Chapter 565: Today Dividing the Ox, Tomorrow Butchering the World

The statue collapsed and fell, its divided soul destroyed.

Layer upon layer of the ten-thousand-li expanse of yellow sand and spirit-dead land around it crumbled, revealing the Ancestral Master Hall of the Luo Xu Sect amidst the clouds of incense smoke.

Jiang Ding released the constraints of the Eight Trigrams Breaking Formation.

"Hoo-hoo..."

A huge crowd of Jin Dan peak cultivators fell to the earth like autumn leaves; regardless of early, middle, or late Jin Dan stage, regardless of whether they were geniuses or not, all had pale faces, excruciating pain in their meridians, and depleted qi and blood.

Clearly, the formation's extraction of their power had been calculated, extremely precise, drawing exactly twelve-tenths of their magic power and divine sense.

Neither more nor less, stopping right at the threshold of permanent injury and a drop in cultivation realm.

No cultivator dared to resent; with reverence, they glanced at the youth in green robes in the sky and the statue fragments scattered on the ground, then sat cross-legged, quickly entering a state of healing to stabilize their Jin Dan Dao foundations, which were on the verge of collapse.

Jiang Ding did the same, closing his eyes in the sky to rest and recover his magic power.

This battle was indeed somewhat difficult.

For a figure like Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun, even a single strand of divided soul was beyond the scope for his avatar; a slight carelessness would mean death and soul annihilation.

"Ten thousand years have passed; are you still alive?"

Jiang Ding muttered to himself in his heart.

The lifespan of a Soul Transformation cultivator is ten thousand years, and since this person had already become famous ten thousand years ago, the time of their advancement to Soul Transformation was much earlier.

With time passing until now, they should have long since reached their limit.

Even with lifespan-extending pills, let alone the fact that the Kong De Xiao Gao Jie is barren and cannot produce lifespan-extending medicines or heavenly treasures of Soul Transformation level, even if they existed, they would only extend life by one or two thousand years, meaning they would still be dead.

"Advancing to a higher realm?"

Jiang Ding thought of a possibility, his heart leaping.

"No, it is impossible."

"Without even mentioning inheritance, a mere small world like this simply lacks the soil for advancing to Refining Void; it is like a flower pot that cannot grow a towering tree.

Pure matter and nutrients are insufficient; cultivation is not a matter of subjective fantasy but must obey the constraints of real-world rules."

Take the Master Shuoyang Sword Pavilion, for example; in its peak state, it dominated the Zhu Zai Gao Jie situation, beating the Badaxian Sect into closing their sects and staying within their small worlds, directly controlling at least two hundred small worlds.

Yet even so, it barely met the requirements for advancing beyond Refining Void, still needing to accumulate at least ten thousand years of time.

This shows how difficult it is to reach higher realms.

It is not that being an unparalleled genius means anything; the material foundation must exist before the next step is possible.

Although Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun was invincible within the world, it was still far from enough.

"Deep slumber?"

"There is a slight possibility; this world is not an ordinary small world, so there might be related secret arts, but it would certainly not be in peak condition, and recovery would take at least several hundred years, so there is nothing to fear."

Jiang Ding went through all possibilities one by one, feeling relieved in his heart.

By the time several hundred years passed, who would be the one fleeing was yet to be seen.

Putting aside all distracting thoughts, he focused entirely on nurturing his Shen Hun He Fa and magic power, entering a state of semi-seclusion.

Before the Ancestral Master Hall of the Luo Xu Sect, a state of profound silence fell; only the hoo-hoo sound of the wind blowing through remained, with not a single other noise.

This lasted fully for more than half a month.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes and looked around.

The six Holy Sons of the Six Paths, Liu Xueyun, and others had already finished healing; they stood respectfully nearby with hands clasped, daring not to urge anything.

Half a month was not long for Jin Dan cultivators; it was merely enough to heal some superficial injuries, recover some magic power, and possess basic self-defense capabilities.

Yet all Jin Dan cultivators could not wait to end their recovery, frequently glancing at the brilliant gold statue fragments around them, especially the fourth-tier parts with pure and sharp aura.

Some even looked greedily into the Ancestral Master Hall of the Luo Xu Sect, guessing what earth-shattering treasures it might contain.

If it were an ordinary person, the crowd would not be so excited and eager.

No matter how precious the treasure or inheritance, they have always belonged to a few top-tier experts; everyone is used to this, as it is the custom of the Cultivation World, where a few strong possess the vast majority of things.

But this one is different!

He personally promised many things, and at least so far, there are no signs of violation, which inevitably makes people imagine all sorts of possibilities.

"It seems my fellow Daoists are impatient."

Jiang Ding stood up, nodded slightly, and swept his divine sense over the four directions.

In an instant,

within a range of dozens of kilometers, numerous shining gold fragments flew in from all directions toward this spot.

Some were as large as houses, others as fine as dust; regardless of size or grade, they all flew here, landing on the ground to form a hundred-zhang-tall human statue, vaguely revealing the form of Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun.

The six Holy Sons and Hei Hei Louxi and others looked uneasily toward the distance.

In the Beiyuan family, whether in the demonic or righteous paths, filial piety is valued; it is their political correctness, and many high-level cultivators genuinely agree with it: without ancestors, there would be no self today.

Ancestral statues, desecrated to this extent, should be defended to the death; one should not stop until all enemies are killed.

Alas...

The six Holy Sons and the others merely averted their gaze and did nothing at all.

"Thirty percent of this belongs to me."

Jiang Ding said indifferently, looking at the cultivators around him.

"Naturally so!"

"My lord Tushan shows great righteousness!"

"I am in awe..."

Bai Mei True Person and others were overjoyed, responding with repeated assent; flattery poured in without ceasing, yet all was sincere, and they did not even feel it was embarrassing.

Because this was nearly the truth.

Many Jin Dan cultivators asked themselves: with so much shining gold, including fourth-tier heavenly treasures, if it were them, they would absolutely not share it with others, especially a group of weaklings with disunited hearts.

The strong devour the weak; this is the natural law of the Cultivation World.

"Very good."

Jiang Ding nodded, waved his hand, and pieces of shining gold flew off the golden statue: a large pile of third-tier and a small pile of fourth-tier, hovering in the air.

He ordered numerous Jin Dan cultivators to scan them one by one with their divine sense, confirm their weight and quality, and then collect thirty percent of them.

These items were worth over a billion low-grade spirit stones; they were rare materials seldom seen in the outside world, very suitable for refining flying swords.

Everyone gazed at the remaining shining gold with burning eyes.

"Next is yours."

Jiang Ding wasted no words, tossed out a jade slip carefully inscribed with information, and distributed it to everyone.

The numerous Jin Dan cultivators hurriedly caught the jade slips, gazed at them intently, and held their breath to read.

Han Lin also received the jade slip flying before him with both hands, and his divine sense surged into it.

On it was a ranking; at the very top, the great name of Lie Shan, the Lie Yang Sword Disciple, was clearly visible.

"Merit first: Lie Shan."

"Presided over the Li trigram, organized the array, harmonized all phenomena, merit plus three hundred; Jin Dan peak, merit plus ten; at the nineteenth breath of the array's operation, assisted in forming the sword of the Li Fire trigram, merit plus thirty; when the array collapsed, responded first to the array's reorganization, merit plus eighty..."

Under the name of Lie Shan, the Lie Yang Sword Disciple, lines of spiritual text recorded his merits; within every line of text was attached a series of images, precisely his every word and action during the battle, the reasons for earning the merits, without a single error.

So detailed?

Han Lin was utterly shocked in his heart.

"Lie Shan, merit four hundred and forty-seven, reward third-tier shining gold..., reward fourth-tier shining gold..."

"Merit second: Yin Dao."

"Jin Dan peak, merit plus ten; presided over the Senior Qian trigram, merit plus three hundred;... shaken, collapsed first, slowest to respond to recovery, merit minus sixty..."

"Merit three hundred and fifty-five, reward third-tier shining gold..."

The Six Paths Saint Disciple in second place and the Lie Yang Saint Disciple were originally not far apart, but the former made mistakes during the battle, so the gap became very large.

"Merit third: Dong Xue Dong Xue Liuyun, merit two hundred and fifty-seven, reward shining gold..."

By the third place, the merit dropped suddenly and drastically.

Han Lin looked closely, his divine sense sweeping over the images on every line of merit; comparing the two before, he found this fellow's array arts were far too poor, nowhere near the Six Paths Saint Disciple and the Lie Yang Sword Disciple; he relied entirely on his quasi-Nascent Soul strength to barely hold on to third place.

(End of this chapter)