Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Severed the fifth thread of discussion with Zhang Junsheng about the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art and distributed the remaining divine soul's computational power proportionally to the other threads.

"The Great Sun Nascent Soul Art requires one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven years… too long!"

Jiang Ding's cultivation reached the end of a Zhou Tian cycle, his breathing slowly stabilized, and there was a slight increase in the accumulation within his Elixir Field, his face tightened.

"My lifespan is only six hundred years, and even if I can sleep to slow down the passage of my life energy, nearly two thousand years is still too long. Should there be any unforeseen mishaps in scientific research or strategic calculations, two thousand years may still not be enough."

"Changes must be made."

Indeed, this pace was already quite fast.

The Great Sun Sword Pavilion created the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art at least several hundred thousand years ago, before they came to this Domain.

Their ancestors went through countless deaths, untold trials and errors, generation after generation of elite talents pushed forward, falling on this path, paving the road from Golden Pill to Nascent Soul with their corpses.

In the process, countless heart-stirring and spirited events took place.

During this time, it is very possible that neither the name of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion nor the Daymoon Sword Pavilion existed.

Various powers had once kept it, placed it in the Sutra Pavilion; as time passed, after being destroyed it fell into the hands of new Sects, or even just a Loose Cultivator, rudimentary to the extreme, at most considered a novelty.

Countless years and worldly changes passed.

People died out.

Sects perished.

The legacy was passed down and eventually obtained by the ancestors of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, who brought it to prominence, began to dominate, and welcomed a period of glory.

The Nascent Soul Secret Art can remain pristine over the passage of time and become even more profound and perfected.

Humans, however, cannot.

"I must visit the Great Sun Sword Sect at some point."

Jiang Ding murmured, "After obtaining overwhelming strength, I will come to this place, retrieve what is mine. With the Taiqing Flying Sword, I'll have the highest claim and ownership over the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's legacy. Anyone who disagrees, I'll simply kill them outright."

He calmed his emotions slightly.

Jiang Ding looked closely at the Taiqing Flying Sword in his hand, where intricate and complex Great Sun God Forbidden Runes flickered into and out of existence on its surface.

Three years had passed, and refining had continued without a break. The Earth Evil Prohibition increased to sixty paths, and with just twelve more Earth Evil Prohibitions, in six years' time, he could achieve Earth Evil Perfection and begin challenging the Nascent Treasure Tribulation.

"It feels like the time to reach Earth Evil Perfection might come earlier."

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and sensed for a moment: "The Sword Qi Thunder Sound truly lives up to being a Sword Dao realm that numerous Sword Cultivators pursue relentlessly, willing to give up their lives for it. The enhancement it provides to a Sword Cultivator's strength is comprehensive.

Now that Sword Qi Thunder Sound has stabilized today, the speed at which I can refine prohibitions will accelerate again. Perhaps it will only take three or four years."

Hum!

Lightning flashes flickered on the sword's body.

Jiang Ding carefully felt the Taiqing Flying Sword before him.

In that instant, the one-foot-long Flying Sword had shed its metallic form, becoming half energy, half matter. Wrapped in Sword Intent, it reacted with space, fizzing as though it might be whisked away by the wind the next moment and disappear into the clouds.

"Sword Qi Thunder Sound…"

Jiang Ding gazed at a point thirty-two kilometers away.

Hum!

The moment his will arrived, a humming sound resonated between the Flying Sword and the point thirty-two kilometers away. Space was affected and altered, creating a straight passage the size of a baby's arm, with faint blue lightning flickering within it, perfectly sized to allow a Flying Sword to enter.

A high-speed spatial passage influenced by Sword Intent!

Jiang Ding did not launch his flying sword.

Releasing the influence of the sword intent on the surrounding space, the spatial high-speed passage created by the Sword Qi Thunder Sound collapsed into invisibility, as the enormous force constantly present in the outside world repaired any abnormal state of space.

He casually struck out with his sword.

Straight as a line, the spatial fissure was pitch-black and deep.

"Still unable to carve out a 'Path of Space,' it falls short compared to Yu Qianzi's swordsmanship."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

To this day, he had come to understand the shape of the four-dimensional structure that is space. What seemed to be a straight cut was, in reality, not straight at all, taking many detours. Only by grasping the spatial nodes everywhere and twisting the path could he minimize the resistance encountered by the flying sword and maximize its speed.

"No matter, practice makes perfect."

He wasn't bothered, and after carefully observing for a moment, he struck with another sword, tearing through space.

A divine soul five times that of his peers, that was his immense advantage.

In comprehending swordsmanship, this was like reaping tenfold rewards for every part he sowed, far surpassing Yu Qianzi in efficiency.

The very essence of being a Dari Swordsman is to naturally stand at the summit of swordsmanship within the domain.

The reason for the gap with the Taiyin Swordman was merely the difference in sword Dao education the two had received, a gap brought about by circumstances beyond their control.

However, with such deliberate practice with a clear path like now, he was confident that he would rapidly grow and eventually reach the peak of Sword Qi Thunder Sound.

His days went like this.

Attending classes, developing the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art, writing the paper "Immortal Technique·Sixteen Iterations of the Prototype of the Destroying Golden Sword," refining flying swords and warships, practicing swordsmanship, and traveling through the Soulless Desert...

He made progress every day.

Time passed without him much noticing, just doing some routine things, just another cultivation cycle, and before he knew it, another year had gone by.

...

Yellow sand filled the sky, and storms were everywhere, but all had an end at some point.

Concealing his figure, a travel-weary Jiang Ding looked up, his gaze settling on a hint of green in the distance, and a feeling of warmth arose spontaneously.

"Tushan Immortal City... The Tushan Immortal City that I built with my own hands from the wilderness, I see you once again."

Jiang Ding lightly tapped his finger, and a basketball-sized puddle of silvery-white liquid fell to the ground, transforming into a young man in green. The two exchanged glances, then went their separate ways.

It was another Golden Pill-level nanoscale liquid state robot, designated as Jin-94.

This wasn't one of the free-use models but one he had bought from the Xianmen Science Institute with over two billion low-grade spirit stones mixed with some fourth-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures. It was intended to replace him roaming the lands of the Three Kingdoms.

As for the Jin-92, which was protected by a sixth-tier 'Eradicate Karma' talisman, it was still lurking in the Black Snow Prairie.

Initially, Jin-92 had infiltrated the talisman-protected Beast Spirit Immortal City with the intention to launch a surprise attack. However, as cultivators like Yu Zhong switched allegiance, it was not used, so it simply left the Beast Spirit Immortal City and continued to lie low.

It carried a heavy responsibility, continuing to watch over the development of the big picture in the Northern Plains, and... to construct an ultra-long-distance teleportation formation capable of spanning the Soulless Desert. More such formations were planned to be built throughout the Northern Plains in the future.

The cost of each ultra-long-distance teleportation formation was about one billion low-grade spirit stones.

It might seem expensive, but that's the price set by Xianmen.

If it were a Northern Plains family building it, the cost could be ten times more, not to mention the scarcity of the related spatial teleportation technology that was locked away, making it unattainable no matter the amount of money offered.

Every ultra-long-distance teleportation formation in the Northern Plains was jointly funded by the 28 families of the righteous and demonic alliance due to its extremely high strategic value, making it inaccessible to outsiders.

Jiang Ding's plan was to build an ultra-long-distance teleportation formation between the lands of the Three Kingdoms and the Black Snow Prairie, to be activated once every ten years, for transporting annual supplies, and as an escape route when necessary.

He expected it to pay for itself in about twenty years, making it an excellent investment.