Chapter 470: Dao Integration

"It's Yaoguang." Zhen Xuanyuan did not dare give anything less than his full attention. "The one undergoing Dao Integration is Yaoguang, the new sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect."

He added, "His protector is the Penglai Dao Lord."

"Yaoguang?" The Central Heaven Dao Lord blinked. The new sect master who had taken over from Zong Wenxian?

"Him?" The Azure Crow Dao Lord looked no less surprised. As a Dao Lord of the Golden Crow Sect, he had clearly heard about Yaoguang through other channels.

"Yaoguang. I've heard the name," the Taiwei Dao Lord remarked. "Xuan Du sent word to me once, full of praise for his talent. I never expected he'd reach the point of Dao Integration this quickly."

Still, compared with Yaoguang and his attempt at Dao Integration, what mattered most to him was the protector, the Penglai Dao Lord.

A moment's thought was enough for the connection to form. "So the battle that just erupted over the North Sea Star was Penglai shielding Yaoguang, cutting down another void Dao Lord who came at him so he could integrate in peace? And if I read that Dao Lord's aura correctly, that was Unchained, wasn't it? The Unchained Dao Lord has fallen? The first sacrifice to Yaoguang's human tribulation?"

"Yes, that's exactly right," Zhen Xuanyuan answered quickly. "Though the Penglai Dao Lord didn't kill the Unchained Dao Lord as a sacrifice to smooth his Dao Integration. Sect Master Yaoguang was ambushed by the Unchained Dao Lord as he left the sect to go and receive the Dao Lord's return, and only then did he call the Penglai Dao Lord in and finish the Unchained Dao Lord off."

The Central Heaven Dao Lord frowned at that. If it had happened that way, the Unchained Dao Lord had not given him a shred of consideration.

Good riddance. He thought.

"If my information is right, that makes the second void Dao Lord the Penglai Dao Lord has killed recently, and both deaths are tied to Yaoguang?" the Pill Cauldron Dao Lord said, unable to hold back a sigh. "This Penglai Dao Lord truly has a fearsome reputation. When she first became a Dao Lord years ago, and people honored her as the number one Dao Lord of the North Sea for overpowering the Heavenly Sea Sword Pavilion and the Jade Scale Demon Paragon, those of us in the older generation didn't take it very seriously. Looking at it now, that title truly fits her."

The other Dao Lords listened with a certain private resentment that a junior like her enjoyed such standing. But the killing of the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord had been a large enough event that the sect masters of their own factions had passed word along to them long ago.

With that precedent already set, and with the Unchained Dao Lord killed practically before their eyes, who would dare not give a figure that ferocious her due?

And with a Dao Lord that strong serving as Yaoguang's protector, it was hardly surprising he dared attempt Dao Integration right here above the North Sea Star, in front of fifteen or twenty Dao Lords.

Nothing in the exchange between the Dao Lords and Zhen Xuanyuan had been concealed, so all of it reached the many perfected lords below.

Learning that the one attempting Dao Integration was one ranked second on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, the person they had all been aching to challenge, the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord, Perfected Lord Ni Chang, Perfected Lord Ying Feng, Perfected Lord Jing Mo, as well as the rest, wore nearly identical looks of shock. Even Perfected Lord Tian Xiao's eyes carried a trace of surprise.

"Dao Integration. Yaoguang is actually attempting Dao Integration?!"

"How can it be this fast? Didn't they say he's only been at the Void-Shattering Realm for a hundred years or so? A hundred years and he's already attempting Dao Integration? Is this a joke?"

"Yaoguang can't possibly think that making the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, even the top three, guarantees a successful integration. If it were that easy, there wouldn't be so few Dao Lords with their 129,600 years of life."

Perfected lord after perfected lord joined the discussion with their psychic thought. More than just a few of them had a gloating light in their eyes, already waiting for the news that Yaoguang had rushed his integration, failed, and died.

Even figures at the absolute peak of the Void-Shattering Realm, like Perfected Lord Tian Xiao and the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord, secretly shook their heads. They did not believe Yaoguang could reach the Dao Integration Realm so easily.

After all, going from the Void-Shattering Realm to the Dao Integration Realm was simply too hard. Still...

"As I recall, Yaoguang has cultivated for only two hundred years, and in two hundred years he already has the qualifications to attempt Dao Integration. Talent and genius like that are rare in the entire history of the North Sea Star. If he really can take that one further step from the top of the pole, a two-hundred-year-old Dao Lord would be writing new history here. I won't claim no one will ever match it, but no one before him has, and that much he'd deserve outright," the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord said, full of emotion.

"Impossible! Dao Integration is the single hardest threshold in any cultivator's life. Go back to Foundation Building and name one barrier harder than it." Perfected Lord Ying Feng shook his head. "Take even the Heavenly Fire Realm, the one they call nine deaths for one life. If a cultivator fails there, he can at least explain why; and if a Golden Core or an Eternal Light cultivator tried to break through to the Heavenly Fire Realm a second time, perhaps they couldn't promise a perfect repeat of their earlier success, but they'd have real confidence. Dao Integration, though?"

He was adamant. "Every Dao Lord needs a foundation so deep they're nearly flawless, plus unstoppable momentum, conviction that never gives up, and to be favored by the heavens themselves. Only when great perseverance, great resolve, great wisdom, and great fortune come together in one person can they truly reach the Dao Integration Realm. Even if the existing Dao Lords attempted Dao Integration again, they would barely have better odds. And a Void-Shattering cultivator with two hundred years of cultivation wants to attempt it? I'd rather believe Dao Integration has nothing to do with talent or grit or hard practice and works like a roll call, whoever's name gets called."

"Don't measure the truly gifted with your own eyes. The Penglai Dao Lord is the perfect example," the Martial Paragon Perfected Lord said.

"The Penglai Dao Lord is one case. How does that count for anything?" Perfected Lord Ying Feng shot back. "Besides, even someone as strong as the Penglai Dao Lord couldn't become Dao Lord within two hundred years."

The Martial Paragon Perfected Lord dropped the argument. Winning it would prove nothing, and no one had ever convinced a man who only wanted to believe what he already believed.

The Dao Lords paid no attention to the perfected lords bickering below.

Having learned that the one attempting Dao Integration was his own sect master, the Central Heaven Dao Lord spoke up at the right moment, "Fellow Daoists, since the one attempting Dao Integration belongs to my sect, I ask you all to grant me this courtesy and keep your distance rather than interfere. Thank you."

The Pill Cauldron and Azure Crow Dao Lords smiled, then glanced at the Taiwei Dao Lord.

The Taiwei Dao Lord laughed helplessly. "What are you all looking at me for? The Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects are branches of the same tree. If someone among the ten can achieve Dao Integration, it strengthens our foundation. Naturally, I'm not going to play the villain here."

For one thing, he did not believe Yaoguang could achieve Dao Integration this easily. And even if the man did succeed, growing strong enough to fight for a slot through the Gate of the Immortal Realm would take at the very least twenty or thirty thousand years. By then he would either have passed through the gate himself, or he'd have become too old and weak to keep participating in the Dao Contest.

"Thank you, Dao Lord. If Yaoguang succeeds, I'll have him prepare a generous gift afterward and thank you in person for your forbearance," the Central Heaven Dao Lord said with a fist-and-palm salute.

"You're too kind, Daoist Central Heaven." The Taiwei Dao Lord glanced toward the North Sea Star and went on with a smile, "Even if I did want to do something, I wouldn't dare act rashly against a top-tier figure like the Penglai Dao Lord. I have no wish to follow the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord and the Unchained Dao Lord into the grave."

He waved a hand. "Go and protect your sect's newly risen Void-Shattering cultivator. Pay us no mind. We'll watch from the side."

"There's no need. Letting my own aura show from here should be enough to deter anyone with bad intentions, once they sense it. They should realize what offending two Dao Lords at once would cost them," the Central Heaven Dao Lord said.

The Taiwei Dao Lord glanced at him, smiled, and said nothing.

The Central Heaven Dao Lord staying put was, to some degree, a way of borrowing the presence of the several Dao Lords around him. One Dao Lord and five Dao Lords were obviously not the same level of deterrence.

But as he had said himself, the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects shared a common set of values and were natural allies, and if the Central Heaven Dao Lord merely wanted to borrow their collective weight to frighten off small fry, none of them would refuse.

Should it actually turn into a Dao Lord battle, they might well not lift a finger. But if the Central Heaven and Penglai Dao Lords held a decisive advantage and were willing to pay something for the help, they wouldn't mind granting the favor and building a little goodwill.

***

Yaoguang's attempt at Dao Integration continued.

The disturbance sweeping the North Sea Star prompted multiple Dao Lords to send psychic thought to probe in Yaoguang's direction, though most had the sense not to come near and invite a misunderstanding.

Only the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign, the Jade Scale Demon Paragon, and the Light Divine Venerable rushed over.

The three Dao Integration cultivators were plainly itching to act, but with the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord and the Unchained Dao Lord as fresh warnings, they simply lacked the confidence to act, even together.

Soon the Extinction Dao Lord and the Kunpeng Demon Paragon arrived as well, and with five of them present, the restlessness grew noticeably more intense.

Then the Sovereign Radiance Dao Lord of the Taiyi Immortal Sect arrived too, bringing his sect master, the Taiyuan Perfected Lord.

The moment he arrived, he broadcast his psychic thought across the area. "The Taiyi Immortal Sect has signed a mutual defense pact with the Heavenly Dao Sect. Anyone who moves against Sect Master Yaoguang is making the Taiyi Immortal Sect an enemy too."

That brought the Extinction Dao Lord, the Kunpeng Demon Paragon, the Jade Scale Demon Paragon, and the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign up short.

The Azure Crow Dao Lord, as though he had received word of something, flared his aura and locked onto the Light Divine Venerable. The message was unmistakable: he had no interest in the other Dao integration cultivators, but if the Light Divine Venerable made a move, he wouldn't stand aside.

That made it four against five. And Yaoguang's side had the Penglai Dao Lord, who had just killed both the Abyssal Ruins and Unchained Dao Lords, leaving void Dao Integration cultivators like the Extinction Dao Lord and the Kunpeng Demon Paragon genuinely reluctant to act.

The two sides settled into a standoff.

"Extinction, send word quickly. Summon more void Dao Lords here," the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign transmitted.

"Void Dao Lords all have exquisite command of void power, so they return later than the rest. Only seven have returned to the North Sea Star recently. Abyssal Ruins and Unchained are already dead; the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects account for two more, and with myself and Kunpeng, that leaves the Six Realms Dao Lord as the only one we could contact. He hasn't answered. Clearly he's been cowed by the Penglai Dao Lord's reputation and wants no part of this."

The Extinction Dao Lord's expression turned sour. "So all we can do is wait. Give it ten or twenty years, and over ten void Dao Lords will be drawn here. At that point, anyone who tries to stand against that tide will get crushed like rotting wood, even the Penglai Dao Lord!"

The Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign, however much he wanted to bury the Penglai Dao Lord alongside Yaoguang right then, had to suppress the killing intent in his heart.

And as more and more Dao Lords turned their attention to this region, Yaoguang's aura began, quite suddenly, to fade.

As it faded, the power of the Great Dao of void began to manifest and surge across him instead.

When that manifestation reached a certain point, an aura that still belonged to Yaoguang, yet was nothing like the one before, erupted outward, sweeping void power with it as though it were alive, spreading across the entire North Sea Star and rolling on undiminished into the starry sky far beyond it.

A change that fast, that violent, made every one of them freeze at once: the Penglai Dao Lord, the Sovereign Radiance Dao Lord, and the Central Heaven Dao Lord, all on full alert; the Taiwei Dao Lord, with his complicated feelings; the Jade Scale Demon Paragon, the Light Divine Venerable, and the Black Lunar Fiend Sovereign, watching like circling predators; the Extinction Dao Lord and the Kunpeng Demon Paragon, waiting on more void Dao Lords to arrive.

When they had checked their reading of that spreading pulse over and over and understood what it meant, every Dao Integration cultivator, present or not, was thrown into an uproar.