Chapter 1259: The Heavenly Dao Chess Game in the Universe

In the blink of an eye, three hundred years slipped away.

To the realm domains, this span was negligible, yet for the Immortal Gate it was three hundred years of explosive progress in Immortal Dao technology. Backed by the computational power of Path-Integration-grade divine souls, the Immortal Gate achieved breakthroughs across multiple Immortal Dao technologies.

Two hundred years ago, in year, all nine scriptures of the Immortal Gate completed their breakthroughs. While each now possessed a Void Refinement Peak-grade inheritance, their potential and foundation were no longer inferior to the Void Refinement chapters of the Great Sun Sword Scripture, and for the first time they surpassed Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong cultivators of the same rank in both magic power and divine sense.

Of course, this did not mean Immortal Gate cultivators could win one-on-one duels against Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong peers — in fact, they still could not, because Immortal Gate cultivators were never meant for solo combat.

Furthermore, the Immortal Gate's nine scriptures surpassing the eight great sects at the same rank did not mean they could be compared to the techniques of the Upper Realm Immortal Sects.

The inheritances obtained by the Nine Spirit Domain Immortal Sects were only secondary inheritances from the Upper Realm Immortal Sects — castrated versions, and could not be equated with true Upper Realm Immortal Sect inheritances.

One hundred and fifty years ago, in year, the Immortal Gate's first seventh-grade material, Synthetic Synthetic Gengjin No. 1, equivalent to a lower seventh-grade material, was successfully mass-produced and walked out of the laboratory, with production costs dropping dramatically.

Although the cost was still considerable, it could now be applied beyond the Taibai Youming Sky-Patrol Arrows — for instance, reinforcing critical components of the Central Array Spirit Computer, and upgrading the main cannon of the Free Immortal Gate ship, so they were no longer so strapped.

This was the achievement of Yuan and his team; the patent rights belonged to them as well, and Senior Wanji Master Dinghai Zhenjun's plan to overtake them from behind fell through.

In addition, there was Tao Qing Master Dinghai Zhenjun, who along with her team developed sixth-grade spiritual-vein plants, now ready for cultivation, bearing rice ears once every three hundred years.

Long-term consumption would surely further solidify the foundations of many Soul Transformation cultivators, adding another sliver of possibility for Void Refinement. However, although the sixth-grade spirit wheat was mass-produced, it remained very expensive — ordinary cultivators could not afford such luxury.

Tao Qing Master Dinghai Zhenjun and her team therefore made a fortune, their wealth exploding.

There was also Zhenjun Shenji Master Dinghai Zhenjun and his team, who achieved breakthroughs in Array Spirit Yan Suan Fa Immortal Dao industrial smelting procedures, boosting the output of Synthetic Synthetic Gengjin No. 1, and likewise made a killing.

And so on, and so forth…

Within the Immortal Gate, breakthroughs in Immortal Dao technology were always the best way to strike it rich.

The Immortal Gate Sword Dao Science Academy developed a planetary-grade ship cannon, DRTJ-003, incorporating the Six Paths of Reincarnation energy-gathering structure. Its performance generally exceeded market cannons by a wide margin, successfully securing seventy percent of the next five hundred years' orders for meteor-grade and planetary-grade warship cannons, gaining a massive source of wealth.

This concerned the overall development of the Immortal Gate.

For Jiang Ding himself, his Six Paths of Reincarnation structure, deeply embedded into Immortal Gate industry, had once again undergone great development, bringing him closer to Path-grade order. He seemed to already glimpse a sliver of possibility for breakthrough, his strength advancing another large step — among Void Refinement cultivators, he could no longer be counted as weak.

Combined with certain array formations and traps, it seemed not impossible to slay an early Void Refinement cultivator.

However, this was merely an incidental achievement from advancing the Immortal Gate's Immortal Dao industry.

Over these three hundred years, aside from being busy with Immortal Gate affairs, Jiang Ding spent most of his spare time, when not refining flying swords or cultivating, on applying his divine-soul computational power to develop the Metal-Attributed Karmic Sword Escape Art.

Currently, a rudimentary form had already emerged.

"Golden-Winged Great Peng Dao-Slaying Sword…"

Jiang Ding murmured.

In his gaze, a scene seemed to appear.

With one sword slash, endless Metal-Attributed karma coalesced into the hazy phantom of an ancient divine bird, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, a blue-gold flying sword clutched in its sharp beak, plunging into the Heavenly Dao Law Web and vanishing in an instant.

With one sword slash, karma, aura, lingering spiritual energy and divine sense — all vanished without a trace, just like the sword's master.

Currently, this Sword Escape Art was roughly sixty percent complete.

The remainder required a deeper understanding of Metal-Attributed karma — in other words, it would be best to directly comprehend the immortal art fragment sealed by Zou Zou Xiyuan in Dayang Dayang Tianchi.

This required careful long-term planning; after all, breaking Zou Zou Xiyuan's seal without triggering the self-destruct array was extremely difficult — mastery of Path-Integration-grade power alone was not enough.

"Another three hundred years…"

Jiang Ding gazed at the sky and sighed deeply.

As his realm rose, time seemed to grow ever cheaper. Three hundred years passed in what felt like the blink of an eye — before he could accomplish much, the time was already gone.

Hum—!

At that moment, an incomparably terrifying pressure suddenly descended between heaven and earth, causing the Heavenly Dao Law Web to collapse and deform, making the branches of Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong — rooted throughout the entire Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie — rustle violently. Many outer branches and leaves curled into balls, suffering a fearsome external force that even the Path-Integration divine tree could not ignore.

"Factoring in the influence of Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu's greater powers, it seems the timing is about right."

Jiang Ding was neither alarmed nor surprised, speaking to himself.

He looked toward the distant starry sky and indeed saw eight towering, hazy, terrifying figures, their auras immensely vast, their pressure blanketing an entire stretch of sky.

However, this time they displayed no direct killing intent — more composed than last time, and they did not step into the Immortal Gate grand formation's attack range.

"Yuan,"

"Come out for a chat!"

The Tianji Xiangong greater power growled.

"Haha!"

"Of course, no objection."

Yuan laughed heartily, his figure appearing at the center of the Immortal Gate grand formation, not refusing communication.

After a moment's thought, he activated the military formation, carrying himself along with a sliver of divine soul from Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, Zhenjun Shenji Master Dinghai Zhenjun, and seven others, projecting them tens of thousands of kilometers away to a calm stretch of starry sky.

Here, too,

the projections were tens of thousands of kilometers from the greater powers' true bodies — fair to both sides.

Jiang Ding did not refuse, parting off a wisp of divine sense and letting Yuan take it along.

……

In this stretch of starry sky, the projections of eight greater powers and nine Void Refinement cultivators of the Immortal Gate appeared.

Stripped of the support of hundreds of millions of citizens, the disparity in aura between the two sides instantly widened. Although the Immortal Gate had nine people, they were far from comparable to any single greater power — even though both sides were merely projections, with no real power flowing in, the gap was still obvious at a glance.

However, the eight greater powers showed nothing on account of this.

"Yuan, since we're at leisure, let's have a game of chess."

The Tianji Xiangong greater power said calmly.

Without waiting for Yuan's reply, he casually drew in the void with his finger — nineteen rows vertical, nineteen rows horizontal — spreading across thousands of kilometers in the starry sky, forming a colossal chessboard world.

Jiang Ding focused his breath and concentrated.

As he looked toward this starry-sky chessboard, an instant flood of information about rules and Great Daos surged toward him, nearly bursting his divine soul on the spot, the pain unceasing.

How could this be a chessboard —

It was clearly the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao Law Web!

For a Void Refinement cultivator, this was a deluge of information enough to instantly burst his divine soul; a divine soul could not set foot on such a chessboard, far from having such a qualification.

Hum!

At this moment, Yuan pointed with one finger, and a azure-blue primordial magnetism light bloomed.

In an instant, the might of the Immortal Gate's three-billion-citizen fleet battle formation descended upon him, the computational power of hundreds of millions of citizens' divine souls merged into one whole, and the central formation spirit computer provided full computational auxiliary support.

This primordial magnetism light shot toward the starry sky chessboard, likewise running nineteen lines lengthwise and crosswise, drawing out a chessboard, which slowly descended and perfectly overlapped with the chessboard drawn by the great power of the Celestial Mystery Xiangong, indistinguishable above or below.

"Play a game?"

"That would be excellent."

Yuan nodded slightly: "Between realms, there is too much bloodshed; the Immortal Gate has always favored peace and does not wish to create further killing karma."

"Senior's such refined interest — nothing could be better."