Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding went straight out of the city gates.

Since his whereabouts had been exposed, he wasn’t going to stay put any longer.

Moreover, Yuejing was no longer a safe place, so it was natural to stay away until the situation became clear.

”A Xiantian Martial Artist, sitting amidst an elite army, yet assassinated out of thin air—it’s simply an absurd fantasy!” Jiang Ding thought to himself.

”Even a Master couldn’t do it!”

”A Master’s strength is great, but on the periphery, they would be discovered by the dense ranks of elite soldiers, and once entangled in the layers of a tens of thousands-strong army, a Master too would die!”

”A Cultivator has made a move, at least in the Late-stage of Qi Practicing.”

Jiang Ding repeatedly reviewed the drone footage and recordings of Jindaoshan Mountain, finding no evidence that the robed figure had ever left, with such intense surveillance, there’s no way he could have left without his knowledge.

”There are other Cultivators, those associated with the robed figure and the Wolf God Cult.”

Jiang Ding felt endless trepidation.

This was undoubtedly retaliation, retaliation for the previous sneak attack on Jindaoshan Mountain.

A few dozen kilometers out of the city,

Jiang Ding didn’t search for any inhabited dwellings, but rather headed straight into the mountains, seeking the most remote places, since he didn’t need to eat or drink, wasn’t bothered by rain or mosquitoes, and had very low requirements for living conditions.

Using the drone, Jiang Ding quickly found an ideal spot.

A small pond,

The water was very deep, with a large rock beside it, and the surroundings were filled with dense thorns, with no pathway leading into it. If fishing enthusiasts knew about it, they would probably deposit at least two hundred yuan into their phones, begging for home delivery of such a spot.

Jiang Ding lightly stepped and reached the top of the tree canopy, making strides of more than ten meters towards his destination.

The camouflage suit’s optical concealment was fully activated, coupled with the almost complete (77%) Art of Small Concealment, his form was almost invisible even in bright daylight, and birds and insects weren’t startled by his passage.

Landing on the large rock, Jiang Ding surveyed the surrounding environment and was slightly satisfied.

His figure vanished and reappeared, and in his hand were two items: one was a Spirit Gathering Flower Pot, necessary for the growth of the wooden sword, and the other was a stack of grey flags, twelve in total.

This was the First-Order Optical Cloaking Formation he had custom ordered online!

Jiang Ding placed the Spirit Gathering Flower Pot on the ground and methodically stepped over every spot within a fifty-meter radius, occasionally channeling his Inner Energy into the ground to measure nearby geomantic flux, usable Formation Nodes, and then calculating the positions of the Array Flags based on those nodes.

All of this was content taught in math class.

It took Jiang Ding a full two hours to return.

The main issue was the lack of Divine Sense, as he had to input Inner Energy to measure everything bit by bit, which was quite inconvenient.

”Swift!”

Jiang Ding picked up a flag, channeling his Inner Energy into it for over ten minutes in a calm and unhurried manner, then threw it, precisely landing on a predetermined Formation Node.

The quality of Eaglet Internal Force was extremely high, and by stacking quantities, he could barely meet the standard threshold to activate and maintain a Formation.

He carefully sensed with his Inner Energy, and the geomantic qi of the surrounding earth fluctuated for a moment, then calmed down after several minutes.

This was, in fact, a simplified Formation set up by the Array Flags, with solely an optical concealment effect, relatively simple. It wasn’t like the large-scale First-Order Electromagnetic Induction Fluctuation Formation, which required the cooperation of dozens of people and took a day and a night to set up.

”Swift!”

Jiang Ding input a sufficient amount of Inner Energy and threw the Array Flag once more.

Time and time again.

Several hours later, all twelve Array Flags were inserted into the pre-calculated Formation Nodes, with eleven randomly distributed and appearing without pattern, aside from the one beside him.

”Formation, activate!”

Jiang Ding channeled his Inner Energy into the main Array Flag beside him and called out in a low voice.

Instantly, a hazy glow of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet emerged between the Array Flags, flickering inconsistently. After several minutes, it stabilized.

Jiang Ding looked up and saw traces of rainbow light flickering above his head, but other than that, the sky remained unchanged.

He had an idea and viewed the area through the drone’s perspective.

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The small pond and the huge rock that were originally visible had disappeared, leaving only the vast jungle scenery, with treetops swaying in the wind, indistinguishable from any other mountain forest.

This is a First-Order Optical Cloaking Formation.

As for a cultivator’s Divine Sense, it would take someone hundreds of kilometers away to find this place.

”It’s ready.”

Jiang Ding exhaled lightly and sensed that the formation could be maintained for ten hours. It would require a new input of Eaglet Internal Force after ten hours to continue the optical shielding effect.

If embedded with a Spirit Stone, it could last for over half a month, but unfortunately, he did not have one.

Whoosh!

A pale blue Flying Sword flew out from his sleeve, landing on the flower pot. Its roots and branches grew rapidly towards the ground and sky.

Soon,

a blue-gold tree over forty centimeters tall appeared, its metallic branches trembling with excitement and joy, absorbing the Great Sun Essence and Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi to temper itself, causing the surrounding temperature to rise suddenly.

”The Wooden Sword nourishes back a bit faster here than in the city, about one-fifth faster. The Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi here must be better than in the city.”

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and felt for a moment, ”If I could cultivate in this environment for a long time, The Great Perfection of Circle of Vital Energy could come about ten days earlier.”

Not bad at all.

After all, this wasn’t some blessed land, just a remote part of the forest, and to have this effect was already very good.

Glancing at Jindaoshan Mountain,

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to temper the small branches of the Twelve Primary Channels and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

He estimated that in one hundred and fifteen days, he could temper the 108,000 large and small meridians, reaching The Great Perfection of Circle of Vital Energy, and with the positive effects of the Blue-Gold Potion, there was a great possibility of condensing a special metallic Dao Body Embryo, comparable to Three Spiritual Roots.

Moreover, there was a future in the Dao Body Embryo.

...

For more than ten consecutive days, Jiang Ding spent his time here.

During the day, he went to the school’s Cultivation Room, where under the guidance of the Formation Spirit Land, he located the tiny meridians he hadn’t yet tempered. Then he interned at the Rongcheng Steel Plant, learning how to inscribe real Magic Tool Array Patterns under the guidance of Wu Chengzhong, a First-Order Refining Master.

The rest of the time, he cultivated here, nurturing the Blue-Gold Tree and monitoring the black-robed people on Jindaoshan Mountain.

That day, he opened his eyes and gazed into the distance.

Over twenty kilometers away on the official road, a squad of heavy armored cavalry appeared, their formation tight, their long spears sharp, giving off a sky-soaring murderous aura even from a great distance.

Following that squad were seven or eight more, countless squads!

The dark Zhendong banner stood erect amidst the troops, exhaling endless murderous intent.

The heavily armored soldiers were in dense formations, with hulking siege machinery of military heritage proceeding at a steady pace, carving two deep furrows into the road as the formations stretched to the end of the line of sight.

A hundred thousand-strong army!

With a rough estimate, Jiang Ding’s breath hitched.

And among them were not fill-in conscripts or displaced civilians; the least of them was a martial artist with a small achievement in body tempering, gathered from various states in the south.

These were mere soldiers.

The officers and centurions did not conceal their prominent temples, indicating their deep Inner Energy cultivation.

The rumors that the Zhendong Marquis had the strong support of the Wolf God Cult among the Southern the Eighteenth Demon Sect were evidently not unfounded.

To this great army, Jiang Ding merely glanced over before he once again fixed his gaze on Jindaoshan Mountain, staring intently at it.

Finally,

after a withered old man arrived and saluted respectfully, the black-robed person left Jindaoshan Mountain to meet up with the army below.

”Very good, meticulous and thoughtful, another Late-stage Qi Practicing!”

Jiang Ding’s eyes blazed with flames, yet he restrained himself: ”My Half Magic Tool heavy machine gun arrives tomorrow, just wait a little longer, just a little longer...”

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