Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

At the edge of the cliff,

Jiang Ding stood with his hand on his sword, his eyes slightly closed, his Inner Energy surging through the major and minor channels of the twelve primary meridians, facing the sea of clouds, continuing to nurture and open even more of the minute channels.

The twelve primary meridians had 1,307 major and minor channels that had already been tempered and cultivated, allowing the passage of Inner Energy.

Having gone through the Micro Circle of Vital Energy, Small Circle of Vital Energy, and having achieved Completion of the Cultivation Method realm, the amplifications doubled continuously, and with the regular consumption of Hundred Essence Qi Pills, he was now able to nurture and temper 80 minor channels daily.

To reach the realm of "Large Circle of Vital Energy," it would require two hundred and thirty-four days, nearly seven and a half to eight months of time!

If one's ambition were even greater, to glimpse the next realm, "The Great Perfection of Circle of Vital Energy," with its one hundred and eight thousand meridians, it would take one thousand three hundred and thirty-three days, nearly four years!

He had no idea how long the college entrance exam had ended.

It wasn't that he wasn't strong; advancing to the Xiantian level at the age of twenty would still make him an Eaglet Innate.

It was just that the college entrance exam concentrated the most outstanding young people from numerous small worlds within the Xianmen Sect, a top Immortal Path power spanning many. There were countless youths with terrifying talents and strong backgrounds.

His achievements could allow him to follow the tail of the university's Cultivation Department, but to strive for the top, he was still far from qualified.

A sliver of the red sun emerged, flooding the sky with red clouds, and the day was already brightly lit.

Dragon Three, along with a group of helpers and several dozen boys and girls who had just been released, scurried about, picking things up here and there, occasionally showing a look of surprise and neatly sorting the items on an open field.

These youths were mostly from impoverished families, accustomed to toil from a young age, and their efficiency was not lacking.

Besides that, Dragon Three had sent messengers into Dongling City, requesting the Trading Company to send specialists in treasure hunting and secret chamber exploration to assist.

Several hours later,

a few Little Mountains had accumulated on the open field.

One was covered with iron and gold items—thousands of weapons such as swords, spears, halberds, hammers, as well as dozens of undamaged strong bows and hard crossbows plus bowstrings and arrows, all reflecting light in the sunlight.

Another was piled high with various unburnt grains, forming another mountain.

The last, albeit the smallest, was the most eye-catching.

This was a mountain of gold and silver!

Thoroughly searching the rooms of each leader, leaving no pocket or layer unchecked and sparing no effort to dig three feet into the ground, the treasure of great value was gathered here.

Especially when searching the residence of the bandit leader Lu Jingtian, they even found a secret underground chamber within his room, filled with gold, silver, rare old medicines, and secret martial arts manuals—dazzling to the eye.

For this reason, Dragon Three had to pull aside five of the most reliable and clean backgrounds among his helpers, arm them with weapons, and have them supervise everyone to ensure no one kept any treasures for themselves.

"Young Master, come with me, we've found something..." Dragon Three approached Jiang Ding hurriedly, his face unable to hide his horror.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, slightly surprised; he wasn't this shocked even when Lu Jingtian's secret chamber of treasures was discovered.

He nodded his head, not asking anything.

The two of them quickly walked to the Juyi Hall, which was charred, and following Dragon Three's lead, Jiang Ding went through a dugout passage into an underground tunnel, twisting and turning until they reached a deep underground cavern.

The cavern was spacious and naturally formed, with some modifications made by the Fierce Tiger Village. The oil lamps embedded in the walls were relit, illuminating the inside of the cavern thoroughly.

Turning around a corner,

Jiang Ding couldn't help but tremble, his pupils dilating.

In the center of the spacious cavern, a large whale oil lamp burned brightly, illuminating what was an array of piled-up white skeletons!

The delicate skeletons were stacked layer upon layer here, covering the floor, devoid of any flesh or residual innards, reflecting a ghastly white light under the flames.

"...Too cruel... These people of Lu Jingtian," Jiang Ding said, a glint of ferocity flashing in his eyes.

Continuing to move forward, they saw a half-dry, crumbling Blood Pool, occasionally creaking and burping up bubbles, and bones with remnants of flesh churned up.

"Xiexiu!" Jiang Ding's heart jolted, almost instinctively wanting to activate the rusty sword tip to return to the Xianmen Sect. It took a great deal of willpower to barely control himself.

Gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, he vigilantly surveyed his surroundings.

This method must have been done by a diabolic cultivator; even the strongest martial artists of the Internal Qi Realm couldn't achieve it.

"Young master, there's no one here."

Dragon Three lowered his voice, clearly spooked by this abnormal and eerie situation, "When we arrived, we saw this next to the blood pool."

He carefully took out a crimson blood pill from a wooden box, emitting an intoxicatingly sweet scent.

'An elixir of the blood class.'

A thought flashed through Jiang Ding's mind.

In biology class, the teacher talked about those from the Demon Sect in the Outer Realm and their theories.

Some sects of diabolism believe that humans are the most spiritual beings, and even mortals possess an innate breath from birth, which is merely obscured later in life.

If one could refine ordinary people through the methods of the elixir path or Blood Path and return them to their innate state, then it might be possible to extract strands of innate breath, which would greatly benefit the refining of treasures or the cultivation of demonic techniques.

Of course, this is a fallacy.

The biology teacher even spoke disdainfully about it, saying that the innate breath belongs to the individual, carries an individual's essence, and is difficult to refine. Even if it were refined, integrating it into oneself would corrupt one's divine soul and flesh, doing harm without any benefit.

Naturally, this elixir before him was refined with that thought process using the remnants of a formation, visibly filled with impurities, and with at least an 80% chance of causing death if consumed.

The remaining 20% might be used to break through in internal Qi, the kind that can never progress further, and would still reduce one's lifespan.

"Useless thing."

Jiang Ding showed no expression as inner energy surged from his hand, grinding the blood pill and the wooden box into countless tiny fragments.

A sense of pity instinctively arose in Dragon Three's heart, but of course, he dared not express it.

Jiang Ding placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and walked over the ruins of the blood pool, noting each detail as they corresponded one by one with the language and mathematics taught in class.

"Some of it resembles a Gathering Spirit Formation, some parts look like a Water Condensation Formation, and there are some formation scripts that I do not recognize, probably for condensing the essence of flesh and blood...

...it's very damaged; even if untouched, it will destroy itself in a few months at most. There must have been a diabolic cultivator who stayed here long ago, set up a formation, and never returned..."

Jiang Ding observed the terrain and environment closely and speculated.

"And also, a micro spiritual vein!"

"There was a very small micro spiritual vein here once, which is also the reason why the diabolic cultivator stayed here years ago, even though the vein has now dried up."

"Fierce Tiger Village must have discovered this place by chance."

Spiritual veins are not permanent, they change with the earth's veins, with the spiritual energy either increasing or decreasing, or just disappearing, with micro veins fluctuating the most.

"But this is the most optimistic view."

Jiang Ding felt a heavy weight in his heart, not allowing himself to be deceived.

"Yiqi Gang's Yang Dongsheng, the second-in-command 'Sky-holding Tiger' Zhou Kun, proficient in military strategy, and Ding Feng from the Jinlong Trading Company... what person, what power, could be connected to all of them?"

"Zhendong Marquis!"

Jiang Ding felt apprehensive, "If there are diabolic cultivators around, they must be connected with the Zhendong Marquis!"

He felt an impulse to flee on the spot. Cultivators of the Internal Qi Realm found it hard to threaten those on the path of cultivation, especially before reaching the Xiantian level.

However, how could he gather the Blue Luminous Butterflies if he left?

Counting those on the mountain, he had only gathered four hundred thousand pairs, still over a hundred thousand pairs short of the half million he needed.

This was crucial for the Blue-Gold Potion, his path of cultivation!

Clang!

Suddenly, Jiang Ding unsheathed his sword, and his sword qi surged forth, hacking the damaged blood pool to pieces, the half-dried blood mixing into the soil and quickly disappearing.

"Bring over a pile of firewood. Burn this place down."

"Yes, young master."

Dragon Three responded respectfully, voicing no objections.