Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Three days later, Dragon Three arrived at the general store again with his men, not waiting for Huang Deyou to send word before he eagerly waited at the back courtyard entrance.

”Shopkeeper...”

Huang Deyou hurried to Jiang Ding’s side, about to say something, but he saw Jiang raise his hand and stand up with his sword, speaking in a clear voice.

”Shopkeeper Long, please.”

”I wouldn’t dare to trouble Young Master Jiang to personally receive me.”

As Dragon Three entered, his respect and courtesy were greater than ever before, ”I am here this time for two reasons: first, to deliver a batch of Blue Luminous Butterflies we have collected; second, I have sent a Red Tail Falcon to the main association in Yuejing with the details. A reply is expected within two days, and at least a manager of Internal Qi Perfection level will come to oversee the situation, ensuring that your grand affairs will not be delayed.”

He was confident in this, certain the main association wouldn’t delay even a moment.

”This is good... I have not yet congratulated Shopkeeper Long on your breakthrough to the Great Achievement of Inner Qi, with Xiantian within reach,” Jiang Ding said with a smile, courteously.

”I dare not hold such extravagant hopes.”

Dragon Three bowed and, upon receiving Jiang Ding’s consent, waved his hand. Several workers behind him carried in a closely-woven bamboo cage as tall and wide as a person, where clusters of Blue Luminous Butterflies fluttered inside, their glimmers clearly visible even in daylight.

”There are three thousand four hundred and twelve pairs of Blue Luminous Butterflies. According to the trading company rules of deducting one-tenth for large living creatures, that would be three thousand one hundred and five pairs. Young Master, you only need to provide a receipt.”

Jiang Ding’s brow furrowed slightly.

By average, one thousand pairs a day; it would take nearly two years to gather the fifty-five million required.

The cooked vegetables would be cold by then.

”Rest assured, Young Master!”

Seeing Jiang Ding’s quite obvious displeasure, Dragon Three was startled, ”This is only the yield from the potion gatherers directly under the Sihai Business Association. A large number of mountain folk, medicine gatherers, and collectors from other forces are still being organized. Moreover, upon receiving the news, the main association will certainly bring a group of capable people from Yuejing.”

”In addition, the labor from the Sihai Business Association’s branches and friendly organizations around Dongling City will come over. With generous amounts of silver coins thrown in, there’s no reason they wouldn’t agree.”

”Moreover, previously, the medicine gatherers were all from small doors and households, with mixed experience, and insufficient butterfly catching equipment. After being supplied and trained by the business association, their efficiency will certainly improve.”

”As long as the quantity of Blue Luminous Butterflies on Donglingshan Mountain is enough, we will surely be able to catch the number required by the Young Master!”

Dragon Three stated with certainty.

”Of course, I believe in Manager Long.”

Jiang Ding smiled slightly, ”Let’s do it this way, for every fifteen thousand pairs of Blue Luminous Butterflies accumulated, we can settle with one Small Void Break Pill; when we reach fifty-five thousand pairs, we can settle with one Xu-Breaking Pill.”

”This...”

Dragon Three felt his mouth go dry. Including the advance payment and the one he had already consumed, this was indeed upping the ante.

What astonishing use could the Blue Luminous Butterflies have for him to spend such a fortune?

”It shall be as you say.”

Dragon Three had no arguments against this, as dealing goods for money was extremely fair for both parties.

He took his leave.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to rest, circulating his inner energy through his meridians.

Two days had passed, and he had already completed the nurturing and refining of the seventh and eighth main meridians, the Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming and the Gallbladder Meridian of Foot Shaoyang. He was currently working on opening the ninth main meridian, the Bladder Meridian of Foot Taiyang.

In at most four days, he would finish the nurturing and refining of the main meridians of the twelve regular meridians, achieving the ’Micro Circle of Vital Energy.’

Then, with the preliminary circulation of the twelve regular meridians, the birth and nurturing speed of the inner qi would experience a minor qualitative change.

...

Under the stimulus of huge profits, the entire Dongling City and the surrounding prefectural cities were all stirred up.

In just a few days, the Sihai Business Association separately met with the leaders of various powers, aside from their competitor the Jinlong Business Association, and splurged a large amount of silver coins to form a massive team.

A great number of medicinal herb gatherers, martial artist guards, idle peasants, hunters, and more—tens of thousands of people—carried supplies and formed lines like ants as they entered Donglingshan Mountain.

They weren’t limited to butterfly catching; they covered everything from gathering medicine, hunting animals, to cutting down valuable timber. The profits were divided according to strength, and if there were no gains, the Sihai Business Association would provide compensation.

Alongside, the quantity of specimens purchased by the sundry shops sharply increased.

Many medicinal herb gatherers and peasants were more than willing to collect plant specimens, now priced at ten copper coins per portion, or catch an insect or small bird in their spare time, as it took little effort.

…

Outside the courtyard.

Jiang Ding silently watched as Sihai Business Association’s workers brought back another cart full of Blue Luminous Butterflies, housed in tightly woven bamboo cages.

Three days had passed since the Sihai Business Association organized a large number of workers to enter the mountain. The catch of Blue Luminous Butterflies increased day by day. During the day, every two or three hours, a cart wrapped in damp thick fabric carrying bamboo cages would arrive.

More than ten thousand pairs of Blue Luminous Butterflies were caught each day, and according to Dragon Three, the numbers would rise until they reached a limit.

Now, Jiang Ding dared not continue to directly move the bamboo cages and specimen boxes into his house. Instead, he had purchased a bunch of collapsible specimen boxes and a pile of silk nets.

Every day, he had to spend over half an hour transferring the specimens into the foldable boxes, collecting the wooden boxes used for transport for reuse.

He advertised that this practice was due to his unique cultivation method, which required the essence of all things to achieve enlightenment through analogies.

[Library Points: 4327]

After glancing at the offline Library APP, a hint of joy emerged in Jiang Ding’s heart.

If everything went smoothly, he would be able to save up ten thousand points in two months at most. Then, he could have the Central Array Spirit Computer deduce a custom-made cultivation method based on his current techniques, suitable for cultivating up to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

As for which cultivation method, he was originally inclined towards the ”Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique”, but now he had already comprehended it to 92% completion, which was not far from great achievement. It seemed like a waste to improve it further.

And for the foundational techniques, Jiang Ding faintly felt that it was better to comprehend them on his own, even if it meant taking many detours.

After much consideration, he decided to use these ten thousand library points to deduce the ”Great Sun Sword Cultivation Method”.

This was a profound mana technique derived from the highest-level Jing-level ”Great Sun Sword Sutra”. Even among the Nine Great Immortal Sects, it was a technique that only the sect’s Daoist sons and Saint Heirs were qualified to cultivate. It could forge a supreme foundation and was greatly beneficial for future cultivation.

If the so-called treasured ’Heavenly Sound Stone’ taken from Qixuan School turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary stone that sang under the moonlight, instead of the legendary Taiqing Spirit Iron, then he had a backup plan.

That plan was the Blue-Gold Potion 2431!

After days of collecting data, reading literature, and with the research on new species by the Xianmen Library research department, its value had continuously risen.

The Blue-Gold Potion was among the top-tier elixirs for enhancing aptitude. Using it to break through to Eaglet Innate could endow a martial artist with a special Dao Body Embryo, potentially with aptitude on par with Three Spiritual Roots!

This was very attractive to many Golden Pill and Nascent Soul descendants who lacked Spiritual Roots or had poor quality ones.

Moreover, many scions of great clans, even with excellent Spiritual Roots, did not start by cultivating immortality and Qi. Instead, they cultivated the ”Eagle Taking Off Technique” with their mortal bodies until they approached the Xiantian stage, using such treasures to coax and condense a unique Dao Body Embryo!

Although it was extremely difficult, and Eaglet Innate was also hard to achieve for scions of great clans without exceptional talent and aptitude,

if they succeeded,

having excellent Spiritual Roots combined with a special Dao Body Embryo, they would be far stronger from the starting line than others.

Jiang Ding had checked, and using the Blue-Gold Potion 2431 as a trade, he should be able to exchange for ’Thousand-year Soul Nurturing Wood’ and ’No. 21 Synthetic Geng Metal’, two kinds of genius earth treasures, in the ’Rongshu Net’, the online shopping platform for Xianmen cultivators.

These were substitutes for Magic Arts-Breaking Immortal Gold and Taiqing Spirit Iron.

Far from simple, in the past days of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, only direct descendants of the inner sect’s Golden Pill Elders had the qualifications to cultivate it, capable of forging an excellent foundation.