Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

After a month,

Jiang Ding emerged from the leaves marked with the burnt yellow sun, his spirits slightly wilted.

”Before I knew it, twenty years have passed since I graduated from college.”

He paused in the sky, saying with a tinge of sorrow, ”Grandpa is now a hundred and five years old, Grandma is a bit younger, but also around the same age, it’s exactly the time for the elders’ grand birthdays.”

The lifespan limit for mortals is one hundred and twenty years.

Longevity Pills are useless, their Divine Souls are too frail to have a foundation for extending life.

”Time to go home.”

He applied for a flight path, boarded his own super Air-Space Warplane, the warplane spewed flames from its tail, ascended, broke through the troposphere, and entered the stratosphere. The skies were clear for miles, and the earth swept by below him.

”How is the situation in Desolate Bronze Small World now?”

Jiang Ding asked.

”Relying on the defensive power of the Central Array Spirit Computer and third-order tactical nuclear bombs, Desolate Bronze Small World’s West Desert can barely hold on. It is expected to be breached in three to five years, and the situation is similar in the northern part of the small world.”

The voice of the Central Array Spirit Computer echoed.

”What’s the probability of encountering an enemy beyond my level?”

”If a Master of Refining Nothingness takes action, they could save you; if three act, they could save your Divine Soul and Flying Sword.”

”Has it changed?”

Jiang Ding’s heart shook with the news.

Previously, if such an extremely unlikely event occurred and three Masters of Refining Nothingness acted at the same time, he would undoubtedly perish.

”Alright, I understand.”

He asked no further.

...

A few hours later, the Air-Space Warplane paused in the sky above Rongcheng City, was retracted, and a young man in green clothes descended from the sky, stealthily landing at the entrance of his residential area.

With a sweep of his Divine Sense,

he saw the place was all lit up, crowded with guests, full of smiling faces, and a festive atmosphere.

At the entrance of the residential complex, there was a banner.

”Congratulations to Elder Lin Gang on his hundred and five years birthday!”

At the entrance of the complex, adorned with bright red firecracker flowers, Jiang Ding’s eyes reddened for some reason, and tears nearly fell.

Fortunately, he quickly concealed his form so no one saw it.

Even though it’s normal for a sixteen-year-old boy to cry and no one would find it strange—with elders passing by offering comfort, telling embarrassing stories from their own youth.

After a while, he reappeared, stepping into the complex with his expression back to normal.

”Hello, Grandpa Jiang!”

A few seven or eight-year-old kids, who were playing, brightened up the moment they saw a young man in green clothes enter the complex and quickly surrounded him.

”Don’t call me grandpa.”

Jiang Ding said expressionlessly, but the knots in his heart seemed to unravel a bit.

”We must,”

said a little girl with a ponytail earnestly. ”My grandpa told me that’s how I should address you; he was your elementary school classmate. To not call you that would mean I’m not a polite child.”

”...”

Jiang Ding was at a loss for words, handing each of them a piece of candy, made from elixirs that gently replenished Qi and, crucially, tasted good.

He had often returned home over the years, buying them especially to pamper the kids.

”Thank you, Brother Jiang!”

The little girl and her friends showed mischievous smiles and bowed to thank him in unison.

”Cheeky little fellows,”

Jiang Ding chided with a smile.

Scanning the surrounding guests with his Divine Sense, he couldn’t help but sigh quietly.

The old men who used to play chess in the complex were now few and far between.

His elementary school classmates now had wrinkles on their faces, looking like kindly elders with their grandchildren laughing and playing around them.

```

I wonder if I will still be able to see a familiar face in fifty or sixty years?

”Hey, Jiang Ding, long time no see.”

”You haven’t changed a bit, damn.”

As he walked past the banquet tables, he was warmly greeted by the people around him, mostly seniors in their sixties, who were quite familiar with him and didn’t seem to feel constrained in the presence of a foundation-building cultivator.

”Haha, long time no see.”

Jiang Ding smiled and patted the shoulder of a neighbor and elementary school classmate, frolicking with familiarity.

”Uncle Jiang, good to see you.”

In contrast, some of the middle-aged people in their thirties and forties were much more reserved, standing up to greet him politely, their lack of prolonged interaction instilled a natural fear of foundation-building cultivators.

Even if he looked younger than their sons.

”No need to be so formal.”

Jiang Ding smiled slightly as he looked at a neighbor’s son, a squarely built middle-aged man: ”Xiaogong, you have a second child? That’s really good, much better than Old Liu in his youth.”

”Haha, but still not as good as my dad.”

The squarely built middle-aged man, Liu Xiaogong, touched his head embarrassingly.

He made his way into the center of the banquet.

Finally, he saw Elder Lin Gang surrounded by people, beaming with happiness, along with Lin Wanqiu, Lin Yong, his aunt, Lin Yuanwang, and Jiang Yuan, all present.

There was also a tall and sturdy man there, exuding the aura of someone in the early stages of foundation building, smiling naively.

”Li Junhao, congratulations on reaching foundation building.”

Jiang Ding greeted his grandparents and then said with a smile.

At the age of fifty-six, his former deskmate had finally achieved foundation building, exuding the aura of classics-grade practice methods.

The past thirty or forty years had not been wasted by his friend.

After graduating, he served in the military in the Outer Realm as a Qi Practitioner, faced many dangers, later joined a scientific research company, and was engaged in commercial research related to cultivation methods and magic, achieving quite a few research outcomes over the years and earning a significantly higher salary.

He was a prime example of a late bloomer.

There were many cultivators of this type in the Xianmen Sect, with both poor aptitude and family environment, who, without great fortune, struggled to stand out early on. However, relying on their large numbers, the final count of high-level cultivators was not less than the Xianmen elites who showed their prowess early.

This only intensified the internal competition within the Xianmen Sect.

It led to a huge contradiction where the education offered by Xianmen far exceeded the level of available resources, leaving many talented cultivators to face this harsh reality and pass away with regrets.

”Haha!”

Li Junhao laughed heartily, hands on hips: ”From now on, we’ll be the two heroes of Rongcheng No.1 Middle School, and if anyone disagrees, we’ll beat them up together.”

”Alright.”

Jiang Ding nodded with a smile.

He glanced at Jiang Yuan, who had just reached the late-stage Qi Practicing realm, and suppressed the urge to compare and admonish.

”Grandpa...”

He approached his grandparents and held his grandfather’s hand, which was wrinkled like the peel of an orange, and fell silent.

His Godlike Soul, though he tried hard to contain it, radiated a faint sense of sadness and reluctance, stirring the emotions of those around him.

Even Li Junhao, a foundation-builder, couldn’t resist and felt his eyes redden, unable to hold back.

Lin Wanqiu and her brother Lin Yong, both late-stage Qi Practitioners, exchanged a glance and sighed softly, their forced cheerful smiles fading slightly.

”Dingding, don’t cry.”

”You’re such a grown-up now.”

Elder Lin Gang lovingly stroked the hand of his grandson, who was over fifty but still looked like the sixteen-year-old he was years ago, unchanged from the past.

”I’ve heard that reincarnation exists in this world.”

”Maybe after some years, your grandma and I will enter the cycle of reincarnation, and thousands of years later, while Heavenly Monarch Jiang Ding is still alive, we might meet again, right?”

”Yes, Dingding,”

His grandma said while stroking her grandson’s head.

”Mm, we will meet again,”

Jiang Ding lowered his head.

```