Chapter 980: A Hundred Years Pass in a Flash

Two streaks of sword light flew into Dayang Dayang Tianchi.

"Yue, long time no see."

Yu Yu Qianzi greeted with a light smile: "Did you miss me? After all, your name is the same as mine, we're very fated."

She was openly poaching and pulling connections right in front of him.

"Oh."

"Another Dao Child."

Yue glanced at her: "Pity, you're not the Taiyin Sword Child, you don't have the Taiyin Flying Sword, otherwise a Sword Child killing you would surely yield far more insight than other Dao Children."

"Or perhaps, you could kill the Sword Child…"

Yue thought about it seriously.

"Then can I become the master of Dayang Dayang Tianchi?"

Yu Yu Qianzi's spirit lifted.

It was possible.

Given the arrogance, madness, and sword-recognizing-not-person nature of Dayang Sword Pavilion sword cultivators, there really might be such a possibility.

"If the Taiyin Sword Child kills the Sword Child, then yes."

Yue said with some disdain: "The first generation Sword Pavilion Sword Lord said it himself, if the Dayang Sword Child is killed by the Taiyin Sword Child, that means his path has failed, what's the harm in yielding to the worthy?"

"But you can't."

"Your sword is not the Taiyin Flying Sword."

"If you kill the Sword Child, I can only help collect his corpse, bury it in the Dayang Tianchi Sword Tomb, and wait for the next generation Dayang Sword Child to be born and seek revenge."

"What a pity…"

Yu Yu Qianzi looked extremely regretful and sorrowful.

The two openly discussed how to kill the Dayang Sword Child and the like.

Jiang Ding listened until his face was black as a pot bottom.

He wished he could draw his sword and beat the two of them to death.

"Yue Xihe has arrived, don't come bother me if there's nothing."

Jiang Ding waved his hand.

Clang!

He drew his sword, and with one strike like swatting a fly, smashed Yu Yu Qianzi—who was chatting enthusiastically with Yue—dozens of kilometers away onto Yue Xihe, driving her deep into the riverbank mud; the ethereal moonlit fairy's dress was torn, instantly turning as wretched as a beggar, with only a small head left exposed above the ground.

"This sword art…"

Yu Yu Qianzi was momentarily terrified, too flustered to be angry.

That sword strike, utterly ordinary, yet instantly shattered her sword qi, sword intent, and flying sword defenses, without truly harming anything—subtle to the extreme.

In just a few hundred years of not meeting, the other's sword art had improved tremendously, now reaching the late stage of Indestructible Sword Qi, about to reach the peak, as if there were no bottlenecks in sword art realms whatsoever.

If she faced him alone, under the crushing sword art, she feared she would perish within a few moves!

"Dayang Sword Pavilion…"

Yu Yu Qianzi's body erupted with moon-white sword qi, pulling herself out of the mud, the torn moon-white immortal dress

rapidly restored to wholeness as sword qi surged in, muttering this name in her heart.

This sect that had betrayed the Sun Moon Sword Pavilion might not have perished after all.

Her heart trembled, and she suddenly had such a premonition.

……

In the Sun Abyss, beneath the Sun Divine Tree.

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged, gazing at a colorful suit of armor before him.

This armor's five-colored luster cycled and alternated, presenting a semi-transparent hue, faintly merging with the surrounding space, unknown power hidden within, and even carrying a kind of gloomy aura.

This aura would be somewhat conspicuous in Jiudaxian Sect, but if placed in Jiao Jiao Mingyu, it would be like a fish in water.

Even a peak Void Refinement cultivator, unless repeatedly scanning with divine sense, would find it hard to discover anything, only thinking it was an ordinary cultivator, or a lower clansman of the Horned Demon Imperial Race, or a demon race slave—common sights, nothing remarkable.

"Shadow Underworld Armor…"

Jiang Ding Zi muttered.

This was the painstaking work of the nine great sects of Jiudaxian Sect, a Void Refinement-grade concealment treasure, specially modified so that Nascent Soul-stage Dao Child-level beings could also wear it.

This treasure's sole function was to provide concealment, nothing else.

Countless sect artifact refiners and immortal gate artifact refiners spent endless effort and countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures to push this single ability to its utmost limit, placing earnest expectations on it in hopes of gaining more initiative in the realm war.

This armor, along with the armors of the other eight Dao Children, began being refined hundreds of years ago; Void Refinement-level beings possessed astonishing wisdom, having calculated today's outcome hundreds of years ago, and precisely completed the armor's refinement in recent years, handing it to the Dao Children for sacrificial refinement.

"Hope this journey goes smoothly…"

Jiang Ding said softly.

Obviously, for him, infiltrating an alien star domain alone to carry out an undercover mission also carried enormous psychological pressure, not as calm as it appeared on the surface.

Jiang Ding exhaled azure infant fire, using divine sense and sword intent to control it as it surged within, beginning to sacrificially refine this top-grade concealment treasure of Jiudaxian Sect.

His divine sense was extremely meticulous, not missing any detail, any formation pattern, ensuring he could control this treasure at any time.

Dayang Dayang Tianchi's light blazed, converging here, accelerating Jiang Ding's sacrificial refinement speed.

"Estimated to take over ninety years to complete the sacrificial refinement and control it freely."

After Jiang Ding continuously sacrificially refined the Shadow Underworld Armor for several years, his hands gradually became familiar with it.

He began multitasking, dividing part of his soul's computing power for cultivation, as well as sacrificially refining flying swords, assisting Yun Ri in sacrificially refining the super mothership Dayang.

In Dayang Dayang Tianchi's Sun Abyss, light blazed for ten thousand miles, the ten-thousand-meter-tall Sun Divine Tree shone brilliantly, the super mothership Dayang nestled among the tree clusters, sharing the Dayang essence and heaven and earth spiritual energy gathered by the Sun Divine Tree

The sword body of the Taiqing Flying Sword, meanwhile, was being smelted from Great Solar Eclipse Jin, No. 4 Synthetic Synthetic Gengjin, and large quantities of metal-attribute heavenly materials and earthly treasures, absorbing the qi of all metals under heaven, ceaselessly inscribing prohibitions, honing its edge, and engraving the Solar Divine Prohibition within the sword body.

It was estimated that in another several dozen years, the Taiqing Flying Sword would be able to refine its thirtieth Heavenly Gang Prohibition, advancing to a superior-grade Primordial Spirit treasure, raising Jiang Ding's strength once more by a notch.

As cultivation continued, the years slipped gradually away.

The greater part of Jiang Ding's divine soul computing power was devoted to cultivating and studying the Jiao Jiao Mingyu language, customs, political systems, and the like.

In addition, he still reserved a small portion of his divine soul computing power to read the latest Immortal Gate research literature on the Dao of Immortality, study various Gong Fa and spells, and oversee projects such as the Great Solar Soul Transformation secret art and the Great Solar Eclipse Jin application engineering—without a moment's rest.

Although these projects were not as urgent or life-and-death as those in Jiao Jiao Mingyu, they bore on his future Dao path and could not be set aside under any circumstances; even a single year's interruption was unacceptable, and they had to be pushed forward at every moment.

While Jiang Ding cultivated, the eight Dao Sons were also busily refining their Shadow Armor, practicing various spells, enriching themselves, exceedingly busy, and did not cause trouble or commit any violation of Immortal Gate law.

Although they thoroughly detested everything around them—every kind of restraint.

Both sides were enduring, restraining themselves.

As for the Northern Plains, Jiang Ding occasionally found time to glance over, draw in yuan qi, and handle some political affairs.

Overall, the entire Minor Thousand Worlds was very calm and stable.

Although there were some killings among Nascent Soul cultivators—contending for heavenly materials and earthly treasures, or opportunities, or schemes and frame-ups—in the eyes of some Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators the situation seemed treacherous and ever-shifting, as if some earth-shaking upheaval might erupt at any moment.

These were the inherent features of a society built upon the Dao of Immortality.

There would always be struggle, always contention; no order whatsoever could instantly transform a group of humans into sages who thenceforth loved one another in perfect harmony—that was absolutely impossible.

Jiang Ding merely drew a single bottom line: those who violated the laws of Master Tushan would be severely punished; everything else he left alone.

The entire Minor Thousand Worlds was developing slowly but steadily—talent kept increasing, new knowledge of the Dao of Immortality kept emerging, the output of heavenly materials and earthly treasures kept rising, the world's spiritual qi concentration showed subtle but continual growth—everything was thriving.

And so, time hurried by,

A hundred years slipped quietly away.