Chapter 702: Ancestor of the Immortal Gates' Sword Dao: The Sword

"The Sword Dao of the Immortal Gates has truly taken root and sprouted..."

Jiang Ding suddenly felt tears welling in his eyes.

It was like ten months of pregnancy, a child being born, crying as it hit the ground, a seed breaking through the soil.

In this world, besides the mother and sister who had already fallen silent, there was now another closest kin.

It was not Panda Hua Hua Xiaohua, nor any single person.

It was the Sword Dao of the Immortal Gates!

From this day forward, someone would walk the same path as him, care for the growth of the Sword Dao, ponder deeply for its development, and dedicate their entire life's wisdom to it.

From now on, countless geniuses of the Immortal Gates would tread this path, with supreme passion, with their own blood and bones, humiliation and glory, gradually widening and paving over the thorns of this road.

From this day forward, Sword Dao research... might become even cheaper and more efficient.

Leaving aside other things, Hua Hua Xiaohua's research capability in the Sword Dao alone could match that of a hundred ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If there were more Hua Xiaohuas, with sufficient numbers and sufficient strength, the current research time for all Sword Dao projects would even be shortened by tenfold, and the quality of the results would be better.

That is to say, if there were enough high, middle, and low-level Sword Dao cultivators, perhaps the Great Sun Nascent Soul Secret Art could be fully researched within a few hundred years; this is mutually reinforcing.

Jiang Ding looked at Panda Hua Hua Xiaohua, his gaze full of affection, as if he saw a walking progress bar of the Great Sun Nascent Soul Secret Art at "-1.5 days."

"This is a great thing; a congratulatory gift should be given."

Jiang Ding thought for a moment, took out a piece of Ri Yan Jing and a piece of Moon Stream Crystal, spat out his elixir fire, added a small amount of heavenly treasures and earthly gems, and refined them into a supreme-grade magical artifact, naming it 'Sword-Refining Stone'.

This supreme-grade magical artifact had no offensive or defensive capabilities.

Its sole function was to control the output size of the sword intent fire and sword intent ice mist within it, allowing Foundation Establishment cultivators to use it for sword refining and tempering sword intent, so they would not accidentally burn their own natal flying swords to ash, with a large number of restrictive prohibitions added.

This was quite wasteful.

One must know that Ri Yan Jing and Moon Stream Crystal were sacred treasures of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion Holy Land, the Great Sun Dayang Tianchi; even for Nascent Soul cultivators, they were rare treasures, and after years of consumption, Jiang Ding himself did not have many left.

Using them to refine swords for Foundation Establishment cultivators was truly a pity.

However, since today was a happy occasion, so be it.

A moment later,

a short sword the size of a palm, emerald green in color, resembling a bamboo shoot, appeared before Jiang Ding, and the high temperature formed by the burning elixir fire slowly receded.

"Go."

With a thought from Jiang Ding, the bamboo shoot short sword flew away into the distance.

Whoosh!

An emerald green bamboo shoot short sword flew from the sky, floating before the short panda.

Hua Hua Xiaohua stood stunned, with no reaction.

She was often in this state, reacting many beats slower; now she was even immersed in the massive changes of comprehending sword intent.

The bamboo shoot short sword swayed back and forth before her, yet could not make her big eyes blink once.

"Great Sun Sword Disciple..."

On the ground, a beautiful woman of Qingmuxian Sect showed terror in her eyes; she struggled to rise, disregarding the fresh blood on her clothes, and respectfully performed the sword cultivation etiquette.

"Greetings, Senior!"

The Great Sun Sword Disciple!

This was one of the nine Great Dao Disciples of the current realm, with a status equal to the Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu Disciple; theoretically, its status even surpassed the Soul Transformation Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, ranking only below the Void Refining Great Powers.

At least, in the eyes of the disciples of the Badaxian Sect, this was the case, following ancient traditions.

The bamboo shoot short sword swayed back and forth; the short panda still showed no sign of reaction. It could not wait any longer, tapped on the panda's head, emitting a crisp metallic tapping sound of dong-dong; its seemingly soft and cute body possessed hardness comparable to gold and iron.

"Ah?"

"Bamboo shoot?"

Hua Hua Xiaohua blinked her eyes, came to her senses, saw a bamboo shoot swaying back and forth before her, instinctively grabbed it, stuffed it into her mouth, and bit down with her teeth.

Ding!

Sparks flew everywhere; her teeth ached.

"Ah!"

Hua Hua Xiaohua came to her senses, crying out in pain with an "yi-ya, yi-ya."

"Bad bamboo shoot!"

"You are bullying me!"

She said angrily.

Saying this, she was about to throw this disobedient bamboo shoot into the magma below.

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

Jiang Ding's voice emerged from the short sword, helplessly saying, "Do you not look at the soul consciousness aura above? What if an enemy deceived you like this?"

"Senior Jiang!"

"Long time no see!"

The eyes beneath Hua Hua Xiaohua's teardrop-shaped black eye circles widened; she said very happily, "If bad people appear, my sword heart will react; they cannot defeat me."

Saying this, she shook the giant spiked thorn sword in her hand, looking threateningly at the female sword cultivator of Qingmuxian Sect not far away.

The other party gave a bitter smile and cupped her hands in salute.

"So it is like this."

"Hua Xiaohua is so smart."

Jiang Ding praised, "This bamboo shoot is for you. Remember, it is not for eating; it is used for comprehending sword intent and refining swords. When using it, it is like this... like this..."

"Remembered?"

"Mm!"

Upon hearing its function, Hua Hua Xiaohua's eyes lit up; her two claws tightly hugged the bamboo shoot as she nodded vigorously: "Remembered!"

No refusal, no questions asked.

Since childhood, she had grown accustomed to elders, or many Immortal Gate citizens she had never met, giving her gifts.

Delicious food, dolls, and such.

Anyway, walking down the street, people would give things to her from time to time; if she didn't accept them, the givers would feel aggrieved.

"Hua Xiaohua is truly smart."

Jiang Ding was also very happy now and praised, "Study hard from now on, okay?"

"Mm!"

Silver Void Island.

"Qingmuxian Sect has exchanged more frequently with the Immortal Gates these years: trade, complementary industries, and mutual dispatch of exchange students."

Jiang Ding glanced at the sword cultivator standing before Hua Hua Xiaohua.

This seemed to be a sign that inter-realm relations were beginning to ease; the Immortal Gates did not necessarily have to fight to the death with all Immortal Sects; mutual benefit and coexistence were entirely possible.

However, changes in inter-realm relations were still far removed from a Jin Dan cultivator; having seen it, he ignored it.

"Just now,"

"that sudden sensation, penetrating layers of concealment and causality, allowed me to see a newly born sword cultivator..."

Jiang Ding recalled that momentary sensation, vaguely perceiving something extremely wonderful and a certain power.

His gaze began to grow hazy.

Sometimes looking at Hua Hua Xiaohua.

Sometimes looking at that sword cultivator from Qingmuxian Sect.

Sometimes looking toward the direction of the Guanghan Immortal Palace, as if between illusion and reality, seeing a maiden in a white moon-colored immortal skirt.

Her brows were furrowed; she seemed instinctively uncomfortable, yet did not know where this sensation came from.

There were also several sword-path exchange students within the Immortal Gate territories; their positions sometimes appeared in Jiang Ding's heart, clearly known where they were, and sometimes this sensation gradually faded away.

As time passed, this sudden sensation gradually vanished, never to be seen again.

"... Causality..."

"... Jin Zhi causality... Sword causality..."

Jiang Ding murmured to himself, committing this sensation to the deepest recesses of his heart.

He had a premonition that his sensing ability regarding sword cultivators had been greatly enhanced.

If it were a Great Sun sword cultivator, it would be even more terrifying; possibly within the scope of half a small world, he could easily perceive the location of a Great Sun sword intent sword cultivator.

This unknown change might be related to Immortal Arts.

(End of this chapter)