Chapter 1169: Jiang Ding Becomes an Ignorant Native

Far beyond the Nine Spirit Domain, perhaps in the distant starry sky beyond the exploration range of Near Immortal-level sects, a black-robed swordsman with cold eyes suddenly awoke from seclusion.

"Great Sun Sword Disciple..."

The name "Great Sun Sword Disciple" surfaced in the Heavenly Sword Sword Disciple's mind.

Some inexplicable sensation arose in his heart; he felt this name might appear again on his Dao path in the future, bringing him some trouble.

However, he did not issue an order to the sect to search for this person.

Because this was a cultivator of the same realm.

"Ant, grow."

"Grow quickly. When you appear before me again, I hope you can pose a life-or-death crisis to me..."

The Heavenly Sword Sword Disciple whispered.

He looked forward to his enemy growing, only to become his nourishment.

"Sword Disciple, have you encountered an enemy?"

"I will capture him for you immediately!"

A hazy Lei Ting figure materialized around him, bathed in endless Lei Ting rules, his aura extremely terrifying, yet his posture was humble, carrying an air of flattery.

"Lei Jun, please do not be so."

The Heavenly Sword Sword Disciple frowned and said, "A swordsman dying in battle against a peer is glory. You should watch my death without intervening; you should possess a cold heart."

"Yes, Sword Disciple."

The Lei Ting figure respectfully agreed.

In the Heavenly Sword Sword Disciple's heart, he understood that his orders would not be executed with absolute determination.

The Lei Yang Heavenly Sword Realm, compared to the ancient Nine Great Immortal Sects, though its strength was not inferior to theirs and even greater, lacked a certain foundation, a ruthlessness forged through countless ages of time.

This might be inevitable.

Brothers fought their way out from hardship, helping and relying on each other, walking out together to become one of the Nine Great Immortal Sects of the Great Thousand World; there was never any principle of watching brothers and juniors die without acting.

This deep emotional bond allowed the Lei Yang Heavenly Sword Realm to rise from bloody battles and destroy the ancient Immortal Sects.

At this moment, when the sect had firmly established its footing and faced no more major external threats, this perhaps became an obstacle to further development, and the future might exact a huge price.

"No, it will not."

"As long as I am here, the sect will forever be without worry..."

The Heavenly Sword Sword Disciple whispered.

In the starry sky, Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun and others watched the young man in green robes staring blankly into the distance, holding their breath.

Everyone knew that the newly born Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun had reached the final stage of advancing to Soul Transformation: the Heart Demon Tribulation.

If he passed it, another Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun with an extended lifespan of ten thousand years would be born.

If he failed, or delayed too long, allowing the injuries within his body to worsen completely,

the newly formed Primordial Spirit would disintegrate, resulting in death as well.

Within the domain, countless geniuses and heroes died from the Heart Demon Tribulation.

The surrounding void blurred, manifesting into countless real worlds.

If a cultivator harbored even a slight attachment, fear, apprehension, or curiosity, if their Dao heart had even a hairline crack, they would instantly sink into the Heart Demon and die.

A young man in green robes stood silently in the void, gripping a broken long sword.

Worlds spun before him.

Some were days from his childhood in Rongcheng, living with his mother and sister; the family was not wealthy or noble, but lived a fulfilling, comfortable, and warm life. Though these years were plain, looking back from two thousand years later, they were precious beyond measure.

In these two thousand years, this kind of family affection existed only in these memories, nothing else.

Indeed, even if he entered marriage, bore children, this kind of warm family might not appear again; a cultivator who had experienced countless trials, countless slaughters, and countless realizations of the Dao had changed greatly, and might no longer be able to generate such subtle emotions from childhood, such family affection.

This kind of emotion, let alone in the next thousand or three thousand years, might not exist again even in the next tens of thousands of years.

This kind of emotion made people attached, generating a strong reluctance to part.

Even knowing it was fake, many cultivators could not cut it off; the more they slaughtered billions, the more notorious for their ruthlessness and cruelty the Old Demons, Blood Demons, and Old Monsters were, the more this held true.

Their temperaments and lives were too extreme, with extreme fluctuations in emotion, rather unlike the calmness of high Daoist cultivators.

Possessing a complete family and a complete childhood was extremely important even for Soul Transformation cultivators.

"My childhood was happy and complete; there is no need to change anything."

Jiang Ding sighed.

He did not draw his sword; his movements were much gentler. With the Great Sun Annihilation Sword Intent, he severed the energy supply of this Heart Demon using the laws of Dharma Destruction and Prohibition, causing this warm world to vanish spontaneously.

Next came love.

There were many women: those from Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting, numerous servants who gave whatever was asked, the heavenly beauties of the Four Seas, and many women from the Immortal Sects; many of these emotions were sincere and beautiful.

Clang!

Jiang Ding drew his sword and slashed this world before him to destruction, without a word.

Next, the worlds cycled; the Heart Demon, insinuating itself everywhere, attacked from countless angles: friendship, greed, the longing for the Great Dao, and so on.

Some scenes showed the internal strife of the Nine Spirit Domain Immortal Sects ending in defeat, the Horned Demon Emperor slaughtering in all directions, the Horned Demon Imperial Clan army reviving, slaughtering billions of humans, and everyone dying in blood and fire;

some worlds showed the Immortal Sects dominating the world, ruling billions of domains, truly becoming Immortal Sects;

some showed civil wars erupting within the Immortal Sects, citizens attacking each other due to unequal distribution of interests,

fighting to the death, blood staining the mother star...

And so on; all were shattered and torn apart under beams of sword light. Nothing could make the cold swordsman pause even slightly; if there were obstacles ahead, they could simply be cut down with a single sword strike.

Whether internal or external enemies, there was only one thing to do: draw the sword.

The peace of this world, the tranquility of the universe's star rivers, can only be guaranteed through constant slaughter and constant struggle — never through some chance bestowment or a sage descending to show favor.

Every obstruction was utterly shattered.

Finally, the last world solidified, leaving the sword cultivator stunned; then the world expanded, spreading throughout all of heaven and earth, becoming real.

One after another, enemies — enemies worthy of attention along the way — appeared before Jiang Ding.

"Jiang Ding Zi!"

"Tushan…"

"By what means did you kill me?"

The first Jin Dan cultivator to die at Jiang Ding's hands, the Peacock Great King of the Tushan Demon Country, appeared; following him were Nascent Soul cultivators such as Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun and Ran Gu Master Dinghai Zhenjun, as well as Soul Transformation cultivators like Ice Phoenix Canghai Tianjun, Friend Friend Baizu, and Wan Zhu Canghai Tianjun.

Finally, there were the Horned Demon Imperial Clan's prodigies who had died most recently — the Ancient Prince of Ming Tian, the Ancient Emperor's Son of Cang Yan, the Emperor's Son of Cang Kong, and others.

They had been slain across realms, dying in utter humiliation.

"Tushan! By what means did you 【do it】?"

Ran Gu Master Dinghai Zhenjun, the Peacock Great King, and others had blood tears streaming from their eyes, questioning him with piercing grief.

"Jiang Ding Zi!"

"You are arrogant beyond compare — by what means did you slaughter the Imperial Clan's Emperor's Sons?"

The headless hundred-zhang giant bodies of the Horned Demon Imperial Clan cultivators — the Ancient Prince of Ming Tian, the Ancient Emperor's Son of Cang Yan, and others — likewise revived, questioning him with venomous hatred.

"Was it your extraordinary talent?"

"Was it your steadfast battle intent?"

"Was it your terrifying comprehension?"

These dead enemies questioned him one after another; the questioning turned into mockery, into derision: "None of them!"

"It is that in your hands you hold immortal-path techniques and an immortal-path civilization far surpassing ours, that you come from an immortal-path faction with deeper foundations — and so you crush us."

"In terms of talent, in terms of battle intent, in terms of comprehension — how much higher are you than us, really?"

"Indeed, this is the truth."

Jiang Ding neither affirmed nor denied, nodding slightly, no longer ignoring them.

The human race is far too dependent on civilization!

One need not necessarily join a faction, but one must obtain the legacies of many civilizations, immortal-path inheritances — otherwise one simply cannot go far.

His ability to defeat Ran Gu Master Dinghai Zhenjun and others across realms was, in truth, the result of mastering higher-tier immortal-path civilization achievements, thereby crushing the "natives."

In the past, this should have been commonplace.

Advantage is one's own; what the immortal-sect ancestors left behind for me should be used openly and honorably — how could it possibly stir the heart?

However, today…

The native — is about to be me myself.

As Jiang Ding continued to grow and continued to explore, he finally encountered an opponent whose birth, strength, foundations, and immortal-path civilization surpassed his own in every dimension.

Don't talk about leaving it for the future.

Such a powerhouse — a Sword Son of a near-immortal-tier faction — will grow at a terrifying pace; he will not stay in place waiting for others to catch up, and the gap will only grow wider.

It is very likely that today's battle is the moment when the gap between them will be smallest over the coming tens of thousands of years.