Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

The courtyard.

Under the direct sunlight, Jiang Ding sat cross-legged with two swords on his knees, the longer one measuring one meter three, an ordinary sheathed steel sword, and the shorter one forty centimeters in length and three point five centimeters in width, similarly laid across his knees.

The short sword shone under the sunlight, and it was evident that the sunlight around the sword and within three inches of the blade was significantly brighter.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to regulate his breath, and unwittingly, he had grown fond of basking in the sun.

Especially when strands of comfort emanated from the Talisman Sword, the golden sunlight filling the sky seemed even more amiable to him.

The First-order Golden Fire Bamboo Paper and the First-Order Great Sun Spirit Gathering Array, both naturally affinity to the sun, could indeed achieve their maximum growth only under it.

Three days had passed, and his Essence Blood had begun to merge with the intricate Array Patterns preliminarily.

"Go!"

Jiang Ding lightly tapped a miscellaneous tree more than ten meters away.

Whoosh!

The Talisman Sword flashed, cutting through the air and slicing the tip of the miscellaneous tree cleanly into two, leaving a smooth cut before returning to its original place and lying quietly on his knee.

Its speed had reached that of arrows, becoming invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people and posing a significant threat to martial artists with minor completion in the Internal Qi Realm.

They could easily deflect arrows, but a Talisman Sword was not as rigid as an arrow.

"The extreme attack range is fifty meters, the effective attack distance... thirty meters,"

After numerous tests, Jiang Ding mused, "Continue tempering and nurturing it, and it can grow further, but at most a hundred paces, a hundred meters-- that must be some kind of limit."

Then he took out a jade bottle, poured out some white liquid, and evenly covered the golden-red Talisman Sword with it.

He also channeled Inner Energy into the sword, causing the white liquid to boil immediately as gentle Spiritual Power was absorbed by the blade in wisps and strands. The sword conveyed waves of comfort, strengthening its bond with him.

This was Baiyuan Liquid, which Jiang Ding had the Sihai Business Association send over from decades-old medicines commissioned online from an Elixir Refinery, enhancing the growth of the Hundred Step Flying Sword by several folds.

It had to be said, the Immortal Cultivation Technology System of Xianmen was so comprehensive it was frightening. Even the most obscure items had technological reserves.

Although the Alchemist from that refinery had never even heard of Baiyuan Liquid, after consulting recipes from the Xianmen Library and giving it some thought, they could effortlessly produce it.

All the Elixir-making techniques belonged to the same system, the same standards, with no difficulty in understanding at all.

Half an hour later, Jiang Ding finished nurturing the Talisman Sword. He set it under the sun and poured sufficient Inner Energy into it, letting the First-Order Great Sun Spirit Gathering Array within naturally operate and gather the essence of the great sun along with Spiritual Qi, refining the sword's body.

Meanwhile, he closed his eyes to regulate his breath, with the whirlpool in his Elixir Field spinning and Inner Energy surging through the twelve primary meridians and slowly into each of the smaller branches, tempering and nurturing them.

Three days later, the damage caused by the deficit of Essence Blood was initially healed. Currently, he could barely refine over ten minor meridians each day. To fully recover, he reckoned it would take about ten more days.

Three days ago, Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan almost tied him up to send him to the hospital, and it took him great effort to calm them down. After promising numerous assurances and producing proofs from the Cultivation Room, he barely scraped by.

Once Dragon Three returned with the Blue Luminous Butterfly, he would immediately go back to Xianmen.

These few days had been like this, feeling insecure in his weakened state. If not for the extreme importance of the Blue Luminous Butterfly, he wouldn't even have wanted to come here during this time.

...

"Daddy, tell me, why would someone who could steadily get into the Qianling University Taoism Department choose to cultivate the Hundred Step Flying Sword?"

At the dining table, a family of three was having a meal. Hua Bing curiously asked.

She had clearly seen the scene earlier that day with her Divine Sense, but she didn't mention it out of respect for the person's privacy. Wu Tianli must have done the same.

Eating with family every day is quite rare for Foundation-building cultivators. They usually cultivate for ten days to several months at a time, with a schedule that varies greatly from ordinary people's.

"Hundred Step Flying Sword?"

Hua Bing's mother, also a Qi Practitioner, was startled upon hearing this term and warned cautiously, "You must not cultivate that harmful thing. The increased range and power of controlling a Blood Refining Magic Tool provides no use for us Xianmen cultivators."

"I know!"

Hua Bing replied discontentedly, as if she thought they treated her like an ignorant child.

"Daddy, why do you think?"

Her eyes shimmered with curiosity.

"Being able to be admitted to Qianling University's Taoism Department, hmm, that's also quite talented, yet cultivating the Hundred Step Flying Sword..." Hua Zhentian picked up a leafy veggie and after a long contemplation, he said,

"It shows he is very ambitious, perhaps even to the point of madness. It's best not to be too closely associated with him."

He leisurely swallowed the last bite of his meal.

"Why?"

Hua Bing was taken aback, unable to associate the words "crazed" and "ambitious" with that elegantly handsome youth.

"Great Sun Sword Pavilion's lost chapters, 'Great Sun Sword Cultivation Method,' an Outer Realm Tao Son level cultivation method."

"It can forge an unsurpassed foundation, but the materials needed for its creation are practically unobtainable. Even if one could acquire lesser materials, the difficulty of the method could cause one to deviate and die from cultivation deviation."

"You can look it up in the Xianmen Library; any cultivation method that can enhance one's aptitude is well-known."

Hua Zhentian explained:

"Many people covet its effects and have attempted to refine a knockoff of a knockoff; the materials for which can be obtained by foundation-building cultivators. Yet, nearly all of them have failed due to cultivation deviation, it's too difficult, and some who have lost their sanity have caused a bloody incident."

"That's why I told you not to become too involved with him; such a person is a hidden danger, capable of attacking anything at any time. Yet strangely, cultivating such unconventional methods is not illegal, and there isn't much that can be done about it."

"In its heyday, the Great Sun Sword Pavilion controlled forty-two small thousand worlds populated with people, endless in population. Even with such a base, only nine potential Tao Sons were selected every ten thousand years, and in the end, only one succeeded."

"I understand."

Hua Bing replied solemnly, his trace of curiosity towards Jiang Ding vanished.

Hua Zhentian felt greatly relieved.

...

Ten days later.

During these ten days, Jiang Ding had been exceedingly cautious. He had not left the house and was constantly aware of the surveillance drone's footage. He would leave immediately whenever Dragon Three delivered the Blue Luminous Butterflies. Huang Deyou, wanting to report on the business of the shop, was left to resolve matters on his own.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

In the sky, a talisman sword darted back and forth, many of the withered yellow leaves didn't even have time to hit the ground before being sliced in half. Countless leaf fragments fluttered through the air, with not a single complete leaf managing to reach the ground intact.

With ten days passed, the essence blood had completely fused with the complex array patterns, capable of autonomously continuing to gather Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi and the essence of the Sun, sustaining and growing in strength, now able to be exposed to the air.

The effective control distance reached fifty meters.

The speed had further increased, posing a serious threat to martial artists at the Great Achievement of Inner Qi and requiring those at Internal Qi Perfection to handle cautiously.

However, the structure of the array pattern was still quite fragile, and it was necessary to always cover the sword body with inner energy to prevent any loss.

Jiang Ding's pallid complexion had also fully recovered, with inner energy surging through his body, refining the small collateral channels within the twelve primary meridians in their peak state.

"Finally, my recovery is complete..."

Jiang Ding's spirits lifted, he drew his sword and danced, a regular arc lit up, followed by a series of sword shadows emerging, filling the entire space of the small courtyard, and then disappearing one by one, with the talisman sword merrily weaving through them.

After a session of practice, the inner energy in his body was greatly consumed, and Jiang Ding ingested a Ginseng Essence Qi-transforming Elixir.

At once, a warm and continuous stream of spiritual energy spread from the abdomen, his whole body feeling warm, even softening the meridians considerably.

"Hmm?"

Jiang Ding was startled.

This was his first time taking the Essence Qi Elixir when not severely injured, and he immediately felt a difference; it seemed like the reconstructive nature of his meridians had become much stronger?

Without daring to neglect this opportunity, he circulated the inner energy of the "Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique" in a meditative state, allowing it to fill the major and minor meridians before expanding into the unrefined tiny branches.

A slight pricking pain – this was the damage inflicted on the meridians during the process of expansion, which needed careful repair with inner energy, a process to be repeated back and forth.

However, a gentle spiritual force surged forth spontaneously, healing the damage to the meridians.

Jiang Ding instinctively continued to extend, sustain damage, and be repaired, with the speed being at least ten times faster than the previous on-step-at-a-time waiting process.

"Is this an elixir above the common grade?"

Jiang Ding's heart was shaken: "Then, aren't all the clan heirs who can continuously provide elixirs considered prodigies?"

With a slight turn of thought, he dismissed this speculation.

Having elixirs on hand would naturally be much faster, but to achieve his efficiency, one would need the "Eagle Taking Off Sword Technique" to reach a high level of mastery.

Without further ado, he immersed himself in the relentless nurturing and refining of the tiny meridians.