Chapter 970: Hidden Within Time

"The world is truly dangerous…"

Jiang Ding whispered.

Even someone as honest and well-behaved, innocent and cute as him, someone who never stirred up trouble, could suddenly encounter an unexpected disaster, for no reason at all.

If it weren't for the immortal sect backing him, his divine soul would probably be inhabited without his knowledge right now; he might not die, but being someone's chess piece, someone's servant, with life and death beyond his own control, would be certain.

Jiang Ding released the Bai Zu Tian Jun shell in his hand, along with that segment of storage limb, letting them fall into the sea, sink to the seabed, and bury themselves deep in the ocean floor mud.

These things were worth at least several trillion low-grade spirit stones, but they were no longer safe.

A trace of hatred rose in Jiang Ding's heart, then vanished again.

"It's fine, it's fine."

"I'm not angry at all. The senior was showing concern for me, giving me some pointers, that's all."

"This is valuing me, this is an honor…"

Jiang Ding kept hypnotizing himself in his heart, letting his resentment dissipate.

The weak truly should not harbor resentment.

To cultivators who were far too powerful, it could be seen at a glance — far too dangerous, and easily leading to death.

"I'm a super magnanimous person… a super kind person…"

"So kind, so pure — how could I hold a grudge? Absolutely impossible…"

Thinking this way constantly, Jiang Ding quickly forgot about this place and became cheerful again.

Spatial runes appeared one after another around him, teleportation activating — this was the ability of the Da Ri Ding Gao Jie array; spending several hundred million low-grade spirit stones allowed free teleportation within the realm.

It seemed like a lot, but in reality, for a Tian Jun it was only about one percent of their annual income.

And Tian Jun — their unit of time was often measured in centuries, not like mortals where a single year was an important stretch; spending several hundred million low-grade spirit stones was considered very cheap.

Not long after, Jiang Ding appeared in a corner of the Western Desert, dug out an ice vault from ten thousand meters deep beneath a stretch of wasteland, and obtained the final secret vault of the Zhenjun Zhenjun Bingfeng clan.

He returned to Liu Dao Sect carrying an Zhenjun Zhenjun Bingfeng egg the size of a head in one hand.

Black Demon Palace.

Jiang Ding sat on the pitch-black Wang Zuo, his hand resting on his sword hilt.

Behind him, the illusory vortexes of the Six Paths of Reincarnation rose and sank endlessly — a legacy from the ancient Liu Dao Sect.

The palace was utterly silent.

Apart from the sound of wind, and the occasional flicker of magnetic light, there was nothing else.

Jiang Ding thought for a very long time.

"Chun Jian Zi."

The Sword Pavilion inheritance envoy Hei appeared at some unknown point within Black Demon Palace and offered a respectful salute.

He glanced at the blue-robed youth on the Wang Zuo out of the corner of his eye, and many emotions welled up in his heart.

The Da Ri Chun Jian Zi seemed to be on the path of returning to the Sword Pavilion, growing more and more like a true Chun Jian Zi — even more, his ability in sect inheritance and the training of disciples far surpassed every previous Chun Jian Zi.

Da Ri sword cultivation was actually beginning to revive within this barren Minor Thousand World.

This was something even Chong Chong Guang Zi was incapable of — he only knew how to fight and kill.

Compared to him, the Da Ri Chun Jian Zi, influenced by the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect, was very skilled in this area, and many true Da Ri sword cultivators were beginning to emerge.

The wisdom of the Sword Pavilion's founding masters through the ages was indeed profound.

Everything was within their calculations.

"Hei, my name—"

Jiang Ding spoke, slowly saying: "My name is Chong Chong Guang Zi. Over a thousand years ago, after a battle with Shuo Yang Tian Jun, I was gravely wounded and went into hiding; only recently have I begun to recover."

"Because of all I've been through, my style of doing things has changed somewhat."

"Hei, do you have anything to add?"

"Black, do you have anything to add?"

"……"

Hei's expression went blank, utterly dumbfounded.

You're nothing like Chong Chong Guang Zi, damn it!

He grumbled inwardly — which Chong Chong Guang Zi was as timid and cowardly as you, wanting to hide the moment something happens?

I really don't know how you cultivated your sword intent.

Yes, he was old and shrewd, and at a glance saw that the blue-robed youth before him seemed to have encountered an enemy again — a very powerful one at that, the kind he almost certainly couldn't defeat.

Yes, he was old and experienced enough to see at a glance that the youth in green before him had encountered enemies again, and very strong ones at that, the kind he could almost certainly not defeat.

Jiang Ding saw him not speaking and frowned.

Jiang Ding saw he remained silent and frowned.

"Chun Jian Zi, there's a difficulty."

Hei said, forcing himself: "M-my true body, and also Dayang Dayang Tianchi Yue Ling — none of us can interfere with the sacred sword duel, nor can we apply any means to the Da Ri Chun Jian Zi, for any reason whatsoever."

"This is a taboo set by the founding masters through the ages; it cannot be touched."

"What you're doing… seems to have the appearance of killing by another's hand…"

"By acting this way, you seem to be suspected of using another's blade to kill..."

Jiang Ding frowned.

He waved his hand, not blaming anything, and let the Sword Pavilion inheritance envoy Hei withdraw.

The many guardian spirits of the Da Ri Sword Pavilion were, after all, only guardian spirits — not subordinates he had personally trained, extensions of his own will; many things they simply could not do.

The many guardian spirits of the Master Shuoyang Sword Pavilion were, after all, merely guardian spirits, not subordinates personally cultivated by him and as obedient as his own limbs, so they could not do many things.

Jiang Ding gently closed his eyes.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, one hundred and eight thousand sword-shaped starlights flickered—these were one hundred and eight thousand maidservants, among whom the number of Nascent Soul–level maidservants was fifty-nine, and over half were Jin Dan, gathering together a great number of genius cultivators of this world.

They could easily form a Hua Shen Zhong Qi–level battle formation, suppressing all dissent in every direction.

Most crucially, this was a force he had personally cultivated, capable of carrying out any order without the slightest hesitation even when surrounding and killing Chong Chong Guang Zi—unlike the Master Shuoyang Sword Cultivators, Black, Moon, and the others, who would only watch two Sword Sons fight to the death, then pledge loyalty to the surviving Master Shuoyang Sword Son.

Of course, a mere

underdeveloped Chong Chong Guang Zi naturally did not need to be surrounded and killed—he could suppress him single-handedly.

"…Chong Chong Guang Zi…a thousand years of revival…reordering Shanhe…"

Jiang Ding did not summon anyone, did not give any orders, but merely spread some subconscious information at the level of the soul, employing certain principles of the Art of Cause and Effect to simulate real threads of cause and effect.

Yes, the Art of Cause and Effect could be cast not only through divine sense and magic power, but also through sentient beings, through the natural order of heaven and earth.

This was mentioned in Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun's "Theory of the Three Cycles," as well as in many Gong Fa scriptures of the Immortal Sect.

The latter two methods were even more natural, representing the most orthodox path of cause and effect.

It simply required time to ferment—hundreds of years, thousands of years—before the cast technique would become reality.

Veiled by endless time and space, even a cultivator of the Immortal Dao whose Art of Cause and Effect was earth-shatteringly powerful found it extremely difficult to use the Art of Cause and Effect to seek out the true truth.

He, within cause and effect, was Chong Chong Guang Zi—the final-generation Master Shuoyang Sword Son of the Master Shuoyang Sword Pavilion.

There was evidence.

All carried the Master Shuoyang Sword Pavilion inheritance, all were Master Shuoyang Sword Sons, all possessed the Master Shuoyang Flying Sword.

To say this was not one person—who would believe it?

Whoever wanted to beat him to death, go find Chong Chong Guang Zi. Everything was done by Chong Chong Guang Zi, every disaster was caused by Chong Chong Guang Zi—it had nothing to do with him.

This was Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting, the Sword Pavilion inheritance, the third layer of disguise beneath Tushan Tian Jun. More would be added in the future, with the true body hidden within the mists of time and space, beyond anyone's ability to trace the true origins.

"Let time ferment."

"Time is truly a wonderful thing. Even the weakest technique, after time ferments it, will become powerful, allowing the weak to contend with the strong on the informational level. This is the only mercy the Immortal Dao shows the weak…"

Jiang Ding remarked with no small measure of admiration.

No matter how invincible you are under heaven, peerless in all the world, capable of destroying stars and suns at will, you have no way to deal with people in the distant reaches of time. How reassuring.