Chapter 1123: Three Hundred Years in the Blink of an Eye

In a heaven and earth on the verge of destruction, amid the grey-white corpses of lives strewn across the ground, a single weed appeared!

This weed had two leaves, a thin and tiny body, yet it broke through the soil from the ashes, its branches and leaves swaying in the wind, its golden grass blades breathing in and out light, surviving beneath the destruction of the great sun, showing not the slightest sign of being scorched yellow.

It, through countless cycles of death and rebirth, adapted to the environment, gaining the ability to survive and multiply beneath the sword-intent of the great sun's destruction!

"Indestructible Sword Intent!"

"Sword Realm!"

Jiang Ding, whose body had transformed into a quasi-Heavenly Dao subconscious, felt deeply the greatness of the many seniors in the immortal Dao who had blazed new paths, and was profoundly awed by their wisdom.

Everything that seemed ordinary became the cornerstone of realms yet to come.

He silently watched a life born after the great destruction, seeing it flutter in the wind, breathe in the sun's light, transform it into nourishment, and use it to grow its roots, branches, and leaves.

Jiang Ding was extremely patient, waiting quietly.

In this quasi-Heavenly Dao state, he felt neither joy nor sorrow; in his heart there was only the Great Dao, and none of any personal distracting thoughts; time at this moment seemed to become a mere measure, no longer able to affect anything.

It seemed like only a very short time,

yet a month had passed.

This golden weed finally accumulated enough spiritual energy, propagated a tiller, swelled its bud, and as the white ash trembled, another golden weed appeared in heaven and earth, wantonly breathing in the sun's destructive light, a perfect fit.

The second golden weed repeated the process of growing and tillering.

Time flowed swiftly; in the quasi-Heavenly Dao state, time was especially brief, and before he knew it, ten years had passed.

Jiang Ding looked out into the distance.

The earth was a sheet of gold; countless weeds multiplied across heaven and earth, transforming the land, transforming the surrounding environment, making the entire immortal Dao ecosystem more suitable for plants to survive.

Gradually, on the great earth, shrubs broke through the soil and grew upon the grassland.

Beneath the sun's light filled with destruction, law-breaking, law-prohibition, and mutation wills, these shrubs held on for a moment, then turned to grey ash-charcoal, unable to survive.

But this was not the end.

Blessed by the Indestructible Will, blessed by the will on the verge of the Fifth Realm of Sword Dao, new shrubs broke through the soil, grew in heaven and earth, shouldered the destructive sun's light, and attempted to transform it into nourishment.

In this single instant, on the grassland of this world, 1,270,000 shrubs grew at the same time; the vast majority of shrubs died within ten minutes; the shrub that held on the longest was a blue iron birch, which endured for one hour and thirty-seven minutes, then turned to ash beneath the sun's destructive light.

The more complex the ecosystem, the harder it was to restore.

Unlike the golden weeds, which could casually grow into a vast expanse, their vitality terrifyingly tenacious.

Yet a complex immortal Dao ecosystem remained the lifelong pursuit of cultivation practitioners, for it represented a higher efficiency in converting chaos from the void into spiritual energy, directly affecting a cultivation practitioner's strength, lifespan, and potential.

Time flew by.

In the thirty-seventh year, the first shrub successfully grew in the Sword Realm, named the Sun Iron Thorn Pear Tree; the first golden weed from before was named the Sun Grass.

Fifteen years later, the second shrub adapted to the environment appeared.

Fifty-nine years later, the third shrub adapted to the destructive great sun appeared; from then on, the birth rate of shrubs adapted to the environmental sun accelerated, with one appearing almost every half year, the pace ever quickening…

Time was rapidly flowing by.

Ten years, twenty years, thirty years…

As time went on, all manner of plants began to appear on the golden grassland, in a thousand postures and varied colors; the world once again recovered its riot of color, full of vibrant life.

At the same time as these new plants were born, the efficiency of the world's immortal Dao ecosystem in converting chaos was also constantly growing, the reserve spiritual energy consumed constantly decreasing; the world was leaping toward another level.

The quasi-Heavenly Dao consciousness within the world felt neither joy nor sorrow, quietly watching the world's development, occasionally making fine adjustments, adjusting the operation of all things in heaven and earth, and gaining much insight therefrom.

The immortal Dao's heritage, the immortal Dao's foundation, were all in a slow yet steady growth.

……

Time flowed like running water.

Before he knew it, two hundred and ninety-seven years had passed.

Nearly three hundred years.

This was the entire lifetime of five or six generations of mortals, the entire lifetime of nearly two Foundation Establishment cultivators; even Jin Dan cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators had begun to grow old and frail, entering their twilight years.

Jiao Jiao Mingyu.

In the starry sky of the Flame Stone Star Domain, the Dao soldiers and great-power combat forces of the Jiudaxian Sect were still quietly lying in wait, making no moves; three hundred years as one day, without the slightest impatience, executing the established plan.

However, some changes had still appeared.

Over these several decades, the Jiudaxian Sect had continuously deployed and dispatched troops, sending sect Dao soldiers and star-sky fleets into Jiao Jiao Mingyu.

From many years ago, Brother Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, Qingmuxian Sect, and the other Baxian Sect had been madly training Dao soldiers; by now, the Dao soldiers had expanded to more than five times their original number!

And now, all these Dao soldiers were deployed to Jiao Jiao Mingyu; within the sects, apart from the sect-protecting grand formation, almost nothing was left behind; all the powerful experts were transferred into the foreign domain.

All these signs, even Nascent Soul cultivators began to sense omens and grow wary.

Affected by this, the prices of all manner of magical treasures and talismans in the Nine Spirit Domain rose twofold, and certain life-preserving pills multiplied dozens of times over, terrifying in the extreme.

Yet, at such a moment when the fires of war were about to be li

ghted, hanging by a thread, a strange thing occurred.

The star-sky fleet of the East Extreme Demon Sect began frequently redeploying troops to the rear.

The star-sky fleets on the main front were repeatedly cut back; in the end, let alone the expected reinforcement plan, even the original star-sky fleets had been reduced by two-thirds, barely maintaining sect-level deterrence.

This anomaly naturally triggered panic among the sect cultivators.

Many Soul Transformation cultivators personally visited the East Extreme Demon Sect fleet commander to inquire about the reason.

The reply they received was that the immortal gate fleet was about to hold a military exercise, and so had withdrawn to the rear capital; after the military exercise, they would return to the front lines again.

Naturally, such a reason could not satisfy the sect cultivators.

A military exercise?

You're fooling a ghost!

Why hold a military exercise at any other time but this critical juncture?

What ulterior motive is this?

Many Soul Transformation cultivators of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong grew uneasy, including high-ranking ones such as sect masters and hall masters— their divine souls were issuing warnings.

Many even suspected that the Dongji Demon Sect had already prepared to betray this domain, selling out the Badaxian Sect in exchange for something with the Horned Demon Imperial Clan.

Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong cultivators questioned them repeatedly, and finally even used extremely harsh, ultimatum-style diplomatic language to demand what the Dongji Demon Sect's intentions were.

All of this, in the end, received only a polite reply from the Dongji Demon Sect.

"No comment."

Just those four characters, nothing more.

The cultivators of the Badaxian Sect grew increasingly uneasy. They temporarily halted their prearranged war plans, each reporting back to their sect's ancestors and requesting that the Void Refinement great powers make a decision.

This time, the cultivators of the Badaxian Sect waited and waited, yet never received any reply from above.