Chapter 323: Dao Seed

Now he understood why Ling Xi and other true disciples were confident that he'd manage to break through to the Void-Refining Realm in time. Having a special void-type physique would inherently deepen a cultivator’s comprehension of the Dao of void, and that alone was enough to meet most of the requirements for the breakthrough. Once his comprehension of void power reached the required level, and his grotto-heaven was stable enough to accommodate the Dao Seed he wanted, he'd be able to use a Dao Technique to condense the Dao Seed and complete the breakthrough.

In that light, the Void-Piercing Realm was somewhat similar to Foundation Building. But this time, he was building the foundation needed to achieve the Dao!

After opening a grotto-heaven and possessing a world of one’s own, one had the foundation needed to plant a Dao Seed. But different Dao Seeds required different kinds of grotto-heavens.

Dao Seed...

When cultivating a Dao Technique, once the cultivator reached the beginner stage, they could condense that Dao Technique into a Dao Seed, then plant it within their grotto-heaven and let it grow.

This would be the core of cultivation from this point onward, all the way until the cultivator integrated with the Dao and became a Dao Lord.

Because of this, the Great Dao one chose and the Dao Seed one condensed were directly related to the cultivator’s future growth path.

In theory, the stronger the Great Dao, the better.

However, the stronger the Great Dao was, the harder it became to comprehend, and the greater its requirements for the grotto-heaven. Many heaven-defying geniuses had been proud and ambitious, choosing one of the Four Supreme Great Dao or one of the core Great Dao, second only to the four supreme ones, only to spend countless years comprehending them without achieving anything.

Even if they were lucky enough to reach the beginner stage of the Dao Technique and condense a Dao Seed, their own grotto-heavens were still unable to bear the Dao Seed’s power, causing them to spend much longer than ordinary cultivators at the Void-Piercing Realm and Void-Refining Realm.

Even after the Dao Seed reached the mastery stage, future Dao integration would still be a life-or-death challenge for cultivators of top Great Dao.

The stronger the Great Dao, the easier it was for the cultivator to be assimilated by the Dao during Dao integration. Therefore, if one really only wanted to become an immortal, choosing an ordinary Great Dao would instead make the cultivation path smoother.

Besides, Great Dao sometimes restrained one another. A weaker Great Dao might not be entirely weak, and a powerful Great Dao might not necessarily be invincible.

This step is extremely important.

Yaoguang sensed the thirteen Dao Techniques he had mastered.

There were the Great Dao of void, the Great Dao of psyche, the Great Dao of devouring, the Great Dao of stars...

Oh, and there was also Sovereign Human Emperor, the Dao Technique he had obtained from the Penglai Dao Lord that corresponded directly to the Great Dao of origin.

Which Great Dao should I choose? Yaoguang fell into thought.

He had the chance to master too many Great Dao, which could only be called the trouble of having too many choices.

"Choosing the Great Dao to be planted in the grotto-heaven as a Dao Seed is the same as choosing my life-bound Great Dao. The related Dao Technique also becomes my life-bound Dao Technique. In theory, the Great Dao of void, as the foundation that carries all Great Dao, is the most suitable. It is also the Great Dao chosen by the most cultivators. One in every two people makes this choice... But..."

The Great Dao of Void was easy to learn, but difficult to master.

Although it seemed as if anyone could grasp some mysteries of the Dao of void, in reality, the difficulty of cultivating the Great Dao of void ranked within the top ten among all Great Dao, perhaps even the top three.

What seemed simplest was often the most impossible to solve.

Aside from the Great Dao of void, the next best choice would naturally be the Great Dao of fate. This Great Dao of fate is the general outline of all Great Dao and can govern the other 2,999 Great Dao, so it's perfectly compatible with the power of every Great Dao. Even when cultivating other Dao Techniques, it can display power comparable to a life-bound Dao Technique... Yet, even if it's a great choice, the number of people who cultivate the Great Dao of fate is extremely small, and that's because it's the hardest Great Dao to cultivate.

Yaoguang looked through the information regarding Dao Seed selection.

Although he had obtained many supreme divine abilities through his high-dimensional cognition, not a single one corresponded to the Great Dao of fate.

From this alone, one could see just how difficult this Great Dao was to cultivate.

"There is only one great divine ability that corresponds to the Great Dao of fate... That means that even the cultivator who created it failed to successfully achieve the Dao and become a Dao Lord..."

After searching through the information, Yaoguang eventually focused his mind on the two supreme Great Dao of karma and time.

A long while later, he came up with a priority order.

The Great Dao of Void would be his first choice. Next were the Great Dao of fate and the Great Dao of time. Only after those came the Great Dao of creation, the Great Dao of destruction, the Great Dao of soul, and the Great Dao of origin.

However, as for what he would specifically choose, Yaoguang intended to wait a little longer.

Cultivators come into contact with the Three Thousand Great Dao while at the Void-Shattering Realm. At that stage, they can peer through the essence of the void, face the Three Thousand Great Dao, and choose one from among them to comprehend carefully, preparing to achieve the Dao and to go through Dao integration to become a Dao Lord. So it won’t be too late for me to establish my final choice once I reach the Void-Shattering Realm and I come into contact with information related to the Three Thousand Great Dao.

After making his decision, he quickly calmed his mind.

Although he did not intend to plant a Dao Seed for the time being, that did not mean he could not cultivate Dao Techniques or stabilize his grotto-heaven.

The only real downside of not planting a Dao Seed was that he could not reach the Void-Refining Realm until he did.

Next, he would raise the state of his grotto-heaven to the highest level he could, while also transforming the five supreme divine abilities he had mastered into Dao Techniques as soon as possible.

Once his current combat strength was comparable to that of cultivators at the peak of the Void-Piercing Realm, he would try selling a Dao Artifact.

If everything went smoothly, the profit from selling that one Dao Artifact alone would be enough to raise his realm from the Immortal Dao(Void-Refining Realm) to the Immortal Dao(Void-Shattering Realm).

And if it still was not enough, then hunting great demons in the Deep-Blue Sea would make up for the difference.

Yaoguang calmed himself and entered seclusion to consolidate his realm.

However, the birth of a Void-Piercing Realm cultivator was worth celebrating in any faction. Although the Heavenly Dao Sect had avoided spreading the news far and wide at Yaoguang’s request, things like this did not need to be publicized intentionally. The hidden agents planted by the major forces in the various sects would naturally send word.

It was only a matter of time.

In just one month, many top factions had already learned that the Heavenly Dao Sect now had a young sect master named Yaoguang who had reached the Void-Piercing Realm.

In fact, because Heavenly Venerable Jiang and several Void-Piercing Realm elders had made such a great fanfare in dealing with Yaoguang, his origins had also been dug out.

He had come from a nearby node world called Cangwu.

Once this news spread, many people envied the Heavenly Dao Sect’s good fortune.

The North Sea Star was ultimately equivalent to a planet full of immigrants. The "natives" were just cultivators who had migrated here earlier than others, trying to get access to the Gate of the Immortal Realm.

Over countless years, innumerable factions had risen rapidly after absorbing those who had come from other worlds.

Now, the Heavenly Dao Sect had gained Yaoguang; even if he did not become a true powerhouse in the future, there was a very good chance he would become at least a Void-Refining Realm cultivator.

The addition of one more Void-Refining Realm cultivator would greatly improve a sect’s strength and allow it to obtain even more benefits.

While most people envied the Heavenly Dao Sect’s luck, some found the matter rather strange.

This was especially true for the forces near the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

Great Cangwu World? Didn't this world submit to the Taiyi Immortal Sect a hundred years ago?

In order to show its tolerance and regard for outside forces, the Taiyi Immortal Sect had allowed the Great Cangwu World, which did not have a single Void-Refining Realm cultivator presiding over it, to become the ninth lineage among the Taiyi Immortal Sect’s six halls and nine lineages.

So why would a prodigy from the Great Cangwu World, one who had hopes of reaching the Void-Refining Realm, join the Heavenly Dao Sect instead?

And before this prodigy from the Great Cangwu World reached the Void-Piercing Realm, he had been hunted by another genius from the Cangwu lineage, Heavenly Venerable Jiang, who had even put a bounty on his head.

Even Void-Piercing Realm cultivators had been mobilized. It didn't take long for some cultivators to understand there had to be some internal strife.

In this kind of situation, where onlookers naturally wanted to see the commotion grow even bigger, news of Yaoguang quickly reached the ears of the Cangwu lineage as well.

***

In the mountain range occupied by the Cangwu lineage of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, Jian Hanzhou, the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal who had only recently returned from the outside world, landed directly at the main peak’s grand hall.

Sensing that several Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals were already inside, he immediately rushed in.

His voice arrived before he did. "Lineage Leader Xie! Elder Li, Elder Greene, have you heard the news? Word is spreading outside that Su Yaoguang, the one from the Great Cangwu World’s Artifact Sect, has reached the Void-Piercing Realm and even become the young sect master of Heavenly Dao Sect..."

Before he could finish speaking, his voice gradually lowered.

Inside the hall, several important figures of the Great Cangwu World were holding a meeting, with some present in person and others just there as projections.

The moment Jian Hanzhou arrived, the meeting was interrupted.

After one or two breaths, Xie Xiong sighed and said, "Since you are here, Hanzhou, come in and close the door."

Jian Hanzhou quickly stepped into the hall and closed the doors.

He even activated the main hall’s array art.

He looked at Xie Xiong, Greene, Li An, and the others, whose expressions were grave, then looked at the equally solemn figures on the projection. They were all important figures in the Cangwu lineage, and their expressions were heavy, even regretful. Very quickly, he realized something.

"You already heard?" After asking this question, he suddenly realized.

Of course. If he knew about the news, so would the Cangwu lineage, which secretly controlled an intelligence force.

"The Void-Piercing Realm! How did he suddenly reach the Void-Piercing Realm?" Li An’s eyes were filled with confusion.

Not only him. Almost everyone present shared the same thought.

That's right. How did he suddenly reach the Void-Piercing Realm?!

"How long has it been?" Greene’s expression was also somewhat dazed.

Even though he had received the news half a day ago, he still had not fully recovered from the shock of learning about it.

Xie Xiong glanced at him but said nothing, because even he had only barely adjusted his own mentality.

Yet the moment he thought of Yaoguang’s current achievements, he felt almost boundless anguish and regret. "The Cangwu lineage missed out on a true peerless genius—"

"He can no longer be called a genius." On the projection, a Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal interrupted him. "He has already reached the Void-Piercing Realm. How can the word genius still be used to describe him?! Yaoguang... His fate has been set!"

His fate had been set!

Yaoguang had set his own fate. With his astonishing Void-Piercing Realm cultivation, he could thrive in any top great sect.

Not to mention that his talent was also so extraordinary.

The title of the Heavenly Dao Sect’s young sect master carried far more weight than that of an ordinary Void-Piercing Realm elder.

"With Yaoguang’s current status in the Heavenly Dao Sect, as long as he is willing, he can probably put together a force no weaker than our lineage in minutes," Xie Xiong said gravely. "Everyone, because of our previous wrong decision, our lineage has now reached an extremely critical fork in the road. From here on, where should the Cangwu lineage go?!"