The secret realm suddenly dissipated.
Jiang Ding appeared alone in the starry sky, momentarily stunned.
In his hand, besides what the Immortal Artifact Heir had left behind, was a pitch-black stump of lightning-struck wood.
The stump looked as though it had been struck by the lightning of ascension. It gave off an otherworldly air, as if it might leave the mortal world at any moment, wash away every worldly tie of cause and effect, and depart for another place.
Golden talismanic runes flickered across the stump. Many of the immortal runes were so intricate that even the Great Sun Sword Lord felt a faint ache in his soul when he looked at them. He could not understand the information contained in a single one.
The characters at the very top probably held the least information.
"...Heavenly Craft...forge...cauldron..."
Jiang Ding recognized only those four characters. He could not read the ones between them.
Before the other characters, he was an illiterate man who had never spent a day in school. He could not understand them, could not even perceive them. He lacked the very qualification to do so.
"What is this?"
"Why did that powerhouse from the Spiritual Treasure Realm give it to me...?"
Jiang Ding took a deep breath.
Instinct told him this was an earth-shaking treasure, perhaps even connected to the destruction of the Spiritual Treasure Realm. Its value was beyond measure. So was its danger.
Too many factors were tangled in his thoughts. His soul grew muddled for a moment as the calculations exceeded what it could bear.
But none of it could hold back the Great Sun Sword Lord's deepest desire!
"Those dawdling pieces of trash!"
"This lord has arrived to grant you an opportunity beyond your wildest dreams..."
Jiang Ding instantly forgot everything else and flew