Chapter 936: Scouting Cultivators Lurking Beyond the Boundary of the Shadow Demon Abyss

While Jiang Ding was holding his meeting, his adult Sword Dao Xijiang Sect professor clone was also holding a meeting—an education sector special meeting hosted by the Yuan clone, with the principals of every Dao-cultivation university in attendance.

"The Immortal Gate and the Badaxian Sect have once again reached a cooperation agreement to mutually dispatch exchange students."

Yuan spoke eloquently at the meeting.

"After you all return, pre-select some exchange students. Adopt a voluntary sign-up method. They may go to the Badaxian Sect to study, enjoying the treatment of their core disciples, and we will offer the same in return."

"The exchange students going out must be chosen for their humility and eagerness to learn, with rock-solid political qualities. They must be at least eighteen years old, with mature and stable values."

"The Badaxian Sect each have their own strengths, and in many areas they are ahead of us—the Qingmuxian Sect's spirit-plant cultivation techniques, the Tianji Immortal Palace's arts of divination, the Brother Xuanwu Heaven Palace's incense-fire divine-path techniques, the Shadow Demon Abyss's stealth and infiltration techniques... these and the like are all worthy of our study. We must not grow arrogant and complacent, sitting at the bottom of a well staring at the sky..."

"For this first batch of Badaxian Sect exchange students, they will be led by the Shadow Demon Abyss Dao Child, and accompanied by a peak Soul Transformation cultivator carrying the decree of a Shadow Demon Abyss great power. The Immortal Gate will reach cooperation with them on joint research into stealth and anti-stealth spells and treasures. This project has the joint support of the Badaxian Sect, and the Immortal Gate is also lending it strong support..."

Yuan glanced at Jiang Ding.

Jiang Ding's gaze was as usual.

This time, only the results were communicated to the Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun, and the reasons were not disclosed due to confidentiality.

The first batch of cultivators sent to scout Jiao Jiao Mingyu should be cultivators from the Shadow Demon Abyss, and likely mostly Nascent Soul and Jin Dan cultivators, because the more powerful a cultivator is, the greater the disturbance caused when passing through a spatial passage.

Before the full-scale war begins, Nascent Soul and Jin Dan cultivators whose heavenly secrets and auras are personally concealed by Void Refinement great powers will shoulder the scouting missions to the outer domains.

In this regard, it will be handed over to the Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators, who possess the strongest stealth and infiltration abilities in this domain.

Coincidentally, the Immortal Gate possesses the strongest scouting and detection technology in this domain. The Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators, including the Shadow Demon Dao Child, will undergo special training at the Immortal Gate, as well as develop new equipment suited to Jiao Jiao Mingyu.

These specially trained Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators must receive joint certification from the Jiudaxian Sect, and only after approval will they be deployed into Jiao Jiao Mingyu to carry out infiltration and scouting work.

This includes the Shadow Demon Dao Child.

Yes, the Shadow Demon Abyss Dao Child will personally brave the danger and go to the outer domain to scout.

It's also unclear how the other sects persuaded the Shadow Demon Abyss great powers, or what benefits they promised. In any case, this poor fellow, without a shred of the dignity befitting a Dao Child, was simply decided upon and deployed to the alien domain.

However, perhaps it wasn't coercion either.

Just as the Great Sun Sword Child tradition has its path of slaying nine Dao Children to advance, the Shadow Demon Abyss also has its own Dao Child-level trial path. Once the alien-domain infiltration trial is completed, the Shadow Demon Dao Child's foundation will instantly thicken by a large margin.

Because having proven his own path through facts, his future prospects will be entirely different.

"Jiang Ding, don't you go plotting against the Shadow Demon Dao Child right now."

Yuan's concealed voice came through, speaking with deep earnestness: "Wait a while. Wait until the Immortal Gate and the Shadow Demon Abyss fall out, then we'll talk. It shouldn't take too long—at most a few thousand years, and there will inevitably be a war between the Immortal Gate and the Badaxian Sect."

"We won't allow them to break through above Void Refinement, and they don't wish for us to break through to Void Refinement either."

"Once the balance of power between the two sides tips, the decisive battle will begin in an instant."

"Teacher, set your mind at ease."

Jiang Ding immediately said: "A mere Jin Dan cultivator, I..."

"The Shadow Demon Abyss Dao Child is already at Nascent Soul stage."

Yuan reminded him: "The needs of the war situation required it. He used some methods of forcing growth, but the aftereffects aren't too great, because the Jiudaxian Sect, including the Immortal Gate, will jointly compensate him. The Shadow Demon Abyss Dao Child is currently at early Nascent Soul."

"Then that's... the same."

"Rest assured."

Jiang Ding assured him repeatedly.

"That's good."

Yuan felt a little more at ease.

The education sector special meeting lasted for several months in one stretch, with each party delineating their respective tasks.

Even Jiang Ding had a task—he would receive sword cultivators coming from the Badaxian Sect to study, and would select outstanding students from the adult Sword Dao system to go to the Badaxian Sect's sword lineage to study, absorbing the excellent Immortal Dao achievements of the sects' sword Dao, exchanging and promoting each other.

This kind of prosperity, beauty, mutual benefit, openness, and inclusiveness among the Jiudaxian Sect only exists under the circumstances of external threats and the lure of rich external star domains.

……

Jiang Ding walked back from the Military Soul Research Institute with a face full of exhaustion, flew up into the atmosphere, and returned to the thirty-third Tiangang orbit.

This entire year, both he and his clones had spent it in various meetings.

Besides the education sector meetings and the Military Soul Research Institute meetings, there were also various other meetings he had to attend.

Among them were the industrial sector meetings of the Great Sun Forge Gold Factory. The Immortal Gate had levied a conscription on some factories, and as the legal representative, he had to attend the coordination meetings.

There were also military meetings, various combat readiness work, and the formation work of the Great Sun Group Army;

There was also the Sword Dao direction support needed by the Array Spirit Research Institute, as well as the R&D of the Jin Zhi Karma project, and the R&D for the advancement of the Wan Hua Ci Yuan Jing and the Shang Zhendong Xuan Jin Jing Gong Fa under the influence of Jin Zhi Karma...

Such and such, meetings upon meetings in rapid succession, leaving one unable to catch one's breath. Fortunately, by today they had finally come to an end, and things could be a bit more stable. From here on out, it's time to get to work.

Jiang Ding returned to Dayang Dayang Tianchi, closed his eyes to rest, and began to enter a state of cultivation and sacrificial refinement of his flying swords.

A portion of his divine sense swept around Dayang Dayang Tianchi.

A hundred years had passed, and Dayang Dayang Tianchi had undergone many changes. Along the Riyan River, Flame Sword Bamboo grew in vast stretches, producing large quantities of third-grade and fourth-grade Flame Sword Bamboo spirit materials every year—all excellent third- and fourth-grade heavenly materials and earthly treasures for sword-refining.

Many students of the adult Sword Dao system liked to use the various bamboos within Dayang Dayang Tianchi to refine their Natal Flying Swords—cheap yet high-quality, and with subsidies to boot.

Besides being used for flying swords, these bamboos could also be refined into recyclable missiles for warships and sky-carriers, applied in the Immortal Gate's fleets, or serve as a small part of the vast synthetic industrial chain for fifth- and sixth-grade materials, contributing to the Immortal Gate's Immortal Dao industry.

All of this had been precisely designed before these bamboos were planted, ensuring that roots, stems, and leaves could all be utilized with maximum efficiency.

The Riyan River area was like this, and the Yue Xihe side was much the same. Iron Sword Wood and other spirit plants enriched the Dayang Dayang Tianchi ecosystem while likewise producing various extremely high-quality third- and fourth-grade heavenly materials and earthly treasures, bringing in massive wealth every year.

The Sun Abyss was still the same as ever—the Sun Moss still couldn't survive, dying out completely every few years under the Great Sun Destruction Sword Intent.

As for fifth-grade heavenly materials and earthly treasures, for now they still relied on the original output within Dayang Tianchi. The growth cycle of fifth-grade heavenly materials and earthly treasures was too long—even in an excellent environment like Dayang Dayang Tianchi, it was estimated that it would take another three to four hundred years before any change occurred and a bumper harvest could be realized.

All these things combined, after a hundred years of construction by the Immortal Gate, Dayang Dayang Tianchi could produce over eighty billion low-grade spirit stones annually, of which Jiang Ding could receive over forty billion low-grade spirit stones each year, barely covering his sword-refining consumption.

After several years of cultivation, Jiang Ding thought of the Northern Plains, and his figure vanished from sight.