Chapter 941: Nascent Soul Late-Stage

“You understand the situation well. That’s good.”

Jiang Ding nodded, ignoring the Shadow Demon Sect Heir, whose face was pale as death and who had spat blood all over the ground, then turned and left.

After this incident, the teaching effectiveness of the Shadow Demon Sect classroom improved immediately.

The Shadow Demon Sect Heir not only prepared lesson plans in advance but also distributed handouts ahead of time, humbly learning teaching methods from other instructors of the Immortal Sect, and soon raised student performance to the mid-level standard of Qingfeng University.

Not more, not less—exactly mid-level.

She taught techniques of stealth and concealment among the pinnacle methods of the Shadow Demon Abyss, perfectly suited to the Immortal Sect’s reconnaissance sword cultivators, granting many students profound insights.

One can only say that, as a cultivator with top-tier domain talent, the Heir could never bottom out if she truly applied herself.

Forget talk of cultural differences or customs.

To cultivators of the Shadow Demon Abyss, whose identities shift endlessly, these were no issues at all.

Even Jiang Ding, upon recognizing this teaching effect, grew solemn; every time the Shadow Demon Sect Heir taught, he personally attended in person, occasionally gaining insights of his own, learning much from the Heir, whose foundation lay in stealth.

Time flowed gently.

Before he knew it, over sixty years had passed.

In the Great Sun Heavenly Pool, Jiang Ding inscribed the twenty-seventh Great Sun Heavenly Gang prohibition onto the Taiqing Flying Sword, admired it for a moment, then flew toward the Immortal Sect’s Academy of Science.

There, many Heavenly Juniors of the Immortal Sect—Heavenly Juniors of the Extinguished Sun, Divine Mechanism, and Myriad Mechanisms—had gathered, yet said nothing, merely gazing at the clusters of shadows on the distant square, their hearts heavy.

These individuals were the Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators who had completed their special training and received joint recognition from the Immortal Sect and the Eight Immortal Sects.

Yuan was seeing them off.

They would depart today, slipping silently into the Jiao Ming Domain beneath the concealment of the nascent Nine Spirit Life-Death Illusion Two-Phase Micro-Dust Array, to pave the way for their own domain.

This was the formal contact between the two domains.

Whether they would succeed in gathering intelligence and earn glory—or drag their own domain into war and destruction—was unknown.

Everything was uncertain.

“Over these years, we’ve done much work with the Eight Immortal Sects.”

Heavenly Junior of Divine Mechanism whispered: “Using observations from Void Refinement experts and the Central Array Spirit Computer, we analyzed the natural conditions of the Jiao Ming Domain and the demonic imperial clan’s cultivation traits, then designed the ‘Shadow’ series of single-person magical armor mechs—capable of solo combat or forming military formations.”

“Additionally, we developed soul prohibitions specifically targeting the Jiao Ming demonic imperial clan: should any outsider touch these shadows’ souls, they would instantly self-destruct. Moreover, this soul prohibition possesses rudimentary active logical computation—should it judge extreme danger and a sharp rise in leakage risk, it will initiate self-destruction preemptively.”

“

We also designed exclusive spells and cultivation methods for each Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivator, maximizing their combat potential… and prepared vast quantities of talismans…”

“…They are armed to the teeth, their stealth capabilities pushed to the absolute limit of their current realm.”

“But whether they will succeed remains unknown.”

“Worse, they might be detected the moment they enter, triggering a catastrophic crisis for our domain… The Immortal Sect has spent years strengthening the End Dharma City deep in the cosmos, moving it farther away… If a great upheaval ever comes, we hope it will be useful…”

Heavenly Junior of Divine Mechanism chattered on, unlike his usual self.

Contact with a foreign Immortal civilization had imposed immense psychological pressure on him; his nerves were frayed.

Amid a flash of spatial teleportation light, the Shadow Demon Sect Heir and the group of Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators vanished.

Before leaving, the Shadow Demon Sect Heir seemed to gaze in Jiang Ding’s direction.

They would undergo hundreds or even thousands of teleportations, passing through layer upon layer of Void Refinement-level inspections, each Immortal Sect verifying them repeatedly to ensure absolute safety, before finally appearing at the Jiao Ming Domain’s passage, sealed by star-domain arrays, where several Great Experts would personally escort them into the Jiao Ming Domain to carry out their mission.

After discussing military readiness and research matters with the Heavenly Juniors, Jiang Ding and the others departed.

As war drew ever closer, everyone had countless tasks—cultivating, producing, developing, splitting their spiritual sense into multiple threads—leaving almost no free time.

Jiang Ding returned to the Great Sun Heavenly Pool.

Behind him, the Sun God Tree surged upward with a thunderous roar, its branches and leaves spreading into the Sun Abyss, undergoing refinement by sword intent and spiritual sense.

With each breath, spiritual energy and Great Sun essence surged in from a thousand li around, winds rising, clouds churning.

Not just spiritual energy and Great Sun essence.

As he cultivated, fine cracks appeared in space; threads of pitch-black radiation and mutation energy—ultimate forbidden nuclear weapons—were drawn forth, flying into the Sun God Tree formed by the Taiqing Flying Sword, causing countless fleshy protrusions, countless tiny eyes, tendrils, and scales to erupt across its golden surface, grotesque and terrifying.

This was the radiation and mutation energy of the forbidden nuclear weapons!

Compared to the slow, trickle-like absorption over a century ago, the Taiqing Flying Sword now devoured these twisted black threads like a whale, seemingly never satisfied—making Yue Ling’s scalp prickle.

Eyes, scales, mouths, arms—monstrous growths erupted on the Sun God Tree, transforming it instantly into a bloodthirsty, malevolent flesh demon tree; anyone entering the Great Sun Heavenly Pool’s Sun Abyss would immediately declare it the most evil demonic lair in the world.

CLANG!

CLANG-CLANG!

As arms, eyes, and scales grew thickly, the Taiqing Flying Sword could no longer endure.

?? emitted a hollow, resonant sword cry; the perfected Great Sun Annihilation Sword Intent exploded outward, suppressing and destroying all.

It also stirred the Great Sun Annihilation Sword Intent fire within the Sun Abyss, transforming it into brilliant golden flames that fell upon the sprouting arms, eyes, and scales of the Sun God Tree.

These twisted eyes and mouths screamed, cursed, wept—then dissolved into vast sheets of white ash.

The Sun God Tree regained its golden luster.

Spiritual energy and Great Sun essence flowed ceaselessly from a thousand li, pouring into the ten-thousand-meter-tall Sun God Tree, radiating brilliant, sacred light; the Sun Abyss once again became the divine abode of myth.

Jiang Ding paid no heed to the strange phenomena around him.

He continued cultivating, splitting most of his spiritual computational power to study, read, and handle countless tasks, while steadily accumulating his magic power without pause.

Time flowed like water.

The Nine Immortal Sects all prepared for the domain war; internal conflicts nearly vanished entirely. Every Soul Transformation, Nascent Soul, and Golden Core cultivator strained to cultivate, trained military formations day and night, forged magic treasures, painted talismans, refined elixirs—doing everything possible to prepare.

Though peace between the domains was unnervingly calm, it felt as if they stood within a powder keg; every cultivator moved with extreme caution, as if sensing that the slightest spark would trigger a cataclysmic explosion capable of annihilating the star domain.

Amid this tranquil yet agitated domain atmosphere,

before he knew it, another thirty years had passed.

On this day, the storm that had raged for decades within the Sun Abyss slowly subsided; spiritual energy ceased its violent flow, Great Sun essence no longer gathered, and all returned to the natural stillness of heaven and earth.

“My journey through Nascent Soul Mid-Stage has reached its end.”

“I am ready to break through to Nascent Soul Late-Stage.”

Jiang Ding awoke and opened his eyes.