Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

In the void,

there came a thunderous rumbling of spatial fragmentation.

This fragment of the Nine Heavens, captured and refined by the forebears of the Luoxu Clan untold ages ago, was moving away from the Northern Plains, toward a distant place.

Only after hundreds or even thousands of years would it appear again, like a recurring comet.

Unless someone mastered the ancient secret technique of the Luoxu Clan’s heritage and succeeded as the head of the Luoxu Clan, only then could they control this secret realm.

At this moment, however, it was unstoppable. Forces of spatial rejection surged from within the Nine Heavens fragment, intent on expelling everyone beyond the core disciples of the Luoxu Clan, with those below Nascent Soul unable to resist.

”My Spiritual Medicine Garden, we will meet again...”

In his last glance at this fragment of the Nine Heavens, Jiang Ding’s figure became hazy and began to teleport to the outside world.

...

Outside the Luoxu Clan’s Nine Heavens fragment,

in an unknown expanse of void where fierce winds howled and skinned bones, even Golden Pill Monks could not linger long.

Two cultivators with flowing sleeves and a leisurely demeanor were playing chess.

A middle-aged cultivator with a hooked nose and a dark countenance watched the chess game intently, frowning from time to time, evidently finding that the game was not unfolding as he had anticipated.

This man was none other than the ruler of the Black Snow Prairie, the Divine Crow Immortal.

The two facing each other across the board, one with a square face and sharp mannerisms, the other exceptionally handsome -- more so than the Six Dao Saint, flawless in features and skin, indistinguishable as man or woman -- shared a resemblance to the statues found within the Luoxu Clan.

The three of them seemed familiar with each other and content with merely playing the game, engaging in it for nearly a year without much conversation.

Suddenly, the distant space grew hazy.

”It’s about to end.”

The square-faced cultivator smiled lightly and clapped his hands, then extended a finger. Swirls of Sword Qi sprang from the void, coalescing into a white piece that crashed into the solemn atmosphere of the black pieces, intersecting six realms, breaking a point on the great dragon’s spine and penetrating it.

The ebony dragon let out a wail, collapsed and scattered, revealing a large expanse of treacherously white ground.

”Heaven Transformation has lost...”

A sense of alarm struck the Divine Crow Immortal’s heart.

The two players, one from the Great Sun Sword Sect and the other from the Liudao Sect, were both Nascent Soul Monks in the mid-stage with profound reputations, who had faced off several times on the battlefield without a clear victor.

Now, it seemed this was not the case.

”Void Square, have you made a breakthrough with the ’Heavenly Void Bright Sun Canon’?”

The exceptionally handsome and androgynous Heaven Transformation Immortal also remained silent for a while before saying this.

”Haha!”

”I’ve had some fortune, indeed I’ve had some!”

True Master Void Square burst into boisterous laughter that echoed for dozens of miles, not concealing his rampant pride, typical of a Sword Cultivator who uses dominance to win others over, forthright and upright.

Heaven Transformation Immortal and Divine Crow Immortal exchanged a glance.

Moments later, Heaven Transformation Immortal subtly shook his head.

Clearly, there was no assurance of a kill, and even summoning more Nascent Soul Monks would not guarantee that the news wouldn’t leak out, which would trigger a new round of warfare in the Northern Plains.

”Fellow Daoists, how often does the Luoxu Clan’s gate appear?”

True Master Void Square asked casually.

”Every eight hundred years,”

responded Heaven Transformation Immortal gently. ”Rest assured, fellow Daoist, as long as your Sect’s Swordsman does not go to the Ancestor Temple, there should be no great matter, and it’s certain that you will acquire some opportunity, which will greatly benefit your path.”

Clearly, over thousands of years, the Liudao Sect had its designs on the ancestral Luoxu Clan, exploring it multiple times and knowing much. There was no mystery to them.

The casual remark was made because over the years, many from the Clan Faction had defected and the knowledge had already become known to others.

”Indeed, among them are some despicable loose cultivators and the like, always chaotic and rude, with no respect for laws or ordinations, including some who have wandered over from the territory of the Great Sun Sword Sect.”

”These bandits have rendered the majesty of the great sects all but nonexistent.

Heaven Transformation Immortal suggested tentatively, ”Why don’t our two sects join forces and wipe out some of them? How does that sound?”

”Well said, well said.”

True Master Void Square replied with a smile, ”If your honored sect can kill the True Master Yin Jiu who defected to the Liudao Sect and cease to instigate and lure away disciples from our clan faction, then there should be no problem.”

”Brother, you jest. How can a mere Golden Pill junior be compared with a Nascent Soul?”

Heaven Transformation Immortal shook his head and said no more.

The three of them stopped talking and watched the tumultuous void of cloud seas; no matter how the void surged, they stood still in silence.

A few breaths later, the turbulence in the void reached its peak, rays of light along with spatial fluctuations shot in all directions, and the presences of Golden Pill Monks flickered in and out.

”Rebellious villains.”

Divine Crow Immortal showed a look of disgust, his left hand turned ethereal and transformed into a black wing that plummeted from the sky, creating ripples in the void that spread out to seal off the area.

”Patriarch Nascent Soul!”

Over a dozen Golden Pill Cultivators screamed in terror, instantly burning their Essence Blood and frantically using their Life Treasures to flee into the distance.

Boom!

The sky-dropping black wing descended, and a crack appeared in a portion of the void. The more than ten Golden Pill Cultivators were knocked out of the spatial protection of the Luoxu Order, silenced, and turned into a mist of blood.

”Die!”

Divine Crow Immortal spread his black wing again, slapping it down repeatedly, churning the surrounding void into chaos, with Golden Pill Monks continually dying without any chance to fight back.

At the same time, it could be seen that the spatial protection of the Luoxu Order was truly effective; as some Golden Pill Cultivators died, many others quickly soared through the sky, fleeing far away from there.

True Master Void Square of the Great Sun Sword Sect was indifferent to the death of these Golden Pill Monks, while keeping an eye on Heaven Transformation Immortal, he carefully searched for his own Swordsman.

After a moment’s breath,

a young man with a broad nose and striking features, his head crowned with flaming hair, appeared, his face as pale as gilt paper, and his vitality weakened.

Following him, the Six Dao Saint looked even more pitiful, having fallen to the late stage of Golden Pill, his energy like a thread, looking as though he was about to die at any moment.

”Swordsman, you dare defy the sect’s prohibition and stir up conflict on your own?”

True Master Void Square was taken aback and furious, ready to reprimand harshly.

”Hm?”

”Not dead?”

Upon seeing the Six Dao Saint barely clinging to life, he breathed a sigh of relief.

”He’s actually not dead!!”

”Not dead!!!”

Following that, True Master Void Square became even angrier, losing his composure and bursting out with a scolding tone, ”Disgraceful, disgraceful, in enclosed space, failing to kill even an equal opponent and instead being gravely injured yourself!”

”Disgraceful, how disgraceful!”

”To think back in the day, our Swordsmen were unbeatable among their peers, no match for others; they could only look up to us in awe. How has it come to this with your generation? What a ghastly sight!”

”Could it be that in a few more generations, you won’t even be able to overcome the likes of the Liudao Sect’s Saint Heirs?”

”Alas, it’s fortunate your name is Scorching Sun, and not... a total loss of face. If it truly were, you might as well have slit your throat, a complete disgrace, utterly shameful! Unworthy of the Ancestor Master!”

”Uncle-Master, I...”

The Scorching Sun Swordsman opened his mouth, his face crimson.

With every word True Master Void Square said, the Swordsman’s head dipped a little lower, and lower still, until eventually, it was nearly buried in his crotch, like an ostrich, not daring to utter a word in rebuttal.