Chapter 538: Eight Trigrams Breaking Restriction Array

Jiang Ding's divine sense swept over the crowd.

This was a decision he made after careful deliberation.

In fact, having been born of an immortal sect, he had no habit of monopolizing knowledge at all; his original intention was that once it was taken, everyone could copy and read it for free, as long as the original was not damaged.

Even if there were countless heroes under heaven, what harm in rising later?

If he had to rely on monopolizing cultivation arts to stand at the pinnacle of the world, he would disdain such an advantage.

On the contrary, more cultivation arts and more outstanding talents, combining to give birth to brilliant wisdom—such a world was the one he liked, full of vitality, with all manner of wisdom colliding, clashing, and advancing.

It was only a pity that this behavior of not monopolizing cultivation arts would not be understood by others.

Moreover, it would become a tremendous "anomaly," a "curiosity."

Added to that the large number of participants, the favors, the jealousy, and all kinds of conditions combined, it fully satisfied the conditions for forming explosive news, and might spread extremely widely.

All the Jin Dan cultivators fell silent, unconsciously standing with hands at their sides in the posture of juniors, staring intently at Jiang Ding with complete focus.

Streaks of killing intent gathered together, scaring him until his face went deathly pale, and he hurriedly retreated several steps.

"Bai Mei True Person, shut your mouth!"

At the same moment, the hundred-plus surrounding Jin Dan cultivators bowed in unison, meticulously, treating the person before them not as a peer but as a leader, a person they would follow to the death.

Bai Mei True Person did not hesitate, bowing deeply to the ground, his form of address changing once more.

After a long while, the noisy chatter of many voices gradually faded away.

But now, someone was telling him he was about to obtain it?

He knew this was the truth.

This was a great sect renowned ten thousand years ago, and quite possibly the foremost sect of its time.

"There is no need for you all to be like this."

Bai Mei True Person bowed again, respectfully saying, "Please give your command, my lord. If there are any who disobey, who make excuses, who deliberately delay, we will execute them for you on the spot. Other matters as well—only need your instructions."

"Do you truly take everyone in the world to be as petty and fat-headed as you, Bai Mei?"

But he was all the more clearly aware that only here and now was it the truth; after some time passed, everyone would once again return to a state of chaos, and becoming enemies again would be commonplace.

A momentary debt of gratitude was not enough to replace an organization tightly bound together by interest, sentiment, and discipline.

At a single command, these Jin Dan cultivators would charge into battle for him, killing toward their target without regard for life or injury.

Would the scripture library of such a sect contain Nascent Soul cultivation arts?

For Nascent Soul cultivation arts, for the opportunity of Nascent Soul, he had left the lands of the Three Kingdoms and joined the Blood Cloud Eighteen Riders, risking life and death for many years, but the merit required for Nascent Soul cultivation arts was still hopelessly out of reach.

"We will surely obey your command!"

The other cultivators cupped their fists and said solemnly.

"Right, right!"

Falling Luo Xu Zong.

"Say one more half-word, and this old man will be your mortal enemy!"

"Greetings, my lord Tushan!"

The many Jin Dan cultivators present shuddered, looking at the ordinary-faced youth before them in disbelief, their bodies involuntarily trembling slightly.

"Choose any one volume?"

They could not believe it.

Jiang Ding said calmly.

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

Bai Mei True Person's heart surged with monstrous waves, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Truly any cultivation art, including… including… Nascent Soul cultivation arts?"

At this very moment, no one would doubt that, as long as an affirmative answer was obtained, someone would immediately fight for him without regard for life or death, holding nothing back.

This kind of risk, he did not wish to take.

"……"

"Greetings…"

Some other Jin Dan cultivators' expressions shifted several times, and they sternly rebuked the old cultivator Bai Mei, saying in rapid succession, "Daoist Brother Tushan is such a heroic figure—how could he go back on his word? If you speak more nonsense, we will not be polite with you right now!"

"Tu… Daoist Friend Tushan…"

It truly felt like a dream.

The words of the Tushan sword cultivator truly struck the top of his head like a bolt from a clear sky.

"Greetings, my lord Tushan!"

"My lord Tushan."

What Northern Plain family, what sect—

At this moment, they were all dogshit!

"Yes."

A group of Jin Dan cultivators all spoke at once, righteous and indignant, looking at Bai Mei True Person as if looking at a mortal enemy.

"There is one thing I need to tell you all."

Jiang Ding said lightly, "This octagonal pagoda is in a damaged state; whether it contains Nascent Soul cultivation arts inside is not a certain matter."

He would not use lies to drive others.

Saying it was not certain, he himself had actually already formed a guess.

The sealing off of Nascent Soul cultivation arts in the Northern Plain must have begun with that invincible powerhouse.

During a period of his life, he must have expended enormous effort destroying and crushing the Nascent Soul inheritances of other powers, to ensure the monopolistic rule of his own descendants.

Falling Luo Xu Zong, as the sect of his origin, would surely be the first to suffer such measures.

"We understand."

True Person Bai Mei said without hesitation: "Please give the order. In my observation, this formation is very likely a fourth-tier formation. If a deadly formation must be breached, please let me go first."

"As a reward, please allow me to choose a cultivation method after you."

"We as well!"

The surrounding Jin Dan cultivators were a step slower, but also spoke up, their faces full of regret.

"Very well, then."

Jiang Ding nodded.

He had rather underestimated these Jin Dan veterans who had lived through several hundred years!

Their Dao hearts were firm; whatever accidents, whatever shattered hopes, these people had ample psychological preparation. None of them were naive young cultivators who would completely believe the words of others.

"Release your divine sense defenses. I need to gather information on your cultivation methods so as to assign you to the various formation-breaking teams."

"If you have any specialties, you may also speak them."

Jiang Ding's divine sense spread out as he instructed: "After the battle, merit will determine the order for choosing cultivation methods. Remember, you may only copy them; you cannot take them away. All original cultivation methods belong to me."

"Yes!"

True Person Bai Mei and the others answered in unison.

Without the slightest hesitation, as if opening one's defenses in the Cultivation World and allowing others to scan with divine sense were a perfectly ordinary matter, not worth deliberating over or finding strange.

"I specialize in thunder techniques…"

"This poor Daoist specializes in beast-taming, and also knows a thing or two about alchemy…"

Not only that, in an instant over a hundred transmission of voices were sent to Jiang Ding, using covert means to tell him their specialties, keeping very little hidden.

Jiang Ding's divine sense poured into the bodies of the surrounding hundred-plus Jin Dan cultivators, occasionally drawing a wisp of magic power or soul force that offered no resistance, using the magic power of the *Wan Hua Ci Yuan* Scripture to analyze and summarize the characteristics of their magic power and souls, their areas of expertise, and so on.

Very smooth, extremely efficient.

This was precisely the direction in which the immortal sects excelled.

"You may raise your defenses now."

Several quarter-hours later, Jiang Ding withdrew his divine sense and gently closed his eyes.

The magic power and soul data of the hundred-plus Jin Dan cultivators flooded into his sea of consciousness, extremely complex, requiring computer-level computational power to process.

Combined with the characteristics of the Luoxu Sect's formation, a formation-breaking plan was swiftly designed.

Three days later,

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, took out a third-tier mineral, tree roots, silk, mulberry leaves, and other heavenly materials and earthly treasures—most of them seized from enemies like General Heishi and the Blood Cloud Eighteen Riders. For the rest, he merely asked, and the hundred-plus Jin Dan loose cultivators pooled their resources, and it was complete.

He opened his mouth and spat out a wisp of azure-blue dan fire; the mineral dissolved, and the various silks, mulberry leaves, and other heavenly materials and earthly treasures were processed by various means.

—He was not skilled at artifact refining, but that did not include the level of dharma artifacts.

Any Jin Dan cultivator who had received the immortal sect's compulsory education could do it; it was merely a basic skill.

Another several days later,

A silver-glowing top-grade dharma artifact formation flag appeared in Jiang Ding's hand.

"True Person Bai Mei, you practice thunder techniques, so you will command the Zhen Formation, and additionally oversee—"

Jiang Ding tossed the silver-glowing formation flag to True Person Bai Mei, deliberated for a moment, and called up the formation-breaking plan and personnel data he had calculated in his mind: "You, you, you…"

He pointed out thirteen Jin Dan cultivators in a row, all of whom, according to his calculations, had cultivation methods that matched extremely well.

"You will obey True Person Bai Mei's commands. Merit will be recorded as a whole. Without obvious error, you must not disobey his orders."

Jiang Ding said with a slight warning.

There might be clues to immortal arts in the Scripture Pavilion; he would not allow anyone to damage it.

"Yes, my lord Tushan!"

The thirteen Jin Dan cultivators respectfully accepted the order and came behind True Person Bai Mei. Immediately, the fourteen of them began to drill the simple formation recorded in the formation flag with great vigor.

"True Person Huolie, you will command the Li Formation…"

"True Person Shuizhong, you will command the Kan Formation…"

"The Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen Formations will be commanded respectively by True Person Zetu…and others. The following personnel will follow them…"

Jiang Ding's finger pointed rapidly.

One after another, top-grade dharma artifact formation flags meant to guide flew in all directions, caught by late-stage or peak Jin Dan cultivators, each leading their subordinate Jin Dan cultivators to drill the formation. Without any wasted words, their movements were crisp and efficient.

Once they truly began drilling, their progress was also extremely fast. In just seven short days, a Bagua Formation-Breaking Array had already been practiced to a convincing degree, lacking only a main formation commander to be activated.

"All fine seedlings for soldiers."

"It's just a pity they can only be used for a time. They will not always be of one mind with me; our fundamental interests differ."

Jiang Ding secretly praised, stepped into the center of the Bagua Formation-Breaking Array, and took in the formation patterns of the eight formation-breaking squads.

In an instant,

The images of Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Kan, Li—the Eight Trigrams—surged skyward, primordial chaos qi filled the air, and a terrifying pressure of aura far exceeding Jin Dan spread in all directions.