The Modern Martial Immortal

”Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang of the Heavenly Dao Sect, fate has brought calamity upon you at last!”

The Void-Refining fiendish cultivator known as Evil Eye revealed himself, laughing coldly. There was no need to keep up the pretense any longer. With a big fish like Yaoguang on the hook, the Yin Lunar Sect’s large-scale invasion was already successful.

”Years ago, the Heavenly Dao Sect seized thirteen of our Yin Lunar Sect’s states. Today, we will take the head of one of their deputy sect masters as an advance on the interest we are owed! Dead Star, Treacherous Moon, Black Sun, all of you, move in! Close the net and kill this big fish!”

Without a trace of the arrogance one might expect from a Void-Refining cultivator, Evil Eye immediately called upon the three Void-Piercing cultivators accompanying him to launch a coordinated assault. As for himself, all three pairs of his eyes blazed simultaneously, condensing six beams of dark light that shot directly toward Yaoguang.

Yaoguang, now fully visible, had never expected these fiendish cultivators to fight him one-on-one.

”One Void-Refining cultivator, three Void-Piercing cultivators... It’s enough to serve as a deterrent to lesser troublemakers, at least,” he said, his expression unchanged.

His soul-type Dao Technique, the Supreme Selflessness, which targeted the Great Dao of soul, had already been deployed. Though he had not yet practiced it to the mastery stage as he had with the Void Sword and Void Flicker, it had reached the proficient stage.

A Void-Refining cultivator would have at least one Dao Technique cultivated to the proficient stage. If it was a life-bound Dao Technique, it would also provide amplification in other areas. Evil Eye’s life-bound Dao Technique was the Psyche-Deterring Mystic Light, which targeted the Great Dao of psyche.

The Great Dao of psyche and the Great Dao of soul were similar in nature, but one was an ordinary Great Dao while the other was a core Great Dao. One operated on the seven emotions and six desires of the psyche, while the other encompassed the very core of a sentient being’s existence.

In other words, the Great Dao of soul could be considered a superior version of the Great Dao of psyche, and only those who could not cultivate it would settle for the Great Dao of psyche, just as those who could not cultivate the Great Dao of destruction would choose the Great Dao of slaughter or the Great Dao of calamity instead.

Facing Evil Eye’s Psyche-Deterring Mystic Light, Yaoguang used Void Flicker and appeared directly behind the Void-Refining Realm fiendish cultivator.

In the next instant, the Heaven-Sealing Stele unfolded and drew the Void-Refining fiendish cultivator inside in an instant.

This abrupt turn of events left the three Void-Piercing fiendish cultivators Evil Eye had summoned momentarily stunned, although they quickly recovered.

”He has a sealing-type Dao Artifact!”

”Even the most powerful Dao Artifact won’t hold Lord Evil Eye for long! We push him with everything we have, force him to split his attention, and give Lord Evil Eye the opening he needs to break free!”

The three Void-Piercing Realm fiendish cultivators reacted with impressive speed, each unleashing their Dao Techniques as they charged at Yaoguang.

But fiendish cultivators specialized primarily in the Great Dao of psyche, soul, and darkness. Of the three before him, only Black Sun had mastered the Great Dao of slaughter, making him suited for direct melee combat. The remaining two, Dead Star and Treacherous Moon, used psyche-type and death-type Dao Techniques respectively, and neither had even reached the proficient stage.

Their strength had not yet reached the point where they could plant their Dao Seeds and form their life-bound Dao Techniques.

Their Dao Techniques struck Yaoguang as though they had struck a wall. His Starlight Glass Body brushed them aside as if they were nothing.

Shrugging off their attacks, Yaoguang flickered to Black Sun’s side in an instant and brought the Void Sword down in a single stroke, scattering Black Sun’s fiendish body immediately.

His grotto-heaven then manifested and began refining the Void-Piercing fiendish cultivator. Whenever Black Sun attempted to resist, Yaoguang simply struck again with the Void Sword to shatter his form.

Dead Star and Treacherous Moon watched this scene with cold dread in their hearts, but steeled themselves and continued their assault on Yaoguang. Yet their Dao Techniques could not penetrate the Starlight Glass Body at all, and the moment Yaoguang seized an opening, he easily shattered their fiendish bodies.

That sight was enough to frighten them out of their wits. They broke off and fell back immediately.

”Just how many Dao Techniques does he have?!”

”At least four! And all of them are at the proficient stage or higher! On top of that, he has at least two Dao Artifacts: that golden sword light and the sealing-type Dao Artifact holding Lord Evil Eye!”

Dead Star and Treacherous Moon were shaken to their cores. Four Dao Techniques at the proficient stage or higher, and two Dao Artifacts! How were they supposed to fight him?!

”Damn it, didn’t he just break through to the Void-Refining Realm? Hasn’t it been five or six years at most?! How can he have practiced four Dao Techniques to the proficient stage in five or six years?!”

”With combat power and equipment like this, he stands at the very top even among Void-Refining cultivators. Never mind just us three Void-Piercing cultivators and one Void-Refining cultivator, even three Void-Refining cultivators attacking at once might only be enough to defeat him, and that’s without any certainty of killing him.... This is no big fish. This is a sea monster!”

Dead Star and Treacherous Moon exchanged a glance, and in the next instant, without a word between them, both turned and fled at full speed toward the distant horizon.

Among human cultivators, there was a saying, ”When disaster strikes, every man flies for himself.”

Even humans piled on when the tide was in their favor and scattered when it was not. Fiendish cultivators, who were always selfish and self-serving, embodied this tendency to its very extreme.

Given the power Yaoguang had displayed, any hope of killing him was gone. And if he could not be killed, their plan was already bound to fail. At that point, keeping their lives was all that mattered.

As for the imprisoned Evil Eye and the half-refined Black Sun, those were no longer their concern. They had chosen the fiendish path. There was no room in it for notions of brotherly love, righteousness, or morality.

”And where do you think you are going?” Yaoguang watched the two fleeing Void-Piercing cultivators, his expression unchanged, preparing to use Void Flicker to cut them off.

But at that moment, he sensed something. The Heaven-Sealing Stele shuddered violently, and countless ripples radiated outward from it as though it was on the verge of being shattered.

Yaoguang abandoned his pursuit and made no further attempt to refine Black Sun. Instead, he opened his hand, and the Wandering Dragon Sword burst apart into ten thousand beams of golden light, each one carrying a razor-sharp edge capable of tearing through anything, instantly shredding Black Sun to pieces.

Then he pressed two fingers together into a sword-shape and pointed downward at the fiendish cultivator’s true body, now scattered into thousands upon thousands of fragments. A terrifying destructive force erupted from his fingertips.

This was the Great Annihilation Sword Qi!

Yaoguang had naturally mastered this Dao Technique in the process of crafting the Annihilation Sword for Qi Sha. Compared to the all-piercing Void Sword, the Great Annihilation Sword Qi was clearly more effective against formless beings like fiendish cultivators.

As it surged and rolled outward, releasing the power of destruction, the shattered fragments of Black Sun’s true body were ground to nothing in an instant.

With that done, Yaoguang waved his right hand and released the Heaven-Sealing Stele.

Evil Eye leaped out with a lightning halberd in hand.

Yaoguang glanced at the crack that had formed on the Heaven-Sealing Stele, then let his gaze settle on the lightning halberd in Evil Eye’s grip. ”A Dao Artifact of the Great Dao of lightning? Looks like I might have some unexpected gains today.”

Evil Eye, however, who had nearly shattered the Heaven-Sealing Stele and broken free, wasted no time on words. His form flickered, and he transformed into a streak of lightning, shooting toward the distant horizon at an incomprehensible speed.

Rumbling thunder filled the air in his wake.

This fiendish cultivator of the Yin Lunar Sect had not said a single word. He had simply run.

”The small fish may go, but you, the big fish, are not leaving this pot,” Yaoguang said.

The Two-Realm Ruler flashed, and with a single step through the void, Yaoguang appeared directly in Evil Eye’s path.

The void traversal technique made all six of Evil Eye’s eyes contract at once. But his reaction was lightning-fast. The Psyche-Deterring Mystic Light condensed in his pupils and shot out while his lightning halberd swung in a wide arc, unleashing a bolt of brilliant violet lightning straight at Yaoguang.

Yaoguang raised a hand and swept through the air with the Void Sword. It devoured the full force of the lightning in its path and continued forward with undiminished momentum, slashing toward Evil Eye’s fiendish body.

At the same time, the Starlight Glass Body blazed, and with the vast, heaven-merging presence of the Supreme Selflessness behind it, the Psyche-Deterring Mystic Light was deflected with ease.

Thunder rolled and rumbled. Evil Eye swung his halberd furiously, looking like a war god riding a violet lightning dragon.

But beneath the Void Sword’s edge, which shattered all techniques with sheer force, the storm of thunder and lightning could not last for even a moment. Evil Eye could only watch helplessly as the Void Sword came down and cleaved away half his body.

The severed half seemed to possess its own remarkable vitality and will, actively reaching back toward the main body as though trying to reattach itself. But as the Void Sword’s second stroke descended, the main body was forced to retreat.

At the same time, the Great Annihilation Sword Qi followed close behind and struck the severed half of his body, the destructive force within it annihilating that half into nothingness.

”Let me ask you something. Your life-bound Dao Technique is clearly the Psyche-Deterring Mystic Light, so why is your Dao Artifact a lightning halberd? Could you not have found a Dao Artifact that amplifies psyche-type power instead?” Yaoguang’s psychic thought drifted through the void, almost completely devoid of emotion.

Those words left Evil Eye simmering with indignation.

Do I look like I am unwilling to swap the lightning halberd for a psyche-type Dao Artifact? A Dao Artifact is already enough to put me ahead of fifty percent of all Void-Refining cultivators. A Dao Artifact perfectly attuned to one’s own Great Dao is something one can only hope to stumble upon and never guarantee. What grounds do I have to be picky? He thought, but he didn’t answer Yaoguang’s question in the end, instead retorting with a question of his own.

”You are no newly advanced Void-Refining Realm cultivator! No one who has only just broken through could possibly master so many Dao Techniques. That Void Sword of yours has clearly reached the mastery stage! Just who are you?!” Evil Eye snarled.

Yaoguang said nothing and simply struck with the Void Sword again.

Evil Eye had no choice but to swing his lightning halberd in response, using the lightning to slow the Void Sword while he tried to dart aside.

But the Heaven-Sealing Stele’s power descended upon him. Although it did not seal him inside as before, it interfered with and crushed the space around him, causing his attempt to dodge to stutter for just an instant.

In the next moment, the Void Sword’s edge came down on him once more.

”No!” Evil Eye let out a furious roar. Left with no other choice, he transformed himself into his fiendish mist state.

Without hesitation, Yaoguang brought out his grotto-heaven and began forcibly refining Evil Eye

”Stop! Yaoguang, I am the master of an entire peak within the Yin Lunar Sect. Kill me, and you declare all-out war on the Yin Lunar Sect...” Evil Eye’s psychic thought erupted while he rapidly tried to gather his mist-form body back into a solid shape.

But how could Yaoguang give him that chance? Just as Evil Eye’s body was on the verge of coalescing, the Void Sword driven by the Wandering Dragon Sword burst into ten thousand sword beams and cut it apart again.

The scattered bits of mist were swiftly consumed and refined by the grotto-heaven, expanding it steadily.

​​Throughout the process, no matter how desperately Evil Eye pleaded or threatened, Yaoguang remained unmoved. Even when Evil Eye tried to turn his fiendish qi against the grotto-heaven to corrode it from within, it had no effect whatsoever.

Yaoguang’s grotto-heaven had been transformed by the Void Heart, and its resistance to corrosion far surpassed that of any ordinary Void-Refining Realm cultivator’s grotto-heaven.

The refinement lasted three full days.

Three days later, Evil Eye had been completely refined. There was nothing left, as if he had never existed.

Yaoguang’s grotto-heaven, however, blazed with radiant light, its strength climbing a full tier above what it had been before. The effect was comparable to a thousand years of hard cultivation for an ordinary Void-Refining cultivator.