Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

”Why is he like this!”

Long Xiuyun voiced her dissatisfaction, ”I was just asking him about his master. It’s not like I’m looking down on those from the wilds who make a name for themselves in Jianghu.”

The old shopkeeper had just bade farewell to a valued guest with great difficulty and upon his return, hearing such words made his heart skip a beat.

The leader of the association had deviated from the Sihai Business Association’s once-calm-and-harmless style, recently gravitating towards making connections with heroes from both righteous and nefarious paths, even pushing the young lady onto the Dragon and Phoenix List and openly challenging Princess Qinghechang to a contest.

The young lady had, since her childhood, associated exclusively with major sects and the children of princes and dukes. As such, she interacted with none who were of low status, and under circumstances free of serious conflicts of interest, all parties would show her respect.

Over time, she couldn’t help but acquire some of the arrogance of those royal offspring and true disciples of major sects.

This would be completely normal for others, but for a family that established itself through commerce, this was somewhat forgetting the foundations and honor of their origin.

With myriad thoughts spinning in his head, the old shopkeeper nonetheless didn’t say much.

It wasn’t his place to discipline the leader’s children on behalf of the leader; he would report the situation later on.

”Haha, junior sister Xiuyun, there’s no need to be upset,” Song Qing said with a faint smile. ”Brother Jiang is known as a demon swordsman, naturally he’s a distrustful sort. Inquiring rashly about someone’s background will naturally provoke wariness; be more mindful in the future.”

”Got it!”

...

Turning more than a dozen street corners, a down-and-out middle-aged swordsman appeared out of nowhere, strolling leisurely down the street.

True to Song Qing’s words, Jiang Ding had developed a strong distrust towards Long Xiuyun.

Rashly probing his origins was one thing, the unauthorised introduction to the true disciple of a strange powerful force was another, and the subtleties in her speech hinting at using Centennial Ginseng as bait to have him join her faction was the third.

All these combined gave him the impression that he wasn’t entering a business primarily engaged in selling goods, but rather... yes, a large martial arts school.

”If only everyone were like Dragon Three...”

Jiang Ding sighed.

Dragon Three was truly a qualified merchant; he never asked where Jiang Ding came from, where he was going, or what he needed his purchases for. He’d simply introduce the goods, take the money, and that would be the end of it, devoid of any excessive nonsense.

He was unaware of any strategic shift within the Sihai Business Association, nor did he care. He removed them from his primary list of trading partners.

As for the Centennial Spirit Ginseng, it was certainly advantageous to have it while ensuring his safety; his cultivation wouldn’t be delayed without it, but without it, he would need to spend more time accumulating his foundation.

Inside the courtyard.

Jiang Ding consumed a Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixir and closed his eyes to nourish and temper the fine meridians of his twelve primary channels. The sun-like Talisman Sword floated above the pond, gathering Heavenly Earth’s Spiritual Energy and the essence of the Great Sun, tempering the sword and making it shine more brilliantly.

Apart from these repetitive tasks, he could also spare a part of his attention for homework in subjects like language arts and mathematics, occasionally contemplating sword techniques.

So far,

he had nurtured 8,512 meridians in the twelve primary channels. After consuming the last two Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixirs, he would need only twenty more days of secluded cultivation to complete the first half of the Large Circle of Vital Energy cultivation.

Clang!

After cultivating for over two hours, Jiang Ding suddenly had an epiphany. He drew his sword and danced, tracing luminous orderly arcs through the air, the sword shadows hanging motionless before multiplying and spreading throughout the yard.

”Slash!”

Jiang Ding uttered in a low voice as he moved his sword, severing seven white Sword Qi in succession, flying forward over ten meters before dissipating.

Upon closer inspection, only two of these seven strands of Sword Qi were real, while the other five were transparent and illusory, merely shells.

”It can still be optimized...”

Jiang Ding paused, pondering.

This was clearly an application of the ”Great Bright Sword Technique” on the longsword. Though he hadn’t devoted much time to it, his deep understanding and practice of various martial and Immortal Path knowledge naturally led to comprehension.

Whoosh!

The Talisman Sword suddenly soared, drawing a great amount of sunlight into it, dazzling and trembling several times before splitting into nine strands of Sword Qi, each golden and radiant, exuding a forceful aura.

The sword itself merged into one of the Sword Qi strands, indistinguishable from the others.

Ascension, cleaving, thrusting, rotating...

The nine resplendent Sword Qi moved agilely in the sky, indiscernible from the outside.

”Hundred Step Flying Sword has made even greater progress, after all, the ’Great Bright Sword Technique’ is specifically crafted for Flying Swords.”

Jiang Ding nodded with satisfaction.

With a flick of his finger, nine strands of Sword Qi dispersed, revealing the true form of the Talisman Sword. It flew to his hand and he smeared a layer of Baiyuan Liquid onto it. After it was fully absorbed and vanished, the sword returned to the pond to gather the Essence of the Great Sun and the Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi to refine its body.

If the Talisman Sword was previously relatively fragile and could only deal with Martial Artists of Great Achievement of Inner Qi, even though the body of the sword had not been refined for a long time, there was still not much change.

But now, dealing with the likes of Chen Chen with their Internal Qi Perfection—let’s say the Flying Sword piercing through a vital point—was a trivial matter.

Even for Xiantian, if unable to intercept, the Talisman Sword could still pose a tremendous threat.

Sheathing his sword, Jiang Ding continued to sit cross-legged and cultivate.

Several days passed in a blink.

Over these days, Jiang Ding consumed the last two Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixirs and, with regular arduous cultivation, the meridians he nourished had reached 10,824, suggesting the possibility of completing the refinement of the meridian parts corresponding to the twelve primary pathways of the Large Circle of Vital Energy before the end-of-term examination.

”That Xiantian has come,” Jiang Ding suddenly opened his eyes and murmured.

...

At the Chizhong Governor Mansion, in the main hall.

Officials like the prefect, historian, chief clerk, and commander were all watching with trepidation the woman seated in the highest place.

She appeared to be in her sixties or seventies, with gray hair and a few wrinkles on her face, but her skin was also delicate and ruddy like that of a baby. The juxtaposition of old age and youthfulness in her appearance was extremely terrifying.

”Speak, what happened?”

The ’Ten Flower Sword Fairy’ Wan Qianyu slightly closed her eyes, hiding the grief in her heart.

A short retreat, and her only son was gone.

Had no one ever taken her warnings seriously before?

When they looked at her then, did they see a rabid dog that couldn’t stop barking?

Endless murderous intent grew in her heart, turning the whole main hall into a realm of ice and snow. The faces of the officials, each at least at the Internal Qi Realm, turned pale, and they couldn’t stop trembling.

”Sword Immortal, it must be the doing of the Qingyi Building...”

Seeing that his subordinates were as mute as quails and feeling the icy chill increasing, the prefect Chen Zheng summoned the courage to speak: ”At that time, the thief killed the maid of Princess Qinghechang and disguised himself to carry out the assassination. Young Master You was caught off guard...”

While speaking, he desperately signaled the commander with his eyes.

This mighty being was not in the right state of mind!

Only by mobilizing a large army for protection could they hope to instill some fear in the adversary.

The commander, however, lowered his head even more.

How dare he make any rash moves, having been summoned from his household?

Moreover, knowing how heavily the prefect had exploited funds for himself—and how he had also benefited from it—could he be unaware of what the current state of the mansion’s soldiers was like?

They had the numbers, sure—over ten thousand men—but if it came to a real fight, the death of several dozen could cause them to collapse.

”...This is the case file... I have ordered the collection of Young Master You’s corpse, and have kept a vigil day and night with incense and candles. The mourning hall is set up over... over...”

Prefect Chen Zheng’s eyes bulged as his forehead suddenly bore a blood hole from a Sword Qi piercing; obviously, the other party had already read these materials and had lost patience.

”... I am a distant relative of the Royal Chen Family...”

With resentment, he uttered his last words, his body collapsing limply.

”Run!”

Several people shouted simultaneously, all of them shrewd characters who had no intention of fighting to the death. They turned and fled in all directions, pushing their Inner Qi to the limits.

Numerous Sword Qi strands, bearing the after-image of flower petals, vividly pursued and caught up with everyone, killing them all.

”You’er... Chen Xi, that lowly wretch, toyed with you, and I will send her down to accompany you,” Wan Qianyu’s voice was ethereal and eerie: ”And as for Qingyi Building, and the people behind it, whoever they might be, not one shall be spared...”

The entire Governor Mansion fell into utter silence.