Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

”Please be seated and hold on, the next station...”

Jiang Ding squeezed onto the bus, stood next to Lin Wanqiu’s seat, and scrutinized her carefully.

Another four years had passed.

She seemed even more spirited than in previous years, holding a book and reading with concentration, flipping through the pages from time to time.

The title of the book was ”Meridians and Cultivation Methods,” a post-reading book that language arts teachers liked to recommend.

She was highly focused.

Whether it was people getting on or off the bus, the bustle of the crowd, or the stops and announcements of the stations, none of it affected her in the slightest.

Jiang Ding didn’t disturb her and just watched silently.

”Fulinjiayuan Station, we’ve arrived, the next station is Baizi...”

Lin Wanqiu suddenly awoke, gathered her book, and followed the stream of people off the bus, her eyes somewhat vacant as if still pondering something, occasionally dodging passersby.

”Mom, long time no see.”

Jiang Ding came up to her and said softly.

”Ah?”

Lin Wanqiu’s body shook, and she turned around.

Only then did she realize that a youth in blue clothes, about sixteen years old and looking just as he did back then, had appeared beside her without any trace of change.

”When did you come back, you startled me!”

Lin Wanqiu was delighted, but also a bit reproachful: ”You’re such a grown man, almost thirty, and other people’s kids are already in elementary school. Yet you’re still so unpredictable. You could have told me in advance when you were returning.”

”Mom, you’ve got it wrong, I’m sixteen this year,”

Jiang Ding said earnestly.

This wasn’t just cheekiness on his part. Foundation-building cultivators lived two hundred and fifty years, so divide thirty by two, and he was indeed fifteen years old.

He had even intentionally added an extra year to appear more mature.

”Alright, alright, you’re sixteen this year.”

Lin Wanqiu gave him a look.

The two walked and chatted together, taking a trip to a nearby grocery market to buy vegetables and meat.

There was no need to buy rice since there was still Wood Spiritual Wheat at home, enough for a mortal to satisfy their needs with about a hundred grains a day.

”Mom, how is your studying going? Are you confident in transitioning to the ’Ancient Tree Samsara Technique’?”

Jiang Ding asked.

”It’s going alright, I’ve made a lot of progress over the years with the teacher’s guidance,” Lin Wanqiu said with a proud expression: ”If I could take the college entrance exam again, I could definitely score above 100 in Chinese!”

Back when she was in high school, she rarely passed Chinese.

”Uh...”

Jiang Ding was at a loss for words.

”It’s alright, my learning abilities are completely sufficient for practicing ’Classic’ level techniques.”

”You little rascal, don’t look down on people.”

Lin Wanqiu could tell and said somewhat displeased: ”I’m already a fifty-year-old, my ability to learn has declined so much, not like you young people. It’s already pretty good, okay.”

”In at most two more years, I’ll be able to start transitioning to new cultivation methods.”

”Not bad, one step at a time.”

Jiang Ding praised.

Back home, while washing rice and cooking, Jiang Ding directly heated the Spirit Wheat with electromagnetic mana, while pots and pans flew everywhere, flipping endlessly, as commanded by his Divine Sense.

Soon, a table full of delicious and fragrant dishes was ready.

They ate symbolically.

”Mom, pass me that jade pendant, I want to strengthen it a bit,”

Jiang Ding said.

He was referring to the jade pendant he had given to his mother and sister each before going to university, sealed with a Sword Qi of his that could slay peak Qi Practitioners.

”What for?”

Lin Wanqiu didn’t understand, but handed it over anyway.

Jiang Ding took the jade pendant, and as his Divine Sense scanned over it, many memories of runes he had engraved by hand flashed before his eyes. Now, they looked somewhat naïve.

Boom!

A clump of grey-blue flames appeared below the jade pendant, containing a terrifyingly high temperature.

The jade pendant endured for a moment before melting into a pool of liquid. The internal Sword Qi was worn away and absorbed without causing an explosion.

”The material, it seems a bit low-grade now,”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself, taking out a piece of second-order Spirit Iron from his storage bag. After burning it for several minutes, he melted it into a metal liquid, then occasionally added some ores, branches, and other Spiritual Materials, mixing it with the original white jade to form a brand new blue-green jade pendant.

A strand of azure-colored Sword Qi materialized and etched runes onto the green jade with the tip of the sword, finally merging itself into it, becoming one with it.

Lin Wanqiu watched dumbfounded as he bustled about.

”Foundation Establishment Heart Fire!!”

She screamed in disbelief.

It had only been twelve years, how could he have gone from a mortal martial artist to Foundation Establishment so suddenly?

The decades-long Foundation Establishment described in the books was completely different.

”Mom has indeed not wasted time these years, even knowing about Foundation Establishment Heart Fire.”

Jiang Ding praised him and handed back the refined cyan pendant.

Foundation Establishment Heart Fire, a symbol of foundation-building cultivators, is the state manifested by the high-concentration gathering of liquid mana within the Elixir Field. It has different properties such as intense burning, corrosion, and nourishing and is often used for refining elixirs and artifacts.

”It’s really foundation building!”

”A foundation builder under thirty.”

Lin Wanqiu muttered to herself as she scrutinized the youth who looked sixteen and often shamelessly proclaimed himself a future Heavenly Monarch in blue clothes, her heart shaken.

This guy,

won’t still be in this same young state hundreds or even thousands of years from now, right?

The mere thought felt very incongruous.

In meetings of numerous high-level cultivators, there were either dignified elderly men, kind old grannies, fairy-like women with an air of immortality, or mature and composed middle-aged cultivators.

And then there’s a high school student mingling among them, walking around.

To the uninitiated, they would think this was a mischievous child from some school causing trouble.

”Jiang Yuan, how have you been lately?”

Jiang Ding asked.

”The same old... not in the right state of mind.”

As soon as this topic came up, Lin Wanqiu felt a headache coming on: ”She says she’s going crazy. It’s all study, study, study, making her more miserable than being in prison. She can’t take it anymore.”

The psychological counseling class failed.

”Just let it be.”

Jiang Ding sighed.

If she could awaken to her situation earlier, there might be a chance.

If too much time is wasted, then... he can only keep these fraternal affections in his heart to occasionally revisit in the long times ahead.

Over the next two days,

Jiang Ding visited his grandparents and uncle and aunt one by one, nurturing their health and presenting them with some life-preserving elixirs.

He also upgraded the jade pendant he got from Qianling University via express delivery, ensuring the basic safety of his lazy sister.

”Mom, goodbye, I hope to see Lin Wanqiu, the Qi Practitioner, the next time we meet.”

Jiang Ding waved his hand and flew towards the sky.

”Will do.”

Lin Wanqiu smiled.

...

Back at school,

Jiang Ding resumed his busy life of studying and cultivation in a repetitive loop.

Time flies, and three months passed without notice.

During this period, An Siyan and Ou Daocheng successively entered the ninth layer of Qi Practicing and went into seclusion to seek their breakthrough to foundation building. Theoretically, their chances of breaking through were significant.

As the third school year of college neared its end, classmates who practiced ’Classic’ level techniques began to breakthrough, and it became rare to see Qi Practitioners in class.

One day,

under the azure tree of the mining area, Jiang Ding carefully took out a jade bottle sealed layer by layer. Within it, a drop of grey-black metallic liquid was clearly visible, occasionally emitting strands of extremely heavy grey fog.

Fusion Magnetic Crystal Core!

A treasure that could substantially enhance the electromagnetic spirituality and affinity of artifacts.

For months, he had studied continuously, switching to the foundation-building portion of the ”All-transforming Magnetic Origin Sutra” and had just completed it.

Today, he finally had the leisure to deal with this material.

”After foundation building, Divine Sense has strengthened at least tenfold. Let’s try it.”

Jiang Ding extended his Divine Sense and touched it to a strand of grey fog.

”So heavy!”

He grunted, his face instantly pale as mana was consumed as fast as flowing water.

Although it was just a wisp of fog finer than a hair, it felt heavier than a little mountain. Divine Sense was almost crushed under its weight, and only by continuously inputting mana could he barely maintain it.

Clang!

The blue-gold large tree sensed the danger to its Sword Master and resonated. A burst of Sword Intent merged into Divine Sense and fiercely slashed at the strand of grey fog.

Crack!

Within Divine Sense, a sudden, earth-shattering quake occurred, and the fog that lay like a mountain range was cut from the middle, leaving only the tail end.

The pressure facing Divine Sense eased.

”Effective.”

Jiang Ding’s face looked better.

With an outburst of Divine Soul four times stronger than his peers, mana surged out from within his body. A faint strand of grey fog roared and vibrated, flying out from the sealed jade bottle and landing on a thick branch of the blue-gold large tree.

The branch, as thick as a thigh, of the azure tree was suddenly bent over!

The terrible creaking sound traveled as countless leaves trembled, spreading growth towards this spot, wrapping it into a big ball.

Within, countless strands of Sword Qi resonated, filled with Sword Intent, as numerous branches crisscrossed and slashed away tiny bits of grey fog, merging into the tree.

With every wisp that merged, the trunk shook slightly, and faint grey patterns appeared on the bark and leaves, flickering and vanishing.

An invisible force of electromagnetism spread within the blue-gold large tree, fusing and merging.