Chapter 533: Repaying the Banyan Tree Scholarship

Jiang Ding flew through the sky, concealing his form, passing near cultivators fighting and seizing treasures without disturbing them in the slightest, even though every one of them was scrambling for rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures hard to come by in the outside world.

He did not take detours.

Here, Jin Dan cultivators were everywhere fighting over opportunities—clan Jin Dan slaughtering loose-cultivator Jin Dan, loose cultivators encircling lone General Heishi clan cultivators—the whole land was a battlefield.

If he had to detour around each one, it would take until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.

A storage bag bearing a blood-hand imprint hovered before him, likewise concealed by the effects of the Magnetic Concealment Art.

"The storage bag of Xue Shou Ren Mo Li Tu—should yield some gains."

Jiang Ding guessed.

Such lone wolves—without clan, without kin, without fixed territory, drifting from place to place—great bandits generally liked to carry their entire fortune on their person.

He estimated Han Lin was the same.

The remaining third-tier ores, spiritual herbs, heavenly materials and earthly treasures were too many to count, many still bearing fresh soil, recently picked.

When they were young they received large sums of financial aid; once able to repay the loans, they would often donate generously, and even at the end of their lives, aside from leaving a little to their descendants three generations down, they would donate everything else to the Banyan Tree Scholarship.

Divine sense poured into it.

If anyone killed him, they could absolutely get rich overnight.

"Around nine hundred million low-grade spirit stones."

The reason being that when high-tier cultivators reached the end of their lives, their children and grandchildren had often already passed away, and the remaining descendants were usually not very close—only some ties of blood.

"Not bad!"

Although this man's strength was somewhat weaker, his escape arts were truly formidable—to have fled with his life from a Sixth Dao Holy Son at the early Jin Dan realm was something incredible.

Inside the storage bag, over fifty magic treasures were conspicuously displayed, mostly mid- and high-grade, with low-grade ones rare; just these alone were worth two to three hundred million low-grade spirit stones, and all of the kind that could purchase third-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures without hindrance.

"Although loose cultivators are poor, when a loose cultivator reaches the very top, he is indisputably a great tycoon—the fame and fortune of the Second Rider of Blood Cloud are real."

Of course, this was extremely difficult.

"Good. As a reward, in the future I can let Li Tu die sooner and be reborn sooner."

There were also large quantities of blood-path materials, blood pearls, and the like.

Jiang Ding quickly calculated the total value, his heart stirring: "Over eighty percent are third-tier items, first- and second-tier things are extremely few. I estimate this contains not only his belongings, but also part of the wealth of the Eighteen Riders of Blood Cloud."

"The Banyan Tree loan from high school can be repaid."

"Not only that—I'm also going to donate three hundred million low-grade spirit stones, most of them third-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures, so the little guys with high moral-character scores behind me know who the real big tycoon is!"

The Destruction Sword Intent transformed into an azure blazing sun, descending upon the divine-sense brand restriction within the storage bag; layer upon layer of vicious blood-path restrictions were revealed, dissolving and wearing away to nothing beneath the azure sword-light.

Divine sense probed into the storage bag to take stock.

The Banyan Tree Scholarship's funding came from the donations of high-tier cultivators throughout the ages who had scored high in moral character.

Jiang Ding showed a look of delight.

Speaking of affection, it was still no match for those of the same kind who had scored high in moral character.

"I can also pay off some of the loan."

Jiang Ding was in excellent spirits, yet also somewhat regretful: "Too bad there are no fourth-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures—part of the loan simply cannot be repaid."

Over a dozen years ago he had taken out a loan of one billion spirit stones from the Immortal Gate Central Bank, of which twenty percent was fourth-tier legal tender spirit currency issued by the Immortal Gate, usable to purchase Nascent Soul-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures without restriction.

These spirit stones had to be repaid with fourth-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Mid-grade and high-grade spirit stones would not do—the Immortal Gate had the ability to artificially synthesize mid- and high-grade spirit stones, and they were not worth much.

Supreme-grade spirit stones would work, but it would be too much of a loss—those were for Soul Transformation cultivators to use.

During a break in flight, Jiang Ding glanced into the distance.

"Kill! Kill!"

"You杂-blooded side-branch trash dare covet the status of the main branch—you all must die!"

"With the likes of you? Your mother is a slave!"

He had seen plenty of Jin Dan cultivators brawling along the way, but a scene like this—two sides formed into battle arrays, each unleashing spells and magic treasures to bombard the other, with blood and flesh flying and splattering constantly—was rare.

"Interesting."

Jiang Ding smiled slightly.

The two sides, one with over thirty and the other with over twenty, were led by peak Jin Dan cultivators; both sides' eyes were blood-red, as if they had seen mortal enemies sworn to the death, fighting desperately.

It was conspicuously the side branch and main branch of the Heishi clan in chaotic combat!

No longer confined to words, using subordinate forces as chess pieces, with various rules and cages as spears and shields—but casting all that aside, taking up magic treasures, and beginning a bloody slaughter directly.

Eliminate everyone who creates the problem, and the problem is solved.

"The Heishi clan's side-branch versus main-branch struggle—has it spun out of control?"

Jiang Ding speculated.

The Dari Sect appeared, defeated the Beiyuan clan head-on, shrinking their territory to one-third, with countless Nascent Soul and Jin Dan killed and wounded; over ten clans with legacies of thousands to tens of thousands of years and illustrious reputations were directly massacred.

In the end, relying on the Dari Sect's split, they barely survived.

This was not the end.

Perhaps in another five or six hundred years, once a new generation of Nascent Soul cultivators grew up, the Dari Sect and the Dari Sword Sect could use their numbers of Nascent Soul cultivators to directly crush the Beiyuan clan, wiping them out completely from the Beiyuan plateau, eradicating them.

Under such circumstances, many Nascent Soul cultivators began to think of change, of reform.

Dinghai Zhenjun was one of them.

Seeing that he had not decisively suppressed either the main branch or the side branch, he presumably did not wish to thoroughly reform the clan system, leaning toward one side or the other, but rather wanted the best of both worlds—main branch and side branch coexisting, in harmony, so that the Heishi clan's foundation might flourish again.

Nascent Soul Zhenjun were all very confident—they wanted everything.

He believed he could suppress everything.

And indeed that was the case—

In Tushan Xiancheng, no matter how fiercely the side branch and main branch contended, they did so in secret, pitting their subordinate forces against each other, daring not to defy the laws of the Immortal City or the will of the Nascent Soul cultivators.

Otherwise, they would face a merciless death; acting coy, currying favor, kneeling in filial devotion, blood ties and family affection—none of these worked on a Nascent Soul old monster of the demonic path.

However, after entering the Luoxu Sect's Secret Realm, the situation seemed to have undergone a tremendous change.

Not long after, the battle below produced a result.

Without any surprise, the Heishi branch lineage achieved victory.

Their cultivation and magic treasures were inferior, but their coordination was better, their numbers greater—half again as many Jin Dan as the Heishi main lineage—and their fighting will was beyond what the pampered main-lineage Jin Dan could match.

Among them, some even used their own flesh and blood bodies to shield nearby clansmen brothers and sisters from magical treasures and spell attacks, utterly unafraid of death; this fanatical spirit of sacrifice moved even Jiang Ding slightly.

The branch lineages of the Northern Plains families, oppressed by the main lineage for countless years, would tenaciously grow and press forward the moment they gained even the slightest opportunity.

Their team was at the peak of unity, will, and organization, in a rising phase, and would not stop until their objective was achieved.

"Run!"

"If you dare kill the main lineage, the Old Ancestor won't let you off!"

Under the continuous deaths, the Heishi main-lineage Jin Dan's fighting will collapsed, and they scattered to flee individually.

"Hahaha!"

The Heishi branch-lineage Jin Dan laughed heartily, pursuing and killing in close chase, completely unconcerned by the threats.

More casualties appeared—limbs severed, fresh blood staining the sky—and in the end only one or two late-stage Jin Dan cultivators of the main lineage managed to escape.