Chapter 1493: The Few Old Friends Remaining from the Great Sun Sword Lord's Youth

The Northern Plains.

After an interval of more than five thousand years, he once again came to this stretch of starry sky.

Unlike any previous time, Jiang Ding felt a faint, elusive resistance; he was being repelled out of the Minor Thousand Worlds, cast beyond the distant, deathly silent starry sky.

From a great distance, Jiang Ding silently gazed at that once deeply familiar Minor Thousand World in the far distance.

It was a pearl among the cosmos, radiant and resplendent.

It stood alone within a vast starfield, with no other Minor Thousand World around it—a solitary world, isolated from the center of the Immortal Dao civilization.

Were it not for the rules of the Ascension Platforms of this cluster of worlds, perhaps its existence would forever remain unknown to anyone.

"Five thousand years… does anyone still remember this lord?"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured, gazing into the far distance.

Here, "there" naturally referred to the Upper Realm.

Five thousand years was no negligible stretch of time even for a cultivator of the Dao Merging realm—one twentieth of a lifespan. To spend it lying in wait for a Soul Transformation cultivator would be far from worth it.

He wondered whether the Longevity Tortoise Divine Lord of the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm had such patience.

Still, whether the Longevity Tortoise Divine Lord had such patience or not was not an important matter; it could not affect anything.

"A longevity tortoise—nothing but bones in a tomb."

"A weakling whose life has already begun its final countdown…"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured, his expression still Solemn, as his thoughts turned to the Heavenly Being realm experts that must surely exist within the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm.

—As for the supreme powers standing at the very pinnacle of the Upper Realm, would a Jiang Jiang Jinxian-level existence of the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm really lie in wait for him for five thousand years?

Such an honor, Jiang Ding Zi judged, he was not yet qualified to enjoy.

Still, the Heavenly Beings of the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm might not necessarily forget his existence.

A disciple of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong's Upper Realm lineage, a being destined to one day attain the Heavenly Being realm—such an existence slain by someone close to a Sword Son of the Xianzong. This was an enormous hidden danger.

It meant that the Pure Yang Sword Son might possess a slim chance of ascending beyond the Heavenly Being realm.

And that was a threat.

Within the Immortal Dao, the strongest at the top decide everything. Even a sliver of a threat—even if, without the Xianzong's nurturing, the Pure Yang Sword Son's odds of reaching beyond the Heavenly Being realm were slim—the mere existence of that sliver of threat was enough to give anyone tremendous motivation to keep an eye on the matter.

"If there's no need, do not go to the Upper Realm for now."

"Do not underestimate the wisdom of these Upper Realm Xianzongs, whose lineages stretch back tens of millions of years. Even more, do not underestimate the wisdom of Heavenly Beings, or harbor any wishful thoughts…"

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

This was the ideal outcome.

But once one had chosen the path of the sword cultivator, aiming to attain True Immortal, forging a foundation as close to True Immortal as possible—possessed of such greedy longing—more often than not, taking risks became unavoidable.

In this world, what was the greatest greed?

Immortality.

Immortality—endless time, possessing everything tangible and intangible under heaven.

Once living beings harbored such greedy desires, peaceful days perhaps became hard to come by.

"I truly do need opponents."

"I need opponents like the Dao Sons of the Upper Realm Xianzongs—at the very least, a great many opponents at the level of Xianzong lineage disciples—so that my sword embryo can truly ascend to the ninth grade."

Jiang Dinglue said, a touch of sorrow in his voice.

He wanted no heavenly materials or earthly treasures, no great Dao opportunities—he simply wished to meet these Upper Realm Dao Sons and have a proper exchange.

"If I cannot become an immortal, I really would feel worse than dead."

Jiang Ding gazed into the distance.

Within his pupils lay an endless sea of stars, endless greedy longing, and yet such clarity: "Let me set a deadline. At the earliest fifteen thousand years from now, to make up a full twenty thousand years—at the very least, I cannot return to the Upper Realm until twenty thousand years have passed."

"Twenty thousand years is no negligible span even against a Heavenly Being's two-hundred-thousand-year lifespan."

"Is the Upper Realm some particularly peaceful, leisurely world?"

"A Heavenly Being—a Heavenly Being who is also extremely important to an Upper Realm Xianzong—doing nothing, no longer guarding the sect, no longer keeping rival sects in check, no longer cultivating, no longer refining magic treasures, spending twenty thousand years stock-still, just to lie in wait for me, a mere Soul Transformation cultivator?"

"The odds of that are far too slim."

"By then, the risk will have dropped considerably, and it might be worth taking a gamble…"

Jiang Ding mulled over these matters, glanced once into the net of Heaven's Dao rules without much concern, and then turned his gaze to his clone within the Minor Thousand World.

……

The Northern Plains · Black Demon Palace.

A youth in blue robes gently closed his eyes, then opened them again.

His magic power aura and divine sense aura were clearly unchanged, yet in an instant the oppressive weight around him multiplied dozens of times over—terrifying beyond measure.

This shift flashed by in an instant, then vanished.

"Once again, I have come here."

"It must be six or seven thousand years now, hasn't it? In memory, there are quite a few more attachments, emotions, karmic ties…"

Jiang Ding said lightly.

This clone, having spent such a long stretch of time on its own, had evolved a path, memories, and emotions that differed somewhat from the main body's.

All the events of the past surfaced in his mind.

Data from the Ten-Thousand-Li Beacon Fire Platform, a major administrative artifact of Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting, poured into his divine soul and was processed in an instant; everything that had happened across the world over those six or seven thousand years lay before him like the lines on his palm, holding no secrets.

Many tedious events had occurred once again, as natural as the laws of nature, and could no longer stir the slightest flicker of curiosity in him.

"Please, all of you old friends, let us

meet once more."

Jiang Ding said lightly.

His voice was unhurried, and without the aid of any dharma treasure, it spread outward to the entire world just like that.

The countless living beings of this world heard nothing; the voice did not disturb their day after day, year after year of repeating feuds and affections, production, cultivation, and slaughter. The sound waves passed through the Nine Heavens, plunged deep into the Nine Underworlds, and reached every place where living creatures existed.

This voice skipped over all mortals, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Jin Dan, Nascent Soul cultivators, and many Soul Transformation cultivators, appearing only in the ears of specific Soul Transformation cultivators.

In that instant, many of this world's oldest cultivators started.

It had been too long, far too long!

So long that even their memories had grown hazy, and they could not react in that first moment to what it was.

And then, these oldest cultivators of the world awoke with a sudden jolt.

Tears welled up in their eyes.

"... Master..."

"... Canghai Tianjun... finally, once again..."

Several old Soul Transformation cultivators wept openly.

They recalled, from long, long ago, all that they had experienced in their youth; even though they had now become the Old Ancestors in the eyes of countless cultivators, they had not forgotten.

And now!

That existence had appeared once more.

From what they knew of that existence, as long as he was alive, he must have already advanced to an incomprehensibly fearsome realm—an unimaginable realm.

And that one was, moreover, someone who valued old ties.

Today, perhaps, was the moment when the great Dao's opportunity appeared once more, when a sliver of hope for the immortal Dao had emerged again.

In that instant, the ancient powerhouses who had been in silent cultivation for countless years, nearly forgotten by the world, reappeared between heaven and earth, laughing wildly, with tears at the corners of their eyes, flying madly toward Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting.

Unfortunately, these ancient powerhouses numbered only a mere handful.

These were all the old acquaintances of the Great Sun Sword Master's youth.

All other living beings had already been buried in ancient time, never to be seen again.