Chapter 390: Failure

The moment Yaoguang stepped out of the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array, the Supreme Jade Emperor, who had been following news of Yaoguang around the clock from inside the Taiyi Immortal Sect, learned of it.

"Two Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators and five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators..." he murmured to himself. After a long while, he finally let out a lengthy breath. "And they were all wiped out."

So many experts of the Fiendish Dao... The Jade Emperor himself had never achieved such a glorious battle record in all his years since reaching the Void-Shattering Realm.

He had crossed hands with Void-Shattering cultivators more than once, and he had even defeated a Void-Shattering cultivator of a foreign race, but actual kills at that realm? Not a single one. At most, he had slain some Void-Refining and Void-Piercing cultivators.

"This is really..." The supreme elder wanted to offer some kind of assessment, but not a single word would come to mind.

After a long while, he raised his head and called toward the outside. "Bai Ling."

"Master." A streak of spirit light soon split the air and descended into the courtyard, resolving into a woman who had reached the Void-Piercing Realm.

"Have you heard about the Heavenly Dao Sect's southern domain?"

"Yes." The woman named Bai Ling answered promptly. "The Heavenly Dao Sect is our neighbor, and the southern domain isn't far from my hometown. Part of the Taiyi Immortal Sect's territory even borders the Yin Lunar Sect, so I keep a regular eye on their movements."

A trace of something strange flickered in her eyes. "This deputy sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect is a prodigy without equal. Reaching the Void-Refining Realm within a century is one thing, but luring the Yin Lunar Sect into attacking and then using an array's power to trap and kill two Void-Shattering and five Void-Refining cultivators... Such daring, such astonishing boldness."

"Using an array's power." The Supreme Jade Emperor looked at his disciple. "Do you truly believe Yaoguang killed the Yin Lunar Sect's two Void-Shattering and five Void-Refining cultivators only thanks to the strength of the array?"

Bai Ling froze slightly at her master's words. "Could it be..."

"I've experienced the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array's power firsthand. Trapping a single Void-Shattering cultivator is that array's limit. Killing one is next to impossible, especially those versed in the paths of the void and of darkness. Unless..." The Taiyi Immortal Sect supreme elder paused briefly. "Unless the one presiding over the array already has the strength to kill a Void-Shattering cultivator himself."

The words sent a violent tremor through Bai Ling's heart. "The strength to kill a Void-Shattering cultivator himself... T-That can't be possible."

The Supreme Jade Emperor offered no further explanation. He simply waved a hand. "Go and prepare a gift to be sent to the southern domain in my name."

Bai Ling's eyes went wide. Her own master?! A Void-Shattering Realm supreme elder, sending a gift to the master of the Heavenly Dao Sect's southern domain, a Void-Refining Realm cultivator?

What was this supposed to be? An apology? At the very least, it amounted to bowing his head in goodwill. A Void-Shattering cultivator, courting the favor of a Void-Refining cultivator? And one from outside the Taiyi Immortal Sect who could bring them no direct benefit at that?

Just as the Supreme Jade Emperor was about to say something more, a surge of energy fluctuations erupted from a peak not far from his own, and a massive vortex began rapidly taking shape.

Something terrifying seemed to be warping space, devouring and absorbing the surrounding energy.

"Hmm?" The Supreme Jade Emperor's gaze snapped toward it.

"That's Junior Brother Jiang's peak!" Bai Ling looked in the same direction and, from the distinctive energy fluctuations, quickly realized what was happening. "Junior Brother Jiang is making his attempt at the Void-Piercing Realm!"

She sounded surprised. "Didn't he say he'd wait until he mastered that secret technique before attempting the breakthrough? It's only been a few years; surely it isn't mastered yet? Why attempt it now?"

The Supreme Jade Emperor said nothing. He knew perfectly well why. And Bai Ling, after a moment's thought, pieced it together too.

Every true disciple had their own channels of information. News of the Yin Lunar Sect's massive invasion of the southern domain had broken over a month ago, and in the time since, it had become common knowledge, with everyone tracking the battle's every development.

Heavenly Venerable Jiang, who had a history of conflict with that master of the southern domain, was naturally no exception.

When Yaoguang walked out of the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array, announcing that the great battle had ended with the Yin Lunar Sect's two Void-Shattering and five Void-Refining fiendish cultivators slain by him, all immortal sects had been shaken to their core.

Feeling the sting of humiliation from the news, and unwilling to fall behind, Heavenly Venerable Jiang had resolved to attempt the Void-Piercing Realm ahead of schedule. It made sense, at least if considering things a certain way.

Even so, a thread of worry crept into Bai Ling's eyes.

The Supreme Jade Emperor took it all in, deliberated a moment, and then stepped across the void to the peak where the Heavenly Venerable Jiang was cultivating.

Quite a few people were already waiting around the mountain, though they were nearly all members of the Supreme Jade Emperor's own faction. Besides his disciples and followers like Mo Shan, the Cangwu lineage's Void-Piercing battle immortals, Xie Xiong, Greene, Li An, and the rest, had all arrived on the scene.

The moment the Supreme Jade Emperor appeared, everyone bowed to him respectfully in unison. "Supreme Elder."

The bows finished, Xie Xiong hurried to plead, "Supreme Jade Emperor, please stand as protector for Heavenly Venerable Jiang."

The Supreme Jade Emperor did not refuse. Whatever his grievances with Heavenly Venerable Jiang, when a disciple attempted the Void-Piercing Realm, it was only proper for the master to serve as protector.

He extended a hand through the air, and the spatial distortion around Heavenly Venerable Jiang's peak quickly smoothed out. The turbulence from the collapsing Golden Core eased considerably, buying the aspirant precious extra time.

Heavenly Venerable Jiang seized the opportunity. His Dharma Form's power erupted to its absolute limit, as though he were burning himself away to carve open a grotto-heaven. The process laid bare a mental will tempered through a thousand trials.

"Su Yaoguang! If a cultivator crawling out of some backward little world can form a grotto-heaven, why should I, Heavenly Venerable Jiang, fear the trial of opening one? Break for me!"

Driven by that fierce, unbending will, his Dharma Form's power finished carving open the grotto-heaven world, establishing the foundation for a grotto-heaven to exist.

And just as the grotto-heaven took shape within his mental world, his Azure Golden Core collapsed to its utmost limit.

This stage was every bit as perilous. The force of a collapsing star was nothing less than a supernova, and that force, released from within his body all at once, exceeded the total any Azure Golden Core cultivator could withstand.

But thanks to the extra breathing room the Supreme Jade Emperor had won for him, he managed to hold his Golden Core in the Primordial Void state by sheer force of will, completing that step of the transformation as well.

Then came the final step: guiding the Primordial Void to merge with the grotto-heaven.

This was the key to refine the void into something real, turning the illusory into substance. Once the Primordial Void became the foundation of the grotto-heaven's existence, letting the grotto-heaven carved from the mental world truly manifest in the real world, the two would fit together and complete each other, carrying him in one stroke into the true Void-Piercing Realm.

"Good! The final step at last!"

"It's happening! He's about to succeed!"

Watching the scene unfold, Xie Xiong, Greene, Li An, and the other Void-Piercing battle immortals of the Cangwu lineage were all tense with anticipation. The Cangwu lineage might have secured itself a fallback by now, but that fallback was clearly not of their kind.

The two sides aligned on neither ideology nor interests; at best, that fallback ensured the Cangwu lineage would not be utterly exterminated. As for true integration? Not competing to snatch away the Cangwu lineage's orthodoxy would already be a blessing.

This was why these people still pinned their hopes on Heavenly Venerable Jiang. Especially since they had already invested so many resources in him that failure was simply not an option.

And now, after a long century of careful nurturing, Heavenly Venerable Jiang was finally blossoming. If he successfully reached the Void-Piercing Realm, he would immediately become the young sect master of the Taiyi Immortal Sect. Only then would the Cangwu lineage have a true pillar of support within the sect.

Besides, if Yaoguang could reach the Void-Refining Realm within a thousand years of reaching the Void-Piercing Realm, who was to say Heavenly Venerable Jiang could not do the same? By then, he too would preside over a domain, and the Cangwu lineage's future development would hardly be inferior to...

Well, fine! Catching up to Yaoguang was probably out of the question.

But at the very least, their achievements would not be shabby. When they ran into the likes of Wan Liugui and Li Hanqiu in the future, they would not be so thoroughly outclassed that they did not even have the standing to speak.

Clinging to that hope, the Cangwu lineage's battle immortals stared fixedly at the peak where Heavenly Venerable Jiang was making his attempt, hardly daring to blink, terrified of missing the historic moment that would finally let the Cangwu lineage hold its head high.

But just as Heavenly Venerable Jiang reached the very last step, merging the grotto-heaven with the Primordial Void, both began to tremble faintly at the same time. Grotto-heaven and Primordial Void alike simply refused to become compatible, no matter how long he worked.

For the moment, the others only sensed that something was off. But in the distance, the Taiyi Immortal Sect's own sect master, the Taiyuan Perfected Lord, who had been quietly observing this Azure Golden Core cultivator's advancement on account of the southern domain's lord, Yaoguang, sighed inwardly. "A pity."

The young man beside him was taken aback by his master's words. "You mean..."

"Heavenly Venerable Jiang's breakthrough was too great a gamble in the end. Or rather, he was too impatient. The Primordial Void side is passable; his Golden Core foundation is not bad, and with the Jade Emperor personally standing as his protector, there's little problem there. But his heart and will, or say, his comprehension of the realm, still falls a step short." The Taiyuan Perfected Lord evaluated.

"Had he spent another few decades, perhaps a century, polishing himself, he would have stood a fair chance of reaching the Void-Piercing Realm. And even a hundred years from now, Heavenly Venerable Jiang would still be under three hundred, still young enough to become one of the Taiyi Immortal Sect's young sect masters. Yet he chose this exact moment to make his attempt..."

He shook his head.

His disciple, though, seemed to grasp something. "He is attempting a breakthrough at this time because of that Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang of the Heavenly Dao Sect, isn't he?"

The Taiyuan Perfected Lord gave a slight nod. "Clearly so. Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, a mere Void-Refining cultivator, has cut down fiendish cultivator after fiendish cultivator, blazing with glory in the southern domain. His name has already shaken the world. And Heavenly Venerable Jiang, ninth on the Void-Piercing Realm Candidate Rankings, who once boasted of putting a bounty on Yaoguang, remains an Azure Golden Core cultivator to this day. A fall from grace that stark, a shock that heavy, affected him far too deeply."

He continued, "Everyone must bear the consequences of their own actions. Every cause has its effect. His targeting of Yaoguang back then was the cause; his rushed attempt at the grotto-heaven today, teetering on the edge of failure because of Yaoguang, is the effect. The way of karma leaves no trace, yet it is everywhere. Profound beyond measure."

His disciple gazed toward Heavenly Venerable Jiang and quietly lamented as well.

"What matters most for anyone is to see oneself clearly, to learn to make peace with oneself, and to admit one's own shortcomings. That is plainly beyond Heavenly Venerable Jiang. And so..." The Taiyuan Perfected Lord watched the figure on the peak, already sinking into panic. "He has failed."