Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

”Such widespread dissemination of Nascent Soul Cultivation Methods, overturning tradition, does have a bit of a genuine revolutionary army feel to it...”

Jiang Ding watched the Northern Plains maidens, thinking rapidly.

In the world of cultivation, the importance of cultivation methods was more than ten times greater than that of land in the mundane dynasties; one could imagine the frenzy this would bring to the Golden Pill Monks of the Northern Plains.

”Blood Cloud will certainly stir up a great deal of momentum in the Northern Plains.”

Jiang Ding concluded.

Whether he could succeed or not, Jiang Ding was unsure, but his actions would definitely cause a great change in the Northern Plains.

Aside from these matters, through the Northern Plains maidens, Jiang Ding also learned about the situation of the Righteous and Diabolic Alliance, as well as the Liudao Sect.

Just like the disorganized Blood King Army, which scrambled to flee one after another, the Righteous and Diabolic Alliance also faced severe internal contradictions, namely the sharp disputes between the reformist and traditionalist factions.

Amongst them, the leading family of the Righteous Dao, the Iron Family, was extremely conservative.

The leading family of Diabolism, the Liudao Sect of the Yin’s, was neutral.

They presently had their own Saint Heirs, temporarily lacking the impetus for reform; there was not enough external pressure, and the internal Nascent Soul Cultivators were unwilling to divide their interests to foster the excellent talent and understanding of the family’s collateral branches at this time, to nurture them into Nascent Souls, increasing the family’s power while significantly diminishing their own benefits.

While firmly holding onto their interests,

the Nascent Souls of the Liudao Sect also harbored worries, their vision not being narrow or short-sighted; they could likewise see the future trends and the drawbacks of the family direct lineage system.

Therefore, they did not support nor oppose the reforms of other families, maintaining a cautious wait-and-see attitude, which was considered neutral.

The reformist faction was like the Ice Snow Palace and the Joyous Union Sect—families where the direct lineage had no successors, and the collateral lineage was on the rise, coincidentally with descendants of the contemporary family’s Patriarch Nascent Soul among them.

Based on the interests of the family’s Patriarch Nascent Soul, they unhesitatingly abandoned the direct lineage and started to support their own collateral kin.

—The descendants of a Patriarch Nascent Soul are not necessarily from the direct lineage.

Only children born to wives with direct lineage bloodlines witnessed by the Iron Family, children born within wedlock according to a set of strict standards established ten thousand years ago, are considered direct lineage.

The current situation was that forces like the Ice Snow Palace and the Joyous Union Sect wanted to reform, but were being obstructed by the Iron Family, united with a group of other families.

It was said that Rule Axe True Monarch of the Iron Family had personally visited to persuade, sparring several times with the Ice Rain Immortal of the Ice Snow Palace, each time neither winning nor losing.

Only then did the contemporary Ice Snow Holy Maiden barely survive, still commanding the army.

Joyous Union Sect was not so lucky.

Joyous Union True Monarch suffered a terrible defeat in his sparring with Rule Axe True Monarch, fortunately pulling out a win by relying on the family’s strong formation.

As a result, the wife of Joyous Union had no choice but to recall the collateral-born Joyous Union Holy Maiden and imprison her in the family’s dungeon.

Immediately after, a large number of newly rising collateral Golden Pill, Foundation Establishment, and Qi Cultivating members of the Joyous Union Sect’s Liu Family were executed.

These were all meticulously selected, with exceptional natural talent and understanding, promising to support the future of the Liu Family.

Just like that, they were wiped clean from existence.

The other families aspiring to reform, whether from the Righteous Dao or Diabolism, met the same fate; a Nascent Soul of the same standing from the Iron Family would come for a sparring session.

If the challenger was victorious, the Iron Family would tacitly approve the reform.

If it ended in a draw, they would permit partial reform, but the family had to preserve at least half of the benefits of the family’s internal interests for the direct lineage.

If the reforming family’s Patriarch lost in the sparring, like with the Joyous Union Sect’s Liu Family, they had to execute all the cultivators who offended the direct lineage during the reform process, ensuring that the direct lineage could wield all the rights and interests within the family.

Don’t even think about breaking the rules.

The power of the Righteous Dao’s Iron Family extended far beyond any single family, and they even had the strongest fighter of the Righteous Dao, the Nascent Soul Peak cultivator Tian Gui Old Monster, presiding over them.

That the Iron Family could abide by the rules, without initiating open confrontation, was a blessing brought about by the Northern Plains families’ millennia of offerings.

And the Iron Family, the strongest force of the Righteous Dao.

With cultivation methods, treasures, and magic that were profoundly mysterious, their equals were much stronger than many family Patriarchs.

Most families who sought to reform were defeated in sparring matches among peers by their family ancestors, with few, like the Ice Rain Immortal from the Mu Family of the Ice Snow Palace, managing a draw.

Masses of collateral branches of families from the Northern Plains were slaughtered.

They were not completely purged, only the top members were killed, as the families still needed them to rule over various regions.

It can be said that the struggle between reform and conservatism within the Northern Plains families, although not a large-scale war, was no less bloody than a real war.

With the neutrality of the Liudao Sect’s Yin’s and the suppression of the Iron Family, the primary force of the Righteous Dao from Rule Mountain, most of the reformist factions in the Northern Plains families failed, with only a few success stories; a large number of talented members from the collateral branches died.

This naturally caused intense dissatisfaction.

Though the Iron Family was strong, they were not yet in a position to dominate the Northern Plains alone, especially with the presence of the Great Sun Sword Sect and the Great Sun Dharma Sect, neither of which dared initiate a Nascent Soul civil war, so they had to endure each other.

In this situation, the Liudao Sect’s Yin’s issued an order, calling all parties to deploy troops and eliminate the chaotic Blood King Army in the Black Snow Prairie, which was naturally met with lip service but covert defiance.

The armies of Joyous Union Sect and the Ice Snow Palace were ostensibly mobilized but actually moved slowly; while the Liudao Sect army had already arrived, they had not even completed one-fifth of the march.

They had hoped that the Liudao Sect would surely fail against an enemy five to six times their number, leading to concessions that would restrain the reckless actions of the Iron Family.

However, the outcome was unexpectedly different.

The Blood King Army collapsed at the first touch, like a paper tiger.

Now, the Liudao Sect’s Yin’s army has completely recaptured the Black Snow Prairie and was not too keen on letting the Joyous Union Sect and the Ice Snow Palace join them, unwilling to share the spoils for nothing.

”So you see, no matter how many opportunities you have, or how much the enemy is like a paper tiger, without a well-trained and combat-capable army, it’s impossible to overthrow them,”

Jiang Ding shook his head, setting these thoughts aside.

War, brutal war.

This was, overall, beneficial for the Tushan maiden group.

As long as they survived the ordeal of war and lived, their cultivation would improve, and their chances of advancing to Nascent Soul would greatly increase.

The Cultivation Method of the Taoist Soldiers was inherently adept at rapid progress, just needing to be nurtured with death and blood.

Jiang Ding waved his hand, and two storage pouches with deep auras appeared before him, each faintly exuding the sharp aura of Sword Intent.

”True Master Yin Jiu, Immortal Burning Bone,”

Jiang Ding muttered to himself, ”You two are at least Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, don’t disappoint me.”

He had been preoccupied with the legacy of the Scorching Sun Spirit Iron and had not taken stock of the spoils of war before now.

Jiang Ding glanced at the wealth he now possessed.

”Five point seven billion Low-grade Spirit Stones.”

After refining the Taiqing Flying Sword, constructing the Great Sun Battleship, and, most expensively, building several ultra-long-range teleportation Formations, each costing ten billion Low-grade Spirit Stones, he was left with only this much.

It was enough to allow the Taiqing Flying Sword to be refined for five more years, eighteen years from now.

Jiang Ding’s Divine Sense and the Sword Intent of Destruction flowed into the two storage pouches without much effort, melting away the layers of Spirit Consciousness Restriction and traps like ice and snow, making the storage pouches ownerless.

”First, Immortal Burning Bone’s...”

Jiang Ding picked up the first storage pouch, intending to inspect it from smallest to largest.

It wasn’t that Immortal Burning Bone was poorer than True Master Yin Jiu, but because Immortal Burning Bone belonged to a Sect and generally wouldn’t carry all their possessions with them.

As for True Master Yin Jiu, the Liudao Sect would not treat him as one of their own.

Divine Sense poured into Immortal Burning Bone’s storage pouch.

”Struck it rich...”

”Two Nascent Treasures, one saber and one sword, both Low-grade Nascent Treasures, with the rest being Grade Four Spirit Mines, Elixirs, Sword Refining Materials, Talismans, etc. The remainder is entirely composed of Grade Three Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, with very few of Grades One and Two, probably placed there unintentionally.”

”The total value... roughly six point one billion Low-grade Spirit Stones, with Grade Four Spirit coin making up four point seven billion of those.”