Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

He turned himself in,

and changed into the shirt with blue pants and white stripes.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy walked expressionlessly through the cold prison, the smell of disinfectant pervasive at the tip of his nose.

”Jiang Ding,”

”Accept the government’s reformation honestly, and become a better person when you get out.”

A chubby prison guard spoke sternly, ”At your age, you should have gone to a juvenile detention center. I don’t know why you’re here. Study a skill well while you’re inside; you can make a living with it once you’re out, and it’ll be useful when looking for a job.”

A year had passed, and the initial interest spurred by ”Cultivators” had long since faded.

The lifespan of ordinary humans wasn’t enough for them to remember such distant matters, let alone something as niche as a scientific academic newspaper.

Television celebrities would be a more likely memory.

”Yeah, I got it.”

Jiang Ding glanced at the guard and walked into his own cell.

”Sigh...”

The chubby guard behind him sighed and shook his head, feeling that another troubled youth was beyond saving.

Jiang Ding flung his prison garb aside and sat cross-legged.

As a Golden Pill Monk, he didn’t need food to survive.

But prison wasn’t hermitage.

You don’t just commit a crime, come in for a retreat, and that’s the end of it—there’s no such good deal.

Jiang Ding glanced at the prison’s daily schedule.

He had to get up at seven in the morning, have breakfast, then exercise for half an hour, followed by forced labor from eight to twelve, rest from twelve to two, and continue with labor from two to six.

From six to eight in the evening were classes on moral thought, studying the ”Security Law” he violated, various clauses and cases, videos of Golden Pill Monks repenting and starting anew.

Only from eight at night to seven in the morning was it time to sleep or log into the Xianmen Library for study, but he was not allowed to connect to the network, only to read documents and books.

It was now seven forty-three in the morning.

Jiang Ding straightened up a bit and stepped out of the prison, following his fellow prisoners for the morning run.

”One two one”

”One two one...”

In neat queues and chanting slogans, they all ran under the watchful eyes of the guards.

In the crowd, Jiang Ding was inconspicuous.

There were people of all ages around him, middle-aged and young, from all walks of life, not daring to cause the slightest disturbance under the watch of the guards.

”Hey! Dari Swordsman... Jiang Ding!”

”Over here, look over here!”

Suddenly, there was an excited shout from not far away, ”How come you’re here too, lad?”

”Aha!”

”I knew it, a guy like you can’t stay idle, it was only a matter of time before you came to join me.”

”Hahaha!”

Jiang Ding looked up.

Indeed, he saw a tuft of bouncing yellow hair, bobbing up and down with the running, beneath which was a skinny young man with a pallid face, excitedly looking at him as if he had seen a confidant.

Jiang Ding remained silent.

Faced with the facts, he didn’t know what to say.

”Li Ritian!”

”Behave and reform, don’t make trouble!”

The surrounding guards scolded harshly.

”Yes, yes, officer...”

Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch quickly apologized with a smile, not daring to say more and kept his head down to continue running.

After the run, everyone was out of breath. They tidied themselves a little before going to their respective stations to start work.

”Hey, Dari Swordsman!”

Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch greeted Jiang Ding; their workstations were close to each other.

This was no coincidence.

Jiang Ding scanned the pile of components in front of him with his Divine Sense. They seemed to be parts for an Optical Formation Engraving Machine, requiring the Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul level to manufacture, accompanied by a Jade Slip.

Jiang Ding took a look.

Inside was a description of a production method for high-precision parts of an optical array inscription machine named RST-7857. It was a simple process, demanding only precision in Divine Sense.

Next to him, it seemed like the work station of the Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch was for components of a fortress-level heavy cannon. These required God-transforming Level Divine Sense to manufacture—simple, yet impossible without God-transforming Level Divine Sense.

This was the labor reform for high-level cultivators.

It wasn’t about sewing clothes and making minor repairs.

The two work stations were close to each other, naturally meaning that their cultivation bases and strengths were similar. High precision production workshops were required for the reformation, which was why they were placed together.

”Senior Sun Extinguisher, long time no see,”

Jiang Ding sighed.

He began to work using Divine Sense and Mana to produce the RST-7857.

”How did you get in here?”

”Do tell.”

Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch was brimming with enthusiasm. He felt that as the host, it was his responsibility to entertain the new junior brother: ”Let me tell you, the waters in this prison run deep, things that common folks wouldn’t know...”

He prattled on.

”Senior, you’ll find out once you’re outside,”

Jiang Ding didn’t want to say much, focusing on his work.

”Come on,”

”I have something good to show you.”

Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch looked around, confirming no one was watching. Then, with a sly manner, he stealthily handed over a book: ”Take a look. This is a treasured secret of mine, never to be shared. Had you not been Wei Chi’s student, I wouldn’t have let you see it.”

”Senior, don’t mess with the forbidden. We’ll receive additional punishment...”

Jiang Ding immediately sensed something amiss. He leaped away and checked the surveillance monitors, gesturing to show he was definitely not involved.

But before he could react further,

a book had already appeared in his embrace, and escape was futile.

”Forbidden material?”

Upon hearing his words, Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch was taken aback, revealing a sleazy smile: ”Actually, I do have that, but you’ll have to wait...”

”No, no, no,”

”Senior, I was just joking, just joking.”

Jiang Ding could hardly bear it, glancing at the book in his arms.

”Xiandu First Prison Sentence Reduction Experience Summary — Li Ritian.”

”Is this the real deal?”

Jiang Ding was surprised as he quietly flipped through the pages with Divine Sense: ”Xiandu No.1 Prison was established on December 6th, 5477. The first prison director was... the current prison director is... there are 759 prison guards...

Over the past thousand years, there have been more than 780,000 people who successfully had their sentences reduced. By summarizing their experiences, as well as the personal preferences of prison directors and guards, I believe...”

Jiang Ding’s gaze was unwittingly captivated as he read on.

The data inside was detailed and well-referenced, covering changes in legal stipulations over ten thousand years, interpretations of current policies, and even some frontier discussions in legal philosophy by the Xianmen Sect, along with potential impacts that situations in the Outer Realm might have on sentencing laws and regulations et cetera.

Any section of it, if taken out, could easily outclass law professors from all the major Xianmen schools.

A grand and impressive work.

”What do you think? Not bad, right?”

Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch was proudly smug: ”This is my labor of love, yet to be published, unseen by outsiders.”

”You’re definitely formidable, no doubt about that,”

Jiang Ding was genuinely convinced.

He did a quick calculation; with this highly applicable summary of sentence reduction experiences, his three-year sentence could be reduced by up to one year, meaning he only needed to undergo reformation for two years.

Without any reservation, he took some time to share the incident of inadvertently performing the preliminary version of the Destroying Golden Sword, then introduced the article.

”Senior, I believe your Grest Sun Pursuit Skill, ’Daily Pursuit Heavenly Soul Locking Skill’ could be improved by focusing on Golden Causality, tracing enemies throughout the heavens and earth with origin gold,”

Jiang Ding suggested.

Xianmen cultivators view intelligence as their lifeblood.

If they could lock onto their enemies faster, more accurately, and from a greater distance, it would allow a large number of cultivators to survive on the battlefield and could even affect the initiative in Domain wars.

”Seems reasonable...”

When it came to serious matters, Sun Extinguisher Heavenly Monarch put away the study materials he had cherished for years, postponing his plans to share. He pondered the feasibility with earnest concentration.