Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding silently watched the maids’ struggles and flights, refraining from taking action.

”A Nascent Soul Immortal, able to strike under Shuoyang Heavenly Monarch’s Causal Skill, slaughtering in all directions, unaffected?”

This would cause many to have unsavory thoughts.

This world had seen the advent of a Great Sun Swordsman; the first wave of unequal information advantage was lost. High-level Cultivators were all cunning and wise, and one could not hope that they would overlook these details, or attribute it to luck.

Once exposed,

whether Jiang Ding would die was unknown; after all, he had some experience with Concealment and had a way out.

But as for these maids, they were likely to all perish, having drawn the enmity of foes beyond their own level. No matter how skilled they were in the Army Formation, it would be useless.

In the future, they could avenge themselves and slay their enemies; they would not die in vain, but that was all.

Those who died, were just dead.

Everything was up to themselves.

...

At the barren plains of the Great Sun Sword Sect,

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged in the midst of a Third-Order Superior Quality Concealment Array, his Mana and Divine Sense constantly pouring into the Scorching Sun Copper in his hands.

At times he was ecstatic, at times his brows were deeply furrowed, and at times he screamed in madness like a rabid dog, drawing his sword and cutting wound after wound on his body, blood pooling on the floor, a terrifying sight.

From the Scorching Sun Copper, strands of barely perceptible dark grey aura were invading his Sea of Consciousness, seeping into every crevice of his Divine Soul, inducing some sort of transformation.

This had been going on for three years.

At the beginning, it was still normal; occasional insights into the Sword Dao came to him, with clanging sword cries in his Divine Soul, as if the Sword Intent would materialize at any moment, eager to burst forth.

But as time passed, it remained the same, on the brink but never manifesting, the Cultivator gradually went mad, oblivious to his own condition.

Within his Divine Soul, the dark grey aura had unknowingly spread throughout his Sea of Consciousness, gathering into clouds and obscuring the original wisdom and light of the Divine Soul.

Clang!

At a certain moment, the sound of sword cries gradually increased in the Sea of Consciousness, growing denser, trending towards coalescing into one sound, indicating the gestation of something new!

Outside the Third-Order Superior Quality Concealment Array, the concealed figure of Immortal Blood Bone watched with wide eyes.

”This... This is about to condense the Sword Intent!”

”Clearly just at the nurturing stage, the germ about to break through the soil, light-years from fruit maturity, without the need for countless bloody battles to foster it, yet it is about to spontaneously condense.

What Sword Dao talent...”

A deep jealously arose in Immortal Blood Bone’s heart.

In his time, after countless years of bloodshed and numerous brushes with death, he barely grasped the Sword Intent.

The Cultivator before him, without any stroke of fate, even burdened with significant negative factors, at this edge of life and death, felt an instinctual warning in his Divine Soul, about to grasp the Sword Intent.

If his fate were somewhat better, not contaminated with Scorching Sun Copper, and he had joined the Great Sun Sword Sect a step earlier, his chances of becoming a Nascent Soul Immortal in the future would be at least over 70%.

Perhaps within the Great Sun Sword Sect, he could become an existence second only to the Scorching Sun Swordsman.

If he were more reckless, challenging the Scorching Sun Swordsman in a glorious battle to the death, there might even be a slight chance to usurp the Scorching Sun Swordsman and become one of the highest ranking Cultivators in the Northern Plains.

Ordinary Nascent Soul Immortals would find it hard to match him.

”Such Sword Dao talent... it’s just wonderful!”

”As weak in front of me as ants.”

A bizarre pleasure emerged in Immortal Blood Bone’s heart.

A future figure influential enough to shake the situation of the Northern Plains for hundreds or thousands of years, lay helpless under his control, struggling to rise or sink.

His life and death could be decided in a single thought.

This feeling was ten times more joyful than the Joyous Union Sword Pavilion in the Great Sun Sword City.

”This Sword Sprout is growing too fast; it might bear fruit very soon.”

”Can’t leave it be any longer; unexpected things might occur.”

Immortal Blood Bone suppressed his desire to keep this life to play with for decades, hesitated slightly, and took out a sinister-looking Talisman with bright red veins all over it, sometimes twitching and contorting.

”Soul Fusion Talisman...”

Immortal Blood Bone mused.

This Soul Fusion Talisman, given to him by his master, was said to be extremely precious, with exquisite materials and difficult to draw. Among Nascent Soul Monks, its value was significant, and unless he met a Sword Sprout of superior quality or higher, it should not be used.

At the same time, he reminded that if one truly encounters a Third-Order Superior Quality Sword Sprout or higher, one must use it without hesitation. Do not fear wasting it, for there will be rewards after its use.

This is at least a fourth-order Spirit Talisman. A mere Golden Pill Monk will have great difficulty resisting it and is sure to succeed without fail.

”Without fail...”

Immortal Blood Bone felt a deep reluctance in his heart.

Such a Sword Sprout could indeed pose a challenge to the status of the Scorching Sun Swordsman!

If it were truly without fail... he felt discontent in his heart.

If he could really obtain this Sword Intent, the success rate of his journey to becoming an Immortal would increase by at least twenty-five percent!

This was far stronger than the so-called superior opportunity for Infant Formation within the sect.

Furthermore, if this matter were ever to be exposed, all the disciples involved, both inner and outer, as well as core disciples, would have to be executed, including their families, because this would be undermining the foundation of the Great Sun Sword Sect, outside the scope of laws that exempt the gentry and scholars from corporal punishment.

In theory, even an Immortal of Nascent Soul would die if tainted by this affair.

Of course, as things stand now, it should only be in theory, meriting severe punishment at worst, perhaps being sent to the frontlines.

Such is the weight of an Immortal of Nascent Soul.

Will this matter be exposed?

Immortal Blood Bone hesitated, undecided.

In the end, he put away the fourth-order Soul Fusion Talisman and launched a third-order superior quality Soul Fusion Talisman instead.

A mass of pitch-black smoke writhed and twisted, from time to time emitting the miserable screams and pleas of Vital Souls, drawing considerable attention. Within a hundred meters radius, it was distinctly visible.

However, the gray-robed youth holding the Scorching Sun Copper showed an agonized struggle on his face, oblivious to the black smoke approaching, allowing it to surge into his Sea of Consciousness and Divine Soul.

This black smoke combined with the threads and wisps of black air that were already present in the Sea of Consciousness, completely obscuring the Spiritual Light of his Divine Sense.

The agonized struggle on the gray-robed youth’s face disappeared. He became calm, his expression one of tranquillity and contentment.

”Soul fusion has begun...”

Immortal Blood Bone showed a look of anticipation.

His gaze towards the gray-robed youth below was as if he were looking at a bud about to bear fruit, where the instant the skin split, a fragrant, sweet fruit would be revealed.

He extended his Divine Sense to inspect the Sea of Consciousness and Divine Soul, which were now utterly unguarded and engulfed in black air, and he waited patiently.

After an unknown amount of time had passed.

Crack!

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a skin cracking open.

Immortal Blood Bone held his breath.

Crack, crack...

The sound of skin splitting was continuous, and then, within the Sea of Consciousness, a light appeared.

A blood-red, a scarlet light.

It carried with it a burning will, to incinerate all under the heavens, and a supreme sharpness, piercing through miles of cloud sea, with the emergence of the nascent sun.

Boom!

Accompanied by the roaring within the Sea of Consciousness, all obstacles were shattered into pieces, burnt to ash, with embers drifting about.

And then,

A blood-red Great Sun rose from the Sea of Consciousness, with the Sword Dao’s will illuminating in all directions!

In the moment the Bloody Sun appeared, the gray-robed youth, who served as the host and trunk, silently turned to ash, his flesh and Divine Soul alike.

”...This is, this is...”

”...Bloody... Bloody Sun Sword Intent...”

”Superior Sword Intent!”

Immortal Blood Bone’s voice trembled with frightful greed, burning wildly in his heart: ”This is a Sword Intent not far off from the Scorching Sun Swordsman, and it aligns even more with the Blood Path.”

”It aligns with me!”

”Could this increase the chances of Nascent Soul formation by fifty or even sixty percent?”

”No!”

”Master, it’s mine!”