Chapter 560: Trust Between Sword Cultivators

Under the Thunder Sword of the Zhen Trigram,

over a hundred Jin Dan cultivators of the Blood Cloud Eighteen Cavalry vomited blood and were blasted apart.

Bloodlight flared; the formation flags, refined over a hundred years, fell everywhere, their spiritual light gone. Immediately, the blood cloud vanished completely, leaving only over a hundred Jin Dan cultivators with waning auras.

True Person Bai Mei and others held their breath, once again grateful they had not lost their reason to greed.

"Return to formation, immediately."

Jiang Ding said coolly, turned, and departed.

With a single sword strike, the shields of these Jin Dan cultivators shattered, exposing the Shen Hun He Fa and magic power characteristics within their bodies. He scanned them, instantly determining which position of the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation each suited.

His divine sense split into over a hundred streams, assigning each Blood Cloud Eighteen Cavalry cultivator to their own formation corner.

"As you command!"

"My lord!"

Blood Flowing Cloud ignored the fresh blood at the corner of his mouth and the majority of his meridians shattered within his body. He struggled to his feet, knelt on one knee, and bowed respectfully.

The surrounding Blood Spear Generals, General Heishi Black Tower Cheng, Iron Bone Vajra, and other cultivators all trembled, struggled to rise, knelt, and agreed, daring not to look at Blood Flowing Cloud as they awaited his orders.

Everyone clearly understood that this person before them had patience nearing its limit; any further delay, for any reason whatsoever,

death would be the answer.

One by one, the Blood Cloud Eighteen Cavalry cultivators stumbled through the air toward the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation, blood constantly flowing from their mouths, yet they paid no heed, flying desperately to their assigned formation corners.

Only then did they sigh in relief, take out healing pills, and close their eyes slightly to regulate their breathing.

The moment this group of well-trained Jin Dan cultivators joined the formation, the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation showed immediate results.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes slightly.

The operational efficiency of the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation rose by over thirty percent; this was despite their first contact with the formation and their lack of familiarity.

Moreover, there were three particularly outstanding formation nodes.

First, the Senior Qian position, commanded by the Six Paths Saint Disciple Yin Dao.

Where the formation patterns flowed through him, slight disturbances were quickly smoothed out, reducing the difficulty of control by a large margin.

Then came the Kan position, held by Blood Flowing Cloud and Blood Spear General General Heishi Black Tower Cheng. These two organized the entire Kan section flawlessly; even when the formation occasionally malfunctioned, they could identify and fill the gaps.

The last one was the Xun position, held by General Heishi Black Tower Xi.

She possessed considerable talent in formation control. As her dark wings fluttered behind her, Xun wind arose naturally, and she could even enhance the power of the Xun section of the formation, possessing a special bloodline talent in this regard.

"Fourth Rank, Mid-Tier..."

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

With these few individuals, plus over three hundred Jin Dan cultivators, forming a Fourth Rank, Mid-Tier formation was not too difficult.

Of course, the drawbacks were also very obvious.

These people each harbored their own ambitions; naturally, everything was fine for now.

But if something unexpected occurred during the process of breaking into the Desolate Void Sect's Ancestral Master Hall, and he found himself in danger, those who would kick him while he was down might exceed half.

In this regard, Jiang Ding knew his own shortcomings.

His command ability and empathy were lacking.

He could only suppress the multitude of cultivators through violence and drive them with benefits, unable to empathize with them emotionally or establish intimate relationships.

Benefits were naturally important.

But Jin Dan cultivators are also human; they have emotional needs and equally long to follow a leader they can open their hearts to, or at least one who appears open and trustworthy—what is called emotional intelligence.

Benefits and emotions are equally important.

If Blood Flowing Cloud possessed his level of martial power, aside from his mortal enemy the Six Paths Saint Disciple, he should be able to win the hearts of the vast majority of cultivators, making them genuinely support him and form a tight group far surpassing his own.

Provided, he had it.

"Fellow Daoists,"

"You will immediately proceed to the Desolate Void Sect's Ancestral Master Hall using the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation. Practice the formation along the way. If there are disagreements in decision-making, act according to the decision supported by the most of the Eight Section Leaders."

"Those who use public affairs to settle private scores will die."

Jiang Ding said coolly, stepped once, and flew toward the distance.

"Yes, Lord Master Tushan!"

The Six Paths Saint Disciple, Blood Flowing Cloud, General Heishi Black Tower Xi, and other Section Leaders respectfully acknowledged the order, watching him disappear into the distance.

After a long while, the crowd finally rose, exchanged glances, and could see hatred and killing intent in many eyes.

The Six Paths Saint Disciple looked at Han Lin.

Blood Flowing Cloud looked at General Heishi Black Tower Xi and other collateral Jin Dan of the General Heishi clan.

True Person Bai Mei looked at General Heishi Black Tower Xi and these enemies who destroyed his Qi Yu Zong.

And so on; the relationships were a tangled mess.

Without external force suppressing them, these people would have started fighting instantly, with blood and slaughter blooming, fighting to the death.

"Raise the formation."

After staring at each other for a long time, Blood Flowing Cloud sighed softly, controlled the Kan section of the Eight Trigrams Formation, and gradually familiarized himself with the formation and his new subordinates.

He then asked about their origins and names in a gentle and polite voice, exchanging pleasantries like "long admired," and the atmosphere within the Kan section slowly softened, becoming less distant.

The Six Paths Saint Disciple and others also withdrew their gazes and continued to drill the Eight Trigrams Formation under their command.

As a Demon Dao Saint Disciple, he also had his own methods for social interaction; before valuable people, he was generous and open, carried no airs, and occasionally made perfectly timed jokes.

Soon, the Senior Qian section began to appear outwardly harmonious and joyful, with constant laughter.

Jiang Ding flew in the sky, glanced once at the Jin Dan cultivators in the One-Eyed Cicada and the sword intent markers, and paid them no further attention.

Whoever crosses the Lei Chi, simply order them executed.

If they don't comply, he'll go handle it personally — the order won't be thrown into chaos.

"These slippery-as-ghosts bastards."

Watching the Six Paths Holy Son and his people swiftly take control of the newly formed divisions without much resorting to violent threats and suppression, Jiang Ding felt a touch of envy.

Every one of these people is like a social butterfly.

Of course, even so, he didn't feel any need to change himself — to suppress his own nature and devote himself to learning interpersonal skills, becoming a popular social expert.

The immortal sect doesn't need that.

Comrades-in-arms will cooperate automatically; they won't look down on you just because you're slow of tongue, or make things awkward for you with all sorts of overt and covert rules.

As for the other world — let them do whatever the hell they want.

After traveling over a thousand kilometers, Jiang Ding stopped in front of a pavilion that had long since collapsed and was thick with dust, his hand resting on his sword hilt.

"Fellow Daoist,"

"Do you want to die, or do you want to live?"

Jiang Ding asked calmly.

A moment later,

Accompanied by the sound of churning earth and shattering tiles, a young man with a lion's nose, a broad mouth, and a head of flame-golden hair pushed aside the dirt and emerged from underground. His Daoist robe was filthy, his face a mess of dust — nothing like his former dashing self.

"How did you find me?"

Lieyang Dayan Jianzi said in disbelief.

He had chosen this place carefully; no cultivator had ever come here, and he had even affixed a Nascent Soul-grade concealment life-saving talisman to himself. By all rights, a Jin Dan cultivator shouldn't have been able to detect him.

"Answer. Now."

"Live!"

"I want to live!"

Lieyang Dayan Jianzi cast aside his questions and hurriedly said, "What do you want me to do for you? As long as you don't have any homosexual inclinations, and as long as you don't make me betray my sect, everything else is negotiable — I'll even be your thug."

Unlike the Six Paths Holy Son's gnawing anxiety, afraid he might die the next moment, he trusted this person before him rather more.

For no particular reason — just the trust between sword cultivators.

(End of chapter)