Chapter 326: Every Spot Has My Escape Route

"Catfish soup, very nourishing."

"Want some?"

Jiang Ding thought for a moment, slashed out a sword qi, and minced the catfish into powder.

"Food from another realm hasn't passed strict inspection — don't eat it."

Armor-25 went into the water again.

More than ten minutes later, it floated up and was taken into the storage jade pendant.

"Quite spacious, though."

Jiang Ding flew into the pool; layers of fine, dense sword qi spread out, cloaking his body, parting the water. All around became pitch-black, leaving only the pool's mouth like a round moon of light.

After a dozen or so breaths, the pool's mouth shrank to a tiny dot — impossible to see without looking closely.

Twisting and turning through the water, feeling as though he'd gone eight or nine kilometers, in the dim view an adult-sized cave mouth appeared before Jiang Ding. He slipped inside; the water mist thinned and was actually pushed aside, not following him in.

Before him, a subterranean karst cave suddenly appeared — as wide as a football field, ringed by all manner of stalactites, with at its very center a pool several zhang across, deep blue in color.

There was some spiritual qi too.

"Second-grade, lower-quality spirit vein."

Jiang Ding surveyed the surroundings briefly, confirmed a teleportation array could be laid, then took out array flags, jade tokens, copper nails and other array instruments and set to work busily, occasionally issuing a spell to stabilize the earth veins and smooth the earth qi.

Now and then his brow furrowed slightly and he paused.

Because of shifts in certain earth-vein data, he spent several days calculating, recomputed the array nodes, channeled in magic power and divine sense, and drove down an array flag.

This busywork went on for over half a month, during which no fewer than ten thousand array instruments were driven out, and the precision demanded was extremely strict.

"Set!"

Jiang Ding drove down the last array flag and, for the first time in half a month, raised his head.

In all four directions, array flags, jade tripods, copper nails and other array instruments stood in great numbers — some suspended motionless in the air as if rooted, some buried deep underground, some merely shallowly stuck into the soil.

At many nodes, mid-grade spirit stones specially exchanged for the purpose were placed, glimmering faintly.

All in all, at a glance, a disorderly mess.

A faint fluorescent light flickered in Jiang Ding's eyes.

Through the perspective of the Spirit Eye art, the earth qi and spiritual qi of this region had been sorted by rule, flowing in patterns mysterious and intricate.

Not a trace of disorder.

Any cultivator who had developed divine sense could feel a natural beauty within it.

"Array, rise."

Jiang Ding's divine sense and magic power poured into the array's core beneath him. After more than ten minutes, his magic power and divine sense were nearly drained dry, and only then did he barely stop.

Hum!

The air trembled faintly; the first array line lit up, then the second, the third, then countless lines, spreading outward in all directions.

In the subterranean karst cave that had not seen light for millennia, sudden radiance blazed forth; stalactites and the pool shimmered in seven-colored light, magnificent beyond compare.

Array lines wove and intertwined, forming an incomparably intricate whole, then gradually fell still.

Jiang Ding looked all around.

On the ground and in the air, the various array instruments had vanished, merged with the earth veins and the karst cave into one, indistinguishable from each other — even a Qi Refining cultivator attacking with full force could not cause any damage.

A teleportation jade token appeared in his hand, radiating the aura of a top-grade magic artifact; in an instant he finished refining it.

"Success."

Jiang Ding pinched the teleportation jade token between two fingers, closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, confirmed the teleportation array's integrity — with a thought it could activate normally.

"One alone won't do."

"Two or more teleportation arrays must be linked to teleport, and the distance between any two must not exceed three thousand kilometers."

Jiang Ding put away the jade token, then drove out array flag after array flag, laying down a second-grade Golden Saber Array around the area for protection, lest some demon beast damage it, and flew out of the pool.

From utter darkness to utter brightness.

The change in light made him squint slightly. He identified the direction, and an invisible escape-light flew off toward another place.

"That point has moved."

Jiang Ding's figure paused in the sky.

Within his sword-intent sense, a point located at Xiang Qiyu Sect had now begun to move — and at great speed, reaching the basic speed of a Jin Dan cultivator.

He did not continue on his way, nor did he go to pursue and kill.

He waited in silence.

Hum!

Almost at the same moment, Jin Pei buzzed once.

It was from Head Maid Xia Tu.

"Little Martial Uncle Ancestor, by order of the Supreme Elder, the sect has allied with the Demon Kingdom and is boarding the sect's dharma treasure, the Seven-Feather Tower Ship, to attack Chu, determined to fight Xuetudian to the death. Ancestor Zhou Zhou Kunlong has been granted a sect dharma treasure and accompanies them."

"No chance."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

He continued flying back and forth over the sky of Yue, searching for suitable locations to lay teleportation arrays — no spirit vein required, but they had to be hidden, with the distance between each pair around twenty-nine hundred kilometers.

Basically, it took about a month to finish laying each one.

No one knew that an invisible escape-light was flying to and fro across the sky of Yue, entering and leaving Shenshan pools, getting many things done.

Two months later.

In the middle of a great river, amid churning water, a transparent void appeared and vanished in an instant.

"Counting this one at the river bottom, that's the third laid down. Add the Lanshan Spirit Mine node that serves as an important hub, and that's four."

Jiang Ding thought for a moment and decided to stop for now.

"Wait until I find the time, then connect the remaining two teleportation arrays and set them up leading to the Demon Country. If some unstoppable regional catastrophe ever strikes the Cultivation World of Yue one day, we can immediately flee through the Tu Mountain Demon Country and get far, far away from this Pian Xiu Xian Gao Jie."

"For now, I'll head to Lan Mountain Spirit Mine and get the array set up properly."

Jiang Ding's gaze flickered, and he flew toward his most important asset in this world — the place that produced strategic-grade mineral resources.

Several days later,

a mountain range covered in verdigris appeared before his eyes. Vegetation was sparse, dust filled the air, and cultivators came and went from time to time.

At the foot of the mountain there was a small town, where many mortals gathered; the lowest among those coming and going were all at the Internal Qi realm.

Without Internal Qi realm cultivation, one didn't even qualify to mine the spirit ore.

"Mining machines…"

Jiang Ding thought it over, then shook his head.

Such modern machines, steeped in an unmistakable immortal-sect style, were best not exposed before he knew the strength, realm, and numbers of the remnants of the Great Sun.

Just like cultivation — slower is fine; no need to fight for the moment.

He arrived at the only spot in Copper Lan Mountain covered by an array.

A top-grade second-tier array had been laid down here, sturdy enough to withstand a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator; inside there were also Spirit Gathering arrays, Gold-Smelting arrays, and other arrays for cultivation and production.

The strongest here were three people — one late Foundation Establishment, two mid Foundation Establishment — who, with the array's help, could barely hold off two peak Foundation Establishment cultivators while waiting for sect reinforcements.

The defensive strength was passable.

Peak Foundation Establishment cultivators — there weren't many of those even in Xiang Qiyu Sect or Xuetudian.

He released his aura and pressure.

"Who goes there!"

"This is Xiang Qiyu Sect territory. My friend, please—"

The one who spoke was someone he knew — the drunk-nosed old Daoist Li Li Mingda.

He saw a cultivator suddenly appear within the range of his divine sense; instinctively his heart lurched, and then delight showed on his face.

"Greetings, Little Martial Uncle!"

Li Li Mingda bowed respectfully, hands clasped.

"Greetings, Little Martial Uncle!"

The two mid Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him scrambled to follow suit with their salutes.

"Uncle Li, you're being far too kind to this junior. Back then it was you who guided me out of Yue and set me on the immortal path. All these years I've never had the chance to thank you in person — please don't take offense."

Jiang Ding flew down before the drunk-nosed old Daoist and said courteously.

His divine sense and sword intent swept across the two mid Foundation Establishment cultivators, paused for a moment, and he gave a slight nod in return.

These two were surnamed Zhou.

This was perfectly normal. Lan Mountain Spirit Mine had previously been Zhou Zhou Sanyan's property; the sect handled its management, splitting the output fifty-fifty with the sect, and since it sat behind the front lines, it was only natural to place a relative or two here.

(End of chapter)