Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Ten days later.

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged with a flowerpot in his arms, circulating his inner energy ceaselessly, nurturing the delicate branches of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Ever since taking the Blue-Gold Potion, his aptitude had improved significantly, and the efficiency of nurturing and refining his meridians was extremely high. He could feel that in just a few more days, he would achieve The Great Perfection of Circle of Vital Energy of Soaring Eagle.

After routinely checking the surveillance of Jindao School, he continued his cultivation.

Over these days, many people in the Jianghu had moved upon hearing news, heading en masse to the mountains hundreds of miles southeast of Yuejing, the suspected location of the Qixuan Secret Cave. The entire region of Yuejing had become much quieter.

Public security had improved, and there were far fewer thieves attempting to enter Sword Casting Manor.

As for the neighbor, his guard who had achieved Internal Qi Perfection was nowhere to be seen, replaced by an ordinary Warrior of Minor Completion of Internal Qi. It seemed likely that his family had also joined those entering the Qixuan Secret Cave.

Crack...

A very faint sound, like a shell cracking open a small fissure.

”It’s sprouting!”

Jiang Ding was overjoyed, stopped his cultivation, and channeled his inner energy through the Spirit Gathering Flower Pot into the increasingly responsive Sword Seed.

The cracking sounds gradually increased, becoming more frequent, now even a common person approaching could hear this shell-breaking like noise.

Jiang Ding continued to pour in inner energy, his expression becoming more solemn.

Under his perception, the metallic outer shell of the seed kept cracking open, with granules of powder-like debris falling, mingling into the soil. Gradually, two leaves were exposed, making genuine contact with the soil and the Spiritual Energy in the air.

It was as if a switch for growth had been activated.

The seed hesitated not at all in consuming all the nutrients it had stored for a long time, as the two leaves stretched and twisted upwards, breaking through the soil. The sharp-edged, deep blue leaves touched sunlight for the first time.

”Little guy...”

Jiang Ding watched the newborn life, a sense of connection and affection naturally welling up inside him.

Upon touching sunlight, the growth speed of the Cilan Spirit Tree’s sapling surged again!

The leaves quickly grew larger, about the size of half a finger, sharp and oval-shaped with clearly visible metallic veins, naturally drawing in the sunlight above and the Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi around to feed its growth.

Then, an even greater transformation occurred.

The trunk, thin as a wire, pushed through the soil, visibly growing thicker and larger, and under the two sharp oval leaves, three pure blue metallic spores emerged.

No sooner had these spores appeared than they started to grow, stretching out tender branches and uncurling to reveal leaves that shone with a metallic luster, absorbing both the Great Sun Essence and Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi on their own.

One branch divided into two, two branches into four, and four branches...

In just a short time, a small tree over thirty centimeters tall appeared before Jiang Ding.

Pure blue in color, lush and leafy as if cast from metal, it naturally drew the sunlight and Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi from several meters in radius, dazzling and extraordinarily beautiful.

”Is this my... sword?”

Jiang Ding hesitated, then suddenly had an instinctual realization.

The brilliant radiance emanating from the Cilan Spirit Tree, which was fully absorbing the Great Sun Essence and Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi, suddenly vanished, revealing the Blue-Gold Tree’s true body. The lush branches started to shake and began to contract, steadily reducing in size.

Not just the branches and leaves above ground, but the root system underground, which was even broader than the leafy canopy, also started shrinking and converging. The fine lateral roots clung to the main root, with the metal sheen flowing smoothly, and they actually fused together, forming a sharp and intimidating sword tip.

The branches and trunk likewise came together and merged, forming the latter half of the sword body.

In the blink of an eye, the flourishing Golden Attribute Spirit Plant disappeared, leaving a large pit in the middle of the Spirit Gathering Flower Pot, filled with tiny holes.

And in its place, there lay an Azure Flying Sword, thirty-three centimeters long and three centimeters wide!

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”Come here!”

Jiang Ding beckoned, and the Flying Sword instantly flew into his hand at twice its original speed, immediately generating a warm current from the sword body that surged into his body.

It was a force of the same origin as his, but much purer; just a small stream of it poured into the tiny vessels of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians he was tempering.

Nourished by this force, the tiny veins that were calculated to require several days to temper completed their refinement within mere minutes.

Crack~

In the dark, Jiang Ding felt he had broken through an important barrier, his aura suddenly soared by a large margin, and the speed of Inner Energy circulation in his twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians nearly doubled.

The twelve primary meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians each were tempered to a thousand strands, the Eaglet Large Circle of Vital Energy!

”At last, I have completed the cultivation of the Large Circle of Vital Energy...”

Jiang Ding’s face was full of joy as he carefully perceived the changes that occurred after the Talisman Sword had advanced to a wooden sword.

With a single rotation of Inner Energy, as an object connected to his lifeblood, it held no secrets from him; he quickly learned of the new abilities that the wooden sword had gained.

The First-Order Great Sun Spirit Gathering Array was entirely integrated into the Cilan Spirit Wood, becoming one of its innate abilities, and the wood’s inherent capacity for photosynthesis—absorbing Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi and the essence of the Great Sun—was greatly enhanced.

In addition to achieving faster growth, every seven days, the Cilan Spirit Wood, transformed from the wooden sword, would reciprocate a stream of origin-consistent power back to the Sword Master, enhancing his cultivation speed.

”Once every seven days, on average...”

After some calculation, Jiang Ding’s eyes showed shock: ”That’s equivalent to tempering an extra 80 tiny vessels every day, plus the doubled cultivation speed of 480 tiny vessels every day due to the breakthrough of the Eaglet Large Circle of Vital Energy: that makes 560 tiny vessels every day.”

”To achieve the Great Perfection of the Circle of Vital Energy and become an Eaglet Innate, birthing the special Dao Body Embryo, I still need...”

Most members of the Xianmen Sect need to temper around one hundred eighty thousand vessels to achieve Eaglet Innate, with the exact number varying slightly from person to person.

”One hundred fifty-seven days! Five months!”

Jiang Ding was stunned by his own cultivation speed: ”Damn! In just five months, I could achieve Eaglet Innate and give birth to a special Dao Body Embryo!”

”That’s not even taking into account that the ’Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique’ is already at (Major Completion 78.7%), and if it breaks through to Perfection, the cultivation speed will increase even more.”

”Genius!”

Jiang Ding declared delightfully.

”If anyone else says I don’t have talent, I’ll kill them on the spot.”

It took him a long time to slow his racing heart before he continued to test the other data of the wooden sword.

Whoosh!

An azure streak flew out instantly, reaching the speed of sound; if it weren’t for the sword Qi, a sonic boom would have occurred immediately, far surpassing the speed of strong bows and crossbows. Ordinary Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists would no longer be able to see the Flying Sword in motion.

The azure streak swept over a head-sized iron ore from dozens of meters away and returned to his hand in the blink of an eye.

The iron ore was undamaged, with no change at all.

Jiang Ding approached and fanned out a breeze with his hand.

In an instant, powdered dust filled the air; the head-sized iron ore that seemed intact collapsed into fine powder, which the wind easily carried away in large swathes.

”The sharpness and speed of the Flying Sword and sword Qi have been strengthened once again.” Jiang Ding made a judgment: ”Warriors like Wan Qianyu, who are at the level of a Xiantian Martial Artist, not at the genius level of the Middle-Stages of Qi Practicing are not my match, and I should be able to fight even Cultivators in the later stages of Qi refining.”

”As for the peak of Qi practicing...”

He pondered and calculated for a long time before shaking his head.

”I can’t judge; it’s best not to engage. A wise man does not stand under a wall that is about to collapse.”