Chapter 400: The Peak

The materials inside the Penglai Dao Lord's storage treasure were extraordinarily precious. But the fact that those things were so precious had its own advantage: they were useful.

After Yaoguang invested materials worth more than 2 billion Pure Yang Grand Pills, it took less than five years for the Two-Realm Ruler and the Heaven-Sealing Stele to transform, one after the other, into high-grade Dao Artifacts.

"It's done."

Yaoguang looked at the two high-grade Dao Artifacts with delight. The transformation into a high-grade Dao Artifact was nothing as dramatic as the transformation into a top-tier one, but paired with the corresponding Dao Techniques, they could now be used more proficiently.

You really do get what you pay for. Half a year ahead of my five-year estimate. Holding the two Dao Artifacts, he sensed them carefully. Top-tier Dao Artifacts won't be so easy. Either I commit over ten billion in materials, or over a hundred years of time. Otherwise, raising the Two-Realm Ruler and the Heaven-Sealing Stele into top-tier Dao Artifacts the old cost-effective way would take several centuries at the least. Even worse, by the time they would be finished, the Gate of the Immortal Realm might already be open, and I'd have wasted an enormous amount of cultivation time.

Materials worth tens of billions! At the southern domain's current earning power, saving up ten billion would probably take a century.

But if he could pull in the Heavenly Dao Sect's artifact refiners and raise the production of warships and flying swords, the required time might shrink to sixty years, or even thirty.

Besides, some top-tier refining materials that simply couldn't be bought outside might well be sitting in the Heavenly Dao Sect's private stores.

He had to take the position of the Heavenly Dao Sect's sect master.

All that remained was to wait another half year. Once he reclaimed the Limitless Sword, he could begin preparing his return to the Heavenly Dao Sect and his fight for the sect master's seat.

"Someone bring Wan Liugui to me."

Tang Fenghua, who lived at the foot of the Hundred-Refinement Peak, received the command, acknowledged it, and quickly passed the message along. Soon, the Void-Piercing battle immortal appeared atop the peak.

"Deputy Sect Master." Wan Liugui gave a fist-and-palm salute.

"I have reached the Void-Shattering Realm. One year from now, I will hold a grand banquet on the Nine Cauldrons Peak at the Heavenly Dao Sect, and invite every Daoist of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects, the Three Great Martial Dao Sects, and the Four Great Immortal Dynasties." Yaoguang kept it brief. "This time we go all out. I want my name as a Void-Shattering cultivator known across the world."

"The Void-Shattering Realm?!" Wan Liugui froze.

He had never once doubted that Yaoguang would reach Void-Shattering. He had even believed it wouldn't take long: a hundred years if fast, a few hundred if slow.

But how long had it actually been?! Thirty years! It had been only thirty years since Yaoguang had reached the Void-Refining Realm, and now he had reached the Void-Shattering Realm?!

"Go. Arrange it as quickly as you can. Send invitations to the Void-Piercing and Void-Refining cultivators on good terms with us, and to every faction we've done business with. Finish that within half a year, and keep the remaining time for preparing the banquet itself," Yaoguang said.

Wan Liugui shuddered and snapped back to his senses. "Yes."

He had, after all, braced himself for Yaoguang's breakthrough, so even with the timeline moved up by such a huge margin, he recovered quickly.

"Half a year is more than enough. I'll see to it at once. I won't disappoint you, Deputy Sect Master," the Void-Piercing battle immortal answered with force, his tone careful yet carrying an indescribable fervor.

Ten years from the Void-Piercing Realm to the Void-Refining Realm! Thirty from the Void-Refining Realm to the Void-Shattering Realm! At this pace, would Dao Integration follow within another century?!

Perhaps, someday, their Cangwu lineage would produce a Dao Lord: a great being who could leave a top-tier legacy on the North Sea Star and stand as a hegemon among the stars!

Carried by that burning thought, Wan Liugui soon departed.

Once Yaoguang's intention to hold the Void-Shattering banquet became public, Wan Liugui and the others made no particular secret of it, and the news swept the Southern Capital before gradually spreading outward into the southern domain.

Like Wan Liugui, everyone had assumed Yaoguang would eventually reach the Void-Shattering Realm. But a breakthrough after several centuries and a breakthrough after thirty years were not even remotely the same thing!

The skills Yaoguang now displayed were on par with a potential Dao Lord. Before long, he would likely hold a place on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, even though he had only just advanced.

And just as news of Yaoguang's breakthrough was spreading in the southern domain, to everyone's joy, something else happened within the domain lord's residence. Compared to Yaoguang's breakthrough, it was no great matter, yet it delighted countless people all the same.

Li Hanqiu had completed the Nine Refinements of Star Ring!

And not only that! After fully stabilizing his Primordial Void state, inspiration struck. Drawing on the Limitless Sword's insight into the Great Dao of Void, which was like a projection of the Great Dao itself, his long years of accumulation erupted, and he directly reached the true Void-Piercing Realm.

When his advancement stirred phenomena in heaven and earth, every higher-up of the domain lord's residence was roused. Yaoguang appeared in person, standing as his protector with the power of a Void-Shattering cultivator.

In just ten days, Li Hanqiu finished opening his grotto-heaven. It was like returning from death, or being completely reborn. After completing the breakthrough and stabilizing his realm, he reappeared before them all.

Seeing a grotto-heaven indistinguishable from that of a true Void-Piercing cultivator, Wan Liugui, that veteran expert who had long endured the bitter fate of being a Void-Piercing battle immortal, threw back his head and laughed. "Good!"

Yaoguang offered his congratulations with a smile. "As of today, Perfected Lord Li, the title is finally yours in truth as well as in name! Congratulations on opening a true grotto-heaven and reaching the Void-Piercing Realm!"

Huang Tianhao, Lou Yuyu, Shen Qinglian, and the others formerly of the Nine Cauldrons Sect called out in high spirits, "Congratulations, Supreme Elder, on reaching the Void-Piercing Realm! May you roam the rivers of stars and enjoy boundless longevity!"

Humble as he was, Li Hanqiu accepted everyone's well-wishes.

The Cangwu lineage had endured so much. Especially during the first years after arriving at the North Sea Star, they had lived with utmost caution, as if treading on thin ice.

But now, having reached the Void-Piercing Realm, he had truly entered the ranks of the North Sea Star's elite. Even if Yaoguang one day passed through the Gate of the Immortal Realm and ascended, even if the Heavenly Dao Sect turned against them, the world was vast; with a Void-Piercing cultivator like him standing guard, the people of the Nine Cauldrons Sect could make their way anywhere.

"Thank you," Li Hanqiu said to Yaoguang, from the heart.

"Don't thank me. This is the reward your years of hard cultivation earned you," Yaoguang said, smiling.

Li Hanqiu quietly glanced at Wan Liugui, who stood nearby brimming with envy. But he said nothing about asking Yaoguang to lend the Limitless Sword to him.

Even though Wan Liugui's deeper foundation, and the fact that he had cultivated the Nine Refinements of Star Ring for longer as a Void-Piercing battle immortal, meant the Limitless Sword would surely carry him to the Void-Piercing Realm, Li Hanqiu understood all too well how precious the sword was.

A supreme treasure bearing the power of the Great Dao could likely drive any Void-Shattering cultivator mad with desire. The moment it was exposed, countless schemers would descend on Yaoguang.

Yaoguang had trusted him enough to place that treasure in his hands and aid his cultivation; he would not betray that trust.

Li Hanqiu thought so, and Yaoguang had no intention of lending the sword out either. If he became a Dao Lord someday, refining a dedicated top-tier Dao Artifact for each of them would be a trivial thing.

But for now, he could not afford to draw the eyes of too many Dao Lords, even with the Penglai Dao Lord having already agreed to become his protector.

"Reaching the Void-Piercing Realm is a major event for any power. We could hold a banquet for you in the Southern Capital first. Think of it as a warm-up for my own banquet, and an answer to the rest of the Cangwu lineage," Yaoguang suggested with a smile.

"There's no need for that." Li Hanqiu shook his head. "With your banquet coming up, I'd say those people of the Cangwu lineage will be regretful enough."

"It's not the same thing. You're a true Void-Piercing cultivator, having reached that realm from the status of a Void-Piercing battle immortal," Yaoguang said with a laugh.

"Your banquet will be a grand affair. The Taiyi Immortal Sect is certain to attend, and some from the Cangwu lineage may come as well. When they see me there and realize I've already reached the Void-Piercing Realm, that sudden shock—ahem, surprise... Won't that land even better?" Li Hanqiu replied, clearly enjoying himself.

"Fair enough." Yaoguang didn't press. "We'll do it your way."

He glanced at their surroundings. "From here on, the Southern Capital's affairs are in your hands. Now that you've reached the Void-Piercing Realm, handling them should finally be a little easier."

Li Hanqiu nodded.

The Southern Capital's routine matters were indeed managed by Li Hanqiu and Wan Liugui. But the two of them were, in the end, Void-Piercing battle immortals.

With Yaoguang's prestige pressing down from above, no faction dared to show the slightest open discontent, yet when dealing with outsiders, they still occasionally encountered someone who would not behave properly.

Things had been better when Wu Changfeng, a Void-Refining cultivator, was assisting them, but ever since he took full charge of the southern domain's Sky Net system, Wan Liugui and Li Hanqiu had found their work noticeably less smooth.

The other parties likely meant no offense, but at times their attitude simply lacked the attentiveness they showed when Wu Changfeng was around.

A Void-Piercing battle immortal was, in the end, only a Void-Piercing battle immortal!

Now that he had reached the true Void-Piercing Realm, heaven and earth would be different from this day forward.

After his advancement, Li Hanqiu returned the Limitless Sword to Yaoguang and went into seclusion to consolidate his gains. Yaoguang didn't object.

It was nearly time to return to the Heavenly Dao Sect, and he needed to re-refine the Limitless Sword quickly, so that once he was back, he could use the information in his grasp to make an example of a few, awe the entire Heavenly Dao Sect, and gain absolute control over it.

While he worked on the sword, word of his advancement to the Void-Shattering Realm and the coming grand banquet spread out of the southern domain and swept across all of the human race's territory.

Many had heard Yaoguang's name more than once over the years and had braced themselves for his eventual breakthrough, but to cultivate to such a level in a mere thirty years...

When cultivators from the Southern Capital arrived at faction after faction to deliver the invitations, the news still set every human cultivator abuzz.

Especially since, even now, Yaoguang was barely past a hundred years old! Such speed outshone even the Penglai Dao Lord of old.

Soon, some began calling him a second Penglai Dao Lord. Others named him the foremost expert of the new generation. Even the alien races in the territories beyond humanity's borders committed the name to memory for the first time.

In this moment, the name Yaoguang stepped fully onto the great stage of the North Sea Star, standing at its very peak with his own strength.