Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding, while cultivating, divided his attention to watch over the Sword Dojo and was taken aback at the sight.

Perhaps, thousands of years ago, Immortal Jianyuan, Divine Mechanism Heavenly Monarch, and Canghai Heavenly Monarch faced their students in the same way, earnestly instructing them.

As time went by,

one after another, the students died; one after another, the students grew, eventually becoming pillars of the Xianmen Sect like Immortal Dinghai, Immortal Luling, and Immortal Shuling.

"Time seems quite interesting,"

Jiang Ding thought of something and smiled wryly, "In a thousand years, will there be people like Immortal Sword Dragon and Immortal Jianyuan who appear before me and become the deans of Xianmen University, nurturing a generation of outstanding talents?"

"Thinking about it this way, it is pretty interesting," he mused.

He withdrew his attention from the Sword Dojo.

He allocated a portion of his consciousness to silently work on the research and development of the third-order electromagnetic Sword Escaping, occasionally exchanging new insights about the development of the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art with Zhang Junsheng over distances of hundreds or thousands of kilometers, sharing their thoughts with each other.

Over these days, with substantial accumulation of library credits invested, many Divinity Transformation Heavenly Monarchs from far afield had also joined the development work on the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art, taking responsibility for various parts and significantly accelerating the progress.

This was quite difficult to achieve.

Just as Jiang Ding himself was busy with cultivation, refining Flying Swords, and managing the Sword Dojo every day, every Nascent Soul Cultivator had their own matters to attend to, their own paths to follow.

It wasn't that they didn't care about the younger generation of Xianmen,

but that they were too busy with their own affairs.

First comes the self, then comes the family, and then the country.

Anyone who demands others to sacrifice for them is extremely selfish and utterly unreasonable.

Now, with the considerable investment of library credits, everything happened naturally, every person gained benefits, and the positive cycle continued, steadily pushing the development of the Great Sun Nascent Soul Art forward.

Whoosh!

Jiang Ding looked up at the sky.

An Azure Flying Sword tore through the void, speeding through the air. It was the Taiqing Flying Sword, which had just made a trip home and delivered Longevity Pills that could extend the life of three Foundation-building cultivators by fifty years, allowing them to live up to the maximum lifespan of three hundred years for Foundation-builders.

In recent years, Jiang Ding had grown somewhat lazy.

It was the Elaborate Method Spiritual Puppet split from the Sword Dojo that visited his home once a week. If he was in the Immortal City, he would give his full attention; if not, he wouldn't visit.

Some information came from inside the Taiqing Flying Sword, the images of his mother and sister, as well as some conversations.

"What?"

Jiang Ding's expression froze, and he temporarily paused his cultivation.

"My sister's child, that kid called Little Bear, is dead."

Just a few minutes ago, a blood relative had passed away.

Jiang Ding felt a complex mix of emotions.

"Little Bear did not suffer any harm or unexpected accidents. He merely passed away of natural causes at home, surrounded by a full house of children and grandchildren, dozens of great-grandchildren crying loudly, their wails echoing through the neighborhood."

"He was, one hundred and five years old."

Even under the care of his mother, Jiang Yuan, a Foundation-building Cultivator, Little Bear could not live to the ordinary human lifespan limit of one hundred twenty years.

Jiang Ding knew why.

Little Bear had always valued living for the moment.

From his youth, he could not endure the hardships of martial training, believing that youth would last forever, that old age was a distant concern, not worthy of too much present thought or worries.

In his fifties, when he felt the passage of time, he thus strived ardently for a while, rigorously practicing the Eagle Taking Flight Technique.

However, with a body declining from its peak and aging, it became difficult to make fundamental progress in life, and without the talent of an exceptional elite, it was impossible to defy the heavens.

Hence, his ardent efforts were futile.

He could only watch helplessly as he aged bit by bit, irreversibly deteriorating.

Gradually, he grew hopeless.

As a result, he gave up on martial training and indulged further in alcohol and pleasure, living a life of revelry, often not returning for nights on end, spending his days in bars and similar places, until he started to sober up in his nineties, turning into a kind and benevolent old man.

Until a few minutes ago when the flame of his life extinguished.

His life could not be described as having achieved nothing.

With descendants filling his hall, during his dying moments, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were all dutiful and attentive, serving at the front of the hall without slacking a day, just as Lin Wanqiu and his uncle Lin Yong had once been towards their grandparents. This was the family tradition they had been taught.

His career, by worldly standards, was ordinary.

But for him, his life had moments of thrilling accomplishment, yearning for a beautiful love, enjoying the affection of children and grandchildren gathered around his knees, and perhaps he also experienced jealousy, hatred, and more.

It was a relatively fulfilling life.

"Good, good, all is good, all very good."

"To live one's life according to one's choices, that is enough."

Jiang Ding's Lake of Heart returned to calm as he closed his eyes and continued his cultivation.

"Just, in the end, it's no longer here."

"Such a life, though vibrant, is ultimately gone."

"I don't want that, I want to exist forever, to always keep my laughter, my fond memories."

"Until... eternal life."

...

On a remote prairie.

In the sky, a young man with ordinary features appeared, wearing a silvery white longsword at his waist.

If any cultivator had seen him, they would have trembled in recognition of the Sword Cultivator from Tushan with the title of Blood Demon Sword, who overpowered Blood Cloud a year ago and became the number one Golden Pill Demon Cultivator in the Northern Plains.

The wanted posters distributed by the Northern Plains families said he had killed hundreds of Hei Clan Golden Pill Cultivators and even took advantage of the duel between the Six Dao Saint and Scorching Sun Swordsman, when both were injured, to sneak attack and gravely wound the Six Dao Saint, a most despicable and shameless act.

Should any cultivator manage to take his head, the Righteous and Demon Alliance has promised an extraordinary reward of Nascent Soul Art and Nascent Soul opportunities.

With such a heavy reward, everyone in the Northern Plains knew, and no one was unaware.

Similarly, there were also rumors contrary to the claims put out by the Northern Plains families, spreading swiftly among the Golden Pill loose cultivators of the Northern Plains, inspiring desire, admiration, and anticipation in many Golden Pill cultivators.

"Swift!"

Jiang Ding formed a mana technique with his hands, muttering incantations.

The ground undulated like flowing water, bulging and parting the grass to reveal a dark patch of earth, around which the Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi was agitated.

A moment later,

A patch of earth bulged and flew out, transforming into a jade box.

Inside was the sealed Nine Elements Spiritual Ginseng.

"Little Ginseng, long time no see."

Jiang Ding stored it in his Storage Jade Pendant.

Without a base of operations for now, there was no job for it, so it would have to keep resting.

The time off could be considered leave, which he'd compensate for later.

"The current situation in the Northern Plains..."

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and sensed the surroundings.

He had his own channel of information.

That is, the maiden group from Tushan who were scattered and hidden in the Black Snow Prairie.

Using the Taiqing Flying Swords of the Heaven Light Dao Troops as the core, super long-distance communication could be achieved, though the information that could be passed was limited to simple text messages.

"In just a few years, there haven't been any major changes in the Northern Plains."

Jiang Ding opened his eyes.

"Some changes in the Beast Spirit Immortal City, the direct lineage has declined, and people like Hei Louxi and other members of the Hei Clan collateral lineage have taken control of the Beast Spirit Immortal City. The Divine Crow Immortal did not pursue their crimes for killing the direct lineage and did not execute them all."

"The outside world said that this was the Patriarch Nascent Soul tacitly acknowledging the Hei Clan collateral lineage as the main branch, sharing the direct lineage's powers."

Jiang Ding quickly digested the latest changes in the situation.

"Also, three maids are about to advance to Golden Pill."

"They are all from the maiden group with Sky Spiritual Roots. The first being the First Maid of Spring, Chun Jian, followed by the First Maids of Autumn and Summer, Shanggong and Shangyun."