Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

'Scorpion-tailed Tiger' Xu Erniang tightly gripped her twin sabers, her palms full of sweat.

Inner Energy flowed within her meridians, her blood and Qi surged through her sinews and bones, but upon seeing the youth in blue clothes approaching, she couldn't muster the slightest courage.

"Young Master, I know I was wrong. I am willing to labor like a dog or a horse for you…" She adjusted her clothes, revealing half of her snowy-white bosom, and pleaded pitifully.

With a swing of his sword, a head fell, blood scattering all around.

'Downhill Tiger' Lang Yi growled as he fled, recklessly surging his Inner Qi, ignoring the stabbing pain in his meridians, his speed increasing by leaps and bounds.

Downhill Tiger, generating a tumultuous wind as he sped!

Speed was his forte, exclaimed by those in the Jianghu.

A streak of azure flashed by, and sword-light slashed diagonally.

Lang Yi's body stiffened momentarily, maintaining the posture of flight. Suddenly, the head and the body separated, heading in different directions.

The twin sword shadows faded away one after the other.

Jiang Ding turned his head, an expression of surprise on his face.

"You didn't run?"

The burly giant, Zhou Kun, clutched a pair of octagonal copper hammers, staring fixedly at him.

Jiang Ding's hand rested on the longsword at his waist as he steadily approached.

"Sir, being new to this place, you must have important matters to attend to. I have a proposal."

Zhou Kun, gazing intently at him, said gravely, "I've practiced robust hardening techniques since young, was taught by the Marquis' instructor, specialized in military tactics, skilled in training with and leading troops. Had I an army at my command, I would not fear even Xiantian."

"I have great plans, with much room for grand achievement in the future!"

"Oh?"

Jiang Ding made a gesture of listening intently.

"Zhou Kun is willing to labor like a dog or a horse, eager to charge into battle for the Young Master, and seize the world!"

"I don't need it."

As soon as Zhou Kun finished speaking, Jiang Ding moved swiftly, his sword lashing out.

"Then you can damn well die for me!"

Zhou Kun roared, his Inner Energy erupting wildly, his muscles bulging like hills as he hammered down his pair of meteor hammers in unrelenting succession, hammer shadows endless, his strength stirring in all directions.

Suddenly, his body stiffened.

A longsword pierced diagonally from the side, deeply embedding into his throat. Countless threads of Inner Qi streamed in, leaving his brain a mushy mess.

"Had it not been for so many children... I might have considered it, if only just a bit."

Jiang Ding withdrew his longsword, shook off the blood, and walked towards the center of the village without looking back.

Behind him, the robust black giant crashed down like a collapsing golden mountain or a toppling jade pillar.

Before him, countless fleeing villagers ran in panic, not daring to look back, fleeing through the village gate, and away from this nightmarish place.

'Splitting Tiger' Zhou Kuang and 'Gold-touching Tiger' Zhou Sheng escaped from the flames, barely reorganizing their troops, only to see a mass of fleeing villagers emerging from the distance. They didn't join the ranks but instead fled desperately for their lives.

"What are you running for?"

Zhou Kuang pulled over one of the fleeing villagers and shouted angrily.

"The second-in-command is dead, the third and fourth too, and dozens of our brothers as well…" The bedraggled villager wept, "The village chief is dead too, that man is an Evil Ghost made from those children, we're all going to die!"

"Nonsense!"

Zhou Kuang slammed him to the ground, shouting angrily, "Spreading such rumors, I'll kill your entire family!"

The chaos only intensified among the villagers who had just fled the inferno; a buzzing noise rose as they caught and confirmed the story with the villagers they knew, then decidedly joined the flight.

"Shut up!"

Zhou Kuang cleaved a clamorous villager with his axe, bellowing, "He's just one man, do you understand? He's exhausted by now! Follow me, let's surround and kill him. Each of you will get a hundred taels of silver, and ten big-breasted women!"

Now, even fewer heeded his call.

The group that had barely held together instantly dispersed, and even as the two brothers cut down several people, it was to no avail.

"Big brother! These cowards are useless. Let's go kill him together, just the two of us are enough!"

'Gold-touching Tiger' Zhou Sheng had bloodshot eyes as he shouted.

"You son of a turtle!"

Zhou Kuang kicked him in the chest, raising his axe to strike, frightening Zhou Sheng into dodging repeatedly, "Get out! Get as far away as you can, leave a line of incense for the Zhou family, just like Mom said, stay alive!"

"The village chief's great kindness, it's mine alone to repay!"

"Big brother!"

Zhou Sheng's eyes turned red, no longer dodging, understanding his meaning.

...

Jiang Ding strolled through the back of the village, occasionally passsing corpses and bloodstains, but the serenity of the night remained undisturbed.

This was where over ten carts of Blue Luminous Butterflies were stored, along with some pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses. Further back in the cattle pen, dozens of children were imprisoned, their dark eyes fearfully watching the young men armed with weapons outside.

In the chaos, some bandits took the opportunity to rob, set fires, and others tried to steal the horses to escape.

In the end, they all turned into corpses lying on the ground.

Bathed in moonlight, the blue glow flickered, the fifteen or sixteen thousand Blue Luminous Butterflies gathered here transforming the place into a mesmerizing azure fairyland.

Jiang Ding observed carefully.

The spirits of these Blue Luminous Butterflies seemed well, likely tended to by knowledgeable people previously. Fierce Tiger Village couldn't have such resources in a short time, so it was expected that the Yiqi Gang had found these caretakers.

Tap, tap~

Not far away, a burly man wielding a fine steel axe approached with murderous intent.

"Fierce Tiger Village's Zhou Kuang comes for your dog life!"

Zhou Kuang, mad as a frenzy, brought down his fine steel axe with the force that seemed to crush mountains, while the youth in blue clothes below appeared as fragile as a willow leaf in the wind.

A streak of sword-light flashed by.

A head fell to the ground, the fine steel axe flung away, crashing onto the earth.

"Do evil ones, soaked in innocent blood, also possess strong emotions in defiance of death?"

Jiang Ding sheathed his sword and shook his head, "The more they do, the more they deserve to die."

The shadow of the sword emerged, vanished, clearly visible amidst the night.

He took out a paper tube from his chest and pulled it open.

Whistle!

A trail of fire shot out, bursting into a brilliant firework in the faintly lit night sky.

...

Dragon Three, half-asleep, was suddenly jolted awake.

Looking towards the distant fireworks, a mix of excitement, doubt, and anticipation flashed in his eyes; he hesitated on the spot, uncertain about proceeding.

"Manager... Has Master Jiang been captured?"

Awoke as well, one of the attendants hesitated before speaking.

This was the most likely possibility. They accompanied Dragon Three here only because they dared not defy an old man who had lost a son and was on the brink of madness, simply going through the motions.

As for a single person annihilating an entire village, not even the biggest mouth in the teahouse would dare make such a claim.

The other attendants shrank back.

If they advanced recklessly, those thieves could eat them without leaving a single bone behind.

"Let's go."

Dragon Three suddenly said, stepping forward to leave.

"Boss..."

The other attendants showed difficulty on their faces, rooted to the spot like plants.

"You brothers have been living off the Sihai Trading Company, eating and drinking of the company's bounty; now, when push comes to shove, you don't want to act?" Dragon Three turned around, raising his knife, revealing a chilling smile.

His patience was wearing thin.

"Boss! Manager! No, no way!"

The other attendants trembled, shaking their heads repeatedly and quickly followed, daring not to utter another word.

After walking for some time, shock appeared in Dragon Three's eyes.

He had thought that following merely a firework to guide them, the journey would be difficult, taking a long time to find the right place, maybe even getting lost.

But now, he didn't even need to think about it.

In the distance, atop the cliff, flames raged; one could vaguely see buildings collapsing in the inferno, with people wailing and fleeing within them.

Some buildings had already burned down mostly, leaving nothing but a pile of blackened bricks, tiles, and embers on the ground, dense smoke looming for miles around, visible even to a blind person following the smell of the smog.

"Did he truly annihilate Fierce Tiger Village alone?"

The thought arose unbidden, and it wildly grew in the minds of Dragon Three and all the attendants.