Chapter 304: Whetstone

The Taiyi Immortal Sect was one of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects, a powerful sect with 108 true disciples.

The strength of most factions could generally be judged by the number of true disciples they had. Because the number of true disciples often represented the amount of resources a sect controlled, and that largely reflected its true strength.

The entire Taiyi Immortal Sect was divided into nine lineages and six halls.

Among the nine lineages, the weakest was naturally the newly added Cangwu lineage.

Of course, weakness was only relative.

The Cangwu lineage had no fewer than twenty-six Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals.

Some especially powerful Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals had already begun forging a different path. By using void power comparable to that of the Void-Refining Realm to gain enlightenment and then inscribing arrays into their own Primordial Voids, they could further destabilize their Primordial Voids at a critical moment, releasing all their power in an instant and unleashing a devastating strike comparable to one blow from an expert at the Void-Shattering Realm.

Although such a move could only be used once and came with all kinds of drawbacks, when used properly, it could still threaten a Void-Refining Realm lineage leader.

At present, a former member of the Thousand-Beast Sect, Xie Xiong, and one who had been part of the Infinite Star Palace, Greene, had successfully walked that path.

Back in the era of the Great Cangwu World, both had been hailed as divine immortal venerables.

And in that era, there had been more than just two.

Countless people had sacrificed themselves one after another, and only then had the Cangwu lineage managed to innovate the path of battle immortals, displaying qualities that surpassed what came before. That was what truly earned the lineage its place among the nine lineages of the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

Even so, though they stood alongside the other eight lineages in name, cultivators from those lineages had never thought highly of the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals and ordinary battle immortals of the Cangwu lineage. They treated them entirely as Dao Soldiers and cannon fodder.

Once the cannon fodder was used up, the Cangwu lineage would be abolished.

But in recent years, quite a few things had happened within the Cangwu lineage.

Leaving aside how Heavenly Venerable Jiang had perfected a supreme divine ability, earned the favor of the Supreme Jade Emperor, and been accepted as his direct disciple, an internal conflict had also broken out within the lineage.

When Heavenly Venerable Jiang went to the Great Cangwu World, he discovered that the planet belonging to his family had been destroyed by a cultivator named Yaoguang.

And yet, there were still people within the Cangwu lineage who believed Yaoguang possessed extraordinary talent and wanted to preserve him.

They believed eggs should not all be placed in one basket.

A lineage already standing as the weakest of the nine, viewed by the sect's higher-ups and even many of its own disciples as expendable cannon fodder, was, on top of that, divided within itself and unwilling to make better use of its limited resources. Naturally, the whole lineage became a laughingstock, and the situation also caused dissatisfaction among the sect’s higher-ups.

Did they have no sense of political awareness? Did they have no sense of the bigger picture?

Once that dissatisfaction became apparent, the Cangwu lineage quickly fell in line.

Wan Liugui and those who shared his views were directly assigned to the outer battlefield, sent to fight forces secretly backed by the Six Great Fiendish Dao Sects.

The rest of the Cangwu lineage once again firmly stood behind Heavenly Venerable Jiang, the direct disciple personally accepted by the Supreme Jade Emperor.

After Heavenly Venerable Jiang made a second trip to the Great Cangwu World, learning that people from the Nine Cauldrons Sect had secretly arrived at the North Sea Star, the people of the Cangwu lineage spent years trying every means possible to locate Li Hanqiu, Yaoguang, and the others.

And now, they had suddenly gotten results.

***

"Impossible!" Xie Xiong stared at Jin Rui, the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal responsible for intelligence gathering. "How can the two possibly be the same person?!"

"I don’t believe it either." Greene set down the report in his hand. "Although Wan Liugui once told us that Yaoguang was worthy of being called a genius, when he left Cangwu, he was only at the Heavenly Fire Realm. But the Yaoguang in this report is a Blazing White Golden Core cultivator. How could it have taken him just sixteen years to reach the Blazing White Golden Core Realm from the Heavenly Fire Realm?"

As he spoke, he seemed to realize something. "No, it wasn’t even sixteen years. According to this report, he was already at the eighth realm of the Golden Core Realm the moment he joined the Heavenly Dao Sect, and he even repelled a ninth-tier great demon, displaying strength comparable to the ninth realm! Such a short period simply wasn’t enough for him to complete such an enormous leap in cultivation! Most likely, there was an error."

"Our people have already gone there in secret and are investigating. They also visited the Heavenly Dao Sect and, through certain connections, sensed the mental imprint he left there for recordkeeping. Its fluctuations were very similar to... to Yaoguang’s," Jin Rui said cautiously.

In truth, according to the intelligence operative, the two auras were completely identical.

"What about Heavenly Venerable Jiang? The Supreme Jade Emperor arranged an entire team for him, with members assigned to kill his enemies, provide protection, gather intelligence, offer support, and serve as daily attendants. He should have received the news as well. What did he say?" another Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal suddenly spoke.

His name was Li An, another top expert who had pushed the power of a battle immortal into an even more refined domain. His progress had never been reported, though, making him a hidden strength reserved by the Cangwu lineage.

"Heavenly Venerable Jiang has not contacted us." Jin Rui lowered his voice.

Li An frowned.

Ever since Heavenly Venerable Jiang became the direct disciple of the Supreme Jade Emperor, he had constantly traveled to the Jade Emperor Heaven and rarely remained within Cangwu Peak. After the incident involving Wan Liugui, he ignored the entire Cangwu lineage for several years just to express his dissatisfaction.

Only later, when Xie Xiong and Greene quietly dismissed Wan Liugui’s attempt to nurture new talent for the lineage, did Heavenly Venerable Jiang return to Cangwu Peak, and relations between both sides were restored.

To demonstrate the Cangwu lineage’s unwavering support for him, they had sent Wan Liugui and three Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals who shared similar views to the outskirts of the North Sea Star.

It was exile in all but name.

After that, Heavenly Venerable Jiang once again became warm toward the lineage.

But the good times did not last.

Some time ago, Heavenly Venerable Jiang intended to take control of the entire Cangwu lineage and even set his sights on the Primordial Void frequencies of many Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals.

One had to understand that whoever mastered a Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal’s Primordial Void frequency essentially held that battle immortal’s life and death in their hands.

The authority over the Cangwu lineage had not yet passed to Heavenly Venerable Jiang, but even if it had, Xie Xiong and the others would never reveal something like their Primordial Void frequency no matter what.

After that incident, Heavenly Venerable Jiang returned to the Jade Emperor Heaven and did not come back for half a year.

Many Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals understood that this was a contest. A contest between the current rulers of the Cangwu lineage and the rising new force, Heavenly Venerable Jiang.

In Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s eyes, if the Cangwu lineage wanted to support him, it should have done so without reservation, rather than harboring all kinds of separate agendas.

Meanwhile, Xie Xiong, Green, Li An, and the others were clearly unwilling to hand over the power in their hands so early.

Otherwise, without sufficient Dao Pills, whether they could even maintain the current state of their Primordial Voids remained unknown.

"This True Disciple Jiang is truly troublesome. What happened last time could be overlooked, since Wan Liugui had indeed gone a little too far. But this time he actually wants to take over our Cangwu lineage. It’s not as though we refuse to hand the lineage over to him. The key is that he must first display enough strength. I already made it clear to him that the moment he reaches the Void-Refining Realm, everyone in the Cangwu lineage will be at his command. Yet he can’t even wait that little bit of time," Greene said with a trace of dissatisfaction. "In my opinion, what Wan Liugui and his group said may not have been without reason. Only by supporting another true disciple can there be real competition."

"We’ve already invested millions, perhaps even tens of millions, of Pure Yang Grand Pills into Heavenly Venerable Jiang. Most of the treasures we brought from the Great Cangwu World have nearly been used up. We simply don’t have the ability to nurture a second true disciple anymore." Xie Xiong shook his head.

The sunk costs were simply too great.

At the end of the day, the Cangwu lineage was too poor. They could not afford the price.

"Although Heavenly Venerable Jiang hasn’t replied, once he receives this news, he’ll definitely act. It’s possible the subordinates assigned to him by the Supreme Jade Emperor have already moved." Li An considered for a moment before saying, "How about we secretly intervene and preserve Yaoguang, then use him to provoke Heavenly Venerable Jiang a little? Once the people around him fail to deal with Yaoguang, he’ll naturally realize who his true backing is."

"That won’t do!" Xie Xiong’s expression turned grave. "Have you considered this? If this Yaoguang really is the one from the Great Cangwu World, and reached the Blazing White Golden Core Realm in such a short time..."

He paused. "He already killed two Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals and two Azure Golden Core cultivators. What kind of strength is that?! Even compared to Heavenly Venerable Jiang, he shouldn't be inferior in the slightest. The only thing he lacks is status. Perhaps, we can place our bet on him as well..."

"Wait. There’s something very suspicious about him killing those two Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals. He most likely gained control of their Primordial Void frequencies through some other means. That’s the common conclusion many have reached. Otherwise, there’s simply no explaining how he managed to kill two Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals so quickly," Greene said.

Then he added, "Also, that Azure Golden Core cultivator from the Xi family had a terrible reputation to begin with. Yet Yaoguang specifically chose to collect a bounty from him, then used that as an excuse to wipe out the Xi family afterward. No matter how you look at it, it seems like a carefully premeditated operation."

Neither Xie Xiong nor Li An could refute that.

It was indeed abnormal for Yaoguang to choose Xi Hai, a man with such a bad reputation, to collect a bounty from. It really looked like a planned operation. But...

"Even if there’s an issue with how he defeated those two Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals, his ability to kill two Azure Golden Core cultivators is beyond question. Add to that the fact he hasn’t even cultivated for sixty years... His talent is exactly as Wan Liugui said: not beneath Heavenly Venerable Jiang's at all, and perhaps even..." Xie Xiong wanted to say Yaoguang's talent might even surpass Heavenly Venerable Jiang's.

But considering they no longer had enough resources to support another true disciple, he ultimately could not bring himself to say it.

"In truth, we have no choice." Greene sighed. "One side is Yaoguang, someone we were never close to and with whom there’s even some bad blood. The other is a prodigy we raised with our own hands... And who is now a direct disciple of a Void-Shattering Realm supreme elder!"

Void-Shattering Realm supreme elders devoted themselves entirely to comprehending the power of the Great Dao and striving toward the Dao Lord Realm. Under normal circumstances, they almost never accepted disciples, let alone a Golden Core cultivator who had not even reached the Void-Piercing Realm and whose lifespan would not exceed ten thousand years.

Yet Heavenly Venerable Jiang had earned the favor of the Supreme Jade Emperor and was accepted as his disciple.

Before Heavenly Venerable Jiang became the direct disciple of a supreme elder, the Cangwu lineage had actually funded several candidates. It was simply that Heavenly Venerable Jiang performed the best and thus received the greatest support.

But once Heavenly Venerable Jiang became the direct disciple of a supreme elder, every resource of the Cangwu lineage was used to nurture him.

"At this point, we can only continue betting on Heavenly Venerable Jiang," Greene said.

"The problem is, Heavenly Venerable Jiang's ambitions are too great. Even now, he already seems intent on completely throwing himself behind the Supreme Jade Emperor. I worry that, when the time comes, he simply won’t care whether our lineage lives or dies..." Xie Xiong said.

"That’s unlikely. Don’t forget why the Supreme Jade Emperor accepted him as a disciple in the first place." Greene shook his head.

Xie Xiong glanced at him, wanting to say, "What if that was precisely the Supreme Jade Emperor’s intention all along, merely to reassure the Cangwu lineage?"

But in the end, he swallowed those words.

He only said helplessly, "If only we had considered Wan Liugui’s suggestion a little more back then..."

"What’s done is done. Regret is useless now. We’ll follow Li An’s idea and use Yaoguang as a whetstone for Heavenly Venerable Jiang. Let him be sharpened by it. Once he suffers a setback, he’ll naturally understand who he should truly rely on." Greene made the final decision.

Xie Xiong and Li An no longer objected.

The three of them could basically represent the attitude of the dozens of Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals within the Cangwu lineage.

Replacing Heavenly Venerable Jiang with Yaoguang... The cost was simply too great.

And the Cangwu lineage was too poor, and its foundation too shallow. It simply could not withstand that kind of upheaval.