Chapter 403: Bustle

"Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang has come."

"We respectfully welcome Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang back to inspect the sect."

"Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, our Luo family placed an order for ten Jiuzhou warships in the Southern Capital, three of which have been delivered. Thanks to those three ships, we were able to save several of our family's resource sites from sneak attacks in the nick of time. All of it is to the credit of your warships, Deputy Sect Master. May I host a banquet for you, Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, to express our thanks?"

As Yaoguang's fleet set down on the Nine Cauldrons Peak, Void-Piercing Realm elders representing one faction after another pressed forward to greet him and curry favor. Even some of the peak masters who were usually excluded from the four lineages' inner circles hurried to declare their stances.

Two peak masters in particular, Qin Shiyue and Chu Gushan, were warmer than anyone. The pair had already visited the Southern Capital once, back when Yaoguang had just slain the Yin Lunar Sect's two Void-Shattering and five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators.

Years ago, when Yaoguang had auctioned the Longxiang Flying Vessel on the Nine Cauldrons Peak, the immortal lineage, at Zong Wenxiang's direction, had sent these two peak masters away from the sect under various pretexts, and kept them from bidding on the Dao Artifact.

Had they not been, the Longxiang Flying Vessel would never have sold at so low a price. What had happened showed just how difficult their position within the Heavenly Dao Sect was.

Yaoguang's arrival was a lifeline to them; whether they could rise out from under the oppression of Zong Wenxian's faction depended entirely on this new contender for the sect master's position, and his ability to turn the tide.

***

In the distance, on Skyview Peak, where Jing Yuntian resided, the Void-Shattering powerhouse gazed at the feverish scene happening around Nine Cauldrons Peak, quietly reflecting on the situation. Beside him stood some of the Void-Refining peak masters and lineage leaders: Jing Zhengyang, Yuan Miaoyi, Xiang Zhenlong, and others.

"Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang is showing off his strength this time," Jing Zhengyang said, casting a worried glance at his own ancestor. Then he turned to Yuan Miaoyi. "Still no reply from the sect master's side?"

"Not yet. There has been a great deal of movement from the Light Divine Race. They are really in no position to return," Yuan Miaoyi said.

"If he doesn't return soon, the situation will become unstable," Jing Yuntian couldn't help sighing, despite his status as a supreme elder.

Yuan Miaoyi and Xiang Zhenlong kept silent. They had also never imagined that Yaoguang, who had been sent off to the southern domain, would take to it like fish in water, improving it so much in mere decades.

He had not only forged his formidable reputation by slaying two Void-Refining cultivators, then two Void-Shattering and five more Void-Refining cultivators, but had leveraged that fame and his Dao Artifact auctions to advertise the warships and flying swords he produced, making them spread far and wide.

The products he sold were remarkably cost-effective, and both his warships and flying swords were now dominating the market in all human territory. Any Void-Piercing faction that didn't possess at least a handful of Jiuzhou warships at home hardly dared greet its peers when going out.

He had strength, ability, wealth, talent, and courage! The man was very nearly perfect.

Even with Sect Master Zong present at the Heavenly Dao Sect, he might not be able to defeat Yaoguang at this moment, and right now the man was stuck in the starry sky beyond the domain, unable to return.

The sight had set many factions that had once pledged allegiance to Zong Wenxian trembling; some even speculated that Sect Master Zong was afraid and deliberately hiding beyond the domain. Lu Wanshi and Li Baijie were the best examples.

"Send another message and ask. Whether Sect Master Zong returns or not, he must at least make his stance clear," Jing Zhengyang urged.

Yuan Miaoyi and Xiang Zhenlong exchanged a glance and nodded.

But just as they were about to send it, a psychic thought suddenly blanketed the mountain. "No need to send it."

Sensing the familiar aura carried in the psychic thought, Jing Zhengyang, Yuan Miaoyi, and Xiang Zhenlong bowed slightly as one. "Supreme Elder Gu Li."

Jing Yuntian, though, was somewhat surprised. "Gu Li, you said there is no need? Have you received news?"

"Mhmm," Gu Li answered. "More than that. I've just come from Supreme Elder Zhen Xuanyuan's peak. We've discussed it: if Yaoguang holds a well-behaved Void-Shattering Realm advancement ceremony and nothing more, we'll let him hold it. But if he wants to use the ceremony to whip up a storm, then Supreme Zhen Xuanyuan and I will step in and give him a word, and teach him what putting the greater picture first means."

He leaned noticeably on the words "give him a word."

"Zhen Xuanyuan?!" Jing Yuntian was startled by Gu Li's words. "How is it that Supreme Elder Zhen Xuanyuan..."

"There's a story behind it. We'll know the particulars once Perfected Lord Bu Zhou returns from beyond the domain," Gu Li said, then added evenly, "For now, Supreme Elder Zhen Xuanyuan has changed his attitude. With his guarantee, and Perfected Lord Bu Zhou's return in due course... Against the combined might of four supreme elders, and this being no Southern Capital of his, with no Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array to lend him strength, he won't be able to create any waves."

Jing Yuntian's face broke into a smile at that. "Then I can rest easy."

With that, he swept a glance over the Void-Refining cultivators, respectful but visibly curious, and explained with a smile, "It's alright, no need to worry. Maintain a reasonable guard, and otherwise carry on as usual."

"Is the sect master coming back?" Yuan Miaoyi's eyes lit up.

Jing Yuntian waved a hand, smiling. "The sect master isn't, but Yaoguang alone hardly warrants all of us acting as if a great enemy were at the gates. You're dismissed."

At that, the others, however curious, could only swallow their questions and disperse. Still, with Jing Yuntian's reassurance, their hearts no longer felt so heavy.

***

An endless stream of guests kept arriving at Nine Cauldrons Peak.

But aside from a few Void-Refining cultivators and a handful of rather particular Void-Piercing ones who required Yaoguang to make a brief appearance, the rest were received by Li Hanqiu, Li Qingshan, and the others, so Yaoguang wasn't particularly busy.

He stood atop his own peak, studying the level 12 array that enveloped Nine Cauldrons Peak.

"The caster's standard is barely passable. For a level 12 array caster, at any rate," Yaoguang remarked.

The array the caster had laid had no outstanding features, but neither any great flaw.

Of course, with Yaoguang's current knowledge, reworking it up to level 13 would be easy. As for raising it to level 14, many of the materials for setting up the array, including the array eye, would need to be swapped out, and the manpower and time that would be required wouldn't be much less than setting up a level 14 array from scratch.

So after observing a moment longer, he turned his gaze to the Heavenly Dao Sect's sect-guarding grand array.

"The Twelve-Fiend-God Heaven-Sealing Array," Yaoguang said.

This array was clearly a Dao Lord's work. And compared with the Southern Capital's, it was set up with a certain level of skill, but not much.

Perhaps because Dao Lords thought differently from ordinary people, their instinct was often to resolve matters with power.

A mortal building a reservoir had to mobilize labor and materials, survey and draft plans, and so on; an immortal cultivator simply threw a technique at it. Crude as the method was, the end result usually wasn't that different.

"Thanks to the way Dao Lords do things, the materials they set up the array with are all top-tier, and the room for improvement is enormous. With my understanding of array arts and my current cultivation, if I wanted to upgrade this array to level 15... ten years would be enough," Yaoguang estimated.

Ten years! For a level 15 array!

What did a level 15 array mean? It meant that with one Dao Lord presiding over it, even five Dao Lords joining hands could not break it. It meant that even an artifact spirit at the semi-immortal-artifact level, like the Golden Book Venerable, could stand against a Dao Lord with the array's power behind it.

And it likewise meant that if he could secure the assistance of most of the Heavenly Dao Sect's Void-Piercing, Void-Refining, and Void-Shattering cultivators, then even someone as mighty as a Dao Lord could be held outside the array.

"Deputy Sect Master." As Yaoguang was sizing up the Twelve-Fiend-God Heaven-Sealing Array, Xu Nianhua appeared behind him.

Yaoguang glanced at the man whose talent had once counted as the finest in the Nine Cauldrons Sect... Even now, he was merely at Blazing White Golden Core, and in accumulation within that realm, he had already been overtaken by Su Yaoxue, Lin Xia, and a few others.

It couldn't be helped. Yaoguang had left behind a fair stock of resources for Xu Nianhua's cultivation when he departed Nine Cauldrons Peak, but the quality of those resources fell clearly short of what Yaoguang had later given to the Nine Cauldrons Sect.

And with an absurdity like the Pure Yang Grand Pill in existence, the share of one's progress through the nine realms of Golden Core driven by mere resources was simply too large.

"How is life at the Heavenly Dao Sect?" Yaoguang asked with some concern.

"Quite good. Especially since you displayed your might in the southern domain, Deputy Sect Master, cutting down Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators, the disciples around me have treated me with far great respect," Xu Nianhua said respectfully.

"Good." Yaoguang nodded. "Going forward, you may choose to stay at the Heavenly Dao Sect, or head to the southern domain."

"I'd rather stay at the Heavenly Dao Sect. If not a single soul of the Nine Cauldrons Sect lineage remains here, people are bound to talk, to say we mean to break away from the sect."

"Heh, every major faction in the Heavenly Dao Sect does exactly that. Nothing to worry about," Yaoguang said with a smile. "Besides, before long..."

He never finished. Li Hanqiu came hurrying up. "Deputy Sect Master, Supreme Chi Yun is here. From the look of him, it seems urgent."

Yaoguang swept out a psychic thought and sensed the supreme elder's urgency. Wasting no time, he waved a hand through the air, allowing the supreme elder to land on the summit of the peak. Li Hanqiu quickly withdrew, taking Xu Nianhua with him.

"Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, do you mean to use this Void-Shattering Realm advancement ceremony to build prestige and then force Zong Wenxian to abdicate? If so, it would be best to slow down," Supreme Chi Yun said the moment they met.

"What happened?"

"I paid a visit to Zhen Xuanyuan not long ago." The supreme elder drew a deep breath and spoke quickly. "As I told you before, with their interests at odds, our chief supreme elder generally stands opposite Sect Master Zong Wenxian. But this time, his stance has visibly changed. He even went out of his way to have me caution you not to make any rash moves before Sect Master Zong Wenxian returns... In other words, his allegiance has shifted!"