Chapter 634

Severing karmic ties and tracking, somewhere in the Soulless Desert.

Jiang Ding concealed his form, traversing hundreds of thousands of miles without any markers, following the route marked in his soul's consciousness.

For seven or eight days straight, he finally halted at an utterly ordinary stretch of desert.

"This must be it."

Jiang Ding pondered for a moment, then did not dig.

He spent several more days wandering a circle of ten thousand li around, scanning thoroughly.

No ambushes. No hidden surveillance techniques.

Confirmed safe.

Immediately, Jiang Ding returned here, sank underground, and dug for a long time—deep, very deep—until a dull gray stone box appeared before him.

"Zhenjun Shen Ya, long time no see."

Jiang Ding greeted.

This place, of course, was where he had buried the sealed Nascent Soul of Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun.

Since Soul Transformation–grade Soul-Seeking Talismans never arrived, and he could not violate his principle of returning sentient beings to the Immortal Sect, he had originally chosen this spot at random, dug a hole, dropped it in, and buried it ever since.

After waiting years, a Soul Transformation cultivator finally had free time, casually drew one Soul-Seeking Talisman, listed it on the Fungus Net to complete the order, and earned some pocket money.

Price: one hundred seventy million inferior spirit stones; the five-grade spirit coin content must exceed five percent.

Don't complain about the cost. Don't complain about the slowness.

It's already a miracle if a Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun finds time to do work for you.

These are ancestors-of-ancestors-of-ancestors… grandfather-level figures, each a terrifyingly wealthy magnate.

"Rich enough to rival a nation" is an insult to them; "rich enough to rival the world" is the proper way to praise someone.

Crack.

Jiang Ding brushed off the sand and gently opened the gray box.

Inside, a palm-sized figure appeared—hawk-nosed, grim-faced, its brows occasionally furrowing, showing signs of life.

Having lived for years in this underground, lightless, oxygenless environment, it had not decayed.

"Nascent Soul—the jewel of human immortal civilization. Truly miraculous."

Jiang Ding marveled.

He tapped a finger.

A faintly chaotic, deep-blue talisman drifted from his fingertip and landed on the figure's forehead, highly sentient—spinning out fine threads of deep blue that pierced into its brow, limbs, and heart.

It looked like a talisman, but in truth resembled a one-time memory reader, brimming with sci-fi aura.

"Ah…"

Under this brutal, violent soul-searching, Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun's Nascent Soul briefly awakened, snapping open its eyes to glare venomously at the young man in blue robes.

Before it could speak, the spark of reason in its eyes was obliterated; its body was wrapped layer by layer in deep-blue threads, motionless, gradually losing the spiritual aura of life, indistinguishable from a pile of dead matter.

Finally, the deep-blue talisman's glow faded, leaving only the palm-sized Nascent Soul, unchanged in appearance.

The next instant, the Nascent Soul shattered into spirit light and vanished entirely—nothing remained.

"Old man, rest in peace."

Jiang Ding's expression did not change; he formed hand seals and performed sixteen Soul-Extinguishing, Law-Annihilating spells, sixteen Requiem spells, erasing every trace of residual aura and restoring the surrounding environment to its original state—no sign that any living being had ever been here.

"Let me see…"

Jiang Ding picked up the floating deep-blue spirit cluster above the Nascent Soul and read it carefully.

The memory of a thousand-year-old Nascent Soul Canghai Tianjun was too vast—he did not read it all, merely skimmed through it like a traveler glancing at passing scenery, searching for what interested him.

After several days,

Jiang Ding set down the deep-blue light cluster in his hand.

"There's good news."

Jiang Ding fell into thought: "In Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun's memories, he never encountered a Soul Transformation cultivator, never paid homage, never laid eyes on one—though many legends exist, he never actually met one."

"This is common among Zhengmo Alliance family Nascent Soul Tianjuns—not unique to him."

"Many even believe that since the death of that invincible elder, no Soul Transformation cultivator has yet arisen in this realm—this is the golden age to rise and seize power…"

"Historically, the brutal civil wars among the Northern Plains families were tied to this; General General Heishi lost most of its territory in a civil war, clinging to survival on the Northern Plains' edge, barely maintaining its lineage through the last remaining rituals among Northern Plains families."

"Of course, not everything can be trusted."

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

"Soul Transformation cultivators live too long—ten thousand years. They are most active before three or four thousand years of age; once older, with no one left who knew them, they develop a strong inclination toward seclusion."

"To them, Nascent Soul, Jin Dan, and Foundation Establishment cultivators are all ants. Their struggles, joys, sorrows, separations—draw no attention, spark no interest."

"The Immortal Sects are better—constantly busy with research, endless projects."

"But many Tianjuns have already secluded themselves for incredibly long periods; without existential threats to the sects, they rarely appear before mortals."

"So long that the world has forgotten them—generation after generation dies, and except for a few, no one alive remembers them."

"Regardless, this is still good news—at least it means the Northern Plains has no Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun currently active in their prime."

A heavy stone lifted from Jiang Ding's heart.

A Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun in their prime is terrifying—ruling the world, commanding all cultivators; rebellion erupts, and in an instant, a single palm crushes it all.

The entire world lies under their dominion—absolute control, absolute dominion.

But such actions eventually grow tiresome.

After hundreds or thousands of years, traces of Tianjuns become exceedingly rare.

Nothing in the world interests them anymore; the life-and-death struggles among Nascent Soul cultivators are utterly boring—happening constantly, as mundane as air, water, and sunlight.

"The remaining valuable information concerns intelligence among the Northern Plains' major powers."

Jiang Ding continued reading.

"The Zhengmo Alliance is executing a plan called 'Clan Rules the World,' attempting to draw in the Nascent Soul Zhenjuns of the collateral branches of the Dari Sect and the Dari Qingse Jianzong to establish a permanent alliance of the Northern Plains clans, each enfeoffed with a clan, acknowledging their ancestors and returning to the clan, so that bloodline and glory may endure forever, unchanging."

"This prospect holds great temptation for many Nascent Souls raised from childhood steeped in the culture and customs of the Northern Plains clans. Many Nascent Soul Zhenjuns were tempted and did not kill the envoy or drive him away."

"Some Nascent Soul Zhenjuns of the Dari Sect and the Dari Qingse Jianzong were tempted; their recent conduct has been somewhat ambiguous, giving the leaders of both sects a terrible headache. They are one of the greatest separatist forces within their sects, tying up a great deal of internal strength."

"Among these tempted Nascent Soul Zhenjuns, the representative is Yin Jiu Master Dinghai Zhenjun, who defected from the Dari Qingse Jianzong and joined the Liu Dao Sect."

Jiang Ding saw a name.

"His original surname was Yin, from a collateral branch of the Yin clan. Like many from collateral branches during the Two Hundred Year War, he was enraged by the slaughter and plunder of the main branch, joined the Dari Sect, and cultivated the Sword Dao. Many of his companions died, and in the end he achieved Nascent Soul through great opportunity and immense fortune."

"Now, Yin Jiu Master Dinghai Zhenjun has once again abandoned the Dari Qingse Jianzong and his old clan hatreds, returned to the Yin clan, been accepted, and is regarded as part of the main branch. He is hated by the Tie clan and collectively ostracized by the Nascent Souls of the other Northern Plains clans.

Because Yin Jiu Master Dinghai Zhenjun's hands are stained with the blood of many main-branch cultivators, including a great number of main-branch Jin Dan cultivators and Nascent Soul Zhenjuns."

"However, overall speaking, Yin Jiu Master Dinghai Zhenjun was still accepted. He obtained the bloodline Gong Fa passed down through the Northern Plains clans, received a great quantity of heavenly materials and earthly treasures, his Dao path advanced further, and he is even close to mid Nascent Soul. Even Shen Ya Master Dinghai Zhenjun is secretly envious and resentful in his heart."

"The Zhengmo Alliance is also undergoing changes."

Jiang Ding sank into thought.

"The last of Shen Ya's memories are of Gong Fa, spells, and the like—run-of-the-mill, lacking creativity, far inferior to his ancestors of past generations, of little value."

"However, it did give a great deal more understanding of the Dari Qingse Jianzong—they come from the East Sea…"

"That's all. My cultivation is about to break through soon. Let's go back."

Jiang Ding put away this clump of memories, shook his head, left the place, and vanished without a trace.

(End of this chapter)