Jiang Ding listened silently as Xi Yuan spoke.
This man was his mortal enemy.
There was no doubt about it. Four thousand years ago, countless of Jiang Ding's ancestors had died beneath this man's sword. To ensure their fellow citizens survived and their descendants could live happy lives, they had marched to their deaths one after another, never once retreating.
If this man were alive, Jiang Ding would spare no effort to kill him.
If he could not do it now, he would lie low, wait, and gather strength until the day he could.
Yet this man was also a fellow cultivator walking the same path as him. They shared fundamental interests that no depth of hatred could erase.
In the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, the two did not seem contradictory.
The Great Sun Sword Heir had always appeared only in the Great Sun Sword Lord's later years, and not without reason. If two Great Sun Sword Lords existed at once, their encounter was bound to end with one defeated and dead, or both perishing together.
Even if neither bore the other any grudge—even if they were close friends—that could not stop the Sacred Sword Duel.
Friendship was friendship. It would not stop me from beating you to death.
"...That is roughly how things stand with the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm and the Upper Realm. These are matters only a Sword Lord would know."
"But the information is somewhat outdated. It comes from over five hundred thousand years ago."
The towering figure, indistinct amid boundless light, smiled. "No matter. Somewhere in this starfield is a Void Refining cultivator from the Upper Realm who practices lightning arts. I'll catch him later and search his soul. That should give us the latest information on the Upper Realm."
"A lightning-arts Void Refining cultivator..."