Chapter 1520: An Old Friend Advances to Void Refinement

In the blink of an eye, another five hundred years had passed.

On this day, thunder rumbled without cease throughout the Youming Realm; one Void Refinement Lei Gao Jie after another descended in sequence, dark clouds blanketing the entire sky.

Jiang Ding stood with his hands clasped behind his back, quietly gazing at the sky, lost in thought.

Those undergoing the Tribulation Crossing were naturally Master Master Dinghai and the others.

Success or death — it all came down to today.

If they succeeded, they would enter a brand-new world and extend their lifespans by thirty thousand years; if they failed, everything they had been would become nothing more than memories, left behind in the recollections of the world.

"Sword Master,"

the Light Inheritance reported from the side: "After nearly a thousand years of cultivation, several Nascent Soul seeds have now emerged. There is a reasonable chance they can weather the immortal-gate ascension-immigration heavenly tribulation and become immortal-gate citizens."

"These seeds all possess the bearing of Void Refinement cultivators, and their battle merits, thoughts, and moral character are all exemplary."

He had poured immense heart and blood into these efforts — the goal being to produce citizen cultivators within the immortal gate who felt an affinity for the Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven, loyal to the citizens yet also emotionally attached to the Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven.

These Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven ascension-immigration cultivators, together with the Grand Yin–Grand Yang citizen sword cultivators who had been trained and grown within the immortal gate over the past thousand years, formed the continuation of the Grand Yin–Grand Yang inheritance.

This was an excellent and well-rounded path; among the immortal-gate citizens there were many dao companions suited to it, and it could not simply be ignored.

No matter who among them it was, the Ancestral Master's Grand Yin–Grand Yang would be passed down.

In truth, if one spoke purely of bloodlines, aside from the very first Ancestral Master, very few of the current Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven cultivators actually carried bloodlines from the Upper Realm.

Cultivators did not concern themselves with such things — it was all merely a shell.

Only inheritance was eternal.

"Well done."

Jiang Ding nodded lightly.

Back then, he had once promised the Light Sword Master that he would carry on the inheritance of the Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven, and so he would certainly do it — that was the reason he sat stationed here.

The promises he made to his dao companions, he would always keep.

"Pay a little more attention to the matters the Yin-Yang Sword Dao School is researching — do not neglect it again."

Jiang Ding gazed at the sky, not turning his head as he said: "Sword cultivation is not only about war; it equally requires research and life. This is the process by which I comprehended my Dao and comprehended my sword — you may take it as reference."

"Only by accumulating sufficient sword-dao research depth in ordinary times will there be progress in times of war."

"Otherwise, you are merely a sword cultivator who fights to the death yet never advances an inch. There are many such sword cultivators with nothing but hot blood and bravery — do not become one of them."

"Your comprehension of the Dao is… research?"

The Light Inheritance's heart trembled, and he hurriedly bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Over this period, owing to his past cultivation habits and the need to watch over and train the sect's disciples, he had indeed neglected this area for quite some time,

subconsciously not considering it to be anything particularly important.

Thinking about it now, he had been somewhat foolish.

The Light Inheritance committed these words deeply to memory, then lowered his voice and said: "Yu Yu Qianzi has been in quiet cultivation within the sect for nearly a thousand years now. She and Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu are on very good terms, treating each other as sisters… but this Yu Yu Qianzi is also a disciple of Qingmuxian Sect. Sword Master, will this bring disaster upon the sect?"

"The Youming Pool is far too biased toward the Grand Yin lineage, completely disregarding the sect's overall situation."

He said with some worry.

"This is the sword-law of Ancestral Master Lin Yin; I cannot change it."

Jiang Ding shook his head slightly: "Unless the Youming Pool is destroyed — but that would violate my promise of Grand Yin–Grand Yang coexistence. You need not worry; I will handle Yu Yu Qianzi. Qingmuxian Sect does not seem to harbor any intent of opposing the immortal gate…"

Several hundred years ago, the immortal gate had relaxed its restrictions on disciples of Badaxian Sect, allowing them to return to the sect.

As a result, relations between the Demon God Domain Cluster and the Immortal Gate Domain Cluster eased somewhat; through strictly controlled teleportation arrays, the two domain clusters resumed exchange and trade.

Among them, relations between the immortal gate and Qingmuxian Sect began to improve.

If, in the future, when the situation became irreversible, Qingmuxian Sect might draw closer to the immortal gate and become a vassal civilization of the immortal gate, allowing the immortal gate to obtain numerous supplementary immortal-dao technologies and achieve mutual benefit and shared prosperity.

Of course, it would be a mutual benefit and shared prosperity under the immortal gate's dominance.

The immortal gate had long ago perceived these possibilities, and so formulated the "One Unforgiven" propaganda slogan — namely, that Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace would never be pardoned.

If the other Qidaxian Sect were willing to submit, the immortal gate was willing to accept them as vassal civilizations.

The immortal gate currently had numerous vassal civilizations under its banner — the Black Horn Ant Race, the Youming Black Sky Crane Race, the Weaving Heaven Spider Race… all manner of them existed within the immortal gate's system, each performing its own duties. Every race had a specific major use, providing important supplementary functions for refining certain materials and certain immortal-dao industrial chains.

Since the immortal gate could even accept alien races, it naturally would not let slip the far more useful Qidaxian Sect.

The prerequisite was to reform them — stripping away any possibility of threatening the immortal gate, and even placing prohibitions upon their divine souls. All of this was inevitable.

The immortal gate would not treat them as slaves; the slave system was in fact a highly inefficient economic system.

But neither would it give them any possibility of rebellion. To this end, it cared nothing for accusations of being underhanded, or of failing to trust those one employs.

'If everything goes smoothly, roughly ten thousand years from now, after I advance to Dao Merging, the immortal gate will be able to launch an expedition and annihilate Badaxian Sect — no need for life-and-death fighting, narrow brushes with death, countless sacrifices. The fleet arrives, and it is the kind of direct suppression and annihilation…'

Jiang Ding silently deliberated.

This was the immortal gate's current ten-thousand-year grand strategy — the theme of peace and development — although it did not quite align with his own aesthetic.

Boom!

In the distance, beneath the Void Refinement heavenly tribulation, a figure spat fresh blood, his aura unsteady, like a falling leaf in the wind.

"Mentor…"

Jiang Ding felt a touch of sorrow.

Zhang Zhang Junsheng — it seemed he could only barely weather the Void Refinement heavenly tribulation; the hope of Dao Merging was exceedingly slim.

It was not that the external environment was poor, or that heavenly materials and earthly treasures were insufficient.

In truth, the individual's potential had already reached its limit — Void Refinement was already the ceiling, a realm achieved by only one cultivator out of countless hundreds of millions.

Unaware of it, several more decades slipped past.

As the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, five Void Refinement cultivators appeared between heaven and earth, having successfully weathered the Lei Gao Jie. Their injuries varied, and they were healing on the spot, stabilizing their cultivation.

Jiang Ding silently made his estimates.

Among these five old friends who were as close as kin, only Master Master Dinghai had some hope of Dao Merging; An Siyan and Jin Jin Lingfeng came next, while the remaining two mentors had exceedingly slim chances.

At least, for him now, there was no way to change this outcome.

Even the Heavenly Beings could not change it.

Jiang Ding, who had perfected the inheritance, knew that even a Jiang Jiang Jinxian-level powerhouse could not keep all the old friends from past years—only delay it; in the end, one still ended up alone.

After a long while, the newly advanced Void Refinement cultivators finally finished healing their wounds.

"Void Refinement…"

Master Master Dinghai and the others opened their eyes, their gazes all dazed.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations to everyone, on advancing to Void Refinement and returning to the age of twenty…"

Jiang Ding stepped forward quickly, gathered in all his worries about the future, and offered his congratulations.