens or dogs should be spared, or future calamities will be endless. That is an iron law of the North Sea Star! True Disciple Jiang values loyalty and righteousness, and out of consideration for your shared Cangwu lineage, he is only pursuing you, the chief culprit, instead of wiping out the entire Nine Cauldrons Sect. Such mercy is rare. Why aren’t you hurrying to kill yourself and express your gratitude?!"
Before Yaoguang could respond, a powerful psychic consciousness, originating within the three-dimensional ring that had already shrunk to only a few thousand kilometers, suddenly crossed the void and descended upon this region of space.
"I’d like to see who dares to destroy my sect!"
In the next instant, the collapsing ring rapidly contracted again. The surrounding space itself began to cave inward violently, centered on it.
It was as if a stretch of starry space thousands of kilometers wide was forcibly compressed to hundreds of kilometers, then tens, then mere kilometers, until, in the end, it shrank to only a few hundred meters.
As the distortion of space gradually settled, a figure stepped out from within it. It was Li Hanqiu.
This sight completely overturned the understanding of people like Johan, Lu Xi, and Mi Le, who knew exactly what level Li Hanqiu had been at.
He has succeeded?! Li Hanqiu has actually succeeded?!
According to Wan Liugui, this success had been achieved by risking everything just to seize a sliver of hope, and the Primordial Void he had formed could be maintained for even less time than the earliest Void-Piercing Realm cultivators, allowing him to live only three to five years without fighting.
And once he fought, he would likely perish in that very battle. Still, he had succeeded. With the resolve of giving everything to the Dao and dying without regrets, he had reached the Void-Piercing Realm. That alone...
Li Hanqiu... I am inferior to him. Lu Xi sighed inwardly.
Johan, Janko, Mi Le, and the others looked at Li Hanqiu with complicated expressions.
There was envy, admiration, and regret... Of course, some Golden Core cultivators showed mocking smiles.
The powerhouses of the North Sea Star had already returned, yet Li Hanqiu had been dragged into this by Yaoguang and forced to risk his life to break through. Though he had succeeded, he could only live for three to five more years...
How tragic. How ridiculous.
But soon, those same people realized something.
Wait. Li Hanqiu has reached the Void-Piercing Realm! And Wan Liugui is his master! Then what will happen next...
"Hanqiu?!" Wan Liugui stared at the figure stepping out from the distorted void, momentarily stunned before joy appeared on his face.
Li Hanqiu looked at Wan Liugui, who stood beside Heavenly Venerable Jiang as his protector, and was briefly taken aback. A trace of emotion stirred within him.
But before he could express it, he seemed to think of something. He calmed his mind and bowed. "Master."
That distant, formal bow made Wan Liugui realize something, and he fell silent.
Beside him, Heavenly Venerable Jiang observed how Li Hanqiu had immediately moved to Yaoguang’s side, positioning himself as if to shield him. For the first time, a trace of expression appeared on his previously indifferent face.
He frowned slightly, then relaxed.
"Very well. For Elder Wan’s sake, I will not destroy the Nine Cauldrons Sect entirely. You may also come with me to the North Sea Star, but..." He pointed behind Li Hanqiu. "Su Yaoguang and his family must be eliminated."
"Thank you, True Disciple Jiang." Wan Liugui gave a fist-and-palm salute gratefully, then turned to Li Hanqiu. "Your breakthrough to the Void-Piercing Realm this time was reckless, but once you reach the North Sea Star, we can find a way to stabilize your Primordial Void and extend your lifespan. Now come. Do not interfere with True Disciple Jiang."
Li Hanqiu glanced at Wan Liugui, but did not move. After a moment of silence, he said in an unwavering tone, "Master, True Disciple Jiang... I will protect Yaoguang."
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