Chapter 399: In Any Case, Life Must Go On

A gentle breeze mixed with light rain,

Jiang Ding stood silently before two graves.

"Did Lord Dingding get a girlfriend?"

"Lord Dingding, Grandma wants to eat boiled cabbage."

"Lord Dingding..."

Grandpa and Grandma's voices, faces, and smiles kept surfacing in his heart, repeating over and over.

Back then, he thought such times would last forever.

Unexpectedly, suddenly, he could never see them again.

Only two cold and desolate grave mounds remained.

"Why can't the time of this universe stay frozen in those years?"

"I wonder, if the path of immortality reaches its extreme, is it possible to reverse time?"

Jiang Ding thought silently.

Around him, a large crowd wore black and white clothes.

Two little ones were confused, not knowing what had happened, and no one told them.

Lin Lin Wanqiu and her brother Lin Yong had cried countless times; their eyes were red and swollen, their spirits utterly dazed, their vitality instantly diminished by a large margin, as if they had aged many years.

"Mom, Uncle."

Jiang Ding said softly, "Let's go back first; take care of your health. Grandpa and Grandma said they want you to take good care of yourselves."

"Mm."

Lin Lin Wanqiu responded reluctantly and slowly left with her son's support.

Lin Lin Yuanwang and Uncle did the same.

In any case, life must eventually go on.

Jiang Ding stayed at home for another year, accompanying Lin Lin Wanqiu, waiting until her mental state gradually improved and she was no longer dazed every day, before finally deciding to return to school.

At home, cultivation did not lag, but he could not attend classes; under the teachers' guidance, he studied array formations, runes, Gong Fa principles, and other immortal path knowledge to enrich his foundation.

Continuing to work in isolation like this, sooner or later he would hit a bottleneck at some cultivation stage in life.

"Mom,"

Jiang Ding looked at Lin Lin Wanqiu, whose head had already grown many silver hairs, and said seriously, "Can you promise me never to leave me?"

"That's a bit difficult."

Lin Lin Wanqiu smiled bitterly.

With both parents gone, she felt a deep powerlessness of being utterly alone between heaven and earth; fortunately, she still had her children and younger brother to rely on, so her spirit had not collapsed.

She truly dared not imagine how high-level cultivators faced the situation where their relatives, even friends, passed away one by one, leaving only themselves alone between heaven and earth.

No wonder high-level cultivators often have strange habits and are hard to get along with.

"However, I promise you, at least until Foundation Establishment."

Lin Lin Wanqiu assured, "I have had the array spirit in the cultivation room simulate it many times; if everything goes smoothly, the possibility of reaching Foundation Establishment is quite high; perhaps you will even see me become a Golden Core cultivator."

"That's good enough."

Jiang Ding nodded satisfiedly: "Then I'm leaving. I'll come home once every week; it's very fast, just over ten minutes' journey, not troublesome at all."

"Also, try to persuade Yuanyuan over there."

He sighed lightly.

In this life, he really did not want to experience such pain of losing a loved one again.

"Rest assured."

Lin Lin Wanqiu comforted, "She has been cultivating recently too; the two little ones have someone to look after them, so she isn't actually busy. It's just that Grandpa and Grandma's passing made her too sad; she has always been more fragile than others... she will adjust soon."

"I hope so."

"Mom, see you in a week."

Jiang Ding waved his hand; his body floated up, then transformed into a gray-blue sword-shaped escape light flying toward the high sky, merging mid-air with an aerospace fighter, his figure dissolving into it.

The aerospace fighter's tail fin spat out airflow, disappearing in a sonic boom.

Moments later, a pure white-painted aerospace fighter followed up, flying alongside.

"Jiang Ding, are you okay?"

Jin Jin Lingfeng's divine sense scanned over, observing his appearance bit by bit, and instructed, "If you feel your mental state is unsuitable, rest for a while longer; do not immediately enter a cultivation state, or there might be a risk of qi deviation."

"Thanks, I'm fine."

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

"An Siyan, do you have enough longevity pills for your parents?"

Remembering something, he asked.

After the Foundation Establishment realm, a cultivator's soul undergoes a qualitative transformation and can consume longevity pills to extend lifespan; there is a limit: a Foundation Establishment cultivator can extend life by at most one hundred years, reaching an age of three hundred and fifty.

The closer one gets to the three hundred and fifty-year limit, the higher the quality of longevity pills required.

"Not yet."

An Siyan shook her head: "Longevity pills are too precious; even a second-tier longevity pill is more valuable than many third-tier pills. I plan to consider it after forming a Golden Core."

"As for after three hundred years, third-tier longevity pills are needed to be effective; that is beyond my ability."

"You are currently mid-Foundation Establishment, looking close to late-Foundation Establishment... are you planning to stop advancing steadily and form a Golden Core early?" Jiang Dinglue pondered briefly and understood her intention.

This was understandable; between the Dao path and living longer with one's parents, many find it hard to choose; it is neither good nor bad.

Moreover, the path to Nascent Soul is not completely cut off; it is just that the chance of forming an infant might be slightly smaller.

"Don't do that yet; I'll lend you some spirit stones."

Jiang Ding thought for a moment: "Forming a Golden Core too early is a pity. When you have the ability later, repay me several times over. Remember, this is usury."

"This... alright."

An Siyan hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

In truth, she did not wish to be so eager for quick success and immediate benefits; her heart had wavered for a long time before she made this decision.

"There is one more point to note."

Jin Jin Lingfeng interjected: "Life-Extending Pills are far too rare; they have a price but no market. Many cultivators who obtain them either take them immediately or save them for their own relatives and descendants, so they rarely reach the market. I will ask around the area for you."

"Thank you very much!"

After layers of verification involving the soul, magic power, and the physical body, the two sky-fighting war machines exchanged brief farewells in the sky and flew back to their respective dormitories.

A figure descended from a sky-fighting war machine, casting a glance at the mining area filled with various ores and rusted engineering equipment.

"Sixteen years have passed again."

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

"And I no longer have my grandfather and grandmother..."

A hidden pain throbbed in his heart; he struggled to control himself and not think of these things.

Sitting cross-legged, a blue-golden tree burst from the earth behind him, spreading its canopy, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the Great Sun, which were inhaled and surged into his body, constantly refining his magic power.

The mining area dormitory returned to its usual tranquility.

The time that followed once again became as regular as before.

Every day was spent attending classes, cultivating, studying Gong Fa knowledge under Master Master Dinghai, learning sky-fighting combat under Lu Ling Master Dinghai Zhenjun, studying array formations under the mathematics teacher... occasionally going to the Great Sun Ruins Laboratory to conduct research with senior students, and returning home once a week.

The days passed just like this, regular and fulfilling.

In the blink of an eye, another half-year had passed.

"Hello, please sign for the delivery."

On this day, an elite kingfisher carrying two large boxes arrived at the mining area dormitory.

(End of this chapter)