Chapter 652: The Master of Refining Nothingness from the Eight Great Immortal Sects Enters His Twilight Years
Practicing cultivation while reading.
Jiang Ding divided his attention and spent two weeks thoroughly poring over the article "Golden Causality and the Supreme True Void Gold Scripture" sent by Divine Mechanism Heavenly Monarch and others. He gained much more insight into the current exploration of the Immortal Technique research by the Xianmen Sect.
He made notes of many things he didn't understand, planning to ask them when he met Divine Mechanism Heavenly Monarch in the distance.
Of course, the Heavenly Monarchs are very busy; one can't rely on them for everything.
At this time, Jiang Ding would connect to the network with his Divine Sense, attending academic conferences hosted by Zhang Junsheng, Immortal Dinghai, Immortal Luling, Immortal Gulin, and others, for mutual discussions, learning, and jointly scrutinizing the latest articles on Immortal Techniques.
Often, most of the incomprehensible parts would gradually be resolved after such discussions.
For the rest, with no other option, they could only seek out the Heavenly Monarchs for Q&A sessions.
Spirit Transformation Heavenly Monarch is very easy to talk to.
No matter if you are familiar with them or not, whether you have built up relationships with them in the past, as long as you can find any Heavenly Monarch during their free time and approach them with your questions, most of them will provide you with answers. You shouldn't carry the burden of seniority or fear of elders as a high-level cultivator.
Moreover, explaining problems to lower-level cultivators triggers the Xianmen Sect's First Law, Seventh Sub-rule on Q&A, which rewards points that can be used in the future to ask questions to the Central Array Spirit Computer.
"...The Great Sun Nascent Soul Art is too difficult."
"Based on the current progress, it still needs 1,887 years to complete. And this is already with many Divinity Transformation Heavenly Monarchs joining our research, cutting the time nearly in half, otherwise, it would take close to 4,000 years to have a chance at success."
In another network meeting, Zhang Junsheng sighed.
Jiang Ding's Divine Sense was now divided into six threads.
The first thread was for absorbing Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi to cultivate and increase the foundation of mana, occupying 30% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
The second thread was for reading the latest scientific research literature of Xianmen Sect, which was not just about Golden Causality; he also read about various other aspects like cultivation methods, metallurgy, electromagnetism, swordsmanship, etc. He went for thorough understanding to memorize and be able to recall for future use, claiming 20% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
The third thread occasionally communicated with the Sword Dojo clone to return home or to stay updated on the Sword Dojo's recent situation, comprehending the magic of "Magnetic Space Flash" and the "Magnetic Concealment Skills", among various other miscellaneous tasks—usually taking up 1% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
On special occasions, like during visits home, other computational powers would be compressed to raise this thread to 60%, but this wasn't the norm.
The fourth thread participated in online academic meetings with Immortal Dinghai and others, which took up 10% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
The fifth thread took part in meetings for the development of the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art held by Zhang Junsheng, using 20% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
The sixth thread was devoted to the development of the Sword Technique Sword Nine, repairing its flaws with 10% of the Divine Soul's computational power.
Occasionally, large projects like the modification of sword techniques were broken down into parts and outsourced to the Sword Dao Scientific Research Institute of the Sword Dojo.
After years of study, they were beginning to be somewhat useful.
The remaining 10% of computational power was kept in reserve to guard against external risks and for temporary adjustments.
Overall, for high-level cultivators, being able to multitask is the norm. Cultivation does not mean to only cultivate and do nothing else; it would be too wasteful just to ingest Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi without being aware of the changes in the heavens and stars above.
At this moment, the fifth-thread Zhang Junsheng—who was also present in the fourth thread at the academic meeting with Immortal Dinghai, Immortal Luling, and others—spoke up.
This statement from Zhang Junsheng in the fifth thread caught Jiang Ding's attention, who instinctively compressed other activities and redirected more Divine Soul computational power to this thread.
He was, after all, stirred by the keyword "Great Sun Nascent Soul Art."
"...I estimate that even by the end of my lifespan, this project won't be completed."
Zhang Junsheng sighed, "When the time comes, we can only rely on the next generation of Immortals of Nascent Soul to help you develop it. I wonder if Wu Mengsha, Zhou Dingxiong, and the others will be able to ascend to Nascent Soul and take over my position."
"If they can't, then you'll have to take over the professor position at the Great Sun Relic Laboratory, awakening from your slumber now and then, to cultivate the next generation of Nascent Soul Immortals."
A project stretching over a thousand and nearing two thousand years in length had begun to dishearten even him, an Immortal of Nascent Soul, and that was after greatly reducing the difficulty.
"Instructor, why would you think that way?"
Jiang Ding comforted, "You are Zhang Junsheng, the future Divinity Transformation Great Expert, how could you possibly die so soon? Don't say such unlucky things."
"Divinity Transformation?"
"That seems rather distant."
Zhang Junsheng pondered for a moment, "I'm now in the late Nascent Soul stage, just over a thousand years old. In another hundred and fifty odd years, I should be able to advance to the Nascent Soul Peak, and then I'll have a chance to fight for it. Thanks to this project, I should have enough opportunities for Divinity Transformation by then... It's just that I have to slumber and queue up, and I'm quite far back in the line."
"I feel like I'm becoming an extreme hawk of Xianmen Sect, you know? You say it doesn't matter if we can't beat them, we should strike first and talk later. Maybe the Eight Great Immortal Sects will back down? Or what if it is all appearance and no substance?"
Anyway, with life nearing its end, I want to take a gamble.
"Don't, that kind of wishful thinking is not good."
Jiang Ding waved his hands repeatedly, "The Eight Great Immortal Sects are not like the dynasties of mortals. Their power doesn't decrease with organizational decline. As long as those eight Great Experts are still alive, no matter how chaotic it gets below, it won't be a case of all appearance and no substance."
"However... their Taoist disciples have been born."
Jiang Ding suddenly became startled.
This Domain is quite barren for a Master of Refining Nothingness. Within the same era, each Immortal Sect can only support one Master of Refining Nothingness.
It's not a matter of insufficient talent or a lack of brilliance, nor is it a lack of Cultivation Methods.
There's just only so much resource.
Therefore, the emergence of Taoist disciples signifies that the Master of Refining Nothingness is entering the twilight years of their life.
"...The Taoist disciples of the Immortal Sects have been born?!"
Zhang Junsheng also seemed to have just remembered this issue and was stunned.
For some reason,
Jiang Ding felt a panic in his heart.
Cultivators nearing the end of their lifespan are very crazy!
They fear nothing. What will the eight Great Experts do in their final moments?
The two exchanged glances, each seeing the chill and horror in the other's eyes.
For a long time.
"It won't be that bad; the Heavenly Monarchs would be prepared."
"The conflicts among the eight Great Experts are deep-rooted; it's impossible for them to unite and do something."
Zhang Junsheng slowly steadied his mind, calming down, "Moreover, Masters of Refining Nothingness have lifespans of thirty thousand years. Their twilight years last at least five to six thousand years, or even ten thousand years. We two little devils whose lifespans don't even add up to two thousand years shouldn't worry about such ethereal matters."
"Maybe, if we're unlucky, our bones would have turned to ash and decomposed, and Xianmen Sect would still be thriving; the time hasn't come yet."