Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

After thinking it over, Jiang Ding decided not to chase after Wei Xian and kill him.

It felt somewhat abrupt, and if the man in the black robe sensed anything amiss, it wouldn’t be good. Anyway, waiting a bit longer was no issue, as there were plenty of opportunities.

The challenge from ’Green God Sword’ Song Qing tomorrow seemed like an opportunity.

The next day.

Jiang Ding left the Sword Casting Manor, which one could hardly leave more than once every four or five days. He bought a conical hat, put it on his head, and followed the flow of people to the tournament stage set up by the two sects in the west of the city.

The crowd was dense, and on the way, most of the people were Jianghu figures with swords and knives, many of whom had some connection with the two sects and had been summoned to come.

The two sects had stood at the pinnacle of Jianghu for at least two hundred years. Their disciples had spread far and wide, establishing their own forces and branching out. The combined potential of their hidden influence was simply terrifying.

Besides them, there were also six major sects and a large number of idle martial artists from various trades.

Watching the excitement and seeking fame and fortune seemed to be the inherent nature ingrained in the restless bones of the people of Jianghu.

”’Green God Sword’ Song Qing is only ninth on the Dragon and Phoenix List, so why dare he challenge the eighth-ranked ’Broken Bone’ Shen Tukuang? It is said that he has unbeaten hands throughout the south with his iron fists, only defeated by ’Half Ghost’ Wu Makong, the direct disciple of the second place and sect leader of the Wolf God Cult, Langzhu.”

A tall and idle Jianghu man expressed his doubt.

”Old chap, you’re out of the loop. Wu Makong’s second place on the Dragon and Phoenix List has been squeezed out. The current second is ’Dream Eating Sword Demon’ Jiang Ding, the ferocious man who defeated the head of the Sect of Ziwei Sword, ’Ten Flower Sword Fairy’ Wan Qianyu, face to face.”

”So many people belong to the Qixuan School; which prestigious sect is this?”

A young swordsman asked the person next to him, puzzled, ”I’ve checked the Dragon and Phoenix List, and the second is ’Dream Eating Sword Demon’ Jiang Ding, the ninety-eighth is ’Flying Snow Fairy’ Gong Caiyu, and there’s also the newly emerged ninety-second, ’Qingyun Sword’ Han Lin, along with the recently noisy Qixuan Secret Cave affair. How come I’ve never heard of this sect before?”

’Qingyun Sword’ Han Lin?

Jiang Ding was startled in the midst of the crowd.

Was it that lean and ordinary-looking young man?

To be ranked ninety-second on the Dragon and Phoenix List, he must possess the ability to fight above his level and achieve the Great Achievement of Inner Qi, but he had only formally practiced martial arts for two or three months, hadn’t he?

Was he another one whose talent had been buried due to the harsh social environment, like the ’Banished Immortal’ Li Qingyun, with the aptitude of a heavenly prodigy?

”The Qixuan School was most prosperous a thousand years ago; of course, we’re not familiar with it,” the friend of the young swordsman casually said.

”’Dream Eating Sword Demon’ Jiang Ding faced and defeated a senior Xiantian! In my view, he should be number one on the Dragon and Phoenix List,” said an idle Jianghu man with a sword on his back, admiringly, and fond of Jiang Ding, who had no clear affiliation with a major sect.

”Nonsense!”

A Qingniugong disciple displayed anger and rebuked, ”That ’Ten Flower Sword Fairy’ Wan Qianyu had already been seriously injured by our Senior Brother before being defeated by that Jiang Ding. What merits or abilities does he have to be ranked first on the Dragon and Phoenix List?”

”Heh heh, your Qingniugong is powerful; you could even claim white is black,” retorted the sword-carrying Jianghu man with a few sneers, not waiting for the Qingniugong disciple and his companions to get angry before slipping into the crowd and disappearing without a trace, extremely slippery.

”Coward!”

The disciple from Qingniugong snorted coldly, too lazy to chase.

Jiang Ding silently blended into the crowd with an extremely low presence. Using drones to search, he indeed found the spots of the six major sects located closer to the inner circle.

The symbol of the purple sword of the Sect of Ziwei Sword was surprisingly among them.

It seemed that the incident of Wan Qianyu attempting to assassinate the prefect of Chizhong Mansion hadn’t caused them to lose their standing in Jianghu or be ostracized by the righteous path.

On the contrary, judging by the hustle and bustle of people visiting the Sect of Ziwei Sword, their reputation seemed even stronger.

Knowing that the fugitive disciple of the Sect of Ziwei Sword, who was wanted by the court, was here, the court had made no efforts to arrest her.

In the future, as long as the propaganda in the martial arts world was slightly directed, ’Ten Flower Sword Fairy’ Wan Qianyu might end up being heralded as a hero who dared to assassinate a corrupt official regardless of personal danger.

In a sense, it wouldn’t be wrong since the prefect of Chizhong Mansion and a handful of civil and military officials were indeed corrupt officials.

Glancing around, as long as Wan Qianyu didn’t bring herself forth, Jiang Ding wouldn’t waste his time chasing after her; their grievance had not reached that level.

Wei Xian, as the strongest figure of the Jindao School below the level of Xiantian, was indeed there, participating in this major event that would determine the direction of the situation between the righteous and evil paths.

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”All right.”

Jiang Ding revealed a hint of a smile and continued to search the screen for a figure about one and a half meters tall.

After a long time, he finally found a short fellow in a corner, wearing a black mask and a pure white silk dress, tiptoeing and looking around at the six major schools, trying to find something.

”Maybe that’s reasonable, right?”

Jiang Ding thought silently.

During the time he delayed, the two competitors had already taken the stage.

Song Qing had seen him before. ’Broken Bone’ Shen Tukuang was a wild young man with a strong build, draped in beast skin, making no attempt to hide his origins from a southern jungle tribe.

This man had exceptional talent. At the age of fifteen, he had beaten all the surrounding tribes and become the youngest and strongest ’chieftain’ of his tribe.

Later, he encountered a great opportunity and was favored by his master, a Xiantian high-person from the Wolf God Cult and one of the four guardians, ’Guard Sky God Peak’ Dao Linshi. He was taught the Wolf God Cult’s secret technique ’Raising Heaven Mountain God Kung Fu,’ which skyrocketed his status to just below the Xiantians of the cult.

”Do you dare to challenge me because you’ve grasped some rudimentary understanding of ’momentum’?”

Shen Tukuang clenched his fists lightly, the sound of his knuckles ringing clear. Even though they were not inherited divine weapons, they were top-notch treasures that had been integrated with precious materials, capable of amplifying Inner Qi.

”How do you know?”

Song Qing’s face changed, and his mind shook slightly.

This trump card was only known by his Senior Brother and a few absolutely trustworthy high-level members within the palace. It was meant to be an unexpected killing move, but his opponent had exposed it right from the start.

His mind raced to check who might have leaked the secret.

”Die!”

Shen Tukuang no longer continued the conversation, stepped forward, and threw a punch at him.

A simple punch, but it seemed as though a mountain’s mass was condensed within it, and the heavy pressure spread in all directions, clearing a circle in the dust.

”Green Fairy Points the Way!”

Song Qing stopped thinking and pointed with his sword, the green sword Qi gathering at the tip, intending to penetrate the opponent’s wide attack. It was the opening move of Qingniugong’s supreme martial art from the ’Qingniu Sword Scripture.’

The moment the sword was drawn, the momentum of heaven and earth slightly converged, making his swordsmanship more powerful by half.

Don’t underestimate this fifty percent increase. The top ten on the Dragon and Phoenix List were geniuses who had reached the limit of the Internal Qi Realm. This half increase on other warriors with Internal Qi Perfection could easily double their strength.

Clang!

As fist and sword collided, sparks flew. Shen Tukuang’s heavy aura, condensed by the Wolf God Cult’s secret technique ’Raising Heaven Mountain God Kung Fu,’ was instantly broken, and the green sword circled around the fist edge, stabbing at his shoulder from behind.

Shen Tukuang threw a punch backward, hitting precisely on the tip of the sword. Song Qing took a step back and then circled around to attack from the side, with the light green sword Qi being extremely nimble.

The sharp and piercing sound of fist and blade clashing became incessant, their figures merging into one. It seemed even, but in reality, under the bolstering of ’momentum,’ Song Qing was firmly steering the situation to his advantage.

The many Jianghu spectators below the stage watched unblinkingly, holding their breath, and several warriors with Internal Qi Perfection showed expressions of dread.

Even at the same level of Internal Qi Perfection, they would be defeated in less than two moves by the two men above, and even escaping would be impossible.

”How easy is it to have a divine soul twice that of ordinary people and exceptional aptitude?”

Jiang Ding took note of the ’momentum’ among Song Qing’s sword moves, feeling somewhat envious.

These geniuses from the top ten of the Dragon and Phoenix List who stood out among millions were indeed beyond him in terms of talent.

These days, he had been reading books such as ’Heaven and Human Unity and Divine Soul Frequency Adjustment Meditation Methods’ in the Xianmen Library without interruption, gradually understanding the principles within and coming up with some ideas.

While the fundamental requirements for divine soul and aptitude hadn’t changed, there were some shortcuts to reduce the difficulty slightly.

That was to rent a ’Spirit Element Spectral Frequency Meter’ valued at eighty to ninety thousand spirit coins from Xianmen, to measure the spiritual energy spectral frequency of the Yuejing region in this world, and then have someone tailor-make a visualization method based on this data.

His eligibility for renting wasn’t an issue. With his steady record of being admitted to the Qianling University Taoism Department and his very high ideological and moral score, the seller should agree, and he could afford it.

Having a customized visualization method wasn’t a problem either. Find a Bald Doctoral student with good grades in the Taoism Department, give him the spiritual energy spectral frequency data, input the data, and he could easily come up with something.

The only problem was, he didn’t have at least five thousand spirit coins to pay for the rent and the Bald Doctor’s services.