Chapter 1667: The Four-Step Nirvana Realm Is the Invincible Being of the Great Thousand Worlds

Within the sword-forging formation of the Great Sun Heavenly Palace, heavenly light blazed brilliantly as countless heaven materials and earthly treasures were smelted, their essences extracted, leaving only ninth-grade heaven materials and earthly treasures shimmering with radiance.

Jiang Ding's heart was utterly still.

He silently presided over the Great Sun Heavenly Palace's formations, occasionally contemplating sword Dao classics and participating in the research and development of various projects for the Immortal Sect; his days were extraordinarily fulfilling.

Before he knew it, over a thousand years had passed.

The ninth-grade sword-forging grand formation's solar true fire within the Great Sun Heavenly Palace burned for over a thousand years before finally processing the thirty-six ninth-grade heaven materials and earthly treasures.

"Shangqing Biluo Meteorite, rise!"

Jiang Ding cast a hand seal, drawing in the damaged natal treasure furnace of the Immortal Weapon Child.

Over the course of this thousand years, this treasure furnace had been repeatedly scanned by the Great Sun Heavenly Palace and repeatedly scanned by the central formation spirit computer, yielding a great deal of useful data and information that would hold great value for forging the Heavenly Palace's core and warship engines in the future; it had not been treated as mere material.

Sizzle~

Within the true fire of the ninth-grade solar sword-forging formation, the damaged furnace treasure of the Immortal Weapon Child melted into droplets, with wisps of supremely poisonous blue smoke rising, corroding space and rules.

These were the personal imprints belonging to the Immortal Weapon Child, as well as the portions of the many heaven materials and earthly treasures later added by the Immortal Weapon Sect that were not needed by the Great Sun; all of them were now burned to ash.

In the end, the myriad impurities evaporated completely, leaving only a wisp of blue-gold flowing-light divine metal in place.

This was the ninth-grade inheritance divine metal of the Spiritual Treasure realm — Shangqing Biluo Meteorite!

This kind of inheritance divine metal could greatly enhance a treasure's spirituality and broaden its future ceiling; the ninth-grade tier had already reached the peak of mortals, and the distant inheritance of the Spiritual Treasure realm seemed to add a touch of mystery to this inheritance divine metal, as if there were subtle differences from the inheritance divine metals of other Immortal Sects.

"Smelt!"

Jiang Ding cast the final hand seal.

In an instant, countless materialist solar rule runes belonging exclusively to the contemporary Great Sun Sword Lord bloomed, and ringing sword-chimes resounded in all directions like tides, sweeping across the four quarters.

The Taiqing Flying Sword had already returned to its primal state — a mass of profound-gold liquid, as heavy as a true sun, nearly collapsing this stretch of universe into a black hole that devoured everything.

This solar black hole unhurriedly devoured the various metals long since refined in the four directions, drawing them into itself.

From the lowest-grade first-grade spiritual gold, to the composite spiritual gold produced by the various Immortal Sects, the eighth-grade Great Sun Immortal Spiritual Gold, the many ninth-grade heaven materials and earthly treasures gifted by the Solar Sword Child, and finally the ninth-grade Shangqing Biluo Meteorite inherited from the Immortal Weapon Child — this solar black hole devoured them all, from their spirituality to their rules.

In the end, only a hazy, chaotic giant egg stood tall in the void.

Around it, the ninth-grade formation ceased operating; the gathered heavenly light and spiritual energy calmed, rules returned to normal, and the mountain- and sea-like heaven materials and earthly treasures synthesized into spiritual gold vanished, leaving emptiness—

—and desolation.

Everything had settled into stillness.

"Three thousand years."

Jiang Ding gently closed his eyes, feeling the vitality within the chaotic giant egg, and said quietly.

Three thousand years from now, the brand-new ninth-grade sword embryo Taiqing Flying Sword would emerge, pushing his foundation forward violently once more, surpassing ordinary Dao Children, drawing closer to a higher realm, drawing closer…

……

Three thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

Over these three thousand years, within the Immortal Sect's territories, worlds and the starry skies near them would occasionally manifest strange phenomena — treasure light and medicinal fragrance permeating entire domains, stirring up tremendous commotion.

These were the seventh-grade spiritual medicines and heaven materials and earthly treasures the Immortal Sect had been cultivating for tens of thousands of years reaching maturity.

One after another, each batch of mature spiritual medicines and heaven materials and earthly treasures was collected in an orderly manner by Immortal Sect citizens; no chaos or so-called fortuitous encounters erupted — it was as simple as spiritual fields bearing ripe spiritual fruits.

Portions of heaven materials and earthly treasures were gathered back to the Immortal Sect's mother star, and in the end, cultivators from many Dandingxian Sects began to station themselves on the Immortal Sect's mother star, obtaining temporary citizen status.

At this point, even cultivators outside the domain could faintly guess at one thing.

The Immortal Sect's Dao-Unity Divine Lords would emerge one after another.

……

On this day, the sun at the center of the solar system dimmed and lost its light, only returning to normal after a long while.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes.

He looked at the chaotic giant egg collapsing layer by layer on the outside; layers of gray mist crumbled away, the blazing sword body gradually revealing its outline, terrifying destructive aura blossoming forth, followed by auras of law-annihilation and distortion forming rings of ripples one after another — as if a star had been compressed into a sword body, capable of destroying all things in heaven and earth.

The final layer of gray mist also vanished.

This sun gradually restrained its sword body, revealing the sword body.

A wisp of five-colored luster bloomed, then reflected colorful clouds across the sky, illuminating the entire Great Sun Heavenly Palace and plunging it into a beautiful illusion realm, as if it could naturally capture the souls of living beings.

When the many rays of brilliance faded, Jiang Ding held his breath and looked at his natal flying sword.

It was a flying sword of nine-colored luster — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and black — among which the blue was bright, while the remaining eight colors were dim and lusterless.

A heavy pressure rippled outward in all directions, solidifying space and rules, even affecting time!

Without any assessment, Jiang Ding knew this sword embryo had become a ninth-grade supreme, far stronger than the Immortal Weapon Child's treasure embryo by a significant margin.

"There is a flaw."

"It still requires the lives of eight Dao Children to light up the flying sword one by one…"

Jiang Ding gently stroked the hilt of the Taiqing Flying Sword and murmured: "If I can slay eight Dao Children in the Sacred Sword Duel, the nine colors of this flying sword will turn pure white; perhaps a qualitative change could occur — such a possibility exists."

"If luck is not good enough and this possibility never arises, then I'll cycle through once more and slay another nine Dao Children."

"Like this, repeating ten times, the flying sword will inevitably undergo a qualitative change."

This was the new version of the "Nine Heavens Ascension Sword-Forging Art" created by the contemporary Great Sun Sword Lord, building upon the achievements of successive Great Sun Sword Lords — it had truly begun to climb toward immortality, no longer confined to the dreams and yearnings of Zou Zou Xiyuan and other past Great Sun Sword Lords, having genuinely taken its first tentative step.

A faint sense of regret unconsciously spread outward, then was restrained.

"Matters of the world,"

"cannot be perfect in every way."

Jiang Ding placed the Taiqing Flying Sword into his brow to nurture it, and man and sword merged into one once more.

Hum!

In that instant, terrifying solar radiance bloomed before the blue-robed youth, and the aura of six paths of reincarnation's birth and destruction — dominating all things in the world, the universe, and time — permeated the four directions, freezing everything.

Beneath such terrifying phenomena, the blue-robed youth's aura climbed once more in extremity, finally halting at a certain point, stopping there, unable to change even a fraction further.

After a long while, the radiance and phenomena dispersed.

"The limit of the Third-Step Nirvana."

"At the Third Nirvana, I have reached the limit!"

Jiang Ding murmured.

In the entire history of the Grand Yin-Yang Sword Realm, no one in the Refinement Void stage had ever delved deeper than he had. The current him was already far stronger than a single Dao Child, already capable of slaying two Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Dao Children head-on with his strength—such a possibility existed.

A Sword Child like this, if he grew to his limit, would be enough to leave his name among all the Supreme beings across the ages of the Upper Realm.

Yet, he still could not break through the Fourth-Step limit.

This step was too difficult.

This step was like that step the First Generation Great Sun Sword Lord had once taken. With one step taken, from then on he was no longer on the same level as the Badaxian Sect, beginning to transcend to an even higher realm, destined to be invincible throughout the Great Thousand World. Even if every living being in the entire Great Thousand World attacked him fearlessly, it would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot—not worth mentioning.

This was the Fourth-Step Rule Nirvana.