In the great hall.
Some chose without hesitation to cultivate the Supreme Great Sun Sword Scripture. They began seeking guidance from the statue-like being, without a moment's doubt.
Life could hardly get worse. Even if this was another road to death, so be it. At least they would face a different kind of danger.
Some wavered.
Some sighed softly. Thinking of their parents, spouses, and children, they left in sorrow, allowing their memories of this dream to fade and willingly going to their deaths.
Jiang Ding sat in the real great hall of the Anyun Protectorate, paying little attention to the choices of these Qi Refining cultivators.
Before him floated more than ten thousand dreamlike crystal spheres. Each held ten thousand Qi Refining prodigies, all facing similar choices.
They were only Qi Refining prodigies, a new crop born every twenty years. Could there really be so few?
Across the Great World Cluster lived countless beings, born and gone in endless succession. There had never been a shortage of talent, only of opportunity. Given a chance and the right environment, living beings could show astonishing resilience.
"Grand Dream Sword Realm..."
Jiang Ding watched the dream-path world at work.
Over a hundred million Qi Refining prodigies lived, thought, and spoke within it. Many had already begun cultivating, yet the dream-path world remained orderly.
The Grand Dream Sword Realm was built upon Weed, spread throughout the worlds of the Great World Cluster. Spirit grasses born among every hundred million Weed served as its hubs, linking and relaying signals without cease. It drew heavily on the Nine-Leaved Sword Grass Clan's soul-cloud technology, humanity's Six Paths of Reincarnation technology, and the Immortal Sect's Grand Void Illusory Realm technology. The result was a dream-path Sword Realm.
For now, it allowed real-time communication below the Dao