Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding collapsed onto his chair, weak and powerless, with waves of agony sweeping through his brain.

”Are you... overexerting your Divine Soul?”

Li Junhao hesitated, then took another glance at the intricate and delicate Array diagram on the table. Anyone could see it wasn’t a mere imitation, but something truly functional.

Divine Soul overexertion.

This was a common occurrence when Cultivators inscribed Talisman Formation Maps beyond their own capabilities.

That’s still when it’s just a bit beyond one’s abilities. If one tries to inscribe high-level Talismans or Array diagrams that surpass one’s capabilities by far, it is entirely possible for the soul to be drained instantly, leaving behind nothing but a corpse.

”...Yes, I saw it in the library. You have a bright future, don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

Jiang Ding struggled to extend his hand and tuck the Talisman Sword Formation Map into his chest, prevent it from harming Li Junhao.

Unlike himself, stuck between success and mediocrity.

Li Junhao is guaranteed a spot in Qingfeng Beidou. Even if he can’t join the Cultivation Department, it’s highly likely he could step onto the Immortal Path through scientific support research in the Xianmen technology industry.

Ding ding ding ding...

The end-of-class bell rang, and Jiang Ding staggered toward the Cultivation Room.

As the door opened, without any hesitation, Jiang Ding gulped down the Consolidating Essence and Strengthening Bone Soup. A warm current flowed into his stomach, immediately relaxing his spirit a bit.

He took out the Talisman Sword Formation Map.

The Formation Scripts were elaborate and magnificent, full of spatial depth that could cause dizziness to the average person at first glance.

Jiang Ding pondered over it deeply, and after some practical experience, his understanding of the first layer of Shenxiao’s Hundred Step Flying Sword deepened.

It was centered around the Sharp Gold Array, incorporating a bit of Spirit Ling soul runes for communication, and needed future additions of the Floating Formation, Gathering Spirits, and Flight Formation Maps. Combining four Talisman Papers, it would become a Talisman Sword that could be controlled independently.

Floating Formation, Flight Formation, Gathering Spirit Formation—each one was more difficult than the last, and the crux was their weakness. Even if the Talisman Sword was refined, its power would only be comparable to the collision of a flying bird, with a short endurance to boot.

There were, of course, shortcuts.

Blood Refinement.

Not only could it rely on the Spirit Ling soul runes to speed up the understanding of Floating, Flight, and Gathering Spirits Formations, but the power of the Talisman Sword would also be comparable to a strong bow and hard crossbow. More importantly, it would be flexible, allowing one to reign supreme among Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists for the time being.

But it was deadly and could ruin one’s future prospects.

”’Great Sun Sword Cultivation and Refining Secret,’ a technique formerly of the nine great Cultivators of the Outer Realm...”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself, full of longing.

If he could refine a Taoist disciples’ Hundred Step Flying Sword, his Divine Soul would undergo a qualitative change during his mortal days, giving him a significant advantage over other Cultivators—a benefit not to mention the continuous nurturing of the soul by the Flying Sword that follows.

If successful, the great Dao would be within reach.

Lying in a daze in the Cultivation Room for two hours, until the Array Spirit prompted that class was over, Jiang Ding finally came to his senses and slowly walked back to the classroom.

He grabbed his backpack and checked the maintenance of his handgun components.

”Teacher Guo’s notice,” said Hua Bing, the class monitor, without immediately proclaiming the end of the school day. ”Midterm exams start in a week. Everyone should work even harder to achieve better results. The school takes this midterm very seriously. Those who rank high will receive a large amount of resource rewards.”

”Dismissed!”

The classroom quieted down, then buzzed with sounds, mostly signs of worry.

The midterms were approaching, marking the halfway point of the first semester, and the life-determining college entrance exams were not far off.

Jiang Ding and Li Junhao followed the crowd out, surrounded by various chattering voices, with the roar of tanks returning to the school in the distance.

”I’ve decided,” Li Junhao suddenly declared. ”I will no longer practice martial arts. I will devote all my time to studying to strive for a score of 800 in the college entrance exams.”

”...I wish you every success,” Jiang Ding replied, startled by the ambition.

800 points, even at the Body Refining Realm, meant near-perfect scores in every cultural course!

Such a person would be considered a prodigy throughout the entire Xianmen Sect, surely to be specially recruited by the Cultivation Department, not to mention provided with a set of elixirs to improve their martial abilities.

In fact, if they survived, based on past examples, such characters were destined to rise.

When he arrived home and was about to return to his room, Jiang Ding paused in his step.

Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan both stared at him with stern faces.

”Criminal Jiang Ding, confess honestly!”

Jiang Yuan said seriously, ”Otherwise, I’ll spank you with this!”

She waved a thin bamboo strip that she had purposely snapped from the garden downstairs.

”Hmm? Itching for a beating?”

Jiang Ding glanced at Jiang Yuan, frightening her into shrinking back and hiding behind Lin Wanqiu.

”Mom, do we have the day off today?”

He set down his schoolbag and sat down in front of Lin Wanqiu.

”Dingding, why...”

Lin Wanqiu began to speak but then hesitated, her voice filled with worry; she obviously knew about what had happened in the classroom.

”Because of desire.”

Jiang Ding answered calmly, spreading open his palms. The sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy’s hands were full of calluses.

Since elementary school, he had practiced swordsmanship day and night, unimpeded by wind or rain, until today, he had reached the limit of his daily nutritional absorption exercises.

”You...”

All the reproachful words that Lin Wanqiu had prepared suddenly became stuck in her throat.

As a mother, she knew how much her son had given, but with the poor aptitude inherited from her, how desperate must he feel?

”You still need to pay attention to safety!” Lin Wanqiu sighed, ”I know when you were younger, your father...”

Jiang Ding’s father had an affair shortly after Jiang Yuan was born, choosing another woman of greater strength and having another child who was older than Jiang Ding, vaguely clinging to the obsession of becoming a cultivator.

She felt that her son was working so hard to prove something.

”It has nothing to do with him.”

Jiang Ding said indifferently, ”Mom, to live a long life and reign supreme with a sword is the ambition of every boy. Moreover, it can bring blessings to the family and forcibly improve those with slightly lesser talents.”

”Sigh...”

Lin Wanqiu sighed, knowing that with their family’s aptitude, it was very difficult.

”Big bro!”

Jiang Yuan’s eyes sparkled with little stars, seemingly fantasizing about a scene where she could eat, drink, and be merry without doing anything, yet still become a high-level cultivator.

...

Early in the morning, Huang Deyou knocked on the door as usual.

”Come in.”

A faint voice responded.

Huang Deyou carefully opened the door and came to Jiang Ding with respect, ”Master, there’s less than one tael of silver left now. Here’s the ledger.”

He handed over the ledger, which had been checked no less than ten times.

”Hmm.”

This time, however, Jiang Ding didn’t look at the ledger but tossed over fifty taels of silver, ”That brother... Han Lin, how is he doing?”

”Master, Brother Han is doing very well,” Huang Deyou said with a forced smile. ”He can read and do a bit of arithmetic. I’ve arranged him in the accounting room to keep track of the specimens we’ve already collected to avoid purchasing duplicates.”

Knowing that Jiang Ding valued this information, he added:

”Also, ever since we started collecting animal specimens, the numbers have increased greatly. Every day we receive over a hundred intact specimens.”

”You’ve done well.”

Jiang Ding glanced at the library points, which had reached 658. He knew that not every specimen was an unknown new organism; it often took a dozen or more specimens to produce one.

”There’s also something I need, Purple Spiritual Plants. Get about forty or so, find some experienced herbalists to gather them, and I need them today.”

”Yes, Master,”

Huang Deyou respectfully took his leave.