Chapter 997: The Great Sun Soul Transformation Strategy Has Been Born

"Uncle Grandfather…"

The skull-blood vine spirit named Teng Hua burst into uncontrollable sobs and collapsed to the ground.

Before her, an ancient vine spirit had lost his life without warning, lying on the ground, having passed away in his sleep, still clutching a bottle filled with common blood wine.

Beneath his body lay another bottle of spirit-blood wine, unopened, visible at a glance with spiritual sense.

"Uncle Grandfather, rest in peace."

Teng Hua's tears gushed like a spring.

Yesterday, the elder clearly sensed his end was near, which is why he had hesitated to drink this precious bottle of spirit-blood wine.

How foolish, she truly was foolish.

She should have known then—the elder had always been addicted to alcohol; why would he suddenly hold back?

At that moment, she should have realized he was going to die.

But what difference would knowing have made?

Uncle Grandfather spent his entire life brewing countless bottles of blood wine using his life essence; his qi, blood, and soul were long depleted—he should have reached his end long ago, and this day was inevitable.

This is the fate of the skull-blood vine spirits.

…

Outside the stone cave, Jiang Ding held a blood egg half a person's height, silently watching.

The death of an elderly skull-blood vine spirit was normal, unremarkable, and would not draw any investigation or suspicion.

In just these few minutes, dozens of skull-blood vine spirits had died.

Most perished from exhaustion while brewing blood wine; a few fell to danger or conspiracy; only this old skull-blood vine spirit died of natural causes.

He enjoyed his twilight years, and at his passing, someone was there to see him off, someone to weep for him.

This was already fortune.

Life and death turn ceaselessly.

Jiang Ding had examined the female skull-blood vine spirit named Teng Hua and found no anomalies, so he abandoned the idea of silencing her.

"All things possess spirit…"

"I have felt it again, truly."

Jiang Ding murmured.

In his centuries of Dao cultivation, he had sensed countless times that all alien races—even the skull-blood vine spirits, so utterly alien to human aesthetics—were sentient beings with emotion, not merely ignorant, bloodthirsty demons.

Within the souls of all races, perhaps there exists a fundamental sameness.

That thing might be the origin of the soul.

This made him recall the legend of the Six Realms of Reincarnation, told across countless realms: all living beings cycle through them, sometimes as humans, sometimes as demons, sometimes as plants or animals.

"Teng Hua…"

"This skull-blood vine spirit is a once-in-a-millennium genius of her race, possessing the potential of an Emperor."

Jiang Ding looked

at this skull-blood vine spirit.

Emperor potential.

That was Dong Xue He Wang's assessment.

He came here for one primary reason: this woman named Teng Hua—he wished to forge a deep emotional bond with her, to aid each other's growth, or perhaps to possess her body.

In the distant past, the skull-blood vine spirits had once enjoyed a glorious history.

This race was among the fiercest adversaries the Jiao Jiao Mingyu-ruled Jian Jue Mo Emperor Clan ever encountered, even defeating their realm's armies multiple times and driving the Jian Jue Mo Emperor Clan to the brink of extinction.

In the end, of course, they lost.

The glorious skull-blood vine civilization was utterly destroyed; the entire race was exterminated, all its strong ones slain, every male, female, old, and young killed—total annihilation.

That was the Jian Jue Mo Emperor Clan's respect for them.

Now, after countless ages, most Jian Jue Mo Emperor Clan cultivators had forgotten their ancient mortal enemies; the hatred had faded.

Until, after an unfathomable span of time, amid the constant racial mutations of all races, the skull-blood vine spirits, following the ancient arrangements left by their primordial ancestors, began to reappear.

This was the opportunity Dong Xue He Wang had stumbled upon.

And Teng Hua was the Emperor Heir of the skull-blood vine spirits, born with astonishing innate bloodline power.

Unfortunately, the birth of an Emperor Heir demanded immense celestial spiritual energy—far beyond what the skull-blood vine spirits could provide.

That was why Teng Hua had always been so listless.

The Emperor Heir bloodline was inherently powerful, but she needed vastly more time to accumulate spiritual energy to awaken her bloodline; this process would be excruciatingly slow, perhaps lasting her entire life in mediocrity, or ending abruptly in misfortune.

An Emperor Heir without a race to support her was doomed to this fate.

"A rare commodity."

Jiang Ding manipulated the blood egg formed by Dong Xue He Wang, casting a blood Dao incantation onto Teng Hua.

This blood Dao incantation would continuously supply celestial spiritual energy and offer protection, allowing her to grow more smoothly.

That was all.

The Emperor Heir was a once-in-eternity opportunity for Dong Xue He Wang; for Jiang Ding, it meant little.

The Dao Heirs of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, save when bowing before pure-blooded phoenixes or true dragons, feared no other race—they did not need to place their Dao's hope in others.

"Still,"

"she has some use."

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

The skull-blood vine spirits possess bloodline legacies.

If Teng Hua ascends to Emperor, she may inherit the bloodline's Scripture of Void Refinement—something of great importance to the Immortal Sect.

It's just unknown when she will ascend to Da Di Jing, or whether she can ascend to Da Di Jing at all.

After all, even the legitimate imperial heirs of the Jiao Demon Emperor Clan have a low chance of ascending to Da Di Jing.

The current situation facing the Xiandao Sect is extremely dangerous; perhaps there isn't enough time to wait for a Skullblood Vine Demon to ascend to Da Di Jing, so it's only of some use, not great use.

Jiang Ding hopes to use the possible Soul Transformation scripture possessed by this Skullblood Vine Demon as a lever to pry open a crack in the Xiandao Sect's strict immigration laws.

There is so much power within the realm, so many prodigies and talents among its various races—yet you refuse to unite them, letting them be harvested by the Xiandao Sect as nourishment for its growth.

This is truly a great waste.

The Xiandao Sect, if it wishes to become a true Xiandao Sect, should embrace all rivers and have the capacity to hold all things; it should gather the elite of all races, gather the wisdom of countless prodigies and talents across the realm, and jointly advance the Xiandao Sect's cultivation path.

Relying solely on the potential of the mother planet's tens of billions of people is still sufficient for the Soul Transformation stage, thanks to its powerful Xiandao education system.

But if one wishes to take another step upward, to explore the path beyond Soul Transformation and even toward True Immortality, it is far from enough.

Gather the prodigies and talents of all races across the realm, pave the True Immortal Path.

This is Jiang Ding's political viewpoint.

The future Great Sun Soul Transformation Strategy will inevitably center on this viewpoint, spreading throughout the entire Xiandao Sect, using material temptation, legacy temptation, and the truth of the sword to convince many stubborn Xiandao Sect cultivators to accept his viewpoint—with its great risks and brilliant, luminous prospects.

"Do your best to survive."

"If my plan succeeds, I will come back for you, teach you, and give you a qualified moral character score."

Jiang Ding whispered.

He vanished gradually, carrying the blood egg formed from the Blood River King.

Within the Xiandao Sect, there exist many stubborn cultivators.

They are content with the status quo, short-sighted, clinging to the narrow view of mother-planet supremacy, rejecting all change—even though the current Xiandao Sect immigration system already obstructs the sect's evolution toward a higher-level Xiandao civilization.

This is not a problem of political viewpoint.

This is above all a problem of interests.

Once immigration policies are relaxed, many of the Xiandao Sect cultivators' existing interests will be lost, their Dao paths rendered hopeless; thus, one can understand the strength of the opposition.

They cannot see the long-term future of the Xiandao Sect, but they are very clear about their own Dao paths.

Yet, within the Xiandao Sect, Jiang Ding is not alone.

According to Jiang Ding's knowledge, distant figures such as Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun and Senior Wanji Canghai Tianjun—those with the most exceptional talent and ambition, who yearn to explore the True Immortal Path—hold views similar to his; they merely refrain from opposing the tide due to opposition from other Canghai Tianjun and unstable circumstances.