Chapter 1722: A Grade Nearing Immortality

"This is…"

Jiang Ding sprang to his feet.

His gaze turned slightly cold, a sliver of killing intent blooming within, as he looked toward the distant starry sky.

That direction — toward the domains of the Supreme Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, Qingmuxian Sect, Celestial Mechanism Immortal Palace, and others — was where they had been settled by the Immortal Gate.

At this moment, as the wooden stake remnant revived, countless strands of Dao resonance and spiritual essence converged; in the direction of the Supreme Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, faint wisps of flame flickered in and out of sight, ceaselessly gathering.

Some force crossed the vast cosmic starry sky and converged upon the inheritance seed.

Through those wisps of flame, one seemed to glimpse generation after generation of the Supreme Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect's forebears, the final thoughts of generation after generation of Upper Realm Sovereigns — their last attachment to their sect — transmitted here through a certain rule-branch extremity of the endless cosmic starry sky.

What were these flames condensing? What were they rebuilding?

What were these thoughts of generation after generation of Spiritual Treasure Realm forebears, who had blazed the trail from nothing, condensing?!

"Afterglow,"

"The final afterglow of the Upper Realm Immortal Sects…"

Jiang Ding confirmed it completely, murmuring coldly.

Once-old friends, companions from childhood, people who carried the imprint of much shared time — at this moment every such identity fell away, and they returned to their original form.

Enemies.

Enemies of the Immortal Gate.

People who had the qualifications to shake the Immortal Gate's ruling system, who could affect the well-being of countless citizens.

The emotional stirring toward old acquaintances from the past vanished at this moment without a trace, without the slightest hesitation.

Even the Great Sun instinct's urge to let the strong grow unchecked was suppressed — at least one could not do such a thing in the Immortal Gate's home territory, where there was no room to maneuver.

The afterglow of the Upper Realm Immortal Sect's Spiritual Treasure Realm was about to descend.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Fallen Immortal Realm faced a calamity of imminent destruction, the Jiudaxian Sect together scattered seeds into the endless starry sky: if the Upper Realm sects perished, the strongest seed would condense the sects' final afterglow, and in the future lead the sects to rise again, restoring the sects' names.

All of this was clearly recorded in the inheritances of the Sun Moon Sword Pavilion and the Great Yin Yang Sword Realm.

The scenes from those inheritances were now truly unfolding.

"The Supreme Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect needs a thorough cleansing…"

Jiang Ding said lightly.

He took a step into the void, halted the Immortal Dao scientific research project he had been conducting, and prepared to launch yet another war — a war to cleanse the world cluster's interior.

Suddenly, his steps faltered.

Hum!

Another flame phantom appeared within the world cluster.

With the emergence of the Spiritual Treasure Realm's afterglow, as if some karmic thread had been tugged, or as if following the natural law by which salmon in the ocean cluster together to breed and increase their odds of success, new flame phantoms appeared in the direction of Qingmuxian Sect.

(continuation of the previous line into the next)

Those phantoms cried out as they came, blazing the trail forward — generation after generation of Sovereigns who had reached the extremity of a certain rule branch, their final thoughts converging here, bestowing blessings upon the sect's young ones in distant lands, blessing the inheritance seeds of the sect to grow smoothly.

Jiang Ding watched coldly.

Hum!

Hum hum!

Heaven and earth trembled, the cosmic star rivers churned in chaos, the myriad Dao rules of heaven and earth began to revive, blazing and radiant — the Green Emperor Divine Tree phenomenon standing between heaven and earth, the phenomenon of the Sovereign's Court in the infinite high sky, the phenomenon of the Land of Eternal Darkness, the Wheel of Five Elements' Birth and Destruction blooming, endless phenomena…

Phenomenon after phenomenon appeared alternately between heaven and earth, one after another, plunging the great Dao rules of this world cluster into a state of dim obscurity.

Around them, light flickered, cold metallic luster spreading out in all directions.

Fleet after fleet of deep-space warships stood at full readiness, shells prepared, officers and soldiers at every rank brimming with killing intent, once again appearing between heaven and earth, about to set out on campaign.

"Great Sun, will a Sovereign-level force appear?"

Yuan asked directly.

This was the most important question, and the key to whether the Immortal Gate's hegemony over this world cluster could continue.

Countless Immortal Gate officers looked over at the same time.

"No."

"There is no possibility whatsoever."

Jiang Ding said with absolute certainty: "Transmitting force across the endless cosmic void — even a Sovereign could not do it, let alone a group of Sovereigns who have long since passed."

"These are merely their thoughts, their attachment."

"Such a force cannot reach the Sovereign level."

"Then an extremely powerful being among Heaven-Humans?"

Yuan asked again.

"This…"

Jiang Ding fell into deep thought.

A long while.

"Cannot determine."

"I cannot determine whether the Immortal Sect afterglow possesses Heaven-Human level power, nor how far that power has advanced among Heaven-Humans, nor whether burning the final thoughts and attachments of so many Sovereigns could slay an extremely powerful being among Heaven-Humans."

Jiang Ding slowly shook his head: "I cannot determine."

"That means they may possess the power to provoke us, the possibility of overturning our order."

Yuan said with a smile.

"Yes."

Jiang Ding said calmly.

"Set forth."

"Now, attack!"

Jiang Ding's calm face suddenly tore open, and he said sharply, "This world cluster belongs to us, to all citizens!"

"Even the lingering light of the Immortal Sects, the final thoughts and attachments of the many Supremes, cannot shake the Immortal Gate's order in the world cluster with mere words."

"If you wish it so, please—"

"Let the enemy pay for it with blood and slaughter!"

"Yes!"

"Lord Grand Sun Chancellor!"

Countless Immortal Gate officers thundered their assent.

Amid the sky-obscuring radiance, the Immortal Gate's ten great deep-space fleets jumped one after another, flying toward the direction of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, which had been the first to show itself.

The lingering light of the Immortal Sects had appeared here first, and was about to condense into reality first, walking ahead of all the Immortal Sects.

The Immortal Gate fleet transmitted through the super teleportation array to the vicinity of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Middle Realm, then used spatial jump technology to cut into the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect's domain, descending outside the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Middle Realm.

A terrifying pressure manifested between heaven and earth.

Every fleet of the Immortal Gate possessed the might of a Heaven-Human level force, and the central army group especially possessed extremely powerful combat strength among Heaven-Humans.

Coupled with the Grand Sun Sword Lord, whose aura faintly merged as one with the ten great deep-space fleets, the pressure of the entire combined fleet instantly surpassed the peak of Heaven-Human, taking a great step closer toward Supreme!

This terrifying pressure descended above the Unity-of-Dao Sect, the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect!

Boom!

The mere diffusion of pressure instantly shattered all the sect-protecting grand arrays and all the mountain-gate formations of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect.

All the elders, disciples, many Dao soldiers… all living beings, all spiritual objects, all prostrated themselves on the ground, bound in every way, without the qualification to move even a fraction.

For a Unity-of-Dao level sect to be treated with such solemnity was far beyond the norm.

All the living beings and formations of the entire Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect had submitted.

Except for one person.

"It has been a long time, Daoist friend."

The Grand Sun Sword Lord within the fleet had a faint gaze.

He looked toward the only living being still standing in the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, his gaze solemn and meticulous as he examined inch by inch.

The Dao Child of Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure.

That was the customary title from the past; now he should be addressed as the Spiritual Treasure Divine Lord.

This Divine Lord's cultivation had not undergone any great change; he was still at the late stage of Unity-of-Dao, with a shallow foundation.

The only change was that nine layers of Spiritual Treasure Dao rings had grown behind his head, profound and unfathomable, emitting a heavy and chaotic aura, as if representing the limit of a certain branch of rules.

It was precisely these suddenly appeared nine layers of Spiritual Treasure Dao rings that gave the Spiritual Treasure Divine Lord the qualification to stand before the pressure of the Immortal Gate's ten great deep-space fleets.

This was the stature of one approaching Immortality!