Chapter 1688

Dao Merging!

At this moment, the Great Sun Sword Lord was, in every sense, the absolute sovereign of the world cluster — beyond any doubt.

The highest peak of realm ever reached by successive Great Sun Sword Lords had likewise been attained.

If the Great Sun Ancestor knew of this in the afterlife, he would surely feel gratified, wouldn't he?

After all, his own path had truly been carried on, and built upon, climbing toward what lay closer to the Immortal, step by step fulfilling the shared ideal of Great Sun sword cultivators.

"First Generation Sword Lord…"

Jiang Ding could not help but sigh, his heart full of reverence.

Of course, all of this was predicated on the fact that the First Generation Great Sun Sword Lord had been dead for several hundred thousand years.

If the First Generation Great Sun Sword Lord had not died — he would show him even more reverence by beating him until both his spirit and soul were utterly destroyed; surely the First Generation Great Sun Sword Lord would be even more gratified then.

The restless magic power on Jiang Ding's body gradually calmed, returning to stability, and finally settled at the mid-stage Dao Merging realm.

"I estimate I'll need a hundred thousand years to reach the peak of Dao Merging, and step into Heaven-Human in perfect form."

"The premise is, not pursuing the extreme."

Jiang Ding silently calculated: "Cultivation at the Dao Merging stage, apart from the accumulation of magic power and spirit-soul, is the fine-tuning of rules, exploring the rules belonging to the cultivator themselves — this relates to whether one can advance to Heaven-Human."

"At this realm, I, who have already broken through the Fourth Step Extreme, have the possibility of making up for it."

"A hundred thousand years should be enough."

"If a hundred thousand years aren't enough, then three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand, five hundred thousand!"

"This sovereign has plenty of time — it will definitely be done!"

Jiang Ding mused.

"Of course, if some kind-hearted true immortal were to give me a sword without instantly killing me, letting me flee would be even better…"

Hum!

As his thoughts wandered, the Great Sun Immortal-Mortal Sword Soul of the Fourth Step Extreme suddenly radiated brilliance, awakening instinctively as if it had obtained some unknown thing from the endless starry sky — a faint, indistinct spirit-soul coordinate.

This spirit-soul coordinate had a name.

Myriad Laws Hub!

Some intelligence about the Myriad Laws Hub spontaneously surfaced in Jiang Ding's mind, as if by some instinct — once a certain threshold was reached, one could come into contact with it, and it differed in every era.

For instance, in this era, the Myriad Laws Hub continued the decision of the previous generation's Human Sovereign: the admission condition was being a Human race Fourth Step Extreme Dao Child, or a Human race Supreme who had unified a Great Thousand World.

The Myriad Laws Hub was not some faction, nor some Secret Realm.

The Myriad Laws Hub was an advisory institution established by the previous generation's Human Sovereign, assisting the Human Sovereign in ruling the endless starry sky; occasionally the Human Sovereign would consult the Myriad Laws Hub on national policy.

In this era, there was no Human Sovereign.

Therefore, the Myriad Laws Hub was now a very loosely organized institution, where various Human race Supremes who ruled Great Thousand Worlds

could meet across the endless starry sky.

That was all.

Beyond this, the Myriad Laws Hub held no power whatsoever — the strong of the Human race had never obeyed a name in place of actual violence.

"Myriad Laws Hub…"

Jiang Ding held his breath.

Long ago, he had known the Human race was the hegemon of the endless starry sky, but had never had concrete contact with it.

Now, a claw and a scale of that endless-starry-sky hegemon was revealed before him.

Myriad Laws Hub!

This was communication technology spanning the endless starry sky — this was solid, terrifying heritage, something no non-hegemon of the endless starry sky could possibly possess.

Where lay the ruling limit of a political entity?

In the limit of distance for projecting force and transmitting information!

Jiang Ding did not know how the Human race's ability to project force across the endless starry sky fared, but he now saw the limit of Human race information transmission — within the scope of the endless starry sky, orders could be issued down to the Great Thousand World level; this was the Human race's ruling reach.

This was terrifying power!

If there existed a race as strong as the Human race, or even ten times stronger, yet that race lacked endless-starry-sky-level communication technology, the Human race could form absolute local superiority in forces, crushing powerful races scattered across various regions with an overwhelming sweep.

This was the extreme importance of communication technology to an organized entity.

Although in this era there seemed to be no being who could mobilize Human race powerhouses from all regions.

"I wonder,"

"whether there are any Dao Children here that this sovereign needs…"

Jiang Ding longed: "This sovereign is a kind person, a person of principle, who never delights in killing — he merely wishes to make friends with all manner of Dao Children."

He tried to make contact with the Myriad Laws Hub.

In the haze, there seemed to exist an ever-shifting spirit-soul coordinate, one that possessed an indescribably great power — even the power of Immortals seemed unable to penetrate it.

This unknown spirit-soul coordinate continuously verified the information of the Human race Dao Child, and ultimately, the verification passed.

Spirit-soul coordinate transmission began.

This process would require anywhere from several decades to at most a hundred-plus years.

Jiang Ding tried it briefly, then gave up, intending to leave it for later exploration.

Clang!

Countless rays of light converged; the suddenly leaping divine sense and magic power gradually returned to calm. Jiang Ding sheathed his sword and walked toward the many old friends of the Immortal Gates.

Everyone stared at him without blinking.

No one spoke for a long while.

"What is it?"

Jiang Ding was somewhat baffled, glanced back behind him — there was no one there.

"Hahaha!"

"Nothing much—just curious to see a Great Sun Sword Master of the Union Dao stage."

Yuan laughed loudly, then bowed deeply: "Congratulations, Great Sun Daofriend, on ascending to Union Dao—extending your lifespan, um…"

He paused, clearly uncertain.

Because Great Sun Sword Masters always live far longer than other cultivators of the same stage—by a great deal—beyond any normal reckoning.

"Five hundred thousand years."

A voice, from who knows where, prompted.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations, Great Sun Daofriend, on ascending to Union Dao—extending your lifespan five hundred thousand years!"

Yuan took a deep breath, then said solemnly.

"Five hundred thousand years?"

"Damn!"

God Monarch Sun-Extinction stared in shock, repeatedly staring at the tiny figure before him, unable to believe it: "Can you outlive five of me?"

"Did I hear that right?"

"Am I hearing things?"

"You heard correctly."

"Elder Mie Ri,"

Jiang Ding said with quiet composure: "I already told you I'm sixteen this year—you didn't believe me before, but now you believe, right?"

"Damn!"

God Monarch Sun-Extinction wore an expression of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

"That doesn't add up,"

"Jiang Ding."

Jin Jin Lingfeng calculated silently in her mind: "By your math, you should be twelve this year—how did you add four extra years? That's terribly imprecise!"

"Speak!"

"Who was your elementary math teacher?"

She demanded sharply.

"Classmate Jin Jin Lingfeng, you have to understand."

"Teenagers always prefer to seem mature."

Jiang Ding's expression remained unchanged: "For example, boys like to grow beards, girls like to dress in mature styles—it's our nature as teenagers, so we unconsciously claim to be a few years older."

"You get it, right?"

"Get stuffed!"

"You're shameless!"

"Get lost!"

Around them, a circle of Union Dao Divine Lords burst into laughter.

Amid the joyful laughter, the Great Sun Sword Master reconnected to the Immortal Gate network, smoothly taking over all Immortal Gate R&D ideas, finding his place, and merging into the vast Immortal Gate scientific research team, beginning to tackle various challenges in Immortal Gate technological development.

The Immortal Gate's Immortal R&D team instantly gained a super engine—its R&D capability surged several-fold!