Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

In the world that was about to be destroyed, amidst heaps of gray and white lifeless corpses, a weed emerged!

This weed had two leaves and a slim, small body, yet it broke through the soil from the ashes. Its branches and leaves swayed with the wind, the golden-yellow foliage absorbing and exuding light. It survived under the Great Sun’s destroying light, showing not a hint of scorching.

Through countless cycles of indomitable regeneration, it adapted to the environment and developed the ability to survive and reproduce under the Great Sun’s Sword Intent of Destruction!

”Immortal Sword Intent!”

”Sword Realm!”

Jiang Ding, whose essence was akin to the subconsciousness of the Heavenly Dao, deeply felt the greatness of many predecessors from the Immortal Path who had blazed new trails, and he was profoundly in awe of their wisdom.

All things that seemed ordinary were the foundation stones for subsequent realms.

He quietly watched a creature born after the great destruction, observing it as it danced in the wind, absorbing the Great Sun’s light and converting it into nutrients for the growth of its roots and leaves.

Jiang Ding waited with immense patience, serenely.

In such a state akin to the Heavenly Dao, he was neither joyous nor sorrowful. His mind was filled only with the Dao, devoid of any personal stray thoughts. At this moment, time seemed to become a mere measure, unable to affect anything else.

It seemed like only a brief time had passed,

And a month went by.

The golden-yellow weed finally accumulated enough Spiritual Energy to propagate a split offshoot, puffing up its spores. With the trembling gray ashes, another golden-yellow weed emerged between heaven and earth, unrestrainedly absorbing the Great Sun’s destructive light, a perfect harmony.

The second golden-yellow weed repeated the process of growth and propagation.

Time flew by rapidly. Under the state akin to the Heavenly Dao, time was especially fleeting, and before one knew it, ten years had passed.

Jiang Ding looked out.

The land was engulfed in gold, with countless weeds proliferating throughout the world, transforming the earth, altering the surrounding environment, making the entire Immortal Tao Ecosystem more suitable for plant life.

Gradually, on the land, shrubs broke through the soil and grew in the meadow fields.

Under the sun’s rays filled with Destruction, Law-Breaking, Forbidden Law, and Mutant wills, these shrubs persevered for a moment before turning to gray cinders, unable to survive.

But this was not the end.

With the support of the Immortal Will, and bolstered by the will on the brink of the Fifth Realm of Sword Dao, new shrubs emerged from the soil, thriving in the world, attempting to convert the sunlight of destruction into nutrients.

In that instant, upon this world’s meadow, one million two hundred twenty-seven thousand shrubs grew simultaneously, the vast majority of them dying within ten minutes. The shrub that endured the longest was a blue birch, which held on for an hour and thirty-seven minutes before turning to ashes under the destructive sunlight.

The more complex the ecosystem, the more fragile it is.

Unlike the golden-yellow weed which could grow everywhere casually, exhibiting a terrifyingly robust vitality.

However, a complex Immortal Tao Ecosystem remains the ultimate pursuit for Cultivators, as it represents a higher efficiency in converting Chaos from the void into Spiritual Energy, directly affecting a Cultivator’s strength, longevity, and potential.

Time raced by.

In the thirty-seventh year, the first shrub successfully lived in the Sword Realm, named Sun Iron Prickly Pear Tree. The very first golden-yellow weed was named Sun Grass.

After fifteen years, the second shrub that adapted to the environment appeared.

Fifty-nine years later, the third shrub fit for the destructive Great Sun’s environment emerged. From then on, the birth rate of sun shrubs compatible with the environment accelerated, with a new one appearing almost every half a year, the pace continuously increasing...

Time, was rapidly passing by.

Ten years, twenty years, thirty years...

As time proceeded, various plants began to appear on the golden meadow, diverse in forms and colors, and the world once again regained its vividness and vitality.

As these new plants were born, the world’s Immortal Tao Ecosystem’s efficiency in converting Chaos increased as well, the consumption of reserved Spiritual Power also decreased, and the world was advancing towards another level.

The Heavenly Dao-like consciousness within the world, devoid of joy or sorrow, quietly watched over the development of the world, occasionally making minor adjustments, fine-tuning the operations of all things within heaven and earth, harvesting many insights from them.

The foundation of the Immortal Path, the essence of it, all were slowly yet steadfastly growing.

...

Time flowed like water.

Unknowingly, two hundred and ninety-seven years had passed.

Nearly three hundred years.

This spanned the entire life of five to six generations of mortals, nearly the lifetime of two Foundation-building cultivators, and even the Golden Pill Monks and Nascent Soul Monks were getting on in years, entering their twilight.

Horned Ming Realm.

In the starry sky of the Flame Stone Star Domain, the Taoist Soldiers and Great Experts of the Nine Great Immortal Sects remained quietly lurking, with no movement, steadfast for three hundred years as if a single day, without any impatience, executing their established plans.

However, some changes had still occurred.

Over these decades, the Nine Great Immortal Sects continually deployed troops and dispatched Sect Soldiers, the Starry Sky Fleet entering deeper into the Horned Ming Realm.

Starting many years ago, the Xuanwu tiangong, Green Wood Immortal Sect, and the rest of the Eight Immortal Sects have been frantically training Taoist Soldiers, and now, the number had expanded over fivefold!

Now, all these Taoist Soldiers have been deployed to the Horned Ming Realm, leaving almost nothing in their Sects aside from the Sect Protection Formations, with all the powerful cultivators dispatched to foreign lands.

All these signs, even Nascent Soul Monks began to have premonitions, becoming vigilant.

As a result, the prices of various treasures and Talismans within the Nine Spirits Realm doubled, and some life-saving Elixirs even skyrocketed dozens of times, terrifyingly so.

Yet, at this critical juncture when the flames of war seemed about to ignite, a strange incident occurred.

The Starry Sky Fleet of the Eastern Devil School began frequently redeploying their forces to the rear.

The Starry Sky Fleet at the front lines was repeatedly downsized until, in the end, not only was the anticipated reinforcement plan not implemented, but the original Starry Sky Fleet was also reduced by two-thirds, barely maintaining the heavyweight deterrent of an Immortal Sect.

This anomaly naturally caused panic among the Immortal Sect Practitioners.

Many Divinity Transformation Monks personally visited the commanders of the Eastern Devil School Fleet, inquiring the reason.

The answer they received was that the Immortal Sect Fleet was about to conduct military exercises and hence was retreating to the capital in the rear, promising to return to the front lines after the exercises.

This rationale, naturally, could not convince the Immortal Sect Practitioners.

Military exercises?

You’re kidding me!

Why conduct military exercises at this crucial moment of all times?

What are their true intentions?

Many Immortal Sect Divinity Transformation Monks started to feel uneasy, including the high-ranking Divinity Transformation Monks like Sect Masters and Hall Masters of their Sects, whose Divine Souls were on alert.

Many even suspected that the Eastern Devil School was already prepared to betray their own realm, intending to sell out the Eight Immortal Sects to the Horned Demon Imperial Clan in exchange for something.

The Immortal Sect Practitioners repeatedly inquired and eventually posed an extremely stern ultimatum-like diplomatic rebuke to the Eastern Devil School, questioning their true intentions.

All these questions ultimately received a polite response from the Eastern Devil School.

No comment.

Just these four words, nothing more.

The anxiety mounted in the hearts of the Immortal Sect Practitioners from the Eight Great Immortal Sects, and they temporarily halted their prior war preparations, each reporting back to their Sect Elders, requesting the Masters of Refining Nothingness to make a decision.

This time, the Immortal Sect Practitioners from the Eight Great Immortal Sects waited a long time without receiving any response from above.