Chapter 296: Origin

"How can he have a Dao Artifact?! How can a Golden Core possess a Dao Artifact, and even activate it?!" Xuan Shuang was shocked, furious, and afraid.

The deadly crisis brought by this sudden reversal stripped the true disciple of all his earlier arrogance and confidence.

"Break!" His expression turned somber as he desperately pushed the Crimson-Gold Divine Phoenix Body to its limits. Crimson-gold flames burned fiercely from his body, as if they were going to dye the entire sky red. The battle saber in his hand slashed again and again, golden flames surging as their terrifying heat distorted space itself, as if trying to burn it away.

The wings behind him also beat at full speed while he tried to use the saber light and the flames to tear through the void and escape this sealed space.

But it was useless. No matter how fiercely he struggled or swung his saber, the spatial seal only grew stronger.

"No! No! No!" he shouted.

Space solidified and contracted. The space around him kept shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller.

Finally, the fifty-kilometer space around Xuan Shuang was compressed to the size of a palm, its structure nearly frozen solid.

Trapped within it, he was like a mosquito sealed in amber.

He could no longer move in the slightest.

As Yaoguang withdrew the Heaven-Sealing Stele, that fifty-kilometer space, along with the true disciple inside it, was completely drawn into the stele and subdued.

I’ll subdue him for now and deal with him once I’m stronger. Yaoguang pondered this and was about to leave.

Then, he seemed to remember something. I remember there was another person following me all the way here...

Previously, because he did not want to completely fall out with Jin Yuliu, he had not dealt with the one trailing him, even though he knew he was being followed.

Now he had seen some clues.

These people might not have been Jin Yuliu’s men.

He suspected the Azure Golden Core cultivator whom he had just subdued with his Heaven-Sealing Stele was a true disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

However, he had entered the Heavenly Dao Sect only a day ago and was not familiar with the eighty-eight true disciples, so he had not recognized him at first.

Although he did not know why a true disciple had targeted him, since the one plotting against him was not a Void-Piercing Realm elder like Jin Yuliu, there was no need to be polite.

Yaoguang activated the Two-Realm Ruler and crossed space. Very soon, he sensed a Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator trailing five hundred kilometers away, someone who believed his concealment methods were exceptionally brilliant.

Because of the distance, the cultivator still had no idea about what had happened several hundred kilometers away. He was merely staring in horror at the seven-colored rainbow and the changes in the atmosphere caused by the collapse of a Primordial Void.

Yaoguang did not waste words. With the talent of Void’s Child, he precisely captured the traces of spatial fluctuation.

Golden light flashed. The Wandering Dragon Sword seemed to merge with those spatial fluctuations, piercing through the void amid waves of spatial ripples. As it passed through the void, the ripples stacked layer upon layer, forming a torrent like a collapsing mountain and surging sea, which was then restrained by powerful psychic thought and condensed into a single point.

This Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator seemed to possess a strange treasure.

Facing Yaoguang’s Wandering Dragon Sword, something even a Blazing White Golden Core cultivator might not have detected, he reacted immediately.

This is bad! Once this Golden Core cultivator realized something was wrong, he immediately brought out a defensive spirit treasure.

Unfortunately, although this defensive spirit treasure was not of poor quality, it was still inferior to the Wandering Dragon Sword.

If Yaoguang had been an ordinary Blazing White Golden Core cultivator, or even an Azure Golden Core cultivator who had only recently advanced, this defensive spirit treasure might have given him a chance of survival.

But against the sharpness of the Wandering Dragon Sword, a sharpness able to cut through the void, and against the supreme divine ability Space-Splitting Strike, the defensive spirit treasure had no effect at all. It was pierced through instantly.

He was pierced through as well.

The instant he was penetrated, Yaoguang could see the regret in his eyes.

Yaoguang did not know what he regretted, nor was he interested.

The Wandering Dragon Sword's light instantly burned the cultivator, turning him to ashes, swept up the storage artifact on his body, and rapidly returned.

After finishing this, Yaoguang did not dare linger for even a moment. He fully activated the Two-Realm Ruler and quickly vanished from this stretch of void.

***

Barely a dozen breaths after Yaoguang left the area, spatial ripples appeared. A figure had already shuttled through space and arrived.

Judging from his clothing and bearing, he was clearly the Void-Piercing Realm elder currently on duty for the Heavenly Dao Sect, responsible for patrolling the surroundings.

The energy traces that had yet to fully dissipate, together with the violent celestial changes caused by spiritual qi rushing into the blank region after the void had been blasted open into a hole, allowed this Void-Piercing Realm elder to see at a glance what had happened here moments ago.

"A Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal has fallen? Let me see who it was..." He asked a special sect department responsible for monitoring the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals and soon obtained the answer.

"Wang Daoshu of the Wang family? Who made the move?" He remembered this particular Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal.

Moreover, as far as he knew, the Wang family seemed to have recently offended the Chi family.

A woman from the Wang family, already engaged to a disciple who had been part of the Chi family, had broken off the engagement in pursuit of true love.

Although she and her true love had been found hanging dead at the Wang family’s gate the very next day, the matter clearly had not ended there.

"Has the Chi family acted? They really are ruthless and merciless." The Void-Piercing Realm elder frowned.

A moment later, he waved his hand.

"Forget it. The Chi family holds great power within the sect. They have Void-Piercing Realm elders, as well as Azure Golden Core true disciples. And under those, they have Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals and numerous inner sect members serving them. I can’t be bothered to meddle in this kind of business, unless there were profits to be gained." With that, his figure flashed and disappeared from the void.

As for the true disciple who had been subdued... His soul lamp had not gone out, had it?

Besides, no one knew he had ever left the Heavenly Dao Sect. Naturally, it would not draw attention for now.

***

Yaoguang descended on an island near the mainland in the Chaotic Sea and deliberately set up an array to conceal his figure.

Although his accomplishments with array arts could not compare with his artifact refinement, among the nine realms of the Golden Core Realm, anyone would still have to call him a master.

Even if he had only spent a day setting up an array, the Void-Piercing Realm elders would have to search carefully to detect it. If they merely swept the area with psychic thought, they could forget about finding him.

After arranging the array, he immediately took out the Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator’s storage artifact. His psychic thought swept through it.

All the resources, materials, and pills inside added up to no less than 150,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills.

"Considering his assets, even ordinary Blazing White Golden Core cultivators would probably be inferior to him. After all, cultivators in this world don’t have the habit of saving money. Under these circumstances, more than half of Blazing White Golden Core cultivators might not even be able to take out 100,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills in one go." As Yaoguang spoke, he soon found the cultivator's identity token.

"Xuan Mo? How did I offend him?" Yaoguang frowned.

A moment later, however, he could not be bothered to think about it. If he had offended him, then he had offended him.

On the North Sea Star, people made enemies for baffling reasons all the time.

In any case, the man was already dead. The reason no longer mattered.

"Is there a disciple register? I wonder if a Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator is qualified to access one." Yaoguang rummaged through the treasured storage artifact.

Every sect usually sold such registers internally.

These registers often recorded in detail the identity, strength, connections, and background of all true disciples and some inner sect disciples, making it easier for those who wanted to curry favor to decide whom to rely on.

They also prevented new disciples from offending someone they could not afford to offend, courting death for no reason.

Every sect had a specialized organization that compiled and regularly updated these registers, and they usually sold quite well.

Very soon, a jade talisman appeared in his hand. "Found it."

His psychic thought swept over it, and his brows lifted. "It’s actually a high-end version? Looks like he had some connections."

But on second thought, that made sense. If he were an ordinary Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator, how could he have a net worth comparable to a Blazing White Golden Core?

As Yaoguang flipped through the register, he quickly found the identity of the true disciple he had sealed away.

"Xuan Shuang? Of the thirty-fourth true disciple peak? Over the years, he has been listening to lectures and cultivating under the heavenly lineage leader, and has repeatedly expressed his wish to take the heavenly lineage leader as his master. However, because his talent is limited, he failed to catch the heavenly lineage leader’s eye and never succeeded, yet he has never given up..." He then glanced at the power behind Xuan Shuang.

Originally, his family had relied on a Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal to obtain resources and nurture him into a true disciple. After he became a true disciple, he also fed resources back to his family, allowing the family to produce a second Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal.

In addition, six members of the family had entered the inner sect, indicating the family's prosperity.

If he could reach the Void-Piercing Realm in the future, he would inevitably become the center of a new faction within the Heavenly Dao Sect.

"Six people... Found him." After searching for a while, Yaoguang soon found the owner of this treasured storage artifact.

Xuan Mo?

"His younger brother, huh?" He sighed, then sensed the true disciple inside the Heaven-Sealing Stele, who was still struggling and trying to escape. "He has to die."

Dying in the Chaotic Sea would be reasonable enough.

However, Yaoguang had to prepare first.

He had to ensure that the next time he released Xuan Shuang, he would possess the strength to kill him.

Otherwise, now that Xuan Shuang realized the power of the Heaven-Sealing Stele, he would definitely flee as fast as possible. And if he escaped...

The temptation of a Dao Artifact was enough to make any Void-Piercing Realm cultivator risk their life.

Yaoguang put down the register. Soon, he took out the Void Flowing Crystal.

He looked at the doomsday ark he had obtained from the Black Dragon Pirates, then at the Wandering Dragon Sword in his hand.

One was for attack, and the other was for escape.

After pondering for a while, he still placed the Void Flowing Crystal into the doomsday ark, which could perform spatial traversal.

He immediately used his abilities to enlighten this powerful treasure, then used the Spirit Nurturing Technique and Treasure Refinement Technique to refine the Void Flowing Crystal into the doomsday ark.

In only three months, the doomsday ark’s quality had risen by one tier.

"This should be enough." Looking at the treasure in his hand, he once again activated the Dao Entry divine ability and pointed at this treasure, which had consumed a large amount of precious materials.

Immediately, the treasure’s potential was rapidly stimulated, and multiple Dao resonances emerged one after another.

Relying on Void’s Child, Yaoguang quickly stirred void ripples, trying to guide this Dao Artifact’s metamorphosis toward the direction of spatial traversal.

At the same time, with his artifact refinement accomplishments, which were enough to forge top-tier Dao Artifacts, he focused on restructuring the spirit treasure’s materials, clearing away obstacles in its metamorphosis.

Finally, after the Dao resonance of spatial traversal within the treasure devoured all other Dao resonances, the ark smoothly achieved Dao Entry.

"The third Dao Artifact! It’s done!"