Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Jiang Ding took a deep breath.

After six years on the road, the sight of greenery before him stirred his heart slightly, but that feeling quickly vanished as his figure slowly faded away.

Even if Divine Sense swept over him, it couldn’t find anything.

”Magnetic Concealment Skills!”

Over the years, through continuous comprehension by his avatar, he had recently achieved minor success. With the amplification of the Taiqing Flying Sword, even Nascent Soul Monks in the early stage couldn’t detect him when face to face.

Mid-stage Nascent Soul Monks, if they weren’t carefully scanning, would likewise fail to notice him.

Before him lay the Northern Plains, rich in water and grass, vibrant with life, and more vast and magnificent than the Three Kingdoms’ Cultivation world, and its dangers matched its splendor. No longer could someone at the Golden Pill Peak roam unhindered.

”Divine Crow Immortal...”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

If it had not been for this person, he would still be cultivating in peace in Tushan Immortal City until his strength peaked before considering venturing out, by which time he would have been much stronger than he was now.

But now, that was not possible.

Burdened with a bank loan of a billion from the Xianmen Sect, he couldn’t afford to relax.

”Safety first,” he decided.

”Don’t rush; it doesn’t matter if there isn’t an opportunity.”

Jiang Ding planned, ”The loan from the Immortal Sect can be settled. If all else fails, I can always take out a loan to pay for another one, shameless as it is, but the Array Spirit of the Central Bank of Immortal Sect will forgive me.”

The main reason was his exorbitant consumption in sword refining.

At least thirty million low-grade Spirit Stones were needed each year, only then could the Taiqing Flying Sword grow rapidly. He definitely needed a domain to rule for that.

He stepped into the grassland.

In an instant, tiny threads of Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi from all around started to flow towards him, turning into slender streams that poured into his Elixir Field.

Jiang Ding’s Divine Soul relaxed, and he felt much more comfortable.

The Soulless Desert was truly torturous for Cultivators.

Now, back in an environment rich in Spiritual Energy, it was like a fish returning to water; his entire being became cheerful in body and spirit.

After feeling it for a moment.

Jiang Ding stood up, hovering in the air, and his Divine Sense gently swept across the grass, erasing the faint tracks of his two feet.

He extended his Divine Sense fifty kilometers.

Concealing his form, he flew off into the distance.

Soon, dozens of cattle and sheep appeared before him, followed by a young boy riding a donkey.

The boy was small and lean, with dark skin and worn-out sheepskin clothing. In the bitter cold of winter, his body shivered constantly as he curled up tightly on the donkey’s back.

”A poor-looking herding boy,” thought Jiang Ding, silently observing without taking action.

After the herding boy drove the cattle and sheep to this area with more abundant grass and water, he let them graze and forage.

He himself was shivering as he pulled out a cold, hard plant stem, something like a potato, previously roasted, with a blackened skin.

He didn’t bother to brush off the charred skin and just bit into it, consuming it in a few bites, then licked his fingers clean.

The stem was only the size of a fist, hardly enough to fill his stomach.

The herding boy rested for a moment in a place sheltered from the wind, then stood up and rummaged through the grasslands, picking up pieces of dry hard cow dung. He stacked them into small piles before collecting them all into a hemp net bag he carried on his back.

Occasionally, when he found berries or similar fruits, his face lit up with joy. He ate some and saved some for later.

If the cattle and sheep strayed too far, he would quickly herd them back.

For several hours, the nomadic boy’s time passed in the same way. He looked exhausted but dared not rest too much, constantly collecting dry cow dung and gradually piling it into a hemp rope net that grew bigger than himself, which he dragged hunched over.

”The herders of the grassland work even harder than many of the tenant farmers who cultivate the land.”

”The grasslands are too barren.”

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

In the following days, he spent his time surveying the surrounding area for thousands of miles. It was a normal nomadic living and production society with no abnormalities, and his Taoist disciple’s sensitive Divine Soul detected no warnings.

During those days,

the nomadic boy, besides the short two to three hours per day, spent the rest of his time busy collecting dry cow dung and berries.

The harvest was quite fruitful.

He filled seven or eight hemp net bags with cow dung, which were tied to the backs of several docile cows, and even his riding donkey was laden with several bags. He could only carry a large bag of berries on his back as he followed the flock step by step back home.

Suddenly, the nomadic boy felt a chill at his brow.

It was so slight that even he did not notice, simply assuming it was a drop of water from the sky, which was a common occurrence in the wilderness.

He touched his cheek and continued to lead the flock forward.

He did not see that behind him, a young man in blue was silently pondering something.

”This is the grazing land of the Bone Blade Tribe.”

Jiang Ding browsed the copied memories of the nomadic boy and sent a stream of Spiritual Energy equivalent to a Blood and Qi class Elixir into the boy’s heart as recompense.

”This is a medium-sized tribe with a population of nearly ten thousand.”

”The nobles of the tribe—ah, he knows this—the title is Chief of Ten Thousand, along with Priests, Chiliarchs, and the like... all of them with the surname Black.”

”The Black Clan are naturally supreme nobles of the grassland, all the tribe leaders and Priests are descendants of the Black Clan—it’s as natural as air, sunlight, water, breathing. No one finds it strange; it’s inherent, without any reason.”

”No matter how brave a warrior is, even if he can hunt eagles and kill wolves alone, and be invincible on the battlefield, he can never become a tribe leader or a Priest.”

”Otherwise, Longevity Heaven would bring down punishment, making his body rot and causing him to die.”

”Only the supreme nobility of the grassland, the descendants of the Black Clan, can become leaders and Priests and possess all of the tribe’s cattle, sheep, horses, and women.”

”After that, there’s nothing much else, just herding every day, picking up cow dung to hand over to the masters, or else getting whipped.”

”The common people live in misery.”

Having read through the nomadic boy’s memories of the past decade or so, Jiang Ding’s eyes flashed: ”The good news is, I haven’t taken the wrong path. This is the territory of the Liudao Sect’s Beast Dao. Otherwise, who would let a group of Black Clan mortals rule here, and just like that for so many years, generation after generation.”

”Next, it’s time to find the core of the Beast Dao Black Clan, Beast Spirit City.”

”Divine Crow Immortal is highly likely to be in Beast Spirit Immortal City, which boasts a fourth-tier Low-grade Spiritual Vein, sufficient for a Nascent Soul Monk to meditate in peace.”

”Then, while Divine Crow Immortal is away, I’ll kill him.”

”Done.”

”I refuse to believe that in the midst of war and chaos in Diabolism, the Liudao Sect would have Nascent Soul Cultivators who are diligently searching and are so deeply attached to this place.”

Jiang Ding swiftly made a plan.

With a flash of his figure, he soared through the air and arrived at the center of the Bone Blade Tribe, amid the large tents guarded by many grassland warriors.

A bearded man with a sword at his waist closed his eyes in meditation, his True Qi having reached the Internal Qi Energy Zenith, as he was attempting to break through to Xiantian.

He opened his eyes, revealing a hint of confusion, and closed them again.

”There’s more information.”

”The location of the Black Clan Khan Court is in that direction if I’m not wrong; traces of Black Clan Cultivators should be found there, and by finding them, the location of Beast Spirit City can be determined.”

With all of his Concealment skills deployed, Jiang Ding did not make contact with anyone and flew slowly across the sky.