Chapter 1121: Jiang Jiang Ding Zi in Slumber

Time flowed by like running water, slowly passing.

The people of the world, the affairs of the world, operated according to their own inherent laws, not changing in the slightest because one person was missing.

Citizens were born, aged, fell ill, and died; citizens fought and slaughtered; citizens advanced in cultivation; citizens went to foreign lands to join the army… everything proceeded as usual, generation after generation of citizens living on the Immortal Gate's mother star.

In the blink of an eye, several decades had passed.

Hoo…

Hoo-hoo…

The light snoring in the Great Sun Slumber Space continued, triggering tides of countless rays of light.

At a certain moment,

Countless rays of light converged toward the very center of the sky, gathering ceaselessly, growing ever brighter, ever more resplendent, finally forming a solid entity.

A flying sword.

Three feet in size, blue-gold in color, radiating terrifying auras of law-breaking, destruction, law-prohibition, and aberration.

The flying sword continued to radiate light, its will within communicating with all things of heaven and earth, its aura constantly shifting, taking several years to gradually take shape.

It had once again recovered a brilliance as resplendent as the sun.

This round of resplendent great sun cast beams of light toward the sky and earth, toward the four directions, filling the space between heaven and earth, omnipresent, all-pervading.

Gradually, these rays of light transformed into various sword intents, giving rise to all manner of strange phenomena.

There was the Thunder sword intent—twisting bolts of lightning that had comprehended an extremely profound realm, giving birth to solid form, imbued with the aura of destruction and creation;

There was the Thick Earth sword intent—chunks of land sprouting from the void, resembling the legendary Nine Heavens Breath Soil from legend; even after being scorched by the destroying great sun, even after being struck again and again by thunder, they did not vanish, but instead kept expanding, kept multiplying, finally forming a vast stretch of land.

There was the Spring Rain sword intent—pitter-pattering raindrops born in the sky; even the brilliance of the resplendent great sun could not make these raindrops disappear; the raindrops fell onto the earth, soaking the soil, bringing vitality to the land;

There was also the Grass and Trees sword intent—a single blade of green grass broke through the soil, bringing a touch of true green to the land; the grass multiplied into thickets, then into meadows, then into all manner of annual herbaceous plants, perennial herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees…

And so, amid lava, mountains, rivers, earth, sunlight, wind and rain, sky, and crystal walls, life began to multiply; forests, meadows, rivers, lush and verdant, the world between heaven and earth teemed with vitality, all things flourishing—in an instant.

This was a flourishing world.

The only flaw was the absence of animals—not a single animal, not even insects or fungi, nor any plant-type demon beasts like tree demons.

This flaw was vaguely, as if it weren't there, overlooked, never touching upon that terrifying domain.

This was such a flourishing world, with several hundred thousand species of plants, each

species existing within its own ecosystem—growing, sprouting, spreading roots, competing for nutrients, sunlight, and water within that ecosystem, with absolutely no haphazard placement anywhere.

Transplanting any single plant ecosystem from here into the real world would certainly allow it to grow normally.

All of this came from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, came from the Immortal Gate; everything strictly met the requirements of Immortal Dao science, every minute detail representing the lifetime wisdom of some outstanding talent, containing who knows how many Immortal Dao predecessors' Immortal Dao scientific achievements.

Wind, rain, thunder, lightning; spring, summer, autumn, winter.

This world cycled in operation—spring came and plants grew, summer brought lush vegetation, autumn yielded abundant fruits and withered yellow leaves, winter sealed the earth in ice—cycling thus in endless repetition.

This process continued for several more decades.

The world cycled; an Immortal Sect Dao Child's already perfected Immortal Dao ecosystem cycled.

It transformed chaos from the void into heaven and earth spiritual energy, using this heaven and earth spiritual energy to maintain the world's operation, seemingly having achieved independent operation of the Immortal Dao ecosystem.

However, seemingly was, after all, only seemingly.

In the operation of this independent Immortal Dao ecosystem, every single moment required extremely minute consumption of the spiritual energy the world itself had stored up.

Very minute, very minute, but absolutely essential.

Could this minute amount of spiritual energy be considered insignificant, ignorable?

It could not.

It seemed to be only a minute amount of spiritual energy—so minute that even the divine sense of a Soul Transformation cultivator would be unable to detect its depletion without careful observation—but in truth it represented an essential difference for an Immortal Dao ecosystem: whether it could independently exist within the starry sky of the universe.

Even a little less—even a minute little less—was exactly the same.

At the very beginning, it was indeed only a minute amount; but as the Immortal Dao ecosystem continued to cycle, the many metabolites and secondary metabolites produced grew ever more numerous, and the heaven and earth spiritual energy required for the ecosystem's cycle would grow ever more; the further along, the more it would increase exponentially.

This Immortal Dao ecosystem was projected to completely collapse in a thousand years.

This was inevitable.

In the Immortal Gate's previous civilization era, in all manner of experiments by the Immortal Gate and the Immortal Sect, there had never been any way to construct an independently cycling Immortal Dao ecosystem—things called Secret Realms, cave dwellings, and the like—these had to rely on a world to exist, unable to be independent.

Unless, a soul.

A soul!

This was the most profound thing in the Immortal Dao world; no matter how powerful a being, none could completely decipher it, create a soul.

In the long, endless history of Immortal Dao civilization's development, a certain incomparably great outstanding talent discovered such a method—to add a soul to an independent Immortal Dao ecosystem, which could partially solve this perpetual spiritual energy conundrum, creating an independent Immortal Dao ecosystem that could be maintained for tens of thousands

of years.

A cultivator relying on this independent Immortal Dao ecosystem that could be maintained for tens of thousands of years would see their magic power, divine soul, and lifespan all greatly increased.

This, was Refining Void!

A cultivator relying on this great achievement of wisdom greatly extended their own life, becoming a star-domain-level lifeform, able to break away from the world and exist independently.

In this place of Great Sun Slumber, the world cycled, the Immortal Dao ecosystem ceaselessly cycled—plants grew, fruits hung heavy, then leaves withered and yellowed, the earth sealed everything in ice, entering one cycle of the four seasons.

In such a process, annual herbaceous plants died year after year; over the course of several years, several decades, all plants experienced several deaths, and then new life sprouted from seeds.

Between life and death, endlessly cycling.

Again and again, year after year.

The world cycled again and again, life and death cycled again and again, as if infinite and endless.

In this process, it seemed as if something was accumulating.

Accumulating all along.

Finally, at the hundredth year, something was born within the great sun, within all things of heaven and earth.

Between heaven and earth, there appeared a kind of spiritual liveliness, something inexpressible; the world's operation at this moment underwent some minute change.