Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

After confirming he had escaped the tracking range of the Xiantian martial artist, Jiang Ding fully activated the Art of Small Concealment and hid in an uninhabited corner of the street.

Since learning the Art of Small Concealment, Jiang Ding had been using it almost all the time except when crossing roads and eating at home. He had been making progress bit by bit, and presently he had mastered over ninety percent of the technique. The complete mastery was also within his reach.

Once fully mastered, even without scout camouflage, he could deceive the Divine Sense of a Qi Practitioner who was one rank lower, provided that the other party did not possess a Concealment Breaking Magic Tool and their Concealment Breaking Spell had not reached Minor Completion.

Jiang Ding reached into his bosom, took out a flesh-colored mask with a pair of bushy, handlebar mustaches.

A toy from a costume party!

He had found it on Rongshu Net. After communicating with the seller, he learned that besides Divine Sense scanning and specialized equipment detection, it was difficult for ordinary people to notice.

Of course, one shouldn’t even think of doing bad things. The Central Array Spirit Computer was monitoring every public corner; not just a mere toy, but even if cultivators intentionally wanted to do something, they would be immediately caught.

Speaking of which, you could find almost anything on Rongshu Net. As long as you typed the words, it would display what you wanted, price aside; it was quite magical.

The quality was also guaranteed since everything there was produced by the industrial system of the Xianmen Sect.

Jiang Ding stuck the mask onto his face, carefully attaching the bushy mustaches as well, and infused it with Inner Energy.

Suddenly, the obviously silicone, flesh-colored mask started to change, stretching and changing color until it perfectly fit Jiang Ding’s skin. The complexion matched the rest of his skin, and the mustache seemed as if it had grown on his lips, impossible to pull off.

A moment later, a middle-aged swordsman with a somewhat weathered appearance emerged.

He looked to be in his forties, with an ordinary face and considerable Inner Energy. He stood tall and straight as a pine tree, with a simple black-sheathed longsword hanging from his waist, indistinguishable from the old hands of Jianghu who occasionally passed by on the street.

It was just that his clothes, shoes, and the visible edges of his undershirt were a bit too luxurious and eye-catching, smooth as satin.

Jiang Ding’s thoughts turned, and he took control of the microcomputer built into his camouflage suit, inputting a series of codes copied directly from the net.

The blue shirt rapidly changed color, and in the interplay of light and shadow, a slightly whitened hemp black shirt appeared, along with shoes and an undershirt of ordinary styles purchased from a store.

”Cough cough, Xu San, a swordsman from Bianchi Mansion, a recluse by nature...”

Jiang Ding coughed lightly a few times, walked steadily out of the uninhabited street corner, and released the cover of the Art of Small Concealment.

Many passersby subconsciously glanced at him and then moved on, hurriedly attending to their own affairs.

This type of Jianghu person was very common.

After wandering around the city for half a day, Jiang Ding rented a three-in and three-out standalone courtyard in a very secluded spot near the city wall in the southern civilian district, paying a whole year’s rent in advance.

He would stay here for a while to assimilate all the elixirs.

In the center of the courtyard,

sunlight beamed down directly, converging on a golden-red short sword in a pond, as wisps of white vapor rose.

Jiang Ding lay on a lounge chair, cultivating his meridians with warmth and refinement within his body, while a part of his spirit was focused on the Talisman Sword, activating both the First-Order Great Sun Spirit Gathering Array and the First-Order Special Sharp Gold Array within it, drawing Great Sun Essence and a trace of Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi to refine the sword body.

For many days, the continuous refinement by the Great Sun Essence gradually burned away impurities and condensed its essence, making the sword body seem to have shrunk a little.

Whoosh!

After more than ten minutes, feeling a slight sting in his brain, Jiang Ding recalled the Talisman Sword and applied Baiyuan Liquid to it. The sting disappeared, replaced by a cool and tingling sensation.

As the Baiyuan Liquid on the Talisman Sword gradually vanished, a golden thread flew out. It flickered uncertainly, suddenly splitting into a dazzling gold Sword Qi that fell with an extremely dangerous aura.

In comparison, the body of the Talisman Sword seemed to lose some of its luster, appearing very inconspicuous, as if it had been greatly weakened.

”I’ve finally reached the entrance to the ’Great Bright Sword Technique’.”

Jiang Ding saw this and nodded with satisfaction.

Despite the dulled spiritual light of the sword body, it was actually contracting its power, ready to unleash a strike capable of harming a Warrior of Internal Qi Perfection or even a Xiantian Martial Artist at any moment. As for the golden Sword Qi, it was just for show; it would be impressive if it could even defeat a Warrior of Minor Completion of Internal Qi.

Unfortunately, the Sword Art was only at a beginner level, and the Talisman Sword’s body couldn’t achieve even the most basic Optical Invisibility.

Whoosh!

Without actually slashing, the Talisman Sword flew back over the pond, collecting the essence of the Great Sun and a small amount of Spiritual Energy to refine its body.

”In at most a month, the Talisman Sword will be perfect, and the next step is to cultivate the wooden sword...”

Jiang Ding contemplated.

He could feel that by constantly urging the Talisman Sword to refine its body with the Great Sun Essence, his Divine Soul was also slightly reinforced; even inscribing Formation Methods during math class seemed a bit easier.

But it was far too slow, with terribly low efficiency!

Refining it for decades might at best lead to a 50% increase in Divine Soul foundation over his peers, by which time his teeth might even have fallen out.

The only solution was to obtain a Soul Treasure to infuse into the Talisman Sword!

Spirit Nurturing Treasures like Hundred-year or Thousand-year Soul Nurturing Wood were all worth a fortune, and a mere talisman made from the leaves of a ninth-generation cutting-grown Spirit Nurturing Tree, which was only a bit over a hundred years old, dared to sell for close to five hundred Spirit Coins, amounting to several million Mortal Coins.

If converted roughly into the Spirit Stone currency of Outer Realm Cultivators, at least a hundred Spirit Stones would be gone for just a leaf from a hundred-year-old Spirit Nurturing Tree.

If it were the heartwood of a Spirit Nurturing Tree capable of being refined into a treasure, who knows what astronomical price it would fetch, to say nothing of whether Spirit Stones could even purchase it.

As for treasures like the Taiqing Spirit Iron...

Such items would instigate Nascent Soul Cultivators to rob on sight; even Nascent Soul Cultivators of the Xianmen Sect might attempt to figure out how to circumvent the oversight of the Central Array Spirit Computer and ’reasonably’ acquire it, with much subtler tactics but certainly achievable.

”Keep cultivating. Once the Taiqing Spirit Iron is used, it will be corrupted into one’s own signature, rendering it useless if others try to snatch it...”

Jiang Ding stopped pondering these distant matters, swallowed a Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixir, and intensely focused on both nourishing his minute meridians and refining the Talisman Sword in his cultivation.

...

School, training field.

Pop!

A light sound, Jiang Ding’s body jolted as he lay on the ground; the muzzle of the Type 03 anti-materiel sniper rifle spat flames, and the bullet fired could hardly be detected with Divine Sense Scanning even by Cultivators.

Boom!

Five kilometers away, a fixed target suddenly exploded, countless paper fragments fluttering in the air, turning to ash before they could drift far.

The vitality of Qi Practitioners and Foundation-building Cultivators was extremely tenacious; merely puncturing their bodies was useless, they had to be entirely incinerated like this to be killed.

”Not bad!”

Zhang Dingjun complimented, ”You’ve made great progress compared to before. Keep practicing. Aim to conceal the sound and muzzle flash, and study the Vajra Print. But most importantly, increase your Cultivation Base. This way, you’d be scouted directly into the military as a reconnaissance soldier, earning a higher monthly salary and cultivation subsidy.”

Amazement filled his eyes.

He had always heard that students could unleash their potential after their third year of high school, skyrocketing their results; he hadn’t believed it, thinking these were merely words of comfort and encouragement from other subject teachers, yet after so many years of teaching, he had finally encountered it.

”I will, teacher.”