Chapter 937: A Century of Development in the Northern Plains

On the Six Paths Throne, a youth in green who had stood like a statue for countless years opened his eyes.

"One hundred years…"

Jiang Ding sighed.

A trace of world-weariness flashed through his eyes, then vanished; a moment later, they returned to the clarity and curiosity peculiar to a young man.

This century was the isolation period he had set for himself after first encountering the term Meteor Immortal Realm — he would not return to the Northern Plains until he sensed the crisis of Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting's destruction.

Jiang Ding's divine sense swept in all directions, and he began receiving all manner of intelligence from Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting.

Some eighty-odd years ago, with the successful refinement of the Qi Sect's quasi-Primordial Spirit treasure, the "Ten Thousand Li Beacon Fire Platform," Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting finally evolved to the point of paperless administration; the efficiency of information transmission rose dramatically, and the level of artifact refinement in Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting likewise took a step upward, its refining heritage advancing further still.

Now, compared to a century ago, every cultivator — from Qi Training cultivators to Nascent Soul cultivators — was considerably better off, each with several dharma artifacts and dharma treasures in hand, along with all manner of talismans; their strength had once again pulled ahead of demon cultivators of the same rank.

Over the past century, the Northern Plains had gained thirty-one new Nascent Soul cultivators, drawn from peak-Jin Dan cultivators who had obtained opportunities in the last great war, and from the direct disciples and blood relatives of Nascent Soul cultivators — the two sources contributing roughly equal halves.

Among them, eleven were cultivators of the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong who had broken through from peak Jin Dan.

The number of Great Sun Qingse Jianzong cultivators in the Northern Plains was probably less than one percent, yet they possessed one-third of the entire Northern Plains' probability of advancing to Nascent Soul — truly terrifying.

This was likely related to the Great Sun Sword Capital's last bloody battle, in which it broke through the Northern Capital of the Western Desert Demon Dynasty.

Sword cultivators advance with valor and vigor; when enough die, the probability of geniuses appearing rises, and so does the probability of qualitative transformation in divine soul and sword intent.

It is precisely that fearsome.

Of course, this absolutely requires that the sword cultivator himself possess a fierce, enterprising heart and a love of battle — not be forced by others to go up and die.

Sword cultivators forced into it like this, even if they all died to the last man, would never achieve any breakthrough.

Furthermore, the existence of the Great Sun Sword Child and its role in promoting the growth of sword cultivators cannot be underestimated — it is likewise an important reason.

Adding all these factors together, the many cultivators of the Northern Plains had originally been avoiding the Great Sun Sword Capital and the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong like the plague; despite a great victory, nearly fifty percent had perished in that single battle — it was enough to make people turn pale at the mere mention — and so no one dared let their outstanding juniors join the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong.

Now, however, many cultivators flocked to it, eager to become sword cultivators of the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong; it was the first choice of countless prodigies and outstanding talents of the Northern Plains, ranked alongside the Master Tushan Maid Corps.

The outstanding young people of today's Northern Plains, if they had any pride at all, would generally first try to join these two great military branches, and only then consider anything else.

The Northern Plains of today already possessed one hundred and twenty-six Nascent Soul True Lords, with countless Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators — truly strong in men and steeds.

Among them, the nine great maids including the Xun Wind Maid had broken through to mid-Nascent Soul; mid-Nascent Soul was likewise reached by outstanding Nascent Soul cultivators such as Ice Blood True Lord Mu Mu Tianxue, Great Love True Lord, Yin Dao True Lord, and Blazing Sun True Lord, their strength growing considerably.

As for Li Qingyun True Lord Han Lin, he remained at early Nascent Soul.

In any case, what others saw and what he himself reported were both this — the manner of a loose-cultivation True Lord whose future had run its course; he sought no important position, spending each day on alchemy and cultivation, kind to others, contending with the world for nothing.

Master Tianyang True Lord remained at peak Nascent Soul, unable to break through; he had exchanged his battle merits for a low-grade Soul Transformation Tribulation Crossing secret art, and over these years had been studying it in minute detail, rarely going out.

A century having passed, every cultivator who had earned battle merits back then had successfully exchanged them — no one had been shorted, no one's compensation had been delayed; under Jiang Ding's daily watch, Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting had carried out the distribution and exchange of battle merits at the fastest possible speed.

He had proven his promise, never violating the pledge he had made with his own lips back then, benefiting a million cultivators.

This terrifyingly efficient administration utterly shocked the cultivators of the Northern Plains; they had never experienced an organization where earning merit brought immediate reward — no skimming, no tribute, no cuts; as long as one earned battle merits, extremely generous rewards would be issued in full without the slightest discount.

Once this matter passed, Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting's prestige in the Northern Plains immediately reached its peak, earning the trust of nearly all cultivators.

As a century of rest went by, the cultivators who had previously leaned more toward peaceful recuperation began to change.

Many True Lords and Jin Dan True Persons began to yearn for war, hoping to obtain opportunities in war and break through their own realm; the desire to petition for battle grew gradually stronger.

Jiang Ding looked at a pile of petition-for-war jade slips sent up by Nascent Soul True Lords.

Nascent Soul sword cultivators like Blazing Sun True Lord of the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong were one thing.

This was the norm — it had been so a century ago; they patrolled the border between the Northern Plains and the Western Desert every day, seeking out demon sovereigns of the demon race to fight, year after year without cease; from time to time a Nascent Soul sword cultivator would be surrounded and killed, or cut down by demon sovereigns of higher realm, and then the Qingse Jianzong would birth new Nascent Soul sword cultivators.

The cycle repeated.

Courting death was their norm.

One could say this: without a heart for courting death, an ordinary sword cultivator would have no chance of comprehending sword intent and advancing to Nascent Soul.

Many Jin Dan sword cultivators within the Great Sun Qingse Jianzong might advance in strength faster than sword cultivators of the same rank in immortal sects — apart from dying easily, they had virtually no flaws.

These Nascent Soul sword cultivators were perfectly normal.

But in recent years, many dharma-cultivation True Lords — such as Master Tianyang True Lord, Ice Blood True Lord, Yin Dao True Lord, and others — had also begun to yearn for war; this was rather unusual.

"Everyone hopes to gain more in war, to bring themselves closer to Soul Transformation…"

Jiang

Ding pondered briefly and understood their thinking.

However,

he decided to refuse, issuing the order to continue waiting.

If Zhenjun Zhenjun Bingyuan Canghai Tianjun and the others did not take the initiative to attack, Jiang Ding would not take the initiative either.

Time was on humanity's side; a mere century was nothing — there was no need to lose patience.

Jiang Ding had once had someone paint a chart, tallying the advancement times of the Northern Plains' human race and the Western Desert's demon race, and discovered that, considering only Nascent Soul-tier combat power, the optimal time for a decisive battle was five hundred years from now.

Five hundred years from now, the Northern Plains' human race would have widened the gap with the Western Desert's demon race to its maximum.

Too early, and the strength and numbers of human Nascent Soul cultivators would not have grown to their optimum; too late, and demon cultivators would enter their golden period of development, gradually narrowing the gap with humanity.

And because resources were limited, the strength of human Nascent Soul cultivators had already reached its peak and would no longer grow with time.

Of course, Jiang Ding would not wait that long — Nascent Soul-tier strength alone was not enough to decide victory or defeat in war.

"Late Nascent Soul."

Jiang Ding murmured: "I will not send out troops until I reach late Nascent Soul; even if the Western Desert demon race invades again and multiple Soul Transformation cultivators attack together, I will not send out troops — I will honestly contract back into the Six Realms Liyang Grand Formation and wait to Break Through Realm."

"After breaking through to late Nascent Soul, I'll finish off Zhenjun Zhenjun Bingyuan Canghai Tianjun and sweep this world clean."