Chapter 1291: Great Thousand World, Nine Hundred and Twenty-One Domains

Jiang Ding shot through the sky, his speed incredibly fast—about half again faster than a conventional peak Soul Transformation cultivator, befitting his status as a prodigy ascending from a Minor Thousand World.

Before completely shedding possible surveillance, he was the strongest being from a Minor Thousand World, merely one notch weaker than Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun.

Along the way, mountains and rivers, earth and sky, flashed by at great speed; he passed seventeen mortal kingdoms and five cultivation sects, among them four Nascent Soul-level sects and one Jin Dan-level sect. The Gong Fa they cultivated all stemmed from a single source, carrying a trace of the aura of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect's Gen Ben Gong Fa, the "Nine Heavens Thunder Canon," serving as its Qi Xia Wei Gong.

These small sects were all founded generation after generation by disciples of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect, acting as subordinate forces responsible for planting, breeding, mining, and similar tasks. They were one of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect's assets, merely manifested in the form of sects rather than being independent powers.

"The place where the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect resides is named the Thunder Fire Domain, one of the nine hundred and twenty-one domains of the Great Thousand World, classified as a Lower Domain."

"Is there any connection between the name 'Domain' and the Nine Great Immortal Sects referring to the Nine Spirit Domain as a 'Domain'?"

Jiang Ding silently recalled the memories captured by Zou Zou Xiyuan through soul-searching a Soul Transformation expert named Qing Lei True Venerable.

This is the homeland of the Nine Great Immortal Sects.

Many things possess cultural heritage, and among them, there is much that can be excavated.

The term 'Great Thousand World' for this 'World' is highly misleading; in reality, it is a nebulous region formed by the condensation, concentration, and aggregation of numerous star domains, a place where countless life worlds are concentrated, not as simple as a single world.

"Two powers exist in this Lower Domain: the first is the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect, and the second is the Blood Lake Bone Mountain. The two sects are in endless conflict, neither able to overcome the other."

"In fact, neither can overcome the other."

"Because both Soul Transformation-level True Sects are protected by an Immortal Sect—the Immortal Artifact Sect."

"Without permission, or if rules are violated, in fact, neither sect could possibly annex the other; this is not what the Immortal Artifact Sect wishes to see."

Jiang Ding quickly compared the various things he had seen with the political situation in his memories.

"However, the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect and the Blood Lake Bone Mountain are not subordinates of the Immortal Artifact Sect; the relationship between the two is semi-independent. This is because 'Domain Barriers' exist within the various domains of the Great Thousand World. Experts above the Soul Transformation level will suffer immense suppression when traversing them, and teleportation arrays cannot exempt them."

"This natural advantage leads to strong independent tendencies among powers everywhere in the Great Thousand World, preventing the formation of a unified force. This is a major reason why existences below the Immortal level cannot control the Great Thousand World. The Heavenly Dao consciousness of the Great Thousand World suppresses this possibility, striving to absolutely forbid the emergence of existences that would cause immense harm."

"In history, Immortal Sects have also attempted to achieve complete unification and actual control over every place."

Jiang Ding flipped through his memories.

"For instance,"

"they would disperse their elite disciples to various domains to serve as Domain Lords, but once several generations passed, these Immortal Sect disciples would similarly transform into semi-independent forces, not fully obeying the Immortal Sect's orders."

"However, this does not mean these True Sects and Dao Sects can ignore the Immortal Sect's orders."

"Once an Immortal Sect is willing to invest more attention, even at a loss, to annihilate a domain's power, it is equally achievable; it is merely a choice of cost."

"After countless years of friction, struggle, and slaughter, this political landscape was finally formed."

"That is, numerous True Sects and Dao Sects pledge loyalty to the Immortal Sect, offering tributes upwards and performing military service, while the Immortal Sect guarantees the interests of these True Sects and Dao Sects, occasionally using Lei Ting to suppress and annihilate one or two True Sects or Dao Sects to assert authority, ensuring the Dao Sects and True Sects dare not harbor treacherous thoughts."

"The heavenly treasures and earthly products offered upwards by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect account for about eighty percent of their output!"

Comparing this with the share in his memories, Jiang Ding silently clicked his tongue in astonishment.

"The Immortal Artifact Sect is truly the same stubborn type as the Shang Qing Ling Bao Sect; if they can squeeze out ten spirit stones, they will never take only nine, calculating with absolute precision."

"However, this is actually a good thing. The heritage of the Shang Qing Ling Bao Sect has limits; the Immortal Gate could consider annihilating it first."

Exactly!

The sect originating from the Shang Qing Ling Bao Sect, one of the Nine Great Immortal Sects of the Nine Spirit Domain, was the Ling Bao Realm. After the Ling Bao Realm survived the Great Calamity, it changed its sect name to the Immortal Artifact Sect.

A coup seemingly occurred within, changing the dynasty.

One side of the coup seemingly introduced the newly ascended Immortal Sect, the Lei Yang Tian Sword Realm. Of course, the specific details were unclear even to Qing Lei True Venerable, who dared not pry.

This Near-Immortal-level power successfully survived the Great Calamity; therefore, it is highly probable they will not open all their heritage to the distant heritage seeds. This is the principle of strengthening the trunk while weakening the branches; at least, the heritage of the Sun Moon Sword Pavilion is explicitly stipulated this way.

Jiang Ding flew over mountains and rivers, quickly assessing the surrounding environment.

"The resources are extremely abundant!"

"If one excludes the eighty percent tribute paid to the Immortal Sect, and adds the resources from various ascended Minor Worlds, this mere Lower Domain actually produces output comparable to the entire Jiao Ming Domain!"

"It is terrifying. The Jiao Ming Domain contains over four hundred Minor Thousand Worlds plus one Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie. Even excluding the dead silence of the starry sky, the size of the living minor worlds alone is at least a hundred times that of the Thunder Flame Domain."

"Such a small place produces such vast heavenly treasures and earthly products, and it is merely a Lower Domain."

Jiang Ding was shocked in his heart.

Witnessing it with his own eyes, he gained a deeper understanding of the wealth of the Upper Realm.

This is merely a Lower Domain. What spectacle would it be for an Immortal Sect that gathers the heavenly treasures and earthly products of numerous Middle Domains and Upper Domains, possesses vast starry domains, and owns numerous Minor Thousand Worlds?

What kind of foundation would the Dao Disciples and Sword Disciples of an Immortal Sect possess?

At this moment, even

he felt a hint of frustration and despair in his heart, which was immediately extinguished by the Materialist Sun Sword Intent, leaving his Dao Heart unaffected.

"The aptitude of human cultivators in the Great Thousand World..."

Jiang Ding quickly began assessing another aspect.

"Mortals without spiritual roots are extremely rare, one in a billion. The concentration of spiritual energy here is too high; over countless years, living beings have completed generation after generation of evolution. Lacking a spiritual root is actually a mutation, not common."

"The worst aptitude is four spiritual roots; almost everyone has this."

"Then come three spiritual roots, the number is also considerable; two spiritual roots are fewer; heavenly spiritual roots are still extremely rare, but the absolute number is at least a hundred times that of a Minor Thousand World."

"However... although the aptitude is like this, the number of cultivators is not very large; it has not reached the point of everyone being a cultivator. The vast majority are still mortals."

Jiang Ding felt slightly puzzled.

He swept with his divine sense and discovered the reason.

"The concentration of spiritual energy is too high!"

"In such an environment, extremes reverse; it causes many living beings to lose their sensitivity to spiritual energy, resulting in a certain dulling. Often, only those with three spiritual roots can embark on the Immortal Path, while those with four spiritual roots become mortals in a certain sense... Is this related to the regulation by the Heavenly Dao consciousness?"

"To prevent too many cultivators from appearing, swarming like locusts, harming the Immortal Path ecosystem?"

"There are also numerous plants, numerous ores, materials... these are things the Immortal Gates have never discovered before, brand new materials. These treasures of nature will surely drive significant progress in the material science of the Immortal Gates."

The endless treasures of the Creator..."

Jiang Ding was overjoyed in his heart.

Even if there are no further gains ahead, these brand new natural materials alone constitute a major fortune!

All these thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind.

In the distance, the royal capital of a mortal kingdom appeared before his eyes—its population numbering in the millions, many immortal Dao techniques already finding initial application, allowing the city's scale to expand enormously. It was no mere ordinary mortal kingdom.

Jiang Ding chose to descend in a corner of the imperial palace, set up a concealment formation, closed his eyes, and began healing his wounds, waiting.

(End of chapter)