Three days earlier, while the Yin-Yang Sect's Holy Son was out tempering himself, two mysterious experts had hunted him down. They were actually half-step mighty figures.
The Yin-Yang Holy Son had suffered grievous wounds at once and nearly been killed outright. Fortunately, the guardian at his side had risked his life to hold off the enemies, allowing him to escape disaster.
Yet although the Holy Son had escaped with his life, he remained gravely wounded and on the brink of death.
An eminent figure had personally intervened to stabilize his condition and was treating his injuries.
The Yin-Yang Sect's Vice Hierarch had flown into a rage and immediately led a group there himself.
He had even declared that he intended to invite the Disciple of the Diviner to perform a divination and root out the mastermind.
Some senior members suspected that the Yaoguang Holy Land was most likely involved, and that this was probably its retaliation.
"What?" Taiyi was stunned.
In the Central Plains, aside from the Four Great Immortal Dynasties, whose deep foundations and ancient legacies had produced Ancient Great Emperors and whose domains were guarded by Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons,
the Yin-Yang Sect could be counted among the handful of oldest great sects in the region.
Ordinarily, almost no one dared provoke it.
Could it really be... the Yaoguang Holy Land?
Taiyi's gaze shifted.
Given the Yaoguang Holy Land's forceful nature,
once it learned that experts from the Yin-Yang Sect had brazenly hunted down its own genius,
such a response was hardly surprising.
It had sent people to hunt down the Yin-Yang Sect's Holy Son and Holy Maiden to teach the sect a lesson.
Whether or not they succeeded, the act would let it vent its fury while effectively intimidating other powers, displaying the Yaoguang Holy Land's inviolable dignity and resolve.
It would let the outside world know that if anyone dared break the rules again,
we of the Yaoguang Holy Land can disregard the rules too.
Chapter 42: A Sage's Legacy, the Yin-Yang Great Dao
Over the days that followed,
Taiyi kept watch on the conflict between the Yin-Yang Sect and the Yaoguang Holy Land.
The enraged Vice Hierarch of the Yin-Yang Sect had personally led a large contingent of experts in pursuit, yet still failed to flush the culprits out.
After their strike failed to kill the Yin-Yang Holy Son, the Yaoguang Holy Land's experts had decisively withdrawn without attacking any other young prodigies of the Yin-Yang Sect.
Clearly, the Yaoguang Holy Land had sent experts to the Central Plains
without truly intending to tear away all pretense and fight to the death.
Killing the Yin-Yang Holy Son would have been ideal, but failing that, they could still deliver a lesson and a warning, letting the Yin-Yang Sect know that the Yaoguang Holy Land was not to be trifled with.
Overall, with so many experts dying in such a short time, the Yin-Yang Sect's losses were already devastating enough.
"I heard the Old Hierarch personally traveled to the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland to visit the Yaoguang Holy Land..."
"No one knows what agreement he reached with Holy Lord Li Daoqing, but the drawn-swords-and-bent-bows tension between the two sides has gradually eased. They've turned weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk..."
"The Yaoguang Holy Land also suddenly displayed its generosity, declaring that it would let bygones be bygones-but there must be no next time!"
Taiyi gradually gathered bits of news.
Having suffered a crushing loss, the Yin-Yang Sect swallowed its humiliation and publicly declared that everything had been a misunderstanding.
The pursuit of the Yaoguang Holy Land's disciple had been the private action of an elder under the Yin-Yang Sect. The culprit had already been executed, and the matter had nothing to do with the sect.
As for what price the Yin-Yang Sect had paid behind closed doors, that remained unknown.
Still, this great sect of the Central Plains had broken the rules by sneaking into the Eastern Wasteland to gather immortal seedlings, crossing a forbidden line.
Moreover, it was said that the Yin-Yang Sect had done more than simply seek out talented children among the common folk.
Reports had surfaced one after another over these past days: talented children had repeatedly vanished from numerous sects without a trace. Clearly, the Yin-Yang Sect had abducted them.
This left the various sects of the Eastern Wasteland deeply dissatisfied. Without prior agreement, they joined forces in tacit understanding, seemingly determined to drive this great Central Plains sect's influence out of the Eastern Wasteland altogether.
In a short span of time, the Yin-Yang Sect's holdings in the Eastern Wasteland suffered an unprecedented blow. Aside from a handful of businesses, most had been uprooted.
Years of painstaking effort had been lost overnight.
That was enough to make the Yin-Yang Sect's heart ache.
"I imagine this is more or less where it ends!"
After learning all this,
Taiyi remained calm and paid it no further attention.
He naturally understood that this sort of fighting, killing, and mutual scheming, to ancient great sects whose histories easily spanned a hundred or two hundred thousand years,
amounted to no more than an inconspicuous little splash, hardly even a ripple.
Over the long years since their founding, through one era after another, which great sects had not accumulated grudges and feuds with one another? Yet they had never truly torn away all pretense and refused all contact for the rest of their days.
The Yaoguang Holy Land could not possibly launch an all-out war against a great Central Plains sect like the Yin-Yang Sect over such a matter, regardless of the cost.
Even possessing an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon like the Dragon-Patterned Black Gold Cauldron did not mean it could do whatever it pleased. It would not lightly plunge into war.
Of all the great sects that had endured through the ages,
which lacked astonishing reserves to safeguard it?
Among those reserves were sages from distant antiquity who had sealed themselves away with little lifespan remaining.
Even if the Yaoguang Holy Land relied on the might of its Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon to destroy the Yin-Yang Sect, it would at least have to deploy its own "reserves."
But such reserves mostly "died upon seeing the light." Each use meant one fewer use remaining, steadily consuming them.
Only divine source liquid could seal away experts whose lives were nearing their end and who were about to pass away, allowing them to endure through the ages.
The price, however, was prolonged slumber. They could not remain awake at all times. In particular, once they broke out of their divine source and truly took action, regardless of the outcome, they might no longer be able to seal themselves away after that battle unless divine source liquid could be found.
Yet the current environment of heaven and earth was vastly inferior even to that before Desolate Antiquity, let alone the primordial era or the mythological era.
Even divine source was rarely seen, and whenever it appeared, every power would inevitably scramble for it. Divine source liquid was rarer still.
Apart from naturally formed divine source liquid in certain exceptional, rare lands of fortune,
only an Ancient Great Emperor could refine divine source liquid.
Under normal circumstances, unless the disparity in strength was overwhelming, or the two sides had truly formed an irreconcilable blood feud,
even if a power's own Hierarch or Holy Lord fought someone and tragically fell at another power's hands, the two sides would at most regard each other with hostility and occasionally clash by any means necessary, rather than immediately launch an all-out war to the death.
Besides, the Yaoguang Holy Land was far from the only power on Beidou that possessed an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon.
In particular, although the sects of the Central Plains were hostile toward one another and constantly fought both openly and in secret, they had always rejected outsiders.
If the Yaoguang Holy Land truly seized this opportunity to wage all-out war on the Yin-Yang Sect, even going so far as to use its Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, the Four Great Immortal Dynasties might not simply stand by.
They could not allow an Eastern Wasteland power like the Yaoguang Holy Land to run wild and flaunt its might in the Central Plains.
In all likelihood, they would tacitly set aside their prejudices and unite against the outsider.
"A power like the Yaoguang Holy Land has a vast estate and countless interests to consider. Tug one strand of hair, and the whole body moves..."
Taiyi felt this keenly. "In the end, it can only serve as temporary support. I can't rely on it completely. Ultimately, I still have to depend on my own strength."
His gaze grew resolute.
He made up his mind to increase his strength as quickly as possible.
Completely disregarding the earlier prohibition from Lu Yan, the Yin-Yang Sect elder, he continued doing as he pleased and went to cultivate on Mysterious Sun Mountain.
He even quietly dug out a cave there and laid down formation patterns to block probing.
Whenever he cultivated there in silence, he merged his mind with the mountain range, sensing that ancient resonance of the Dao.
Every day at noon, when the sun shone high overhead, he obtained a mysterious Yang Diagram from it; at night, when moonlight spilled down, he naturally obtained a Yin Diagram.
They intertwined, expounding the complete Yin-Yang Great Dao.
After a full month, Taiyi had obtained the entire Ancient Yin-Yang Scripture, along with the complete sage enlightenment.
His gains were considerable.
Whoosh... Beneath the hazy moonlight on Mysterious Sun Mountain,
Taiyi had laid down formation patterns around his secluded cultivation site to block probing.
Yin and yang energies flowed around him. One hand formed the Yin Diagram, while the other formed the Yang Diagram.
The two merged into a Yin-Yang Diagram.
An astonishing aura intertwined and circulated.
Boom! At that moment, his aura surged explosively, as though he could punch through anything.
But not wanting to cause too great a disturbance, he forcibly suppressed it.
"When yin and yang unite, none beneath heaven can stand against them. That's something of an exaggeration, but it certainly has its own unique merits!"
Feeling the power of this Yin-Yang Secret Technique, Taiyi stood there, filled with wonder. "It can actually multiply my combat strength several times over in an instant. No wonder few secret techniques can rival it unless Nine Secrets: Jie appears!"
"It's time to leave!"
He smiled.
The Yin-Yang Sect's legacy was already in his hands.
He had even obtained an Ancient Sage's insights into the Yin-Yang Great Dao.
His gains had already exceeded his expectations, so there was naturally no need to remain here.
Today, he had once again accepted a young woman Lu Yan had sent over, this time one whose cultivation was at the life spring realm.
Taiyi repeated the same procedure, suppressing these female cultivators inside the Treasure Box while openly displaying strength at the life spring realm.
Over this past month and more, Lu Yan had already sent him three cultivators at the bitter sea realm in succession. Had they not encountered him, the cruelty of the fate awaiting these women went without saying.
"Good, good, good! You've already broken through to the life spring realm. You really are suited to cultivating the Yin-Yang Union Scripture. This is twice as fast as I expected..." Seeing that Taiyi could already ride a rainbow through the air, with the wellspring of his divine power bubbling forth, and had stepped into the life spring realm, Lu Yan was both astonished and delighted.
Not one of her previous disciples had cultivated this quickly.
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