Chapter 461: A Selfish Man Obsessed with the Great Dao

After thanking Han Lin repeatedly, he quickly left Tushan Xiancheng.

It could be seen that after years of tempering, his vigilance had grown stronger — he would absolutely never stay in a place where his own life was beyond his control, even if it could theoretically be trusted.

Jiang Ding's figure also slowly faded from sight.

……

At home, he cooked every day, cleaned, and cultivated.

From time to time he would visit the elementary school and the high school, reminiscing over the years gone by, his heart filled with a complicated mix of emotions.

The scenery was still the same scenery as before.

The students laughing and roughhousing in the school, the teachers giving stern instruction, the bald-headed principal who patrolled the classrooms from time to time, the fallen leaves blown down on the main avenue…

All exactly as they had been.

Identical, as if time itself had never passed.

Only, every single person in that scenery no longer knew him.

A few days later, seeing that his mother and younger sister were not at home, Jiang Ding left a note and flew up into the sky, vanishing from sight.

This sort of situation was very common.

He came home as casually as if popping next door — only a few minutes' journey — so there was no way to have a solemn welcome and farewell every single time; everyone was already used to it.

His figure landed at the entrance of the cemetery, and he queued up to enter.

He found his maternal grandparents' tombstones, paid his respects, and told them that the family had produced a Jin Dan cultivator, that the family members were all in good health, that everything was well.

If there really were an underworld and reincarnation in this world, perhaps it could make the two old folks happy.

Afterwards, he also found his old uncle's tombstone, and paid simple respects at the graves of his various high school teachers.

Once everything was done.

Jiang Ding flew up into the sky, about to leave, when his steps paused and he sank into some extremely distant memories.

Very far, very far away.

One had to search in the deepest, lowest part of the soul to carefully find things that had almost been forgotten.

They were some very warm, very complete scenes — present from birth, then suddenly vanished, becoming something else entirely.

A moment later,

his speed abruptly increased, and he vanished in the direction of Xian Du.

……

Lin Lin Wanqiu's hair was completely white, the wrinkles on her face were deep, yet her skin was still fairly rosy — a very healthy appearance; her age could hardly be called old, just over a hundred and fifty, at most middle-aged among Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Her hand rested on a tombstone as she sank into memory, silent for a long time.

On the tombstone was a photograph — a youthful appearance, with a masculine and handsome face, the sort that would attract many glances from the opposite sex when walking down the street.

Beneath the photograph were a few lines of text.

Tomb of Jiang Chaoyang!

"How many years has it been since you died?"

"Thirty years? Forty?"

Lin Lin Wanqiu felt no particular sorrow or nostalgia — she was simply bored to death, recalled her own youth, and came to take a look.

"Should be over forty years, I suppose."

"Without a Foundation Establishment cultivator nourishing the body and watching over one at all times, it's extremely hard for a mortal to reach the hundred-and-twenty-year limit — a cold wind, a chill, a cold, a bacterial infection, any little accident can take a life."

"The child you pinned such great hopes on, the one named Jiang Jiang Jinxian — he failed to achieve Foundation Establishment, and also passed away from old age a dozen or so years ago."

She smiled.

"That's a perfectly ordinary thing, really — the Foundation Establishment success rate for graduates of the Cultivation Department of Qianling University is around fifty percent, and his luck and talent were nothing outstanding."

"But not everyone is my family's Lord Dingding!"

Lin Lin Wanqiu said proudly.

"The Foundation Establishment barrier is like a floating cloud, Jin Dan is effortless, Nascent Soul… Nascent Soul… ah, I shouldn't say such things, it just doesn't feel auspicious."

"In short, my son Jiang Ding has the makings of a great power!"

"You kid, you were a pretty decent person back in high school and college — how did you turn out like this once you grew up?"

Lin Lin Wanqiu sighed: "Was it the feeling of time slipping away, the unease in your heart, or was it that Chu Hong — that late-stage Qi Refining cultivator — seducing you? It should be — you were never content to begin with, so you simply went with the flow."

"Good-looking people like us are just like that — the road of life is always heavy with temptation."

She sighed.

"Thinking about it now, the firmness of your Dao heart is the greatest I've ever seen in my life — for the faintest hope of Foundation Establishment, you abandoned family, future, feelings, everything."

"I heard from the old neighborhood gossips that even in the last few days before you died, you were still struggling to get up, trembling as you practiced the 'Young Eagle Takes Flight Art', hoping some miracle would appear and you'd suddenly break through."

"Truly admirable."

Lin Lin Wanqiu had to admit it.

"Only a pity, your aptitude and comprehension were just so-so."

"What a pitiable person."

"If you hadn't pulled those little stunts, by the day my son rose to prominence, you'd probably be at late-stage Foundation Establishment by now, about to break through to the peak."

"You could even have taken a shot at Jin Dan — surely far better than me as I am now; with transcendent-tier resources, even Nascent Soul would be something to dare hope for!"

"Fortunately, fortunately!"

"Fortunately you were so short-sighted."

Lin Lin Wanqiu showed a look of relief.

"My family's Lord Dingding was already working hard enough — if we had to add a burden like you on top of it, that would have been far too much."

"A person like you — single-minded on the Dao path, firm in Dao heart, yet without the ability to match it, only able to leech off your own kin — is a calamity."

"They will surely keep taking, keep taking, never stopping until they have drained their relatives dry, with no shred of morality or shame, and caring nothing for others."

"Perhaps my son's own Dao path will be affected, his potential greatly ruined."

"He values family bonds too much; perhaps he will be unable to make the resolve to sever ties with you, and his Dao path may be cut off forever."

"A matter of heaven-shaking good fortune."

……

Returning to Qingfeng University.

With a slight movement of Jiang Ding's divine sense, the lush wheat fields radiating sharp Jin Chong Guang were harvested, seeds set aside, and stored within his storage jade pendant.

Next, the television, the desk, paper books, and other items flew here one by one.

Having lived here for nearly a century, unknowingly, a huge pile of things had accumulated: sofas, teacups, newspapers, and so on.

Normally one wouldn't notice, but when it truly came time to pack up, it was about to pile up into a small mountain.

"I wish to select a dormitory."

Once everything was packed, Jiang Ding said.

After advancing to Jin Dan, the school will provide a third-tier top-grade spiritual vein!

Once cultivation reaches the required level, it is automatically obtained.

A light screen unfolded Xu Xu, marked with terrain such as mountains, rivers, and the sky; it was clearly visible that many places employed spatial methods, where a tiny area spanned hundreds of kilometers.

"The spiritual veins are all much the same, all third-tier top-grade, with very little variation."

"Then it comes down to the scenery and environment."

Jiang Ding's divine sense swept back and forth over hundreds of dormitories on metal-attribute spiritual veins, his gaze finally settling on a Shanfeng radiating a silvery metallic luster.

This mountain floated in the sky, seventy to eighty kilometers in size, drifting and moving irregularly from time to time.

It had no name, only a number: Jia 325.

"This one then; besides cultivation, sitting and watching the clouds roll and unroll is also one of life's great pleasures."

Jiang Ding confirmed.

"Ding!"

"Your dormitory has been changed to Jia 325, Qingfeng University Jin Dan-level dormitory. Please ensure your personal items from the original dormitory are properly packed and stored. In three days, a cleaning robot will be activated; if any items are lost, we bear no responsibility..."

The dormitory formation spirit's prompt sounded.

"There shouldn't be anything left, right?"

Though Jiang Ding was confident, his divine sense unfolded once more, sweeping over every single place in meticulous detail; after confirming, he transformed into a streak of escape light and flew toward the clouds in the sky.

(End of this chapter)