Chapter 338: Request

The Biyou Immortal Market catered mostly to cultivators between the seventh and the ninth realm of Golden Core.

The items sold and exchanged there were basically resources of these levels. Only when events or grand gatherings were held would Void-Piercing Realm resources show up.

Therefore, in the short term, it naturally could not provide all the Dao-Artifact-level materials Yaoguang needed.

However, the eight-million-plus Pure Yang Grand Pills exchanged from the eighty-million-plus contribution points were gathered in only a few hours.

With such a massive sum of Pure Yang Grand Pills, Yaoguang and Qi Sha directly returned to Heavenly Ruin Hall’s warship, which was waiting at the air dock.

He immediately summoned every member of Heavenly Ruin Hall.

Under everyone’s expectant and eager gazes, he gave an order, "All Void-Piercing battle immortals of Heavenly Ruin Hall, step forward."

Four Void-Piercing battle immortals immediately stepped forward.

"During this period, the four of you have followed me into battle across the land and sea and rendered outstanding service. Each of you is rewarded with five hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills." As Yaoguang spoke, he directly delivered the storage treasures he had prepared beforehand into their hands.

"Five hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills?!" The four Void-Piercing battle immortals widened their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

An ordinary Void-Piercing cultivator’s income over an entire year was only a little over a million. They had only followed Yaoguang for a short time, and they had not even experienced any real danger.

And yet, they had already received five hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills?!

"Thank Hall Master Yaoguang. You know very well how much effort you actually contributed during this period in slaying demons. It is only because Hall Master Yaoguang is kind that he is willing to grant you such rewards," Qi Sha said from the side.

The four Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals exchanged a glance, then bowed at the same time. "Thank you very much, Hall Master."

One of the Void-Piercing Realm battle immortals was filled with guilt as he bowed. Not long ago, when Yaoguang had been locked in a battle with the three demon kings, he had even deliberately tested and tempted Qi Sha into making a move against Yaoguang. But now...

What did it mean to repay resentment with virtue? This was exactly that!

This young sect master is truly a man of noble character. He thought.

After receiving their bow, Yaoguang turned his gaze to the others and continued, "Ninth-realm Golden Core cultivators, step forward."

Immediately, twelve cultivators who had formed Azure Golden Cores stepped forward excitedly, their gazes shining brightly as they looked at Yaoguang.

Each of them was no longer young. The oldest among them had cultivated for more than eight hundred years, while the youngest was also over three hundred years old. They had long since passed the age limit for true disciples.

With age weakening them, their essence, qi, and psyche could no longer compare to those of young Azure Golden Core cultivators. But in the future, they might be able to make one last attempt at the Void-Piercing Realm.

"For your merits in slaying demons, each of you is rewarded with a hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills," Yaoguang said.

"Thank you very much, Hall Master!"

This time, there was no need for Qi Sha to speak. The twelve Golden Core cultivators thanked him from the bottom of their hearts.

"As for everyone else, regardless of cultivation level, each person is rewarded with ten thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills." Yaoguang waved his hand, and piles upon piles of Pure Yang Grand Pills flew toward the cultivators.

Ten thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills! Some seventh-realm Golden Core battle immortals had never seen such wealth in their entire lives. After receiving this batch of Pure Yang Grand Pills, each of them trembled with excitement.

"In addition, sixteen people have rendered repeated service and deserve special praise. Each will receive another hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills." As Yaoguang spoke, the final batch of Pure Yang Grand Pills fell into the hands of cultivators who had discovered ninth-tier great demons, found the Crimson-Scale Demon, or possessed special secret techniques.

These people immediately bowed and thanked him once again.

After more than eight million Pure Yang Grand Pills were distributed, every member of the Heavenly Ruin Hall felt deeply grateful to Yaoguang, their new hall master.

Qi Sha watched this and could not help feeling somewhat emotional.

During the years he had acted as the Heavenly Ruin Hall’s acting hall master, he had only been able to rely on minimal support. All the members had followed him through harsh times.

Now, after following Yaoguang for such a short time, each of them had earned more than they would have been able to earn in several decades...

Seeing the excitement and smiles in their eyes, Qi Sha naturally felt moved.

By following a hall master like Young Sect Master Yaoguang, the Heavenly Ruin Hall was finally seeing a way out.

However, after everyone accepted their Pure Yang Grand Pills, Qi Sha still had to step forward and say what he, the former acting hall master, ought to say.

"Hall Master Yaoguang's conduct is flawless. Looking across the current environment of the North Sea Star, I'm afraid we can no longer find another hall master as noble in character as Hall Master Yaoguang. He has treated all of us with the utmost benevolence and righteousness. Since the hall master has already done everything so impeccably, if anyone still dares to be ungrateful and secretly do things that harm the hall master or the Heavenly Ruin Hall, no matter who it is, once I discover it, every single offender will not leave the Heavenly Ruin Hall alive!"

His somewhat cold psychic thought swept across the entire scene. "No matter which peak master, lineage leader, deputy sect master, sect master, or supreme elder stands behind you, there will be no exception! Do you hear me?!"

"Yes! We will not disappoint the hall master or deputy hall master!"

"We came to the Heavenly Ruin Hall precisely because we could not tolerate those dirty schemes and petty dealings. If I discover anyone bringing that kind of conduct into the Heavenly Ruin Hall, there will be no need for the hall master or deputy hall master to act. I’ll be the first to deal with him!"

"The hall master’s generosity and benevolence are unprecedented. I am convinced. From now on, I will follow every order of the hall master without question."

All the members of the battle hall responded loudly one after another, devoting themselves to him completely.

But Yaoguang knew, and Qi Sha also knew, that agreeing readily was one thing, while taking action was another.

Within the Heavenly Ruin Hall, there would certainly be members connected to other important figures in the sect. It would depend on whether they could root them out, or whether those people would step forward and surrender on their own.

After the Pure Yang Grand Pills were distributed, the Heavenly Ruin Hall’s morale soared to an unprecedented height.

Yaoguang did not disturb the battle hall members as they shared their joy with the others. Instead, he went to his lounge.

Previously, when three Void-Piercing Realm demon kings had ambushed him, he had failed to sense it. This made him realize that he still had a shortcoming. It was his lack of a scouting or perception-oriented ability.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

The reason he had been able to advance triumphantly in the Great Cangwu World before was largely due to the advantage brought by his Dharma Form Realm and his psychic thought.

After reaching the Void-Piercing Realm, the boundaries between essence, qi, and psyche were no longer distinct, but scouting and perceptive Dao Techniques were still indispensable.

However, deciding which Dao Technique to pick was giving him a bit of a headache.

Theoretically, choosing a void-based scouting Dao Technique would be best. There's one called Void Ripples. As the ripples spread out, any concealment or abnormality in the space before me can be detected... But its range is rather small, its precision is rather poor, and it is easily restrained by targeted methods. Countless thoughts flowed through his mind.

There's also a Dao Technique that corresponds to the Great Dao of the soul. It's called True Spirit Light. Anyone with a spirit cannot escape this Dao Technique’s perception... But the obvious weakness is that it can only scout living beings with souls, so it won't sense objects. If the other party set up an array, I can sense that there were living beings inside, but not the location of the array.

He checked and studied the information on these Dao Techniques, hesitating for some time.

In the end, he simply had too many choices.

There were 1088 Dao Techniques. Even if he examined one Dao Technique a day, it would still take nearly three years.

He didn't have that much time. So he had no reason to struggle over the choice.

After a long while, he finally settled on True Spirit Light.

It used the power of true spirit to illuminate the surroundings. Not only could it perceive any living being, but once practiced to the limit, it could also perceive the origin of a soul and judge whether a person was friend or foe, good or evil, from the depths of their soul.

The purpose of perception was prevention. On this point alone, True Spirit Light possessed an incomparable advantage over other Dao Techniques.

Just as Yaoguang decided to practice True Spirit Light, Lu Li’s travel light appeared outside the warship. He had come to meet Yaoguang.

Once Qi Sha brought him to the captain’s lounge, Lu Li went straight to the point and bowed slightly. "Perfected Lord Yaoguang, please isolate the surroundings first."

Yaoguang did not know why, but with Qi Sha there and his confidence in his own strength, he wasn't worried that Lu Li would act against him.[1]

With a wave of his hand, he activated the array art in the lounge. He even casually set up an isolation array art of his own.

"Don’t tell me there’s a problem with those artifact-refinement materials?" Yaoguang asked.

"Please rest assured, Perfected Lord Yaoguang. It's not hard for our sect to gather materials worth one billion." As Lu Li spoke, he took out a jade talisman. "But this time I'm here because Deputy Sect Master Leng has an important matter to discuss with you."

As he activated the jade talisman, a wave of psychic thought emerged from it and quickly condensed into a woman dressed in an ancient-style long skirt. From her attire, she looked quite capable and decisive.

"Deputy Sect Master Leng..." Yaoguang looked at her, then thought back to Lu Li’s form of address and immediately recognized her identity. "Deputy Sect Master of the Penglai Immortal Sect, one of the three great disciples of the Penglai Dao Lord, Leng Qingqiu?"

"Young Sect Master Yaoguang, I apologize for visiting in this manner and disturbing you so abruptly." As Leng Qingqiu spoke, she did not exchange too many pleasantries and went straight to the point. "I noticed that you do not possess the Dao resonance unique to a Dao Seed. You probably have not planted a Dao Seed yet, right?"

Yaoguang did not understand why she was asking, but he had not practiced any concealment-type divine abilities or Dao Techniques, so his cultivation level could not be hidden. He replied honestly, "I have not."

"Great," Leng Qingqiu quickly said. "I would like to ask you to help me with something. Please come to the boundary between the deep sea and the outer sea and help me lure out a demon king with the bloodline of the Heavenly Peng."[2]

"What do you mean?" Yaoguang was somewhat puzzled.

"Recently, we encountered an extremely troublesome matter in the region near the outer sea. Among the demon race, there is a demon king with the bloodline of the Kunpeng. Relying on its talent in the void and its exquisite life-bound Dao Technique, it has constantly been shuttling through and launching surprise attacks along the border between the deep sea and the outer sea."

The deputy sect master’s tone was solemn. "In less than ten years, the team led by this demon king has already killed three Void-Piercing elders and twelve true disciples of our sect. As for the other disciples and officers who have died at its hands, they are countless. Yet they act with extreme caution. Although there are clearly at least six to eight demon kings in the team, they never attack peak Void-Piercing cultivators who have planted Dao Seeds. Instead, they target ordinary Void-Piercing Realm cultivators and true disciples with talent and potential. Once they kill their target, they immediately use their innate talent to hide."

She looked at Yaoguang. "Perfected Lord Yaoguang, you reached the Void-Piercing Realm before the age of one hundred, and in the next hundred years, you may even have hope of reaching the Void-Refining Realm. On the demon race’s side, you have already entered the Void-Piercing Realm Bounty Ranking. In particular, after you killed three demon kings not long ago, your position on the bounty ranking rose sharply. You have now entered the top ten!"

"And then?"

"If you appear near the outer sea, there is a very high chance the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King will be drawn out and attack you. At that time, we can coordinate, and we will be able to eliminate this grave threat in one stroke!" As Leng Qingqiu spoke, she looked at Yaoguang. "I know this will put you in danger, but I promise you that I will lead people to follow close behind you at all times to ensure your safety. In addition, our sect is also willing to pay you a reward!"

She paused, then raised one finger and said solemnly, "One Dao Artifact. How does that sound?"

1. Qi Sha was not in the scene. But because of the next chapter suddenly making him appear, we had to add him...or remove him from the next. It was easier to add him here. Love when authors can't stick to continuity even through two subsequent chapters. ☜

2. The Peng here is a giant bird that transformed from a Kun, a giant fish, in Chinese mythology. ☜