Chapter 1771: May You Return Victorious

The Painted King's decree spread rapidly throughout the entire Fortune Dynasty.

For no apparent reason, the dynasty that had vaguely given birth to internal strife instantly calmed; the dynasty's fortune, which had been roaring warnings ceaselessly, also fell silent, no longer transmitting any warnings to the monarch.

As if in an instant, the dynasty returned to the time when all hearts were united.

In a dim space.

Shadows gathered together; the outlines of certain shadows seemed similar to the high ministers in the court of the Great Painted Dynasty, and a burly shadow seemed strangely familiar.

"He submitted?"

"No novelty at all."

The harpy woman said indifferently, "This is for the best. Offspring or a usurping general ascending the throne would also do, but the dynasty's fortune would inevitably be weaker. Since the original owner is willing to submit, it is naturally perfect."

"In this way, our merit will be greater."

Merit is a judgment system circulating within the Xing Tian Dao Court; the rewards of gods, the promotion of divine ranks, the forging of magical treasures, and all else are related to it.

"Haha,"

"This is naturally the best."

A burly shadow laughed, "That arrow, I thought we would really have to kill him. After all, the dynasty's dragon qi protects the body, and we cannot fully control even a fraction of it. Fortunately, our luck was good; we don't need to change to another person."

"Changing people is easy to control, but the fortune is not perfect. Since the Divine Son is watching, we naturally cannot be so careless."

"In your opinion,"

"Is this person feigning submission?"

Another shadow asked.

"The Way of Fortune,"

"One step back, and every step back follows; this is not up to him."

The burly shadow sneered, "The dynasty's dragon qi is already desperate; the fortune of humanity is already desperate. Without further investment, a mere mortal ant, having lost all these things, does it still have the qualification to do anything?"

"That is true."

The surrounding shadows nodded slightly.

These shadows are all gods specializing in this aspect; they have manipulated similar fortune dynasties countless times. The divine ranks record too much of the past; it is difficult to make a mistake.

The situation between the realms developed like flowing water.

Seven days later, the Great Painted Dynasty's army marched out of the Wei King's territory. The allied forces of sixteen fortune dynasties, including the Wei King, Zheng King, and Chen King, gathered to jointly respond to the Great Painted Dynasty's offensive.

Both sides engaged in fierce slaughter at the border; battles resembling meat grinders appeared constantly.

The battle was evenly matched and difficult to resolve.

In such a battlefield, tens of thousands of high-quality living souls entered the Yama Hell and the River of Rebirth every moment, where they were refined by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, and other departments of the Xing Tian Dao Court into divine soldiers, into divine generals, and into divine dao magical artifacts.

Faithful

Living souls with sincere faith are an invaluable treasure for the Divine Dao.

Such wealth, in the current era of slaughter between fortune dynasties, appears endlessly. The Dao Court's wealth constantly increases; endless divine armies are refined and sent to the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Star Domain battlefield to slaughter another batch of human cultivators, forming a closed loop.

The struggle between fortune dynasties is the Dao Court's harvest autumn.

Generation after generation of humanity experiences such a cruel autumn every few tens of thousands of years; fields full of grain are harvested by gods on fixed harvest days, producing fruits that are stored by gods.

This cruel and evenly matched slaughter lasted for over two thousand years.

Two thousand years later, as the manpower of the various fortune dynasties was exhausted and most fruits were harvested, the battlefield finally saw a victor.

The Painted King, victorious.

Tu Sansi stood on the battlefield of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

He gazed at the fleeing soldiers of the allied kings; he saw the King of Wei surrounded by many fierce generals and hacked to pieces; he saw the King of Chen beheaded by soldiers; he saw the desperate and chaotic flight of the various kings, while his own army pursued the fleeing enemy.

The final battle has concluded.

Within at most one hundred years, his army will sweep across all directions, annihilate all fortune dynasties, completely unify the entire dynasty, and establish an empire with an immeasurably vast territory.

The brilliant glory of the Great Painted Dynasty is about to appear.

"At most one hundred years..."

Tu Sansi's face turned ashen; he wept and laughed.

This scene formed a sharp contrast with the lively congratulations of countless civil and military officials.

"It is about to begin."

"My little snack..."

In a nameless, empty void.

There were no worlds of life here, no human settlements. A young man in green clothes, wrapped in a membrane of law-erasing power, suddenly opened his eyes, and crimson light flickered unsteadily.

From the very beginning, he had never left.

He had always been here, never going to any place of cause and effect; even if those avatars were exposed, his true body would have no problems.

Of course, this was what he thought himself.

Whether he was truly the original body would only be known the moment he truly met the Divine Son.

Jiang Ding walked out of this empty, deathly silent void for the first time, heading toward the ancient Xiang King ruins. Hidden by the law-erasing membrane, he wandered like a ghost through the great world of gods and Buddhas.

However, before that, he had to go to the Wan Fa Tian Shu.

The Wan Fa Tian Shu, wrapped in layers of chaotic mist, remained eternally unchanged. Numerous stars orbited the Emperor's Seat; every star was an existence qualified to unify the great world.

Jiang Ding circled around; it seemed to be the time again for a thousand years of Dao Sons debating the Dao and Sword Sons debating the sword.

Fusang

The Holy Maiden and the Zhenjun He Huan Holy Maiden discovered him immediately; their gazes both changed, but Jiang Ding did not look at them now. Instead, he stepped forward one by one until he stood before the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden.

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden was tall and slender, clad in silver-jade battle armor.

In these years, she had been waging war throughout the Qingfeng Beidou Star Domain; her body was filled with killing intent, her bearing heroic and spirited. While engaged in battle, she had come to the Myriad Dharma Heavenly Pivot even more frequently, gaining numerous insights, and her aura had grown even more solid.

"Fellow Daoist,"

"This Lord's name is Master Tushan."

Jiang Ding walked into the Dao Discourse of the Dao Children, passing through a series of winding streams with floating cups, until he stood before the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden, gazing at the heroic woman before him.

"This humble woman greets the Master Tushan Sword Child."

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden was covered in killing intent, yet her voice was very gentle; she did not seem like a great general who had fought on the battlefield, possessing a stunning contrast of beauty capable of stirring longing in heroes and chivalrous men.

This contrast failed to stir any emotional fluctuation in a Human Sword Child; he was cold and hard as iron.

"This Lord has heard a rumor; I wonder if Fellow Daoist has heard it."

Jiang Ding asked lightly.

"What kind of... rumor?"

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden's heart stirred.

A possibility, an exhilarating possibility, naturally floated up in her heart.

A Human Sword Cultivator.

A Human Sword Child who went mad from bloody battles coming before her at this moment; aside from that one possibility, what else remained?

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden's body trembled involuntarily.

This was the first time, the first time a Human Dao Child had clearly expressed his inclination and was taking actual action.

"This Lord has heard that the Qingfeng Beidou Holy Land has two lineages, light and dark."

"The light lineage is the Qingfeng Beidou Dharma Cultivators, the dark lineage is the Qingfeng Beidou Sword Cultivators; therefore... there exists a Qingfeng Beidou Sword Child."

Jiang Ding said lightly: "I wonder if Fellow Daoist knows what Gong Fa this Qingfeng Beidou Sword Child cultivates, such that one knows immediately upon seeing him that he is a Sword Child from the Qingfeng Beidou lineage?"

This was what he needed.

The karmic retribution for slaying the Divine Children and Buddha Children of the Great Thousand World needed someone to bear it; this would further reduce his risk.

"Sword Child,"

"This humble woman naturally knows!"

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden took a deep breath, without any hesitation, immediately handing over a jade slip: "The Qingfeng Beidou Sword Child of our Sect should be cultivating this very Gong Fa."

"Oh?"

Jiang Ding swept his divine sense over it.

"Secret Records of the Seven Mansions of Qingfeng Beidou," the supreme scripture of the Qingfeng Beidou Holy Land; most of the scriptures within were either missing or described vaguely, but only one chapter, the "Chapter of Shifting Form and Exchanging Bones," existed, and it was incredibly detailed.

"Good."

Jiang Ding put away the jade slip and turned to leave.

He needed no reward.

The Divine Child and the Buddha Child were the best rewards; nothing else was needed.

"We respectfully see you off, Sword Child!"

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden did not ask what this Human Sword Cultivator was going to do or where he was going; she simply bowed deeply in salute.

The conversation between the two had taken place entirely within their divine senses.

What the many Dao Children saw was merely a youth in green robes approaching the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden and then leaving; everything seemed utterly ordinary.

The Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Holy Maiden suddenly bowing deeply to see him off was extremely abrupt and conspicuous.

The gazes of the many Human Dao Children were inexplicable.

They did not know what they were thinking; in an instant, they deduced many things from this scene, yet they simply watched silently, making no expression.

The youth in green robes slowly departed.

"May you,"

"Return victorious."

On the other side, the small voice of the Fusang Holy Maiden came through.

Jiang Ding turned to look at her, nodded slightly, and his figure vanished from sight.