Chapter 403: Bandit Tactics Cannot Achieve Greatness

"You know my cultivation?"

The Golden Vajra Monk stared intently at the ordinary-looking youth not far away.

The confidence of a cultivator

has always been strength!

Over ten years ago, he dared to enter Tushan Xiancheng alone because he had absolute confidence that even if he could not win, he could leave calmly.

The reason for planning for so many years was simply that defeating a cultivator is easy, but killing one is difficult, especially in their own stronghold.

"Golden Vajra Monk?"

Jiang Ding ignored him, searching carefully in Peach Blossom Young Master's memories: "You are a friend of Peach Blossom Young Master for nearly a hundred years, kindred spirits, often joining hands to set traps for the Jin Dan of the twenty-eight families of the Zhengmo Alliance; he is open while you are hidden, he takes the women while you take the wealth."

"Someone else wore the Golden Vajra Monk's skin to impersonate him?"

Jiang Ding pondered various possibilities carefully: "This possibility is very small; Peach Blossom Young Master is a Jin Dan Chu Qi cultivator after all, practicing the 'Peach Blossom Six Desires Art', a Mo Dao Gong Fa specializing in manipulating human desires; even a Jin Dan peak cultivator might not be able to deceive him."

"Then it must be that you hid your cultivation from the very beginning and have another identity; otherwise, why would you suddenly develop hostility toward me?"

"Liu Dao Sect? Or the Blood Cloud Eighteen Cavalry that the Liu Dao Sect chased to the heavens and earth with no escape?"

"Never mind."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

"This is not my specialty; I'll just kill you and find out."

He pointed with a finger.

Boom!

Sound waves rolled; a deep blue flying sword descended with a terrifying will to destroy souls and extinguish spirits, sweeping up the spiritual energy of the sky and earth for over ten kilometers, transforming into a deep blue extreme speed to slash at that round, gleaming head.

"Arrogant!"

The Golden Vajra Monk's face darkened.

"If I didn't want to kill you, do you really think I fear you?"

With a single-hand toss, the wooden fish in his hand expanded to the size of a house, radiating rings of Jin Chong Guang ripples outward, golden and vajra-like, heavy as amber.

This treasure is named the Sunken Water Drum, an ancient treasure he obtained through a fortuitous encounter.

It is most skilled at trapping enemies and capturing flying swords, flying needles, flying knives, and other small Fa Qi Fa!

Often, once the Jin Chong Guang wraps around, all the Fa Qi Fa in the sky freeze motionless; in the past, when chased by the Liu Dao Sect's Jin Dan, this move saved his and his brothers' lives many times.

Whoosh!

The deep blue flying sword pierced through the amber-like Jin Chong Guang ripples; layer upon layer of Jin Chong Guang shattered and crumbled, having no effect on the flying sword, which slashed straight onto the wooden fish.

"How can it be useless?"

The Golden Vajra Monk was greatly shocked.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation; in the past, it had always been invincible, with the worst outcome being that the effect of slowing down the opponent's treasure was slightly weaker.

Ding!

Although it was clearly made of wood, the flying sword striking it produced the sound of metal being struck, and a huge burst of sparks bloomed.

A massive force surged.

The Golden Vajra Monk, along with his treasure, was forced back dozens of meters, his internal magic power trembling.

"You are indeed not weak!"

Thud!

His cold gaze looked over as he struck the wooden fish once.

Rays of Jin Chong Guang bloomed, condensing into golden-armored knights of golden halberds and iron horses; the shouts and slaughter of an ancient battlefield rang out, as groups of knights formed a military formation and charged, their killing intent cold and chilling.

In the rear, accompanied by the twanging of bowstrings, golden-feathered arrows broke through the air, filled with evil qi, locking onto the soul, with the foremost volley shooting forward.

"Quite a variety of tricks."

Jiang Ding nodded.

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword's light blazed; with a single slash, rays of deep blue sword qi appeared around him, instantly piercing through the golden arrows and cutting them into a sky full of golden spiritual light.

The deep blue sword qi lost little of its power, passing through the foreheads of the charging golden-armored knights once more before dissipating.

The military formation with killing intent reaching the heavens paused.

Groups of golden-armored knights had holes in their foreheads, collapsing; the charging momentum vanished into nothingness.

Boom!

The Taiqing Flying Sword broke through layers of obstruction and slashed onto the wooden fish; spiritual light exploded and shattered, the sound of tearing metal and a massive recoil force came through.

The Golden Vajra Monk's throat tasted sweet.

Looking down, he saw a sword mark had appeared on the wooden fish at some point; the sword intent of destruction spread outward along the mark, destroying the array patterns refined into the treasure, which must be constantly suppressed with magic power to be barely contained.

"What kind of flying sword is this?"

The Golden Vajra Monk asked in horror.

This ancient treasure obtained through a fortuitous encounter was passed down from an ancient major cultivation sect; its power far exceeded the Ben Ming Fa of ordinary Jin Dan cultivators, extremely sharp, and it had always held a great advantage in battles among peers.

Now, it was damaged to its core in just three or four moves.

"Are you willing to surrender? I will leave your body intact."

Jiang Ding asked.

The spiritual sense he had already expanded extinguished dozens of other spiritual senses and Fa Qi Fa transmissions sending information outward in various ways within a single breath, sealing the inside and outside tightly.

"Wan Hua Ci Yuan Jing"!

In terms of magic power, it falls half a step behind the classic Gong Fa of the Jiudaxian Sect and has no path to advance to Lian Xu, but it has its own specialty, being highly skilled in searching for enemy traces, information transmission, and information blockade.

This is the fundamental skill for sects to maintain their standing.

All his methods and the spiritual sense techniques used to transmit messages were mere folly before him.

"Leave me a whole corpse?"

The Golden Monk roared in fury: "You're merely a Jin Dan Chu Qi cultivator—how dare you!"

He had risen from obscurity, carving his path through blood and wind, known as the Hero of the Northern Plains—yet now he was disdained by a man two minor stages below him.

"Since you seek death, I'll send you on your way."

The Golden Monk calmed down.

His skeletal frame cracked loudly, golden light spreading over his entire body, transforming in an instant into a monstrous figure tens of zhang tall with a single horn on his head.

The wooden fish in his hand shimmered with golden light, turning into an ancient, weathered drum covered in hide; the mallet became a massive hammer the size of a carriage, forged from golden radiance.

As he swung it, terrifying power radiated outward, stirring rings of transparent ripples.

"The Ninth General of the Blood Clouds—the Drum Hammer General!"

Jiang Ding finally recognized his identity.

Each of the Eighteen Riders of the Blood Clouds was a prominent figure on the Northern Plains, a wanted criminal of the Zhengmo Alliance, their traits recorded in the memories of Tiankuang Dao Ren and the Peach Blossom Young Master.

"So what if you know?"

The Golden Monk sneered: "Since you dared kill my sixteenth brother after he revealed his identity, you must be prepared for your entire family to die!"

Yet the ordinary-faced youth across from him showed a look of boredom.

He froze in surprise.

Having roamed the Northern Plains for years, the Jin Dan cultivators he'd met—whether from the Zhengmo Alliance—were filled with hatred, contempt, and a burning desire to kill him; those from mid- or small clans showed awe mixed with reverence—he had never encountered this.

A deep sense of humiliation rose in his heart.

Then came an overwhelming killing intent.

"I thought it might be someone from the Liu Dao Sect—even wondered if it might be multiple Jin Dan Ding Feng cultivators."

"Yet now, it's a pack of homeless dogs, hunted to the ends of heaven and earth by the Liu Dao Sect, coming to my door—I treated you with such solemnity for nothing."

Jiang Ding sighed.

"You're not bad—your own sect is being hunted and could be wiped out by the Righteous and Demonic Alliance at any moment, yet you still have the leisure to seize others' legacies, fail, and then have the audacity to travel far to seek revenge, all while trying to minimize the number of cultivators who might pity you."

"Excellent, excellent—no wonder after so many years, you're still in this state, on the brink of annihilation."

(End of Chapter)