[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals":3,"chapter-cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-54":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Cluster Artillery: Shattering the Immortals",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2342065,4578,"Chapter 54: Abundant Harvest","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-54",54,"\u003Cp>At the cliff’s edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding stood with hand on sword hilt, eyes half-closed, inner strength surging through the twelve primary meridians and their countless branches, facing the sea of clouds as he continued to expand and nurture more fine subsidiary meridians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were 1,307 major and minor branches of the twelve primary meridians—these were the ones already fully nurtured and refined, now open for inner strength to flow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After repeated doubling from micro-circulation, small circulation, and the pinnacle of his cultivation technique, combined with constant intake of the Hundred Essence to Qi Pill, he could now refine and nurture eighty fine meridians daily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To reach the “Great Circulation” realm, it would take two hundred and thirty-four days—seven and a half months, nearly eight months!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one dared to aspire further, to the next realm—“Perfect Great Circulation,” with one hundred and eight thousand meridians—it would require thirteen hundred and thirty-three days, nearly four years!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The college entrance exam had ended long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master, come with me—I’ve found something…” Long San hurried over, his face unmistakably pale with shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This % novel {first; release, > Please ! go {to : read!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long San led a group of men, along with dozens of released boys and girls, scouring every corner, occasionally revealing expressions of delight as they gathered items and sorted them neatly on the open ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cave was spacious and naturally formed; the Tiger Den had made some modifications, and the oil lamps embedded along the walls were relit, illuminating every detail within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Marquis of Zhendong!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this, Long San had to pull five of his most trustworthy, clean-reputation men, arm them with weapons, and station them separately to monitor everyone, forbidding any concealment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt an urge to flee immediately—without reaching Xiantian, a Qi Refining cultivator posed little threat to a true immortal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding felt deep unease: “If there are demonic cultivators here, they must be connected to the Marquis of Zhendong!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gripped his sword hilt tightly, scanning the surroundings warily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And a micro-spirit vein!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a mountain of gold and silver! Every room of the bandit leaders had been meticulously searched, every hidden compartment unearthed, every inch of ground dug up—gold, silver, and other high-value items were all piled here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were, after all, the finest young talents from the Gaokao, selected from the Supreme Immortal Faction that spanned countless minor worlds—terrifyingly gifted, with powerful backgrounds everywhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Further ahead, a half-dry, shattered blood pool appeared before them, occasionally bubbling, rising with fragments of bloody flesh and bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blood-qi elixirs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the center of the cavern, a massive whale-oil lamp burned fiercely, illuminating piles upon piles of white bones scattered everywhere! Delicate skeletons layered one atop another, covering the ground, stripped of all flesh and organs, gleaming a ghastly white in the light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Useless debris.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back in biology class, the teacher had spoken with disdain: Xiantian qi belongs solely to the individual, carrying their unique essence. Not only is it nearly impossible to refine, but even if one did, absorbing it would corrupt one’s own spirit and body—harmful in every way, beneficial in none.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding kept his hand on his sword hilt, walking slowly past every part of the broken blood pool, each tiny detail emerging in his mind, matching precisely what he had learned in Chinese and math class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several hours later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding opened his eyes, slightly startled—he hadn’t felt this way even when discovering Lu Jingtian’s hidden treasure chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He nodded, asking nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long San lowered his voice, clearly shaken by this unnatural strangeness: “When we arrived, we saw this right beside the blood pool.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one could re-refine ordinary people through alchemy or blood arts, it might be possible to restore them to Xiantian, extracting strands of primordial qi—useful for crafting magic treasures or cultivating demonic arts, a great boon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding’s heart jolted; instinctively, he nearly triggered the rusted sword tip to return to the Immortal Sect, barely restraining himself with immense willpower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yang Dongsheng of the Righteous Brotherhood, Zhou Kun, the Second Chief ‘Heaven-Lifting Tiger’ skilled in military strategy, Ding Feng of the Brocade Dragon Guild… who, what force, could be linked to all of them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding’s face remained expressionless as inner strength surged, crushing the blood elixir and its wooden box into countless tiny fragments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spirit veins aren’t static; natural ones shift with earth currents—spirit energy may increase, decrease, or vanish entirely. Micro-spirit veins fluctuate the most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some demonic sects believe humans are the most spiritual of all beings—even ordinary folk are born with a trace of primordial qi, merely obscured by postnatal pollution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He carefully withdrew a crimson blood elixir from a wooden box; it emitted a intoxicatingly sweet fragrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s not that he isn’t strong—by age twenty, he’d become a Xiantian cultivator, a fledgling eagle indeed. That’s nonsense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Too cruel... Lu Jingtian and these others.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tip of a red sun peeked above the horizon, crimson clouds spreading across the sky—the heavens had fully brightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His current achievements might barely qualify him for the tail end of a university Daoist department, but to compete for the top, he was still far from sufficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A flash of ferocity lit Jiang Ding’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A thought surfaced in Jiang Ding’s mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One pile, filled with unburned grain, had also grown into a mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Some resemble spirit gathering arrays, others water condensation arrays, and some inscriptions I don’t recognize—likely for refining blood and flesh essence... extremely damaged. Even if untouched, they’ll self-destruct within months. An ancient demonic cultivator must have once stayed here, set up these arrays, then never returned...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially when searching the bandit chief Lu Jingtian’s mansion, they discovered a hidden underground chamber filled with gold, silver, rare ancient herbs, and martial arts manuals—so dazzling it blinded the eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The remaining two percent could be used to break through to Qi Refining, but would permanently block further advancement and shorten one’s lifespan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long San instinctively felt regret, but dared not speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two hurried to the charred remains of the Righteous Hall. Following Long San, Jiang Ding entered the tunnel through the excavated passage, winding through twists and turns until reaching a deep underground cave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such methods could only be the work of a demonic cultivator—no Qi Refining martial artist, no matter how strong, could achieve this. “Young Master, there’s no one here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last one was the smallest, yet the most eye-catching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding carefully observed the surrounding terrain and environment, deducing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In biology class, the teacher had mentioned some outside-world demonic sects and their theories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if they left, how would the Blue Fluorescent Butterflies be collected?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Tiger Den likely stumbled upon this place by chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But that’s the most optimistic view.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding felt heavy inside, unwilling to deceive himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of these youths came from poor families, accustomed to labor since childhood—efficiency was not lacking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Demonic cultivators!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several small mounds had accumulated on the open ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One mound was piled high with metal weapons—swords, spears, halberds, hammers—numbering thousands, alongside dozens of intact powerful bows, crossbows, bowstrings, and arrows, glinting in the sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including what’s on the mountain, they’ve collected only four hundred thousand pairs—still over a hundred thousand short of the target.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There was once a very small micro-spirit vein here—that’s why this demonic cultivator stayed. But the vein has now dried up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This elixir before him was naturally refined through the residual array, following the same logic—impurities visible to the naked eye; consuming it carries at least an eighty percent chance of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition, Long San had sent messengers to Dongling City, requesting the guild to dispatch experts skilled in treasure hunting and secret chamber detection to assist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around a corner, Jiang Ding froze, pupils dilating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This concerned the Blue Gold Serum—his Dao path! KENG! Jiang Ding suddenly drew his sword; a hazy sword qi slashed the broken blood pool into fragments, the half-dry liquid seeping into the soil and vanishing quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bring a pile of firewood. Burn this place.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Young Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long San bowed respectfully, offering no objection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1345,"2026-06-20T23:34:14.007Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","72b5e3dd9c6db96961ef5550ed5bd63672151d7321b309ab720e1174ae2f0adf","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-55","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-53",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-cover.jpg"]