Chapter 919: Traces of Existence Above Soul Transformation

Jiang Ding concealed his form, circling in the sky.

His divine sense carefully searched every inch of space, meticulously examining the spatial layers within, missing not the slightest detail.

"It should be around here; I left a sword intent back then."

"Although it is not an indestructible sword intent, it should not have been worn away in mere centuries, especially since it was placed in a specially made positioning jade sword."

Jiang Ding was extremely patient, searching this space near Tushan Xiancheng for several months, constantly calculating.

"Here..."

Suddenly, Jiang Ding's eyes lit up.

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword hummed softly, and like a butcher dismembering an ox, it lightly traced a line in a patch of void; a black mark flashed and vanished.

This black mark resembled a spatial rift, yet not quite, for the deep starry void within a rift was not seen; it seemed something else lay there.

Jiang Ding flicked his finger; countless blue-gold sword qi formed before him, constantly changing and merging, finally forming two slender, long hands that each grabbed one end of this spatial rift and gently pulled outward.

Tear!

Only the sound of cloth tearing was heard; a vast expanse of space collapsed into nothingness, the veil of space was lifted, revealing a secret realm space hundreds of kilometers in size within.

This secret realm space moved every moment, wandering the Northern Plains, yet was intercepted at this very moment.

Through the wall of the secret realm space, the Luoxu Sect's mountain gate, the Scripture Pavilion, the Spirit Medicine Garden, and other places could be vaguely seen; recalling now, hundreds of years ago felt like yesterday.

"Fourth tier, approaching fifth tier secret realm..."

Jiang Ding's expression trembled slightly as he fell into thought.

"Below sixth tier, the Soul Transformation stage, it is fundamentally impossible to independently create a secret realm space capable of sustaining its own existence; neither the Luoxu Sect nor even Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun could possess such ability."

"Yet the fact is, they did create it independently!"

"Not only this fourth-tier one; the secret realm of the Wang Ting Wangting Fudi should be a fifth-tier secret realm, the kind capable of growing Soul Transformation tier spirit herbs and heavenly treasures."

"In this, the so-called Nine Heavens fragments must have played the greatest role; the Luoxu Sect and Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun merely utilized existing materials."

"Nine Heavens fragments..."

Jiang Ding quickly found the reason, recalling the information he once obtained from the residual soul of Daoist Senior Chen He in the Jiu Tian Mi Jing of Xiang Qiyu Sect and from his investigation of the Jiu Tian Mi Jing.

Tens of thousands of years ago, before the founder of Liu Dao Sect established Liu Dao Sect, perhaps eighty or ninety thousand years ago, an extremely prosperous sect existed in this Minor Thousand Worlds, named Tianshenlei Sect; this sect possessed several Soul Transformation cultivators, and the strongest among them might have been Daoist Senior Chen He at the peak of Soul Transformation.

This sect should have prospered for at least tens of thousands of years, through several generations of Soul Transformation cultivators.

However, one day, from

beyond the heavens, a broken stone tablet flew down, containing fragments of immortal arts!

The Tianshenlei Sect regarded this as a supreme opportunity, paying a huge price to temporarily seal the immortal art fragment stone tablet, strictly suppressing the news, and carefully contemplating it.

They thought this was an earth-shattering opportunity and the sect would usher in an even more prosperous era.

Yet they did not expect that on a certain day following, a natural disaster descended.

Multiple figures above the Soul Transformation stage descended upon this Minor Thousand Worlds, engaging in life-and-death battles here.

No one cared about Tianshenlei Sect at all; merely the aftermath of their attacks completely destroyed the sect; from the Soul Transformation experts at the top down to Qi Refining cultivators at the bottom, all were wiped out.

Daoist Senior Chen He, due to this opportunity, had his residual soul merge with a certain fragment of immortal art; by coincidence, he escaped and fell into the territory of Xiang Xiang Qiyu of the Yue State, only reviving tens of thousands of years later.

No, perhaps it cannot be called revival; the true Daoist Senior Chen He may have already died; a Soul Transformation cultivator's residual soul cannot live that long.

This might be an unknown life born from a residual soul combining with the strangeness of immortal arts.

The battle of eighty or ninety thousand years ago fought until heaven and earth were dark; the Minor Thousand Worlds shattered, ninety-nine percent of surface life died, and the world walls completely cracked open.

The Minor Thousand Worlds fell into terrible natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, and oceans rolling back.

This terrible disaster lasted for tens of thousands of years before slowly recovering; living beings began to multiply, and civilization began to revive.

The most recent era was that of the Liu Dao Founder, followed by the era of Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun.

After the world walls shattered, some were preserved intact and scattered across the world; these were the prototypes of the Luoxu Sect Secret Realm and the Wang Ting Wangting Fudi Secret Realm.

These secret realm prototypes could originally operate independently, performing spirit qi circulation; Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun merely modified them, not creating them independently.

The consequences of that great catastrophe also revealed themselves: this Minor Thousand Worlds could no longer produce peak Soul Transformation cultivators; neither Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun nor the Ice Phoenix could; the heavens and earth imposed limits, unable to accommodate stronger cultivators, unable to break through.

"If that residual soul of Senior Chen He did not lie to me..."

Jiang Ding's heart trembled: "One capable of destroying the Minor Thousand Worlds' ecosystem with mere attack aftermath, taking tens of thousands of years to recover, perhaps must exceed Soul Transformation!"

"At the very least, Soul Transformation cultivators in the Immortal Gate Domain cannot easily destroy the Minor Thousand Worlds' ecosystem, completely shatter the Minor Thousand Worlds' crystal walls, and trigger a great catastrophe."

This speculation made his heart skip a beat.

Above Soul Transformation!

Such figures are legends in the Immortal Gate Domain; no one has ever seen them.

For a moment, Jiang Ding's heart pounded uncontrollably.

If he encountered such a figure, with merely a thought, he would be unable to resist; he could only hope the broken sword tip would allow him to escape.

Cultivators are like this; the strong are everything!

Before he has grown, it is best not to appear within the sight of any strong person, and even less to have any information spread about him.

Anyway, such strong ones cultivate for hundreds or thousands of years; that is more than enough time for growth.

"Do not panic!"

"It is not that bad, it is not that bad..."

Jiang Ding's thoughts were myriad as he comforted himself: "Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun is not dead, the previous Master Shuoyang Sword Disciple is not dead, Senior Chen He's residual soul is not dead; among them, someone even holds fragments of immortal arts."

"They are all not dead, the fragments of immortal arts have not been reclaimed; why would it be my turn?"

"The unknown strong ones must have either been severely injured or perished together; otherwise, this result could not have occurred."

"Even if the unknown strong ones awaken, they should not notice me; I hold none of their fragments of immortal arts, merely an innocent passerby, a well-behaved child devoted solely to sword cultivation."

"It seems now that fragments of immortal arts contain too much unknown; if I have not clarified the causes and consequences, it is best not to touch them, at least not until my strength can advance no further."

Jiang Ding made up his mind.

He was not Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun, who hailed from a minor realm with no path to advancement and could only gamble his life; nor was he Ming Chong Chong Guang Zi, stunted in growth with an unstable Void Refinement foundation, forced to charge into the unknown. He had the Immortal Sect as his backing, was far from a desperate situation, and it was not yet time to risk everything.

Based on his slight understanding of powerhouses above Void Refinement, they absolutely viewed Nascent Soul cultivators as dust and ants. As long as one did not touch Immortal Arts, such powerhouses would not even glance at a Nascent Soul cultivator, nor waste a shred of time; it was not worth it.

Jiang Ding stepped forward.

Buzz!

Threads of golden restriction runes appeared within the Secret Realm of the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect.

These were restrictions set by Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, forbidding any creature above Jin Dan from entering his sect and destroying the sect of his origin.

Although this sect was one he had personally slaughtered for the sake of his descendants for ten thousand generations.

Clang!

Jiang Ding flicked his finger, cutting out a thread of golden light as well, yet far more refined than Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun's techniques from thousands of years ago. The golden thread was more condensed, born from the Immortal Sect's research results on the Jin Zhi karma.

Whoosh!

The restrictions outside the Secret Realm of the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect were severed by sword intent and annihilated, unable to block anything anymore.

Jiang Ding swept his divine sense in all directions, scanning meticulously with Soul Transformation-level divine sense and sword intent, yet found nothing.

He flicked out tens of thousands of blue-gold sword intents, turning them into ropes that trapped the Luo Luo Zhongfu Sect. He violently smashed through space, and amidst the booming thunder, dragged it toward the Liu Dao Sect.

(End of this chapter)