Chapter 1323: The Great Sun Sword Cultivator Without a Powerful Enemy Will Die

No matter how intense the pain, after enough time to adapt, it will weaken.

No matter how powerful the enemy, they can be cut down with a sword.

Jiang Ding cradled the Taiqing Flying Sword; amid the endless radiance, his tightly furrowed brow gradually eased, slowly adapting, his expression growing tranquil and serene.

The powerful tempering brought by the Sun Sacrifice Sword Art gradually faded into something subtle and formless; the sword cultivator's soul and the flying sword took the first step toward a foundation above Dao Merging.

"If a Sun Sword Child and Moon Sword Child dual-cultivated, it seems they could achieve a similar effect, a smooth path all the way — this is inevitable…"

Jiang Ding's sword soul once again recovered to near-perfection, and he began to think.

"However, what would the Sun Sword Child and Moon Sword Child lose?"

"They would lose an enemy, lose an opportunity on the Dao path, and the sword soul would thereby lose a chance to triumph over itself and undergo metamorphosis."

"This is the special nature of the sword cultivator's path — one must grow through battle, and cannot be as steady and balanced as a law cultivator."

"One opportunity doesn't amount to much."

"But opportunities missed again and again accumulate, and the gap they form is the gap between the Sun Moon Sword Pavilion and the Great Sun Sword Pavilion — history has long since proven this."

The dark-gold film on the Taiqing Flying Sword was gradually fully absorbed, once again revealing the blue-gold sword body, which bloomed with a gentle light.

The first sword refinement of the Sun Sacrifice Sword Art was half complete.

The remaining half would, over the coming nearly hundred years, be tempered and transformed bit by bit, becoming somewhat gentler, no longer as perilous as at the start.

This bit of "gentleness" in the qi deviation was subtle and formless, yet unceasing, and for some cultivators it might be even more perilous.

Of course, among such cultivators, it naturally did not include Great Sun sword cultivators who had lived alongside qi deviation since childhood.

"The progress of this sword refinement…"

Jiang Ding's divine sense and sword soul surged into the flying sword, carefully perceiving the changes in the Taiqing Flying Sword: "Roughly nine point three times the efficiency of the past Great Sun Sacrifice Sword Art, and what's more, it can cause my divine soul to undergo a subtle, essential metamorphosis."

"I estimate that in another two thousand years, the Taiqing Flying Sword will reach the perfection of a Void Refinement spatial treasure."

"Nearly a tenfold acceleration!"

"Two thousand years from now, my divine soul will possess a foundation comparable to that of a disciple of inheritance from an upper realm Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, and what lies above Dao Merging will be a certain answer, not something requiring luck to break through."

"Of course, the premise for all this is not kicking the bucket within the Sun Sacrifice Sword Art."

Jiang Ding added a line in his heart.

"To speak plainly, the Lone Yang Sacrifice Sword Art is indeed somewhat perilous; if I want to keep my sanity, I really need to beat Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun to death."

"It would be even better if I could get a princess of the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Butterfly race."

"This sovereign is a sword Dao prodigy of the human race's domains, and moreover, my mastery of army formations is extremely strong—

?? refined into an illusion-path puppet, it would surely be a top-grade puppet, far surpassing the puppets of ordinary Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong inheritance disciples; they'd be smitten the moment they saw it — charm is just that great…"

"Kill them and wrap up, then run. I'll hide in the immortal gate for a few thousand years, advance to Void Refinement, then consider coming to the upper realm."

Jiang Ding rapidly planned in his heart.

For now, both the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm and the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Butterfly race were about the same to him — both very dangerous, with no difference made by being of the same race.

Clang!

Jiang Ding sheathed his sword and stood up.

"Now, for the time being, there's only Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun. I need to quickly finish dealing with the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder True Sect and Blood Lake Corpse Mountain, extract the final immortal art fragments, to make running easier later…"

……

Quagmire Demon City.

A grey-green-haired elder appeared once again in the palace, sitting cross-legged.

He took out formation disks, giant cauldrons, banner flags, each glimmering with spiritual light, as well as things resembling intelligent chips, embedding them throughout Quagmire Demon City. The task seemed extremely complex; even after months on end it was not finished — only phased work had been completed.

"Dao Merging-grade formations are far too complex; with just me alone, the installation alone will take several decades…"

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

This arrangement of his was naturally to prepare for the sword duel with Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun over two hundred years hence — to prevent the Dao protectors of the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm from interfering with the duel, and… to prevent himself from using anything beyond his own sword Dao abilities to interfere with the sacred sword duel, even unto death.

Cultivating the Sun Sacrifice Sword Art alone violated the common sense held by the ancestors of the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm — it was far too perilous.

At this point, even the strongest Great Sun Sword Child in the hundreds of thousands of years of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion could no longer control his own instincts.

He needed a powerful enemy.

Without a powerful enemy, he would go mad and self-detonate.

When that time came, once he was utterly crazed, nothing could be salvaged; perhaps the only option would be to seal himself within the immortal gate and wait for another technological explosion before he could survive.

Even under the most fortunate circumstances, the probability of survival would not exceed one in a thousand.

"If Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun never arrives…"

"Then what should I do?"

Jiang Ding's face was calm, his gaze icy: "I would take the Thunder Flame Domain as a starting point and begin traveling through the many lower domains that have no native Dao Merging Divine Monarchs, challenging one by one every Void Refinement cultivator who could be called evil, beating them to death one by one, until my Great Sun instinct fully awakens and I am freed."

"I can't keep fleecing the human race for everything; perhaps I could consider killing my way into the demon race's lower domains…"

"Those who feed on humans deserve to die!"

There was always a path in every situation — how fortunate.

"Right, there's also the escape teleportation formation."

"After I run, when I reappear I cannot appear in the Thunder Flame Domain — I must be far, far away from here, because this place might attract the attention of Jiang Jiang Jinxian-level powers, and even returning thousands of years later would not be safe."

Jiang Ding suddenly thought of something and split off several Soul Transformation-grade avatars, giving them a few instructions within their soul cores.

These avatars would carry large quantities of teleportation formation materials, scatter to the four directions, and over several hundred years lay down numerous teleportation formations — the kind that self-destruct after a single use — leaving a path of survival for the main body.

"Also, since I plan to run, there's no need to care too much about the identity of Quagmire True Lord."

"I can order more sword-refining materials from the Heavenly Craft Tower; best to ensure that all the materials I temporarily cannot synthesize over the next two thousand years are prepared… if there's not enough money, take a loan from the immortal gate under the name of an investment venture."

Jiang Ding made his decision.

This would expose more wealth, somewhat inconsistent with the identity of Quagmire True Lord, but there was no need to mind that.

He simply refused to believe that the Tiangong Tower would walk away from a business that promised substantial profits.

Regardless of how much profit the Tiangong Tower made, the profits from Jiang Ding's cross-border trade would only exceed theirs, so there was no need to worry about losing money on the deal or being unable to repay the Immortal Sect's loan.

Of course, this kind of transaction still could not exceed a certain limit, could not be raised without bound—otherwise the Tiangong Tower might not refrain from killing people and seizing their treasures.

And so, Jiang Ding cultivated methodically within the Quagmire Demon City, executing his own plans, laying out formations, collecting all manner of specimens and cultivation techniques, and strengthening his own foundation.

Before he knew it, nearly a hundred years had passed.

At this time, the millennium tax-collection year of the Immortal Artifact Sect had arrived once again; envoys and tribute envoys from the Tiangong Tower crossed through the boundary domains, their arrival a grand spectacle, auspicious clouds obscuring the skies of the Thunder Flame Domain.

They did not conceal themselves in the slightest—even though they had clearly Suffered Heavy injuries in the process of traversing the barrier, no one dared to brush the tiger's whiskers.

Because they represented the prestige of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong!