Modern World's Martial Dao Human Immortal

"Destiny Dao Lord... that's quite a significant title,"

Alkaid remarked.

Then he got to the main point, "The Destruction Divine Venerable left with five other Divine Venerables from the Divine Race territories to intercept Destiny Dao Lord? Is Radiance among them, or is he involved?"

"The people of the Divine Race are well aware that you're keeping an eye on Radiance, so they did not let Radiance set out. He and three other Divine Venerables are guarding the Divine Race territories."

"The hierarchical system of the Divine Race is somewhat unique," said Penglai Dao Lord. "The Divine Venerables stationed at the main camp, with the power of their Divine Nations, can basically match the combat strength of renown Dao Lords. Especially when there are top-tier grand arrays deployed around those Divine Nations; even if they face top Dao Lords in person, they could put up a fight."

Alkaid was naturally aware of this fact.

The Divine Race followed the 'Earth Immortal' path.

And Earth Immortals, within their own Cave Heaven Blessed Lands, had combat strength that could be discussed in the same breath as that of Heavenly Immortals.

"Able to put up a fight even against top Dao Lords... which means, in short, that I won't be able to breach Radiance's Divine Nation in a short time. Plus, with three other Divine Venerables held in reserve at the Divine Race's headquarters... what a hassle."

Alkaid said.

"Divine Nations? Why would you engage with the Divine Race's Integrate Dao in their Divine Nations?"

Penglai Dao Lord was somewhat curious, "Didn't the Destruction Divine Venerable lead the five great Divine Venerables to assassinate Destiny Dao Lord? The Dao Lords of the Four Great Immortal Dynasties wouldn't just stand by and watch. Shi Long Dao Lord from the True Dragon Immortal Dynasty has called upon Primordial Sword Dao Lord from the Heavenly Primordial Immortal Dynasty, as well as heavily hired Bi Luo Dao Lord from the Three Immortal Martial Sects's Heaven-reaching Sect to go and reinforce Destiny Dao Lord. In other words, Destiny Dao Lord also has four great Dao Lords on his side. You get what I'm saying, right?"

Alkaid was momentarily taken aback, then he came to an understanding.

"Should I respond to the call of the Four Great Immortal Dynasties to kill the six great Divine Venerables led by Destruction Divine Venerable?"

"Of course, sooner or later you'll have to deal with Radiance Divine Venerable. To put it another way, Radiance Divine Venerable is an enemy you must kill. The reason you haven't made a move now is that you're worried about the Divine Race's retaliation from all sides. But what if the Divine Venerables of the Divine Race suffer heavy losses, or even, the entirety of the Divine Race is scattered? By then, without the banner of the Divine Race, with your strength, facing one Radiance Divine Venerable, wouldn't you be able to kill if you wish?"

Penglai Dao Lord said.

After hearing this...

Alkaid found it to be a sound argument.

Radiance Divine Venerable backed by the Divine Race?

Then just annihilate the Divine Race.

How simple.

"Destruction Divine Venerable is locked in a fierce battle with Destiny Dao Lord and others, all you need to do during this process is to kill one or two Divine Venerables, even better if you can kill three or four. By then, the Divine Race will undoubtedly suffer heavy damages. When they're badly weakened, will they have the time to worry about your issues with Radiance Divine Venerable? They might even hand over Radiance Divine Venerable to appease your wrath."

"It's also possible that Destruction Divine Venerable will gather the remaining Divine Venerables and fight me to the death."

"Then you should prioritize killing Destruction Divine Venerable and then Slaughter Divine Venerable, not giving the influential Divine Venerables within the Divine Race a chance to rally their forces."

"That makes sense."

Alkaid nodded, deeply agreeing, while also feeling somewhat emotional, "A battle of ten Integrate Dao Level Venerables... has the Northern Sea Star started playing such a high-stakes game?"

"With the Dao struggle imminent, clashes among Integrate Dao are naturally on the rise."

Penglai Dao Lord felt such a scale of battle was quite normal.

On that note, she paused for a moment, "The only issue right now is whether the joint action of the six Divine Venerables of the Divine Race could be a trap set against you."

"A trap? Are you suggesting they've allied with the Void Path Dao Lords?"

Alkaid asked.

"Or perhaps the Dao Lords of the Void Path have allied with the Divine Race?"

As Penglai Dao Lord spoke, she added, "I wouldn't rule out that possibility."

Alkaid fell into deep contemplation.

"So, are you planning to make a move? If you decide to give it a try, I can help,"

Penglai Dao Lord said, continuing, "But in return, you'd have to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword to Semi-Immortal Artifact status."

"Upgrading it to Semi-Immortal Artifact is part of the promise I made to repay your help from before,"

Alkaid responded.

"..."

Penglai Dao Lord didn't say anything for a while.

Alkaid couldn't help but feel surprised.

Then it seemed he realized something, "You don't have the resources to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword anymore?"

"The consumption of materials has been somewhat large recently,"

Penglai Dao Lord said euphemistically.

Alkaid thought of the numerous materials he had received from Penglai Dao Lord and the materials she had used to forge two top Dao Artifacts...

So, Penglai Dao Lord... was she cleaned out by me?

Upon further reflection, Alkaid could understand it.

It's not like Penglai Dao Lord was particularly wealthy.

How long had it been since she became a Dao Lord?

Her resources were mostly plundered from the Heavenly Sea Sword Pavilion and the Nine Veins of Demon Immortals.

Recently, to support his Artifact Refining enterprise, she invested no less than three hundred billion in him.

Three hundred billion...

For those veteran Dao Lords, that sum was almost their entire fortune.

For Penglai Dao Lord, a newly advanced Dao Lord, to be able to offer so much capital was already quite remarkable.

Of course, this also had to do with Penglai Dao Lord's own inability to manage finances.

If she knew that she couldn't even afford the materials for the Human Emperor Sword's upgrade to Semi-Immortal Artifact status, she shouldn't have crafted the Endless Map.

And here she was, a Dao Lord.

With absolutely no financial planning when it came to spending.

A spendthrift.

Well, although most of the resources ended up in his own pocket, this did not prevent Alkaid from holding this view of Penglai Dao Lord.

After some thought, Alkaid inquired, "The matter involves the Four Great Immortal Dynasties; surely, they haven't also teamed up with the Divine Race, have they? They are after all part of the Human Race force."

"The fear is that the Four Great Immortal Dynasties might not be aware of this plan."

"Since you've learned that the True Dragon Immortal Dynasty paid a hefty price to get Bi Luo Dao Lord to take action... did they also approach you?"

Alkaid asked.

"No."

Penglai Dao Lord denied it.

However, she then said, "I approached them on my own initiative."

"Initiated contact on your own..."

This greatly reduced the suspicion towards the Four Great Immortal Dynasties.

"Did they agree?"

"No, but they only asked me to sweep through the formations at Northern Sea Star. After the matter is concluded, they will also give me a reward,"

said Penglai Dao Lord.

Alkaid nodded slightly.

The Four Great Immortal Dynasties do not particularly trust Penglai Dao Lord.

Although the Four Great Immortal Dynasties and the Ten Great Immortal Paths both belong to the Human Race camp, they ultimately have different developmental ideologies.

Moreover, Destiny Dao Lord, Shi Long Dao Lord, and others feel that the four of them can safely bring Destiny Dao Lord back, so naturally, they are reluctant to spend more money.

But they are wary of the prestige of Penglai Dao Lord as the number one Dao Lord in Northern Sea Star...

Paying a bit of protection money to appease her.

Thus, the Four Great Immortal Dynasties are not involved in this matter.

If there truly is a trap, it must be set by a joint effort between Divine Race and the Dao Lords of the Void Path.

As for the power of the Divine Race...

The Dao Lords of the Four Great Immortal Dynasties should be able to withstand it.

In other words, even if it is a trap, the only ones he has to deal with are the Dao Lords of the Void Path.

Regarding the Dao Lords of the Void Path...

Alkaid smiled slightly, "I understand now."

He directly said, "Then I ask Penglai Dao Lord to join me in taking action; let's go deal with Destruction Divine Venerable and the other four Divine Venerables leading them!"

"Alright!"

Penglai Dao Lord agreed very straightforwardly, "This matter was provoked by the Four Great Immortal Dynasties and the Divine Race of all directions. Even if it truly has a significant impact, the Four Great Immortal Dynasties will share the burden with us. Not all eyes will focus solely on us. Furthermore, with the advent of the Dao Struggle, it's relatively normal for some Dao Lords to fall. We can act with full force."

"That's not bad,"

Alkaid replied with a smile.

In fact, he already knew the real purpose behind Penglai Dao Lord pushing for this matter.

She was out of money.

Yet she wanted to upgrade the Human Emperor Sword.

The Four Great Immortal Dynasties offer a heavy reward to invite other Integrate Dao level experts to take action...

No matter how substantial the reward, a hundred billion would be the limit.

But one at the Integrate Dao level typically possesses a fortune of two to three hundred billion, and most prefer keeping their valuable resources on hand. So...

She aimed directly at the Divine Venerables themselves.

The reason she called on him...

This kind of action was a bit too provocative and could lead to other Dao Lords feeling endangered. Hence, finding someone to share the attention was beneficial.

Additionally, she was a Dao Lord of the Origin Dao; in direct combat, relying on the profound advantage of the Origin Dao, she could hammer any opponent to death or at least exhaust them to death.

However, if the enemy attempted to flee, she would have some trouble.

But he, Alkaid...

could easily catch up to any Integrate Dao level expert trying to flee for their life.

It has to be said that Penglai Dao Lord has quite the guts.

But he didn't say anything else and directly said, "There's no time to lose; let's follow them immediately."

"Exactly my thoughts."

"The battlefield is in the Extraterritorial Starry Sky; it should take some time to get there. In case you can't keep up later... shall I pick you up?"

"Then I'll trouble you."

Penglai Dao Lord and Alkaid quickly reached a consensus.

Alkaid gathered his belongings and, in a flash, vanished from the Heavenly Dao Sect as if by magic.

Penglai Dao Lord wanted to kill those Divine Venerables, and even the Void Dao Lord, to acquire some resources from them, in preparation for the upcoming upgrade of the Human Emperor Sword.

Alkaid himself...

also needed to hunt down his opponents to quickly advance his Artifact Refining level.

Otherwise, with the opening of the Gate of the Immortal Realm drawing ever closer, he feared it would be difficult to upgrade the Eight Desolations Celestial Mirror, the Endless Tower, and the Limitless Sword into true Immortal Artifacts before the appointed time.

And if he couldn't upgrade them all into Immortal Artifacts...

his plan to sweep across all Dao Lords of the Void Path during the Dao Struggle might be hard to realize.

After all, there are too many Void Path Dao Lords he might have to confront—not just one or two, but forty or fifty, maybe even sixty or seventy.

So, given the opportunity to grow Artifact Refining swiftly by hunting Integrate Dao level experts, he naturally wouldn't refuse.

Of course, this process was bound to be perilous.

If the Divine Race and the Void Path Dao Lords really had set a trap together, the number of Dao Lords acting on it would not be small.

Reaching a dozen or more would not be strange.

Such a lineup...

would be more than enough to annihilate any two top-tier Dao Lords.

But with Immortal Venerable level mastery of the Void and two Semi-Immortal Artifacts crafted over two hundred years...

Alkaid already had the confidence to face a dozen or even several dozen Void Path Dao Lords directly.

"If it's not a trap, then reap two or three Divine Venerables. If it is indeed a trap, then numerous Void Path Dao Lords are ready and waiting for me to stray far from Northern Sea Star, far from the other Dao Lords of the Ten Great Immortal Paths, and walk into their net..."

A glint of sharpness flashed in Alkaid's eyes, "Let's see who turns out to be the Hunter and who the Hunted."