Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

In the furnace, the scorching flames burnt fiercely, with molten iron occasionally melting and falling to the bottom, mixing with the ash.

”This really is a backward technique, not even comparable to the feudal era.”

”But it can forge a sword comparable to alloy steel, and that’s the application of Inner Energy.”

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

Several hours later, the flames died out. Jiang Ding pried open the clay furnace and with his Inner Energy protecting his hands, he took out a plate-sized lump of glowing rough iron onto a felt mat.

He didn’t need a hammer; gathering his Inner Energy, countless fine Sword Qi formed, and he struck with his palm.

Ding!

Sparks flew everywhere as the plate-sized iron lump was forcefully indented with an imprint several inches deep from his palm.

The Zhenzi Martial Arts infused within it, many fragile parts mixed with a lot of ash and unburnt charcoal turned to powder under the stirring of the tremendous force, rustling as they fell.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Jiang Ding’s palms became like two hammers, continuously pounding, folding, and refolding the plate-sized lump of rough iron that resembled a dough ball. Any newly imprinted palm patterns were instantly covered over by new ones.

With the continuous pounding, impurities were expelled by the Zhenzi Art, causing the plate-sized lump of rough iron to consistently shrink.

Ding!

A palm struck down, sinking into the rough iron less than half an inch deep.

Jiang Ding glanced at the color of the rough iron, then lifted it and tossed it back into the furnace to continue the smelting, while he took a slight breather, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing to restore his Inner Energy.

”Vibrational martial arts techniques are quite interesting, and they seem to provide some reference for thoroughly mastering the ’Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique’ to perfection.”

Jiang Ding then recalled the progress he had seen the previous day in the Cultivation Room.

”Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique” (47% Mastery)!

Ever since obtaining the rusty sword tip, his aptitude had greatly increased, and even the ”Eagle Taking Off Technique,” renowned as the premier foundational Cultivation Method across the realms, had not hit any bottleneck, steadily progressing every day.

He speculated that when he achieved perfection in his Cultivation Method, he wouldn’t need the Blue-Gold Potion to meet the standards for applying for the Banyan Tree Special Scholarship.

After more than ten minutes of intense fire smelting, the half-plate-sized rough iron once again glowed red-hot.

Jiang Ding dug it out of the furnace and proceeded to smash it with repeated double palm strikes, shattering and expelling any fragile and less resilient parts of the rough iron, controlling the infusion of carbon to meet the standards of high-quality steel, ensuring both hardness and toughness.

Return to the furnace, forge.

He repeated this process more than a dozen times, consuming over two hours. The rough iron he held, previously the size of a grinding plate, was hammered down to the size of half an arm before he finally stopped and tossed it back into the furnace.

After resting for half an hour, he took out the glowing steel ingot and set it on the iron felt mat. With his left hand holding it and his right hand concentrating layers of fine Sword Qi, he struck down fiercely!

Ding ding ding!

His right fist rained down on the glowing ingot like a tempest, leaving deep pits with each strike. The steel ingot was elongated into a bar shape, then reentered the furnace to be heated again, bit by bit shaping the hilt, the blade.

After a long time,

A steel sword took shape, measuring one and a half meters in length, aglow with the red color from the high temperature.

Plunged into the water trough, amidst the sizzling sound and the rising steam, the sword turned bright silver. Jiang Ding held it in front of him and carefully examined his first forged sword, flicking it with his middle finger to emit a clear, melodious sound.

”A satisfactory steel sword, ready for battle even without sharpening. It should sell for seven or eight silver,”

Jiang Ding exclaimed in admiration.

”What a pity, it’s still not worth my labor cost. It would be more like it for a Half Magic Tool.”

The main thing was to familiarize himself with the process of sword forging; he wasn’t too concerned about it. He split an iron ore the size of a human head with one swing and started smelting ore again.

Within Sword Casting Manor, the sound of hammering was ceaseless, from noon until night.

No one came to complain, and many old neighbors even took the opportunity to nap, sleeping extra sweetly, as the familiar sounds returned.

Whooosh~

After finishing a day’s work, Jiang Ding came to the storefront with a stack of seventeen or eighteen steel swords in his arms. With a casual toss, a dozen steel swords shot out, deeply embedding themselves into the sword rack where they belonged.

”I’m basically familiar with the process now. The next step is to smelt spirit metals, the treasured materials. I’ll use molten spirit metal as a thread to inscribe formation methods on steel swords—mostly degraded first-order Sharp Gold Arrays, degraded First-Order Gale Formations, and the like.”

”The only problem is, I don’t have any treasured materials.”

Jiang Ding thought about it and glanced again at the surveillance from the Jindao School. The man in black robes was still there, not having moved at all for so long. The Taiqing Spirit Iron was nearby, in the Ancestor Temple.

”Alright, quite heartless.”

”You, a cultivator at the Peak of Qi Practicing—do you really plan to emulate those high-level cultivators, entering seclusion for years on end?”

He found it troublesome.

If this person were to enter seclusion for several years, it would be unacceptable to him.

”Jindao School has always been working for him, gathering treasured materials for him, perhaps even including the essence of flesh and blood. This would allow him to seclude without worries…”

A new thought occurred to Jiang Ding, and he began searching the drone feeds over Yuejing for Jianghu figures marked with the symbol of the Jindao School.

He easily found many.

Approaching their den, disciples of the Jindao School were quite active in Yuejing.

Jiang Ding observed carefully and noticed that aside from the disciples of the Jindao School guarding their businesses, wandering about, or at home, one group was particularly conspicuous. They did not rob or kill but would take action to capture disciples of the Wolf God Cult and the Southern the Eighteenth Demon School whenever they found them.

Once there were enough captives, they would transport them to the dungeon of the Jindao School for detention.

As one of the top six sects, a member of the Righteous Path, such a practice didn’t seem particularly conspicuous and even earned the acclaim of many Jianghu figures, somewhat improving their reputation.

”This man in black robes—isn’t he working closely with the Zhendong Marquis and the Wolf God Cult?”

Jiang Ding was taken aback.

”Not even sparing their own people.”

Among those opposing the Demon Sect, there was one he had seen in the reports at Tianjilou; he recognized the person’s appearance.

Number seven on the Dragon and Phoenix List, ”Sea Splitting Saber” Wei Xian!

His face was indifferent, his eyes glinting with a bloodthirsty light, holding a large golden saber with dragon patterns engraved. With every move, several disciples of the Wolf God Cult were sent flying, spitting blood, unable to even rise.

In no time, dozens of Wolf God Cult disciples surrounding him lay on the ground, bound by other disciples of the Jindao School, and placed together with over a hundred captured members of the Demon Sect from that night.

”Think of a way, try to kill him and a few others from the Jindao School in a way that seems normal and reasonable. See if the man in black robes will come down the mountain.”

Jiang Ding muttered to himself, his toes tapped the ground, and his figure disappeared from the spot.

In the night,

Every household was shut; the streets were deserted.

Warriors of both the Righteous and the Demon Paths fought here, and screams of agony would burst out now and then, before returning to brief silence.

This was warfare, warfare of the martial world!

The Qingniugong and the Wolf God Cult were clashing here with their elite disciples, fighting to the death, until one side completely submitted and acknowledged the other’s dominant position in the Central Plains, as it had been even with the establishment of a new dynasty.

Soon, he approached stealthily, contemplating how to make his move without alerting the man in black robes, when a burst of Buddha light shone forth, halting Wei Xian, who was about to take the captives away.

”Amitabha!”

”Benefactor, heaven has the virtue of valuing life. Why won’t you let them enter the cycle of reincarnation right away? Why bother taking them back to the sect for detention?”

Spoken in a compassionate tone, the words sent shivers down one’s spine.

Jiang Ding caught a few more glimpses of the monk standing in front of Wei Xian.

With rosy lips and white teeth, the monk’s handsome face was framed by a cassock, and he held a golden Zen stick, making a one-handed Buddhist salute—a sight that made many female heroes in the Jianghu sigh with regret.

Number four on the Dragon and Phoenix List, from Prajna Temple, ’Vajra’ Fa Zheng!