Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Divine Sense connected to the network, inquiring multiple times at the largest alchemy companies in the Xianmen Sect, especially those skilled in Golden Core Pill refinement, comparing all aspects.

"They are all about the same."

Jiang Ding calculated in his mind.

"One option is for me to collect, purchase, or barter for several hundred kinds of rare auxiliary medicinal materials myself, and then, using more than a dozen Third-Order rare herbs as compensation, to invite the best Third-Order top alchemist to refine the Golden Core Pill.

No amount of low-grade Spirit Stones will do, they don't lack that, it would almost be better to make an additional payment."

This is possible because many Third-Order Spirit Medicines of the Immortal Gate have already broken through with artificial planting techniques, and so they can be bought with low-grade Spirit Stones, which is why they are accepted.

"If all goes well, there will definitely be three pills, all top-grade Golden Core Pills!"

"Increasing the success rate of foundation establishment by forty percent!"

"The surplus for forming a Golden Core that Teacher Zhang Junsheng mentioned is secured."

Jiang Ding was invigorated.

"The second option is to just throw the Golden Core Fruit at the alchemy company, not worrying about anything else, and they even pay me five million low-grade Spirit Stones. The customer service sister is extremely enthusiastic, heartily recommending it, and also hinting at some messy stuff."

"There would be two pills, both top-grade Golden Core Pills."

Jiang Ding fell into deep thought.

"The second option it is."

"Although the first option has a higher cost-effectiveness, I don't have the time, and collecting several hundred kinds of rare Spirit Medicines is not an easy task. Even if the Qiyu Sect had ten thousand years, they couldn't collect them, they don't have it, as the ingredients are scattered across who knows how many small worlds, which requires the support of the massive organization of Xianmen Sect."

"Besides, my time is very valuable; it's not worth wasting it on this."

"As for the five million low-grade Spirit Stones, I don't need them; I don't need Spirit Stones right now."

"A top-grade Golden Core Pill, one is all I need."

Jiang Ding's gaze flashed as he pondered something.

"One top-grade Golden Core Pill, plus five million low-grade Spirit Stones, to exchange for two sets of auxiliary elixir packages for Foundation Building from the top of Xianmen Sect, and if that's not available, then the second-best. I don't believe there's none."

Rarity makes the precious.

Many things, even if they are at the level of Qi cultivation, what's rare is rare, what's not there is not there; even if you offer a hundred or a thousand times the Spirit Stones, they wouldn't even glance at it.

It's not that they are in lack of Spirit Stones, it's just that they prefer keeping the rare things rare.

But!

Top-grade Golden Core Pills are different!

They could make any Foundation-building cultivator go crazy, they will spare no effort, influencing the people and relatives around them, to facilitate this kind of trade, exerting a huge driving force.

"That's settled then."

"With this set up, even if my mother's aptitude is low and her age is high, I will smash her chances of successfully building her foundation to over eighty percent."

"For the rest, we can only rely on fate."

Jiang Ding sighed and closed his eyes, entering the state of cultivation.

Whirring...

Behind him, a sapling broke through the earth, soaring into the sky, growing into a big tree tens of meters high, its shade spread out like a canopy, spanning over a hundred meters wide.

Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi and Great Sun Essence within a ten-kilometer radius were gathered, forming an illusory image of the Azure Tree under the shade, with a silvery-white large bird faintly discernible.

Clang!

Sword Intent and Divine Sense slashed down, severing a wisp of Grey Fog, which was separated from a jade bottle.

Branches of blue-gold extended, picking up this weighty wisp of Grey Fog, and fed it into the furnace of the Azure Great Sun to be broken down and smelted, absorbed completely by the Blue-gold large tree.

The semi-transparent Primordial Magnet illumination between the leaves became slightly more dense, occasionally rotating minutely with the planetary magnetic field.

Grey patterns have begun to emerge on the tree bark.

A moment later,

A blue-golden leaf fell from the sky, passing through the middle of a stone pillar thick as a grown man's waist without any Mana or Divine Sense aiding it.

The stone pillar collapsed with a thunderous crash, the break smooth as a mirror.

"Since foundation building, I have refined the Melted Magnetic Crystal Core every day, unknowingly for over a decade now."

Jiang Ding examined the blue-golden leaf in his hand carefully.

The edges were sharp, with a ring of semi-transparent Light of Yuanmagnet faintly visible, an important component of the Electromagnetic cannon's Ampere force.

There was also a layer of golden Gang Qi, refined from the Gold Melt Fruit Sword Tempering Liquid acquired from the Nine Heavens Secret Realm. It was quite sharp at the Foundation Establishment Stage, but against Golden Pill cultivators, it was somewhat negligible.

"Without adding any Divine Sense or mana, the Light of Yuanmagnet should have the attack power of a cultivator in the later stages of Qi refining," he said.

Inside the jade bottle, more than half of the Nascent Soul Stage Melted Magnetic Crystal Core liquid, which was obtained from the true disciples of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace in the Huangtong Small World, had been consumed.

"The further along, the more difficult it becomes to add Melted Magnetic Crystal Core to the Taiqing Flying Sword during smelting; there's a repelling force occurring internally. Like repels like; the speed is getting slower and slower, and it often takes several days to merge a single strand," he said.

He let go of his hand, and the blue-gold tree leaf floated up on its own, flying back to its original branch and clinging firmly, swaying with the wind from time to time.

"But no matter, there's plenty of time," he said.

Jiang Ding silently observed his Elixir Field with his Divine Sense.

Within it surged his azure electromagnetic mana, which after more than a decade of accumulation, had filled more than half of his Elixir Field. Occasionally, Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi and Great Sun Essence would be refined, transformed through the meridians into a thread of liquid mana and merging into the Elixir Field.

"There are no real bottlenecks in cultivation; it's slow, but a steady accumulation," he said.

"Fifteen years and 274 days remain until the latter stage of Foundation Building, give or take three days," he calculated.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes, entering the state of cultivation that had been his constant daily practice for many years.

More than ten days later, an Escape Light flew towards the sky, weaving between the branches of the Divine Tree of Heaven, searching for a specific leaf.

As his cultivation base grew deeper, the time he spent in class became more and more irregular.

You could go once every three days, or attend class once every half a month or two months—the teachers had all stored your individual progress, and it did not affect anything.

But every twenty years, within an academic year, you must attend the minimum required class hours and then pass the exams for language, mathematics, moral thinking, and the Air-Space Combat System course, among others.

Finding a leaf marked with a scorched yellow imprint, his Divine Sense touched and unlocked the door, entering it.

"Ding dong!"

"Welcome to Qingfeng University Engineering Building-Digging Laboratory for the Rescue of the Great Sun Ruins."

Amidst the reminder from the Array Spirit,

a grey foggy sky appeared before his eyes. Pavilions, towers, and building ruins were scattered everywhere, with sword scars splitting the earth, and glass-like deep pits emerged continually.

He flew tens of kilometers towards the center of the laboratory, where five or six senior fellow students were still bustling about busily.

A tall sister with long legs looked haggard, with two prominent dark circles under her eyes to underscore the tragedy of an engineering female student.

"Ahem!"

"Sister-in-law Wu Mengsha, how long have you all been toiling away in the lab?" Jiang Ding asked, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Not too long, just a little over three years without sleep," replied the tall sister with a roll of her eyes, darkening her dark circles a bit more, and tossing him a jade slip. "This is the first draft of your Second-Order high-level electromagnetic sword escaping technique — very rough, just a brute-force integration of 'Great Solar Sword Escape Technique' and minor Yuanmagnetic Escaping Art. The advisor wants us to consult you, to see if you can take a look; it might save us a lot of trouble."

"Alright," Jiang Ding responded, his expression becoming serious as he took the jade slip and examined it carefully.

It was indeed a very crude fusion.

Many areas had severe conflicts; if you dared to practice, you'd risk your meridians exploding abruptly and decisively.

He deliberated and pondered for several days.

The sisters had done a good job on the "Minor Yuanmagnetic Escaping Art"; there was nothing he could change, it was beyond his ability.

However, he couldn't help but intervene when it came to the integration of the "Great Solar Sword Escape Technique," as many things that clearly didn't work had been forcefully fused.

The risk of spellcasting was immense, not to mention the meridians exploding at the slightest mishap, which also slowed down the speed; it was entirely negative and absolutely unbearable.

"Sister Wu, I think for this part, maybe we can change it like this..." Jiang Ding went through his entire set of ideas and considerations, distributing them via his Divine Sense to Wu Mengsha and the other five or six senior fellow disciples and classmates.

"That was fast."

Wu Mengsha and the others didn't take it seriously and casually opened the document.

A Foundation-building cultivator hadn't been cultivating for long, so it was very difficult for them to have any insights in scientific research—being a helper would be good enough. They often came up with many far-fetched and absurd ideas.

They had also been through this.

Each one thought about how to identify problems while finding bright spots to praise significantly, so as not to dampen the junior's scientific research enthusiasm.

"This is..."

But after just the beginning, Wu Mengsha and the others changed expressions; their minds were flooded with inspiration. They looked up suddenly and asked, "Junior Brother Jiang, do you know any senior with a deep mastery of Great Sun Swordsmanship?"