Chapter 2709: The First Five-Hundred-Million-Year Plan

Time passes slowly.

In the blink of an eye, a million years of time flow by.

After the battle of the Song of the Heavenly Qin, the Boundless Starry Sky once again regained peace and development.

The Immortal Gate Material Civilization accelerates its fusion with the Heavenly Qin Civilization, projected to fully merge within at most several hundred thousand years, giving rise to a brand-new Material Civilization, with the Immortal Gate Material Civilization completely ruling the Rakania Supergalactic Cluster and once again turning outward to explore, climbing toward ever higher civilizational heights.

And the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang has always sat motionless in the Heavenly Pivot, never leaving.

"Imperial Crown..."

"The Twelvefold Preparatory Immortal Seals of the Tai Qing Flying Sword, advancing to Immortal Sword..."

Jiang Ding Zi muttered to himself.

Over the past million years, he has completely absorbed all the civilizational achievements of the Heavenly Qin Song Civilization, countless inspirations and thoughts surging in his heart, giving rise to many ideas about the future path.

The vast and terrifying foundation of the Boundless Starry Sky Civilization flows along the direction chosen by the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang, no matter what the future holds, without regret or resentment.

As resolve solidified, two scriptures appeared before the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang.

"The Great Dao Rhythm Ascension Immortal Sword Forging Method" and "The Cosmic End Crown"

Jiang Ding gazed upon these two immortal scripture outlines, the culmination of tens of millions of years of his hesitation and deduction.

The sword-forging method largely draws upon the transmission of the Shang Qing Lingbao lineage, which occasionally appears in the Boundless Starry Sky and can never be eradicated, the highest refining inheritance he found, which, upon merging with the highly advanced refining civilization achievements of the Tai Shang Da Ri Immortal Dynasty, formed this.

As for "The Cosmic End Crown," it is the final swan song of the Dharma-Ending Great Dao; a single note forces the Boundless Starry Sky into the Dharma-Ending era.

This is his wish and expectation, and also the overarching research plan for the next several hundred million years.

If this chosen direction is wrong, the painstaking effort of several hundred million years will be wasted...

Then it is wrong.

There is nothing serious about it.

"This sovereign,"

"My current lifespan is fifteen hundred million years, standing at the pinnacle of the Primordial Ancient Scrolls Becoming Emperor Method; if wrong, then wrong—there is nothing serious about it."

Jiang Ding spoke indifferently.

To explore in darkness inherently means taking wrong turns; this is not misfortune, but fortune, for each mistake accumulates experience, letting one slowly approach the supreme—this is an inevitable path.

Such mistakes can be made three times.

After three times, it is total failure, with no possibility of further progress; to sink into oblivion is useless—this is merely a meaningless waste of lifespan. Without the presiding of the Three-Character Immortal Scripture Emperor, the Boundless Starry Sky could hardly achieve any notable pinnacle of Immortal Dao research.

"Soft persimmon,"

"Issue this directive."

Jiang Ding took out a jade slip and handed it to Fusang; the slip clearly bore several characters.

"The Five-Hundred-Million-Year Immortal Dao Plan for the Current Boundless Starry Sky"

This is the will of the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang: having chosen a direction, he will grind it down with time, even if using this most foolish method, he will wear out the path of the Two-Character Immortal Scripture until ascension!

"Five-hundred-million-year plan..."

Upon seeing these characters, the Fusang Empress Consort's breath caught for a moment.

Such an immense span of time has long surpassed the limit of her lifespan; no matter the method used to extend life, it remains so, with its limits.

What the First Tai Shang Da Ri Immortal Dynasty experienced long ago has now come again. "Yes,"

"Your Majesty."

The Fusang Empress Consort said nothing, smiling faintly.

As the will of the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang was issued, the Boundless Starry Sky, this superlative Immortal Dao Industrial Research Complex, once again gained a clear direction; vast numbers of forbidden-zone emperors, Feathered Ascension Emperor Realm cultivators, and countless heavenly pride heroes are bustling about this project, each experiment, research, and study consuming a lifetime.

From time to time, living beings perish, their lifespans exhausted, and new heavenly pride heroes are born.

Coming and going, time flows day by day, year by year.

It seems that every day someone dies.

It seems that every day a familiar living being vanishes, while the Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang never appears, merely sitting and observing, coldly overlooking the myriad paths of the starry sky.

Finally, one day, when the First Five-Hundred-Million-Year Plan had passed its halfway point, Gong Caiyu came before the blue-clad youth.

"Young Master, I wish to depart."

"May you fare well, and may you find joy in each day."

Gong Caiyu pursed her lips and smiled. It resembled somewhat the day long ago in the Bei Yuan Minor Realm when she first saw him.

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

Immediately, in his sight, Gong Caiyu, a cultivator who had undergone Feathered Ascension Emperor Realm five times, collapsed into nothingness and vanished into the Boundless Starry Sky.

There was no external enemy—only her lifespan had reached its end.

Having lived for several hundred million years, she arrived at the limit of her lifespan; even if she bore the affection of the Boundless Starry Sky's invincibles, it was the same—life extension had reached its limit.

Finally, she transformed into the heavens.

"Caiyu..."

The Yue Yin Gu Huang and the Fusang Empress Consort felt some sorrow.

Especially Fusang, whose lifespan exceeds Gong Caiyu's by some margin, yet not by much—at most several tens of millions of years—this is the future of all life.

Yet, there is also nothing regrettable about it.

Since ancient times, how many heavenly pride heroes, how many forbidden-zone emperors, how many living beings have lived through several hundred million years? Since ancient times, far too few!

This is already great fortune, the utmost of the mortal realm.

The Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang sat upon his throne, silently watching a friend from his youth depart, his heart hardly stirred by emotion.

Either he has endured too many ages, long since become unfeeling;

Or because he knows that immortals can reverse time, reverse life and death;

Or perhaps nothing at all.

The thoughts of Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang merely flickered slightly before settling into complete stillness, his gaze continuing to rest upon the body of the Tai Qing flying sword before him.

At this moment, the Tai Qing flying sword was immensely vast, spanning thousands of light-years, its body densely covered with intricate sealing patterns, exceedingly complex, as if it were expounding the mysteries of the entire universe with a single sword of Shen Zhou.

The terrifying gravity brought about by its volume and mass formed a black hole, swallowing all brilliance from countless star fields, leaving this heaven and earth utterly dark, even the Dao rules here consumed to nothing, leaving only a continuous sword body stretching for who knows how many light-years—this is the Dao of the sword cultivator.

Upon the sword body, ancient emperors of the immortal dynasties and Feathered Ascension Realm engineers bustled about, conducting various experiments.

This is the Wu Jin Kong Kong of two hundred million years later; the five-billion-year plan has completed two-fifths, and the Tai Qing flying sword has advanced to the eleventh level of quasi-immortal seal.

But the twelfth level of quasi-immortal seal currently shows no hope. Achieving an immortal artifact is too difficult.

"The first five-billion-year plan appears destined to fail."

"This path leads nowhere; the Dao rhythm's immortal-forging sword method is too rigidly bound to the materialist civilization of the celestial lute, not the way the immortal Dao universe should follow."

Jiang Ding spoke calmly.

There was not the slightest trace of discouragement from failure.

In immortal Dao scientific research, failure is also success.

First, it proves this path leads nowhere; second, within this failed project, numerous sub-items concerning materials, seals, and smelting have succeeded, and these breakthroughs in immortal Dao scientific research can be applied to the next project, greatly accelerating its success.