[{"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-946":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},2342957,4578,"Chapter 946: The Western Desert, Since Ancient Times, Has Been Our People","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-946",946,"\u003Cp>The three armies parted the clouds, rumbling forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A succession of radiant palaces, brilliant light wheels, and strange sword-clouds spread across the sky, drifting slowly as if celestial deities were touring the mortal realm, purging its sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wherever they passed, demons and specters vanished, monsters and fiends prostrated themselves, daring not to stir any unrest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unaware, amid the trembling of countless cultivators and demons, the Tushan Central Army had marched for years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding sat in meditation at the Six Paths Sect, keeping close watch on this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was unavoidable; whether the Immortal Sect traversed the realms or Tushan’s army marched through them, both took an immense amount of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t like two neighboring sects that could clash at a moment’s notice—vast stretches of travel were unavoidable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a cultivation world war, ninety-nine percent of the time was spent on marching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Routes were not arbitrary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a few individuals, it didn’t matter, but an army of over a million cultivators had to follow spiritual veins, moving slowly, stopping periodically to rest and regroup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You couldn’t just choose any path you fancied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the thought of someone utterly ignorant of military strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Violating this fundamental military principle of the cultivation world wasn’t impossible, but it came at the cost of catastrophic depletion of spirit stones in cultivators’ storage bags.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remember, this was over a million cultivators!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if you carried a mountain of spirit stones, a million Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul cultivators could exhaust them all in a single day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t about carrying a few mountains of spirit stones—it was a campaign lasting years, even decades!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How many spirit stones would it take to keep a million-cultivator army at peak condition continuously?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No amount would be enough!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, short-range sudden strikes within months were manageable, causing no major disruption—cultivators were tougher than cockroaches, not so fragile that skipping cultivation for a while mattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But crossing realms within the cultivation world required marching along spiritual veins—this was the fatal flaw of massive cultivator armies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was no accident that nearly all native factions prioritized developing individual combat power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet despite these drawbacks, the extraordinary advantage of cultivator armies—overcoming rank gaps through sheer numbers—still drew countless sects to pour resources into them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an organizational model with both glaring strengths and glaring weaknesses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After years of marching, the Tushan Central Army under Hei Louxi finally crossed the Northern Plains and entered the Western Desert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stretching before them, the endless grasslands thinned out, revealing the shape of the desert—yellow sands swept across the sky, as if no life remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet every cultivator from the Northern Plains knew:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid this vast sea of sand, spiritual veins crisscrossed, supporting countless oases that produced all manner of heavenly treasures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In wealth, the Western Desert was no less than the Northern Plains—the barrenness of yellow sands was merely an illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Historical records showed that thousands of years ago, this land had been a flourishing hub of sects, brimming with renowned masters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them, the Western Desert’s Golden Wing Thousand Mechanisms Sect was especially famed—the automatic alchemy arrays of the Wang Court’s Sacred Land were their invention, and all four seas bowed to the peak-era Shuoyang Tianjun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this golden age did not last long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shuoyang Tianjun’s own cultivation soon encountered problems; the Northern Plains families retreated inward, and Shuoyang Tianjun himself fell into sealing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Western Desert sects thus broke free, flourishing for a time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, the Ice Plain Tianjun appeared, awakening from her self-imposed seal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She tested repeatedly, confirmed Shuoyang Tianjun’s cultivation had failed, then established the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Site in the Western Desert, gathered ten thousand demons to form the Demon Clan Empire, and launched a brutal war to exterminate all human sects, dominating the entire Western Desert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this process, billions of human beings were slaughtered, and the Western Desert became a demon paradise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To this day, the world only knows the Demon Clan Empire of the Western Desert, unaware of the past human sects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the era of Shuoyang Tianjun, another several millennia passed—until today, a fully organized human cultivator army once again appeared on the ancestral soil of the Western Desert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Western Desert…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our people’s ancestral land…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hei Louxi, stirred with emotion, scooped up a handful of yellow sand, inhaled its scent with deep longing, and stored it in her storage bag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding True Persons shared similar gestures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When internal strife was no longer the primary concern, even the coldest, cruelest old demons and monsters still possessed emotion, a sense of belonging to humanity—not cold, emotionless dao puppets who had severed all ties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kill!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“March to the ancestral land of the Golden Wing Clan—the fourth-rank supreme spiritual vein, Golden Wing Oasis!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hei Louxi shouted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Commander!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding True Persons and True People roared in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My Lord, culturing insects have begun appearing across the Northern Plains.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Black Demon Palace, Gong Caiyu’s avatar bowed and reported.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She opened dozens of jade boxes one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding’s gaze fell upon them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were insects resembling scorpions, spiders, toads, snakes, beetles, and countless other bizarre forms—ranging from first to third rank; many, judging by their aura and anatomy, were utterly unsuited to grassland climates, more like insects born in dense forests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Culturing insects…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding murmured, realizing something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My Lord, these\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>insects have recently appeared, specifically targeting the Northern Plains’ spirit herb gardens, spirit plantations, and low-rank Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators, spreading like plague across the region—we cannot contain them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“According to current statistics, the Nong Sect’s harvest will drop by over thirty percent; if this continues, total crop failure is possible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Already, over ten thousand Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators have died; tens of thousands more are wounded, with insects lurking inside their bodies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for mortals, casualties have reached a million and continue rising.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong Caiyu spoke anxiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a failure of the Zheng Sect—if no reasonable explanation was given, every member of the Zheng Sect would face severe punishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What does Zhenjun Da’ai say?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from swordcraft and arraycraft, he was not skilled in other areas, so he often sought out specialists for their opinions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhenjun Da’ai says the level of cultivation in these insects far exceeds his own—he cannot handle them for decades.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He says the method used matches the legacy of the Southern Wastelands’ Ten Thousand Toxins Sect.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong Caiyu replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only far exceeds?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhenjun Da’ai truly is a genius.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding’s gaze turned cold, recalling the unpleasant memories from the Tie Family on Guishan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, as long as Zhenjun Da’ai had not broken the law, Jiang Ding would not act against him—even if he was strange; this was a matter of principle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the Southern Wastelands’ Ten Thousand Toxins Sect, it was the strongest sect in the south, akin to the Tushan Central Court of the Northern Plains—its members were human and demon alike, united under the rule of the Hundred-Legged Ancestor, famed for poison and culturing insects, feared throughout the cultivation world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will handle it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ding waved his hand, collecting the dozens of insects, speaking calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, My Lord.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong Caiyu exhaled in relief, bowed, and withdrew.\u003C\u002Fp>",1203,"2026-06-20T23:34:28.016Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e1e60af5da38e4eb1e81a429d4c78ec298a5f3e6c7fdd916f8d89855cd695361","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-947","cluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-chapter-945",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcluster-artillery-shattering-the-immortals-cover.jpg"]