Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

”Li Qingyun?”

Jiang Ding recalled for a moment and remembered this person.

”Indeed, it has been nearly a hundred years since I last saw him,” he said. ”Please let him in.”

This Sky Spiritual Root cultivator, who had come from the jianghu of Yue Country alongside him, although not exactly a close friend or someone he trusted, still had a genuine connection with him.

A moment later, a youth clad in a simple robe, with a handsome and stately appearance and a demeanor as gentle as jade, walked into the Demon Palace. He was still at a distance when he bowed deeply.

”Your disciple, Li Qingyun, pays his respects, Junior Uncle Master!”

”Brother Li, it has been a long time; you needn’t be so formal.”

Jiang Ding nodded with a smile.

Among cultivators, aside from blood relatives, direct disciples, or those who forged deep friendships in their youth, seniority and titles tended to fluctuate, changing with one’s strength.

Therefore, no matter how others addressed him, he would address them as fellow daoists.

A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed a hint of surprise.

The Magic-Level Technique aura that had been surrounding Li Qingyun was gone, replaced by a Classics-grade practice emitting a faint thunderous aura, his mana and Divine Sense both much more profound compared to his peers.

His cultivation base was at the peak of Foundation Building.

With the talent of a Sky Spiritual Root, establishing a foundation was almost guaranteed—this was an immense advantage in terms of innate ability.

However, Sky Spiritual Roots seemed to face tremendous difficulty when it came to the stage of Divinity Transformation, faring much worse than those with Tri or Quadruple Spiritual Roots.

”Junior Uncle Master, after many years of absence, my master often reminisces about you and has specifically commanded me to deliver this letter.”

Upon receiving permission, Li Qingyun stood up and presented a letter with both hands.

”Oh?”

Jiang Ding showed a hint of surprise.

Over the years, he had kept intermittent correspondence with the Qiyu Sect, maintaining the basic connection.

For them to be so formal was a first.

He opened the heavily sealed letter, ready to self-destruct, with his magical aura.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to read it briefly, then opened them again.

He was lost in thought and did not speak.

Li Qingyun glanced briefly at the contents, then quickly lowered his head, appearing somewhat uneasy.

”Master has mentioned two things in the letter.”

”The first seems to be related to the Blood Cloud Eighteen Knights?”

Jiang Ding asked, looking downwards.

”Yes.”

Li Qingyun answered respectfully, ”Decades ago, the Golden Spear General, the eighth of the Blood Cloud Eighteen Knights, visited Qiyushan Mountain and invited my master to join the Blood Cloud Eighteen Knights as a Guest Knight Blood Rider.”

”That’s a bit insulting,” Jiang Ding commented.

The so-called Blood Cloud Eighteen Knights consist of Golden Pill late-stage cultivators only up to the ninth knight. Not to mention that Immortal Baimei, a local powerhouse, controls the sect’s foundation accumulated over three thousand years. In terms of importance and strength, he surpasses some individual Post-golden Alchemists.

Despite coming from a lesser-known place, they are not weak among their peers, which is an advantage passed down from their ancestors.

”Yes, Golden Spear General thought so as well,” Li Qingyun clarified. ”The General put forward two conditions: first, the Guest Knight Blood Rider may choose to obey orders from the leader Blood Cloud, and if one chooses to oblige, there will undoubtedly be rewards; second, the Blood Cloud Eighteen Knights offered a Thunder Technique Nascent Soul inheritance with clearly defined merits, not something vague or illusory.”

”The great hero of the Northern Plains, Blood Cloud, has once sworn to heaven that if someone’s merits were sufficient and he could not present the corresponding Nascent Soul inheritance, he would be willing to take his own life.”

”That’s quite commendable,” Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

If an average person made such a vow, a Golden Pill Monk would only sneer and pay no heed, and even if a Daoist Pact was signed, there would be grave concerns.

But Blood Cloud had built up a lot of reputations over the past few centuries, and many would believe him, especially since a Nascent Soul inheritance can be granted more than once and isn’t something that would make others go through unnecessary troubles to avoid.