Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

The practice talisman paper unfolded, covering the entire size of the desk.

Jiang Ding held the talisman pen, traced lines with the spirit ink on it little by little, inscribing runes accurate to the micrometer level; his skill in the Thousand Threads Traction technique reached its extreme.

This martial skill was much easier compared to the Art of Small Concealment; having already achieved great proficiency with continuous shooting and talisman drawing, a strand of Inner Energy could be split into a hundred strands, which offered many advantages in precise control.

The final stroke was completed.

Jiang Ding took a deep breath and, with slight trepidation, channeled his Inner Energy into the completed First-Order Great Sun Gathering Spirit Array Diagram.

Hiss~

A wisp of light blue smoke rose, and the center of the array diagram turned pitch black.

"Failed again..."

Jiang Ding sighed softly, collecting the recyclable waste talisman paper and taking out another piece. His whole body's Inner Energy surged, seeping out from his fingertips, and he continued to inscribe.

Once, twice, all failures.

He had grown accustomed to it.

The First-Order Great Sun Gathering Spirit Array was much more difficult than other array diagrams; he had failed hundreds of times over several days, wasting a large amount of practice talisman paper and spirit ink.

Fortunately, the school sold these practice materials at cost, which was barely affordable.

This was the happiness of being born in the Xianmen Sect.

In the outer realm Cultivation World, just this practice alone could bankrupt a mid to early phase Qi Practicing cultivator from an ordinary family.

The seventh time, the eighth...

The twentieth!

While Jiang Ding was focused on inscribing the array diagram, the various details of the miniature Spiritual Vein relics he had seen in the underground cavern of Fierce Tiger Village suddenly appeared in his mind, including the internal patterns that were exposed when he completely destroyed them.

His brushstrokes became divinely inspired, and his Inner Energy hastened its flow, enabling him to smoothly finish the last stroke.

A faint spiritual light flickered on the practice talisman paper.

"It worked."

Jiang Ding had an intuition, and as he infused his Inner Energy into the talisman paper, a spiritual light indeed flashed by, then vanished after a few seconds.

Practice talisman paper doesn't have the ability to hold formations and spells—it can only verify whether the inscriptions were correct, which was the sign of success.

While this burst of enlightenment had not yet faded, Jiang Ding hurriedly took out another piece of practice talisman paper and continued to inscribe.

Failure.

Failure.

Success.

...

After two failures, he succeeded time and time again; he had essentially mastered the array diagram of the First-Order Great Sun Gathering Spirit Array.

"Now only the First-Order Flight Formation remains."

Jiang Ding was invigorated.

As soon as he mastered the First-Order Flight Formation diagram, he could begin the Cultivation of the "Talisman Sword" in the first phase of the "Great Sun Sword Cultivation Method (Jiang Ding Edition)," initially possessing fighting prowess.

If the 'Heavenly Sound Stone' taken by the Jindao School truly was the legendary Taiqing Spirit Iron, he could hope to complete the third phase "Iron Sword," and really refine a Sword of Dao Foundation, having a foundation and heritage equal to a Taoist disciple of the Nine Great Immortal Sects of the Outer Realm, with a smooth future path in Cultivation.

Even if it wasn't, he could still use the 'Blue-Gold Potion' to exchange for Thousand-year Soul Nurturing Wood and No. 21 Synthetic Geng Metal. After refining the Sword of Dao Foundation, his foundation and heritage wouldn't fall short of the excellent legitimate descendants of the Golden Pill Monks.

After a brief attempt,

Jiang Ding discovered that the 'First-Order Flight Formation' and the 'First-Order Gale Formation' had many similarities, both transforming the First-Order Great Sun Gathering Spirit Array and converting the stored Spiritual Energy into wind to gain a thrust similar to a rocket's.

The difficulty was lower than that of the First-Order Great Sun Gathering Spirit Array, and he should anticipate learning it within half a month.

"Then I need to consider the matter of the talisman paper."

Jiang Ding mused to himself.

According to the descriptions in the "Great Sun Sword Cultivation Method (Jiang Ding Edition)," any qualified First-Order talisman paper could be used to make a Talisman Sword and practice the first layer of the Sword Technique, but naturally, he wouldn't settle for just that.

He immediately collected the specimen and released the Blue Luminous Butterfly, his figure vanishing in a flash.

After the Cui Bird took away the Blue Luminous Butterfly and the specimen, Jiang Ding turned on the computer, logged onto 'Rongshu Net' and began searching for materials related to talisman paper.

During this period, Jiang Ding had all of the specimens collected, including the Blue-Gold "Blue-Gold 2413" component of the Blue Luminous Butterfly, expedited to the laboratory that discovered it — Beidou University's Affiliated Biological Research Center — commissioning them to extract the substance. The price was one tenth of all the blue luminous butterflies collected.

"Qingzhi Rune Paper Co., Ltd., produces First-Order Qingzhi Rune Paper. With an affordable price and stable spiritual power, it is the perfect companion for your talismanic path. One sheet for only 9.3 Spirit coins or 3,500 Mortal coins."

"First-Order Feima Spell Paper, produced by the Feima Group, offers high quality at a low price, and express delivery within one day in Qian Province. Only 9.2 Spirit coins or 3,400 Mortal coins."

...

A whole row of information refreshed on the screen.

Only cultivators can produce First-Order spell papers, and they must be purchased with Spirit coins.

Moreover, if mortals or mortal-made machines are involved in the production process of the rune paper, Mortal coins are also required for payment.

The First-Order spell paper is a fully competitive and mature market with little price variation, mostly around 9 Spirit coins.

The price isn't cheap; a Qi Practicing Phase cultivator without special skills often earns only one Spirit coin for a day's work.

Although the Xianmen Sect doesn't support exchange between Spirit coins and Mortal coins, it doesn't prohibit it either.

On online intermediary platforms, one Spirit coin often sells for a price of twelve or thirteen hundred Mortal coins, with occasional fluctuations.

"Special First-Order spell paper."

Jiang Ding changed his search criteria.

"First-Order Qinglin Paper, made from the scales of First-Order monster Qingyu Carp, offers a boon to the drawing of water attribute spells. Depending on the circumstances, it can enhance the power of First-Order water attribute spells by 5%-10%, priced at 26 Spirit coins or 18,300 Mortal coins."

That price is a lot more expensive.

It's nearly a month's salary for a Qi Practicing Phase cultivator at the earlier stages, and the boost is less than ten percent; a luxury suited for the wealthy.

Jiang Ding looked at one after another, and finally took a liking to a few.

"First-Order Gold Iron Carp Talisman Paper, made from the scales of First-Order monster Gold Iron Carp, enhances the casting of gold attribute spells. Depending on the circumstances, it can amplify the power of First-Order spells by 20%-25%, priced at 80 Spirit coins or 85,000 Mortal coins."

Hiss~

Jiang Ding took a sharp breath; for a mere 10% increase in spell power, the price had nearly quadrupled.

As for the fact that they were all some type of carp, he was aware of that.

The Xianmen Sect had already conquered spirit beast breeding technology, and among them, various carps like Qingyu and Grass Carp had been bred over the years as the highest meat-producing spirit beasts. Their flesh, bones, scales, and skin all have a wide range of uses. They are extensively farmed in the Xianmen Sect's seas, and legends even speak of a Golden Core period Fish King.

"First-Order Spirit Nurturing Paper, made from the leaves of the ninth generation Spirit Nurturing Tree propagated through cutting, aged one hundred and thirty-five years. Depending on the circumstances, it can enhance First-Order illusion and Divine Sense spells by 30%-50%, priced at 641 Spirit coins or 4.52 million Mortal coins."

Way too expensive.

Jiang Ding glanced at it and gave up immediately. Even if he sold all three of his centennial Spirit Ginseng, he wouldn't be able to afford it. Such items related to one's Divine Soul are far too costly and yield a low cost-performance ratio.

For an ordinary Qi Practicing Phase cultivator in the early to mid-stages, it would take more than ten years of wages, without eating or drinking, to afford it.

The Mortal coin price was surprisingly high, suggesting that a substantial amount of mortals had been used as staff in the maintenance and harvesting of this nine-generation Spirit Nurturing Tree, and that they had been employed for a very long time.

Spiritual materials related to the Divine Soul are all luxury items.

"First-Order Golden Fire Bamboo Paper, large size, capable of depicting overlapping arrays. Made from the leaves of First-Order Golden Tip Fire Bamboo found within a thousand miles radius from the old den of the Panda Flower in Southern Shu Province. Depending on the situation, it can boost the power of First-Order fireball, Golden Knife, Golden Arrow, and Bullet Attached Spirit spells by 40%-50%, priced at 301 Spirit coins or 120,000 Mortal coins."

For the Talisman Sword, he certainly had to choose spell paper with either wind or gold attributes.

"This is the one."

After careful comparison of various spell papers, Jiang Ding finally settled on the First-Order Golden Fire Bamboo Paper.

The sword, sharpness is paramount.

Priced at 301 Spirit coins, it was somewhat costlier than the centennial Spirit Ginseng. Spirit Ginseng could be used to create elixirs that increased the speed of cultivation, which was one of the most coveted items for Qi Practicing Period cultivators.

This price could only buy one piece of spell paper, not even a finished product.

As for the double-stacked arrays, it meant that two related array diagrams or spells could be depicted at the same time, mutually enhancing their power.

Jiang Ding was interested in using it to inscribe the core array methods in the Talisman Sword: the Great Sun Gathering Spirit Formation and a special Sharp Gold Array.

With no Spirit coins left for the remaining floating and flight spell papers, Jiang Ding had to choose the most common Wind Spiritual Spell Paper, refined from the scales of a First-Order Wind and Rain Carp, capable of enhancing wind attribute spell power by 20-25%.

He also purchased First-Order Spirit Ink, opting for the most reliable and traditional type.

After a round of shopping, two out of three centennial Spirit Ginsengs were gone.

The remaining Spirit Ginseng was used at an elixir shop, where he had the Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixir concocted to accelerate his Internal Qi Cultivation, in exchange for a partial payment in medicinal herbs. The effect was much stronger than ordinary elixirs.

It was just too wasteful, for Spirit Ginseng could be used to concoct elixirs that increased the cultivation speed for low to mid-tier cultivators.