Chapter 1120: He, Asleep

"Teacher, whoever bullied you, I'll go get my grandma to beat him up!"

The panda Hua Hua Xiaohua was also wailing loudly.

She drew out a great blazing sword bristling with thorns, swinging it wildly, tearing and melting the surrounding space, a terrifying sight to behold.

Jiang Ding looked at the two of them.

In his heart, he gave a slight sigh.

The attitude of these two was not just their own attitude, but the common attitude of the hundreds of thousands of sword cultivators in the Immortal Sect, who absolutely supported him in this regard, and even… a kind of support that might surpass the Immortal Sect's laws.

The concerns of seniors like Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun were not wrong.

In just a thousand years, such a massive interest group had grown within the Immortal Sect, bearing his strong personal mark.

"Teacher…"

Stared at by Jiang Ding's gaze, the voices of Hua Hua Xiaohua and the other unknowingly grew quieter, their heads lowered like little children, even though they were now mid Nascent Soul cultivators, addressed as Old Ancestors by the outside world.

"Don't be like this."

"Hua Hua Xiaohua, Fang Fang Yilong, you two need to go take a refresher course in moral education."

Jiang Ding sighed and said: "The sword cultivators of the Immortal Sect—cultivation, growth, sword-forging, researching all manner of sword-path secret arts—all rely on the Immortal Sect as a platform, and only because of this have they developed so rapidly."

"Without the Immortal Sect, there would be no us."

"It's not wrong for you to consider your own interests, your own Dao path—a person who doesn't even defend their own interests isn't fit to be called a natural person—but while defending your own interests, you must also build them upon defending the interests of the Immortal Sect. This is an essential condition for our long-term development."

"Understood?"

Jiang Ding's tone began to grow stern.

"…Yes, Teacher."

Hua Hua Xiaohua and Fang Fang Yilong said dejectedly.

"Haha."

"No need to stand up for me."

Jiang Ding smiled: "I gave up these teaching posts, but I wasn't dismissed—I was promoted, entering the Immortal Sect Academy of Sciences as the first academician in the sword-path direction."

"This is a tremendous blessing!"

"Mutual benefit and win-win is the truth; pursuing one person's extreme interests won't take you far."

"We shall heed the Teacher's instruction!"

Hua Hua Xiaohua and Fang Fang Yilong, feeling a bit sad, bowed deeply in salute.

"Mm, go on."

"Professors in the adult sword-path departments of Qingfeng University and Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou University are a fine platform. You must do your jobs well there, train talent for the Immortal Sect, and strive for a Soul Transformation opportunity for yourselves. If you succeed, in a few thousand years we may yet meet again."

Jiang Ding instructed.

"Be vigilant against pride and impatience, work step by step with your feet on the ground, do not aim too high and lose yourselves.

"

"Yes, Teacher!"

……

Watching the two most outstanding students of the millennium depart, Jiang Ding looked to his side.

"These little rascals…"

A blond young man frowned slightly.

Around him were Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, Dayang Dayang Tianchi, Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun, and others, all seeing Jiang Ding off, because it would be a long time before they could meet again.

"Big Brother, it's only human nature!"

"Nothing strange about it."

Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun smiled: "Back in the day, Yuan, Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun, and Senior Wanji Canghai Tianjun ran into a similar situation, and it was even more terrifying—they nearly monopolized the Immortal Sect's education in materials science, array studies, and array spirit studies, with their disciples spread across every trade, everyone their student."

"Teach too long, and this kind of situation is bound to arise."

"Once time passes, it'll be fine."

"Come, enough of that—drink…"

Everyone raised their cups; Jiang Ding, however, drank his own fruit juice.

Compared to parting with Nascent Soul cultivators, the atmosphere here was much more relaxed. A mere thousand years was, for Canghai Tianjun, like an ordinary person going off to college—not so distant, not a matter of life and death.

"Senior Mieri,"

Jiang Ding asked: "When will the Immortal Sect's Void Refinement be born?"

He had not forgotten this matter.

This could greatly shake the very foundation of the Immortal Sect's existence—the first time a massive imbalance of force had appeared among its internal cultivators, which could breed disaster.

"Two to three hundred years."

Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun thought for a moment and said: "We've all taken part in the Void Refinement Project, so the specific progress should be roughly the same—there won't be any explosive breakthrough."

"Don't worry, I'll call you when the time comes."

"Alright."

Jiang Ding nodded.

In an extreme situation, he might need to lock down the nascent soul of a newly born early-stage Void Refinement cultivator with his sword intent, providing calibration for the Immortal Sect's sixth-tier forbidden nuclear weapon.

It was best if such a situation never arose.

A cultivator capable of advancing to Void Refinement would surely be the most gifted and intelligent being in the Immortal Sect, meant to lead its imminent leap-forward development, to push the Immortal Sect into becoming a Dao Merging-level power.

It would be a terrible pity if such outstanding figures fought each other to the death in an internal war.

Still, if things came to that, there would be no other choice.

As everyone chatted idly, time flew by swiftly; wine cups lay scattered across the floor, the several Canghai Tianjun seniors all drunk and swaying, flying out of Dayang Dayang Tianchi together in a group.

Jiang Ding saw them off behind.

"Stay."

"Let's leave it here."

Extinguish Sun

Canghai Tianjun, supported by someone, waved his hand: "You go to sleep first. I'm heading home. Don't go out again, or you'll mess up your sleep."

"Alright, seniors, take care on the way."

Jiang Ding said with a smile.

He watched the several Canghai Tianjun seniors fly away, their figures gradually vanishing from sight, and only then did he return to the Sun Abyss.

"Yue, begin."

Jiang Ding glanced at his arm, now fully restored, and walked toward the core of the Dayang Dayang Tianchi, saying softly.

"Yes, Sword Child!"

Yue bowed and said gently: "May your slumber be peaceful. May the Sword World give birth to the power of Order as you wish. In the future, ascending to Refining Void and ascending to Merging Dao will have lost a great threshold."

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

The earth split open, revealing scorching-white rock-void, along with layer upon layer of solar stairs. He ignored the high temperature that could burn a Soul Transformation cultivator to death, and walked into it step by step.

"Ding!"

"Following the citizen's commission, taking over the planetary-grade warship—Dayang Dayang Tianchi array, taking over the core slumber-ground array, pre-setting emergency escape pods…"

The voice of the central array spirit computer appeared.

At the same time, a terrifying divine-sense force exceeding the peak of Refining Void surged in, beginning to execute one preset procedure after another.

"That damned dead thing!"

Yue said, very displeased.

But she could not stop it.

The central array spirit computer of the Dongji Demon Sect possessed a terrifying power exceeding even the great cultivators of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong. Even when the Great Sun Sword Lord Zou Zou Xiyuan was still alive, she would not dare treat it lightly at all—let alone now that the Great Sun Sword Child had already opened all array permissions to it; wanting to stop it was out of the question.

"Sword Child."

"Although the Sword Lord does not permit you to comprehend immortal arts, you have still gained benefits. Under the influence of immortal arts, the possibility of you giving birth to the power of Order is increasing."

Yue did not forget the main business, and admonished: "Don't forget the Great Sun Slumber Secret Art I gave you. In the process of slumber, transform your body into the Sword World's 'pseudo-Heavenly Dao,' carefully comb through your Sword World, and urge the power of Order to be born within it. The power of Order is closely tied to your path, your life, your Sword World, your flying swords, and so on…"

She chattered on about the key points of the Great Sun Slumber Secret Art, which she had already said countless times before, as if she were facing a three-year-old stubborn child, afraid he might forget it in a careless moment.

"Mm, don't worry."

"Yue, the mere power of Order cannot stump me."

Jiang Ding smiled.

Unconsciously, he arrived at the deepest part of the Dayang Dayang Tianchi. Here was a magma-like radiance, and his body and divine soul felt warm and cozy here.

A wave of drowsiness kept rising in his heart, growing ever thicker, his eyelids fighting each other nonstop.

"Haa…"

Jiang

Ding let out a yawn.

His body gradually crumbled into countless sword qi, then crumbled again into countless blue-gold spiritual light, dissolving into the surrounding radiance, indistinguishable from one another.

Hoo—

Hoo hoo——

A moment later, a soft sound of snoring appeared in this dazzlingly radiant space, and the endless radiance rippled like tides with each breath.

He had fallen asleep.