Chapter 418: Old Friends Wither Away One by One

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered, compressing toward a single point at the center.

Magic power began to transform from a gaseous state into a liquid one.

If successful, the qualitatively transformed magic power could be used to temper the body and divine soul, thereby extending one's lifespan to two hundred and fifty years, and the thirty-year lifespan cap of the Qi Refining stage could also be stacked on top.

If it failed, the body would die and the soul be destroyed.

The body and divine soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator were truly far too aged.

At the age of one hundred and twenty-six, a mortal at this age would already be a pile of white bones; any slightly larger wound would trigger a cascading collapse of the body.

"What will the outcome be?"

"Birth, aging, sickness, death — the natural order?"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured to himself, then suddenly revealed a trace of coldness.

"If we truly followed birth, aging, sickness, and death, what meaning would our cultivation still have? Why refuse to simply die after a hundred years?"

"Even the natural order can be defied!"

"Central Array Spirit Computer."

Jiang Ding calmed down: "Using the Taiqing Flying Sword as collateral, can I temporarily obtain one Soul Transformation battle merit? If the person inside fails to break through Foundation Establishment, can the lower half of the soul that has undergone qualitative transformation be preserved, sealed, and sent into a slumbering Secret Realm?"

"Affirmative."

The voice of the Central Array Spirit Computer did not hesitate for a moment.

"Within one thousand years, submit one Soul Transformation battle merit."

"That will do."

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and entered a state of cultivation, no longer looking anxious and on the verge of giving birth to a heart demon.

The people around also held their breath, not daring to make any extraneous sound.

An unknown amount of time later.

Drip!

A sound that seemed to come from the depths of the unknown, like the first drop of water falling into a bright jade plate.

"It's done."

"Hahaha!"

Jiang Ding suddenly opened his eyes, a smile blooming, a surge of joy rising from his heart, no longer worried in the slightest, and laughed heartily: "As expected of the mother of the future Jiang Tianjun — how could she fail to overcome even a mere Foundation Establishment hurdle?"

"Impossible,"

"An impossible thing!"

Under the surge of emotion, the Concealment and Breath-Hiding Art instantly failed.

A boy of sixteen or seventeen, with a youthful face, looking like a Gao Zhongsheng, stood at the door of the cultivation room with hands on his hips, laughing wildly, uttering words so super-chuunibyou that one wanted to cover their eyes and ears.

"Is this Uncle?"

The tiger-headed, tiger-brained young man and the woman were instantly dumbfounded.

If it weren't here, seeing him anywhere else would make one think he was a little brat who had skipped class and run out of some school.

This appearance, this chuunibyou-embarrassing air — there was essentially no difference.

"Hello to you all."

Jiang Ding hurriedly took his hands off his hips, solemnly gave them an affable greeting, and his body vanished from sight once more.

A long time later, the turbulent spiritual energy of heaven and earth settled down.

After consolidating his cultivation for several days, the great door of the cultivation room slowly opened.

Amid a faint Foundation Establishment pressure, Lin Wanqiu walked out. The dark brown skin of her face had turned somewhat paler, her wrinkles had lessened, and even some of her fully white hair had partially turned black, the overall color shifting from white to grayish-black.

She had suddenly become much younger.

From looking over ninety, she now looked in her sixties or seventies, considerably healthier and more robust.

"... Mom?"

Jiang Yuan called out tentatively, hesitant, not quite daring to recognize her.

"Yuan Yuan, what's wrong?"

Lin Wanqiu was baffled.

"It really is Mom."

Jiang Yuan was greatly shocked.

That pervert was one thing — he had always looked like this since she was in elementary school, and after so many years she had long grown used to it.

But her mother, who had lived alongside her day after day and had always held the image of an elder in her heart, had suddenly become younger than herself; standing together, it was instead as if she herself had become the mother.

This abruptness brought her an immense sense of dreamlike unreality.

"Congratulations, Great-Aunt!"

Lin Yuanwang said joyfully.

Having just experienced the successive departure of relatives, he never wanted to experience it again.

The feeling of still having an elder to rely on in this world was truly wonderful.

"Congratulations, Grandma!"

The two little ones said in unison.

"Good grandsons!"

Lin Wanqiu smiled so much that her eyes narrowed into slits.

……

After staying home for several more months, confirming that Lin Yuanwang's mental state had improved and he could now work and cultivate normally, Jiang Ding gave Jiang Yuan some instructions on cultivation, his body floated into the air, and once again he left his hometown to return to school.

Without immediately flying into the Sky Warplane, his escape light veered, and he landed at the entrance of the Rongcheng Public Cemetery.

After buying a few handfuls of pure white chrysanthemums nearby, Jiang Ding followed the crowd and queued to enter the cemetery.

Around him, most were people like himself—grief-stricken, silent and taciturn—and even though it was no particular festival, there were still many visitors coming and going.

"So it turns out that in this city where I was born, people are leaving at every moment."

Jiang Ding thought silently.

"And at every moment, there are people being born—it's a cycle of reincarnation."

"Before, I always vaguely overlooked all this, thinking I would never encounter it, but in the end it was only a thought."

Wandering slowly through the cemetery, the crowd gradually dispersed.

In the end, only he remained alone, along with the silent tombstones standing all around.

Jiang Ding's footsteps paused.

"Tomb of Guo Kui."

"Guo Gong, named Kui, a Qi Refinement Ninth Layer Peak cultivator, mother… father… born in the year… in Rongcheng City, Guizhou Province of the Immortal Sect, admitted in the year… to the Cultivation Department of Qianling University, graduated twenty years later at the Qi Refinement Third Layer realm, thereafter went to serve in the Canghai Minor Realm…"

"In the year…, took up a post teaching at Chengyizhong Sect in Rongcheng, during which his students spread across the world, and he taught nine Foundation Establishment cultivators…"

"In the year…, Guo Gong taught Rongcheng City's first-ever Immortal Sect Top Scholar, the Great Sun Sword Son Jiang Ding, making an enormous contribution to the Immortal Sect, which will surely be inscribed in the annals of history, untouched by the erosion of time, and remembered even after ten thousand years…"

"In the year…, Guo Gong passed away peacefully at home, remembered fondly by those who came after."

Jiang Ding placed the pure white chrysanthemums before Guo Kui's grave.

"Teacher Guo, have a safe journey."

In a daze, he recalled many years ago, Guo Kui slamming his hand on the lectern, furiously scolding whoever had written one symbol wrong again on the Immortal Sect's First Law that was worth free points, his face bristling with rage.

Now it was the year…

His high school teachers had begun passing away one after another several years ago, and he had attended every funeral, drawing a period on each of these bonds of teacher and student.

"Hey, Jiang Ding, you again."

From behind came a familiar voice.

"Hello, Teacher Zhang."

Jiang Ding turned his head and offered a greeting.

It was Zhang Dingjun, the instructor at Chengyizhong Sect in Rongcheng, now already at the early Foundation Establishment cultivation, and the last remaining person among that group of high school teachers.

"Back from the school again?"

Zhang Dingjun placed a handful of pure white chrysanthemums before Guo Kui's grave, then walked toward the graves of other long-time colleagues such as Teacher Wang Lan, asking casually as he went.

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded and followed in his footsteps.

"Old Guo actually had the hope of advancing further."

"He cared too much about his children."

Zhang Dingjun set the chrysanthemums before Teacher Wang Lan's grave and sighed: "When you passed the Immortal Sect Top Scholar exam, the Immortal Sect rewarded a Foundation Establishment Pill and a complete set of the three Foundation Establishment treasures—he didn't use them, he left them for his children. Later, the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill you gave him was the same; relying only on cultivation techniques, he extended his life by just over a dozen years."

"They were all fine."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

That was Guo Kui's own choice that he felt was right; outsiders had no right to judge.

"True enough."

Zhang Dingjun said nothing more.

He was the same—classmates and colleagues had all gradually disappeared, and after several years, his heart still felt hollow and empty.

After Jiang Ding followed Zhang Dingjun in paying respects to each of the departed teachers one by one, he waved his hand, flew into the sky, merged as one with his aerial combat craft, and flew off into the distance.

(End of this chapter)