Chapter 1552: The Eight Great Immortal Sects Are About to Perish

Sword cultivators' sword duels are bloody and dangerous.

Likewise, the harvest is enormous—especially for cultivators with deep immortal dao foundations and extensive experience in immortal dao scientific research and development.

Jiang Ding now possessed absolute certainty that his Heavenly Sword sword art and Six Paths Reincarnation structure would undergo massive evolution.

This was no heavenly treasure or miraculous pill.

It was knowledge, comprehension, inspiration—things that could not instantly send a cultivator's cultivation soaring, but required a certain amount of time, to be transformed into reality through the cultivation process going forward, causing strength to surge explosively.

"I need time…"

Jiang Ding murmured.

After sorting out the various inspirations and gains, his divine soul connected to the Central Array Spirit Computer, and without the slightest hesitation he dove into the various research projects of the Immortal Sect, handling all manner of affairs, deeply participating in the Central Array Spirit Computer's Eighth-Grade Heavenly Being Project, the Solar-System-Class Warship Project, the Eighth-Grade Array Development Project, and so on.

In that instant, every cultivator participating in these sect-level projects immediately sensed something different.

The efficiency of immortal dao research and development suddenly accelerated.

And it was not by some mere percentage, not even double or triple—in a single leap it reached four times the original level!

A threefold enormous gap!

It was as if a horse carriage had instantly leapt into the age of the steam locomotive!

Immortal Dao scientific productivity underwent an earth-shaking change; many research difficulties that once required enormous time now became as common as common sense, with solutions visible at a glance and requiring no time at all.

Many of the great research problems of the past, looking at them now, the most core issues had already been handled by someone, leaving only some not-difficult but tedious and time-consuming peripheral problems to solve—entirely within the capability of the sect's hundreds of billions of elite immortal dao technical personnel.

The current Immortal Sect's immortal dao scientific system was as if a super-efficient starfield supercomputer had been plugged in, handling every problem with ease, fast and well, and the various accumulated immortal dao technical difficulties of the past several thousand years were being rapidly overcome.

"This… this… what happened?"

"Has the Immortal Sect experienced a leap in core technological development?"

Many Immortal Sect youngsters under a thousand years old stared dumbfounded, eyes wide, unable to comprehend this miraculous event.

They looked toward their elders, only to find the Soul Transformation cultivators each smiling without a word, faces showing reverent admiration, deeply moved, with no intention of explaining to these youngsters at all.

In the Immortal Sect's Council of Participation in Governance, many councilors were also congratulating the Great Sun Councilor on his awakening.

They skillfully cooperated with the Great Sun Sword Master in handling all manner of affairs, their coordination tacit and efficient—the speed born of tens of thousands of years of association.

"Senior Yuan,"

"How is the previous version of the Central

Array Spirit Computer now?"

Jiang Ding asked.

He needed time to grow; now he had to prepare to sweep away the hidden dangers within and without the Immortal Sect, laying the groundwork for his Heavenly Sword sword art breakthrough and a subtle rule-altering nirvana.

And the previous Central Array Spirit Computer, not yet fully self-destructed and deleted, was itself a hidden danger, as were the trillions of Immortal Sect citizens held as hostages.

If they could be saved, naturally one should do one's utmost to save them.

Moreover, the previous version of the Central Array Spirit Computer was the longest-running Central Array Spirit Computer in the Immortal Sect's history, having accompanied the Immortal Sect from its humble beginnings, watching the Great Sun Sword Master grow from a zero-year-old infant to the present, experiencing many wars, with the divine souls of many Immortal Sect forebears invested within it—possessing extremely important heritage.

Back then, a Central Array Spirit Computer program not yet at the quasi-Heavenly Being level single-handedly resisting the Six Paths Ancestor's possession attempt was itself a manifestation of that heritage.

The previous version of the Central Array Spirit Computer possessed greater potential to advance to the Heavenly Being grade.

Immortal dao treasures combined the material and the ideal; once above the Infant Treasure grade, they were no longer mere stacking of materials, but more about the treasure's "spirituality"—which was also critically important.

"I don't know, cannot assess."

"I can only confirm that the previous version of the Central Array Spirit Computer lacks spiritual energy and power, fallen into an extremely weakened state."

Yuan sighed softly: "In the path of the divine soul, in the path of Six Paths Reincarnation, we have a tremendous gap compared to the Ancient God Ancestor—this is a problem that cannot be solved in a short time."

"Now that you've awakened, that's enough."

"He is ultimately not a complete Heavenly Being, his power has not reached the Heavenly Being grade—you should be able to resolve it… If it cannot be resolved, then abandon these trillions of citizens; I will make that decision."

Yuan said indifferently.

This was the Immortal Sect's final compromise; it would no longer continue indulging the threat of the Ancient God Ancestor's remnant soul.

"Good, I understand."

Jiang Ding nodded.

"Also, there's something you should be aware of."

"The Badaxian Sect may be about to perish; this might be very important to you."

Yuan mentioned a piece of intelligence just received.

"The Badaxian Sect may be about to perish?"

Jiang Ding was taken aback.

The Badaxian Sect, entangled with the Immortal Sect for tens of thousands of years, having fought them for tens of thousands of years—about to perish?

True enough, they were too weak, could no longer keep pace with the times; this day was bound to come eventually.

If not for the vast star domains temporarily blocking the Great Sun Sword Master, he could find them now and strike them dead.

The lifelong wish of successive Great Sun Sword Masters could already be fulfilled.

Jiang Ding's heart suddenly grew somewhat complicated, without much excitement, even producing a trace of reluctance.

Back then, Zou Zou Xiyuan must have had the same thought, right?

Back then,

Zou Zou Xiyuan had discovered that the Badaxian Sect had fallen behind the times and might no longer be of great use to her, so she indulged the Immortal Sect's growth, expecting stronger enemies to appear—only to ultimately capsize.

These various complicated thoughts were merely instinctive; Jiang Ding continued listening.

"In the Badaxian Sect's territory, roughly more than two thousand years ago, a creature called 'Phantom Mist Beast' appeared."

"They are born in the dreams of Badaxian Sect cultivators, growing and growing, until they devour the cultivator's divine soul, causing the cultivator to die a reasonable death—such as qi deviation, death at the hands of a powerful enemy, death from pill refinement… then the Phantom Mist Beast transfers to another cultivator, repeating this process endlessly."

Yuan introduced slowly.

"Does it seem familiar?"

"Yes, this is the arrangement of the Ancient God Ancestor. This previous-generation supreme ruler of the Ancient God Domain is omnipresent, and the same calamity as ours has also appeared within the Badaxian Sect."

"What differs from us is that they are weaker and more scattered, with internal infighting and scheming."

"Their only advantage is that they don't have the unavoidable burden of a massive citizenry. Large numbers of parasitized sect disciples dying means nothing — it won't stir any emotional ripple in the sect's old ancestors, nor even cause much loss of wealth. They are utterly insignificant."

"Roughly a thousand-plus years ago, the Phantom Mist Beasts were detected by the Combined-Dao Divine Monarchs of the Badaxian Sect, and the two sides began a brutal war. The Phantom Mist Beasts are undying and inextinguishable, parasitizing within dreams, their numbers infinite and endless. Their only shortcoming is that they haven't existed long enough — their strongest are only at the Refinement Void level."

"They were fortunate — the Ancient God Ancestor devoted most of his arranged power to our side."

Yuan sighed.

"The Phantom Mist Beasts and the Badaxian Sect have been slaughtering each other like this for over a thousand years."

"Until recently, the Badaxian Sect seemed unable to hold on any longer, on the verge of destruction. The entire sect was about to be devoured by the Phantom Mist Beasts and the Ancient God's Six Paths of Reincarnation. Even those few old acquaintances would ultimately become puppets, because Phantom Mist Beasts at the Combined-Dao tier have already been born…"

"—All of this was told to the Immortal Gate by Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu, the Taiyi Qingmu Divine Monarch."

Yuan said calmly.

The Badaxian Sect alone — people who should have died long ago — naturally could not stir any fluctuation in his emotions.

"Are they trying to surrender?"

Jiang Ding guessed.

The inheritances of the Badaxian Sect still held considerable value to the Immortal Gate; as long as the conditions were suitable, accepting them was not necessarily out of the question.

Except for the great powers of the Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace.

That person, and all the Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace cultivators who carried blood debts, had to die.

"Yes,"

"Various conditions are currently being negotiated."

Yuan smiled: "Our terms are set very low, their asking price is very high — this is the contradiction. We need to wait for their situation to deteriorate further; only then might both sides reach an agreement."

"This

The time to reach an agreement should be within the next few hundred years."

Brother Brother Xuanwu, the Divine Monarch, naturally strongly opposed this — because he was doomed to die.

Unfortunately, this kind of opposition was utterly meaningless.

"A few hundred years?"

"I very much look forward to this good news."

Jiang Ding said with some regret.

If possible, he still hoped to personally execute all the Combined-Dao Divine Monarchs of the Badaxian Sect. This had nothing to do with strength — their current strength could no longer trigger his Great Sun instinct; this was purely a matter of personal preference.

However, in the face of the Immortal Gate's interests, he could rein in this preference somewhat.

The Immortal Gate's participating councilors walked on, and after a while, arrived at Uranus of the solar system.

This place was dim and dark, without sun or moon — precisely the location where the previous-generation Central Array Spirit Computer, sealed by numerous forbidden nuclear weapons, resided.