Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

”The 11127 real combat college entrance exam has ended.”

Jiang Ding opened his eyes to see a vast expanse of white, the flame of each strike he had unleashed clearly etched in his mind, yet his body was completely unharmed—a sensation that seemed almost like an illusion.

”Results have been released, do you wish to check?”

”Check.”

Jiang Ding tapped on the score tab.

”Endorsement for the establishment of the Frontline Military Committee +10,

Killing intercepting cultivators to aid comrades in landing +5 points,

Guiding the killing of foundation-building cultivators +2 points,

Serving as the Commander of the Special Reconnaissance Brigade affiliated with the East Army Group and fulfilling its functions +60 points...”

”...Opposition to calling for artillery strikes that expanded the massacre of our own forces +10 points...”

”...Endorsement of the impeachment of the incompetent supreme commander of the army group +5 points...”

”...In the final battle, guiding Golden Core battle power with a Flying Sword, accurate coordinates for a Substitute Daoist Master of Xuanwu tiangong +30 points...”

”Total points 147, ranked second (out of a possible 150)”

”Not bad.”

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

Still too weak.

If only he had a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation base, he wouldn’t have been so powerless in front of that Substitute Daoist Master; despite the aid of so many comrades, who fought fiercely to help, and nearly a hundred thousand cannons continuously bombarding to open a path, they could only leave a mark on the opponent’s fingertip.

”The top one hundred in the real combat exam have a college entrance exam souvenir to collect, do you wish to claim it?”

The Array Spirit prompted.

”Oh?”

Jiang Ding was surprised, having never heard of such a thing before, or was it something only those in the top one hundred were privy to?

”Claim.”

A dim gray spike appeared before him, its whole body dim of spiritual light, fully turned into a lifeless object.

”Fusion Magnetic Crystal Core Magic Tool Embryo!”

Jiang Ding’s expression changed.

”It is estimated that this item will be mailed to your address in three months, please check for it.”

He thought long and hard but couldn’t understand why something from a virtual simulated exam would appear in reality.

Jiang Ding stopped thinking about it, his mind groggy, and soon, he fell into a deep sleep.

...

The Huangtong Small World.

West Desert.

Amidst the nuclear radiation, thirty-six heaven-reaching pillars were collapsing and crumbling; tens of thousands of miles of Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi whipped up like tsunamis, sweeping across the heavens and the earth and changing the entire world’s structure.

Beneath the pillars,

The hills were covered with machine puppets gleaming with silver light, inscribed with runes all over their bodies. In an instant, they lost all liveliness and spirit, moved in uniform motion, without any differentiation.

”Array Spirit, my friend, what a technique...”

A gaunt figure clad in green Taoist robes sighed as he carried an unconscious young man with bronze skin, vanishing amidst the collapsing thirty-six heaven-reaching pillars.

No one answered his remark.

Vague sounds echoed through the void.

”...Machine Puppet Troops’ 157th test complete, sending results to major colleges and universities...”

...

”Examinee Xu Jianian’s scores are as follows.”

”Endorsement for the establishment of the Frontline Military Committee +10, killing intercepting cultivators to aid comrades in landing +5 points, serving as a temporary General for the Frontline Committee and East Army Group and fulfilling its functions, +75 points...”

”...Proposal and passed vote for calling artillery strikes that massively killed our own forces -30 points...”

”...Failing to fulfil duties during temporary General rank in the East Army Group and being dismissed, attempted to attack comrades -90 points...”

”...Commanding the East Army Group’s First Division to die alongside a foundation-building troop +10 points...”

”Total score: 27, ranking 920,007. (Total score: 150)”

”This is impossible!”

”Central Array Spirit Computer, examiners, are you all blind?!”

Jiang Ding, his nose crooked with anger, cursed, ”I am at the Peak of Qi Practicing, a Second-order War Commander. Do you think a score of 27 is possible?”

”I demand an appeal!”

”There must be cheating in the college entrance exam! If I don’t get a satisfactory answer, I will report everything to my father, to my grandfather. Consider the consequences yourselves!”

...

Xu Jiezhong.

A chubby elder with big ears and a broad forehead, who seemed to be smiling all the time, frowned as he looked at the screen before him.

”Father, Seventh Brother may not be quite comfortable interacting with those commoners from the Xianmen Sect...”

Two Golden Pill Monks, who bore a vague resemblance to him, said tremulously.

The chubby elder remained silent.

After a long time, he finally sighed heavily.

”People of the Xianmen Sect call it the inevitable decay of a clan.”

”The Divinity Transformation families in the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace and other Immortal Sects dismiss us Xu’s as upstarts and disdain to interact with us.”

”Even though Xu’s have owned a Small World, it has been two thousand years.”

”How do they cultivate their descendants?”

”This...”

The two Golden Pill Monks looked at each other, unable to answer.

”Professor Liu Zhiyuan, you graduated from the Department of Social Sciences at Qingfeng University, and then went on to gain experience in Xuanwu Heavenly Palace and Taiyin Sword Sect for many years. Do you have any advice for me?”

Immortal Tianfang, as if expecting this, gestured, and a refined middle-aged Cultivator who had been standing in the distance quickly came over.

”My lord, young masters!”

Liu Zhiyuan was in the Golden Pellet Realm, wearing golden-rimmed glasses and a sky-blue Robe, exuding the aura of a scholar. He respectfully saluted the three men before speaking.

”The Divinity Transformation families of Xuanwu Heavenly Palace occupy half of the Heavenly Palace. It seems like there are many, but the accumulation over the years means that once the head of a Divinity Transformation family dies, their status immediately falls, and they must renounce a large amount of interest, surviving only by relying on the established order within Xuanwu Heavenly Palace.”

”This is the case for the great majority—thrive if they produce a Nascent Soul Cultivator, or fall if they don’t. Survival of the fittest operates within certain rules.”

”What about the few families that can produce Divinity Transformation generation after generation?”

Immortal Tianfang’s frown deepened.

The Xu’s did not have a powerful entity to rely on for their succession.

Once the patriarch of the family’s lifespan ended, it was highly possible for the entire family to perish, as it nearly happened to the Xu’s in the past.

They could not rely on Xianmen Sect, nor could they depend on the Nine Great Immortal Sects.

”This often happens after a Divinity Transformation patriarch’s direct descendants have all died. He has no special affection for all his descendants and can select the exceptional ones from billions of bloodlines.”

”Should they manage to cultivate one or two exceptional talents and acquire some fortune, they can pass down the Divinity Transformation for a second or even a third generation.”

”A third generation?”

”Yes, my lord,”

Liu Zhiyuan said respectfully, ”Producing Divinity Transformation for three consecutive generations means the family can worry not for thirty thousand years, which is extremely rare in the hundreds of thousands of years of history in the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace.”

”To ensure even longer succession, they must rely on an organization or a certain Immortal Path belief.”

”Belief, organization...”

Immortal Tianfang sighed deeply.

Father, he had personally abandoned that path.

But there was nothing to regret. His ascension to Nascent Soul consumed at least thirty times the resources of others. Without the resources of a realm in the past, he would be nothing but a pile of bones by now.

”So be it!”

”Father’s lifespan is still very long, he was well-known as a Xianmen prodigy. Even if I and Jianian should die thousands of years from now, he will still be in his prime. Perhaps he may have the chance to Refine Nothingness in the future. Let him worry about these things; why think so much?”

”Yes, father, grandfather will certainly take these matters into consideration,”

The two Xu’s Golden Pill Monks smiled gleefully.