Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding opened the military intelligence brief specially supplied to the Immortal Sect Generals.

”... The Seven Great Immortal Sects deployed their troops to Xuanwu Heavenly Palace without a moment’s delay, and immediately launched attacks on their respective targets in the Small Worlds.”

”... The armies of Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, both within and beyond the Domain, have been consistently defeated in battles against the Immortal Sects and have suffered near total losses, unable to resist.”

”We have observed that, aside from places that put up a fierce resistance, all Cultivators from Xuanwu Heavenly Palace were escorted out of the territory by the Seven Great Immortal Sects without any difficulty.”

”... No battles involving Masters of Refining Nothingness have erupted; the conflict has been confined to levels below Refining Nothingness...”

”Could this be a trap?”

”Do the Eight Great Immortal Sects want to lure the Immortal Sects beyond the range of their Formation Methods in order to annihilate our battered troops?”

”But this also looks like a golden opportunity, where the Immortal Sects could easily gain control of numerous Small Worlds without paying a substantial price during the internal strife of the Eight Great Immortal Sects...”

Jiang Ding, reading this, felt as though he could sense the hesitance and excitement in the hearts of the staff of the Immortal Sect Military Committee.

The internal strife among the Eight Great Immortal Sects left many Small Worlds undefended, almost as if they were there for the taking!

This was indeed a tantalizing prospect.

”... Yuan, the Divine Mechanism Heavenly Monarch and other seniors believe that the opportunity for war has not yet arrived. If no battle between Great Experts of Refining Nothingness has occurred, no Masters of Refining Nothingness have been brought to the brink of death, and it is confirmed that they could be slain, then this is not war, just the Eight Great Immortal Sects playing amongst themselves...”

”... The Immortal Sect’s Diplomat, an Immortal stationed at Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, is requesting a meeting with the powers of Xuanwu Heavenly Palace and has received approval. Their efficiency is surprisingly high, far beyond expectations. At this moment, the Immortal Sect’s envoy to Xuanwu Heavenly Palace is hurrying to the Nine Heavens Celestial Palace...”

These were the main points of the intelligence.

The Immortal Sects had not yet decided whether to attack or not, still hesitating, and only making preliminary mobilizations.

”An internal war within the Eight Great Immortal Sects, huh?”

”If only it could result in bloodshed, the blood of Refining Nothingness.”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

”If the powerhouses of Xuanwu Heavenly Palace are willing to help us take down two Immortal Sect Great Powers at the cost of their lives, I am willing to guarantee it with my Sword Intent. Xuanwu Heavenly Palace will be accepted by the Immortal Sects, enjoy special autonomy within the Immortal Sects, retain the Ancestor Masters’ sacrificial heritage, and the Sect’s name, and all Cultivators of Xuanwu Heavenly Palace will be treated favorably.”

”Hatred, we can let go of that.”

”We only need the lives of two Great Powers, a small request.”

These thoughts surfaced in his mind.

Jiang Ding opened his computer, polished these personal perspectives, transformed them into a paper, and sent it off.

This was requested by the Immortal Sect Military Committee, every General had to write a strategy paper to serve as one of the references for the Immortal Sects’ decision-making.

Afterward, he closed his eyes to Cultivate.

The bigger picture was for the seniors to handle; currently, his knowledge was limited, his judgments not precise.

Regardless, the most important thing was his own Cultivation Base.

Ignoring the turmoil of the outside world, he focused on his cultivation.

In the tranquility, ten years swiftly passed by.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes and practiced Inner Vision Dantian. His mana had increased a bit. He estimated that in another forty-two years, three months, and twenty-seven days, he would be able to advance to the Golden Pill Peak, with an error margin of less than three days.

These ten years passed without disturbance.

”The battle between the Refinement Void Level powers of the Eight Great Immortal Sects never did break out.”

Jiang Ding looked over the brief and sighed slightly, ”That old turtle from Xuanwu Heavenly Palace has an impressive capacity for endurance. They lost twenty-one Minor Thousand Worlds yet managed to keep their composure, willing to look at the bigger picture. Their temperament and forbearance are commendable indeed.”

During this period, the Xianmen Sect and Xuanwu Tiangong also went through intense negotiations, with each side making concessions and compromises.

However, the bottom line for the Xianmen Sect was that they must see a Master of Refining Nothingness on the brink of death, a situation that offered a chance for a killing blow, and Xuanwu Tiangong must create this battleground situation no matter what.

This was not an impossible demand; Xuanwu Tiangong could potentially achieve it.

A Great Expert from Xuanwu Tiangong might risk his life, burning a portion of his Life Energy and Essence Blood instilling fear with bravery and killing intent. It wasn’t necessarily impossible for the loosely allied Seven Great Immortal Sects to struggle equally, driving a severely wounded Master of Refining Nothingness to the brink of death.

This was also a proof of commitment, to prevent Xuanwu Tiangong from suddenly switching sides with a strike.

Regrettably, the experts of Xuanwu Tiangong could never agree to this bottom line of the Xianmen Sect.

Therefore, the Xianmen Sect could only watch without moving half a step out of the Star Field Level Army Formation.

And the Great Experts of Xuanwu Tiangong did not come out to stop their Sect’s Small World from being continuously consumed by the Seven Great Immortal Sects, until in the end only nine Minor Thousand Worlds remained, rendering the Sect’s tens of thousands of years of effort in expanding its territory futile.

After this battle, the Seven Great Immortal Sects gradually withdrew their troops, not provoking any further.

As a result, the Domain calmed down.

The internal reports issued by the Immortal Sect Military Committee estimated that this peace would likely last for thousands of years, until the lifespan of the eight Great Experts approached its end.

That’s when the great calamity of the Xianmen Sect would arrive.

However, that was a matter for the Celestial Lords of Immortal Gate and the very few true Immortals and real people.

Currently, among the hundreds of billions of people in the Xianmen Sect, 99.999% of the citizens would not live to see that day. They would spend a peaceful life in the years to come.

Not just them, but their tens or hundreds of generations of descendants as well.

For them, peace had truly arrived.

”This is a good thing.”

”The development rate of the Xianmen Sect is surpassing that of the Eight Great Immortal Sects. The outcome will at least not be worse than today.”

Jiang Ding appeared very relaxed, rising to fly towards the classroom.

Currently, he barely participated in any classes other than those taught by Yuan; if there was something he didn’t know, he could simply discuss it with others. His Divine Sense and Immortal Path foundation were enough to support him, no longer needing the lecturing style of teaching.

Apart from Yuan, the other Spirit Transformation Heavenly Monarchs were the same—if they didn’t understand something, they would just go and ask.

The locations of these Celestial Lords were quite fixed; apart from seclusion and tasks, they mostly spent their time at the Golden Palace contemplating Immortal Techniques, discussing and researching with each other, occasionally having Dao Lecturing Conferences where real Immortals and Celestial Lords would give speeches, or perhaps pitch projects, seek investments, and form research teams to develop things needed on their Immortal Path...

Now, the Golden Palace had truly become the academic center of the Xianmen Sect, where all kinds of talents could be easily found.

While studying, Jiang Ding also connected to the network through his Divine Sense, dividing it into several parts, each with its own tasks.

One was the Elaborate Method Spiritual Puppet, which, while contemplating magic, was responsible for teaching at the Qingfeng University Adult Swordsmanship Department, welcoming and seeing off students year after year, cultivating a continuous stream of Sword Dao talents for the Xianmen Sect—a task that showed no signs of ending anytime soon and would likely continue for thousands of years.

One was developing spiritual duplicates of Divine Sense.

Mainly the ”Great Sun Nascent Soul Art” and the ”Nine Heavens Immortal Spirit Sword Casting Technique,” two important Immortal Techniques related to the Nascent Soul and the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation.

For the former, Jiang Ding and the increasingly strong Sword Dojo research team were absolute leaders, Zhang Junsheng approaching retirement and deep slumber couldn’t help him much.

For the latter, it was Heavenly Monarch Wan Ji, the material science expert, and his team who were the main force, with Jiang Ding only playing a supporting role in Sword Dao consultancy.

The days of the Xianmen Sect were like this: busy yet fulfilled.

Daily cultivation, refining Flying Swords, refining the Super Warship Great Sun, developing needed Immortal Techniques, participating in scientific research projects of other seniors to provide Sword Dao technical support, cultivating the new generation of Swordsman Cultivators...

Time flew swiftly.

Before he knew it, thirty years had passed.