Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

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Above the ruins of Fierce Tiger Village, more and more people were gathering.

There were clerks from the Sihai Business Association itself, as well as idlers hired from the city. Amidst the coming and going, they loaded onto the wagons everything of value left in the ruins of Fierce Tiger Village: food, iron and gold, fabrics, medicinal herbs, and so on.

Those with a keen eye carefully tallied and found to their amazement that a total of thirty-two large wagons were loaded!

A few local ruffians, who on ordinary days prided themselves on their martial prowess, suddenly felt envious, but that feeling soon vanished when they saw the bandits' corpses being hauled from various places and piled up in stacks. The heads were chopped off, preserved with lime, and placed on a few wagons specially set aside for this purpose.

Their hearts felt as though doused with a bucket of cold water, and all greed dissipated.

"The Fierce Tiger Village, which has roamed Dongling for over a decade and was known as 'Sky-holding Tiger Lu Jingtian', is just gone like that?"

An old man who was moving things mumbled to himself, his eyes distant.

A few days before, members of the Sihai Business Association walked with their heads held high, their steps so light that they seemed to carry the breeze with them.

"After all, the Sihai Business Association is a major trading company in Yue Country, not to be trifled with…"

The gaze of the crowd towards them was full of respect and awe.

As for the youth in blue clothes sitting cross-legged on the edge of a cliff and facing the sea of clouds, some people looked on with curiosity a few times, but they continued with their busy work and soon forgot about him.

...

"Young master, this time we have seized 3,272 gold and iron weapons, a lot of food was burned but there are still 12,200,000 catties left, and fabric..." Dragon Three had someone place a ledger in front of him, occasionally wetting his finger to flip through the pages.

Jiang Ding was meditating with his eyes closed, listening quietly.

"Not to mention these miscellaneous items, there are nine valuable weapons, mostly those carried by bandits like Lu Jingtian and Zhou Kun, as well as that of Yang Dongsheng from the Yiqi Gang."

Dragon Three snorted coldly, continuing, "Centennial ginseng two plants, various medicinal herbs of several decades thirty-seven plants, ..."

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, finally showing some interest.

Dragon Three secretly sighed in relief.

As expected of someone from a major clan, he had been listening until his mouth was dry and his qi and blood were stirring, yet the other party remained as indifferent as if he had seen a pile of wood and stone.

"If the young master is interested, why not have the association exchange all these herbs for centennial ginseng? It will just take some time to get the goods from other places."

"So, thank you very much."

Jiang Ding bowed his hands in thanks.

"It's no trouble at all, a mere trifle."

Dragon Three stroked his beard, feeling invigorated after avenging a great wrong. He continued reading, "Thirty-two martial arts manuals, involving fist, palm, sword, spear, and more, with three worthy of attention."

"These are 'Sky-holding Tiger' Lu Jingtian's practiced 'Five Tigers Soul Breaking Blade' and 'Five Tigers Scripture', 'Sky-holding Tiger' Zhou Kun's practiced 'Apprentice of the Thirteen Style', a very rare hard cultivation method that, once mastered, along with wearing three layers of treasured armor, is nearly unstoppable on the battlefield. Many major clans would also be interested in this..."

"One top-grade Night Light Jade, forty-two pieces of rare jewelry, gold and silver..."

"Night Light Jade?"

Jiang Ding showed a strange expression, wondering if it could be the Night Pearl he had sold?

"Young master, please hold on a moment."

Dragon Three gestured with his hand, whispering a few instructions to a clerk who hurried over.

In a short while, the clerk brought over a palm-sized mahogany box, presented it with both hands, and opened it.

A blue gem the size of a baby's fist in the shape of a water droplet appeared in front of them, crystal clear, emitting a faint blue glow under the shadow of the box lid.

"Please look, young master."

Dragon Three explained, "This was discovered in that bandit Lu Jingtian's treasure chamber. It glows in the dark, slightly inferior to your Night Pearl, but it's larger and well-shaped. Even uncarved, it's a top-grade jewel and should easily capture the hearts of ninety percent of the women in the world."

Jiang Ding was immediately captivated by the blue gem.

Unfamiliar and lacking knowledge in this area, he felt by intuition that it must be something good, almost mistaking it for the Blue Luminous Butterfly.

"I'll take this one, how much do you calculate?"

Since the agreement was to split the profits fifty-fifty, everything should be strictly accounted for.

"For items unrelated to cultivation, the most they would be worth is one thousand taels. If it's more precious, I would say..." Dragon Three showed professional integrity, not flattering in his appraisal. After some thought, "How about one thousand five hundred taels?"

"Good."

Jiang Ding nodded, closed the box lid, and tucked it into his bosom.

This could not be considered a windfall; after all, he had conquered this village himself.

"Cattle, horses, livestock... Lu Jingtian, Zhou Kun, and others have rewards posted in various fortress cities..."

Dragon Three meticulously calculated the smaller accounts down to the smallest detail. Even when Jiang Ding compared the list to the one he had compiled on his miniature computer camouflaged in his outfit, nothing was missing.

In the end, he summarized, "Young master, if we calculate everything in terms of silver coins, the total comes to 226,234 taels and 771 wen."

Upon pronouncing this sum, Dragon Three himself felt a bit dizzy.

"The centennial ginseng is mine, as well as the other decades-old medicines. As for the martial arts manuals, let me look at them for a few hours," Jiang Ding stated without hesitation. "And how much will be left after that?"

Dragon Three quickly operated the abacus.

"You have half of the over 200,000 silver coins. Since it's difficult to price the centennial ginseng with silver coins, and there are hardly any precedents, suppose we call it twenty thousand taels?"

Jiang Ding nodded.

Centennial ginseng was already in the category of elixirs, and being ginseng, it was among the very top in first-order elixirs; the pricing felt quite reasonable.

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"Thirty-seven decades-old medicines are priced at 15,000 taels, and since you're only looking at the secret manuals and not taking them away, they won't be counted." Dragon Three clicked on the abacus a few times after the shop assistant picked it up, answering, "There's still 58,111 taels left. The amount is too large; we can't gather that much here in the city. We'll have to wait for the silver notes to be sent over from Yuejing."

"No problem."

...

The place that once filled the people of Dongling City with fear had now turned into ruins, gradually receding into the distance until it became a tiny black dot on the horizon.

Dozens of horse-drawn carriages started moving again, slowly heading back to the city.

Jiang Ding was sitting in one of the middle carriages, flipping through the "Transverse Refinement Thirteen Guardians" from time to time.

In the end, he decided to return to Dongling City.

The Blue-Gold Potion is not to be missed!

Moreover, if one had to choose the least likely place for a cultivator to reside within the Dongling Prefecture, it would undoubtedly be the city itself.

Firstly, the continuous activities of hundreds of thousands of humans over centuries—such as mountain mining, canal digging, and construction of city walls and houses—would significantly disrupt the landform and eventually damage any existing spiritual veins. Immortal Sects seldom settle in populous and bustling areas precisely for this reason.

Secondly, the breathing of hundreds of thousands of people would inadvertently absorb the already scarce spiritual energy in the air, turning the city into an area with 'weakened spiritual presence' within a hundred miles.

For cultivators to handle temporary affairs here was manageable, but having them reside in the city for long periods would be tantamount to torture.

On the contrary, seclusion in remote forests is much more likely to harbor cultivators.

As for the threat from the marquis' troops,

With drone surveillance, it would not be so easy to deploy large troops to attack him when he had almost perfected the Art of Small Concealment.

"'Apprentice of the Thirteen Style,' which involves external forces pounding on one's body, supplemented with inner energy and medicines, will make one's body as tough as iron and gold bones when fully mastered, impervious to swords and spears... An exaggeration, of course. An Inner Qi Martial Artist wielding a precious weapon could break it, and if one wears full-body protective armor, it would barely qualify."

"Useless. Tempering muscles and bones with external forces can damage some minor meridian branches."

After flipping through it once, Jiang Ding put it down and picked up Lu Jingtian's "Five Tigers Soul Breaking Blade."

In fact, this was the norm. Xianmen's Skills had already been refined to perfection, embodying the wisdom of numerous great minds. It was just for broadening his horizons and increasing his knowledge.

"Young Master Jiang, I, Long Zhengwu, request an audience."

Outside the carriage, an old voice came through, drawing sideways glances from the members of the Sihai Trading Company.

Old Master Long was an expert of Internal Qi Perfection. Why was he so humble towards a young man?

"Senior Long, you're being too polite. You're flattering me too much."

Jiang Ding opened the carriage curtain and welcomed him in.

"Thank you, young master, for avenging the great grudge of my Sihai Trading Company. It's unforgettable!" As soon as he entered, Long Zhengwu bowed.

"Where, where..."

"There's something... I must ask for the young master's forgiveness."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Long Zhengwu lowered his voice, "Young master, Dragon Three is a young and ignorant lad. He may agree to things that don't stand."

"Oh?"

The smile on Jiang Ding's face slowly faded.

Did the Sihai Trading Company think that he'd been so polite and repeatedly conceding because he was easy to bully?

A shiver ran down Long Zhengwu's spine.

He suddenly understood why someone as strong as himself, Lu Jingtian and Yang Dongsheng, had died under his protection, drenched in a cold sweat.

"Young master, you've misunderstood, misunderstood!"

Without any senior's demeanor, Long Zhengwu hastily said, "It's not that my Sihai Trading Company is breaching the contract, but the existence of Tianjilou is beyond my control!"

"Tianjilou? The one from the Dragon and Phoenix List?"

Jiang Ding frowned.

"That's right."

Long Zhengwu used his inner energy to wipe the sweat from his forehead, "Even though they're not very famous, they've survived the collapse of several dynasties and the destruction of many martial arts sanctuaries. They still exist to this day with spies and networks spread throughout the world, and very few secrets can be kept from them."

"Many people of higher standing have tried to discover their secrets, but all have come to nothing."

"How many experts my Trading Company has and where they are can't escape their notice. Such a significant matter can't be concealed from others, but it certainly can't be hidden from them."

"If it were something else, they'd mostly ignore it, but you're too young and related to the Dragon and Phoenix List, they will surely disclose it within a few months."

"The Trading Company is powerless in this regard; it's better to keep the previously agreed upon two-tenths split."

Long Zhengwu respectfully suggested, treating the young man before him as a senior expert.

"A few months?"

"Yes, the Dragon and Phoenix List is updated once every six months, and there are two months left until the next update."

"In that case... it's not the fault of the Sihai Trading Company."

Jiang Ding's expression relaxed, "Keeping accounts is too troublesome. Fifty percent remains fifty percent, the agreement will not change."

"This... as Young Master says."

Long Zhengwu showed a touched expression, having met many senior experts, but this young man before him was the most reasonable.

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