Chapter 585: The Master Tushan Maidens

Jiang Ding concealed his form once more, closed his eyes, and began to observe his mind sea with the status of the Sword Master.

In one corner of the mind sea, two hundred and odd Tian Chong Guang Yao Yang Dao Bing flying swords were scattered sparsely.

Clearly, over these years the Master Tushan Maidens' Corps had been affected in its development, yet it continued expanding in secret, resembling a clandestine sect.

Their qi signatures were mostly late Foundation Establishment and peak Foundation Establishment realm.

Only a few were early or mid Foundation Establishment, replacements after fallen maids.

There were also many peak Foundation Establishment ones—roughly forty to fifty maids.

This was normal; their innate talent was at least dual or triple elemental with exceptional comprehension, they cultivated the Tian Chong Guang Yao Yang Chun Jian Dian, and they never lacked second-rank resources—after a hundred years, reaching their current realm was unsurprising.

Not to mention, the original one hundred and forty-four maids were personally trained by Master Tushan sword cultivators who imparted Dao knowledge.

Though the number of peak Foundation Establishment maids was large, there was still a distinction of strength among them.

The strongest were three flying sword illusions imbued with the wills of Spring, Summer, and Autumn, each in perfect harmony with thirty-six Tian Chong Guang Yao Yang Dao Bing flying swords, their qi blending seamlessly.

At this moment, the three flying sword illusions flickered unpredictably—sometimes their qi plummeted below early Foundation Establishment, sometimes they surged abruptly to rival weak Jin Dan, fluctuating constantly.

"Are they forming Golden Cores?"

Jiang Ding murmured to himself, sinking his spirit into the three flying sword illusions.

His vision blurred.

Before him, everything grew hazy; moments later, a verdant grassland emerged, a low hill, surrounded by abundant spiritual energy—a clear third-rank spiritual vein.

Around him were the qi signatures of hundreds of Tian Chong Guang Yao Yang swords.

He faintly sensed the aura of Lei Gao Jie; Jiang Ding did not choose to enter the perspectives of the three strongest, but instead randomly selected one maid and focused more attention on her.

……

Mati Mountain.

This was the edge of the Heixue Great Grassland, bordering the grasslands of the Dayi Sword Sect.

Of course, merely the border of a remote sect territory.

Major power struggles occurred primarily in the center of the Northern Plains, where the Wang Ting lay—the heart of the Northern Plains' spiritual veins, where numerous Earth Dragons converged, nurturing vast quantities of mid, high, and even top-tier fourth-rank spiritual veins.

Since ancient times, the heroes who ruled the fate of the Northern Plains were born in the Wang Ting.

Here at Mati Mountain, on the edge of the Heixue Great Grassland, lay a mid-tier third-rank spiritual vein; General Heishi Jin Dan direct-line cultivators were enfeoffed here to guard the region.

This custom had lasted for thousands of years, and surrounding cultivators called it Mati General Heishi.

This custom and order had once been very stable.

Direct-line Jin Dan cultivators guarded various regions; in between cultivation, they ruled their territories, collected spiritual stones, harvested spiritual herbs, mined spiritual ores, kept three-tenths for themselves, and surrendered seven-tenths to the clan—lives serene, without a single ripple.

It was almost pastoral, like rising with the sun and resting at its setting.

Of course, this applied only to direct-line cultivators.

This tranquil, pastoral serenity frequently appeared in literary and artistic works created by Northern Plains direct-line cultivators.

Those who lost political struggles within the clan and were exiled to remote lands, with no hope of advancement, often poured their emotions into landscapes, producing many brilliant artistic achievements.

Works like "Holding Chrysanthemums," "Clear Spring," and others—renowned poems, attributed to the Calligraphy Sage Gui Mo, the Painting Sage Yin Tiancong… even enemies had to acknowledge their talent.

This idle, peaceful, monotonous life endured for nearly ten thousand years.

It was broken two hundred years ago.

Now, after two hundred years of war, peace had become a luxury.

Near the center of the Heixue Great Grassland, around the Chuling Xiancheng, order remained intact.

On the grassland's fringes, direct-line and collateral Jin Dan cultivators died mysteriously, and Chuling Xiancheng often took long to learn of it.

Here, it was the same.

On Mati Mountain, blood was everywhere, corpses everywhere, collapsed houses, shattered ground, smoke rising intermittently, embers still smoldering.

Above and below the mountain, utter silence—only the wind howled, yet could not carry away the stench of blood, trapped here, severed from the outside world.

Strictly sealed off, concealing all inside and out.

His gaze drew closer again.

One hundred and eight Foundation Establishment female cultivators stood silently, long swords at their waists.

They wore green Dao robes, veiled in light gauze, their faces hidden, each standing at a spiritual vein node, their qi subtly linked, radiating a terrifying collective aura.

They stood motionless, like upright pines, utterly ignoring the corpses and the stench of blood around them.

Suddenly,

A tall Foundation Establishment female cultivator closed her eyes.

Moments later,

She opened them—her gaze calm as a lake, her qi suddenly transforming: sharp, icy, carrying an implicit scent of dispelling spiritual energy and destroying cultivation methods.

"Sister Tao…"

The surrounding Foundation Establishment female cultivators trembled in unison, instinctively turning toward the tall woman's position.

"We pay homage, Master!"

After confirming for a moment, the Foundation Establishment female cultivators knelt on one knee, their green Dao robes spreading across the ground, a chorus of soft voices echoing through the lifeless Mati Mountain spiritual vein.

Jiang Ding did not answer them.

He extended his spiritual sense, observing the corpses, the surrounding spiritual vein, and the lingering stench of blood in the air.

Within his Sword Heart perception,

The maids' former affection and reverence had largely vanished, replaced by awe, respect, and faint traces of fear and resentment.

Time—the decades between—was enough to change many things.

Under the endless river of time, nothing remained unchanged.

"Rise."

Jiang Ding said lightly.

"Yes!"

Many blue-skirted maidservants stood up, their faces tense as they looked at the tall woman at the center.

Many of the Foundation Establishment female cultivators who had joined later were somewhat curious, sneaking a sidelong glance at this legendary master they had never seen before, then quickly averting their eyes.

"Tell me about the situation here."

Jiang Ding asked.

The troops here had undergone an abnormal redeployment, and it had not been approved by him.

Of course, that was also partly because he was inside the Luoxu Sect at the time and could not receive messages.

Still, the emergence of an independent, warlord-like tendency was beyond doubt.

The same went for the killings.

There was an expansion of the killing scope, edging closer to the habit of native cultivators who regarded mortals and low-level cultivators as ants.

"Master..."

The Foundation Establishment female cultivators exchanged glances, their hearts in turmoil. After a moment, three female cultivators steeled themselves and stepped forward.

"Spring's First Maid Miss Chun Chun Jian, Autumn's First Maid Wei Shanggong, and Xia Zhi's First Maid Shangyun need to break through to Jin Dan, which requires a spiritual land.

Therefore, we chose a suitable location, gathered together, and used the Dao Soldier military formation to suppress the unjust followers of General General Heishi, so that light might descend upon this grassland."

"The people who were originally here..."

The three Foundation Establishment female cultivators stole a glance upward.

"Two Jin Dan Chu Qi cultivators and several dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators of the General Heishi of Horse Hoof Mountain... were obstinately impenitent, refusing to cleanse themselves and start anew as cultivators."

"Therefore, we carried out a little... small clearing of this place."

(End of this chapter)