The pain was intense. It sank into Jiang Ding's bones and seeped into his soul.
His body and soul kept breaking down. His flesh turned to pulp, a horrifying sight, as though his most fundamental genes had collapsed, triggering the collapse and self-destruction of every cell.
A backlash from the rules?
"Sword Child..."
Moon Spirit's voice trembled.
She had prepared a great many healing arrays and talismans, but she had no idea whether they would help.
This generation's Great Sun Sword Lord, the strongest in the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's history, had reached the pinnacle. He was the strongest living being in this cluster of worlds, in this age.
If the rules turned against him, no one could possibly save him.
"Hahaha!"
"Moon, how could anything happen to me?"
Jiang Ding laughed. "This is normal. The solar rules that make up my body changed by an almost imperceptible amount. They no longer match my soul and body, so they're in conflict. It'll pass."
"One thousand years. This adjustment will take only one thousand years."
"By then, my strength will have grown enormously."
"The wisdom of the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm's patriarchs is truly awe-inspiring. I'm deeply humbled..."
Jiang Ding sighed in admiration.
Only now, after passing the most dangerous stage of the first step on the path to becoming a celestial—the minute alteration of rules—did he truly understand why the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm's inheritance insisted on taking that path during Void Refining.
After all, the Dao Children of the upper-realm Immortal Orders had foundations of extraordinary depth. Once they reached the peak of Dao Integration, they could withstand several backlashes from the rules without dying. They were not as fragile as ordinary Dao Integration cultivators.
Then why not take the path to becoming a celestial at the peak of