The Modern Martial Immortal

Chapter 274: Crushing Defeat

With the death of Long Wuyin, the supreme elder of the Cloud Sword Sect, the entire sect had been plunged into despair, as if the sky itself had fallen.

Anyone with the ability to do so had immediately taken to the skies, fleeing on flying swords.

However, for a hegemon like the Cloud Sword Sect, the entire sect had effectively existed to support a single top-tier powerhouse. Or rather, the sect itself had been built around that one individual.

On the North Sea Star, sects were not about heritage or shared ideals. They were simply structures formed when a powerful cultivator decided they needed people to handle mundane affairs. Once word spread, weaker cultivators would flock over, willingly serving that powerhouse and eventually forming what appeared to be an organized faction.

As a result, nearly all sect members ultimately served one or two supreme experts.

The Cloud Sword Sect was a perfect example. Aside from Long Wuyin, the sole Blazing White Golden Core, the sect did not even have a single Radiant Sun Golden Core. Even its Crimson Golden Core cultivators could be counted on one hand.

With Qi Chixin’s fate as a warning, Li Hanqiu had no intention of letting any of them escape.

With a casual wave of his hand, three of the fleeing Crimson Golden Core cultivators were instantly obliterated, along with another who had attempted to beg for mercy.

As Li Hanqiu prepared to strike down the final escaping cultivator, Yaoguang said, "Leave this one to me."

"You?" Li Hanqiu glanced at him. "This Crimson Golden Core cultivator didn’t follow the battle immortal path. It’s a true Crimson Golden Core cultivator, cultivating essence, qi, and psyche together. Are you sure?"

"I’m confident," Yaoguang said.

Li Hanqiu studied the man briefly. The opponent had only recently broken through, making him a suitable opponent for Yaoguang to hone his skills.

Li Hanqiu nodded. At once, Yaoguang mounted the Wandering Dragon Sword and swiftly pursued the fleeing cultivator.

After a moment, recognition flickered in his eyes. If Fang Yueming’s intelligence was accurate, this man was Ran Tianchi, the one who had ambushed and killed Qi Chixin six years ago.

Six years ago, he had only been at the Eternal Light Realm, yet in such a short span, he had already reached the Crimson Golden Core Realm.

And considering his age... He was not even eighty! With talent like this, he was nearly qualified to become an outer sect disciple of the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

Ahead, Ran Tianchi, who had already activated a forbidden technique, sensed the pursuer behind him. A trace of anger flashed in his eyes.

A mere Heavenly Fire Realm cultivator actually dares to chase me, a Crimson Golden Core cultivator?! If not for the Void-Piercing Realm expert backing that man, I would have already turned around and taught him the meaning of death.

But now, escape was his only option. He had to leave the Yunchuan Mountains. As he fled, hatred and killing intent stirred within him.

At just seventy-seven, I’ve already formed a Crimson Golden Core. If not for Long Wuyin binding me with a blood oath, how could I have stooped to serving a mere Cloud Sword Sect?! Now that he’s dead, I’m finally free. Once I survive this ordeal, I can easily join a major sect. Becoming a disciple under a Void-Piercing Realm elder wouldn’t even be out of reach. And if I ever break through to the Void-Piercing Realm, not only will you, an insignificant Heavenly Fire Realm brat, die, but even the Void-Piercing Realm cultivator behind you will die! He cast a glance back at Yaoguang.

One day, I’ll return to the Yunchuan Mountains. When that time comes, every sect master here will kneel before me and revere me as— His thoughts abruptly halted. Something felt wrong.

I am a Crimson Golden Core cultivator. With the immense power released by my Golden Core, I should travel several kilometers with each burst of movement. A mere Heavenly Fire Realm cultivator should have been left far behind. So...

Why is the gap closing? Why is that Heavenly Fire Realm cultivator faster than me?! What kind of joke is this?!

No matter how unwilling Ran Tianchi was to believe it, Yaoguang continued closing in.

And as Yaoguang grew more proficient in executing the Nine Heavenly Transformations and further tapped into the potential of his Void’s Child talent, his speed kept increasing.

Once they were close, countless strands of stellar essence within Yaoguang’s star god body underwent rapid fission. Under the precise control of his psychic thought, which rivaled that of a Blazing White Golden Core cultivator, an enormous amount of energy—enough to destroy cities and nations—poured directly into the Wandering Dragon Sword.

The moment his Void’s Child perception locked onto the spatial frequency of the surrounding void, that condensed power was unleashed in a single strike. Sword qi tore through space itself and slashed toward Ran Tianchi.

It was the Space-Splitting Strike.

Sensing that the attack behind him was powerful enough to shake the void, Ran Tianchi’s expression changed drastically.

His Crimson Golden Core surged to its limit, compressing an immense amount of energy, like the output of a red giant star condensed into a single moment. As he turned, he unleashed it in a counterstrike.

Despite the North Sea Star’s terrifying absorption of energy, despite the immense pressure of its environment, the power Ran Tianchi released still manifested as a flaming greatsword hundreds of meters wide, crashing directly into Yaoguang’s strike.

At the moment of impact, the massive flaming blade was crushed as if struck by a mountain. It exploded into countless fragments of light and fire, scattering in all directions.

In the Great Cangwu World, such an explosion would have caused earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and devastation across thousands of kilometers.

But on the North Sea Star, the scattered flames barely traveled a few kilometers before being stopped by the air resistance, dissipating harmlessly into the surroundings, raising the temperature slightly but causing no real damage.

"How is this possible?!" Ran Tianchi’s heart trembled as his divine ability, the Flaming Fiend Saber, was shattered.

Despite his shock, any accomplished cultivator on the North Sea Star was battle-hardened. The instant his attack was broken, he reacted immediately. Mist surged around him as he unleashed another divine ability—Mist Concealment.

When the residual force of the Space-Splitting Strike struck his defensive divine ability, it slowed as if passing through water. Seizing the moment, Ran Tianchi merged with his sword and shot forward like a streak of light.

With a burst of blood-red radiance, his speed surged to a level far beyond that of an ordinary Crimson Golden Core cultivator.

"He blocked it?" Yaoguang was somewhat surprised.

A moment later, he realized the issue lay in his lack of combat experience.

Relying on high-dimensional cognition, his progress in divine abilities had far exceeded what anyone could imagine.

But understanding was one thing, while practice was another.

Still, the reason he had spared Ran Tianchi was precisely to practice.

Otherwise, if he had simply activated his outer core and unleashed a Space-Splitting Strike, the battle would have already ended.

As the thought crossed his mind, he activated the Nine Heavenly Transformations once again.

This time, his execution showed clear improvement compared to before.

If one thought of this supreme divine ability as having a proficiency system, where progress from the beginner stage to the proficient stage was going from one to one hundred, then each time he used it now, his mastery went up by between twenty and forty points.

After just a few uses, he reached the proficient stage. With a dozen more, he would ascend to the mastery stage and eventually to perfection.

Of course, even if he reached perfection with this supreme divine ability, he still would not be able to unleash its true power. His cultivation was simply too weak.

Yet with the sheer might of the divine ability itself, he forcefully closed the speed gap between the Heavenly Fire Realm and the Crimson Golden Core Realm, catching up to Ran Tianchi once more. Drawing from the flaws of his previous strike, he launched another attack.

Though he was merely at the Heavenly Fire Realm, by relying on the power of this supreme divine ability, he had managed to produce a faint trace of the presence that only a Void-Piercing Realm expert could display.

The attack lacked the right form and, even more, the essence of the true technique. Yet as the strike manifested with the terrifying force of spatial collapse and fragmentation, amplified by ripples in the void, it was enough to terrify Ran Tianchi, a Crimson Golden Core cultivator.

At first, Ran Tianchi had barely managed to resist while fighting and fleeing, relying on his rich combat experience. But as Yaoguang’s mastery of the divine ability rose at an astonishing rate, each successive Space-Splitting Strike shook his Golden Core more violently than the last.

By the time Yaoguang closed in again and unleashed the sixth strike, even with forbidden techniques, Ran Tianchi could only watch as the overwhelming spatial force crushed his resistance like dry leaves.

The remaining force struck his body head-on. Under that violent impact, even his Crimson Golden Core could no longer endure and shattered on the spot.

Ran Tianchi showed signs of self-detonation, much like a battle immortal on the brink of death.

"Spare me! Honored immortal, spare me! The Cloud Sword Sect has already been destroyed! I am no threat to you! I can swear a blood oath! From this day forward, I will serve you as a slave, obeying all commands. I only ask for a chance to live..." He immediately transmitted a desperate plea through his psychic thought, begging for his life.

As long as one lived, anything was possible! This was a truth every cultivator on North Sea Star understood.

The brutal competition had long since taught them that survival mattered more than anything else!

Those who clung to pride and refused to yield had already become countless piles of bones scattered across the world.

"A chance to live?" Yaoguang’s psychic thoughts surged. "Do you know why we destroyed the Cloud Sword Sect?"

"Did the Cloud Sword Sect offend you? I haven’t been with them long. I have no intention of dying with them!"

"Not long? Thirty years at least," Yaoguang said. "After all, it has been over thirty years since Qi Chixin lived in Huaigu City."

"Qi Chixin?!" Hearing that name, Ran Tianchi instantly realized the truth. "You..."

These people had come to avenge Qi Chixin?! Despair filled his eyes. It’s over.

Yaoguang raised his hand once more, unleashing another Space-Splitting Strike with an ease and speed far surpassing before.

Now that his Golden Core had shattered, Ran Tianchi had no means left to resist.

"I only hate that I am too weak! I could not slaughter all cultivators of the North Sea! In the North Sea, the strong devour the weak! One day, you too will be reduced to ashes in the hands of someone stronger!" He roared unwillingly.

The energy within his shattered Golden Core erupted completely. In an instant, it was as if a crimson sun, spanning dozens of kilometers, had appeared in the sky, annihilating everything in its path.