Chapter 1093: My Great Sun Sword Child, Farewell

The gathering was held beneath the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, near the Chen Mian Mi Jing.

When Jiang Ding arrived, he looked the tree over from top to bottom — its roots spreading across the entire planet, its branches piercing through the atmosphere and stretching into the starry sky.

In the past, as a child, he had thought it was simply a great tree, an ancient exotic species obtained by some immortal sect ancestor on a fortuitous encounter.

Now, he understood clearly: this was no tree, no living thing at all, but a terrifyingly vast biomimetic robot — a plant-shaped automaton forged from countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures by innumerable prodigies of the immortal sect, serving as the main host for the central array-spirit computer.

Every leaf and every branch of this starry-sky tree was a treasure-like artifact personally refined by the immortal sect's ancestors; beneath the bark, trunk, and leaves lay circuit-like spiritual energy components, and formation runes and formation patterns.

If anyone could slice open a single leaf, they would see these secrets — row upon row of circuit-like spiritual energy components.

This was no ancient exotic species!

It was a super-engineering project, a blessing for posterity, built with the blood and sweat of countless prodigies and ancestors of the immortal sect!

The reason this super biomimetic robot took the form of a great tree was that this shape was best suited for drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, converting the chaos of the void, and absorbing the starlight of the cosmos.

Jiang Ding stood in a daze, lost in many thoughts.

An Siyan and Jin Jin Lingfeng were long used to it; each taking one of his arms, they dragged him toward the crowd.

"Yo, you're here!"

Teacher Gu Lin greeted them with a smile, casting an amused gaze at the three of them.

All around, Teacher Ouyang Hui, Liu Xiong, and many other cultivators of their generation at the peak of Nascent Soul looked over; seeing that green-robed youth who looked exactly as he had a thousand years ago, they were all moved.

They had already reached the final stage of their lives.

While the other's life seemed to have only just begun — the whelp-form of a realm-domain overlord.

"Hello, Teacher Gu Lin."

"Hello, Teacher Teacher Ouyang… Teacher Liu…"

Jiang Ding snapped back to himself at once.

He greeted each of these former teachers in turn; although in the timescale of a thousand years their age gap was not large, a teacher was still a teacher.

"Jiang Ding, it has been a long time."

Teacher Ouyang Hui sighed.

Today, the crowd did not discuss the Great Dao — they simply shared with one another the experiences of these past years, reminisced about times gone by, and spoke of their hopes for the future.

Their peers had withered away one after another; the few they could still open their hearts to were only the handful of people around them.

"How is the war situation in Jiao Jiao Mingyu?"

Jiang Ding asked casually.

Jiao Jiao Mingyu concerned the very survival of the Nine Spirit Domain; he had been following it through the immortal sect's classified military briefings — but no matter how detailed those briefings were, they could not compare with the firsthand accounts of these Nascent Soul peak cultivators who had just stepped off the battlefield.

(continued from above)

"Still the same as always — covert, lying in wait."

Teacher Gu Lin recalled for a moment, then said: "Strategic planning is the business of our seniors. Our military service has been very dull — lurking in the depths of the starry sky of the Blazing Stone Star Domain, staying hidden the whole time in a combat-ready state, without interfering in any of the Minor Thousand Worlds within the Blazing Stone Star Domain."

"Those who carried out the most missions were still the cultivators from Shadow Demon Abyss and the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong. Their individual combat power far surpassed ours, and they often went on covert missions outside the Blazing Stone Star Domain."

"Especially the Taiyin Sword Child, Yu Yu Qianzi — she has already begun displaying combat power above the peak of Soul Transformation, making rapid progress in all manner of assassination and concealment, earning many merits, and accelerating our infiltration beyond the Blazing Stone Star Domain."

"Other than that, I don't know."

Although she was the daughter of Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, her rank was not high enough; Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun would not share classified matters with her.

That would violate regulations, and there was no need.

"I see."

Jiang Ding nodded, and did not boast by sharing any classified information to draw the crowd's attention.

He knew quite a bit more.

Basically, he could access all the top-level classified information of the immortal sect, because he was the immortal sect's strongest single-target combatant — a quasi-Emperor. Although he did not command a great army and held no position in any real-power department, his standing within the immortal sect system was extremely high, and his clearance was very broad.

On the current Jiao Jiao Mingyu battlefield, the Jiudaxian Sect was attempting to ambush and kill several Ancient Emperors and several dozen Great Emperors, paralyzing the Horned Demon Imperial Clan's defensive system in one stroke; afterward, they would muster the full Void Refinement army of the Jiudaxian Sect and march openly against the Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie where a great number of the Horned Demon Imperial Clan's powerful experts were gathered, utterly destroying the defenses there and exterminating the entire Horned Demon Imperial Clan.

Of course, this was extremely difficult.

Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors were all heaven-piercing, earth-shattering powerhouses — and moreover, they came from a powerful clan that had produced the Horned Abyss Sovereign, having endured countless life-and-death trials to reach where they stood today.

If they could be ambushed so easily, they would have died ten thousand times over long ago, and never become Great Emperors.

Body-tempering powerhouses focused on excavating the divine abilities and potential of the flesh, possessing terrifying beast-like instincts; many arts of divination and heavenly secrets were often perceived by them in an instant before even touching them, allowing them to lock onto the source in reverse — utterly unreasonable in the extreme.

Often, the difficulty of laying an ambush was even greater than that of defeating an Ancient Emperor or Great Emperor head-on.

If they wished to succeed in an ambush, it placed extremely high demands on the Jiudaxian Sect's arts of heavenly secrets and concealment; if they fell even slightly short and revealed even the tiniest flaw, it could easily backfire, and they themselves would end up being ambushed instead.

Of course, this kind of war involving an entire realm-domain was still rather distant from Jiang Ding; he could be aware of it, but he did not yet have the standing to speak on it.

All of this depended entirely on the many immortal sect seniors — and those eight great powers.

"Let us hope our slumber goes smoothly."

Teacher Gu Lin

said hopefully: "If something unexpected happens and we are forced to wake from slumber, then perhaps we can meet again sooner and fight side by side."

"Hopefully so."

Jiang Ding nodded.

A thousand years of slumber was also very important to him; it was best not to interrupt it, lest it affect the gestation of the Sword World's order-power.

The many Nascent Soul peak cultivators chatted for a long time — from childhood, to the various embarrassing tales of their school days, to wars in various places, and to speaking of their juniors, children, and many mischievous students.

Over so many years, many friends had married — for instance, their counselor Liu Xiong, who had a daughter late in life with a female cultivator at early Nascent Soul; that little one was also present now, already a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

There were also those who had remained alone all this time, walking the Great Dao in solitude.

Roughly half and half between the two kinds of cultivators — each walking the path they themselves had chosen.

The crowd chatted very casually; there was no wine or music, no singing or dancing — everything was plain and simple, just as these Nascent Soul peak cultivators, having weathered countless magnificent waves, had at last returned to a life of calm.

Before they knew it, several days had passed, and the gathering had come to its end.

"Haha!"

"Everyone, no need to be so heavy-hearted."

Teacher Gu Lin Master Dinghai Zhenjun rose, drained the spiritual tea in his cup in one gulp, then walked without a backward glance toward the Chen Mian Mi Jing within the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, waving his hand behind him: "Fellow Daoists, farewell! See you after Soul Transformation!"

"May we still see each other a thousand years from now, to drink another cup of spiritual tea together."

"And, Father, farewell."

She glanced in one direction.

There, Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun nodded slightly.

"Fellow Daoist Teacher Gu Lin, see you after Soul Transformation!"

Jiang Ding and the other Master Dinghai Zhenjun raised their cups to see him off.

Then, one by one, the Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun, either alone or in pairs, walked toward the Chen Mian Mi Jing, their figures gradually vanishing into the trunk of the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, temporarily cutting off all within the Immortal Gate, quietly waiting for the ordering of the Soul Transformation opportunity, its birth, and then emerging from seclusion to break through to Soul Transformation.

Only three remained on the spot.

"An Siyan, Jin Jin Lingfeng."

Jiang Ding looked at the two women, and in that moment, he recalled their first meeting.

Back then, it was during the Immortal Gate's Cold-Weapon College Entrance Exam; they had competed against each other, vying for first place in the exam, then came the war in the Huang Tong Small Realm, then the university days... scene after scene, all times spent together, a life experienced together, filled with various things that made one nostalgic.

Yet, all of this was about to face a thousand-year separation.

"I wish you smooth slumber and advancement to Soul Transformation."

Jiang Ding said nothing more, raising his cup to see them off.

"Jiang Ding, farewell."

Jin Jin Lingfeng was somewhat disappointed.

"My

Jiang Ding, future Void Refining powerhouse, Dao-Combining Divine Lord, infant True Immortal, farewell."

An Siyan smiled gently.

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded lightly.

He silently watched the two women's backs, seeing them vanish into the trunk of the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, and stood there dazed for a long time.

Then, he left alone.