Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Chapter 1279: Chapter 1247: The Second Richest of the Xianmen Sect

After Mu Tiansnow and the other person left, silence fell over the palace.

Who knows how much time had passed.

“Thousands of years, tens of thousands of years from now, will this world be destroyed?”

“Is that true?”

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

The Great Love Heavenly Monarch was not a trustworthy person.

However, what he had predicted once before had come true. Ignoring this second prophecy would be nothing short of self-deception.

The most rational approach was to assume it was true and prepare for the worst.

“What plans can I possibly make?”

Jiang Ding chuckled self-mockingly.

“In the face of an apocalyptic catastrophe threatening all life in the world, I am nothing but a mere Nascent Soul Cultivator. In the end, I can only abandon everything and flee.”

“If there are grudges to settle, they can wait for another time.”

Of course, that was the last resort.

If there was even the faintest possibility, he still wished to save this world.

Though personal interests were a factor, the key reason was that he was the strongest being in this world. Here, he had grown from a mere mortal to a Nascent Soul Cultivator, acquiring countless gains along the way.

Like many patriarchs of sects, he had feelings for this world and its myriad living beings.

Unless absolutely necessary, he would not abandon it.

…

Jiang Ding remained in this world for another twenty years.

During this time, he continuously cultivated at the Yin Yang Magneto Spiritless Mountain and deduced the structure of the Six Paths Reincarnation Sword Skill while coldly observing the changes taking place in Tushan Central Court.

Scores of corrupt cultivators and those who broke the law were dealt with one by one—imprisoned, fined, or executed as the case demanded.

Under the gaze of the supreme will, there was no room for shirking responsibilities or pretentious compliance—if there was, it was swiftly eradicated by higher-level powers, even Nascent Soul Cultivators acting personally to annihilate those blind to the situation.

With such measures, the atmosphere of Tushan Central Court underwent a thorough transformation.

The cultivation industries—spiritual plant farming, spirit beast breeding, artifact refining, pill crafting, and talisman making—flourished. The three armies of Tushan rotated in and out of the battlefield, honing their army formation techniques through combat.

Ironically, the war in the Blood Demon Abyss ended up revitalizing the world’s economy within a short period of time.

Tax revenue climbed steadily year after year, returning to about 60 billion low-grade Spirit Stones annually.

Jiang Ding cast a glance at the wealth he had left in Tushan Central Court.

Mounds of Spirit Stones towered like mountains, and treasures ranging from the First Order to the Fifth Order glittered intensely, almost blindingly, obscuring everything else from view.

“Twelve hundred years of accumulation…”

Jiang Ding swept his Divine Sense across it, swiftly taking an inventory. “Roughly 41 quadrillion Spirit Stones, 410,000 top-grade Spirit Stones. Averaging over 30 billion top-grade Spirit Stones per year, it’s clear that without proper policies and oversight mechanisms, taxation fell to just over 10 billion per year in later stages. Outrageous.”

“Forty-one thousand top-grade Spirit Stones… not bad, I suppose.”

Jiang Ding took out the jade pendant at his waist and let it float in midair.

The pendant radiated a beam of light, emanating an immense gravitational pull. Treasures and Spirit Stones surrounding it surged forth like rivers converging, flowing into this seemingly boundless storage treasure.

After the battle in the Horned Ming Realm, where he looted countless Emperor-tier storage treasures, this task was no issue for Jiang Ding.

Ten minutes later, all the Heavenly Materials, Earthly Treasures, and Spirit Stones were packed away.

“My wealth has grown a bit,” Jiang Ding estimated.

This was no boast; it was the truth.

The accumulation of wealth from an entire world over 1,200 years was, to him, merely a “bit more” wealth—not enough to be considered overnight riches.

Currently, he possessed a total of 5.92 million top-grade Spirit Stones!

Most of these were acquired from killing dozens of Emperor-tier beings—Horned Demon Imperial Clan Emperor Sons, Ancient Imperial Sons, and Ancient Princes. Among the spoils were over 20 pieces of Sixth Order materials, primarily obtained from the Netherworld Ancient Prince and eight of the Ancient Imperial Sons.

All these spoils, evaluated and distributed by Xianmen Sect, ultimately landed in Jiang Ding’s hands.

During the battle surrounding the Yama Hell Equal King Yin-Yang Inversion Array, over 70% of the loot was awarded to him. Such attribution of battle merits was consistent, unaffected by the number of participants.

At present, even excluding war merits from the Refining Nothingness phase, Jiang Ding’s amassed wealth ranked him among the top three within Xianmen Sect—possibly even the top two, second only to Yuan.

The famously wealthy Dari Swordsman had indeed earned his reputation.

Lately, this reputation had driven a flood of Heavenly Monarchs to his doorstep, submitting project applications for anything from Sword Dao Electromagnetic Applications to Yin-Yang-based Sword Dao Magic, and even Sword Dao Artificial Intelligence Applications. Every single research project adopted the latest “Sword Dao” trend, mimicking the hype surrounding graphene.

Most of these were insincere opportunists.

However, surprisingly, a handful of Heavenly Monarchs within Xianmen Sect genuinely integrated their research directions with Sword Dao, yielding meaningful results rather than merely attempting to swindle funding.

For such projects, Jiang Ding readily offered financial support. In areas of strategic importance to his own Sword Dao pursuits, he even doubled research funding frequently, fearing the recipients might run short of funds.

These research endeavors he had financed not only granted him free access to their outcomes but also allocated him ownership of a majority of the patents. Overall, the investment was worth it.

These efforts further fueled the trend of integrating Xianmen Sect’s Sword Dao with scientific research.

Jiang Ding took one last look at the developments in Tushan Central Court, confirming that everything was on the right track, thriving vibrantly.

His figure vanished without a trace.

…

Great Sun Heavenly Pond, Sun Abyss.

Jiang Ding cultivated in silence, while Spiritual Energy and Great Sun Essence from tens of thousands of miles surged toward him in torrents, coursing into his meridians and Elixir Field, converting into tiny increments of Mana.

It was estimated that, in another 350 years, he would ascend to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul.

Additionally, the version of the “All-transforming Magnetic Origin Sutra” he was cultivating was the latest one developed by Xianmen Sect, already comparable to Jing-level methods of the Nine Great Immortal Sects.

Regrettably, it still fell short of the techniques from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion.

Recently, Jiang Ding had been occupied with that matter and several other crucial issues affecting the development of Xianmen Sect.

Overall, Xianmen Sect’s Immortal Technology was advancing rapidly, though not at the desired pace. This was because Yuan, Heavenly Monarch Wanji, Heavenly Monarch Canghai, and a host of other key Immortal Research talents were tied up in the ongoing wars, unable to devote themselves to technological advancements.

What Xianmen Sect needed most right now was peace, to enable accelerated growth.

“My Sword Intent… has reached perfection.”

Jiang Ding quietly glanced at his Great Sun Destroying Sword Intent, which had already achieved perfection when he ascended to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Initially, he had been quite pleased with himself, believing he could now stand proudly above all heroes of the world.

Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Sword Sword Son had shattered his delusion with a single blow.

“Sword Intent Perfection is merely the precursor to the next stage: Sword Soul.”

“At the Sword Soul level, Sword Intent can truly take shape, manifesting as formless Flying Swords capable of instantly severing enemies’ Divine Souls. It is utterly terrifying. The Heavenly Sword Sword Son has already delved deeply into the realm of Sword Soul. I don’t even qualify to face his true form—merely meeting him would mean immediate death…”

“Although he’s probably still at the early stage of God Transformation, his cultivation is geared toward achieving immortality. He won’t rush; he builds solid foundations, possibly advancing even slower than me.”

“What a pity,”

Jiang Ding sighed deeply.

“Though we are of the same realm, a gulf in rank has already formed.”

“For now, I cannot appear in his sight.”

“No matter what.”