Chapter 1282: Returned to Hometown

After their walk, the two stunned individuals slowly made their way home.

Along the way, neighbors passed by occasionally, but none of them knew the three, and there was no resemblance in appearance to the neighbors from five thousand years ago.

"Everyone has already left..."

Lin Lin Wanqiu sighed softly.

She recalled many past times: many interesting neighbors, many close female friends, many good friends, many disliked colleagues—all now completely buried in time, never to be seen again.

They arrived downstairs in the residential complex.

"This dilapidated house hasn't collapsed yet?"

"It's been five thousand years!"

Jiang Yuan retorted with some astonishment.

In fact, it had not only not collapsed, but remained exactly as it was: every color, every hue, even a patch of wall peeling off here thousands of years ago was still peeling off now, no more and no less, identical to the original.

Time held no power here at all.

Jiang Ding smiled without speaking.

This was the power of the Fourth Realm of the Sword Dao, Undying, and it had become even more terrifying after he advanced to Soul Transformation.

It could be stated clearly that even if dozens of Soul Transformation cultivators unleashed spells in a relentless bombardment for a month, the Fulin Family Garden residential complex would undergo no change whatsoever; it would collapse and instantly restore itself, not even a single piece of children's graffiti from thousands of years ago would alter, its lines and textures remaining perfectly clear.

The three went upstairs; on the stairs, Lin Lin Wanqiu warmly greeted the neighbors, leaving them bewildered, forcing them to maintain etiquette with an awkward smile.

Creak~

The family door, sealed for nearly five thousand years, opened once more.

Then, a vast cloud of thick, dark dust surged toward them!

It was as if they had entered a coal mine shaft; dust filled every corner, flowing almost like a liquid, making one suspect the entire house had been stuffed with dust, so that the moment the door opened, it poured out incessantly.

"Cough... cough..."

Lin Lin Wanqiu and the other, caught off guard, were immediately choked.

"This..."

Jiang Ding felt somewhat embarrassed: "After you fell into slumber, I forgot about this place. It seems I haven't returned in three or four thousand years. You know, being alone at home is too lonely; I couldn't get used to it."

"Brother, didn't you even set up a cleaning formation?"

Jiang Yuan asked curiously.

"No."

"There wasn't one when you were here; I couldn't add one later, as that would destroy its original appearance. There was one originally, but I dismantled it later."

Jiang Ding stated decisively.

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword, infamous across realms, the nightmare in the hearts of countless Soul Transformation and Void Refinement cultivators, the treasure of the Void Refinement space that once annihilated numerous Emperor Princes, Ancient Emperor Princes, and the entire elite army of the Horned Demon Imperial Clan!

She had been unsheathed!

Sword Dao light blazed with ten thousand rays, sword intent exerted pressure in all directions, suppressing enemies from all heavens across the universe!

Then...

"Taiqing, time to work!"

Jiang Ding greeted her.

The Taiqing Flying Sword froze.

"Hi!"

"My blue-golden little tree, do you still remember me? The food you used to make was delicious."

Jiang Yuan waved.

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword returned a greeting, a crisp and pleasant sword sound, then went to work busily.

She whipped up a small whirlwind equivalent to a Qi Condensation Level One cultivator's spell, bustling about the room, picking up a broom, grabbing a dustpan, and beginning to clean the entire house.

"Let's start working too."

Lin Lin Wanqiu rolled up her sleeves and said enthusiastically.

Spare brooms, dustpans, and rags were kept inside the house, and they were even still placed in the old spot where Lin Lin Wanqiu usually liked to put them; she found them effortlessly and distributed them one by one to Jiang Ding and Jiang Yuan.

"This quality is truly excellent... it hasn't weathered even after five thousand years."

Jiang Yuan squeezed the broom and exclaimed, "Brother, did you do this?"

"Of course."

Jiang Ding said casually.

He picked up the broom, coordinated with the Taiqing Flying Sword, swept out large amounts of dust and trash, then temporarily forged trash bags one by one to pack the dust inside—the trash bags themselves were forged from dust; for a Soul Transformation Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, accomplishing such a task was effortless. Moreover, each trash bag was a supreme-grade magical artifact possessing the function of containing all things and living beings, including creatures like fleas and cockroaches.

Spiritual light bloomed in Jiang Ding's hand as he forged trash bag after trash bag, handing them to Jiang Yuan.

"Huh? You're doing this?"

Jiang Yuan was somewhat speechless.

What was the difference between this and taking off one's pants to fart?

"Ritual sense, ritual sense."

"You don't understand."

Jiang Ding rolled his eyes: "This Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun hasn't done such rough work for thousands of years; it's not like you, a Foundation Establishment little cultivator, who is just unaccustomed to it for the moment."

"Heh~"

The family worked busily for several hours before finishing the cleaning, and the home once again regained its brightness and cleanliness.

Everything and anything had once again returned to how it used to be.

It was just like a certain afternoon from nearly five thousand years ago — Jiang Ding coming home after high school, exactly the same, without a single change.

The sofa, the television, the tea table, the bowls and chopsticks… nothing had changed.

"Hoo~"

Jiang Ding and Jiang Yuan lay flat on the sofa like seasoned pros, letting out a long breath, not wanting to move.

Lin Lin Wanqiu, meanwhile, was in the kitchen, considering what to eat tonight.

"Brother,"

"The TV's broken."

Jiang Yuan fiddled with the television for a while, then turned her head and said.

A spot of light flickered on the screen, then went dark.

"……"

"Broken?!"

Jiang Ding felt his face get slapped.

Clearly, under the shroud of the Indestructible Sword Intent, everything should have been fine — not a single trace of damage.

Jiang Ding swept his divine sense over it and quickly found the problem.

"Damn it!"

"The Indestructible Sword Intent can't actually warranty electronic components — a few points inside have short-circuited. Hold on, let me try to fix it…"

Jiang Ding took out a piece of fourth-tier spirit metal of the Lei Ting attribute, smelted it, and used spatial teleportation to solder the short-circuit points on the TV's electronic components — electric light crackled and flickered.

"Done, should be fine now."

"Let me try it."

Jiang Yuan turned on this antique with over five thousand years of history. Light flickered inside for a moment, and the picture came on — it was an animation of Little Green Immortal. But the characters were a bit distorted, hazy and blurred, and in some places there were even things like mosaics.

Jiang Yuan turned her head.

"It should be a problem with the signal adapter."

Jiang Ding immediately said: "Nowadays citizens all like watching those immersive holographic projections — they don't really care for these old-fashioned flat-screen TVs. They're almost gone. Every TV station and film company has stopped producing this kind of programming, so when it's broadcast to our TV, the picture gets a bit distorted."

"It's all holographic projection now?"

Jiang Yuan was a bit stunned.

She seemed to have fallen way behind the times.

But then, she got excited again.

After five thousand years, how many — how many movies, how many games must have been developed? This time she was going to watch until she was full, never having to chase updates again!

"It needs a special adapter."

"Hold on, I'll get one from Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun's clone — old folks like him love this kind of TV, and they even specially researched and produced these special components."

Jiang Ding drifted off for a moment, then returned to normal.

He reached his hand deep into the spatial layer and fished out a black box.

He set the black box beside the television, fiddled with it for a moment, and the TV screen instantly returned to normal — it was playing an animation, a children's cartoon about a sword-immortal girl.

(End of this chapter)