Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery
Chapter 1003 - 972 Traces of Existence Above Void Refinement

Jiang Ding concealed his form, weaving through the sky.

His Divine Sense carefully searched every inch of space, meticulously observing the layers of space, not missing the slightest detail.

"It should be around here, where I left my Sword Intent years ago."

"Although it is not Immortal Sword Intent, it shouldn't have faded away in just a few hundred years, especially since it was stored in a specially designated Jade Sword."

Jiang Ding, with great patience, searched the space near the Beast Spirit Immortal City for several months, continuously calculating.

"Here..."

Suddenly, Jiang Ding's eyes lit up.

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword hummed softly, slicing through a void with the ease of a skilled butcher, leaving behind a fleeting black streak.

This black streak seemed like a space crack but not quite, as it revealed no deep void filled with starry space, suggesting the presence of something else.

Jiang Ding flicked his fingers, and countless streams of Blue-Gold Sword Qi formed before him, constantly changing and merging, eventually forming two slender hands that grasped each end of this spatial crack, gently tugging it apart.

Rip!

The sound of fabric tearing echoed as a vast expanse of space crumbled into nothingness, and the veil of space was lifted, revealing a secret realm space hundreds of kilometers in size inside.

This secret realm space constantly moved about in the Northern Plains, yet at this moment, it was intercepted.

Through the walls of this secret realm, one could vaguely see the Luoxu Sect mountains, the Sutra Pavilion, the Spiritual Medicine Garden, and other locations, which, looking back, seemed like just yesterday, although it had been centuries.

"A Fourth Order, nearing Fifth Order secret realm..."

Jiang Ding's expression trembled slightly, and he fell into deep thought.

"Being less than Sixth Order, the Refining Void Stage, it should be impossible to independently create a secret realm capable of maintaining itself – neither the Luoxu Sect nor the Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch would have such ability."

"And yet, they did create one!"

"Not only this Fourth Order one, the King's Court Blessed Land's secret realm should be a Fifth Order one, capable of nurturing God-Transformation Phase Elixirs and Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasures."

"In this regard, the so-called Nine Heavens Fragments must have played the most critical role—it seems the Luoxu Sect and the Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch merely utilized the existing materials."

"Nine Heavens Fragments..."

Quickly pinpointing the reason, Jiang Ding recalled what he had learned from the soul remnant of the Daoist Chen He at the Qiyu Sect's Nine Heavens Secret Realm and the information gathered while researching the Nine Heavens Secret Realm.

Tens of thousands of years ago, possibly eighty or ninety thousand years before the Six Dao Ancestor established the Six Paths Sect, there existed an enormously prosperous Sect in this Minor Thousand World, known as the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Sect. This Sect had several Nascent Soul Monks, with the mightiest possibly being the peak Divinity Transformation Daoist Chen He.

This Sect should have flourished for at least tens of thousands of years, generation after generation of Divinity Transformation Monks.

However, one day, a fragmented stone stele fell from the sky, containing fragments of Immortal Technique!

The Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Sect saw this as a monumental opportunity and went to great lengths to temporarily seal the stele and closely guard the information as they meticulously studied it.

They believed this was a divine opportunity, one that would bring about an even more glorious era for their Sect.

Yet, unexpectedly, a divine catastrophe befell them.

Several beings above the level of Divinity Transformation arrived in this Minor Thousand World engaging in a battle of life and death.

No one cared about the existence of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Sect; mere shockwaves from the battle were enough to annihilate the Sect completely, from the strongest Divinity Transformation cultivators to the humblest Qi Practitioners.

Daoist Chen He, by fortune, had his residual soul merge with a fragment of the Immortal Technique, accidentally escaping and falling into the region of the Qiyu Sect in Yue Country where it lay dormant for tens of thousands of years.

No, perhaps it cannot be considered a revival—the true Daoist Chen He may have already died, as a residual soul of a Divinity Transformation Cultivator could not survive for so long.

This might be some unknown life form, born from the bizarre combination of a residual soul and an Immortal Technique.

That battle, eighty or ninety thousand years ago, was devastating; the skies darkened, the Minor Thousand World shattered, 99% of surface life perished, and the Boundary Walls completely broke apart.

The Minor Thousand World was then swept into cataclysmic natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, storms, and inverted seas.

This terrifying catastrophe persisted for tens of thousands of years before it gradually recovered, with creatures beginning to proliferate and civilization beginning to revive.

In recent ages, it was the era of the Six Dao Ancestor followed by the Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch.

After the domain boundary shattered, some parts remained intact, scattered across the world—these formed the early foundations of the Luoxu Sect Secret Realm and the Court's Blessed Land Secret Realm.

These early forms of secret realms were originally capable of operating independently, circulating spiritual energy. Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch merely modified them, he did not create them from scratch.

The consequences of that great catastrophe also became apparent—the Minor Thousand World could no longer produce Peak Divine Transformation Cultivators, not even Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch or the Ice Phoenix could break through the earth's limitations, unable to harbor stronger cultivators.

"If that remnant soul of Sinking Crane didn't deceive me…"

Jiang Dingxin's heart trembled, "To be able to destroy the ecology of the Minor Thousand World with just the aftermath of an attack, which couldn't recover for tens of thousands of years, perhaps it has surpassed Refining Void!"

"At least, the Refining Void of the Immortal Sect Domain couldn't easily destroy the ecology of the Minor Thousand World, completely annihilate its crystal wall, and trigger a great catastrophe."

This speculation made his heart skip a beat.

Above Void Refinement!

Such beings were legends within the Immortal Sect Domain, never seen by anyone.

For a moment, Jiang Dingxin's heart pounded nonstop.

If he encountered such a character, merely with one thought, he could not resist; he could only hope that the Broken Sword Tip would allow him to escape.

Cultivators were such—the strong ruled all!

Before he grew strong, it was best not to appear within any powerful being's field of vision or let any information leak.

After all, such a powerful cultivator would cultivate for hundreds or thousands of years, plenty of time for him to grow.

"Don't panic!"

"Surely not, surely not…"

Jiang Dingxin's mind raced, comforting himself, "Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch didn't die, the previous era's Great Sun Swordsman didn't die, the remnant soul of Sinking Crane didn't die; among them, some even possessed fragments of Immortal Techniques."

"They all hadn't died, and the fragments of Immortal Techniques hadn't been reclaimed; it was not my turn yet."

"The unknown powerful beings must have either been seriously injured or perished together, otherwise this result wouldn't have occurred."

"Even if the unknown powerful beings awaken, they likely won't notice me. I don't have any of their Immortal Technique Fragments in my hands, just an innocent bystander, a well-behaved baby dedicated to sword practicing."

"It now seems that Immortal Technique Fragments contain too much unknown; if I don't understand the causes and consequences, it's best not to touch them, at least not until my power can't progress further."

Jiang Dingxin made a resolution.

He did not originate from a minor world with no prospects, forced to fight to the death like Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch, nor was he underdeveloped like Mingguang Zi, with unstable Refining Void foundations, forced to venture into the unknown; he had the support of the sect, was far from desperation, and it wasn't time to risk everything yet.

With his subtle understanding of powerful beings, they absolutely regarded Nascent Soul Monks as mere insects in the dust; as long as he didn't touch the Immortal Techniques, such powerful beings wouldn't give Nascent Soul Monks a second glance, not worth their time.

Jiang Dingxin stepped forward.

Buzz!

Threads of golden rune restrictions appeared within the Luoxu Sect Secret Realm.

These were restrictions set up by Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch, forbidding beings above Golden Pill from entering his sect, preventing them from destroying the sect he originated from.

Even though he personally slaughtered this sect for the sake of his future generations.

Clang!

Jiang Dingxin flicked his finger, slicing out a thread of fine golden thread, far more refined than Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch's methods thousands of years ago, a product of the sect's research into the Golden Causality.

Whoosh!

The restrictions outside of the Luoxu Sect Secret Realm were annihilated by sword qi, no longer able to block anything.

Jiang Dingxin's Divine Sense swept all around, meticulously scanning with Divinity Transformation level Divine Sense and Sword Intent, yet found nothing.

He unleashed tens of thousands of Blue-Gold Sword Qi, transforming them into ropes that ensnared the Luoxu Sect, brutally breaking through the space amid thunderous roars, dragging it toward the Six Paths Sect.