Chapter 998

“Uncle Grandfather…”

The skull-blood vine spirit named Teng Hua burst into tears 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 mortal blood wine.

Beneath him lay another bottle of spiritual blood wine, unopened, visible at a glance with spiritual sense.

“Uncle Grandfather, rest in peace.”

Teng Hua’s tears gushed like a spring.

The old man had clearly sensed his death was near yesterday, which was why he couldn’t bring himself to drink that precious bottle of spiritual blood wine.

How foolish, she was truly foolish.

She should have known then—the old man had always been addicted to alcohol; why would he suddenly refuse to drink?

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

But even if she had realized it, what could she have done?

Uncle Grandfather had spent his entire life brewing blood wine with his life essence, depleting his blood, qi, and soul—he should have reached his end long ago; this day was inevitable.

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

…

Outside the cave, Jiang Ding held a blood egg half his height, silently watching.

The death of an aged skull-blood vine spirit was normal, unremarkable, and would draw no investigation or suspicion.

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

Most perished from exhaustion during the brewing of 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 mourn him.

That was already fortune.

Life and death turn endlessly, without pause.

Jiang Ding had examined the skull-blood vine spirit woman named Teng Hua and found nothing unusual, so he abandoned the idea of silencing her.

“All things possess spirit…”

“I have felt it again, truly.”

Jiang Ding whispered.

In his centuries of 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 mindless, bloodthirsty demons.

Perhaps within the souls of all races, there exists a fundamental sameness.

That thing might be the origin of the soul.

This recalls the six-realm reincarnation legends that circulate across countless realms: all living beings cycle through existence, 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 Blood River King’s assessment.

He came here primarily because of this woman named Teng Hua—to forge a deep emotional bond with her, to mutually aid each other’s growth, or perhaps to possess her body.

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

This race was among the fiercest opponents the Jiao Demon Emperor Clan encountered in Jiao Mingyu, even defeating their realm armies multiple times and driving the Jiao Demon Emperor Clan to the brink of extinction.

In the end, of course, they lost.

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

That was the Jiao Demon Emperor Clan’s respect for them.

Now, after countless eons, most Jiao Demon Emperor Clan cultivators have forgotten their ancient mortal enemies; the hatred has 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 of their primordial ancestors, began to reappear.

This was the opportunity Blood River King had stumbled upon.

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

Unfortunately, the birth of an Emperor Heir demands an enormous amount of spiritual energy—the skull-blood vine spirits simply cannot provide such resources.

That is why Teng Hua has always been so listless.

The Emperor Heir bloodline is inherently powerful, but she requires an extraordinarily long time to accumulate spiritual energy and awaken her bloodline; this process may last her entire life, ending in mediocrity—or she may suddenly meet misfortune and die.

An Emperor Heir without a race to support her is thus.

“A rare commodity.”

Jiang Ding manipulated the blood egg formed by Blood River King, casting a blood-art technique onto Teng Hua.

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

That was all.

To Blood River King, the Emperor Heir was a once-in-eternity opportunity; to Jiang Ding, it was merely that.

The Dao Heirs of human immortal sects, save when facing pure-blood phoenixes or pure-blood dragons, need not bow to any demon race—they need not place their hopes for the Dao on others.

“Still,”

“it 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 Void Refinement scriptures from her bloodline—something of great importance to the immortal sect.

But no one knows when—or if—she will ever ascend to Emperor.

Even the legitimate Emperor Heirs of the Jiao Demon Emperor Clan have a low chance of reaching Emperor realm.

The immortal sect now faces a perilous situation; there may not be enough time to wait for a skull-blood vine spirit to ascend to Emperor, so this is only of minor use, not great use.

Jiang Ding hopes to use the potential Void Refinement scriptures of this skull-blood vine spirit as a lever to pry open a crack in the immortal sect’s strict immigration laws.

So much power exists across the realms, so many prodigies among all races—yet we refuse to unite, letting them be harvested by the immortal sects as nourishment for their growth.

That is truly a waste.

If the immortal sect wishes to become a true immortal sect, it must be vast and inclusive, gathering the talents of all races, pooling the wisdom of prodigies from countless realms to jointly advance the sect’s Dao.

Relying solely on the potential of the mother planet’s tens of billions of people is sufficient for Void Refinement, thanks to the sect’s powerful Dao education system.

But to ascend further, to explore beyond Void Refinement and even the path to True Immortality, it is far from enough.

Gather the prodigies of all realms, pave the path to True Immortality.

This is Jiang Ding’s political view.

The future Great Sun Soul Transformation Strategy will be built upon this view, spreading throughout the immortal sect, persuading stubborn cultivators with material incentives, legacy temptations, and the truth of the sword—winning their acceptance of his view, which carries great risk but brilliant promise.

“Survive, if you can.”

“If my plan succeeds, I will return to find you, teach you, and give you a qualifying moral character score.”

Jiang Ding whispered.

He carried the blood egg formed by Blood River King and gradually vanished.

Within the immortal sect, many stubborn cultivators remain.

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 immigration system already hinders the sect’s evolution toward a higher Dao civilization.

This is not merely a political issue.

It is an issue of interest.

Once immigration policies are relaxed, many cultivators will lose their existing privileges, their Dao prospects dimmed—thus you understand the strength of the opposition.

They cannot see the immortal sect’s long-term future, but they know their own Dao path very clearly.

Yet within the immortal sect, Jiang Ding is not alone.

According to Jiang Ding’s knowledge, distant figures like Divine Mechanism True Lord and Myriad Mechanisms True Lord—those with the highest talent and ambition, eager to explore the True Immortal path—hold views similar to his; they merely refrain from opposing the tide due to resistance from other True Lords and unstable circumstances.