Chapter 1119: Farewell to the Immortal Gate's Young Sword Cultivators

Jiang Ding cast one last look at the Black Demon Palace.

This palace, personally refined tens of thousands of years ago by Liu Dao Sect's patriarch Liu Dao Canghai Tianjun, remained as it was — a palace of pure black, containing the legacy of six arts of mutual generation and destruction.

Seen through present eyes, calling it the Six Paths of Reincarnation was somewhat presumptuous.

This was not a realm a Soul Transformation cultivator was qualified to explore.

Still, this was nothing to laugh at.

All creation and progress upon the immortal Dao are born from such ignorance and presumption; one ought to hold the Liu Dao Patriarch of those days in respect — he truly did produce some unusual results upon the immortal Dao.

Now, within the great hall of the Black Demon Palace, one additional item had appeared.

A withered-yellow sword talisman.

Similar to the sword talisman Zou Zou Xiyuan had left — an artifact of the same lineage — but its aura was vastly weaker than hers; the two were worlds apart.

Even so, within the Soul Transformation Realm, it should possess the might to slay a Quasi-Emperor.

Because this sword talisman was left by Jiang Ding, and moreover because it was directly linked to the Da Ri Ding Gao Jie formation, it could activate the Da Ri Ding Gao Jie formation and slay foes with the power of the Great Sun Sword Dao's order.

Now, within this withered-yellow sword talisman, a wisp of aura remained — from Mu Mu Tianxue.

Jiang Ding had struck a deal with her.

In exchange for the Soul Transformation chapter of the Void Refinement-tier scripture *Taixu Blood Yang Scripture* from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's legacy, she was to guarantee the normal operation of the Master Tushan Code.

It was a very costly bargaining chip, and Mu Mu Tianxue agreed.

Jiang Ding had never fully trusted others' virtue, and so, to ensure the deal would proceed smoothly, he left behind this sword talisman linked to the Da Ri Ding Gao Jie formation.

The condition to trigger this sword talisman was very simple.

When the formation nurturing the Void Refinement-tier heavenly treasure and earthly material — the Great Earth Wumu Gold — suffered a certain degree of damage, this sword talisman would be triggered and would slay Mu Mu Tianxue.

Before that, when the nurturing formation suffered minor damage, there would be three chances for a warning.

After the three warnings, once the nurturing formation ultimately and completely failed, Mu Mu Tianxue would have to pay with her life.

"That's all."

"Then,"

Jiang Ding cast one last look at the Black Demon Palace, and at every flower and blade of grass, every tree and shrub across the ten-thousand-li of Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting, and at the faces of the many old acquaintances among the Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun, committing to his heart some faces that might be the last he ever saw.

"Then, in a thousand years, farewell."

Jiang Ding murmured.

His figure vanished.

In his original place, a youth in blue robes appeared once more, sitting peacefully.

……

Immortal Gate.

In the thirty-third Tiangang orbit.

The Great Sun Dayang Dayang Tianchi moved along its orbit; the Moon, her memories partially sealed, was at Moon Stream

by the river, spacing out — something she had always loved to do in the past, and now did even more.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes within the Sun Abyss.

He cast his gaze outward; two Nascent Soul cultivators, their sword intent ringing through their bodies, were walking over cautiously, the glances they occasionally stole full of reverence.

Both of them were at mid Nascent Soul.

One was just over a meter tall, plump and fluffy all over, wobbling as he walked, like a black-and-white dumpling drifting on the wind.

The other looked like an old farmer, forty or fifty years of age, his skin dark as pitch, silent as a reef.

These two were the fruits borne by the Immortal Gate's sword Dao development over nearly a thousand years.

In talent and in strength, they had already approached the disciples of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong legacy.

If they could achieve breakthroughs on the battlefield, advancing their sword intent and sword arts, then becoming legacy disciples of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong was also possible; in strength they had already surpassed Lieyang Master Dinghai Zhenjun of the same rank, second only to Mu Mu Tianxue of the same rank who possessed a Dao Body.

This seemed insufficient.

Having grown within a hegemon-tier sect like the Immortal Gate, with such generous conditions, yet falling short of the prodigies of lesser realms — one could not say there were not many regrets.

The reason was not hard to deduce.

A lack of sufficient blood, sufficient death.

Citizens could not drop dead as casually as Great Sun sword cultivators could — so long as they did not violate the Master Tushan Code, they could die however they pleased, and Jiang Ding would not interfere.

The Immortal Gate was different.

The Immortal Gate's culture, laws, and Dao-cultivation philosophy, from top to bottom, did not permit its citizens to do so.

Still, it was not without its strengths.

Immortal Gate sword cultivators specialized in stealth, assassination, and explosive strikes, and were innately adept at collective combat; if arrayed in military formation against a foe, they could sweep through the three armies of Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting.

"Panda Hua Hua Xiaohua, greets Teacher!"

"Fang Fang Yilong, greets Teacher!"

The black-and-white dumpling and the old-farmer-like sword cultivator bowed respectfully.

He was their teacher — one who had been instructing them since they were young, an elder, a father figure.

"Greetings."

Jiang Ding gave a slight nod and told them some things: "I am about to enter slumber."

"Therefore, I will step down from my teaching posts in the undergraduate and master's graduate programs of the Clear Wind University's Adult Sword Dao Department. Henceforth, my avatar will only hold a teaching post for the doctoral graduate students of that department, to prevent my prestige from rising further within the Immortal Gate and affecting the operation of its political system."

A thousand years of pupils — especially facing such a vast group as undergraduates and master's students — once these students entered society, they would sharply expand his influence.

Over the thousand years, Jiang Ding had accumulated too much goodwill.

This had already drawn the extreme displeasure of many old predecessors; Mie Ri Canghai Tianjun, Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun, and others had advised him multiple times, yet Jiang Ding, because

the newly established Adult Sword Dao Department was still too immature to develop independently, was unwilling to let go.

The interests of the Immortal Sect and the interests of his Great Dao are equally important.

Now, the time is nearly right; he can let go.

After a thousand years of development, the Adult Sword Dao Department industry has established various institutions for sword technique Gong Fa research, training and education, and flying sword smelting research; all kinds of industries are booming, spreading across every sector, directly affecting the livelihoods of billions of Immortal Sect citizens, and has already become an inseparable part of the Immortal Sect.

Henceforth, like Yuan, Jiang Ding's direct influence will be limited only to Sword Dao doctoral candidates.

After another few hundred years pass, once this generation of the vast number of mortal, Qi Refining, and Foundation Establishment Immortal Sect citizens die, his immense prestige will gradually return to normal, no longer possessing the ability to directly affect the operation of the Immortal Sect's political system, removing one hidden danger from Immortal Sect citizen society.

Yes, Jiang Ding is currently a hidden danger to the Immortal Sect.

As far as Jiang Ding knows, while his prestige was gradually growing immense, many Tianjuns within the Immortal Sect had already been constructing a combat plan to encircle and capture the Great Sun Sword Disciple and suppress the Great Sun Sword Disciple, among whom were many old seniors he had always respected.

These old seniors never absolutely trusted anyone, always believing that peace only appears through struggle.

"I have already recommended to the Immortal Sect Education Committee that you two serve as professors in the Adult Sword Dao Department of Qingfeng University and the Adult Sword Dao Department of Qingfeng Beidou University; if there are no major accidents, you should be able to take office soon."

"You two work hard, continue to cultivate the Immortal Sect's young sword cultivators."

Jiang Ding encouraged.

"Master, do not leave!"

"Is it those stubborn old things..."

Fang Fang Yilong is now also six or seven hundred years old; hearing this, he flew into a rage, even generating threads of killing intent: "You have spared no effort, always cultivating peaches and plums for the Immortal Sect, yet these old things suspect recklessly; they truly are unworthy of being human!"

"These damn old things!"

He was very angry now, wishing he could draw his sword and strike someone.

There was a reason for this; once the Great Sun Master Dinghai Zhenjun retired to the second line, without exaggeration, Immortal Sect Sword Dao education would immediately fall a tier, and no one knew how many years it would take to recover.

Fang Fang Yilong's own cultivation would be greatly affected; unable to meet the Great Sun Master Dinghai Zhenjun at all times and listen to his teachings, the hope of Soul Transformation weakened by several points.

How could this not drive him mad?