Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Blue-Gold Grest Sun converged.

The light of Law-Breaking successively withdrew.

A Flying Sword, bearing a webbed pattern of pure gold within its azure body, appeared in the sky.

"Escape!"

"It shouldn't, it shouldn't have come to this!"

Seeing Xia Houding's demise, the remaining ten True Disciples showed despair on their faces.

Some scattered their formations, frantically fleeing in all directions.

Others had expressions of dull acceptance, not moving at all.

Some who were closer, regardless of everything, charged toward the Group Army's tank troops, hoping to take some of them down with them.

Under the shadow of life and death, everyone reacted differently.

Clang!

With a cry of the sword, the Blue-Gold Flying Sword vanished from sight.

When it reappeared, it had pierced through the heads of four fleeing True Disciples from the Xuanwu tiangong, unleashing Sword Qi to slaughter the surrounding Foundation-building cultivators.

The remaining True Disciples who had charged to their death advanced a few thousand meters before they were shredded into countless pieces under the dense Armor-Piercing Shell Group, falling from the sky.

Two more True Disciples still did not move.

Whoosh!

The Taiqing Flying Sword descended, filled with Sword Intent of Destruction, freezing the Divine Souls and Mana of the Foundation-building cultivators, preventing them from making any changes.

"Surrender!"

"Dari Swordsman, we are willing to surrender."

The two True Disciples showed struggle in their eyes before it turned to determination, concealing their forms and speaking in unison.

The Taiqing Flying Sword paused, hovering over the forehead of a True Disciple from Xuanwu tiangong.

"Surrender?"

Jiang Ding frowned slightly.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation; he did not have the bad habit of killing captives.

Searching the army manual for a moment, there indeed were regulations regarding this.

To encourage the enemy to surrender and lessen resistance, those who surrendered fell into three categories: those who surrendered before battle would be acknowledged for their contributions and awarded according to the importance of the battle situation, sometimes even being given the opportunity for Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul Opportunity.

Then came those who surrendered during and after battle, with rewards decreasing accordingly. The last, who surrendered after battle, could avoid the death penalty if they made significant contributions and could even have their sentence reduced further.

"Dari Swordsman, we are willing to make contributions."

A True Disciple bowed, having thought everything through, and flattered, "As far as I know, the Eastern Devil School, no, the Xianmen Sect has the ability to block Divine Soul Restrictions, ensuring the Heavenly Palace believes we are all dead. If we change our names and appearances, they will not pursue us."

"Our Divine Souls have core restrictions against leaking our heritage, so we cannot offer the Heavenly Palace's heritage, but any other information about the Heavenly Palace—whatever we have, we will hold nothing back."

"Fine then."

Jiang Ding gave a noncommittal response and waved his hand to release seventy-four strands of Moon-White Sword Qi.

"I hope the two fellow daoists survive and earn your reward," he said.

The two True Disciples and their subordinates were terrified but dared not resist, watching resignedly as the Sword Qi entered their foreheads.

There was no pain.

They only felt a wave of dizziness, their bodies going limp and falling, being collected into a Storage Jade Pendant.

After dealing with the last of the enemies, Jiang Ding arrived at the final resting place of Xia Houding, retrieving an ancient-looking knife-coin-style Storage Treasure and a very damaged Six-legged Golden Cauldron that could only be melted down for material recovery, serving no other purpose.

Divine Sense swept the area, indeed discovering several teleportation Formation Patterns.

The concealment was extremely high; even if a Golden Pill Peak cultivator carefully scanned, they might not find it unless it had already been triggered.

"Too bad, it's what I have left behind," he muttered with a snort.

He could not be certain where the silver Talisman had been teleported to in the end but could have predicted early on to command the Flying Sword to wait here.

If the prediction is wrong, it's not a problem, just continue the chase.

With a wave of his hand, a burst of Sword Qi sliced off a corner of the teleportation Formation.

The ways of space are still too obscure and profound for Foundation-building cultivators and Golden Pill Monks, and it's too dangerous to rashly enter a space teleportation Formation laid out by others. It's better to leave it to the professionals of the Xianmen Sect.

Buzz!

The Taiqing Flying Sword hovered in front of him, its Spiritual Light dimmed considerably, sending waves of emptiness after satisfaction.

"Sword Intent... has improved a lot, only twenty percent away from minor achievement. The progress is frighteningly fast, a true magical sword method."

Jiang Ding floated in the air, surrounded by more than ten top-grade Spirit Stones, closing his eyes to meditate and recover the Mana of his Elixir Field that had been depleted to the bottom.

Boom, boom boom~

At the horizon, there was a rise of dust and the rumbling sound of engines.

"Shh!"

At the sign from Jin Lingfeng, one Qi Practitioner after another cast silencing spells and dust-separating spells to restore quietness to the area once more.

Armored command vehicles loaded with Second-order Infantry Spirit Radars constantly scanned the area within a thirty-kilometer radius, on highest alert.

Seven days later.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes.

The Mana within his Elixir Field was replenished to perfection, and the Sea of Consciousness, which had become extremely dim due to overuse, regained its subdued glow.

The quality of Mana offered by Jing-level Cultivation Methods is high and ample, but if consumed in large amounts, the recovery is also a considerably lengthy process.

Jin Lingfeng and An Siyan had been anxiously watching him; when they saw him wake up, they let out a sigh of relief.

"How is it?"

Jiang Ding's Divine Sense swept around, observing tanks and armored supply vehicles coming and going busy with something, without having a moment's rest.

He handed over the two Xuanwu tiangong True Disciples and a group of Foundation-building prisoners from his Storage Jade Pendant to the two of them.

"True Disciple prisoners!"

Jin Lingfeng was startled, and hurriedly passed these prisoners on to the commander of two tank divisions, instructing them to escort the prisoners immediately to the Northern Sea Star Boundary Formation.

Such high-level prisoners must be dealt with quickly, isolating the Spirit Soul Restrictions, otherwise the value will be lost once the Xuanwu tiangong reacts.

"We are currently restoring the Boundary Formations at various levels in the West Desert."

An Siyan explained, "There is only one core Formation, which provides limited amplification to the extra-terrestrial legions. Only in combination with the various sub-arrays scattered across the West Desert can it serve to anchor a realm."

"Thanks to the large-scale preparation of array materials and the presence of numerous Third-Order Array Masters within the legions, we expect to complete the construction of the core Formation in another seven days; the remaining offensive and defensive arrays can be supplemented later."

"Impressive, everyone has worked hard."

Jiang Ding exclaimed.

"It's nothing, just simple tasks."

An Siyan shook her head.

Jiang Ding's gaze swept over his command system, finding only one connection request at present, from Xue Xi, the commander of the Northern Sea Star Boundary Formation Group Army.

Connect.

"Supreme Commander!"

Xue Xi was a composed and competent female soldier, showing delight upon establishing communication: "Seven days ago, Xiang Jia, the Xuanwu Substitute Daoist, and Maitreya, the God of Incense Fire from the East Sea's Treasure Tripod, suddenly launched a ferocious attack on the Northern Sea Boundary Formation, severely shaking our army Formation. They failed to conquer it and are now retreating slowly."

"Retreated?"

Jiang Ding frowned.

He did not wish for the war in the Huangtong Small World to drag on for decades. If the enemy troops were allowed to retreat into the Xuanwu Four-polar Boundary Array, the subsequent siege might be troublesome.

"Wait a moment."

Jiang Ding stood up and flew toward the direction of the West Desert Star Boundary Formation.

Between the various Boundary Formations, there are cross-realm long-range teleportation Formations available for mutual support of forces; there is no need for the hardship of a long journey.

It is even possible, with the help of the teleportation Formation, to deploy forces directly to other areas without Boundary Formations.