Chapter 1173: The Key to Catching Up with the Great Sun Sword Child Lies in the Immortal Gate

Jiang Ding's confusion showed without any concealment; within the Immortal Gate he had always been very relaxed, not caring about keeping his joy and anger from showing on his face.

"Senior, how does one chase after a person whose strength, background, flying sword, and potential are all far superior to one's own?"

He asked the seniors around him.

These seniors were all his teachers; when he had questions, there was no need to hide them, just ask them directly.

"Chase after a prodigy stronger than yourself?"

Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun was taken aback.

He thought of that figure within the Lei Gao Jie.

That figure who was clearly only at the Hua Shen Chu Qi realm, yet could easily beat the Great Sun Sword Child to the point of vomiting blood—if such a person were a True Person, they must surely come from an extremely terrifying faction, mastering immortal dao achievements far beyond the Immortal Gate's current exploration limits.

He fell into thought, giving no response for a long time.

Jiang Ding waited patiently.

High-level cultivators think for a very long time, just like a supercomputer; when making major decisions, they tend to estimate huge data variables such as changes in the political situation, changes in spiritual qi tides, military development, and shifts in internal political struggles.

The more one knows, the more one knows, and the more one fears the unknown.

Therefore, high-level cultivators are actually slower than ordinary people when thinking through major questions, because ordinary people ignore the complex variables that should be referenced—their divine soul computing power is too weak, lacking the ability to incorporate numerous variables into their calculations.

Several months later.

"Your question reminds me of when the Immortal Gate was rising."

"Do you know what it was like back then?"

Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun's gaze was as deep as the stars.

"According to the historical records—"

Jiang Ding recalled for a moment: "Back then, the Immortal Gate's original materialist civilization was interrupted by the Blood Cloud Sect, a subordinate sect of Brother Brother Xuanwu's Heavenly Palace. The governments and organizations of every nation on the entire planet were slaughtered by the Blood Cloud Sect, and all citizens of the home star were reduced to the Blood Cloud Sect's slaves and furnace cauldrons, unable to resist."

"At that time, the Immortal Gate's materialist civilization was still weak; at most it could pose a threat to Nascent Soul cultivators, anything higher was insufficient."

"After several thousand years of subjugation, the Immortal Gate's first-generation Ruler Yuan was born. He used his own divine soul and a treasure obtained from a chance encounter as raw materials to develop the first-generation Central Array Spirit Computer.

The moment the Central Array Spirit Computer came into being, Yuan simultaneously died. Thereafter, generations of the Immortal Gate's outstanding talents continuously iterated upon this foundation, and only then did the Immortal Gate's current Central Array Spirit Computer come into being, suppressing the realm's star river…"

"…You mean, this is the path by which the Immortal Gate caught up with civilizations far surpassing itself?"

Jiang Ding seemed to grasp something.

"Yes."

"You asked how to chase after an immortal dao prodigy whose civilization far surpasses our own, and I immediately thought of the Immortal Gate's history."

"History."

Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun fell into reminiscence.

The Immortal Gate is only a little over ten thousand years old to this day; much of the Immortal Gate's history is actually his personal experience, not as thin and flat as the history in books in the eyes of later generations.

"Starting from Yuan, compared to the Soul Transformation sect Blood Cloud Sect back then, wasn't the Immortal Gate precisely an immortal dao civilization that far surpassed itself?"

"You say you are confused; the citizens of Blue Glow Star back then were equally confused."

"I heard from my teacher, the Immortal Gate's sixth-generation Ruler Wu, that at that time, before the first-generation Ruler Yuan appeared, almost everyone including him completely denied all the spiritual and material civilization achievements of the home star."

A look of reverence and admiration appeared on Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun's face.

"All the home star's citizens believed their own civilization was inferior, low-class; the so-called citizen political system was wrong, the foolish delusions of mortals; from morality to blood vessels, we were entirely filthy, born to be slaves."

"This was the thinking in the bones of many citizens at that time."

"In contrast, cultivators like the Blood Cloud Sect stood high above; mortals were like ants, casually slaughtering billions to refine treasures was glorious and correct—that was the bearing of immortals, and the most correct path of immortal dao was the path of the Blood Cloud Sect."

"Everything on Blue Glow Star was an obstacle on the immortal dao, foolish and laughable."

"At that time, almost all citizens thought this way, including Yuan's younger brother—an Immortal Gate citizen of outstanding talent and sentiment. He had obtained massive resources accumulated through the blood and tears of countless Immortal Gate citizens serving as furnace cauldrons, concubines, and slaves, and many citizens pinned their hopes on him."

"However, when he hit the bottleneck at the peak of Jin Dan and could advance no further, he began to blame and resent his citizen origins, believing this origin had dragged him down, believing those backward and foolish customs and concepts had dragged him down, causing heart demons to sprout within him and his cultivation to fail to advance."

"Therefore, in the end he chose to betray the citizens and the Central Array Spirit Computer, directly leading to the deaths of the second and third-generation Rulers, and only by sheer luck did the spark of the future survive."

Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun's voice was very calm, not showing too much resentment.

"You ask me how to chase after a civilization that surpasses our own?"

"I think it is to follow the path of the Immortal Gate's forebears, step by step promoting the growth of the Immortal Gate's civilization, moving toward Dao Merging, toward above Dao Merging, and even higher realms, walking step by step, achieving mutual accomplishment with the Immortal Gate."

"As for that stronger prodigy, my suggestion is: do not be impatient for the moment, leave it for the future."

"Do not be impatient for the moment, leave it for the future?"

Jiang Ding silently repeated this sentence.

The fate of that betrayer of the citizens, he did not ask.

The Immortal Gate became a hegemon of the realm, destroyed the Blood Cloud Sect—that was the answer, nothing more.

The Immortal Gate was able to grow from being a slave of a subordinate sect of Brother Brother Xuanwu's Heavenly Palace into a hegemon of the realm in such a short time, and is now about to become a Dao Merging-level faction, about to surpass the peak strength of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion in history—this undoubtedly proves the Immortal Gate's potential is limitless, and the future lies with us.

Do not be impatient for the moment, leave it for the future.

In the future, after absorbing countless wisdom achievements, after absorbing the wisdom of countless prodigies and heroes across the realms, the Immortal Gate will surely rise again; at that time, even Jiang Jiang Jinxian-level factions should be feared without fear.

"I understand."

Jiang Ding took a deep breath.

In the short term, lying low and enduring remains necessary; patiently wait for the Immortal Gate to grow. In this process, citizens as the main body, and prodigies and heroes from beyond the realm as supplements—both are indispensable.

This, is the Great Dao.

Patience, patience, until becoming an immortal.

"Has your Great Sun Soul Transformation Strategy been finalized? The one from many years ago?"

Divine Mechanism Canghai Tianjun changed the subject and asked.

"Yes, that very one, there will be no changes."

Jiang Ding nodded.

The Soul Transformation Strategy is a national policy by which the Immortal Gate supports newly emerged Soul Transformation cultivators, but how much influence it can exert depends mainly on the policy's sustainability, and on the Soul Transformation cultivator himself.

In recent times, the most famous examples — the distant Soul Transformation Strategy alliance with Wuxingtian Sect, Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun seizing the opportunity of internal strife within Badaxian Sect to boldly march out and take over more than ten Minor Thousand Worlds, Xu Yan's industrial chain family-based Soul Transformation Strategy… all of them were precisely like this.

Behind these famous Soul Transformation Strategies, one should also see that many Soul Transformation Strategies remained obscure, merely developing a few industries, a few research projects, helping specific Soul Transformation cultivators grow, and producing no great impact.

This is precisely the difference in policy sustainability — whether it can gain the support of the broadest citizens, whether it continues to invest massive manpower and material resources.

Jiang Ding's Soul Transformation Strategy, after more than a thousand years of fermentation and dissemination, has basically become something known to all citizens — this is a tremendous advantage, and rashly changing it would undoubtedly mean abandoning that advantage.

"But should we implement it now…"

Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun asked.

We are currently in a wartime state, and many government affairs are suspended, but if the Great Sun Sword Son personally pushes it forward, it might not be impossible to change.

"No need."

"Only when the realm war is won, the Immortal Gate's living space expands enormously, resources become so abundant they cannot be digested, and the Immortal Gate's manpower is insufficient to rule such vast realms — only at such a time is the moment to launch the Great Sun Soul Transformation Strategy."

Jiang Ding refused.

This concerned his great undertaking of catching up with the Heavenly Sword Son and becoming an immortal; there was no rush for the moment.