Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Over a hundred kilometers away.

It wasn’t in the direction of the Qiyu Sect; he had chosen a direction at random.

Jiang Ding made every effort to contain his breath, speeding away from Jindaoshan Mountain with the velocity of a peak Foundation-building cultivator. This was the state in which his concealment abilities were maximized, further enhanced by the ability of his Sword Intent to retract and condense his presence.

He was confident that even if an ordinary Post-Golden Alchemist came within ten kilometers, they would be unable to detect him.

And with his Sword Intent of Destruction, he was certain he could detect the other party’s presence first.

”Yes, as such, but in the world of cultivation, nothing is ever certain. Fortune, coincidence, and the like can all cause change,”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself, his Divine Sense constantly connected to the core of the Air-Space Warplane, ready to summon it from the half-space layer at any moment.

However, even so, he wasn’t very confident he could kill Patriarch Hua Xue, Mu Tiansnow.

Back at the Nine Heavens Relics, the mere Qi Practicing Avatar of that woman had left him greatly surprised at her ability to escape. It was likely that not even a Golden Pill Peak cultivator could ensure her death.

”It’s still best to prioritize escape.”

Jiang Ding held his breath and paused, reinforcing his concealment once more, while his peripheral vision kept a watchful eye on the distance.

A mournful streak of blood light flew from afar, a Blood Cloud spanning several kilometers, infiltrating every pocket of space.

Then, it drifted past him from over a dozen kilometers away.

Time and again, the Post-golden Alchemists’ fleeing speed was terrifyingly frightening, as they persistently searched within hundreds of kilometers. Including this time, Jiang Ding had encountered her three times, the last instance her Blood Cloud appeared eight kilometers away.

A moment later, the Blood Cloud found nothing and moved away from the area.

For several hours, there was no further appearance.

Perhaps she had given up, perhaps she was concealed and lying in ambush.

Jiang Ding’s expression remained unchanged as he resumed the speed of a peak Foundation-building cultivator, leisurely flying outwards. Over the course of several days, he traversed a few thousand kilometers without any further incidents.

He took a big detour.

Once again, he returned to Dongling City, to that forest where he first arrived in this world.

He activated the costly Third-Order Superior Quality Heaven-Disturbing Talisman and released it.

An ancient and heavy Talisman flew out, transforming into a transparent, chaotic sphere of light, carrying a chaotic and disorderly essence. Invisibly, the light illuminated an area spanning several tens of kilometers, like a hammer smashing the nearby fate and Tianji into a powdery mess, turning it into a tangled chaos.

Even a Nascent Soul Monk who specialized in Tianji would be unable to untangle it.

If hundreds of years passed, and the winds and rains battered it, time changed, even a Divinity Transformation Cultivator adept in Tianji would be helpless.

”This is the limit of what I can do at the moment,”

Jiang Ding said flatly.

After settling all matters, he took yet another large detour, spending several days to return to the Qiyu Sect from an entirely different direction than before.

Jinlingshan Mountain.

Jiang Ding waved his hand, releasing twenty-one Storage Bags, his Divine Sense and Sword Intent surging into them. In the light of destruction, the trivial Divine Sense traps and restrictions were instantly overwhelmed and scattered, dissolving away.

”Foundation-building cultivators are so poor...”

Spirit Stones, Magic Tools, Talismans, zombies, evil spirits, all sorts of odds and ends. Even if valued at the highest price, the combined wealth of twenty-one Foundation-building cultivators barely totalled six or seven hundred thousand.

And there weren’t any Third Order ores or materials; those were possessions golden seed cultivators would have.

An average of a few tens of thousands of Spirit Stones per Foundation-building Cultivator.

”That’s not even enough to cover the appearance fee of a Taoist disciple.”

”Not to mention my million-Spirit Stone talisman, I took a huge loss... No wonder many Golden Pill Monks aren’t interested in robbing Foundation-building cultivators—I thought high-level cultivators had their pride.”

”The real reason, I’m afraid, is that they don’t need these low-level items,”

Jiang Ding shook his head with a sigh, set aside these items, and took out a Jade Box, opening it.

A head with eyes bulging in anger.

It was the head of a peak Foundation-building cultivator from the Hua Xue Palace on Jindaoshan Mountain.

Jiang Ding casually pointed, unsealing the head.

A moment later, the rigid gaze in the severed head stirred and regained vitality.

Without a seal or body, the aura of its Divine Soul quickly waned, allowing it to survive only for a few dozen breaths at most.

Divine abilities like soul possession or astral projection didn’t relate to a Foundation-building Cultivator in any way.

Its gaze finally settled on a youth in blue clothes, showing a color of fear, as memories seemed to linger in the moment it was beheaded by a sword.

”Release your Divine Soul and let me search your soul, how about it?”

”In return, I won’t damage the integrity of your Divine Soul, so if there truly is reincarnation after death, you can be reborn normally.”

Jiang Ding said indifferently.

If not for this creature, he would already be at the Xianmen Sect by now.

He wouldn’t bring back any intelligent beings, whether a spirit pet or a sentient Magic Tool.

”Thief!”

”Patriarch won’t let you off, I will never forget this hatred for all my lives...”

A deep resentment and venomous color appeared in the severed head, and the Divine Soul roared without ceasing.

”Then forget it, though the effect might be a bit worse it’s no big deal.”

Jiang Ding had already activated a Third-order Soul-Searching Talisman and casually slapped it on the head.

”Ah!!”

A piercing scream emerged, and in excruciating pain, the Divine Soul twisted and deformed, even affecting the already dead cheeks, which twitched incessantly.

Bang!

A dozen or so breaths later, the head exploded, obliterated by a cloud of fine Sword Qi.

A pitch-black Talisman remained where it had been, with strands of pale blue light flickering from time to time.

Jiang Ding picked it up.

Instantly, scene after scene, often with gaps, filtered through from it.

From the infant’s first cry at birth, soaked in a Blood Pool refined from the essence blood of a thousand Spiritual Root children, to being chosen as a candidate for Hua Xuezi in his youth, partaking in the Hua Xue Yu’s Hua Xuezi competition, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of mortals and Cultivators to forge the embryo of the Hua Xue Magical Blade...

By chance, he learned the fates of previous Foundation Establishment Stage Hua Xuezis, consumed and chewed up by that Hua Xue Magical Blade, their bloodlight shining just a bit brighter...

Then, after taking great pains to withdrawal from the Hua Xuezi contest and narrowly surviving, he became a Wuying Hall Master in his clan, in charge of espionage, assassination...

The life experiences of a Hua Xue Yu Foundation-building Cultivator of more than two hundred years flowed slowly past, specially processed so they seemed like scenes from a movie, without any effect on him.

”The Demon Sect is quite ruthless to their own clan members.”

Jiang Ding marveled to himself.

After briefly reviewing these events, he turned to the memories from fifteen years ago, since this person set foot in Yue Country, watching carefully and not missing a single detail.

Until he came to Jindaoshan Mountain, his face showing astonishment as he collected several tens of oddly shaped silver-white pellets from the ground.

”Perfect, no need to look for someone else now.”

Jiang Ding was pleased, and after rummaging through the Storage Bag of the shadowy old man for a moment, a pitch-black wooden box appeared in his hand, padded with red cloth, with dozens of silver-white pellets placed on top.

”Thirty-one, thirty-three, that’s all.”

”Adding the three I’ve picked up, that makes thirty-six pellets, missing just one.”

As his Divine Consciousness scanned it, Jiang Ding remained expressionless and continued to sift through the shadowy old man’s memories.

In one scene,

he respectfully presented a silver-white pellet with a slight Breaking Law attribute, which was taken up by Divine Sense and fell into a delicate white palm.

”Mu Tian...Snow.”

”Mu Tiansnow... you really have a death wish.”

Jiang Ding put aside the Soul-Searching Talisman and said flatly.