Chapter 987: Blood Dao Cultivator

"Is this the omen of humanity's extinction?"

Jiang Ding watched the scenes unfolding at Zhenshan Sect, his heart stirred as well.

He was not a student who had always lived in the ivory tower of a school, but an immortal sect cultivator who had experienced many wars and tempered himself in many worlds.

He had assumed that the bloodline families of the Northern Plains, who ruled and enslaved billions of human lives to sustain a single clan, killing for sport on a whim; the incense and divine Dao of Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, which shackled thought and souls, forcing bitter toil in life and denying peace in death, transforming the dead into fanatics driven by gods; and the mortal cultivators under the Shadow Demon Abyss were all shadow parasites in the womb.

He had assumed these were already hell on earth, already the lowest baseline.

After all, generations of cultivators from Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, Shadow Demon Abyss, and Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace had spent countless generations researching exploitation, pouring in untold wisdom and immortal Dao achievements, squeezing to the absolute limit—no matter what, output could not be increased further.

Now, Jiang Ding saw what lay beneath that baseline.

That was: being enslaved, being a servant, having even one's flesh and blood squeezed dry was no longer attainable, no longer needed by anyone!

At least in this world, in this place called Mo Shi Xiao Gao Jie, human cultivators were beginning to face widespread extinction.

It was projected that within several hundred years, apart from one or two kept as pets, the human race would no longer exist in this world, their ecological niches occupied by many powerful races, unable to survive any longer.

The great righteousness of a race.

These four words appeared for the first time in Jiang Ding's heart, heavy with weight.

Compared to this place, Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, Shadow Demon Abyss, and Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun all seemed to become good people, Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun seemed to become a sage ruler, a sage-king like ancient Fuxi, Shennong, or Yan Emperor.

Beyond all doubt,

Yan Emperor and Fuxi, as tribal chiefs and slave-owners, were equally bloody and brutal, bearing many historical limitations.

But this did not diminish their historical standing or their historical achievements.

"I wish you good fortune."

Jiang Ding said softly.

He would not act, even if the humans of this world went extinct.

Perhaps he could do it very covertly, unknown to anyone, including the cultivators of Zhenshan Sect—after all, the nearby forces were only at the Jin Dan level, mere ants to him.

But in all the affairs of the world, traces must be left behind.

Once he acted, no matter what means he used, traces would surely appear; changes in matter and spirit in the objective world would inevitably add a sliver of risk of exposure.

Once the traces he left were known to the powerful experts of the Horn Demon Imperial Race, the entire grand strategy of the Nine Spirit Domain would come to nothing.

Conversely, if the Nine Spirit Domain ultimately emerged victorious, the human race would surely flourish greatly in this star domain—it had to be so, because even evil sects like Shadow Demon Abyss and Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace were still human sects.

Weighing the two, Jiang Ding chose to temporarily give up.

The Shadow Demon Dao Child had already transmitted his plan

back to the rear.

The many seniors of the immortal gate, the great powers of the Badaxian Sect, the many Soul Transformation cultivators seasoned by age and rich in experience, would surely devise a more refined and reliable battle plan; when the time came, he only needed to execute according to the rear's plan and his own abilities.

Everything required waiting.

Jiang Ding's soul gradually fell silent, concealed, entering a standby state—even cultivation ceased—minimizing his presence to the utmost.

This was a shortcoming of the immortal gate and sects like Qingmuxian Sect.

They could not grow stronger while lying in hiding, unlike Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators who were in their element; from Gong Fa to spells and treasures, everything was born for stealth and concealment—stealth and concealment were simply part of how Shadow Demon Abyss cultivators trained.

"Oh?"

Having just entered his stealth state, Jiang Ding was startled awake by the surveillance he kept running at all times, and looked toward the direction of the Zhenshan Sect Master.

…

Lord Lord Dingding!

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren struck the final blow, and a third-grade purple jade stone, bright as a bonfire, fell from the stone skin, rolled across the ground, and emanated a vibrant surge of spiritual energy.

The wrinkles on his face had unknowingly increased by another trace.

"My lifespan, my qi and blood…"

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren numbly stored away the third-grade purple jade stone.

This year, his task was considered complete.

This was not because the Mo Yan Race was kind-hearted—that was impossible.

The Mo Yan Race did not dare to be kind-hearted with the wealth of the Flame Stone Great Emperor; they were merely managing it on his behalf. If anything were truly missing, the Mo Yan Race would slaughter even their own clansmen to make up the shortfall—they could not let their master suffer a loss.

In the Mo Yan Race's calculations, one third-grade purple jade stone per year allowed for the maximum sustained output of third-grade purple jade stones. Any more, and while short-term output would indeed rise, output would subsequently plummet off a cliff—it could not be sustained.

Once such incidents occurred in large numbers, the Mo Yan Race's standing within the "Nine Grades of Slave Races" system would fall; it was entirely possible they would sink to become a bottom-grade slave race like humanity.

At that time, the Fox Race, Tiger Race, and Demon Blood Tree Clan would all be drooling with greed… there was no shortage of slave races ready to replace their position—no slave race was indispensable.

"I… can still live eighty-two more years, can live until two hundred and ninety."

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren picked up the third-grade purple jade stone, gazing at its beautiful color: "And then, there will be no successors."

"After I die, the sect, and the millions of humans in the surrounding thousands of miles, will all perish, buried deep within the mines to nourish the ore veins—all failed and culled races are handled this way."

"Every hundred years, a bottom-grade race is buried deep in the mountains."

"In eighty-two years, it will be Zhenshan Sect's turn."

"If only… Dong Xue He Wang…"

He suddenly stopped speaking.

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren cultivated

for several more months, recovering some qi and blood strength. After confirming no one was around, he slowly walked into the Ancestral Master Hall, paid respects to the successive Zhenshan Sect ancestors, and activated the concealment formation.

This was a quasi-third-grade concealment formation.

Zhenshan Sect's inheritance was pitifully incomplete; Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren was far weaker than even the weakest Jin Dan Jiang Ding had ever seen.

Jiang Ding's gaze pierced through the formation, looking toward Zhenshan Sect's Ancestral Master Hall.

There was still someone paying respects inside—Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren himself.

However, that was merely an illusion.

Jiang Ding's gaze pierced unobstructed through the deep layers of earth, landing in a cavern deep underground, concealed by a third-grade mid-quality concealment formation.

Here, there was a blood pool several li across.

The bottom of the blood pool was covered in white bones — most were from mortal humans and cultivators, while a small portion belonged to fox clan, rabbit clan, ox demon clan, and other powerful clan cultivators from the surrounding region.

The corpses and divine souls of these human and demon cultivators were dissolved by the blood pool, transforming into a pool of scarlet water.

"A bit evil…"

Jiang Ding frowned.

If this were elsewhere, seeing this kind of cultivator, he would have killed them on a whim.

In Master Tushan Master Tushan Zhongting of the Northern Plains, what was dealt with severely was precisely demon cultivators who cultivated using humans, and they were being struck down relentlessly at every moment.

In recent years, the sword cultivators of the Master Shuoyang Long Sword Capital had joined in even more frantically, using a sense of smell as keen as a dog's to search for any human-demon cultivator who met the Master Tushan Law's standards and could be killed.

Now, seeing this bloody scene, Jiang Ding felt some reluctance.

Any morality must be built upon the foundation of survival.

Without survival, morality could not even be discussed.

"Is Dong Xue He Wang… dead?"

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren now wore a blood robe, his features much younger, and murmured: "The strongest prodigy of our human race in ten thousand years, a hero who dared to covet the Great Emperor."

"If he could have become the Slaves' Great Emperor, the human race would have fared much better."

"But alas… he should be dead, and has dragged us down to this."

He sighed.

Yet there was no resentment in his words, even though this Dong Xue He Wang had always killed the most humans, was bloody and brutal, and was utterly capricious.

"Find some opportunity, and beat that flirtatious fox from the Purple Mountain Fox Clan to death…"

"Sigh, all Jin Dan lives belong to the Demon Rock Clan. This time I don't know if I'll be exposed either. My master was exposed last time, but fortunately self-detonated at the moment of death."

"If another Blood Demon Uprising comes, it's hard to say…"

Chun Jian Shi Zhen Ren sighed bitterly.