Time drifted on.
Before anyone knew it, five thousand years had passed.
"Stand!"
"Good morning, teacher!"
A large group of Spirit Transformation cultivators rose and bowed.
They were seasoned cultivators who had weathered countless schemes between domains. Every gesture ought to have concealed their true depth and shown the marks of all the years they had lived.
Instead, they looked endearingly innocent, standing with their hands at their sides like obedient little children.
It was a baffling sight.
But to cultivators who had lived even longer, there was nothing strange about it.
No matter how many years a cultivator had seen, they often showed a childlike side before their teachers or parents. That side of them was hard to change, even over a lifetime.
"Mm."
"Sit down, everyone."
Jiang Ding waved a hand.
Swish!
The Spirit Transformation cultivators obediently sat down.
Jiang Ding looked closely at the students he had spent so many years with.
The Vermilion Bird Dao Heir looked grown-up now, graceful and poised. There was also the Heaven-Calculating Dao Heir and the others. Every student here was a Dao Child. Their predecessors had laid deep foundations for them, making them extraordinary from birth.
There were 297 Dao Children.
True Dao Children, not Dao Fruit Dao Children.
They were an utterly formidable force. Though still young and only at Spirit Transformation, and though they had only just begun work on the True Immortal Heir Technique, they had already displayed research abilities that made people take notice. Fresh, ingenious ideas emerged every day, leaving even the Great Sun Sword Heir slapping the table in admiration.
Teaching these Dao Children had given Jiang Ding a wealth of experience.
Next time, in the Vermilion Bird Star Domain of the present world, he was fairly confident he could find the seeds hidden