The Modern Martial Immortal

Half a day later, a wave of wails and howls erupted throughout the Dragon Abyss Society.

”WTF! Su Yaoshuang! Are you trying to defy the heavens? From now on, you’re my boss! Even the president has to step aside!”

”An exclusive interview with Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang?! Even if it’s just a text version, do you know who he is?! He led the Sea Guardian Institute to face off against the Great Sun Sword Sect’s Sky Patrol Warships twice and won both battles in overwhelming victories. He even captured their warships outright! And you managed to land an interview with someone like that?!”

”Big Boss Su, be honest with me. Are you Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang’s illegitimate daughter? Did you join the Dragon Abyss Society just to experience ordinary life?”

One after another, members of the Dragon Abyss Society crowded around Su Yaoshuang, staring at her as if she were some kind of divine being.

”Enough, Gao Longfei. Stop talking nonsense,” President Long Yuwu scolded him. ”How could we possibly speculate about someone like Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang? And as far as I know, he isn’t even that old. He only achieved so much at such a young age because his talent is extraordinary.”

Then she turned to Su Yaoshuang, her face instantly lighting up with a radiant smile. ”Well done, Shuangshuang. You’ve brought me an incredible surprise. I won’t ask how you secured the interview, but for our ‘Listen to the Dragon’s Roar’ column, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An exclusive interview with Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang. The headline alone is explosive. If we play this right, we might truly become the number one ‘war’ column in Longxiang City, maybe even across the entire Nine Heavens Domain!”[1]

”Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang... is actually a very kind person. I just mentioned it casually, and I didn’t expect him to agree,” Su Yaoshuang explained briefly.

She did not linger on the topic. ”So, should we edit the content a bit before posting it?”

”Edit? What edit?” Long Yuwu waved her hand decisively. ”We can’t cut a single word of what Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang said! We must post everything as-is!” Then, as if recalling something, she added, ”You didn’t ask anything that would put Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang or the sect in a bad light, did you?”

”No. Although I haven’t graduated yet, I’m still studying to be a professional. I know what can and what cannot be asked,” Su Yaoshuang replied at once.

”Good. Then we will reorganize it and post it immediately!” Long Yuwu said, barely able to contain her excitement. ”Make sure to inform the higher-ups, and apply for the highest-level featured placement. I’m sure they won’t refuse.”

***

Just as Long Yuwu had expected, the interview quickly went viral within the Void Psychic World, despite being text-only and not particularly long. Yaoguang himself later had Su Yaoyu log into the official account of the Purple Firmament Institute and leave a simple like beneath it.

After all, the interview concerned the Purple Firmament Type 15 export-model flying sword. It served as an advertisement, so it was natural for the Purple Firmament Institute to show a bit of support.

Yet that simple interaction made the interview infinitely more popular, allowing the Listen to the Dragon’s Roar column to increase its reach by a huge margin. It became popular past Longxiang City, and even spread outside the Nine Heavens Domain, sweeping across the entire Nine Cauldrons Sect.

Yaoguang had no idea how popular he had become in the sect’s Void Psychic World. He believed he had been quite low-key. But he didn’t realize that his restraint only deepened the aura of mystery surrounding him.

Especially when compared with all the achievements he had obtained in just a few short years, which were nothing short of legendary! He had taken over the Purple Firmament Institute when it stood on the brink of demotion, immediately launched the Purple Firmament Type 12 series, and led the institute to be reborn as the most important research and production center for flying swords. He had also secured a massive order from the Golden Temple, pushing annual revenue past one million.

Soon after, cultivators of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, armed with the Type 12 series flying swords, had crushed the Xuanming Sect in the East Sea, forcing even their high-tier sword cultivators to lie low.

Then came the Purple Firmament Type 13, which shattered the long-standing technical bottleneck that had prevented the Nine Cauldrons Sect from forging third-generation low-grade flying swords.

Not long after the Type 13’s debut, the Purple Firmament Type 15 followed and was rapidly equipped by the Azure Edge Institute and the Divine Might Institute. A fierce battle erupted in the East Sea against the Xuanming Sect.

The casualties count for that battle stood at three hundred to zero! Over three hundred great cultivators of the Xuanming Sect had been slaughtered, and the Nine Cauldrons Sect had not lost a single person.

From there, legend gradually evolved into myth. Yaoguang led the Sea Guardian Institute against the Great Sun Sword Sect and captured the Spring Rain. And most recently, when the Great Sun Sword Sect had sent the Vajra Sky Patrol Warship deep into the Nine Heavens Domain, he had once again launched a shocking counterattack and captured it, just like the Spring Rain before.

He had single-handedly turned into reality the slogan that the Nine Cauldrons Sect had shouted decades ago. ”No flying swords and no warships! The enemy will deliver them to our doorstep!”

As for the joint efforts of the Azure Edge Institute and Divine Might Institute, which had relied on the Purple Firmament flying swords to leave the Great Sun Sword Sect with only the Divine Mountain Institute’s forces, their achievement no longer seemed so remarkable. There had simply been too much good news, and people had grown numb with shock.

Thanks to all of that, everyone’s admiration, curiosity, and respect for Yaoguang had reached their peak. When people learnt that an exclusive interview with Yaoguang had surfaced, and that it was not a mere rumor but one officially acknowledged by the Purple Firmament Institute, it was as though people had found an outlet for their pent-up emotions. Everyone rushed to read it.

Countless comments flooded in, expressing both gratitude to Yaoguang for bringing about all those changes and pride that the Nine Cauldrons Sect possessed a flying sword like the Purple Firmament Type 15, which was one of the most advanced in all of Cangwu.

***

The surge of activity in the Void Psychic World drew Yaoguang’s attention for a while, but he didn’t spend long dwelling on it. By then, he had already returned to Sky Patrol Research Institute No. 3.

As various sects paid visits to the Nine Cauldrons Sect one after another, the situation in the East Sea gradually calmed. Over in the Shiwan Mountains, the Brahma Divine Kingdom grew noticeably more restrained.

They were still busy contending with the Brahma Cult and the Brahma Sect over orthodox succession. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they would not take the initiative to provoke the Nine Cauldrons Sect. In any case, they already occupied the Shiwan Mountains and had no immediate intention of expanding further.

Yaoguang spent his time analyzing the Vajra warship and designing the next generation of Sky Patrol Warships. From time to time, he returned to the Purple Firmament Institute to refine export versions of the Purple Firmament Type 15 flying sword, as well as the improved version of the Purple Firmament Type 16.

Beyond these professional commitments, however, he considered his most important task to be the refinement of the Crimson Golden Core into an outer core. At present, his cultivation in qi refinement remained relatively weak, so he could only make some preliminary arrangements for the outer core’s refinement.

Time slowly passed. Everyone bore responsibilities. Everyone had work to attend to. The entire Nine Cauldrons Sect kept flourishing, remaining focused on the future, and in the blink of an eye, five years of steady effort passed.

***

At Sky Patrol Research Institute No. 3’s testing grounds, within the heavily reinforced field enveloped by multiple layers of arrays, a test was underway.

What was being tested was not the offensive might of a Sky Patrol Warship’s array, but Yaoguang’s own defensive strength.

A sharp whistle split the air with a sword light. Tang Fenghua held the improved Purple Firmament Type 16 flying sword, a genuine fifth-generation sword, in his hand. A moment later, it transformed into a streak of flashing light and shot toward Yaoguang at an almost inconceivable speed.

The sword traveled so fast that the compression of air along its edge surpassed the medium’s capacity to transmit energy. When the flying sword reached Yaoguang, the void itself showed no visible disturbance. Until...

A deep buzzing sound erupted. Yaoguang abruptly extended his hand and, with flawless precision, seized the flying sword. It trembled violently in his grasp, and only then did the explosive roar generated by its passage through space detonate behind it. Before the shockwave could damage the surroundings, the institute’s arrays absorbed all of its kinetic force.

As the kinetic energy was devoured by the arrays, the flying sword lost its struggle. Gripped firmly in Yaoguang’s hand, it fell utterly still.

He casually tossed it back toward Tang Fenghua. ”Again!”

”Nope.” Tang Fenghua’s face had turned slightly pale as he shook his head. ”I can’t break through your defenses.”

He looked at Yaoguang with a trace of reverence and awe. ”Are you... about to become a star god?”

”I’m still lacking a bit before reaching the star god level,” Yaoguang replied.

”You’re not even a star god, and you can already block my flying sword head-on? Without almost any effort?” Tang Fenghua found it hard to believe.

The Purple Firmament Type 16 in his hand was a bona fide fifth-generation flying sword. For flying swords, each two-generation increase could allow a low-tier cultivator to challenge opponents above their tier. According to the more widely accepted internal classification within the Great Cangwu World, Foundation Building cultivators without weapons were divided into five tiers.

Tang Fenghua had formed a Dao Foundation and had cultivated to the late stage of the Foundation Building Realm, placing his combat strength at the fourth tier. With this fifth-generation flying sword, he should theoretically have been able to contend against fifth-tier great sword cultivators who had formed immortal foundations, reached the late stage of the Foundation Building Realm, and wielded third-generation flying swords.

As long as his side held overwhelming superiority in primordial psyche amplification, then with the unique traits of the Purple Firmament series, he might even be able to secure a victory. Yet, despite his strength and despite not holding back at all, his strike had been easily stopped by Yaoguang, who had not even reached the Star God Realm!

”In my understanding, a fifth-tier great sword cultivator wielding a third-generation high-grade treasured artifact flying sword should already possess the ability to injure a first-generation star god... After all, sword cultivators are renowned for their attack power and their lethality.” Tang Fenghua’s confusion showed clearly.

”I may not have reached the Star God Realm,” Yaoguang explained with a faint smile, ”but for certain special reasons, the stellar force field I can mobilize right now is comparable in strength to that of a first-generation star god.”

”Not yet a star god, yet able to wield a star-god-level stellar force field...” Tang Fenghua’s eyes gleamed. ”It seems like when the time comes, Deputy Hall Master, you will blaze a new trail and open the path to a fourth-generation star god.”

”A fourth-generation star god? Forget the fourth generation. I doubt I’ll see much hope within ten years of even becoming a first-generation star god.” Yaoguang sighed softly. He paused, then added, ”There’s something you may not have noticed. Hall Master Wu Qingying’s alchemy has yet to achieve a breakthrough.”

1. It is common to repeat the last word of someone’s name in Chinese culture. It shows endearment and closeness. ☜