Chapter 527: Shuoyang Tianjun

"A grassroots cultivator?"

"I'm also a grassroots cultivator who came from a remote place."

Jiang Ding Zi muttered.

Bandits are bandits.

They have their progressive side, and their brutal, backward side; the two simple words 'grassroots cultivator' express this vividly.

True Person Bai Mei wanting to obtain a Nascent Soul opportunity through military merit within the Blood Cloud Eighteen Riders will likely be extremely difficult.

Of course, even if it weren't so, he still wouldn't associate with people like Xue Liuyun.

Given these people's chaotic nature, each acting on their own, brutal and inhumane, even being their enemy is countless times safer than becoming their companion.

Jiang Ding slowly paced along the broken formations, walking into the Disciple Peak where the formations had been breached.

The surrounding storage bags and magical treasures floated, then the prohibitions were broken, and the contents within came into view—not many, totaling roughly a hundred-plus million low-grade spirit stones.

This situation is very common; aside from those who travel alone, no one would pack high-value items in their storage bags when they clearly know they're entering a dangerous place.

Wave after wave of azure Spirit-Destroying and Law-Destroying Spell spiritual light spread out, clearing the residual aura and lingering soul fluctuations in the surroundings.

In fact, under the shroud of the Destruction Sword Intent, these auras were already not easy to preserve; performing the spell again was merely a precaution.

These are the experiential teachings of immortal sect predecessors, already forming a complete set of methods—just follow them.

Jiang Ding stopped at the base of the peak, looking at the rows of bamboo and wooden cottages.

Ten thousand years passed, yet the bamboo and wood remained verdant; as the formations broke and the clear wind blew, the bamboo and wood faded in color, the continuous cottages collapsed, turning to ash, dust rising everywhere.

This was the residence of newly-initiated disciples of the Luoxu Sect; the materials used were all mortal, naturally unable to endure ten thousand years intact.

Jiang Ding's mind moved, his divine sense enveloped the surroundings, isolating inside from outside.

The wind stopped, the collapsing and fading cottages also stopped, maintaining their original state, no longer continuing to deteriorate.

"Not letting others in was the right call."

Jiang Ding nodded: "Archaeology is delicate work; much of history exists in these seemingly worthless ancient sites. If they were allowed to roughly ransack it like grave robbers, all traces would be gone—what use would some spirit stones be then."

His divine sense carefully probed into the cottages about to turn to ash, searching bit by bit, extremely meticulous, occasionally recording some things.

The naughty children's graffiti on the walls, wood carvings, clothes hanging by the bed, paintings, etc., were all scanned by him and sent into his sea of consciousness for categorization and archiving.

Several dozen minutes later, over fifty jade slips appeared before Jiang Ding.

These jade slips were extremely fragile—even the airflow from breathing could turn them into a handful of white ash—and their internal structures were already damaged, unreadable by divine sense.

Even Nascent Soul cultivators would face this; it's not a matter of ability.

"But, bro's major is archaeology, and the grades weren't bad."

Jiang Dinglue pondered briefly, and a spell surfaced in his mind.

Third-grade low-grade spell, Jade Slip Restoration and Repair Technique, one of many repair spells in the archaeology category, a mandatory final exam, targeting jade slips.

Jiang Ding formed hand seals, muttering incantations, a ball of hazy radiance appearing at his fingertips, which he carefully placed on these jade slips.

The light flickered, slowly seeping into the jade slips, restoring their structures.

After a moment,

These jade slips solidified somewhat, no longer appearing as if they could scatter into the wind at any moment, now able to accept divine sense reading.

Of course, violent shaking and the like still wouldn't work; they could collapse at any time.

Jiang Ding's divine sense surged into them.

"... May seventh, got to know Junior Sister Zhou..."

"... Fire Crow Art... the sect's minor Luoxu comparison... if only I could be like Founding Ancestor Shuoyang, the ancestor was also of ordinary aptitude back then..."

"... Good thing I didn't join the Liu Dao Sect..."

Inside the jade slips were all diaries of low-level disciples of the Luoxu Sect from ten thousand years ago, or some spell essentials, personal insights, family letters, and so on.

Through these, one can glimpse many things from ten thousand years ago and understand the customs of that time.

"Ten thousand years ago, the Northern Plains were covered with sects everywhere."

Jiang Ding slowly understood, thoughtfully: "Is it that invincible powerhouse? He personally changed everything, the influence lasting to this day."

Besides this, the disciples' letters frequently mentioned a figure called Founding Ancestor Shuoyang, with much worship, pride, and longing in their words.

When discussing the situation outside the sect, they also greatly looked down on the world, with an air of being unrivaled, having a tremendous sense of honor and belonging toward their own sect.

The information collection from the cottages was complete.

Jiang Ding rose and flew toward the peak top, passing along the way the Preaching Platform, the Children's Academy, the Master Reverence Tower, and other places, each yielding some gains.

The instructors of these newly-initiated disciples of the Luoxu Sect were all Foundation Establishment cultivators; the jade slips, paintings, etc. they left behind provided a deeper description of the Luoxu Sect.

The Luoxu Sect was a sect highly skilled in the Dao of Space, one of the three major powers of the Northern Plains at that time, with a faint implication of being the number one sect of the Northern Plains.

Originally it wasn't like this; not long before, the Luoxu Sect was merely one of many major sects on the Northern Plains—although also flourishing and prosperous, it was far from the number one sect.

Until a figure called Founding Ancestor Shuoyang suddenly appeared, and the sect rapidly entered its heyday.

"Founding Ancestor Shuoyang..."

Jiang Ding muttered this name, jointly worshipped and respected by sect disciples and instructors, having many conjectures.

For now, he dared not easily draw conclusions and continued forward.

This place, called Disciple Peak, indeed had no heavenly materials or earthly treasures; even if there were, they were only some already-damaged magical artifacts, but the value of the information contained was far more precious than heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Enlightenment Palace.

Jiang Ding arrived at the peak top, his divine sense sweeping slightly, and immediately saw a palace, which stored a large number of spell jade slips, cultivation method classics, etc., all first-grade items, as well as travel notes, miscellaneous studies, and the like, totaling over thirty thousand volumes.

It should have been used for the enlightenment education of Luoxu Sect disciples.

"Not bad."

Jiang Ding's heart rejoiced.

These things can enrich the immortal sect's library; perhaps there will be much knowledge the immortal sect has never had.

Don't look at Luoxu Sect and think their knowledge is worthless just because they fall far short of an immortal sect.

The cultivation knowledge of Luoxu Sect is not merely the exploration of a single sect, but the crystallized legacy of countless tens of thousands of years of cultivation research inherited from the sects of previous eras.

The unique knowledge accumulated over hundreds of thousands, even millions of years as a world reproduces and grows is beyond measure in value; perhaps some utterly unremarkable technique contains inspiration connected to the Void Refinement Realm.

Casting the Archaeology Department's special preservation technique, he waved his hand and collected these cultivation manuals into his storage jade pendant.

Jiang Ding's gaze, meanwhile, fell upon a statue in the great hall before the Enlightenment Palace.

It was a man of striking, handsome bearing, his white robes with their broad sleeves fluttering as he gazed into the distance; the style of the white robe he wore seemed somewhat similar to the one worn by Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son Yin Dao.

Even his appearance was similar.

The 'Celestial Being' in the Liu Dao Sect's *Canon of Celestial Transformation* seemed to be exactly this—rushing toward this direction without any regard for anything else, believing this to be the body of a true immortal, the ultimate goal of the Dao of Immortality.

Beneath the statue, many characters extolling his merits were engraved in intaglio.

"Grand Founder Shuoyang, Canghai Tianjun, unified the Northern Plains, for ten thousand generations; the name of Luoxu spreads throughout the world, the sect's foundation evergreen, never to decline…"