Chapter 346: Shallow

Yaoguang activated Void Flicker several hundred times in succession, crossing another distance of over five hundred thousand kilometers before returning to the battlefield.

However, before he reached his destination, Qi Sha had already taken the initiative to come meet him.

Clearly, his battle against the Golden Cicada Demon King had already reached a conclusion. That was only natural.

The Golden Cicada Demon King’s life-bound Great Dao was ultimately not very suited to direct combat. Against Qi Sha, who possessed the Great Dao of destruction and had cultivated the Great Annihilation Sword Qi to nearly the proficient stage, how could it possibly be a match?

As soon as the two met, Qi Sha displayed the Golden Cicada Demon King’s corpse. "My lord, I have not failed your command!"

"Good," Yaoguang answered. "Let’s leave this place first."

However, at that moment, he seemed to perceive something. With a wave of his hand, the Heaven-Sealing Stele appeared once more. "Since you’re so eager to be on your way, I’ll send you off."

The sealed space inside the Dao Artifact was trembling violently, as if it was about to be drilled through by the Shadowless Demon King and the other two demon kings. It was on the verge of breaking.

"Support me from the side," Yaoguang instructed Qi Sha.

"Yes," Qi Sha answered.

There were only three demon kings, so he was not particularly worried that Yaoguang would struggle to deal with them.

Back when Yaoguang had still been at the Void-Piercing Realm, he could already fight three demon kings alone. Now that he had reached the Void-Refining Realm, even if he had only advanced recently, the fact that he could skip the process of converting grotto-heaven power into void power was enough to grant him a significant increase in strength.

Under such circumstances, if Yaoguang wanted to deal with these three demon kings, Qi Sha only had one thought in mind. Have fun.

The facts proved that the current Yaoguang could indeed deal with ordinary demon kings with ease.

Of the three demon kings suppressed by the Heaven-Sealing Stele, the Shadowless Demon King was merely skilled at concealment and had nothing worth mentioning in terms of direct combat.

As for the other two demon kings, if they had any ability, they would have seized the opportunity to flee as the Three-Headed Demon King had.

Thus, after releasing these three demon kings, Yaoguang did not need much time to kill them all.

But what surprised him a little was that after he had been delayed for a short while, the three Void-Refining cultivators from the Penglai Immortal Sect still had not caught up.

"The Penglai Immortal Sect really has no worthy successors," Yaoguang remarked.

Qi Sha was slightly startled and asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing. I just encountered Deputy Sect Master Leng again," Yaoguang gave a simple reply and did not explain further.

Qi Sha thought about Yaoguang’s attitude, pondered for a moment, and immediately guessed part of the truth. He said, "The Penglai Immortal Sect has only been established for a hundred years, after all. In every aspect, it falls more than a little short compared to other top great sects. The Penglai Dao Lord intended to embrace talent from all directions and use her title as a Dao Lord to recruit enough Void-Piercing Realm, Void-Refining Realm, and even Void-Shattering Realm cultivators to enrich the sect, so that the Penglai Immortal Sect would truly possess the foundation of one of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects. However, her four disciples do not think the same way."

"Are all four disciples useless?" Yaoguang was somewhat surprised.

"Her eldest disciple, Shi Lin, is somewhat better. She is at the Void-Shattering Realm, but her cultivation has little to do with her own talent. It was forcibly pushed up there by the Penglai Dao Lord. Otherwise, with her talent, she likely would not have been able to break through the Void-Piercing Realm in her entire life. Precisely because she knows her talent is poor and that she received most of the Penglai Dao Lord’s favor, she feels guilty toward her three junior brothers and sisters. Since the Penglai Dao Lord has little time to teach her disciples, Shi Lin almost raised those three junior disciples by herself, which made her extremely indulgent toward them."

When Qi Sha spoke of this person, he lowered his voice slightly. "But her temperament is ultimately too soft. She is not decisive enough, and she is fundamentally unsuited to be the acting sect master. Yet the Penglai Dao Lord has no one else available. Even though she knows Shi Lin is unsuitable for handling the sect’s affairs, she can only let her remain in the acting sect master position."

Yaoguang nodded after hearing this.

A sect master with courage and methods was indeed crucial to the development of a sect.

"The remaining two are Deputy Sect Masters Leng Qingqiu and Zhan Xiao. These two were spoiled by Shi Lin. It was said that they were somewhat better in the past, but after the Penglai Immortal Sect was established, Shi Lin kept instilling in Leng Qingqiu the idea that the Penglai Immortal Sect was waiting to be rebuilt, and that, as a disciple, she had to guard their master’s inheritance and legacy. As a result, this deputy sect master gradually became narrow-minded, jealous of the capable, and suspicious of the worthy. No matter who she looked at, she felt that the other party was trying to scheme against the Penglai Immortal Sect’s assets."

At this point, Qi Sha could not help but laugh. "As for Zhan Xiao, he is stubborn and self-opinionated, the kind of cultivator who is absolutely self-centered and cannot tolerate anyone refuting him. Yet he happens to think that he has his own views and decisiveness, and that this is exactly how one should act when managing a sect."

Yaoguang was rendered somewhat speechless after hearing this. What kind of oddballs has this Penglai Dao Lord taken in?

"As for the youngest junior sister, Shui Yunhan, I won’t say much about her. Her talent is decent. She has been a disciple for less than a hundred years and is already a Void-Piercing cultivator. But because Shi Lin placed high hopes on her, and the people around her constantly praised her, calling her a peerless prodigy and the number one in the world, over time, she came to believe it herself. It is said that when she walks outside, she looks at everyone with her nose in the air..." Qi Sha glanced at Yaoguang.

A peerless prodigy? In front of lord Yaoguang, who's qualified to call themselves a peerless prodigy? He has reached the Void-Refining Realm in less than a hundred years! Looking across all the cultivators of the current generation on the North Sea Star, who can compare to him?

"From what you’re saying, Shi Lin really is not suited to control the Penglai Immortal Sect," Yaoguang said.

Qi Sha hurriedly added, "The information I obtained came from various sources, and it's not always firsthand, so it may not be entirely accurate. I even suspect that other great sects are secretly adding fuel to the fire, deliberately letting others know that the Penglai Immortal Sect has a bleak future, cutting off any thoughts they may have of joining the Penglai Immortal Sect. That way, once the Penglai Dao Lord ascends to the Immortal Realm, they will be able to easily split the Penglai Immortal Sect between themselves."

Yaoguang nodded. "The Penglai Dao Lord should be able to see this... Hasn't she prepared any countermeasures?"

"Of course she has," Qi Sha said. "The Penglai Dao Lord is aware that she is not very good at teaching disciples. She is also busy preparing for the matter of the Dao Contest and does not have enough time to teach them. So she simply placed some talented figures she had secretly nurtured into the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects, the Four Great Immortal Dynasties, the three Immortal Martial Sects, and even forces like the Six Great Fiendish Dao Sects, intending to borrow the training systems of these forces to help her nurture a qualified successor..."

At this point, he glanced at Yaoguang. "There should be quite a few people in our sect who think that you are one such disciple sent over by the Penglai Dao Lord."

Yaoguang frowned after hearing this. This was not a good thing for him.

"If my lord really has a close relationship with the Penglai Immortal Sect, then it does not matter. But if the relationship is ordinary... please draw a clear line with them as soon as possible. Otherwise... I'm afraid it may become troublesome," Qi Sha cautiously reminded him.

Yaoguang looked at him... From his somewhat cautious tone, it was not hard to guess that he seemed to have a similar suspicion as well.

After a moment, he said, "There isn’t much of a relationship between the Penglai Dao Lord and me. When I was still a true disciple, I did receive some help from her, but that was all. This time, since we stepped forward and killed the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor, that favor can be considered repaid."

When Qi Sha heard this, he did not know whether to feel regret or relief.

Only after a long while did he say, "My lord, whether it is the Heavenly Dao Sect or the Penglai Immortal Sect, you had best consider your choice carefully."

Yaoguang thought of the unpleasantness between him and Leng Qingqiu, especially the words he had spoken, and vaguely understood that this deputy sect master had probably acted deliberately.

She had intended to cut off any possibility of him siding with the Penglai Immortal Sect.

Short-sighted. Yaoguang said inwardly.

He glanced at the warship that had appeared in his field of vision ahead. "Alright. Let’s return."

"To the Biyou Immortal Market?"

"Back to the Heavenly Dao Sect first," Yaoguang said, then paused slightly. "What we killed was not the Heaven-Swallowing Demon King, but the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor. For an existence like that, the contribution value should be multiplied several times no matter what. But if I go to redeem it now, Deputy Sect Master Leng will certainly think of a way to renege on the reward. I’ll wait until I become a deputy sect master and I’ve consolidated my Void-Refining Realm cultivation before claiming those bounties."

"As you wish," Qi Sha replied, nodding.

The Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor had been a Void-Refining demon emperor. Since Yaoguang had killed it, he should receive at least two billion contribution points.

That was the minimum. If calculated properly, the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor’s value should reach three billion.

These three billion, combined with the Golden Cicada Demon King, the Shadowless Demon King, and the other demon race members, would bring his total contribution points over the value needed to exchange a Dao Artifact.

When benefits at the level of a Dao Artifact were involved, there was nothing wrong with being a little more cautious.

The two immediately landed on the Heavenly Ruin Hall’s warship.

As the members of the Heavenly Ruin Hall returned one after another, the warship gradually picked up speed, leaving the outer sea and heading in the direction of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

"So the existence of the Penglai Immortal Sect relies entirely on the Penglai Dao Lord holding it together..." In the captain’s lounge, Yaoguang recalled what he knew about the Penglai Immortal Sect and could not help but sigh.

This sect was really supported entirely by the Penglai Dao Lord alone.

Yet such a ramshackle group, without a single noteworthy expert besides the Penglai Dao Lord, could still be called one of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects.

The power and the influence a Dao Lord commanded were obvious.

Yaoguang focused his psychic mind on the ancient tree.

After repeated battles, especially after killing the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor, a Void-Refining demon race expert, he had already accumulated abundant Daemon Hunter experience.

Now that he had some free time...

Without hesitation, he quickly poured all this experience into the Immortal Dao branch.

As the branch rapidly grew, a vast amount of information related to the Void-Shattering Realm flowed in.

Aside from many cultivation insights regarding the Void-Shattering Realm, the most important parts to Yaoguang were the Dao Technique insights.

These insights were incomparably profound, and even he had to spend some time digesting them.

Fortunately, the span from the Void-Shattering Realm to the Dao Lord Realm was extremely vast. Even after killing so many demon kings, including one demon emperor, the final increase in progress was still not obvious.

The growth progress stopped again at 23%. Although it had only increased to 23%, the information involved...

"Two of my Dao Techniques, Void Sword and Void Flicker, can now advance to the mastery stage."