Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery
Chapter 568 - 553: Way of Cause and Effect

Beast Spirit Immortal City.

This was the second time Jiang Ding had come here. The monks from the Dog Department of the Hei Clan were still guarding the city gate, and the wanted list on the city wall remained the same, with Blood Cloud, Li Jinyu, and the Blood Hand Demon Li Tu at the top.

But there had been significant changes below.

Some people had disappeared due to vendettas or had been killed by the elite of the Hei Clan, and some unfamiliar names of Golden Pill monks had emerged.

However, the number of people on the wanted list was still the same: one hundred.

It wasn't that there were only a hundred criminals; rather, it was the most serious hundred Golden Pill cultivators who were listed, their heads bountied to deter other external Golden Pill cultivators from committing crimes.

And to some extent, it was effective.

Most of the Golden Pill cultivators listed in the latter half of the wanted list could only wander for about a decade before being killed by companions, the elite of the Hei Clan, or other Golden Pill cultivators who took a liking to hunting them.

As for the top names like Blood Cloud, the diabolical magnates had hardly changed at all.

Occasional major changes occurred when the Divine Crow Immortal took action, coupled with some luck and the right circumstances to eliminate a few.

But still, there was a steady stream of Golden Pill xiexiu taking their place.

They would either kill the Hei Clan's Golden Pill, massacre the Hei Clan people on a Spiritual Vein, or directly target the so-called noble species among the common people of the Hei Clan on the prairies, undercutting the Hei Clan's foundation.

The Hei Clan despised these individuals down to the bone.

"The strife on the Black Snow Prairie is intensifying ..." Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

At the heart of it all was a fundamental conflict.

After over two centuries of a bloody war with the Great Sun Sect, the Hei Clan's Golden Pill cascadingly perished and could no longer suppress the vast domain.

At the same time, the wars and chaos of two hundred years led to the rise and growth of scattered Golden Pill loose cultivators everywhere.

Stubbornly, the Hei Clan sought to perpetuate the previous order of rule, owning everything on the Black Snow Prairie and exerting absolute control over everything, unwilling to share the benefits and secure the loyalty of loose Golden Pill cultivators.

Without resolving this fundamental conflict, the large-scale strife and confusion on the Black Snow Prairie would not cease.

Measures like the wanted list were merely drops in the bucket.

"I have seen the senior before."

Two foundation-building cultivators from the Dog Department bowed their hands casually and stepped aside to open the way.

Jiang Ding didn't mind, retrieving his previously registered waist badge and hanging it at his waist.

The object was clearly meant for surveillance and was not allowed to be taken off within the city. Usually, he kept it sealed within his Storage Jade Pendant.

He walked leisurely into the Immortal City.

The streets were bustling with people, foundation-building and late-stage Qi practicing were commonplace, and Golden Pill encounters were not infrequent. Most cultivated the Dog Department's Peeling Method.

Shops, houses, along with dog kennels and livestock pens, coexisted on the streets that were occasionally littered with cow dung and dog feces, emitting strange odors—everything as usual.

For an Immortal City with nearly ten thousand years of history, a decade or so was too short to see any significant change.

Clang!

Clang! Clang!

At the side of the street, a muscular cultivator at the peak of Foundation Building rang a bronze gong in his hand and shouted, "The Divine Crow King's Army is recruiting brave warriors! Late-stage Qi practitioners can join as soldiers, Foundation Building Period as Decurions and Centurions, and Golden Pill cultivators as Chiliarchs and Chiefs of Ten Thousand!"

"In the Divine Crow King's Army, the pay is generous and rewards are continuous, offering Foundation Building Pills, Golden Core Pills, and third-tier Stage-breaking Elixirs. Any martial exploits will be rewarded plentifully!"

"Even Nascent Soul opportunities, if you perform great achievements, are not out of reach!"

"Fellow cultivators, my seniors, this is a once in a millennium opportunity to leap over the dragon gate. If you miss it, it won't come again!"

"The Divine Crow Army?"

The surrounding cultivators were taken aback and then realized what was happening, swarming around the crier. The expressions on their faces were all similar.

Fear, aspiration, mixed with desire.

"I, I..."

"My lord, my brothers and I are willing to join the army..."

Many late-stage Qi practicing cultivators volunteered eagerly, and after a moment's hesitation, foundation-building cultivators also gathered around.

The few Golden Pill cultivators in the vicinity paused in their steps.

"Divine Crow King's Army..."

Jiang Ding recalled the intelligence he had gathered over the years.

The battle for the King's Court.

It originated from an invincible warrior over ten thousand years ago, who, in order to maintain the martial spirit of his descendants so that it wouldn't deteriorate in times of peace and comfort, created the Court's Blessed Land using a fragment of the Nine Heavens he had found. Within it lay a vast Spiritual Medicine Garden, all sorts of Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasures, things rarely seen in the outside world.

Even, there might exist Alchemist Puppets that he had crafted by scouring the entire world, inducing countless cultivators to serve under his banner—Formation Methods run autonomously by Alchemists, which would continually produce treasures like Infant Formation pills every thousand years.

To enter it, one must win the King's Court battle by defeating the other twenty-seven clans to obtain the Royal Court Command Token.

The contest was exceedingly bloody.

With the Nascent Soul Opportunity right before their eyes, no one cared about sharing the same ancestor; it was common for members of the direct lineages of the twenty-eight clans to die.

The only restriction was that only those below the Nascent Soul could participate.

If a Nascent Soul Monk were to bully the lesser and strike secretly, killing an officer from among the twenty-eight King's armies who possessed the Royal Court Luck, nothing would happen immediately, with no changes visible.

But, over the following ten years, they would inevitably be plagued by bad luck, their cultivation would be prone to going amiss, conflicts with sworn enemies would be unending, and they would frequently find themselves in seemingly reasonable life-or-death crises.

After ten years, less than one in ten of those who tried to flee survived; the rest died.

If they went even further and killed someone like a Prince of the Hei Clan who possessed Royal Court Dragon Luck and had already claimed kingship, falling into a continuous streak of misfortune would be even more terrifying. During cultivation, it might coincidentally happen that Heavenly Thunder would strike, killing the cultivator on the spot.

Throughout history, not a single Nascent Soul Monk had ever survived after killing a Royal Court heir.

"The Way of Cause and Effect."

"Ancestors of the Northern Plains clans..."

Jiang Ding showed a look of apprehension.

This person, although from a Small World, should not be underestimated; he had cultivated the Way of Cause and Effect even with a Divinity Transformation body, and the fact he could influence the Northern Plains for ten thousand years after his departure was indeed terrifying.

The domains are boundlessly vast, with elites emerging in constant succession.

To deal with such enigmatic characters, one must kill them upon encounter, chase them to the ends of the earth if necessary to kill them; if one cannot defeat them, then one must flee immediately, never facing them directly.

"Fellow Daoists, are you tempted to join the Divine Crow King's Army?"

At this moment, a voice reached Jiang Ding's ears.

Jiang Ding looked up and saw an early-stage Golden Pill Monk, whose face was hesitant, as if weighing pros and cons, using Divine Sense to chat idly with the people around; Golden Pill Monks could hear him, but he wasn't speaking to anyone in particular.

Jiang Ding remained silent, making no conspicuous moves.

"How can you be so resolute?"

"Out of the twenty-eight clans, seven have been annihilated by the Great Sun Sect. The remaining seven or eight have lost their family's Spiritual Veins and territories, with only a fraction of the cultivators escaping; now, their only hope for Infant Formation lies within the Court's Blessed Land."

"This time around, the slaughter for the King's Court is sure to be unprecedentedly bloody."

"And for us cultivators with different surnames,"

A nearby Golden Pill Monk sighed, "At most we are eligible for third-grade Stage-breaking Elixirs. For the Infant Formation Opportunity... I do believe in it, but my fortune is meager, I dare not aspire for it."

"That is so."

The surrounding Golden Pill Monks nodded slightly, showing nothing unusual.

The credibility of the Northern Plains clans,

In their eyes, was less than zero.

"Fellow Daoists seem quite at ease, like free and unfettered cranes."

"Alas, we of the vassal families must march into battle, unlike you fellow Daoists."

A Golden Pill Monk displayed a bitter look, no longer in the mood for idle chat, and turned to leave.

Several Golden Pill Monks nearby showed mocking expressions, without a hint of sympathy.

These Hei Clan minions had never been kind to them, flaunting and swaggering; most Loose Cultivator Golden Pills could only feel indignation but dared not speak out.

Jiang Ding no longer cared about these matters and turned to leave, heading to the Lingbao Commerce Association to purchase Gold Copper Stone.

The battle for the Northern Plains King's Court,

Was but a child's play-pretend game.

He would not descend into the arena; it was far too humiliating.

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