Chapter 393

Jiang Ding waved his hand.

The storage bags of Huang Bao and the old man with the long beard flew into his hand; with a sweep of his spiritual sense, he found that although Huang Bao's storage bag claimed to have had its restrictions removed, it still retained a layer of tracking mark so hidden it was nearly imperceptible.

"These bandit cultivators..."

Jiang Ding sneered, committing this to memory.

The words of such evil cultivators could not be trusted in the slightest; if his spiritual sense scanning ability were even slightly weaker, one day while walking on the road, he might encounter seven or eight Jin Dan cultivators lying in ambush to kill him.

Inside were roughly twenty to thirty million low-grade spirit stones, along with some Tier 3 heavenly treasures and spiritual herbs.

When he had just recently established his Foundation, these spirit stones would have excited him for a long time.

But now they were merely ordinary; he glanced once and moved on, planning to recycle everything, including the storage bags, as raw materials.

The old man with the long beard's storage bag was no different from the others.

Spiritual sense and sword intent surged into it, transforming into a blue-gold great sun; the light that extinguished spirits and broke techniques swept outward, melting away all soul restrictions and spiritual sense traps like ice and snow, leaving not even a scrap behind.

Spoils: over ten million low-grade spirit stones.

There were also two damaged low-grade magical treasures: one was that small jade knife, and the other was his Dao robe, which had been refined into a Ben Ming Fa, allowing it to perfectly match his Qi Gong Fa to cast spells and divine abilities.

"Divine abilities..."

Scanning the wide sleeve that had been pierced through from front to back with a hole, Jiang Ding wore a thoughtful expression.

Divine abilities

are formed when a Foundation Establishment cultivator, upon ascending to Jin Dan, integrates a spell talisman seed refined and mastered within their soul into the Jin Dan, causing the power of that spell to undergo earth-shattering changes, distinguishing it from ordinary spells; this is called a divine ability.

The power of a divine ability relates to the spell talisman seed; the more complex and powerful the spell talisman seed, the greater the power of the divine ability formed after it merges with the Jin Dan.

Then there is the Jin Dan itself; differences in Jin Dan Pin quality—Lie Pin, low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, etc. —also have a huge impact.

Finally, there is the compatibility between the spell seed and the Jin Dan.

After all these filters, the importance of inheritance becomes apparent; for cultivators of the Immortal Sects, both the spell seeds and their compatibility with the Jin Dan have reached the limit of their capabilities, and the Jin Dan quality is the same.

Most cultivators of the Jiudaxian Sect fall short in this regard.

They must constantly travel, establish military merit, and only then can they obtain relevant inheritances; this consumes a long time, wastes a great deal of time, and the inheritance obtained has a very high probability of failing to reach the limit of their capabilities.

Of course, this refers to mid-to-lower-level cultivators.

High-ranking and top-tier cultivators of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong do not have such worries; moreover, the resources possessed by a single cultivator far exceed those of peers in the Immortal Sects; this is the huge difference between the two sect systems.

"Sword cultivators do not have such trouble."

Jiang Ding recalled the relevant Gong Fa he had read over the years: "Sword cultivators are essentially an extreme variant of spell cultivators; their Ben Ming Fei Chun Jian is the sword cultivator's only composite spell talisman seed, containing the two major abilities of attack and movement, and naturally becomes a Ben Ming Fa upon ascending to Jin Dan."

"However, after ascending, it is still necessary to spend a great deal of time re-refining the Ben Ming Fei Chun Jian and upgrading the arrays within it."

"Huang Bao's divine ability should transform into a golden monkey, and this old man with the long beard's divine ability is this Luo Tian Sleeve; both are quite good. If held by a top-tier spell cultivator, they could pose a life-threatening danger to me."

He put away the two broken magical treasures.

A beam of azure sword qi slashed out, turning the two bodies into ash and dispersing completely.

Saying he would use their heads to intimidate was just angry talk.

He was a kind sixteen-year-old good youth; how could he do such a thing? It would affect his image.

Jiang Ding flew toward the direction of Master Tushan Xiancheng.

Master Tushan Xiancheng.

It was as bustling as ever; cultivators came and went on the main streets, with many Qi Refining cultivators present, and Foundation Establishment cultivators seen occasionally.

They shuttled between various pill shops, talisman shops, and magical artifact stores, frequently entering the Ling Bao Merchant Association auction house, whose scale in the city had expanded by more than ten times.

This place, due to its safety far exceeding other regions, its encouragement of commerce, the rich resources of the Demon Kingdom, and its connection to the Northern Plains trade route, has now become the most prosperous Xiancheng among the three kingdoms.

Not only did independent cultivators come here to trade, but disciples from sects in the Chu Kingdom and the Yue Kingdom also came frequently to exchange for the heavenly treasures and spiritual herbs they needed; every day, massive amounts of spirit stones were traded, and commercial taxes climbed every year.

Spirit stone tax revenue was secondary.

Relying on this massive trading platform, Tier 3 heavenly treasures from countless independent and mid-to-low-level cultivators also converged here, with Tier 4 materials obtained through fortuitous encounters occasionally appearing as well.

All of this was also very beneficial for the cultivation of Jin Dan cultivators.

The reason Huang Bao and the other two had set their sights on this place was that they had carefully investigated it beforehand; their hearts burned with desire, so they were willing to take the risk and fight for it.

"I wonder how the Ancestor and the Little Junior Uncle are..."

Monk Monk Fa Zheng, leading a group, waited at the city gate with an uneasy expression; many kept their spiritual senses constantly on their flying escape artifacts and talismans, ready to flee at the slightest sign of trouble.

Some also appeared completely calm.

It was unknown whether this calmness stemmed from confidence in their own Ancestor, or whether they were prepared to immediately turn and pledge allegiance to a new master at the first sign of trouble, seizing the first-mover advantage to gain merit.

After all, no matter which Jin Dan cultivator took over the Xiancheng, Foundation Establishment runners were always needed under their command.

If they could seize the opportunity, perhaps they could rise to prominence right then and there.

"The Young Master is about to return!"

Gong Gong Caiyu, Xia Tu, Chun Shi, Qiu Guo, and other maids were not worried at all, possessing blind confidence in their hearts.

They were subtly connected to each other by the aura of an array, had initially begun cultivating the lower-level Gong Fa of the "Tian Chong Guang Yao Yang Sword Classic," and studied the principles of military arrays; their combat power was slightly stronger than that of an equal number of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"Why are there so many people from the Tushan Daochang?"

Inside the Xiancheng, cultivators came and went; whether Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment, all looked at this direction with reverence.

"Could it be..."

Many cultivators showed excited expressions, waiting far off to the side.

Do not think that in the three kingdoms, Jin Dan cultivators are stationed everywhere.

In reality, due to their reclusive nature, many Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators have never seen a single Jin Dan cultivator in their entire lives; they are figures existing only in legends.

Suddenly,

twenty li apart,

A sharp and scorching pressure descended slowly.

Whether Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivators, all held their breath; their divine sense grew immensely heavy, unable to probe even a fraction, let alone make any other reaction.

"Master Tushan Sword Ancestor!"

Many hearts trembled, an instinctive thought surfacing.

Then, with a glance from the corner of the eye, they looked toward the horizon.

A youth of ordinary features flew from the horizon, surrounded by brilliant sword light, looking like an immortal, so majestic one could not look directly at him.

In his hand, he held two objects.

One was a treasure robe, stained with blood and pierced with two Kong Dong.

The other was a golden blade, broken into three pieces and barely repaired; the fresh blood on the hilt was vivid red, and the lingering pressure of a high-level cultivator on the blood had not yet dissipated.

Both objects radiated thick resentment and killing intent; even a mere wisp of it was enough to make Foundation Establishment cultivators tremble in their hearts, instantly understanding what had happened.

"Greetings,"

"Venerable Master Tushan Sword Ancestor!"

Led by Monk Monk Fa Zheng, a vast crowd of cultivators at the city gate knelt prostrate in dense rows, worshipping with head bowed; not a single person stood, not the slightest breach of etiquette.

(End of this chapter)