The Modern Martial Immortal-Chapter 67: Shackles

"How is that possible..." Zong Yan murmured to himself.

Immediately afterward, another thought struck him. Yaoguang's understanding and control of qi and blood had been so precise that he had been able to restrain a martial paragon like him, gradually forcing the surging qi-blood power within his body to flow back into equilibrium. If that was the case, didn't that mean that the path of a martial paragon held almost no secrets left for Yaoguang?

Zong Yan then recalled the wager Yaoguang had confidently proposed not long ago. If he could cultivate to the martial paragon tier before the age of twenty, what kind of funding would the World-Saving Society provide him with?

At once, Zong Yan stared at the youth before him in shock. "You..."

Yaoguang lifted his head and glanced at him. Zong Yan immediately remembered what Yaoguang had said back at Dayu's headquarters about completing the three Harbinger task indicators two months later. The truth was already about to surface.

"Two months!?" Zong Yan asked, his voice trembling.

"It should be a bit faster," Yaoguang replied. With that, what needed to be said had been said.

Besides, when Zong Yan had sensed that Yaoguang was in danger, he had not hesitated to burn his qi and blood, fighting desperately at the cost of his own life. That kind of action alone had already earned him the right to know some key information.

"Faster... than two months...?" Even though Zong Yan thought he had already prepared himself mentally, hearing this answer still made him gasp.

Less than two months! A nineteen-year-old martial paragon?! Zong Yan was dumbfounded.

"Really?" Zong Yan couldn't help asking again.

"Does it make a difference whether it's real or not?" Yaoguang said.

Zong Yan choked on his words. Yes. Does it make a difference?

Xie Yusheng undoubtedly possessed martial-paragon-tier combat strength. As the leader of the daemons, Zhao Sheng's strength was certainly no weaker than Xie Yusheng's. He had even mastered psychic-will techniques.

Zong Yan even suspected that Zhao Sheng had already been a psychic-will martial paragon. But that speculation was simply too subversive. No matter how hard he tried, he could not bring himself to accept it and could only push Zhao Sheng into the category of an exceptionally powerful martial paragon.

Yet no matter how he reasoned it out, one fact remained unchanged. Zhao Sheng had possessed martial-paragon-tier battle power. Slaying two martial-paragon-tier fiends in succession meant that it did not matter whether Yaoguang could become a martial paragon in two months.

Thinking of this, Zong Yan took a deep breath and said heavily, "I will report this to the president. Based on today's battle record, your Harbinger status will be approved very soon."

"Compared to some so-called Harbinger status, you would do better to hurry up and gather the 300 billion aster that belongs to me. Don't let it happen that when I become a martial paragon, the World-Saving Society cannot come up with 300 billion aster right away," Yaoguang said.

"300 billion aster is nothing. Once the nations pool together, it will be there," Zong Yan said with a laugh.

"If you are that confident, then you might as well pay it in advance," Yaoguang said.

Zong Yan froze, then quickly realized something. When their group arrived at the Xie family manor, it was clear that the place had been thoroughly prepared in advance. There were twelve daemons in total, including Zhao Sheng and Xie Yusheng, who were both martial-paragon-tier. That lineup had been enough to contend against all of Dayu's World-Saving Society.

If not for Yaoguang, they might have been completely wiped out. Of course, if not for Yaoguang, they would not have taken such a risky approach by encircling Zhao Sheng before reinforcements arrived. But the thorough preparations made by Zhao Sheng and the others themselves had already given Zong Yan a reason to be suspicious.

Within the World-Saving Society, not everyone was on the same side. At the very least, not everyone was united when it came to dealing with the Rebirth Society.

The true purpose of the World-Saving Society had never changed. It existed to oppose the martial paragons of the Crimson Star Empire and reclaim the Artifact Sect's slots that the Crimson Star Empire had seized.

To put it bluntly, if the Crimson Star Empire were to yield even slightly and offer back slots to join the Artifact Sect, the royal families and aristocratic families behind the World-Saving Society would immediately pull back.

This massive organization spanning both the Central and Eastern Continents would lose its reason for existence and collapse overnight. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

As for truly fighting the Crimson Star Empire to the death with the power of an alliance? Even if all the nations of the Central and Eastern Continents united, they still would not have the courage to do so.

"I got it," Zong Yan said in a low voice. "I will apply for it immediately."

Yaoguang nodded. "Clean up the battlefield. Every one of these daemons was high-ranked. They brought plenty of good things with them. Don't waste the spoils."

Small gains were still gains. Zong Yan did not refuse. He quickly made the necessary arrangements and then promptly reported the situation to the headquarters.

While Zong Yan was reporting to headquarters, Yaoguang had already focused on his mental world.

Because he had deliberately secured the last hits, eleven out of twelve daemons had fallen by his sword, and most were at the third tier.

Zhao Sheng was listed as the fifth tier, which surprised him. Zhao Sheng's performance had not been that much stronger than Xie Yusheng's.

Immediately afterward, relying on his in-depth understanding of martial paragons and psychic will, he realized what was going on.

A psychic-will martial paragon differs from an ordinary martial paragon mostly in perception and psychic-will techniques. Yet his psychic-will techniques produced no effect on me at all. They were practically nullified. On top of that, I never gave him a chance to bring out his true form. That was why it felt like Zhao Sheng was not much stronger than Xie Yusheng, Yaoguang thought.

As he tried to figure out those details, his psychic mind had already focused on the Martial Dao branch. After absorbing the massive nourishment transferred from the Daemon Hunter branch, the Martial Dao branch, which had been stalled at 71% of the sixth tier, immediately shattered its shackles and climbed to the seventh tier.

Although he had only just reached the seventh tier and pushed the value to a mere 1%, he had undeniably entered the domain of the seventh tier, the heavenly being, or rather, the realm of the heaven-and-earth furnace.

Because he already had some understanding of this realm, and because the gap between his actual strength and this realm was still too great, Yaoguang did not immediately perceive this change. Instead, he turned his attention to the Dao Fruit condensed at the perfection of the sixth tier.

The sixth secret technique! Yaoguang couldn't help but be excited about it.

As his psychic mind focused, the various mysteries contained within the sixth tier, along with all his experiences in that realm, surged forth. Experience fused with insight, eventually transforming into an entirely new secret technique.

"Heavenly Fiend Disintegration," Yaoguang whispered the name of this new secret technique.

Yaoguang quickly grasped the profundity of this secret technique. At the sixth tier, the Flawless True Body completely sealed one's qi circulation, massively increasing longevity. Once a martial paragon reached this realm, as long as they did not engage in life-and-death battles or suffer devastating injuries that severely damaged their vitality, living past a hundred years came easily.

Heavenly Fiend Disintegration, however, went against this principle. It reversed the Flawless True Body of a unified martial paragon. It was like people; the older they grew, the more cautious they became. This wasn't because their courage diminished, but because they knew more, bore more responsibilities, and developed a sense of awe; all of that made them start acting with greater caution, constantly weighing every step.

Yet Martial Dao cultivation had always been a struggle against the heavens, a path that demanded fearlessness, to make possible what was supposed to be impossible. Knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing. It easily eroded that headlong resolve and the determination to stake one's life without retreat. It could even create cognitive shackles.

Heavenly Fiend Disintegration reversed the Flawless True Body sealed state, relying on overwhelming mental will to overcome the body's self-protective instincts and break these obstacles and restraints.

Like going completely insane, it threw everything away, removing all shackles and liberating bodily power, unleashing strength beyond the limit until collapse.

Yaoguang quietly analyzed the secret technique. At first glance, it appeared to be a technique meant for life-and-death combat, as it involved reversing the Flawless True Body, allowing one to overcome their body's self-protection mechanisms through sheer will, break shackles, and release power beyond their physical limit. However...

Breaking shackles? Yaoguang pondered.

Shackles were bottlenecks. In theory, once a bottleneck was broken, it would not appear a second time. A person fuelled by extreme rage could kill a tiger. That did not mean he could not do so in a calm state; it only proved that humans were capable of killing tigers.

The real key lay in how to ensure that one could always enter that state, freely unleashing the power to kill a tiger at will. And from that perspective...

This is not merely a life-risking secret technique. It is also a secret technique specifically meant to break through realms!

Just as he was contemplating how to further excavate the realm-breaking potential of Heavenly Fiend Disintegration, he sensed something.

He raised his head and looked outside. A gentle breeze brushed past him. Sunlight felt pleasant. Yet all these familiar sensations felt different. He instantly redirected his psychic mind back beneath the Martial Dao branch.

[Tier: Seventh-Tier, Heavenly Being.]

[Dao Fruits: Formless, Perception, Star Ignition, Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram, Psychic Descent, Heavenly Fiend Disintegration.]

The key lay in the seventh-tier progress, which stood at only 1%. Unconsciously, he rose to his feet. Breaking through had never been an empty phrase.

At lower levels, everyone competed in basic power and speed, with physical strength accounting for the overwhelming majority. But as his realm continued to rise, by the fifth tier, the Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram had already granted him tremendous resistance to psychic-will techniques.

At the sixth tier, he had even conceived the idea of simultaneous cultivation of blood renewal, psychic will, and unity.

Now that his realm had reached the seventh tier, namely the seventh realm of God-Fiend Body Refinement, his previously weak, nurtured psychic will instantly began transforming into heavenly will.

This transformation lasted only a brief moment before abruptly stopping, just like malnutrition halting the laying of eggs. Yet the essence of his psychic will had truly undergone a fundamental change.

The plan to replace the will of heaven with my own and forge the body through the heaven-and-earth furnace is no longer empty talk. Yaoguang was now firmly convinced that it was the right path.

He walked toward the courtyard outside the main hall. As he walked step by step, his psychic mind tried to reproduce that peculiar feeling he had touched upon moments earlier. He felt the softness of the breeze, the warmth of the sunlight, the solidity of the earth, and the fragrance of the flowers and grass.

Gradually, his entire being merged into the fragrance, merged into warmth, merged into gentleness, and ultimately merged into this stretch of heaven and earth.

At the instant his body fused with heaven and earth, he clearly sensed that his mind was ascending toward an entirely new domain, beginning to operate in parallel with some vast and majestic existence.

Unfortunately, this sublimation lasted only a moment before he felt his body buckling under the strain. Intense pressure and pain continuously assaulted his nerves, disrupting his thoughts and trying to tear him away from that state. That vast and majestic existence...

Heaven and earth! The thought appeared clear as day in Yaoguang's mind as he attained sudden enlightenment.

A flash of inspiration struck. Replacing the will of heaven with his own, he could take advantage of the heaven-and-earth furnace to further temper his body, forging it into something even stronger.

In the next instant, the newly derived Heavenly Fiend Disintegration secret technique was activated and released. The shackles on his body were instantly shattered. His mental will fully ascended alongside his current mental state, free from all interference, breaking away from the restraints of the physical body.

It was as if he had become a third-party observer, allowing the heaven-and-earth furnace to continuously forge and temper his body, allowing its surface to turn blood-red, with some of his capillaries rupturing and his internal organs seeping blood under the unbearable strain.

Yet his thoughts remained incomparably clear, empty, and transcendent, untouched by external interference. He was even able to exploit the state of Heavenly Fiend Disintegration, free of all instinctive interference or restraint, to maximize the efficiency of the heaven-and-earth furnace's power in forging his body, truly breaking through the physical shackles and stepping into a realm that, in theory, should have required at least another month to reach.