Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery
Chapter 677 - 658 The Path of the True Immortal Lies in Embracing All Rivers

In recent years, many changes had befallen Tushan Immortal City.

The once orderly streets had become chaotic, peppered with terrifying shops like Chunfeng Building, Soul Refining Tower, Skin Peeling Pavilion, Blood Refining Pit, and Corpse Shadow Cave, their very names enough to send shivers down one's spine.

Bodies, hearts, and blood-drenched bones were displayed carelessly at the entrance of these shops, deliberately imbued with a magic that emitted a rich stench of blood to attract customers.

Jiang Ding's Divine Sense swept the surroundings.

Apart from the city center, which still maintained its cleanliness and tidiness, the city streets were now filled with slums where Qi Practitioners lived.

The slums, with their haphazardly constructed shanties and streets flowing with sewage, reeked to high heaven, and every now and then, one could find a rotting corpse in a gutter.

The Qi Practitioners here lived lives even more difficult than those of the common people.

"Can it be?" Cultivators' productivity couldn't have fallen to such lows.

Jiang Ding was somewhat stunned.

Never mind Foundation-building cultivators who could fly through the skies and divide rivers with ease, even Qi Practitioners could deploy elemental magics of water, fire, earth, and wood.

For cultivators, constructing houses, repairing streets, and weaving vestment robes should be quite simple. While maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing or artistic, durability was hardly an issue.

If there's something you don't understand, ask someone.

Jiang Ding wandered for a moment, until he came upon a deep cave entrance, from which a gust of Yin Energy and the smell of blood emanated.

This was a hole dug into the ground; there was a breeze within, suggesting a vast inner space, and around the entrance lay scattered white short hairs.

Thud, thud!

Jiang Ding tapped lightly on the edge of the cave, producing a knocking sound as if on a wooden door.

"I pay my respects, Ancestor Tushan!"

After a brief wait, a cute short-haired girl, trembling with fear, emerged from the entrance and knelt down, her eyes wide with terror.

Her pointed ears twitched uncontrollably; her body spasmed, showing signs of intense muscle cramps. The hem of her skirt was soaked, dampening her short tail, and she also had two hind paws covered in white fur.

Her cultivation base was not high, at the Fifth Level of Qi Practicing.

"Are you a Rabbit Demon?"

Jiang Ding inquired with interest.

This was exceedingly rare in his Tushan Immortal City; some regrettable events had occurred when the city was first established, and the Demon Race was almost non-existent.

The rule of the Hei Clan seemed different, with the presence of Rabbit Demons, Bird Demons, Tiger Demons, and more, all maintaining considerable loyalty. Amongst those Foundation-building Qi Practitioners who harbored the deepest resentment and hatred, quite a few were from these demon races.

You should know, this was happening within a minute fraction of the population, where resistance was steadfast.

"I pay my respects, Ancestor!"

"I... I-I-I..."

The Rabbit Demon girl grew even more terrified, stammering without being able to utter a complete sentence, her ears reddening, her spasms worsening, and tears began to fall, wetting a large patch of the ground.

To the Demon Race, the young man before her was known as the Demon Slayer!

Millions upon millions of demons had perished because of him, driven from their homes, their races on the brink of extinction. It was only when Longevity Heaven dispatched an envoy from the Black Feather Wing that the Demon Race had any hope of survival.

Although every year they had to offer bloody sacrifices to the envoy of the Black Feather Wing and present numerous furnace cauldrons, this was considered unusually benevolent governance. The elders of the tribe spoke of this as a blessing from a benevolent demon god, worshipping the Longevity Title Plaques of the Black Angels day and night.

The Rabbit Demon girl, Yu Bai, trembled uncontrollably, recalling her elders' earnest teachings, and she felt an overwhelming sense of despair well up within her.

She wanted to fight with the desperation of a warrior of her tribe, to charge forward and splash her opponent's robe with blood, even in death, to not let down the spirit of the Rabbit Tribe.

But her body simply would not obey her!

Trembling incessantly, unable to do what she longed for, she faced an overwhelming natural predator.

In the face of this young man in green, fearsome adversaries like Tiger Demons and Bear Demons were insignificant.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person."

Jiang Ding saw her like this and soothed her, "You don't have the scent of human flesh and blood on you, I won't harm you. Not just me, as long as you abide by the laws of Tushan Immortal City, anyone who harms you will be severely punished without leniency by Tushan Law."

The further one progresses in cultivation,

the more they understand the truth behind the saying 'to be magnanimous, one must be broad-minded enough to tolerate the views of numerous rivers.'

Longevity, True Immortal.

How lofty a goal is that?

In this process, one must be meticulous and unite all the forces that can be united, never finding a hundred billion Spirit Stones too many, and picking up even a single Spirit Stone that falls to the ground to put into one's pocket, so as to give the Great Dao an extra push.

Day by day, accumulating soil to form mountains, dripping water to make seas.

The Demon Race, too, might just be a Spirit Stone lying on the ground, which can become the cornerstone on the True Immortal's path to the Great Dao.

Of course, unity is not without a bottom line.

Everything has a beginning, a fundamental.

Jiang Ding believed that the fundamental of his Great Dao lay with the Human Race, and the fundamental of the Human Race lay with the Xianmen Sect.

This is a matter of precedence and hierarchy.

This kind of distinction is so important that once the foundation is lost, the world can turn against you in an instant.

The Demon Race can be unified.

But it must be unified around humans, around Xianmen Sect, on the foundation of the interests of humans and Xianmen Sect. Only then can one seek individual and racial interests, striving for mutual benefit and a win-win situation.

Those that cannot achieve a win-win,

such as if you insist that humans are delicacies and want to eat them, feeling uncomfortable without doing so daily.

Such beings must be resolutely eradicated.

"You don't have the scent of human flesh and blood on you, I won't harm you."

Seeing the Rabbit Demon girl didn't believe him, Jiang Ding emphasized again and even performed a magic to soothe the Divine Soul.

Murky Spiritual Light scattered, and the convulsing body of the Rabbit Demon girl began to soften, the tears slowly stopped in her large eyes, the intense redness on her pointed ears lessened a bit, and the short tail behind her no longer trembled violently.

"Tell me, why are there so many slums around here, covered with such filth and excrement flying about?"

Jiang Ding asked, "Is it due to the influence of cultivation methods or what? Could it be that the cultivators here enjoy such a stinking environment, practicing magics like 'Filthy Break Evil Spirit Light' or something?"

"Ancestor,"

It took the Rabbit Demon girl Yu Bai some time to regain her composure, rid herself of the trembling instinct, drooped her pointed ears, and said carefully, "The Black Feather Wing Envoy decreed this, forbidding any alterations to the architectural style of each area. Each level corresponds to a certain environment, unless you buy a cave dwelling and pay Spirit Stones annually."

"I see."

Jiang Ding suddenly understood.

It was a deliberate creation of class differences, crushing the self-esteem of the lower-level Loose Cultivators, making their lives extremely difficult, and then providing a steady stream of manpower and materials to places like Chunfeng Building, Soul Refining Tower, Corpse Shadow Cave – not wasting anywhere.

"I understand now, thank you, fellow Daoist."

Jiang Ding left ten Low-grade Spirit Stones and turned to leave.

It wasn't that he couldn't give more, but the help provided by the other party, even with a premium added, was only worth so much; any more would have been inappropriate. It was time to start saving.

Don't think that saving a few Spirit Stones each time is trivial; over a few hundred years, it adds up to quite a sum.

"Thank... thank... thank you, Ancestor!"

Stammered the Rabbit Demon girl, Yu Bai, her heart suddenly filled with surprise.

It wasn't just the ten Spirit Stones that mattered, but more importantly, she saw a glimmer of hope for herself and her tribe to survive.