Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Clear the battlefield, remove the traces.

It’s not necessary to restore everything completely, approximate uniformity is fine, but all traces must be entirely erased, including any remaining fluctuations of Divine Soul or remnants of Sword Intent; not a single one should be left behind.

Pack up the storage bag, quickly make a run for it.

Jiang Ding concealed his form, faster than if he had wings on his feet, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

He didn’t linger on the Great Sun Sword Sect’s plains for even a second longer. After executing the most basic evasive maneuvers, he sped to the ultra-long-distance teleportation Formation he had set up in a secret location in the Northern Plains, and promptly disappeared without a trace.

The teleportation Formation flickered with white light numerous times.

The expenditure of Spiritual Energy alone was in the hundreds of millions of Low-grade Spirit Stones, not to mention the premium brought by the infrastructure costs; altogether, this single teleportation has already consumed fifty to sixty billion Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Of course, with the increase in the number of uses, the marginal cost would gradually decrease.

But that’s quite a distant prospect, perhaps hundreds of years away.

The costs were immense, but so were the results.

Within dozens of breaths, Jiang Ding had nearly crossed the entire Northern Plains, safely returning to the Soulless Desert.

Even if a Divinity Transformation Cultivator were in hot pursuit, they would be instantly thrown off without a trace due to such a vast distance.

”Seal all ultra-long-distance Formation Methods for three years.”

”If any anomaly is detected, directly destroy the teleportation Formation; there’s no need to repeatedly report detection results. It doesn’t matter if there’s a false alarm.”

Jiang Ding successively set up ultra-long-distance teleportation Formations all over the place, even the one right beneath his feet he physically disabled by removing a Formation component, making it useless no matter how skilled someone is in Formation Dao.

In this way, Jiang Ding felt somewhat relieved. He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and set about recovering from the depletion of Divine Sense and Mana caused by two great battles.

...

Great Sun Sword Sect.

Laments of piercing sword cries rang out from the Ancestor Temple one after another, reaching various main peaks within the Sect, audible only to Nascent Soul Monks while the lower-tier Cultivators remained clueless, as the information was strictly confined.

Instantly, terrifying suppressions appeared on countless peaks within the Sect.

It had been just over a hundred years since the last war.

The memories of blood and death had not faded, almost at the instant the sword cries sounded, streaks of Escape Light appeared from dozens of peaks, tearing through space to arrive at the Ancestor Temple.

”Who has died?”

Sharply murderous fluctuations of Divine Sense clashed within the Ancestor Temple.

”Who took action?”

”Great Sun Dharma Sect, the Righteous and Demonic Alliance?”

”Just over a hundred years, and they can’t hold back anymore? Good, that’s good, then let’s kill, slaughter until the heavens turn upside down!”

”The more we kill, the more polished our Sword Dao will become, and the dirty politics within the Sect can be quelled. I’ve been fed up with this for long enough.”

”Someone’s death is a good thing!”

”Our Jiandao School hasn’t waged war in a hundred years, what a disgrace! A dishonor to all our Ancestors!”

Within the Ancestor Temple, the clanging sword cries continued unceasingly, various Sword Intents shining against each other, their sharp aura piercing the heavens, filled with an ominous killing intent.

At last,

All eyes turned to True Master Void Square.

There were naturally other stronger Immortals, with three Nascent Soul late-stage Immortals among them.

However, they were always indifferent to worldly affairs, focusing solely on reaching the pinnacle of Nascent Soul Peak. It was True Master Void Square and Immortal Burning Bone, leaders of the Master-Disciple Faction and the Clan Faction, who were well-known, having had more dealings with others in the past.

Immortal Burning Bone was not present.

Many people instantly had their speculations.

”It’s Burning Bone, Immortal Burning Bone.”

True Master Void Square, with a face as broad as it was long and large ears, despite being a sworn enemy of Burning Bone and wishing for his death, did not wish to show this and maintained respect in his tone. He spoke somberly, ”He’s not dead, but almost, hanging by just a thread.”

He led everyone to a corner of the Ancestor Temple.

There, a Soul Lamp flickered feebly, with only a hair-thin strand of Spiritual Light remaining, sometimes extinguishing completely. After a moment, it would tremble with faint light once more, even weaker and more delicate.

”He’s been captured.”

”Or severely wounded, currently using a secret technique to heal.”

Seeing this, a Nascent Soul Immortal nearby spoke coldly, ”I believe the former scenario is more likely.”

Nascent Soul Monks have an incredibly tenacious vitality, not easily gravely wounded, but once they are, it’s often a sign of desperation, especially here in the heartland of the Great Sun Sword Sect.

”To my knowledge, Burning Bone has never strayed far from the Sect’s heartland.”

”True Master Void Square,”

a True Immortal, surrounded by three fierce ghosts, coldly asked, ”Was it your doing?”

This person was known as Immortal Sangui, rumored to have refined three Ghost Dao flying swords, which when used in unison would emit a chorus of myriad swords with overwhelming ghostly power. He was Immortal Burning Bone’s close friend and was also intimately connected to him on their Daoist paths.

In the heartland of the Great Sun Sword Sect,

Immortal Burning Bone was certainly no dead man, always sly and astute. It would be difficult for a cultivator in the later stages of Nascent Soul to severely injure him without any news leaking out.

It was even said that cultivators at the Nascent Soul Peak might find such a feat challenging.

A Nascent Soul Peak cultivator might defeat Immortal Burning Bone within several dozen exchanges and had a higher chance to slay his Nascent Soul, but it was utterly impossible to ensure that no news would be transmitted by him.

Even this level of certainty was not guaranteed.

So long as he abandoned his physical body, it was doubtful that a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator could catch up with Immortal Burning Bone’s Nascent Soul to kill him.

An ambush.

Only an ambush, setting up a Formation Method in advance, a sealed trap, could accomplish this.

And to set a trap, one would need the cooperation of someone from within the Sect to lure Immortal Burning Bone into the snare.

Whoosh!

In an instant, countless gazes of Nascent Soul Immortals turned toward True Master Void Square, filled with coldness and murderous intent, including many from the Master-Disciple Faction.

They were divided into factions only due to disputes over interests.

That didn’t mean that the camaraderie from hundreds of years of battles had disappeared, it still existed, and there were still strict lines that not even core disciples would dare to cross on normal days.

Let alone the life of a True Immortal!

”Firstly, I haven’t stepped out of the Sect’s gates in five years.”

”Secondly, Immortal Burning Bone doesn’t trust me,”

True Master Void Square said calmly, ”Even if I harbored ill intentions, he would only be more wary, harder to deceive. This reduces suspicion towards me. If anything, it might be someone he trusts who could cause him to lower his guard.”

He covertly mocked Immortal Sangui, the friend of Immortal Burning Bone.

”Heh heh, Burning Bone wouldn’t trust anyone.”

Immortal Sangui scoffed coldly.

The expressions of the surrounding True Immortals relaxed.

With that, the matter was dropped. Without concrete evidence, baseless accusations would only cause more chaos.

”Let’s drop the matter.”

”The identity of the perpetrator isn’t the focus now. We must put all our efforts into rescuing Burning Bone. Once he returns, we’ll deal with the rest.”

An elderly Nascent Soul later-stage cultivator spoke up.

The surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators showed respect.

This senior figure was an old precedent of theirs; while they were still in the Golden Pill stage, he had already been a Nascent Soul True Immortal. Older even than Immortal Jianyang, he had provided considerable care for the younger cultivators and was known for his integrity.

”We shall respectfully follow the command of Immortal Huojian!”

True Master Void Square, Immortal Sangui, and others all bowed in unison.

The group ceased their quarreling and, combining their strength, they activated the Formation Method within the Ancestor Temple of the Sect, relying on the Soul Lamp of Immortal Burning Bone to cast the Sword Dao Tracing and Locating Skill.

Dozens of Nascent Soul True Immortals took action!

Various Sword Intents clashed in harmony, sands flew and stones raced, angry winds roared, and the celestial phenomena within hundreds of miles were thrown into utter disarray.

After a long while, everything calmed down.

”Nothing,”

”We can’t find him.”

Immortal Huojian’s face looked extremely grim: ”No matter what, we can’t locate Burning Bone’s whereabouts, not the slightest trace. It’s as if he vanished from the world.”

”All we know is that his last known whereabouts were at the Li Clan of White Maple Mountain, a subordinate force of our Sect.”

”Let’s go!”

”I want to see who dares to offend the Great Sun Sword Sect!”

Immortal Sangui bellowed in fury, with his Escape Light flying forth and dozens of other True Immortals quickly following, each radiating a murderous aura.

After an unknown length of time, dozens of True Immortals descended upon White Maple Mountain. In their rage, they searched intensively but found nothing. In their frustration, they annihilated the entire mountain and then raged through various locations controlled by the Great Sun Sword Sect, stirring up a maelstrom of bloodshed and slaughtering countless lives.

This immediately caused alarm among the surrounding powers, with everyone feeling in danger.

Nascent Soul True Immortals from each power urgently gathered, watching the movements of the Great Sun Sword Sect Nascent Souls closely, not daring to disperse for years to come.