Chapter 577: A Person Born Bearing the Sword Dao Fortune of the Realm for Hundreds of Thousands of Years

"The heir of the realm's Sovereign?"

Many Soul Transformation cultivators fell into thought.

"The Great Sun Sword Pavilion of those years indeed possessed the momentum to dominate the realm, and was only one final step away from completing the great enterprise of annihilating the Badaxian Sect and ruling the realm alone."

"If not for the appearance of the Immortal Gate, there would be no problem calling this realm the Great Sun Domain."

Yuan suddenly gave a soft sigh.

"The Great Sun Sword Pavilion's Gong Fa was actually half a tier stronger than the Badaxian Sect's, and the Badaxian Sect's Gong Fa was half a tier stronger than the Immortal Gate's—we have no Void Refinement inheritance."

"The Immortal Gate, in truth, held back our family's Great Sun Sword Child."

"If he had been born in the era when the Great Sun Sword Pavilion existed, his Dao path would have been far smoother."

"Master Master Dinghai once told me that after the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's destruction, this realm's sword Dao fortune might transfer to the Immortal Gate.

At the time I didn't take it seriously, and scolded him, saying this was feudal superstition—that the notion of fortune was nothing more than a rumor fabricated by cultivators out of fear of the unknown."

"Thinking about it now, there is some truth to it."

"Sword Dao fortune?"

The surrounding Soul Transformation cultivators looked thoughtful.

"Haha, that's an interesting way to put it."

Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun shook his head, thought for a moment, and could not help but smile: "It's a bit like—a peerless sword Dao prodigy born bearing the sword Dao fortune accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years in this realm, one fated to belong to the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, who might lead it to step beyond Void Refinement, a destined figure like the Pavilion's Restoration Ancestor."

"Under his leadership, the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's fate would take flight, stepping deeper into the starry sea, and reach an unimaginable peak of glory."

"And then, we snatched him away."

"Hahaha!"

Another Canghai Tianjun laughed heartily: "Thinking of it this way, there's a strange, petty thrill to it. Back then, the so-called realm's number one Soul Transformation, Yanling Canghai Tianjun—if that old thing hadn't died, hearing this news, he'd probably be so upset he'd want to vomit blood."

"If he hadn't died?"

"That's impossible."

The Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences' Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun said calmly: "That old bastard is already dead. I personally witnessed it along with over forty Soul Transformation cultivators from the Badaxian Sect—his divine soul, flesh, and even his Yanling Heavenly Sword were ground into dust. The Hun Zhou was cast over a thousand times; even if reincarnation existed in this world, it wouldn't be his turn."

"That is quite a pity."

"What a pity indeed… ahaha."

The surrounding Soul Transformation cultivators exchanged glances and burst into uproarious laughter, the air filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

"But since he's our man, I do feel a bit guilty…"

Yuan said with a bitter smile.

"Yuan, you're being attached to appearances."

Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun disagreed: "Talk of fate is quite laughable. There's nothing truly destined in this world. Even if the Great Sun Sword Pavilion were still at its peak, this generation's Sword Child would have already been born. The struggle for the Sword Child position is brutal and utterly without bottom lines—he might have long since died in some corner. Slaying upward across realms is nearly impossible."

"Besides, you're being far too distant."

"Since he's one of our own, we should share honor and disgrace alike, share the good and bear the bad together. Giving only the good—that's raising a wastrel, and it's unrealistic."

"You've taught for many years and grown soft; that shouldn't be."

"Soft?"

Yuan was taken aback, was silent for a long moment, then nodded, accepting the other's criticism.

"Alright, enough of this nagging—business comes first."

Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun cut off the two's bickering, raising his voice several degrees, the sound waves spreading in all directions, drawing the attention of many Soul Transformation cultivators: "Same as always—each of you shares your own insights, everyone fills in the gaps together, we see which is more correct, lock down a few directions, and everyone meditates toward the same direction, each taking charge of a portion, and switching if it doesn't suit."

"I'll go first."

He said, unable to wait.

"This should be a derivative Immortal Art of the Metal element of the Five Elements, and of the Karmic direction. I feel we can base it on the two Metal-element-related Gong Fa from the Immortal Gate's Nine Scriptures—the Wan Hua Ci Yuan Jing and the Shang Zhendong Xuan Jin Jing—and use analogy, questioning, and comparison to meditate on it. We can also think about it from the angle of the Immortal Gate's metallurgy industry…"

Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun spoke at length, while the surrounding Soul Transformation cultivators held their breath and listened intently to his insights from meditating on the Golden Emperor Diagram over these past days.

After he finished, some agreed, some rebutted, some couldn't judge and simply recorded it for now—each response different.

"Next is me. These fine threads of Metal-element karma, I feel they can be applied to military formations, which would…"

Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun followed up eagerly.

As time passed, one Canghai Tianjun after another shared Ji De Xiang Fa with everyone, the many ideas pooled together, discussed by the group, and finally the directions most likely to be correct were chosen for exploration, with each Canghai Tianjun responsible for one working segment.

Occasionally, some relatively simple but tedious parts were delegated out to the Immortal Gate's various universities and research institutes for handling, mobilizing the wisdom of the entire Immortal Gate for research.

Pooling the wisdom of the masses.

They thought and meditated as an entire collective—even Dao insights that many cultivators would consider deeply personal and extremely private were treated the same way.

They were accustomed to fighting as a group, and equally accustomed to researching as a group, and even to producing as a group.

……

Silver Void Island.

A great tree's roots plunged into the earth, its trunk over five hundred meters tall, its entire body a blue-gold hue, its canopy over a thousand meters wide. When fierce winds blew, the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth and the essence of the Great Sun within a fifty-kilometer radius converged toward the canopy, cloaking the great tree in a garment of pure Jin Zhi radiance, dazzling and resplendent.

Seen from afar, the radiance shone forth, exactly like the Sun Divine Tree growing on the Fusang of the East Sea.

Beneath the tree, a youth sat cross-legged. With each breath he inhaled the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth and the essence of the Great Sun filtered and refined by the Sun Divine Tree, which his meridians and dantian vortex refined and purified, discarding the dross and retaining the essence, transforming it into a single droplet of magic power that fell into his dantian, adding another fraction to his dantian's foundation.

"Nineteen years from now, Jin Dan Zhong Qi."

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, a flash of brilliant golden divine light vanishing from his pupils.

He had no bottlenecks, nor did he need any pills or fortuitous encounters, so his calculations of his own cultivation speed were extremely precise, rarely going awry.

"However, compared to when I first became a Jin Dan cultivator, there was one major deviation in my estimates."

"Over a dozen years ago I estimated I'd break through to Jin Dan Zhong Qi within ten years."

Jiang Ding Zi murmured to himself.

His divine sense flowed into the azure pattern imprint between his brows, examining it bit by bit, thinking continuously.

It was precisely this azure mark, similar to the brow-center imprint of Chong Chong Guang Zi and several other generations of Great Sun Sword Disciples, that caused his cultivation speed to be much slower than expected.

The heaven and earth spiritual energy drawn in flowed through here, and some unknown substance was absorbed and merged into it.

From the perspective of his current divine sense, within this fingernail-sized, tiny imprint, there was actually a space of a full one cubic kilometer, only allowing the Taiqing Flying Sword to enter.

With the Taiqing Flying Sword here, even if it did nothing, the flying sword could slowly be strengthened.

If the sword body had injuries or damage, it would be repaired at a relatively fast speed.

"This kind of unknown is truly annoying."

A strong yearning for the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong of the Northern Plains arose in Jiang Ding's heart.

If he could fully obtain the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong's inheritance, he might be able to solve this problem.

The research progress of the Great Sun Nascent Soul Secret Art was even more likely to surge, turning the chasm into a small gully.

This was perfectly righteous.

The Great Sun Sword Disciples originally possessed a lineage and claim so strong they could not be stronger; what was wrong with taking back what was one's own?

(End of this chapter)