Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Chapter 1709: Chapter 1677: The Civilization of Puppets

A green-clothed youth silently wanders between the Upper Realm’s Central Domain.

He doesn’t engage with anyone or participate in anything, wandering through the world like a ghost, quietly observing all that transpires.

He travels through one Central Domain after another, experiencing the distinct customs of the Upper Realm.

Unknowingly, hundreds of years pass.

On this day, beside a river named Thousand Mountain Middle Domain, a green-clothed youth quietly gazes at the ever-flowing water, lost in a trance.

“Like the water, so does the past flow away…”

“Time flows thusly, how much time do I have left?”

Jiang Ding mutters to himself, speaking to no one but himself.

He can live for a long time yet; after comprehending the embryonic form of the Immortal Technique Time Destruction Sword, his lifespan has extended once more, now living past a hundred thousand years without difficulty, with absolutely no issue.

However, will the Immortal Sect Disciples and the quasi-immortal Saint Heirs wait in the Void Refinement Realm for him for ten thousand years?

Absolutely impossible.

Perhaps the Heavenly Sword Sword Son would be willing to wait for him.

This person would also desire a swordsman evenly matched in skill, similarly yearning for a vigorous Holy Sword Fight.

The other Magic Cultivators, on the other hand, are completely unlikely.

They will only cultivate methodically, until confirming their own limits, casting a distant and almost imperceptible glance at the legendary stories of the True Immortal, before methodically ascending to Harmonization.

An Immortal Sect Disciple at the Harmonization Stage can easily crush him as he is now.

This is the sorrow of the Sword Dao, for opponents will not always wait.

But still, what can be done?

Currently, he cannot affect the Immortal Sect Level battlefield.

He can only wait, wait, wait for opportunities to appear.

Or maybe no opportunity will arise, all the Immortal Sect Disciples and quasi-immortal Saint Heirs peacefully ascend to Harmonization.

This possibility not only exists but is rather significant.

“If this is truly the case…”

“Heaven hasn’t bestowed favor, then I must face reality.”

Jiang Ding, helpless and vulnerable like a child, almost wants to sob, saying bitterly, “I can only ascend to Harmonization, then continue to wait for the chance.”

“If there’s no opportunity at Harmonization, then aim for the Heavenly Man stage, if there’s no chance there, aim for Above Heavenly Beings!”

“If waiting for a hundred thousand years cannot bring about a Holy Sword Fight with the Immortal Sect Disciples, then wait for two hundred thousand years, fifty thousand years, a million years!”

One day, I must step onto the first threshold of ascending to immortality.”

One day, one day, the goal will be achieved.

As long as I’m not killed in battle, the goal will surely be achieved.

But when the dreams of youth are realized by the adult self, do they still count as dreams?

Can the flawed foundation of youth be compensated by a Near Immortal existence?

If one doesn’t seize the best opportunity to lay the foundation during youth, can all the resources and opportunities in a Great Thousand World allow a Near Immortal existence to further advance and establish the True Immortal foundation?

Countless bittersweet emotions rise within Jiang Ding’s heart, then gradually fade away.

Numerous complex emotions gradually return to peace.

Jiang Ding’s mind continues to focus on the unending stream in front of him, gazing at the waters that never return, penetrating the surface of matter and Spiritual Energy, he sees deeper rules and patterns.

Compared to the lower realm, these rules are more complete, their structure more beautiful, serving as a strong reference for his Sword Dao and the path of the Xianmen Sect.

This is also an important reason why strong figures emerge in the Upper Realm, as the environment is truly advantageous.

In such a Dao enlightenment, Jiang Ding’s sun six path rules gradually strengthen, slowly compensating his foundation, the flaws of having been born in a lower realm are slowly disappearing.

The Flying Sword within his Sword Soul grows increasingly sharp and cold, longingly awaiting an adversary.

Jiang Ding stays several decades more in the Thousand Mountain Middle Domain, then continues traveling to new Domains, viewing the myriad waters and mountains of the Upper Realm, yet not taking a single Spirit Stone, not absorbing a shred of Spiritual Energy, not staining a trace of Cause and Effect.

With a Luck Suppressing Treasure in tow, even the strongest may not be able to calculate his whereabouts.

Jiang Ding walks into the Domain wall, entering a completely new Central Domain, without causing any celestial phenomena.

This is a brand new Domain, where the sky is azure and the waters are blue, vegetation everywhere, mountains and rivers undulating, not much different from the Thousand Mountain Middle Domain.

The only difference…

Jiang Ding raises his head.

In the distance, a straight and billowing column of black smoke rises, its color like ink, rolling, reminiscent of the steam and black iron era of ancient times.

But within that black smoke lies not coal residue and dust, instead, it is the resentment of living beings.

In that vast pillar hundreds of miles in size, there is astonishing resentment, with that of children, adults, elders, humans, demon race, even ghosts.

Such resentment is so immense, so dense, one cannot believe what they encountered in life.

This pillar of resentful black smoke appears every tens of thousands of square kilometers, rising straight up, flying towards some unknown existence in the high heavens, without the slightest influence.

Black Iron 29 Domain.

This is the name of this Central Domain.

Its name is its purpose, producing various Spirit Iron from one to eight-order in abundance, with no name carrying the slightest living emotion such as ‘Long River Sword Domain’ ‘Thousand Mountain Domain’, simply a number, related to the output type and discovery sequence of this Central Domain, with a fixed naming method.

This Central Domain belongs to the Immortal Artifact Sect.

“Could this… be a puppet civilization?”

Jiang Ding thinks silently.

He walks slowly, passing through streams and valleys, arriving at a village, and his steps come to a halt.

For the first time in the Upper Realm.

He doesn’t know how many ten thousand years it’s been, but once again his steps are stopped by mortals outside the Xianmen Sect, standing quietly, pondering something unknown.

This is a mortal village.

The village contains only men and girls under sixteen years old.

In the village’s ancestral hall, grows a Blood and Flesh Tree, a first-order Blood and Flesh Tree, its trunk covered with many cracks oozing fluid, densely distributed all over the trunk.

Looking from the roots upwards, the trunk branches out into numerous branches, on the tips of each branch hangs the head of a woman, some old with deeply set wrinkles, some youthful, barely sixteen, with red lips and white teeth.

On some empty branches, there are withered heads, swaying in the wind.

“My child…”

“Father, I’m thirsty…”

“Husband…”

These female heads on the branches wail, addressing the villagers passing by.

The villagers seldom pay attention to these heads, occasionally a man comes to pick from beneath the tree a fruit, potato-like, taking it home, this is their future child.

Their daily work is lining up neatly, entering mines to excavate Spirit Mines, each man strong as an ox, each comparable to a bulldozer, with strength almost indistinguishable from a Xiantian Martial Artist, having half an hour of resting time each day.

After ten years of such labor, they come again to the Blood and Flesh Tree, falling into a marsh, their bodies turning to liquid.

Whenever that happens, another person arrives, receiving a fruit from the tree, taking it home and raising it, half a month until maturation, then succeeding the deceased miner.

The village population remains at a suitable number, no more, no less.

Such is the cycle.

The only exception is for some tree fruits with outstanding Spiritual Roots, which are meticulously nurtured by the Blood and Flesh Tree, then picked by stronger villagers, raised till sixteen, awaiting the arrival of townsfolk to take these children with excellent Spiritual Roots to unknown places.