[Ding!]
[+100 million Farm Points.]
The crisp jingle of a System Notification beside his ears left Jiang He stirring in spirit!
One million Farm Points!
That was equal to planting a hundred premium-grade soul items. Could the legends be true, and Heavenly Master Xu’s Mosquito Cutter really was an immortal weapon?
Jiang He then look toward the plain and simple Mosquito Cutter he was holding. Its divine radiance had receded, and a cluster of data popped up in front of Jiang He’s eyes—
[Mosquito-cutter]
[Tier: inferior-grade immortal weapon.]
[Sacrifice a drop of blood for use.]
Nonetheless, Jiang He was not quite as thrilled after ascertaining that the Mosquito Cutter was indeed an immortal weapon, his opinion changing right then. “The Mosquito Cutter is just inferior-grade and not mediocre-grade. That probably means its original tier might have even reached sage item before.”
“Still, it is not far from reaching the grade of immortal weapon, even if it would never have been a premium-grade immortal weapon.”
Perhaps the Mosquito Cutter was a premium-grade sage item before?
That was not it. It might have been stronger than a premium-grade sage weapon and was at the level of demi-immortal weapon, only metamorphizing into a genuine immortal weapon after he planted it.
Blood drop.
Invocation.
Feeling out the keen edge of the Mosquito Cutter, a look of delight flashed over Jiang He’s face. “It really is an immortal weapon, improving my combat ability so greatly…”
Jiang He’s combat ability before was basically presented on his sword arrays.
Once his sword array opened, a Yuan Spirit intermediate could cut down full-fledged Yuan Spirit cultivators like chopping vegetables—at least, that was what he felt after fighting cultivators from the Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. Still, Jiang He actually still had more moves he had yet to reveal.
For example… the Twenty-Three Swords!
Right now, he was already Yuan Spirit, and if he used it now, not even full-fledged Yuan Spirit cultivators could survive it.
The three sword techniques of the Three Thousand Calamities were not weak either.
With the Mosquito Cutter in his possession now, Jiang He felt that he could cut down full-fledged Yuan Spirit cultivators even without using his sword arrays.
As for Convergence-tiers…
To tell the truth, he had yet to get a feel of how powerful or what abilities Convergence-tier cultivators possessed, and he would only grasp the specifics after a fight.
Glancing at the Orirocks, flying swords, and paper talismans now growing out of the ground…
“They would be ripe only around two or three hours later… I could use this time to improve my ability.”
He waved his hand.
Whoosh!
As if they cost nothing, the spirit condensation pellets that should have been incredibly precious for Yuan Spirit cultivators dropped to the ground. Jiang He then began to cultivate them as his divine mind shrouded them, and he could clearly feel his Yuan Spirit rapidly growing and strengthening.
But while he cultivated in his farm, he had no idea the outside was in an uproar.
The Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect were now truly combining forces and combing every inch of the ocean. The commotion they caused were drawing the attention of many secluded immortal sects, demon sects, and even ancient daemon cultivators.
“Chieftain Hong!”
The Penglai Sect Convergence-tier cultivator sought out the Ten Thousand Swords Sect vice-chieftain who shouldered a bottle-gourd, and said, “Chieftain Hong. It’s too difficult to locate Jiang He in these unending seas.”
“That said, I cultivated a special technique that tracks a target with auras. When Jiang He had cut down Elder Fate from your sect, he must have left his aura on the corpse.”
Vice-chieftain Hong mused to himself for a while before saying, “Very well!”
He took out Elder Fate’s corpse with a wave of his hand.
“That technique is rather unique, and I’ll need six hours to prepare it.”
The Penglai Sect Convergence-tier cultivator sat cross-legged then. He drew a line with an outstretched finger and extracted a drop of blood essence from Elder Fate, and began casting his technique.
***
Back at Jinyintan Village, the Taixu Sect chieftain, having broken through into the array guarding Jiang He’s house after twelve hours, finally recovered Zhong Wanshan of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect as well as Jade Hollow Child of the Penglai Sect.
Only then did the disciples of the Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect guarding outside breathe a sigh of relief.
When Zhong Yue saw his father, looking as if he was possessed while rescued from within the array, he promptly went up to help put Zhong Wanshan aside. After that, he went down on his knees to thank the Taixu Sect chieftain for cracking the array.
His white clothes were covered in dust.
His face was rather filthy.
Added to his loose hair, one would not suspect that he was a beggar if someone put a plate in front of Zhong Yue right then.
“Cracking the array?”
The Taixu Sect chieftain chuckled bitterly and said, “I’ve only rescued your father and the True Habitant of Jade Hollow out of the array… as for the array itself, I have failed to cracked it.”
Everyone’s faces dropped at his words.
Amongst cultivators, the Taixu Sect Chieftain’s accomplishment in arrays was publicly acknowledged as the best.
Of course…
That was only if the Mahayana-tier antiques were not included.
On the other hand, the True Habitant of Jade Hollow appeared entirely dazed after a ’round-trip’ inside the array. After he regained his senses, he exclaimed in shock, “Brother, you couldn’t crack Jiang He’s array too?”
“It would be easy with violence.”
The Taixu Sect chieftain replied, “That array combines four array aspects: sealing, death, illusion, and guard, and only Sufferance-tier elites could shatter it by brute force.”
For a master of arrays like the Taixu Sect chieftain, breaking the array by force did not count as really cracking it, since it was… an art. Like bomb defusal, cutting the bomb wires and throwing the bomb away was fundamentally different.
In fact…
He could not understand the array that Jiang He had put up at all.
In fact, it felt as if it was not an array at all, with the caster himself having had no idea what arrays were and so simply slapping something together. And yet, an array laid out so randomly had become a profound one.
Naturally, the Taixu Sect chieftain would not tell the others.
Though the array was not cracked, the Jade Hollow Child and Zhong Wanshan who had been restrained within the array had already been brought out. Naturally, the Taixu Sect chieftain would not tarry, and disappeared from the skies above Jinyintan village as a cloud in a flash. When he reappeared, he was already heading into the entrance of the Stargate up above Jiang He’s house.
He strode forward, but just as he stepped inside the Stargate, it started to shake violently. Formless Sword Qi seemed to have shot past him and a strand of the chieftain’s gray hair had actually dropped off.
“Oh no!”
The Taixu Sect chieftain’s face dropped. In the next instant, a light erupted around him as a combat suit materialized. It was a mediocre-grade sage item, but it was utterly useless as fractures appeared over it in no time at all.
Promptly retreating, the Taixu Sect chieftain only coughed out a mouthful of blood after he escaped outside the entrance of the Stargate. His face pale-white, he exclaimed in shock, “That was close. I almost died right there…”
“This Stargate only accommodates Yuan Spirit individuals. The space itself trembles in the presence of any individual who surpass that boundary, and even a Mahayana-tier individual would die inside.”
The shaking Stargate slowly calmed after the chieftain retreated out of the Stargate, and he disappeared over the horizon in a flash.
Meanwhile, below the Stargate…
The manic Zhong Wanshan recovered somewhat. His hair a mess and his eyes red, he turned toward Zhong Yue and asked hoarsely, “Where’s your mother?”
Zhong Yue bit his lip but said nothing.
Zhong Wanshan’s figure shuddered and his voice became hoarser as he asked somberly, “Where is her body?”
“It was brought back to the sect.”
***
An hour later, at the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.
“Wanshan, Vice-chieftain Hong is already in pursuit of Jiang He. Your mind has been affected and you must confine yourself for cultivation, suppressing the evil within so as to avoid falling into the demonic path,” the Ten Thousand Swords Sect chieftain advised Zhong Wanshan.
Zhong Wanshan, however, had kept Yue Lin’s charred corpse in his Spatial Ring and growled, “My evil within would never be quelled if Jiang He isn’t dead!”
With that, he turned into a sword light and bounded toward the distant seas.
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect chieftain breathed a soft sigh and said nothing for a long time.
***
It was nine in the morning on the tenth of October.
Jiang He, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground and cultivating from the spirit condensation pellets, finally awakened from his cultivation.
Within his consciousness, his Yuan Spirit was already six feet tall and much more solid.
“Yuan Spirit advanced…”
Jiang He exhaled a long, turbid breath of qi before shaking his head and sighing. “My cultivation progress is still too slow. I’ve cultivated a whole night but I’ve only reached Yuan Spirit-advanced… it would at least be another two days before I become a full-fledged Yuan Spirit!”
Fortunately, he was alone in his farm with no outsiders around.
Otherwise…
They would have been frustrated to death.
As cultivators progressed through the tiers of Qi Refinist, Golden Pellet, True Child, and Yuan Spirit…
Which of those tiers did not take years and centuries to cultivate through?
You, on the other hand, are complaining that cultivating from Yuan Spirit-intermediate to Yuan Spirit-advanced in a single night was slow?
Jiang He then put away the remaining spirit condensation pellets and dumped the many waste pellets that he had cultivated with before rising to his feet and going to the spot where he planted the two flying swords.
One was a fire-type and the other a water-type… both reached the level of inferior-grade sage weapon after strengthening by planting, which was not surprising since Jiang He had expected it.
“With these two swords, I now have eight flying swords, along with my Scarlet Flame Sword, Autumn Water Sword, Sunflower Water Sword, Greenwood Sword… of them, one is a superior-grade sage weapon, two are inferior-grade sage weapons, and five are premium-grade soul weapons…”
“Counting in the Mosquito Cutter, it’s nine flying swords.”
“Still, eight would already be enough to cultivate the Sword Array of Seven Stars and Eight Trigrams.”
The condition to casting the Sword Array of Seven Stars and Eight Trigrams were eight flying flying swords. Though it was less devastating than the Sword Array of Five Elements and Six Pulses, its main purpose was to restrain an opponent. In fact, Jiang He had a hunch that it could easily subjugate even Convergence-tier intermediate cultivators.
He then turned towards the spot where he had planted the four paper talismans.
[Ding!]
[+20,000 Farm Points.]
[Ding!]
[+20,000 Farm Points.]
Jiang He first plucked the two sword talismans, which was no different in effect before it was strengthened by planting. It still released a vein of Sword Qi to attack, although it now released the full-power blow of a Convergence-novice.
“Useless for me.”
“Still, I don’t need divine mind to invoke them after planting since it blows up just by throwing it. I could give them to Wang Siyu as way of protection.”
Jiang He put away both sword talismans with a turn of his hand.
With the sword Talismans being a precedent, he did not hold much expectations toward the two thunder talismans as it would at best get a notch of increase in power. And yet… Jiang He was left baffled when his eyes reached the thunder talismans and saw the data popping out of it.
[Five Thunder Talisman]
[Refined from an eminence adept at the Five Thunder Array. Once invoked, it releases an attack with the five heavenly thunders: Second Wood Vertical Thunder, Third Fire Yang Thunder, Sunflower Water Yin Thunder, Heptaurum Calamity Thunder and the Fifth Earth Nether Thunder.]
[Usage: Throw as hard as you can.]
[Warm Reminder: It is suggested that the host drops to a crouch whilst clutching their head after throwing, to remain immune from damage.]
Jiang He was dumbstruck.
Clutching head while crouching?
Immune from damage?
Wasn’t that no different from the pea bombs? No, wait… to stay immune from both the pea bombs and the potato landmines, the instruction to the drop to the ground and clutch his head—the difference from a single word was an unbridgeable difference.
As he held one of the Five Thunder Talismans between two fingers, he realized that the talisman had changed in appearance too.
There was no longer complex, mystifying script written on the yellowed paper, just ‘Five Thunder’ instead.
Jiang He pondered.
“So is the two words ‘Five Thunder’ was written on the paper talisman means it is the Five Thunder Talisman… doesn’t that mean I can craft paper talismans now?”
Aside from item refinement, pellet refinement and arrays, it was typical for cultivators to grasp inscribing talisman as well.
“Still, I’ve used up my slots for planting cultivation manuals. I would have to wait until my farm levels up to create another cultivation method.”
Jiang He gave the paper talisman in his hand another look, before leaving his farm in a single stride.
Right now…
He should test the strength of the Five Thunder Talisman. If it was too weak, he did not have to learn it.
However, it was an empty isle out there, and unending oceans around it.
How was he supposed to test it, then?
Surely he couldn’t go fish bombing with the Five Thunder Talismans, could he?
“I wonder when the people of the Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect would get here…”
Jiang He hence sat on the empty isle, grabbing a handful of purple-gold sunflower seeds to munch on while feeling a little inward expectation.
Being pursued by the Penglai Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect?
His escapades now would certainly be a protagonist’s even if it was from a novel!
