Chapter 1549: The Realm Sovereign, Great Sun Sword Lord, Has Awakened

Slowly, the years slipped by.

Before anyone knew it, another two thousand years had passed.

Over those two thousand years, no great disaster had befallen the Immortal Gate; the Immortal Dao Industrial Ten-Thousand-Year Plan was still advancing steadily, with projects such as Heavenly-Rank Gong Fa, the Eighth-Tier Central Array Spirit Computer Plan, and Solar-System-Class warships all progressing steadily, and the exploration of Immortal Dao science and technology never pausing for a moment.

What was slightly regrettable was that, apart from the Eighth-Tier Heavenly-Rank Central Array Spirit Computer showing encouraging progress, all the other projects were only "advancing steadily" — there was no exaggeration whatsoever; the wording of the Immortal Gate's millennial annual report was extremely precise, with no deviation at all.

Steady advance was merely steady advance; efficiency had plummeted cliff-like, to less than a third of pre-war levels.

Was it because the Immortal Gate's talent had withered after that brutal battle?

Was it because the Central Array Spirit Computer was no longer absolutely trusted, causing research efficiency to drop?

None of these were the reason.

In that battle, the Immortal Gate's Refinement Void and Soul Transformation cultivators had not been greatly affected; after a thousand years of recuperation, essentially all the mid- and low-tier Immortal Gate cultivators had been replenished, and as time went on, with advances in Immortal Gate science and technology, the average level of talent had even risen somewhat.

Backed by a powerful education system and supplemented by ascension immigrants, Immortal Gate talent had not withered.

The Central Array Spirit Computer factor was not it either.

After that battle, under the leadership of the Ruler, the Immortal Gate strictly carried out the physical power-cut and network-cut procedures, sealing the Mother Star Central Array Spirit Computer on Uranus, providing only a small amount of spiritual energy to keep it alive.

Even when someone threatened the lives of trillions of citizens, it was useless — completely ignored.

This was the only compromise the Immortal Gate's Participation Council made on this matter.

Even if the Central Array Spirit Computer became dangerous again, cut off from network, power, and spiritual energy, it could not stir up any great waves; at the slightest sign of trouble, the forbidden nuclear weapons hidden throughout the Central Array Spirit Computer would instantly blast the Central Array Spirit Computer and the trillions of citizens into fragments, reduced to ash.

The lives of trillions of citizens were important, but the entire Immortal Gate was even more important!

The Immortal Gate would never, for the sake of trillions of citizens, fall into the dangerous predicament of binding its own hands and feet.

In the third year after the Central Array Spirit Computer was sealed, the Immortal Gate reactivated the backup Central Array Spirit Computer stored in the depths of a spiritless universe — its safety absolutely guaranteed — to continue suppressing the inside and outside of the Immortal Gate's Mother Star, maintaining the operation of citizen society, and suppressing and monitoring all vassal civilizations beyond the Mother Star.

The Central Array Spirit Computer had not been absent from the Immortal Gate's Immortal Dao scientific development.

Then why had the Immortal Gate's Immortal Dao R&D efficiency dropped to less than a third of pre-war levels?

Every top-tier cultivator of the Immortal Gate knew the reason.

The Great Sun Sword Lord was absent from his post.

As a powerhouse nurtured by the Immortal Gate, this generation's Great Sun Sword Lord possessed terrifying

strength, and at the same time equally terrifying Immortal Dao R&D capability; his cooperation with the Immortal Gate was not one plus one, but one plus one greater than two — the absence of either side would cause a massive drop in the Immortal Gate's R&D efficiency.

The Immortal Gate alone was so.

The Great Sun Sword Lord alone was also so.

This all-round constraint of an individual powerhouse on the Immortal Gate, from combat power to R&D capability, still left many Immortal Gate politicians deeply uneasy and worried; they had devised all manner of methods for it, from military to Immortal Dao technology, but in the end all were useless, inspiring a deep sense of helplessness.

However, this predicament might change within several thousand years.

Because Yuan was likely about to advance to the Dao Merging Stage.

Once he advanced to Dao Merging, the Immortal Gate's Central Army Group and the Immortal Gate's Immortal Dao R&D capability would surge, far exceeding the present.

This peerless prodigy of the world cluster, who during his tenure as Ruler had led the Immortal Gate from weakness to dominion over the world cluster, must necessarily be no weaker than the Ancient God Ancestor in terms of natural talent and brilliance.

Perhaps even surpassing him somewhat.

He possessed terrifying resource integration ability, cultivator organization ability, and army formation command ability; under his leadership, the collaborative ability of Immortal Gate citizen groups could often be greatly enhanced, whether in combat power or Immortal Dao R&D capability.

If the current Ruler advanced to the Dao Merging Stage, the Immortal Gate's political landscape would become extremely stable, with no more hidden dangers of various kinds.

……

Dayang Dayang Tianchi, the Sun Abyss.

This was the healing ground, the center sustained by an entire Immortal Dao world cluster — over ten thousand Minor Thousand Worlds and Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie.

After three thousand years of recuperation, having absorbed countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures, imbibed boundless spiritual energy from heaven and earth and the light of the sun, moon, and stars, this place remained silent and still, like a black-hole vortex without a glimmer of light.

This place was called by the outside world the Endless Dark Sea; no kind of light could shine here.

Many newly born, innocent citizens liked to come here to visit and tour, and would compare this place with the Black Mist Star Sea at the center of the Ancient God Domain, always feeling there were many similarities.

Although there was no danger here — mortal citizens could even come tour — unlike the Black Mist Star Sea.

Whenever citizens asked what was in the Endless Dark Sea, they would be told they did not have clearance to know; thus they gradually gave up and treated it as a landform that had existed since ancient times in the Immortal Gate.

On this day, the thick, ink-like darkness of this Endless Dark Sea dispersed; the light of sun, moon, and stars could shine upon it normally, falling upon every spot.

At the same time, a terrifying, scorching sword-Dao pressure rose up.

This was the pressure of a Realm Sovereign!

Mere aura was enough to make a Dao Merging Divine Monarch's spirit stiffen, body trembling, unable to move an inch — only able to be slaughtered at will, like an ant.

Even for a Quasi-Heavenly, the instant they sensed this aura,

a strong chill would arise in their heart, and their spirit would sting with pain.

This terrifying pressure was simply a soul-destroying natural catastrophe for mortals and low-rank cultivators — without any malice, without any gaze, merely the naturally emitted pressure could cause the souls of all mortals and low-rank cultivators in the entire world to shatter and die; world destruction was no more than this.

However, this pressure did not harm any nearby Immortal Gate citizens in the slightest.

The instant this pressure appeared, it vanished; the vast majority of Refinement Void cultivators did not even notice it, let alone other Immortal Gate citizens.

"Finally,"

"completely recovered…"

In the Dayang Dayang Tianchi's Taiyi Evergreen Primordial Fluid, a naked youth slowly stood up.

In his gaze, the rule-runes of destruction and slaughter bloomed and spun, like two Immortal Dao stars constantly rotating on their own axes, causing one to instinctively suffocate, kneel, submit, daring no defiance whatsoever.

This was the sovereign, the ruler of the world cluster.

If born anywhere outside the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect, he would be the sole supreme one beneath heaven and above earth, slaughtering all powerful enemies, single-handedly suppressing the world — the strongest expert of a sect.

But here in the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect, that cruel and cold aura on him merely flashed and vanished.

The desire for destruction and slaughter in his pupils gradually faded; the stellar rule-rune vision disappeared, and he once again returned to a gentle demeanor, more like a student walking out of some high school after class, seemingly a little introverted and shy.