Chapter 447

The heavenly tribulation dispersed, and the danger vanished.

"Early Jin Dan."

"Moreover, more than half of this early stage has already been traversed; accumulate for a few more years, and you can break through to Mid Jin Dan with no bottleneck."

Jiang Ding gazed inward at himself.

Within his dantian, a phantom image of a Nine-Pored Jin Dan shimmered brilliantly, turning occasionally, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, transforming it into pure Jin Dan-level electromagnetic magic power that dripped down drop by drop.

The magic power had already accumulated to near the one-third mark.

"I'm feeling a bit inflated now; I want to beat a Nascent Soul cultivator to death."

Feeling the qualitative transformation in his magic power, spiritual sense, and sword intent, Jiang Ding involuntarily formed a thought.

"Calm down."

"Must be calm."

Jiang Ding took a light breath: "I should be able to fight an Early Nascent Soul cultivator for a while, but if he wants to flee, I can't stop him; Nascent Soul cultivators can teleport. If he calls on his sect brothers, friends, or peers, it becomes troublesome; it's too dangerous."

Of course, this applies to relatively ordinary Early Nascent Soul cultivators.

If it were an Early Nascent Soul cultivator like Antuzi, one move would kill him; he wouldn't dare say another word.

Tidying his appearance, he flew toward the direction of his teachers and classmates.

"Hi, the doctoral dissertation that's already finished, hello."

Wu Wu Mengsha greeted from far away, laughing heartily, acting like a mad old woman: "After practical verification, my dissertation can be published in the top journal of the immortal gates, 'Cultivation'. I've obtained a Soul-Forming Spirit Object."

"Brothers, sisters, quickly cast your envious, jealous, and hateful gazes upon me!"

"Let me enjoy this."

"Damn!"

Other Jin Dan cultivators from surrounding majors involuntarily cried out, revealing expressions of envy.

A Soul-Forming Spirit Object!

How many years of life-and-death fighting in interface wars, how many bloody battles, how many opportunities must one endure to obtain such a thing?

Looking around, two others displayed the same reserved yet disdainful expression as Wu Wu Mengsha.

The remaining Jin Dan cultivators of the Great Sun Ruins major were all overjoyed; at the very least, each had secured a paper for a second- or third-tier journal, and the reward was at least one pill or heavenly treasure capable of breaking through the Late Jin Dan bottleneck, allowing them to freely select what they needed.

One could say they had become instantly wealthy!

"Our major is going to prosper."

Zhang Zhang Junsheng smiled like a chrysanthemum, lost in reverie.

"I can't have a Daoist title just yet, but I think I can raise my researcher rank a bit..."

"Congratulations."

"Congratulations to classmate Jiang Ding on advancing to Jin Dan, extending your life by six hundred years; the Great Dao Is Within Reach."

As Jiang Ding arrived, the surrounding classmates and Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators watching the spectacle offered their congratulations, all sincere, without the swordlight and shadow of conflict between Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong disciples; they were not in a competitive relationship to begin with.

Or rather, the competition was benign, sufficiently fair; even if one failed, most accepted it in their hearts and found no channel to sabotage.

"Thank you."

"Thank you very much."

Jiang Ding smiled and thanked them repeatedly: "I also wish everyone an early Jin Dan, an early Nascent Soul, and that the Great Dao Is Within Reach."

"Haha, borrowing your auspicious words."

Everyone around laughed.

Parting the crowd, Jiang Ding came before Zhang Zhang Junsheng, Master Dinghai Zhenjun Sect's Master Dinghai Zhenjun, Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun, and other Nascent Soul cultivators, as well as teachers like Teacher Ouyang Hui of Moral Education and Gu Lin of Botany, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, teachers, for your tireless teaching and help; only then could the student successfully form a Jin Dan. I wish the teachers smooth cultivation, Nascent Soul imminent, Soul Transformation within reach, peering into Refining Void, and immortality for tens of thousands of years."

His gratitude came from the depths of his heart.

Without Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun's century-long daily instruction in Gong Fa, expounding the Dao heart, and caring for all matters of cultivation;

Without Zhang Zhang Junsheng pioneering the Sword Dao at the immortal gates and toiling tirelessly to research and develop the Jin Dan-forming secret art;

Without the instruction in military formation arts from Master Dinghai Zhenjun Sect's Master Dinghai Zhenjun and the help in tempering sword intent;

Without Teacher Teacher Ouyang Hui's guidance in ideological direction, without Teacher Gu Lin's botany courses...

Without these,

Jiang Ding of Rongcheng, even with peerless talent and deep opportunities, would now be nothing more than a withered bone in the Rongcheng cemetery.

"Haha!"

"Nascent Soul imminent, Soul Transformation within reach, peering into Refining Void!"

"I love hearing that."

The many teachers laughed heartily, their eyes narrowing, their moods instantly much more comfortable.

This was a blessing spoken personally by the Great Sun Sword Disciple!

In some more feudal small worlds, boasting loudly enough to say one's words contain the Heavenly Edict would be no problem; the gold content was clearly very high.

No, what do you mean by "gold content is very high"?

This is clearly reality, the future reality!

"Do you want to stabilize your cultivation first?"

Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun looked him up and down: "Never mind, it probably isn't needed. For the next few years, don't do anything else; first switch to cultivating the Wan Hua Ci Yuan Gong Fa of the Jin Dan Jing. Right now, your magic power and Gong Fa are somewhat mismatched; when switching, pay attention to the dantian and qi sea..."

He couldn't help but give instructions.

"Yes, yes, understood."

Jiang Ding nodded repeatedly.

"As for tempering sword intent, you can refer to the Great Sun Sword Intent of the previous Great Sun Sword Disciple, the one bestowed by the late senior."

Luling Master Dinghai Zhenjun interjected: "When cultivating for the first time, don't try it alone. It's best to do it in class, play it safe. The previous generation's Sun Sword Heir had Soul Transformation-level strength back then, and was a powerhouse among Soul Transformation cultivators."

"I wonder how Senior Mieri is doing now."

He sighed with emotion.

"The Soul Transformation barrier is not easy to break through."

"Soul Transformation…"

The surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators revealed longing expressions.

Able to teach at the Immortal Gate's top university, they were all powerhouses among Nascent Soul cultivators—talent, battle achievements, Dao heart, Gong Fa all impeccable, reaching the Immortal Gate's top level.

But Soul Transformation remained a tremendous obstacle.

In this life, all they could hope for was to accumulate Soul Transformation battle merits, exchange them for a Soul Transformation opportunity, then enter the Chen Mian Mi Jing to slumber, queuing up to wait for the opportunity to arrive.

The Immortal Gate was too poor!

Its history was too short, barely over ten thousand years, and its true rise had only been a few thousand years.

This bit of time wasn't even enough for one Soul Transformation cultivator's lifespan. Many heavenly materials and earthly treasures of the Soul Transformation grade hadn't even matured in all this time, let alone any accumulation.

The small realms they controlled were too few—only thirteen, and one of those small realms had only been occupied in recent years, less than half the average of the Badaxian Sect.

And the operation was spread too thin.

Facing the deterrence of cultivator armies from forces like Brother Brother Xuanwu's Heavenly Palace, the major Zhonglixian Sects could only say they were neutral for now; the future was unclear. They had to maintain massive military investment, with massive amounts of spirit stones vanishing every year.

With all these factors combined, Immortal Gate cultivators' wealth was far lower than cultivators of the same realm.

Under excessive internal competition, every year high-realm cultivators with no lack of talent and strength helplessly died of old age.

This was also why, after the appearance of the Sun Sword Heir, while some feared and despaired over the Badaxian Sect's gradually increasing hostility, even more cultivators longed for change to occur—dying in battle was fine, they did not fear it.

"After Jin Dan, the excavation and development of Sun Sword Pavilion techniques can be sped up a bit."

Zhang Zhang Junsheng then admonished: "The Nascent Soul secret art is a bit difficult. This requires your deep involvement."

"Besides, the two of us had best find a way to get help from Soul Transformation cultivators, otherwise it's really beyond our strength. After all, I'm only a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator—hm, almost late-stage."

"Understood."

Jiang Ding revealed a Solemn expression.

As the realm advanced, this predicament would grow more and more severe. In the future, he might need to enter the Chen Mian Mi Jing to slumber for hundreds or thousands of years, waiting until Immortal Dao technology advanced before awakening.

(End of this chapter)