Chapter 816: Major Breakthrough in the Study of First-Order Immortal Dao Ecosystems

Clearwind University's Science and Engineering Building, the Great Sun Ruins Laboratory.

A grey sky, clouds full of radiation dust, a glassy, enormous crater, sword scars brimming with lingering sword intent, each one cleaving open dozens of kilometers of ground.

This is a section cut from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's mountain gate, recording the fierce war of those years.

Jiang Ding walked through it, stopping every so often, pausing at one sword scar to think for a long while, then moving on to the next.

From now on, he might have to live in the Great Sun Ruins Laboratory for several years.

There was quite a lot to do: train the program's graduate students and doctoral candidates, lead the rescue excavation and research work, until Wu Wu Mengsha or someone else advanced to Nascent Soul and took over the position of professor for the Great Sun Ruins program.

"Mentor,"

"Professor, what should we do next…"

No one knew how much time had passed before over a hundred Jin Dan cultivators and several thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared before Jiang Ding, bowing and asking.

These were the students and staff of the Immortal Gate's Great Sun Ruins program.

These were only a small portion. At the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's original mountain gate, at the various research bases, at the various logistics posts, the total number of Jin Dan, Foundation Establishment, and Qi Training cultivators numbered in the hundreds of thousands — basically no weaker than a top-tier Nascent Soul sect.

"We will continue to steadily carry out all work according to True Person Chengyang's research plan."

Jiang Ding raised his head, glanced at them, lingering a few extra moments on a dozen or so bewildered Foundation Establishment undergraduates.

These freshly graduated undergraduates were basically all outstanding young people from the Immortal Gate's top academies, such as Clearwind University, Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou University, and Mulan University.

After so many years of development and funding, the Great Sun Ruins program was no longer a niche field but a super-hot one. The treatment and prospects for cultivators inside were top-tier, naturally attracting many outstanding talents.

"As for these new students…"

Jiang Ding thought for a moment, flipped through the work guidelines left behind by Zhang Zhang Junsheng, and said: "Liu Ping, you'll take them, get them familiar with our daily work, and follow True Person Chengyang's graduate training plan. Come to me if there are any difficulties."

True Person Liu Ping was, among the suggestions Zhang Zhang Junsheng had left, the one most adept at training students.

"Yes, Professor."

Liu Ping nodded and took charge of these freshly graduated undergraduates and Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"Everyone else, continue your work as before, same as always."

"Having just met everyone, it wouldn't do to have nothing to offer…"

Jiang Ding waved a grand hand: "Let's start by issuing one year's worth of subsidies and salaries."

"I hope everyone will work even harder and more diligently going forward, digging out more Great Sun Sword Pavilion techniques for the Immortal Gate.

The rewards the Immortal Gate originally set, I'll double them for you. If any key results emerge, the rewards will be even greater — Nascent Soul opportunities are also possible."

"That's all. I wish everyone great hope on the Great Dao."

A year's salary and subsidies!

Doubled performance bonuses!

Nascent Soul opportunities!

Three bombs in a row came crashing down, leaving everyone in the program dizzy, as if they had stepped into a dream.

"Thank you, Professor!"

"Thank you, Mentor!"

Liu Ping and the others were overjoyed, thanking him again and again.

This generation's professor for the Great Sun Ruins program seemed to be much richer and far more generous than the last!

A blaze of golden light, the aura of a super-rich tycoon washed over them, instantly drowning them and stealing away their senses.

"Get to work."

"Come find me if you run into any difficulties."

Jiang Ding waved his hand.

"Yes!"

The crowd dispersed in turn, bustling about — some leading newcomers, some doing research, mainly excavating broken jade slips, chapters, inheritance jade stones, and the like from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, then restoring them.

It wasn't just physical restoration.

If certain fragments were truly beyond recovery, they still had to find ways to reconstruct them, obtaining complete inheritances of spells, sword arts, Gong Fa, treasure refining, pill refining, and so on, then submitting them to the Immortal Gate for rewards.

The work of the Great Sun Ruins program was basically this. In fact, the laboratory here wasn't the main research site — the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's ruined mountain gate was.

That place was shrouded in the intense radiation of forbidden weapons, spells from great powers that had torn open the boundary walls and the surface of the Minor Thousand Worlds, and terrifying sword qi and sword intent — extremely dangerous. One had to wear special dharma treasures to enter.

If there was a major discovery, they even had to apply for aid from the Immortal Gate's Starry Sky Corps to go deeper.

"Damn it, I can't get out…"

The thought of this filled Jiang Ding with fury — his research was being seriously delayed.

Otherwise, the research progress of the Great Sun Ruins program would have been much faster.

Beyond the boundary, the Void Refinement great powers would certainly find a way to kill him.

The Immortal Gate's Starry Sky Corps couldn't possibly protect him around the clock either — they had their own defensive lines to hold. And research and exploration were notoriously long and uncertain. All this meant he could never travel, only study what others brought back into the Immortal Gate, unable to conduct fieldwork, with limited results.

Jiang Ding cultivated on one hand while splitting off a portion of his divine sense to handle the various affairs of the Great Sun Ruins program.

Time unknowingly passed another three years.

On this day, Jiang Ding awoke from cultivation and opened his eyes.

"Jiang Ding, come to the Golden Imperial Palace. The two first-order Immortal Dao ecosystems you brought have yielded a bit of research result."

The voice of Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun came through the phone.

Decades after the war ended, he had once again become the mild, scholarly old academic in the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences, no longer the iron-blooded commander of before.

"Yes, Senior. I'll be right there!"

Jiang Ding's spirit lifted.

Chong Chong Yuanzi's first-order Immortal Dao ecosystem contained various mortal-rank and first-order plants and animals; Shadow Demon Daoist's first-order Ghost Dao ecosystem consisted of various fierce ghosts.

Both of these had once given him many conjectures, leading him to believe they were connected to Void Refinement, and to the space between his brows.

He rose, tore through space, and flew off into the distance.

After several minutes, Jiang Ding crossed the vast distance, arrived at the Immortal Capital Library, queued to enter, and made his way to the deepest part, the Golden Imperial Palace.

Jiang Ding's gaze swept across.

Several dozen Canghai Tianjun, and some Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun were inside.

Some were newly ascended Canghai Tianjun such as Pingyang Canghai Tianjun and Niri Canghai Tianjun, while others were Canghai Tianjun he had already met before, such as Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun, Senior Wanji Canghai Tianjun, and Mieri Canghai Tianjun.

There were also some familiar old faces who were no longer present, having died on the Refining Void battlefield, their ten-thousand-year lifespans come to nothing.

Jiang Ding slightly restrained the grief in his heart and quickly walked up to Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun.

Every high-level cultivator had many pasts they did not wish to look back on, hidden in the deepest corners of their hearts.

"Look at these two,"

Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun took out the two sets of ecosystems belonging to Chong Chong Yuanzi and the Shadow Demon Dao Child.

The surrounding Senior Wanji Canghai Tianjun, Yuan, and others gathered to watch.

They all attached great importance to anything related to Refining Void, and were deeply involved in the research.

"This one is a first-rank Immortal Dao ecosystem, and the other is a first-rank Ghost Dao ecosystem."

"The common point is that both can maintain themselves for a very long period without drawing upon external spiritual energy—at least over ten thousand years. Relative to the lifespan of a Jin Dan cultivator, that is nearly eternal; truly a remarkable masterpiece."

Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun gave these two items an extremely high evaluation, lavishing praise upon them, showing not the slightest contempt just because they were composed of first-rank and mortal-rank lifeforms whose strength was negligible.

"Even more terrifying is,"

"Our research discovered that these two first-rank ecosystems, if they can receive the continuous and constant sacrificial refinement of a Refining Void host, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, the first-rank ecosystem will continue to evolve and expand."

"First rank, second rank, third rank, fourth rank, fifth rank, and even... sixth rank, becoming a Refining Void-rank Immortal Dao ecosystem!"

"This process is really too similar to advancing to Refining Void!"

The surrounding Canghai Tianjun were shaken to the core.

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