Chapter 1252: The Heritage of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Becomes Nourishment for the Immortal Gate

Lord Dingding Canghai Tianjun and the Soul Transformation cultivators of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace bowed their heads respectfully.

Though their hearts were bitter, none of them raised any obstruction, and none flew into a humiliated rage, swearing to prove their resolve with blood — every cultivator of this Mo Sect, high and low, was terrifyingly pragmatic, terrifyingly rational.

"Truly tempting."

"Fellow daoists, you are all dragons and phoenixes among men, men who see the bigger picture, willing to accept a loss and honor the wager — admirable, truly admirable."

Jiang Ding praised.

The greed that had welled up in his heart vanished just as quickly as it had come, stirring not the slightest ripple in his heart-lake.

"What a pity…"

Jiang Ding sighed.

"Senior Guicong has not yet returned to the heavens; he still possesses the ability to take revenge upon the mother star and every Minor Thousand World beyond the Nine Spirit Realm, and can single-handedly slaughter every place outside the two great Ducheng of the immortal gate."

"Fellow daoists, set your minds at ease for now."

"Aside from being forbidden from leaving Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, you are not prisoners."

Jiang Ding said lightly: "Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace shall, for now, continue exactly as before. I have come here this time for two reasons — first, I wish to browse through the scripture vaults of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace and its inheritances… top-tier inheritances aside, surely you have mid- and lower-tier inheritances, yes?"

A vast quantity of mid- and lower-tier immortal dao inheritances is equally important to the immortal gate — in fact, no less so than the few top-tier inheritances — and can greatly enrich the collections of the immortal gate's library.

"……"

Lord Dingding Canghai Tianjun dared not reply.

Nevertheless, he turned and bowed deeply toward the heavenly palace's scripture vault.

"That will do."

Jiang Ding nodded slightly: "Secondly, a team of three hundred thousand from the immortal gate's immortal dao examination corps will be stationed here for three centuries, conducting investigations into Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace's alchemy, planting, spirit beasts, artifact-forging, incense divine dao, and other fields, absorbing the various merits of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace in these industries. I ask that you all cooperate when the time comes."

"This is a perfectly ordinary matter."

"In the past, when we joined forces to attack Jiao Jiao Mingyu, we likewise exchanged students, learning from one another, advancing together — this time is naturally no different."

Jiang Ding said casually: "Fellow daoist Lord Dingding, you send a few dozen of your own to study at Qingfeng University for a year or two. We each give, and there is no question of higher or lower."

"Dayan Jianzi, you are most sagely!"

Lord Dingding Canghai Tianjun bowed deeply.

The surrounding Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace likewise bowed in salute, raising no objection whatsoever to this arrangement.

"Very good."

Jiang Ding nodded.

He did not tour anything further, going straight to the scripture vault of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, and under the protection of the immortal gate's Dao Merging-grade grand formation, began to access the vast inheritances of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, recording them and transmitting them to the immortal gate's library.

……

The immortal gate's three-hundred-thousand-strong immortal dao examination corps took up station in Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, conducting investigations into every aspect of the place.

No

t only here — at Tianji Xiangong, Senior Wanji True Honored One likewise led an examination corps to arrive, conducting extensive research and sealing away vast quantities of mid- and low-tier inheritances.

This was a kind of tacit understanding.

Out of wariness toward the undying Dao Merging Divine Monarch of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, the immortal gate would not take vengeance upon his mountain gate, but Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong likewise had to offer up something reasonable — otherwise, the destruction of these mid- and low-tier inheritances would be the work of a single instant for a great cultivator, and nothing would be left behind.

For the first time, complete mountain gates of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong lay open before the immortal gate, and the immortal dao wisdom contained within would surely benefit the immortal gate immensely.

However, Senior Wanji True Honored One and Great Sun Canghai Tianjun merely carved out time for these matters — opening the work, deterring the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong cultivators — and then handed the rest off to other cultivators of the immortal gate to carry out.

They had more important matters: the central array-spirit computer was advancing to Dao Merging.

……

Boom!

Fifty years later, accompanied by the descent of Lei Ting, the sound echoed in all directions.

Within the Star Demon Tree, the nine Void Refinement powerhouses of the immortal gate sighed softly, pausing their research on the soul structure of Brother Xuanwu's avatar.

"It's a great cultivator of Wuxingtian Sect."

Zhenjun Shenji True Honored One said: "An old friend of ours — we should see him off with greater ceremony."

Several more centuries passed, and the immortal gate saw another two hundred-plus cultivators advance to Soul Transformation. An Siyan, Jin Jin Lingfeng, and that batch of slumbering cultivators had all awakened, undergone Tribulation Crossing, and successfully advanced to Soul Transformation.

To date, the immortal gate already possessed over thirteen hundred Soul Transformation cultivators!

Nascent Soul, Jin Dan, and the like had likewise increased greatly in number.

With the terrifying resources of nearly two hundred Minor Thousand Worlds spanning two domains behind them, the cultivation environment of the immortal gate's cultivators was now sumptuous in the extreme — a hundred times better, at the very least, than in Jiang Ding's era.

Any citizen of the immortal gate was born a great wealthy person; the various benefits and treatments were things the students of Jiang Ding's era could never have imagined.

According to this year's census of mother star citizens, among the hundreds of billions of mortals on the mother star, innate martial artists now made up seventy-seven point nine percent.

One could say that, setting aside the elderly and children, virtually every citizen started as an innate martial artist!

Even if one were not a Young Eagle-grade innate, an ordinary innate was easily within reach — no difficulty at all — so long as one was not too lazy, it was something one would obtain simply by completing compulsory education normally.

This was the war dividend the immortal gate had reaped, extending even to mortal citizens.

Benefiting from the growth in the number of powerful citizens, the immortal gate's fleet had now expanded to over one hundred fifty million, with every class of warship having undergone upgrades to varying degrees — stronger, faster — and the strength of the immortal gate citizen fleet had likewise grown enormously, a notch more powerful than several centuries ago.

It was expected that the number of Soul Transformation cultivators in the immortal gate would continue to grow rapidly, until it reached roughly fifteen hundred, at which point it would gradually halt.

It was not that resources had run out.

In fact, resources were still plentiful — at the very least, opportunities for Soul Transformation existed.

But all the slumbering cultivators had already awakened — either dying or successfully crossing tribulation — and the immortal gate simply no longer had enough talent left; the talent pool had been mined to its limit.

Immortal gate citizens of sufficient aptitude and diligence could obtain an opportunity for Soul Transformation upon reaching the peak of Nascent Soul, without needing to slumber.

That hundreds of billions of mother star citizens could give birth to so many powerhouses was nothing short of a miracle — a terrifyingly high rate of producing talent — and a tremendous success for the immortal gate's education system.

Yet this was the limit.

Many citizens simply lacked the innate talent and diligence required.

They just aren't smart enough.

Or perhaps they simply want to enjoy life, unwilling to endure the hardships of cultivation, spouting a set of crooked logic like "life is short, seize the pleasure while you can," and refusing to put in any effort.

Can you force them to cultivate against their will?

This is the limit.

According to the calculations of the Central Array Spirit computer, relying on the nearly two hundred-plus Minor Thousand Worlds and the Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie Nine Spirit Realm, the Immortal Gate will possess at most two thousand Soul Transformation cultivators, and then stabilize.

Soul Transformation cultivators die, new Soul Transformation cultivators are born, the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death repeats, and the number will no longer continue to increase with the passage of time. This is the ultimate potential of the several billion population of the mother star.

At least, it is the limit of the current Immortal Dao's technological level.

If one wishes to continue growing, there are only two paths: continue increasing the mother star's population, or absorb outside geniuses. These two paths are perhaps not in conflict, but rather can coexist.

Reform is imperative.

These problems, after the war ends and the situation completely stabilizes, will inevitably erupt.

Under the watchful eyes of numerous Immortal Gate cultivators, a hundred years later, the Lei Gao Jie dark clouds dispersed, and another Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Dao Merging Divine Monarch appeared between heaven and earth. What greeted him was a world-destroying volley of ship cannons and the bombardment of the Taibai Youming Sky-Patrolling Arrows.

In the end, the Wuxingtian Sect grand cultivator, with injuries even more severe than those of the Tianji Xiangong grand cultivator, was left with only half a body and fled in disarray.