Chapter 1396: Peak of Soul Transformation

Time drifted on, unhurried.

Before anyone noticed, another two thousand-plus years had passed.

During this stretch, mortal dynasties had cycled through several generations, the Immortal Gate's citizens had cycled through several dozen generations, the old had used up their lifespans and died, and the new had appeared in turn.

Throughout this process, strong cultivators kept emerging, Soul Transformation cultivators kept appearing, and their numbers kept growing.

The elites among the Immortal Gate's trillions of citizens, along with the many heaven-defying geniuses who had immigrated after ascending, gave the Immortal Gate's Soul Transformation cultivator stratum an extremely healthy development. Senior officers in the citizen fleets kept appearing in force, powerfully supporting the expansion of the Immortal Gate's fleets.

During this period, the Immortal Gate successfully established diplomatic ties with the Jiudaxian Sect of the Ancient God Domain, the Yao Shen Sect, and the Myriad Races Alliance, opening mutual trade, each taking what it needed.

In a present where war had not broken out, every power seemed friendly, seemed open to exchange, and the realms lay in perfect peace—if one ignored the undercurrents roiling beneath the surface.

The Immortal Gate's many commodities—standard magic treasures, standard pills—sold briskly in every domain, and in an extremely short time won a reputation among the surrounding powers for fine quality and low price, bringing the Immortal Gate enormous quantities of spirit stones and heavenly materials and earthly treasures, and letting the number of its Soul Transformation cultivators grow further still.

Materials and treasures of the Void Refinement rank and above, however, were restricted from trade; the many powers of the Ancient God Domain remained wary of transactions at that level.

Even so, the Immortal Gate's dumping of its many commodities had already drawn the dissatisfaction of the Yao Shen Sect, the Myriad Races Alliance, and other powers, and stricter trade restrictions seemed to be taking shape.

For they had discovered that, under such dumping, their mid- and low-tier alchemists and artifact-forgers had absolutely no competitiveness at all. With the appearance of the Immortal Gate's many standard magic treasures, pills, and talismans, these mid- and low-tier alchemists and artifact-forgers were going bankrupt in droves, their lineages breaking off.

The sight was truly shocking to behold.

One had to remember that high-tier alchemists and artifact-forgers also rose up from the low tiers; once the mid- and low-tier alchemists and artifact-forgers vanished entirely, the existence of high-tier alchemists and artifact-forgers would itself become a question.

This was the first time they had ever encountered a sect like this.

The many standard pills, magic treasures, and talismans seemed to flow forth endlessly—no matter how much you ordered, as long as you paid the spirit stones, they could manufacture it for you, and the price was low, often less than half of what it used to be. It was truly heart-stirring.

The Immortal Gate's dumping of commodities, while winning the welcome of many powers' cultivators, had also utterly offended these local alchemists and artifact-forgers to the death.

These alchemists, artifact-forgers, and their allied interests had already come to regard the Immortal Gate as a mortal enemy, vigorously preaching within their sects that the East Extreme Demon Sect must be destroyed, stirring up quite an uproar.

Naturally, however, all this uproar could not affect the Immortal Gate.

Beneath these years of calm in the realms' situation, many killing intents were brewing. Among them were many fundamental contradictions and conflicts, and the noisy clamor of these foreign alchemists and artifact-forgers was simply of no consequence.

……

Dayang Dayang Tianchi.

Amid a blaze of radiant brilliance, many heavenly materials and earthly treasures, along with a batch of Synthetic Synthetic Gengjin, were smelted, transforming into radiant, resplendent rule-prohibition runes that fell upon the Taiqing Flying Sword, letting her aura strengthen bit by bit.

This kind of sacrificial refinement and devouring was different from that of the Thunder Destruction Sword Embryo; it was a method of sacrificial refinement that branded rule-prohibitions into the sword, raising the grade of the flying-sword magic treasure.

After several thousand years of sacrificial refinement, the aura of the Taiqing Flying Sword gradually reached perfection.

As the final stroke fell, a complete sun-rule-prohibition rune-star appeared within the Taiqing Flying Sword, blooming with endless, inexhaustible sunlight.

If one raised one's gaze higher, looking farther into the distance, one would discover that there were nine such sun-rule-prohibition rune-stars in all.

These nine sun-rule-prohibition rune-stars sent out rings of golden ripples outward, giving birth to formation lines that merged into the entire three-foot sword body, making this flying sword's aura a single, unified whole—flawless, without blemish.

Taiqing Flying Sword—nine sun-rule divine prohibitions—Void Refinement spatial treasure, perfected!

Clang!

At the same moment, amid a crisp sword-chime, Jiang Ding's aura suddenly surged upward a notch, his cultivation stepping into the peak of Soul Transformation.

Peak of Soul Transformation!

"Finally,"

"the peak of Soul Transformation realm…"

Jiang Ding opened his eyes; golden patterns flickered one by one within his pupils, carrying the flavor of destruction and slaughter: "My realm has reached the peak of Soul Transformation, but my magic power and divine sense have not yet entered their limit state."

"The Immortal Gate's Gong Fa is weaker than my current Sword Dao realm."

"I still need four to five hundred years to let my Materialist Sun Sword Soul and Sword Spirit realm swordsmanship, in turn, push my magic power and divine sense to undergo a qualitative change that exceeds the Gong Fa's limit."

Sword Spirit realm swordsmanship!

The Sword Dao sixth-realm swordsmanship had long since been achieved as a matter of course.

This was an upper-realm Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Sword Son-grade sword art; although its height was not necessarily as great as theirs, it was indeed of the same tier.

If Jiang Ding were currently cultivating a true upper-realm Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Gen Ben Gong Fa—for instance, the supreme inheritance Gong Fa of the Grand Yin-Yang Sword Realm, the *Eight Wastes Infinite Yin-Yang Sword Scripture*—then at the very instant he broke through to the peak of Soul Transformation, he would have been able to reach the limit of his magic power and divine sense, and a higher limit at that.

Unfortunately, the Immortal Gate's Gong Fa had not reached such a height.

This meant that Jiang Ding and the upper-realm Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Dao Sons would possess a natural gap in cultivation methods regarding magic power and divine soul, not to mention the disparity created by post-natal resources and education; though within the same great tier, he would still have to look up to them.

"What a pity…"

"If I could return to the upper realm and face a Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Sword Son, or a Jiang Jiang Jinxian of a fairy-like race like the Butterfly Son—even if I ultimately lost, as long as I could escape and survive in the end—my magic power and divine sense would surely break through their limits once more, forging a stronger foundation and further closing the gap with the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong

Sword Sons."

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

He had now already built a foundation far exceeding that of the He Dao stage and above, but he was still far from a Jiang Jiang Jinxian-grade foundation—one could only say there was a sliver of hope.

And yet, he had no choice but to give up on perfection; in four to five hundred years, he would advance to Void Refinement.

"It doesn't matter,"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not some scion of the imperial bloodline—how could I possibly have so much perfection?"

Jiang Ding reined in the reluctance in his heart.

There were so many strong cultivators in the realms, and not every one of them had pushed the foundation of every realm to its utmost limit; for instance, that supreme expert of the Thunder Yang Heaven Sword Realm, who rose to power in the late stage of the great tribulation, came from a Dao Sect and at the Soul Transformation realm might not even have been a match for the current Jiang Ding Zi, yet in the end he still managed to rise to prominence.

Foundation only made the path of immortality much easier to walk; it was not absolute.

"The time I break through to Void Refinement will be five hundred and sixteen years from now."

"By then, my magic power and divine sense will reach their limit."

Jiang Ding quietly estimated: "During this stretch, I wonder whether I can make it in time before the Jiudaxian Sect's scheming of the Ancient God Domain. It would be best to advance before the war breaks out."

Advancing to Void Refinement was, for him, a matter of a single thought; it posed no difficulty whatsoever.

The reason he was waiting was simply that he wanted to wait until his magic power and divine sense reached their limit, laying down the strongest and best foundation within the scope of his ability.

The Jiudaxian Sect's scheming of the Ancient God Domain, then, was that Ancient God Dao-Treasure Heaven Pavilion.

After more than two thousand years of preparation, they seemed to already possess a certain confidence that they could further open the path to the Hidden Heaven Pavilion, drawing the Yao Shen Sect and the Myriad Races Alliance to focus all their attention there in order to obtain inheritances surpassing the He Dao, thereby avoiding interference with the Jiudaxian Sect's war in the Ancient God Domain.

The Immortal Gate and the other nine great sects had likewise been waiting for a long time.

As early as several hundred years ago, after a continuous expansion of the military that had lasted several thousand years, the number of ships in the citizen fleet had already reached the figure of two billion. Among them were sixty-seven Void Refinement cultivators, more than seventy thousand Soul Transformation cultivators, and the weakest soldiers were all Foundation Establishment peak cultivators. The military might had already reached its prime.

Sixty-seven Void Refinement cultivators, more than seventy thousand Soul Transformation cultivators, as well as the second-line troops guarding the four directions, and the third-line conscripted fleet of cultivators from the myriad races — the total number of all these military forces exceeded ten billion. The spirit stones consumed each year were a vast ocean, and the Immortal Gate's economy simply could not continue to bear the burden.

Under this strategy of militarism, an economic crisis was about to arrive!

The Immortal Gate was about to go bankrupt!

If war did not come soon, the Immortal Gate would slide from its peak state. Many Soul Transformation cultivators would have to enter a state of slumber to reduce consumption. Many Nascent Soul and Jin Dan cultivators would have to have their stipends cut to one-tenth of the original amount, and citizen education funds and welfare appropriations would be reduced to one-twentieth of the original…

Everyone would have to tighten their belts, endure the Immortal Gate's economic crisis, and fall into a weakened state, which might require over ten thousand years

to recover.

War had already become a necessity for the Immortal Gate.

Brother Brother Xuanwu's Heavenly Palace, Qingmuxian Sect, and the other sects were likewise in the same situation.

The economic systems of the Badaxian Sect were even more fragile than the Immortal Gate's.

Their Dao-Comprehending Divine Monarchs had already advanced to the mid-stage of Dao-Comprehending, and the Dao Soldiers of their sects had expanded dozens of times over, possessing strength that was not weak even among the Dao-Comprehending tier. If war still did not appear, the economic systems of the Badaxian Sect might self-destruct, and everyone except the Dao Child would have to stop cultivating.

Now, for the Nine Spirit Domain, it was no longer a question of whether there would be war.

It was a question of when the war would be!

If the Jiudaxian Sect of the Ancient God Domain did not launch an attack soon, they would give up their geographical advantage, give up sowing discord, and take the initiative to declare war on the Jiudaxian Sect of the Ancient God Domain, on the Yao Shen Sect, on the Myriad Races Alliance… on every force.