Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery
Chapter 731 - 712: The Immortal's Magnificent Life

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After much circling and twisting, he was over a hundred thousand miles away from the battlefield.

Jiang Ding randomly chose a desolate grassland devoid of human presence, burrowing deep underground to serve as a temporary dwelling.

—— This was mainly to guard against the possibility of Nascent Soul Cultivators passing by and probing.

At the Nascent Soul Stage, there should be very few who could see through his Concealment, even if he walked right past them.

Just now, True Master Yin Jiu's arrogant claims had unsettled Jiang Ding, prompting him to raise his safety alert level once again.

He sat cross-legged, taking out Divine Crow Immortal's Divine Soul and a dark talisman that seemed to be made of countless tiny mechanisms, its metallic sheen fluctuating unpredictably.

"Feels like I can directly view the soul's memories, let's give it a try; if there are any signs of collapse, I'll exit immediately."

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Ding didn't hesitate and sent a strand of Divine Sense into True Master Yin Jiu's Sea of Consciousness, consulting the memories using the principles of the Soul Searching magic.

This was akin to an instinct for Cultivators. Every year, he would spend a lot of time reading the literature in the Xianmen Library, mastering many minor magics and magic principles effortlessly.

Only the top-tier, more difficult magics required him to practice for years on end.

His Divine Soul delved in.

It went smoothly, with no Spirit Soul Restrictions encountered, not even any response when accidentally touching the Great Sun Sword Sect's inheritance restrictions.

In fact, those inheritance restrictions seemed faintly inclined to assist Jiang Ding's Soul Searching, but lacking the relevant lineage of a Dari Swordsman, he could not turn this tendency to his advantage.

One after another, memories buried deep within True Master Yin Jiu's Divine Soul appeared before Jiang Ding's eyes.

A warm childhood home.

A loving mother.

The arrogance and haughtiness of the direct descendants of Yin's Clan.

The grief of losing child after child as they grew up, taken away by the direct lineage to be thrown into the Blood Pool...

Within these memories, one name was often mentioned.

Yin Ping'an.

This was the name of True Master Yin Jiu.

Given by his mother, she hoped he would have a life of peace and tranquility, without disaster or illness.

However, this did not align with True Master Yin Jiu's own desires.

He had an extremely strong longing for the Immortal Path of longevity, striving by all means necessary to attain Cultivation Methods, Elixirs, Magic, and various Immortal Path resources, even under such harsh conditions.

Thus, Yin Jiu cultivated amidst hardships, continuously fathering children, paying them as a blood tax to the direct lineage.

He performed well.

In that region at the time, True Master Yin Jiu paid the most blood tax and was rewarded by the direct lineage of Yin's Clan with a Foundation Building Pill, which started his path of cultivation.

Centuries later, Yin Jiu advanced to the later stages of the Golden Pill.

And his path was cut off.

This was the ultimate limit set by the direct lineage Cultivators for all collateral family members; most Golden Pill Cultivators were only allowed to advance to the Middle Jindan Stage. He had acquired his latter stages through repeatedly proving his worth.

He was not content.

The other Golden Pill Monks around him had resigned themselves to pleasure, indulging in beauties, wine, delicacies, or calligraphy and painting—all encouraged by the direct lineage.

Especially in the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, every hundred years, masters in these arts were recorded in the annals of history, their names passed down to future generations, and they were pursued by millions, received by Immortals, achieving another form of longevity.

Yet, True Master Yin Jiu still was not satisfied; his yearning for longevity never ceased.

Therefore, when Cultivators from the vulnerable and wavering Great Sun Sect came to recruit him, he did not hesitate to join, meticulously choosing the moment to backstab a Golden Pill Cultivator from the Yin's direct lineage, achieving significant battlefield exploits, and being accepted by the Great Sun Sect, who then bestowed upon him a Nascent Soul level Cultivation Method.

After that, he spent hundreds of years in battles, fighting and cultivating, as countless comrades fell and countless more joined.

Some came from clan collateral lineages, some from simple Loose Cultivators, some from outside the Northern Plains, but without exception, all were seeking the path to immortality, all for the quest for longevity.

Their internal cohesion was terrifyingly strong; they often shielded each other from fatal attacks, and even True Master Yin Jiu was no different.

They battled for centuries.

Gradually, the once formidable enemies who had filled them with despair began to falter, and the Righteous and Demonic Alliance could no longer hold on.

Their morale was high, they advanced to Nascent Soul, step by step heading towards victory.

Alas, as they drew close to victory, the minds of the individual Cultivators within began to wander.

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After a calamity,

the Great Sun Sect split into the Great Sun Sect and the Great Sun Sword Sect. Comrades who once entrusted their lives to each other began to attack and kill one another, standing in opposition until one by one, bodies fell, Divine Souls shattered, and the corpses grew cold.

Internally, there was more and more restlessness with struggles over interests, skirmishes, and magical duels.

Even within the Great Sun Sword Sect, there was a split between the Clan Faction and the Master-Disciple Faction; gone was the former mutual trust and consideration for the bigger picture.

It was against this backdrop that True Master Yin Jiu grew disheartened. He chose what he believed to be the path that would take him further on his journey to immortality, defecting from the Great Sun Sword Sect to rejoin the Yin's, the same clan that had killed his mother and family, and once again aligning with the Liudao Sect.

True Master Yin Jiu had not let go of his hatred.

He kept his hatred deep inside, ready to settle the score once he ascended to the Nascent Soul Peak. He believed that with his own wisdom, he could switch sides repeatedly, reaping the greatest benefits until he reached the other shore of immortality.

In the end, he perished at the hands of the contemporary Dari Swordsman.

In his final moments, he was resentful and unwilling, still struggling desperately in a fight to the death.

After his failure, the image of his mother, who had left home to pursue the Immortal Path and sent him away for the last time, appeared in True Master Yin Jiu's mind.

Then, a mighty Immortal ended his life there.

"A ruthless person indeed!"

"He left behind self-detonating Spirit Soul Restrictions on his body, Divine Soul, and Treasures."

Jiang Ding quickly read through the life of True Master Yin Jiu and sighed, "It's just a pity that he lost his combat ability before he could use the self-detonating restrictions, right up until the last moment.

His obsession with immortality was too terrifying; he would never take his own life, no matter the reason, contrary to the bold threats he made to intimidate his enemies."

"What a magnificent life for a True Master."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

"If you had buried your identity and lived honestly after the battle against the Righteous-Demon Alliance, then you would have been a hero, capable of washing away any stain."

"If you had fallen into my hands, I would have let you go."

"Unfortunately, after the battle against the Righteous-Demon Alliance, you massacred countless innocents just to satisfy your own selfish desires, refining Pigeon Blood Poisoned People from a million mortals and cultivators, just to condense the Pigeon Poison Bloodline."

"Someone like you, it's good that you're dead."

"It's only right."

With those thoughts, Jiang Ding began to read the key points, especially searching for information related to Divinity Transformation. This was crucial for safety, life, and death, and everything had to be considered based on this premise.

"Nothing."

"Just like Divine Crow Immortal, True Master Yin Jiu had no contact with Divinity Transformation Cultivators or Divinity Transformation powers. The previous bold declarations were just a tactic, not the truth."

"There is one suspicious case."

"Wanyao Valley in the West Desert, this territory is ruled by the Demon Race, and there might be Divinity Transformation experts there, but there's no solid evidence, only vague rumors."

"However, no matter what, it's certain there's no Divinity Transformation Heavenly Monarch in the prime of life."

Jiang Ding breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to the main purpose of his inquiry, the Scorching Sun Spirit Iron.

He searched for a few moments.

"This..."

Jiang Ding's expression shifted between frowns and smiles, revealing joy and then becoming unpredictable.

"...The third-tier sword refining materials like the Green Wood Red Iron, Ice Cold Jade, and Melting Sword Stone all have lineages, which True Master Yin Jiu possessed, at the very least able to reduce the Xianmen Sect's fifty years of development time for the Scorching Sun Spirit Iron."

"For the fourth-tier composite sword refining materials, there are two types, Toxic Blood Green Spirit Gold and Winged Cold Silver, which should be able to shorten the time for Xianmen Sect to develop Scorching Sun Spirit Iron by a hundred years."

"And then, that's it."

Jiang Ding felt unsatisfied: "True Master Yin Jiu was too lazy, only selecting the two sword refining heritages that were useful for his personal sword refining. The Scorching Sun Spirit Iron required too much contribution from the Sword Sect, which he didn't exchange."

"Most Nascent Soul Monks from the Great Sun Sword Sect did not exchange it either, because it was useless to them."

"However,"

Jiang Ding's eyes turned cold: "Immortal Burning Bone must have it; in True Master Yin Jiu's memories, this person tried to cultivate 'Sword Sprouts' in various places, and the Scorching Sun Copper created was based on the heritage of the Great Sun Sword Sect, the Scorching Sun Spirit Iron."

"I should still make a trip there."

"Ah, I'm indeed born to toil."

Jiang Ding collected True Master Yin Jiu's Nascent Soul, intending to find a place to casually dispose of it, heaved a sigh, and vanished without a trace.