Chapter 518: When Will You Marry My Daughter

Cluster Heavy Artillery Bombardment of Cultivators Main Text Volume 550: When Will You Marry My Daughter — Jiang Ding flew past the Foundation Establishment dormitory district, not a soul in sight, then flew higher.

All the way up,

The enormous, mountain-peak-like divine tree Shenmu Futianrong's leaves, branches, and trunk swept past his eyes.

The air grew thinner and thinner, the temperature colder and colder.

At last, reaching the middle layer, the temperature had already dropped to several dozen degrees below zero, all life forbidden, yet the banyan's branches and leaves remained a verdant green.

His steps did not pause; passing through the middle layer, he continued upward, arriving at the warm layer of the atmosphere, also known as the ionosphere.

Here, solar radiation shone down directly, especially the ultraviolet and x-rays within solar radiation, ionizing some of the neutral molecules and atoms in the atmosphere into free electrons and positive ions.

This place is where the Immortal Gate's Foundation Establishment cultivators undergo their Jin Dan tribulation; the Jin Dan Platform was also built here.

Using the Jin Dan Platform to undergo tribulation can increase the probability by one or two tenths.

The conditions for use are extremely stringent: one must have rendered meritorious military service to the Immortal Gate, or achieved major scientific research results, major educational accomplishments, or the like, or received merit transferred from one's parents; spirit stones are useless.

Of the Immortal Gate's Foundation Establishment cultivators who can use it, one in ten thousand does not survive.

Even so, this is only after the Immortal Gate acquired the Thirteenth Minor World, Ganghan World, and lowered the standards a bit further.

Back then, the reason Jiang Ding did not use it was that his magic power and divine sense had already been polished to the limit of a Foundation Establishment cultivator — at least the Foundation Establishment limit within the Immortal Gate's exploration of the Dao of Immortality — and no external force whatsoever would be of any use.

Flying within the ionosphere.

Gradually penetrating deeper, he arrived at a place four hundred kilometers from the surface, where it endured a tremendous volume of solar radiation, and the neutral molecules and atoms were completely ionized into free electrons and positive ions.

Also known as the magnetosphere.

"Here…"

Jiang Ding suddenly felt a certain palpitation, a strong sense of familiarity welling up within his heart.

He looked at the ionized cloud clusters around him.

Electromagnetism. The sun.

These two are the two pillars of his great Dao.

Electromagnetism comes from one of the Immortal Gate's Nine Scriptures, the Wan Hua Ci Yuan Jing.

The sun comes from his Dao Foundation Sword, the Taiqing Flying Sword.

And here, these two crucial objects of the great Dao exhibited a certain fusion.

This palpitation came quickly and vanished quickly, soon disappearing without a trace; no matter how he searched his thoughts, he could not find the slightest trace of it again.

"Another direction the Immortal Gate has never explored — Electromagnetic Sword Dao and Solar Sword Dao."

Jiang Ding cursed softly; he was not surprised by this situation.

The so-called flash of inspiration is already good if it gives a direction; to want specifics is asking too much.

At times like this, he somewhat envied Chong Guang Zi and the others.

Walking a path tread by countless sages before, whatever difficulties arise have all been encountered before; one only needs to look them up to find the answer.

"After Nascent Soul, I must begin research in this area."

Jiang Ding opened his memo and noted this matter down.

"Chong Guang Zi, hmph, what's so impressive."

Jiang Ding recalled how, a few months ago in class, he had once again been utterly crushed by Chong Guang Zi within the Great Sun Treasure Orb, and a faint sting pierced his heart: "Your limit is the limit of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, but I, my friend, research my way up step by step; my limit is — no, I have no limit. Hardship and broken paths have tempered me, and the future will be different again."

"First for a moment is not first for a lifetime."

"You fellow who took the shortcut will regret it sooner or later."

Amid his muttering, passing through cluster after cluster of irregularly gathered ionized clouds, the banyan's leaves and branches suddenly vanished, revealing a vast, open space that stretched beyond the limits of sight.

At its center, a golden platform some thirty-plus kilometers in size shone brilliantly, suspended and motionless.

It was cast entirely from an unknown golden alloy, covered all over with mysterious rune patterns that occasionally flashed with a ray or two of light, driving away the surrounding ionized clusters so as not to disturb the one undergoing tribulation at its center.

Upon the golden platform, Jin Lingfeng sat cross-legged, her little face serene, a head of silver hair draped over her shoulders.

An Siyan, meanwhile, was upon another golden platform in the distance, separated by over forty kilometers, protected by a strict formation so as not to be affected by the outside world and cause any mishap in her Core Formation.

Jiang Ding's divine sense swept across the four directions.

There were quite a few people, a hundred or so, mostly peak Foundation Establishment cultivators who had applied through the Immortal Gate's official website, accumulating experience for their own future Core Formation.

This was the norm — every citizen's right and duty.

The others were relatives.

Some Jin Dan cultivators, several Nascent Soul cultivators; the most conspicuous was a young girl in pure white palace attire, peak Nascent Soul cultivation, standing together with Taiyin Sword Child Yu Qianqian, occasionally conversing in low voices.

Yueling Zhenjun.

From her appearance, one could tell her Foundation Establishment had been quite early; in her youth she must have been a heaven's pride figure as well.

The surrounding ring of Nascent Soul and Jin Dan cultivators were mostly her students, relatives, and the like.

"Greetings, seniors."

Jiang Ding stepped forward and paid his respects to each in turn.

"Great Sun Sword Child."

Yueling Zhenjun's voice was gentle, her face bearing a smile, graceful and elegant; she asked casually, "When will you marry my daughter?"

"I am still young."

"I should place the Dao's path as my priority and temporarily not consider forming a family."

Jiang Ding showed no sign of fluster; he bowed and saluted.

This was the truth.

For a Dao Child's lifespan, he was still very young — like a three- or four-year-old child — and regarding marriage, bearing children, and continuing the lineage, these weighty matters, he had not thought that far for now.

"Sophistry."

Yueling Zhenjun gave a soft reproof and spoke no more.

Jiang Ding bowed once more, turned and left, went to An Siyan's place, carefully inspected the surrounding formations, and politely greeted An Siyan's parents.

He also met her younger sister An Sinuo, a fairly good-looking woman, with whom he had crossed paths once during the college entrance examination years ago.

She is now at the late Foundation Establishment realm, carrying the aura of a law-grade art — neither good nor bad — and should have a ten to twenty percent chance of attaining a Jin Dan in the future.

"Jiang Ding."

An Sinuo asked with some worry, "Among our cohort of the college entrance examination, you should be the first to form a Dan. Do you think big sister will succeed?"

Jin Dan.

A single Jin Dan swallowed into the belly, and from then on one becomes a person among the immortals, extending life by six hundred years, opening a qualitative gap from ordinary cultivators.

"The chances are very high."

Jiang Ding did not give a definitive conclusion, only offered his own judgment.

An Sinuo felt somewhat reassured.

At the horizon, winds rose and clouds surged, spiritual energy gathered, and dark clouds converged.

It was over at Jin Lingfeng's side that it began first.

Jiang Ding offered an apology, turned and departed. In the flicker of his azure-blue escape light, he arrived at the place of Tribulation Crossing, silently watching the silver-haired girl atop the Jin Dan platform.

The range of gathered spiritual energy expanded bit by bit — ten kilometers, twenty kilometers…

In the blink of an eye,

a funnel-shaped spiritual energy vortex formed, connecting the clouds above to the golden platform below — a magnificent sight.

At the center of the vortex, spiritual energy was compressed frantically, forcing the magic power within the dantian to transform from liquid to solid, taking on the initial shape of a Jin Dan.

The tribulation clouds continued to expand, swelling gradually over the course of a month — thirty kilometers, forty kilometers… ninety kilometers!

Jiang Ding's heart eased.

This Dan-formation celestial phenomenon was undoubtedly a top-grade Jin Dan, even surpassing the fifty-kilometer standard by a great margin.

What remained now was to see how Jin Lingfeng's own Heart Demon Tribulation and Lei Jie would go.

Boom—!

Not long after, the dark clouds had accumulated enough thunder power, and a thick bolt of lightning struck down, landing on the silver-haired girl atop the golden platform.