Chapter 3: Missile Control Artifact

Jiang Ding noticed that among the missile swarm, three missiles glowed exceptionally bright.

They flew in a triangular formation, now to the left, now to the right, sometimes suddenly accelerating past a hundred missiles to scout, sometimes slowing down to fly side by side with the others, blending in until no special traits could be seen from the outside.

In less than half a second, these images vanished; the sky was empty, and the only sound was the children's loud crying.

Boom! In the distance, first came an intense light—a flash visible even in daylight—then, seconds later, a deafening roar drowned out the crying, followed by a searing gust of heat rushing past.

"... You mere Foundation Establishment ninth layer brat! I have roamed for over two hundred years..."

A faint voice drifted through the wind, so soft it could be entirely missed if not for attention—Jiang Ding, in his special state of focus, caught fragments of it.

The voice carried immense emotional power, brimming with furious resentment.

Then, nothing more was heard.

This Gong Fa is vast and profound; though it appears merely a sword technique, it encompasses all things—the principles of linguistic talismans, the mathematical and physical foundations of arrays and inscriptions, the biological structures of human bones, muscles, and the meridians and flesh of spirit beasts and demons—all are contained within it; the better one masters these related disciplines, the deeper one's understanding of the sword art becomes.

This % novel {first; release, > Please! Visit { to read!

"Jiang Ding, have you washed your sword?" Jiang Yuan shouted. "When you practice, you get dust and sweat on it—you can swallow it, but I can't!" "Relax, today I used the school's issued sword."

Following his perception, he finally found it beneath the bus stop sign.

The white bird flapped its wings and flew toward the distance.

Ding! 25.4 yuan! Jiang Ding ignored her flailing arms and added a little more money, ordered two takeout meals, and warned: "If you keep acting this way, I'll report you to Mom and take away your grocery privileges—she won't want her son malnourished."

"That's called a Missile Control Artifact."

If the helmet felt clumsy and heavy, the seller also included a pair of contact lenses—capable of housing a communication module and linking to drone camera feeds—though they offered zero protection.

He had picked it up at the bus stop three days ago—not by accident; at the time, still at school, his soul had trembled, suddenly sensing something profoundly important, a bloodline connection, appearing somewhere.

After a moment's hesitation, Jiang Ding opened the drawer.

For such a heavenly opportunity, Jiang Ding's first reaction was disbelief.

"I'll take the risk."

"Mr. Jiang, your takeout has arrived. Please sign for it. Lingshan Fang thanks for your patronage."

A brilliant flash of swordlight appeared, flickering three times, then flickering three more times before returning to the scabbard.

Of course, it was her money—when it came to Jiang Ding's money, she spent it generously and freely.

The main purpose of the Cold Weapon elective is to cultivate one's disposition and understand the combat methods of external enemies of the Immortal Sects.

This little thing has the nature of a Pixiu—she has an extremely obsessive habit of hoarding money; she has never spent more than ten yuan on anything since childhood, not even Xiao Fei Xianzi's figurines could make her spend.

Entering the elevator, he opened the door to see a chubby-faced little girl absorbed in watching TV, not turning her head: "Jiang Ding, I bought the groceries. They're in the kitchen."

"Dad contacted me today—just asked if I was studying well and if I was healthy... Should I respond to him?"

Jiang Ding's face was expressionless. He pulled out his phone and dialed 110: "Perfect, I'll report him. What's his name?"

The two stared at each other for a full three minutes.

Jiang Ding, face resting on his knees, jolted awake, rubbed his eyes, wiped away drool, and stumbled off the bus half-asleep.

Jiang Ding felt reassured, murmuring to himself: "Even if there's a problem, it's one that can fool a Soul Transformation Grandmaster. Such beings' games of strategy won't erupt within a hundred years—that would be too undignified."

There were also four rotary-wing drones, flying at two thousand meters altitude, equipped with HD cameras and micro-sensing radar, capable of clearly observing human and animal movements within five kilometers on the ground—if the opponent didn't conceal their aura, they could even roughly sense their cultivation level.

"Uh, Jiang Ding..."

Seeing Jiang Ding still staring into the distance, the bus driver casually said: "It can be enchanted with special spells—Acceleration, Flight, Concealment, and Sharpness. A Foundation Establishment ninth layer cultivator can attach it to a missile and pose a threat even to a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Jiang Ding spread out the tomato, still spherical, seven slices thick and even, nodded in satisfaction, then sighed: "Still need to cut it in half before cooking—this isn't something a Body Refinement cultivator can do with a single sword strike; it violates basic mechanical principles... If I had True Qi, it'd be easy."

Jiang Yuan grumbled.

!.

Jiang Ding pinched the broken sword tip between two fingers—it felt warm and soft like jade, not like metal.

Moral Education: 137 points.

"Could it be a fragment of a magical artifact?"

In the kitchen, Jiang Ding stared at the lone three eggs and one tomato inside the plastic bag.

"Thank you for visiting Lingshan Fang. We hope to see you again."

The bus was much emptier now; Jiang Ding squeezed into a seat beside the driver.

Manufactured by Lu Ban Military Technology Co., made of bulletproof material, capable of reshaping to fit the human body, with maximum strength able to withstand two close-range pistol shots, and equivalent to a fully cultivated Inner Qi cultivator's full-force strike with a sharp weapon.

"Jiang Yuan!"

The panicked crowd gradually calmed; many, still shaken, used their phones to confirm relatives' safety, chose to walk instead of riding—but most passengers returned, as walking was too far.

Speaking of which, though his Chinese and Math scores were bottom of the class, his sword skill was quite good—even stronger than the Inner Qi cultivators in his class. According to his teacher, with a few more years of effort, he might even touch the threshold of understanding "Yi."

"The air raid alarm stopped so quickly—probably the interdimensional cultivator has been killed. But how many died...?"

As a child, Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun nearly had his body usurped when an enemy infiltrated the Immortal Sect's confidential department and stole its secrets.

Amid the honking, the stalled traffic slowly resumed flow.

Jiang Yuan's face fell. She turned away: "Fine, I admit it—I used this money and my savings to buy Xiao Fei Xianzi figurines."

Jiang Ding used to cry every day begging for his father, but as he grew older, he rarely mentioned him.

These items consumed all his childhood lucky money and all the money his mother gave him since Gao San to buy supplements for his martial training—totaling just over twenty thousand yuan.

Jiang Ding stood up, opened the window, pulled a delivery slip from the bird's belly, wrote his name on it, slipped it back in, and took the takeout bag from its claws.

Jiang Ding glanced at the conflicted Jiang Yuan, then closed his eyes.

Back then, his father—who had grown up with his mother since elementary school—must have cheated, secretly having a child older than Jiang Ding. "Understood."

Jiang Yuan, ever since entering junior high, had become impolite. She was adorable when she was in elementary school.

He waited a long while, but nothing happened again.

Having made up his mind, Jiang Ding wasted no time. He picked up a half-person-tall cardboard box, grabbed his ID and medical card, and went to the hotel at the entrance of City No. 1 Hospital to rent a room.

Jiang Yuan was indignant, but in the end had no choice but to concede, scanned the code and transferred the money.

Spherical, like a glass basketball, able to ward off poison, able to self-supply oxygen for an hour, able to withstand several full-force attacks from a Great Completion martial artist without the slightest damage, and also able to connect to drone viewpoints and communication modules to receive superior orders — one of the standard pieces of equipment for immortal-gate infantry combat.

"Not bad!"

Compared to mid- and high-level cultivators, ordinary mortals were far too fragile.

Jiang Ding's father had divorced his mother not long after Jiang Yuan was born, and from then on, his mother had brought the two of them to her own house here.

There was a precedent: more than eight hundred years ago, a Once Had a Realm Nascent Soul cultivator lost his nascent soul and body in a war, escaped with only a remnant soul, and disguised himself as an old grandfather to hide within the sea of consciousness of Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun, who at the time was still a mere Qi Refining junior cultivator.

After eating, washing the dishes, and finishing today's homework together with Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan made plans to hang out with her classmates, while Jiang Ding returned to his own room.

Rongcheng City First Hospital, the best public hospital in Rongcheng, had rich experience treating knife wounds, gunshot wounds, and poisonings — as long as one's head wasn't smashed on the spot, even severed hands and feet or a ruptured heart could be saved.

An embroidered-red broken sword tip appeared before his eyes, two finger-widths in size, very dainty, with a jagged break as if it had been snapped off by some brute force.

The Rongcheng Array Spirit Computer was a sub-spirit of the Central Array Spirit Computer, and its database was linked to the main body — it was almost equivalent to the vision of a Soul Transformation great power; if there were any clues, it would surely be able to detect them.

"Jiang Ding!"

Taking a deep breath and not crossing over immediately, Jiang Ding opened the cardboard box.

Fulin Jiayuan was a twenty-year-old, dilapidated residential compound — property purchased by Jiang Ding's maternal grandparents when they were young — with a total of seven floors: because of air-defense safety requirements, buildings in general did not exceed seven floors unless guarded by formations.

"Fulin Jiayuan, arriving. Next stop, Baizi…"

One set of camouflage uniform, including shoes and a pair of transparent tactical gloves.

Every invasion by extraplanar cultivators would cause massive civilian casualties.

"Anything's fine, suit yourself, just don't tell Mom."

Going through the student medical insurance, the price wasn't too hard to bear either.

The driver deliberately took a long detour.

No matter how high one's swordsmanship, a submachine gun burst would drop them; if the firepower felt insufficient, one could simply pick up a heavy machine gun and lay down suppressive fire — even Qi Refining cultivators would have to temporarily fall back and take cover.

Tock-tock-tock! At the seventh-floor window, a palm-sized white bird gently pecked at the glass with its sharp beak — one heavy, two light — its claws clutching a beige pouch.

Jiang Yuan was still looking at her Xiao Fei Xianzi, while Jiang Ding sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, the jet-black sword sheath laid across his knees, silently pondering the "Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Art."

Jiang Ding's heart skipped a beat; he called his mother and his sister — fortunately, both were far from that area and were unharmed.

Mom often worked overtime, and since the school was close to the vegetable market, Jiang Yuan was in charge of buying groceries every day — this one was extremely dishonest.

Jiang Ding did not open his eyes.

Jiang Ding shook his head, switched his phone to the payment-receiving code, held it in front of her, and said nothing.

No need to worry about not being able to find someone — apart from private places like the bathroom or home, the vast majority of public areas were under the surveillance of the Rongcheng Array Spirit Computer, which was also one of the reasons extraplanar cultivator invasions could be dealt with swiftly.

Soon, a passably decent plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes came out of the wok and was set on the dining table.

Jiang Ding got up, went to the kitchen, washed the last remaining tomato, placed it on the cutting board, and put his hand on the sword hilt.

"Very good."

Without any delay, he went straight to the city library where the Rongcheng Array Spirit Computer was stationed, and used his once-a-year student privilege to get a full-body checkup.

The test results showed no problems whatsoever.

Jiang Ding could only see that the place seemed to have an extra patch of ruins, with red mixed in among it; beyond that, nothing else was visible.

The air-raid siren cut off abruptly.

"Xiao Fei Xianzi, we're the best of friends…"

Only it was of absolutely no use.

"Um…" Jiang Yuan's eyes darted around, glancing here and there: "I ran into the school bully, and most of the grocery money was taken."

Blocking the television, Jiang Ding was speechless: "Even embezzlement has its limits, okay? You think the two of us are birds or something?"

Over the years, through relatives like his uncle, he had also formed some guesses about the circumstances of his parents' divorce.

The instant he touched the broken piece, an instinct surfaced, letting Jiang Ding know that this broken sword tip was named 【Red…】 — so long as he willed it, it could carry its host across to some other world.

One tactical panoramic helmet.

"Besides, this is just my wild guess — the overwhelming probability is still that no great power would be bored enough to scheme against a nobody like me."

"Don't call me by name."

"Speak."

Clang!

"Mm."

One could say he was armed to the teeth.

And at the very, very end, he had also bought a pile of common medicines like cold medicine and Yunnan Yunnan Baiyao in his pocket, and pinned to his chest was the Heaven King Life-Preserving Spirit Pill that his mother had once spent half a year's salary to buy him when he was small.

"That's that, then."

Jiang Ding steeled his heart and triggered the broken sword tip — in an instant, the world spun.

(End of chapter)