Chapter 544: Working Is the Fate of the Saint Disciple

On the horizon, a towering obsidian hall materialized before his eyes.

High as a mountain, vast as a city.

Strips of plain white cloth hung down from the roof, fluttering in the wind, while the scent of incense constantly wafted through them, making it resemble a celestial palace among the clouds.

"Preserved relatively intact."

Jiang Ding gazed silently at this place, the sacred ground in the hearts of all cultivators of the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect, their spiritual anchor.

The location of the Patriarch's tablet.

High-level cultivators, especially those from a sect, mostly hold extremely deep feelings for their own sect, including some demonic sects.

Because this is their home.

Outer disciples and the like toil day and night just to earn a few spirit stones; after years of hardship, they obtain a few spells, yet are often oppressed, humiliated, and stripped of their meager remaining spirit stones.

If a senior uncle or elder above gives a single order, dozens or hundreds of low-level disciples must go to their deaths, facing nine deaths and one life, with fewer than a handful of the hundreds surviving.

In such cases, the reward is merely one or two bottles of pills and one or two magical artifacts.

Sometimes even these are absent.

With a few words from someone's lips, everything gained through near-death experiences is snatched away immediately, leaving nothing.

Under such circumstances, expecting outer disciples and the like to feel affection for their sect is too ridiculous; they would rather see their own sect destroyed.

High-level cultivators from a sect are different.

The elder known secretly as the Blood Butcher, who terrified outer disciples and once caused the deaths of hundreds of low-level disciples, appears to them as a kind and approachable senior who often helps them, sometimes even a bit simple-minded.

The direct disciple senior brother, who in the eyes of outer disciples is arrogant and domineering, beating disciples for fun at the slightest provocation, appears to them as a cute junior brother.

The master shows love, the senior uncles provide care, the junior sister feels admiration, the senior sister is gentle as water and silently cares...

These emotions are all genuine and real.

After all, who does not like a fellow disciple with good aptitude, firm character, and handsome appearance?

Often providing care, patiently correcting mistakes, imparting life experience, and pulling out spirit stones to help during difficulties are all duties owed.

Once high-level cultivators have grown up, there will be no more such issues.

Everyone in the sect is his junior; they revere and admire him. At a single command, everyone in the sect will strive to complete it, remaining loyal for life, protecting the sect, and strengthening the sect...

Many high-level cultivators spent the majority of their lives within their sect.

Given all this, it is not hard to imagine the deep affection high-level cultivators hold for their sect.

Just like True Person Bai Mei, who acts ruthlessly, prioritizes profit above all, and shows little emotion, yet is still willing to fight to the death for the sect; these are the factors.

"Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun also holds extremely deep feelings for his sect."

A flash of light appeared in Jiang Ding's eyes.

The Patriarch Hall here has been preserved too perfectly.

The white cloth is spotless, and the incense scent atop the clouds, despite ten thousand years, still exists; this must be due to deliberate reinforcement.

"The formation here..."

Jiang Ding extended his divine sense, occasionally injecting some probing magical artifacts, gradually assessing the condition of the formation.

Scattered around were the corpses and fragments of magical artifacts of Jin Dan cultivators.

Clearly, cultivators had coveted this place before, only to die here; one dies after another, which is why the place is now empty.

"A top-tier fourth-grade formation, undamaged by external forces, capable of instantly activating all formations of the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect to reinforce it; it is the core location of the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect."

"However, ten thousand years have passed without any maintenance, which greatly affects its function..."

Jiang Ding calculated silently; after several days, an answer surfaced in his mind.

"Now, the surrounding auxiliary formations are either damaged or collapsed; combined, it should be at the level of a mid-tier fourth-grade formation. The drawback is that it is rather rigid, with sluggish operation in many places, so breaking it is not difficult."

"The number of Jin Dan cultivators required is at least three hundred."

Jiang Ding considered the number needed to enter the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect ruins; his expression changed slightly as he realized something was wrong: "It seems the numbers are insufficient... No, these Jin Dan cultivators cannot continue fighting; their lives are lives too; too many deaths would be bad."

"But even if they do not die now, the numbers still seem insufficient!"

Jiang Ding felt a chill in his heart.

Jin Dan cultivators are rare to see outside; they are enough to suppress an entire region. Many have been killed in battles, and many more have been killed by him; now their numbers are dwindling, and it is possible that the entire region does not even have three hundred Jin Dan cultivators.

"Right, there are also Dong Xue Dong Xue Liuyun and the others."

Jiang Ding suddenly thought of something, his eyes lighting up: "Each of them can barely be equivalent to forty Jin Dan cultivators; three combined make one hundred and twenty, which is roughly enough."

"The Blazing Sun Sword Disciple..."

Thinking of this, the person known as the Blazing Sun Sword Disciple became somewhat annoying.

Daring to pursue his wealth.

Shameless, utterly shameless.

"Very well."

"Now I must go meet the Blazing Sun Sword Disciple, Dong Xue Dong Xue Liuyun, and the Six Paths Saint Disciple. On such a fine sunny day, instead of working for me, they play a game of pursuit; they are simply beyond comprehension."

Jiang Ding placed his hand on his sword hilt, revealed killing intent in his eyes, and turned to leave the Patriarch Hall.

Jiang Ding flew in the sky, wandering aimlessly around the Disciple Peak, the Scripture Pavilion, and other places, searching a large area, yet not finding a single hair of a cultivator.

"Where have they gone?"

Jiang Ding frowned, extended his divine sense to a white jade sword over a thousand li away, and asked, "Where are the most cultivators?"

After a long time,

"Junior Uncle!"

Han Lin's voice came through, mixed with the sound of rushing wind, seemingly in a desperate flight; occasionally, angry curses like "Return my essence blood and cloud fungus!" appeared, which he immediately blocked out. He took a breath and said, "The place with the most cultivators? Junior Uncle, the place with the most cultivators should be the Spirit Herb Garden; many Jin Dan cultivators have gathered there, breaking the formation and looting the spirit herbs."

"I heard there is even a nine-element spirit ginseng that has gained sentience here; its juice can increase the chance of forming a Nascent Soul by one or two layers."

His voice instantly became scorching hot.

"Little Martial Uncle, do you want to come?"

"I can't catch it, but I can sense where it is. If in the end we can catch that spiritualized Nine Essence Ginseng, I only need a single drop of its sap."

"We'll see."

Jiang Ding gave no definite answer and cut the transmission.

This thing was useless to him.

What truly concerned his Nascent Soul formation was the Great Sun Nascent Soul Secret Art — it required no auxiliary aid whatsoever, and could break through Jin Dan and condense a Nascent Soul with absolute certainty, granting him control over the void and a lifespan of one thousand two hundred years.

It was just that the research and development was a bit troublesome.

After all, it was the Nascent Soul Secret Art of a Realm Sovereign, tied to the strongest single-target power of the realm. Even with Soul Transformation cultivators frequently joining in to help him and Zhang Zhang Junsheng handle some key problems, the progress was still terrifyingly slow.

The latest calculations from the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences showed that, at the current R&D pace, it would still take a minimum of three thousand seven hundred years before even a rough draft appeared.

Three thousand seven hundred years!

It left Zhang Zhang Junsheng somewhat in despair. Lately he had been rather dispirited, lacking even the motivation to work.

For this reason, the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences had also drawn up a Slumber Plan for Jiang Ding.

The Immortal Gate allocated four to seven Soul Transformation opportunities, planning to have him enter the Chen Mian Mi Jing for slumber at the age of two hundred and fifty, awaken once every five hundred years to push forward the R&D of the Nascent Soul Secret Art, then re-enter the slumber state to slow the passage of his lifespan.

Continuing in this way, waiting for several thousand years, until the Great Sun Nascent Soul Secret Art was successfully developed.

(End of this chapter)