Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery
Chapter 1000 - 969: Total War in the Northern Plains

"Sigh, but it won't do."

"I must accelerate the process."

Jiang Ding lamented, "Even if I enter a deep slumber, it would be at most seven thousand years, not a year more. It is critical to reach the Refining Void stage before those eight crazy ones meet the end of their lifespans, or both Xianmen and I will fall into an extremely dangerous situation."

"In this regard, the Horned Ming Realm might actually be a blessing in disguise, as it at least brings about some change."

Jiang Ding fell into deep thought.

If the war against the Horned Demon Imperial Clan was inevitable, Xianmen was destined to be dragged into it by those eight lunatics. It would be better to strike first, to find a way to stealthily attack and kill or capture a creature at the early stage of the Refining Void to obtain its inheritance.

That way, the Refining Void research progress in Xianmen would surely accelerate rapidly.

"Compared to my lukewarm cultivation speed, refining flying swords has been much smoother."

Jiang Ding waved his hand and summoned forth.

A three-inch Blue-Gold Flying Sword appeared in his hand; within it, the twentieth Heavenly Gang Prohibition had been refined to completion. The spirituality of the flying sword was slightly stronger, edging closer to a middle-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure.

This was the terrifying effect of the Great Sun Heavenly Pond on the Great Sun Flying Sword!

In the short span of nearly twenty years, a Heavenly Gang Ban that a regular Nascent Soul Cultivator would need hundreds of years to refine had been accomplished.

"Twenty years for one Great Sun Heavenly Gang Divine Prohibition."

"In another eighty years, the Taiqing Flying Sword will advance to a middle-grade Primordial Spirit Treasure, in both speed and sharpness."

Jiang Ding admired it for a moment then stuffed the Taiqing Flying Sword into his brow.

Clang!

But the Taiqing Flying Sword refused, pointing its tip towards the Storage Jade Pendant, conveying a yearning sensation.

"Do you desire something in here?"

Jiang Ding's heart stirred, and after a moment of careful feeling, he took out a large axe and a set of thirty-six rings, all in a pitch-black color.

These were the Imperial Weapon Prototypes from the Horned Demon Emperor.

Initially, there were five, but credit distribution and requests from the Divine Mechanism Heavenly Monarch for Immortal Gulin's cultivation left only these.

"Do you fancy this?"

"You've got taste, Sixth-Order Blood Void Sky Dark Gold, the Inheritance Divine Gold of the Horned Demon Imperial Clan."

Jiang Ding praised, then said with frustration, "But we can't use it, for there is no known method for refining swords from this kind of Sixth-Order Inheritance Divine Gold yet."

"If we refer to the method in the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's 'Nine Heavens Immortal Spirit Sword Casting Technique,' we'd need to wait until I break through to the Divinity Transformation stage and use the Heavenly Tribulation to melt it."

"That would take a long time."

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword hummed lightly again, conveying a complex emotion.

"What are you saying?"

"I don't understand..."

After a long contemplation, Jiang Ding shook his head.

"Swordsman,"

Yueling's voice immediately popped up, excitedly saying, "She says that this Blood Void Sky Dark Gold might help her make the Sword Realm Space more solid, allowing the Sword Qi and Sword Intent inside to become something akin to a half-living, half-spiritual sword."

"But that would require a lot, a very large quantity."

"And blood from the Emperor's descendants."

"Oh, that's normal, she's always been fond of blood from Dao Child-level beings."

"Can't do it, I can't manage that."

Jiang Ding rolled his eyes and put away the Taiqing Flying Sword.

The Taiqing Flying Sword flew into the Sword Realm Space, nestled in the high skies, transforming into the eternal Great Sun, its sword-light illuminating the lands and skies within the realm.

Three streams of Mysterious Yellow Primordial Qi were continuously absorbed by the Sword Realm Space, making it more condensed than when it had just advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage.

However, the distance to a complete cycle of the Sword Realm Space, and the birth of the Power of Order, was still quite far.

Jiang Dingfei left the Great Sun Heavenly Pond and headed to the conference room of Qingfeng University.

He had an appointment with Pingyang Heavenly Monarch, the clone of Heavenly Monarch Wanji, and a host of material researchers from the various sects to establish the Immortal Sect Martial Soul Research Institute to explore the application of 'intent' on Great Sun Luminous Gold.

Currently, the Xianmen Sect was preparing to invest ten trillion Low-Grade Spirit Stones in this newly established Martial Soul Research Institute for the exploration of intent.

Months later, Jiang Dingfei returned, looking utterly fatigued.

He had become one of the three vice directors of the Martial Soul Research Institute, with Heavenly Monarch Wanji as the director, and then he started the research—though there wasn't much research, really. It was all about working for Heavenly Monarch Wanji and Pingyang Heavenly Monarch, doing whatever they asked him to do, testing Sword Intent, testing Military Soul, and then describing it.

This process kept repeating.

Currently, they had preliminarily sketched out an approach, namely to treat the Military Soul of the Xianmen Sect as a type of intent, using this intent to repeatedly wash over the Great Sun Luminous Gold so it could convert into the Great Sun Luminous Gold used in the engines, barrels, and shells of the Immortal Sect Starry Sky Fortress.

However, there were still many difficulties.

The Military Soul of the Immortal Sect and the Great Sun Sword Intent were too different; harsh scrubbing was like putting two bombs together—apart from explosions, nothing else could be expected. Research and testing were ongoing, and there was still no certainty of success.

Nevertheless, one result had been confirmed.

If the Immortal Sect Fleet could really apply top-grade Fifth-Order materials from the Great Sun Sword Pavilion on Sword Intent, the Military Soul of the Xianmen Sect would surely see a substantial boost, and the strength of the Immortal Sect's Army Formation would consequently increase.

Once this result was verified, many Heavenly Monarchs immediately became excited, and the Xianmen once more invested in the Martial Soul Research Institute, with Yuan's clone joining in as well.

Jiang Dingfei returned to the Great Sun Heavenly Pond.

His life remained unchanged, dividing his attention for multitasking, splitting his Divine Soul's Computational Power into multiple threads for use in Cultivation, refining flying swords, teaching at the Adult Sword Dao Department, and working in the Sword Dojo's laboratory.

Occasionally, he would dive into the Sword Dao virtual game to duel with many Immortal Gate Sword Cultivators, absorbing and simulating their Sword Intent to fill the Sword Realm Space.

So far, the Sword Realm Space contained one thousand two hundred and seventy-six types of Sword Intent, originating from the Xianmen Sect and the Northern Plains Sword Cultivators.

These were still quite few, far less than the more than ten thousand kinds of Sword Intent from the heyday of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion.

This was because the Great Sun Sword Pavilion had not counted many similar Sword Intents; otherwise, there could have been tens of thousands of types.

This also led to Jiang Ding's Sword Realm Space being somewhat thin, an issue for which there was no remedy.

Time passed, and seven years went by.

"I need to go to the Northern Plains."

"The time has come."

Jiang Dingfei opened his eyes as the Spiritual Energy of a thousand li around slowly settled and the Great Sun light returned to normal.

Ten years were about to pass.

This was the final deadline given by the Northern Ice Field Heavenly Monarch who had once declared that if he did not release her daughter within ten years, he would bloodbath the Northern Plains Human Race, regardless of their Cultivation Base.

The figure of Jiang Ding disappeared into the Sun Abyss.

Currently lacking the escape capability of the Early Refining Void Stage, he was too lazy to bring it, and since there were people in the Heavenly Pond, he couldn't bring it with him anyway.

...

Atop the Yin Yang Magneto Spiritless Mountain within the Six Realms Separation Yang Formation,

Jiang Dingfei opened his eyes and swept his Divine Sense across all directions, receiving various reports from his subordinates.

Great changes had occurred in the Northern Plains over these ten years; political reforms were largely completed, and the will of the Tushan Central Court covered the ruling regions of the Human Race.

Agriculture, husbandry, Talisman business, and Artifact Refining had all made significant progress, with the total production value doubling.

Golden Pill Monks and Nascent Soul Monks now had several times more Treasures, Talismans, and Elixirs than before, a testament to their strong military spirit and readiness, with a strong desire to request battle throughout the ranks.

Genius disciples were constantly emerging, with two possessing the Sky Spiritual Root, while Cultivators with the Second and Third Spirit Roots and strong comprehension abilities were not uncommon.

With basic education and no longer oppressively suppressed, the talents of the Northern Plains Human Race were growing wildly like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, present everywhere.

The three main armies of the Tushan Central Court—the Tu Shan Maiden Corps, Primordial Legal Heavenly Metropolis, and Great Sun Longsword Metropolis—had become proficient in their Army Formation drills and had formed preliminary combat capabilities.

Overall, the Tushan Central Court had prepared for a full-scale war.

It was time to go to war.