Chapter 385: Torment

The defining traits of the Great Dao of darkness were the unknown, the mysterious, and the elusive. Cultivators who followed this Great Dao were difficult to lock onto or trap, making them especially suited for infiltration and reconnaissance.

But darkness itself could still be contained within space. When the Dark Fiend Lord had been at peak strength, neither the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array nor the Heaven-Sealing Stele had been able to do anything to him. At most, the True Spirit Light could reveal his position, allowing Yaoguang to counterattack in a limited way.

Now, however, the Dark Fiend Lord's heavenly fiend origin was being ground away bit by bit by the Great Dao of destruction contained within the Great Annihilation Sword Qi. The power of the Great Dao of darkness he could draw upon had dwindled to its limit, and now he was suppressed by the Heaven-Sealing Stele.

Moreover, unlike Void-Shattering and Void-Refining cultivators who commanded powerful offensive techniques, the Great Dao of darkness was not particularly suited to breaking through strong defenses.

On top of that, Yaoguang's Heaven-Sealing Stele had been reinforced by the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array, raising its sealing power by another level. The already severely weakened Dark Fiend Lord was pinned down on the spot, completely unable to move.

Seeing the Dark Fiend Lord suppressed, the remaining Void-Refining Realm fiendish cultivators immediately fell into despair.

"How did it come to this?"

"It's over! The Dark Fiend Lord has been subjugated too! It's all over now!"

"Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, the truth is that I'm an undercover agent sent into the Yin Lunar Sect by the Heavenly Dao Sect! I've spent all these years hiding among them, looking for a chance to wipe out the Yin Lunar Sect in one fell swoop. We're on the same side!"

Yaoguang paid them no mind. He merely gave an order to Wu Changfeng, Qi Sha, and the others. "Tie them down! And of course, if you have the ability to break their fiendish bodies and refine their heavenly fiend origins, don't be shy about it."

"Yes," Wu Changfeng, Qi Sha, and the rest answered with renewed excitement.

Two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining cultivators! This was an unprecedentedly glorious victory!

With such a victory, their lineage would finally establish a firm foothold in the southern domain. Moreover, with the merits Yaoguang had earned through this battle, once he reached the Void-Shattering Realm, he would be fully qualified to compete with Zong Wenxian for the position of sect master.

Zong Wenxian also had a record of killing Void-Shattering experts, but every one of those victories had relied on the sect's strength, with other supreme elders assisting him.

Yaoguang, by contrast, had practically single-handedly suppressed and slain two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining cultivators.

The significance of such an achievement was an entire level above Zong Wenxian's! They could already imagine just how high Yaoguang's status would rise in the future.

Under such circumstances, no one would be foolish enough to refine the heavenly fiend origins of these fiendish cultivators for the sake of strengthening their own cultivation. Offering them to Yaoguang so that he could reach the Void-Shattering Realm as quickly as possible and gain the qualifications to contest the position of sect master was clearly the wisest choice.

Yaoguang had no idea what Qi Sha and the others were thinking. He directly manifested his grotto-heaven world and fully focused on refining the Void-Refining cultivator and the Eight Desolations Fiend Lord trapped within it.

The two were still struggling, trying to break out of the grotto-heaven. But Yaoguang's grotto-heaven had been reinforced by the Void Heart, giving it a solidity and stability far beyond those of an ordinary Void-Refining cultivator's grotto-heaven.

Rather than a simple grotto-heaven, it was more like a small world. Sealed within it, it was impossible for the two fiendish cultivators to escape.

In the end, refining the Void-Refining cultivator took Yaoguang three days, while refining the Eight Desolations Fiend Lord took him a full ten.

After refining them so quickly, the corrosion of Yaoguang's grotto-heaven caused by their heavenly fiend origins was considerable, enough to affect how much strength Yaoguang could display.

But Yaoguang was confident that with two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining cultivators of the Yin Lunar Sect having fallen in the Southern Capital, the coming days would be peaceful—not only within the Heavenly Dao Sect, but even along the borders of the southern domain.

That would give him more than enough time to gradually purge the corrosion caused by the heavenly fiend origins and allow his grotto-heaven to recover.

***

Yaoguang's battle against the Yin Lunar Sect's fiendish cultivators naturally threw every faction around the outskirts of the Southern Capital into an uproar.

Two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators had arrived, wreathed in fiendish flames, and charged toward the city with overwhelming momentum. Everyone had seen them clearly. Countless factions and cultivators living around the Southern Capital had been thrown into a state of panic.

Some even felt as if the sky were falling and the earth caving in, and had fled the area in a frenzy to take shelter as far as they could.

Yet there were also plenty of factions that deliberately remained behind, hoping to gather detailed intelligence about the battle. Unfortunately, the moment the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array activated, all communication between the Southern Capital and the outside world was cut off.

Yaoguang had even revised the array, patching every one of its flaws so that no communication at all could be transmitted from within.

As a result, whether it was the Jing family, the other factions within the Heavenly Dao Sect harboring other intentions, or the hidden agents among the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects and the Six Great Fiendish Dao Sects, all of them could only wait outside the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array, straining their eyes for news.

"What on earth is happening in there? How did the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array activate? And how could it activate so quickly? Yaoguang... It's almost like he had been prepared for this all along..." Jing Zhengyang was staring at the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array, unease filling his heart. It was such a fine plan. How could it go so badly?

As the Jing family head waited for news, the communication jade talisman on his person buzzed and trembled faintly.

Jing Zhengyang quickly roused his psychic thought to cover his surroundings, and only once he was certain no one was watching did he take out the talisman and send his psychic thought into it. Soon, he sensed the psychic thought fluctuations of the Jing family's ancestor.

"Is the battle over?"

"There's been a complication." A thread of fine sweat showed at Jing Zhengyang's brow. "The Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array activated after all, and faster than we'd anticipated. For now, the Yin Lunar Sect's fiendish cultivators and the people of Yaoguang are all inside the array, and all communications are sealed off. From the outside, we have no idea what's going on."

This news left Jing Yuntian silent for a moment. After a good while, the Void-Shattering supreme elder said, "I knew it. The Yin Lunar Sect dallying so long before acting was bound to put Yaoguang on his guard... But there was no helping it. Having lost a Void-Refining fiendish cultivator, the Yin Lunar Sect naturally had to investigate carefully before they dared lay any plans. They also feared that Yaoguang was a chess piece we'd deliberately set down, meant to bait their experts and lure them into a trap."

Jing Zhengyang nodded. With no foundation of trust between the two sides, their actions had naturally not been decisive enough, and that was what had given Yaoguang the chance to prepare so thoroughly.

"Still, the Eight Desolations Fiend Lord called in the Dark Fiend Lord and brought out five Void-Refining cultivators as well. Even with the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array supporting him, Yaoguang might not have an advantage... It'll only take some time," Jing Zhengyang relayed, going by what he understood of the situation.

"Time..." Jing Yuntian sighed. "The Southern Capital has been invaded by Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators, and Yaoguang has sent out a call for aid. for reinforcements. No matter how much I try to delay things, the proper procedures still have to be followed. I must convene the Supreme Elder Council immediately. I can stall for an hour or two during the council meeting, but that's the absolute limit. If I stall any longer, it'll be considered that I, the supreme elder on duty, am failing to act according to my responsibilities, and I'll have no way to escape blame afterward."

"An hour or two..." Jing Zhengyang glanced toward the Southern Capital. "Because Yaoguang was already prepared, he seems to have had someone specially fix and reinforce the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array. For the Yin Lunar Sect's two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining cultivators to break the array in such a short time and kill the two Void-Refining and several Void-Piercing cultivators of Yaoguang's lineage... I'm afraid that won't be an easy thing."

"Then we'll have to interfere with the teleportation array," Jing Yuntian said. "Once the Supreme Elder Council reaches a decision after an hour or two of deliberation, the supreme elders will inevitably set out immediately to reinforce the southern domain. Normally, they would activate the teleportation array leading directly to the Southern Capital and arrive within an hour at most. But if something were to go wrong with that teleportation array, they would have no choice but to travel aboard a void flying vessel instead, which would take far longer. If they were delayed on the way as well, or if some other unexpected incident occurred, holding them up for ten days or even half a month wouldn't be difficult."

"The teleportation array... failing at exactly this moment?" Jing Zhengyang paused, skeptical.

If the teleportation array were to truly suffer a problem right now, anyone would be able to tell it was an attempt to kill with a borrowed knife. At the very least, the Void-Piercing elder responsible for the array's routine maintenance would certainly be severely punished, and the lineage leader responsible for maintaining the sect's operations would be implicated and held accountable as well.

"With the Yin Lunar Sect's fiendish cultivators proving so useless, and the sect master set on rooting out Yaoguang, this is the only method left. Some sacrifices can't be avoided," Jing Yuntian said, then sighed. "Report to me the instant anything happens."

"Yes." Jing Zhengyang hurriedly answered.

The Jing family's communication ended in haste. But to outsiders, the duration of this great battle exceeded everyone's imagination. One hour, two hours, three hours, half a day, a full day...

The Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array hung over the Southern Capital, showing no sign of dispersing. And the energy fluctuations that occasionally surged from within told everyone the battle had still not ended.

As chaotic as the North Sea Star was, with the destruction of sects being a common sight, clashes at the Void-Shattering Realm were still somewhat rare. This particular battle was even more noteworthy because it involved Yaoguang, someone who had recently gained fame among the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects, with his status rising quickly; those watching were beyond counting.

The Taiyi Immortal Sect, the Immortal Martial Sect, the Great Shang Immortal Dynasty, the True Dragon Dynasty, the Penglai Immortal Sect, the Golden Crow Sect... At first, after learning that the two Void-Shattering experts of the Yin Lunar Sect had personally led five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators in an assault on the Southern Capital, these onlookers assumed the people of Yaoguang's line were doomed.

But as time passed, with the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array still not dispersing and the battle seemingly still ongoing, their feelings gradually turned to bewilderment. Half a month later, no one could make sense of it at all.

Whether or not the Yin Lunar Sect's Eight Desolations Fiend Lord and Dark Fiend Lord had killed Yaoguang, they ought to have left by now.

After all, however much the Heavenly Dao Sect's supreme elders dragged their feet over the infighting between Zong Wenxian and Yaoguang, half a month had passed, and they would have to show themselves in the southern domain. Leave any later, and it would be too late.

Yet, despite the circumstances, there was still no sign of the Eight Desolations Fiend Lord, the Dark Fiend Lord, or the five Yin Lunar Sect Void-Refining fiendish cultivators...

Could they have been trapped in the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array? Was Yaoguang's lineage about to turn the tables and slay the Yin Lunar Sect?

It was not only the onlookers who thought so, but so did Jing Zhengyang, and even the people of Sect Master Zong Wenxian's faction within the Heavenly Dao Sect.

"Impossible!"

Outside the Southern Capital, Jing Zhengyang, after half a month of torment, had bloodshot eyes.

He stared fixedly at the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array over the Southern Capital, grinding his teeth. "However formidable the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array is, it's only a level 13 array. There's no way it could trap two Void-Shattering experts and five Void-Refining cultivators."

So he said, but in the depths of his heart, there was another guess. Could there be some other power behind Yaoguang? The mysterious artifact paragon, for instance! And where there was an artifact paragon, how could there not be a Void-Shattering expert?

With a Void-Shattering expert's power, and the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array on top of that... Yaoguang turning the tables and slaying his enemies was entirely possible. As Jing Zhengyang thought it through, cold sweat poured from his forehead.

"Damn it. We've underestimated Yaoguang." The Jing family's head was full of unease.

If there truly was a Void-Shattering expert behind Yaoguang, and the Eight Desolations Fiend Lord and Dark Fiend Lord had been trapped, then the moment those two fiendish cultivators sold out the Jing family during questioning... He dreaded imagining the consequences.