The Modern Martial Immortal

Chapter 108: Cooperation

The Snowdragon Empire’s decision to unleash nuclear weapons sent waves of intense panic through the nations of the Central and Eastern Continents. People could not help but recall the horrors the previous era of upheaval had brought.

Driven by that fear, all nations sought to huddle together for warmth, hoping to find a way to counter the fear instilled by the Snowdragon Empire’s actions. Many countries naturally turned to the original global hegemon, the Crimson Star Empire.

However, the Crimson Star Empire's leadership was equally bewildered by the Snowdragon Empire’s sudden insanity. Furthermore, the Snowdragon Empire's Xie family possessed strength in the Artifact-Nurturing World that clearly surpassed that of the Crimson Star Empire's Jiang family. Before they could understand why the Snowdragon Empire had suddenly gone rogue, they did not dare to act rashly. Beyond strengthening their own defenses, they simply could not be bothered with the life or death of other nations.

Feeling abandoned and left with no other choice, these nations were forced to turn their gaze toward the World-Saving Society, an organization that had recently dealt a massive blow to the Crimson Star Empire while leaving the latter powerless to retaliate. Although they still harbored doubts about whether the World-Saving Society could truly stand against a superpower, they could not deny that the Crimson Star Empire treated them with utter disdain. With no alternatives, they naturally chose to throw themselves in the embrace of the World-Saving Society.

The World-Saving Society understood this shift perfectly. Originally, the society required the funding of various countries to operate normally. To some extent, the nations of the Central and Eastern Continents had held the upper hand.

But now, things were different. With the previous betrayal of the nations still fresh, and the World-Saving Society having proven its strength by standing firm against the Crimson Star Empire, the tables had turned. If these countries wanted to rejoin the World-Saving Society, the price they had to pay was no longer just the financial, material, and manpower support they had provided before.

Under the instruction of Yaoguang, various nations sent divine weapons, spirit pills, and precious herbs to the World-Saving Society, which were then handed over to Yaoguang. Although the value of the divine weapons provided by any single country was limited, at most advancing the progress of the Martial Dao branch by one or two percent, the sheer number of defecting nations made the difference. The number of significant member nations grew from over thirty to forty-three. When including smaller nations, the new World-Saving Society eventually encompassed over eighty countries.

The world truly seemed to be polarizing into three distinct factions at an incredible speed.

***

While the Crimson Star Empire sat back and watched the Snowdragon Empire and the Rebirth Society fight tooth and nail, Ji Pingtian, Hong Chuan, and Ye Longxing returned to the Yuhuang Mountain's villa, where Yaoguang was in seclusion.

Accompanying them was a team led by a tall woman with long golden hair and refined features, who appeared to be in her early thirties.

"The eldest princess of the Snowdragon Empire, Xie Yi'er?" Yaoguang looked somewhat surprised when he heard Ye Longxing introduce the woman.

The blonde woman looked at Yaoguang’s youthful face and felt a similar sense of amazement. "Although we saw photos and videos of Lord Yaoguang in our files, it is still hard to believe when seeing you in person. It is difficult to imagine that someone as young as you could single-handedly tear through the Crimson Star Imperial Palace, slay Emperor Jiang Shengtian, Jiang Xuntian, Jiang Ruolong, as well as other high-level officials, and still depart calmly even after Lei Ting intervened."

"You flatter me," Yaoguang said with a slight nod.

He glanced at Hong Chuan beside him before turning his gaze back to her. "So... is the purpose of your visit today to seek cooperation?"

"Yes," the princess of the Snowdragon Empire nodded slightly. "We hope to cooperate with Lord Yaoguang to deal with the Rebirth Society together."

"The Rebirth Society?" Yaoguang was a bit surprised. "I thought you needed our strength to oppose the Crimson Star Empire."

"The Crimson Star Empire? Those people... If it weren't for the fear of their influence within the Artifact Sect, they would be nothing more than rotting bones in a tomb," Xie Yi'er said, making no effort to hide her contempt for the Jiang family. "The Rebirth Society and the Lunar Fiend Empire behind them are the true threats."

Once the Rebirth Society was eliminated and true intelligence regarding the Artifact Sect was extracted from them... If the Artifact Sect had truly been destroyed by the Lunar Fiend Empire and the Jiang family lost their backing there, the Crimson Star Empire could be crushed with a flip of a hand.

Yaoguang was not surprised that the Snowdragon Empire knew the true background of the Rebirth Society. However, he had questions.

"I don't understand. During the first decade or so when the Rebirth Society emerged, the Snowdragon Empire stayed out of it. Why have you suddenly become so aggressive in your actions against them now?" Yaoguang asked.

Before Xie Yi'er came, the Xie family's think tank had already rehearsed the various questions Yaoguang might ask. The higher-ups had also informed her what could be said and what should remain secret. Thus, she did not hesitate in the face of his question and spoke directly, "The Rebirth Society made a mistake they should never have made, forcing us to take a desperate risk."

She looked at Yaoguang and asked bluntly, "Has Lord Yaoguang ever understood the true nature of the Lunar Fiend Empire?"

"I am researching it. During this time, I have also had the World-Saving Society constantly search for the whereabouts of the Rebirth Society's members, especially their president, Mo Guang," Yaoguang replied. "However, I would still like to hear about the understanding that the Snowdragon Empire's, a global hegemon, has of them."

Xie Yi'er did not mind the cleverness in Yaoguang’s phrasing and spoke directly, "Although the Snowdragon Empire did not take direct action against the Rebirth Society for over a decade, our research and investigations never stopped. Based on those years of study, we discovered that the Lunar Fiend Empire follows a pure Psyche Dao system."

She paused for a moment. "Does Lord Yaoguang have a detailed understanding of the Psyche Dao?"

"Of course." Yaoguang nodded slightly. "Refining qi into psyche, focusing on visualization and the mind. One then condenses the mind into a psychic soul, which evolves into psychic thought, reaching the pinnacle of perception and investigation..."

He paused before continuing. "At its advanced stages, it involves soul-snatching, possession, and the manipulation of all living beings."

"Correct." Xie Yi'er nodded. "The Lunar Fiend Empire has clearly reached the mastery stage of the Psyche Dao. Through the study of special techniques and the help of external forces like instruments or array arts, they can allow a person, or rather a fiend soul, to descend directly into this world and take over a host. Because they possess a deep understanding of cultivation and a complete system for strengthening, once they enter this world and obtain a physical body, they quickly grow in power."

"Fiend souls..." Yaoguang had long harbored suspicions about the creatures from the Lunar Fiend Empire. These beings were very similar to the extradimensional fiends he had read about in various chronicles. However, the extradimensional fiends of the Lunar Fiend Empire were undoubtedly much stronger than those he was familiar with. This was likely due to their specialized focus.

Compared to other extradimensional fiends, the fiend souls of the Lunar Fiend Empire had almost systematized the process of eroding a world. Opening passages, descending, possessing, lurking, infiltrating, and daemonification... They followed a complete and established procedure.

Yaoguang suddenly realized something, and he asked, "The Lunar Fiend Empire behind the Rebirth Society... did they possess an important figure of the Snowdragon Empire?"

"Yes." Xie Yi'er gave a heavy nod. "They possessed the strongest expert of our Snowdragon Empire, Xie Boen!"

These words caused Yaoguang to freeze for a moment. Beside him, Ji Pingtian, Hong Chuan, and Ye Longxing were also deeply shaken, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"Xie Boen!" Hong Chuan could not help but take a deep breath. "Rumors in the outside world say that General Xie is the only high-tier cultivator in the world today..."

"Yes," Xie Yi'er directly confirmed the statement.

For a moment, the several psychic-will martial paragons glanced at each other, feeling their scalps go numb. He's a high-tier cultivator, a heavenly being! The heavenly being and pillar of the Snowdragon Empire has actually been descended upon and possessed by a powerhouse from the Lunar Fiend Empire behind the Rebirth Society?! H-How is this possible?! Also, is this kind of information, involving secrets on this level, something we're supposed to hear?!

"What exactly is the situation? It was said that nuclear bombs were even detonated at Yujing Mountain at that time..." Ji Pingtian could not help but ask.

"That was the order my grand-uncle gave when he felt he could no longer resist the possession and erosion of that terrifying powerhouse from the Lunar Fiend Empire! He intended to perish together with that fiend!"

A heavenly being's physique was so strong that ninety-nine percent of conventional weapons were already useless against them. As for the other one percent... They either could not hit them or had other limitations. The only thing that could truly threaten a heavenly being were nuclear weapons, thanks to their immense power.

However, considering that every heavenly being could usually raise a powerful empire, their country’s intelligence agencies would inevitably receive word before a nuclear weapon was launched or transported, allowing them to evade it. Therefore, the threat of nuclear weapons to a heavenly being was generally negligible. But, if a heavenly being actively requested a nuclear strike upon themselves...

"Then, what was the outcome...?" Ji Pingtian asked.

"It failed." A flash of pain crossed Xie Yi'er’s eyes. "At the final moment, my grand-uncle failed. The primal fear of death gave the fiend from the Rebirth Society an opportunity to finish taking control oer him. In the end, he evaded the brunt of the nuclear blast. He might be severely injured, but he is definitely not dead."

"Not dead..." As soon as these words were spoken, everyone realized the gravity of the problem.

The Rebirth Society was backed by a more powerful cultivation system. Since that powerhouse from the Lunar Fiend Empire could forcibly possess Xie Boen, who was a high-tier heavenly being, just how powerful would he be?

He was probably more powerful than the ninth realm of the Psyche Dao. In all probability, he was an existence comparable to one who had established a Dao Foundation. With such a terrifying realm and a heavenly-being-level physique, once this monster recovered, who in this world would be able to withstand him?!

No wonder the Snowdragon Empire had gone mad over the past month, encircling and suppressing the Rebirth Society's forces everywhere and relentlessly dropping nuclear bombs on their territories.

"During this period, we have been hunting for that fiend's whereabouts, giving him no room to catch his breath, but not long ago, he disappeared." Xie Yi'er’s voice carried a heavy tone. "We lost his trail."

"Since that monster from the Rebirth Society poses such a massive threat, the first people you should have allied with is the Crimson Star Empire, not the World-Saving Society..." Yaoguang asked, voicing the doubt in his heart.

"It’s different. The Crimson Star Empire's Jiang family only thinks about returning to the Artifact Sect. If they learned this news, they wouldn't fight the Rebirth Society to the death. They might even take advantage of the chaos to make a final, frantic profit before leaving. But you are different..." Xie Yi'er looked at Yaoguang. "You are the primary target on the Rebirth Society’s internal bounty list."