Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

"A panda cub wants to learn swordsmanship?"

Jiang Ding was taken aback.

Pandas, swords.

These two things seemed utterly unrelated.

"To be precise, not to learn swordsmanship."

Wei Hu, not daring to deceive, said stiffly: "I've also looked at the info of this panda cub. She is notorious in Shu Capital Seventh Middle School for being playful and lazy, often bullied by other pandas, consistently at the bottom of her class in academic subjects, and always causing trouble. If it weren't for her parents' hefty donations every year, she would have been expelled by now."

"Then..."

Jiang Ding looked over with confusion.

"She probably wants to take a shortcut."

Wei Hu explained: "Cold weapons account for forty points anyway, and if you personally taught her, coupled with the strong physique that the Iron-eating Beast clan naturally possesses, she stands a good chance of getting a perfect score, especially since your level in cold weapons is almost legendarily ahead in the Xianmen Sect."

That was a fact, as cold weapons were almost a wasteland within the Xianmen Sect.

"A panda cub about to take the college entrance exam, slacking off?"

Jiang Ding frowned.

Citizenship within the Xianmen Sect was famously stringent. Aside from being born with it, the remaining avenues to acquire it were through talents, war merits, creativity, moral character scores, and luck. Only thus could one gain the quota for ascension and immigration.

One in ten billion, this wasn't an exaggeration but the most conservative estimate.

And this was for humans, who were of the same species as the Xianmen Sect citizens.

For demon beasts and spirit beasts, there was virtually no chance at all.

The Panda Clan was an exception.

Even before the advent of the extraordinary, this clan held a relatively high status and had been living with humans for many years.

When the extraordinary emerged, Panda Old Ancestor Hua Lingling participated in the battle through the nine heavens alongside the sages of Xianmen, experiencing conquest, subjugation as citizens, slavery as furnace cauldrons, the humiliation of pandas as pets and spirit beasts, before eventually reigning supreme once more.

They shared both honor and disgrace.

The Panda Clan, before reaching a hundred years of age, was just very precious spirit beasts with high status but no real power.

Only after turning a hundred would they awaken their spiritual intellect.

At that time, they began to be recognized as citizens of the Xianmen Sect.

Citizens of the Xianmen Sect,

rights and obligations.

At that point, they had to start attending school, beginning from kindergarten, then elementary school, middle school, and high school, a minimum of fifteen years of compulsory education.

If they violated this, their parents would be apprehended.

It was said that there were often panda cubs who failed to complete compulsory education, leading to the arrest of both adult pandas for their sentence.

This slacking panda cub must have been under some pressure from her parents, needing at the very least to get into a university's Cultivation Department.

"Senior, should I refuse then?"

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for a long time, Wei Hu asked tentatively.

"Agree to it."

Jiang Ding sighed: "Senior Hua has made great contributions to the Xianmen Sect. A small favor like this, how could we refuse."

"Yes, I understand."

Wei Hu noted this down.

After silently observing the Xiashi Sword Dojo for several hours and finding no faults, Jiang Ding arrived outside a sword dojo named Liufeng.

Inside the Sword Dojo, a delicate-looking woman was instructing thirty to forty young men and women in swordsmanship.

With every move they made, the young woman was graceful and nimble, as flowing and ethereal as the wind from the heavens, dancing divinely, while the young men exuded a youthful vigor, their sweat tracing along the lines of their muscles, their masculinity captivating, making it hard to look away.

Jiang Ding watched them in silence.

"Senior, these aren't members of the Sword Dojo's teaching staff or their students."

"They don't concern us."

Wei Hu's expression changed slightly: "This is a privately-owned swordsmanship training class. Their boss must have spotted the rising trend in the sword training industry and joined in to make a quick buck."

"They're leading these kids astray!"

```

The swordsmanship of these people is extremely captivating, far surpassing the students from the Golden Pill Sword Dao training classes.

It is even safe to say that their swordsmanship is more appealing than that of Golden Pill Monks, having undergone specialized design and incorporating many dance techniques in which they are particularly skilled.

The Sword Dojo's decor is luxurious and elegant, exuding an atmosphere of grandeur that immediately instills a sense of serenity in those who see it.

The cost, naturally, is three times that of the instructors and students from the Sword Dao training class, and five times that of the Sword Dojo.

The Sword Dojo operates in a semi-welfare format.

With professional marketing strategies and an efficient sales team, the influx of students is continuous.

"There is no question of leading astray."

"It's just that they are somewhat lacking in actual combat."

Jiang Ding slightly shook his head, "Actually, this is a good thing. The more people join the industry, the more varied the blossoming of sword arts. It's wonderful to see different styles of swordsmanship."

"If every Sword Dojo just cloned the same sword techniques carrying my style, that would actually be a bad thing."

"Such situations should be encouraged and supported. Of course, this one is an exception; it's too flashy."

As the Sword Dojos continue to spread,

he gradually began to understand why ancient sages, when preaching the Dao, often liked to only discuss the beginning and then directly skip to the end, telling of how one would achieve immortality and self-creation, with golden lotuses springing from the ground and heavenly flowers falling in chaos.

They wanted to see different paths from their own, to use as a reference.

Wei Hu felt a sense of relief.

"We should establish a Sword Dao Innovation Award."

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Ding said, "An annual award of ten thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, targeted at all within the Xianmen Sect who have created new sword techniques and Sword Control skills, provide them with a reward, and... the opportunity to study the sword with me for half a year."

"Yes!"

Wei Hu noted it down, planning in his mind which Foundation-building cultivators with outstanding sword skills could serve as judges.

"How is the preparation for the Sword Dao Association and the first Mount Hua Sword Debate going?"

Jiang Ding asked.

After six years of nurturing, the number of people within the Xianmen Sect practicing swordsmanship has reached several hundred million, possessing a solid foundation. The time was ripe to elevate the structure even further.

"Everything is ready; we can launch at the latest after a month,"

Wei Hu respectfully replied, "The responsibility of the Sword Dao Association is to facilitate the exchange of swordsmanship techniques, providing sword practitioners with rankings, from amateur first-rank swordsman, second-rank, up to a ninth-rank, etc., with progressively increasing standards. Currently, the highest is an amateur fourth-rank swordsman. In one or twenty years, an amateur ninth-rank swordsman might emerge, which would represent a pinnacle in sword technique mastery."

"As for professional swordsmen..."

He paused, "The standards you've set are too high, only those cultivators who have grasped Sword Intent can be called a professional first-rank swordsman. In my lifetime, I might not see a professional swordsman emerge."

"You might,"

Jiang Ding responded non-committally.

A professional first-rank swordsman understands Sword Intent, a professional second-rank swordsman masters Sword-light Diversification, a professional third-rank swordsman has Sword Qi Thunder Sound...

At his current level, he could be considered a strong contender within professional second-rank swordsmen.

"These amateur swordsmen with titles need support."

After pondering, Jiang Ding decided, "Every year, I will contribute one hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones. Those ranked in the top thousand who have also fought the requisite ranking matches in the Tai Xu Fantasy Realm within the year will share this sum of Spirit Stones. An amateur first-rank swordsman will receive one share, a second-rank four shares... up to an amateur ninth-rank swordsman, who will receive a hundred shares. We'll discuss the professionals later."

"One hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones?"

Wei Hu trembled.

To his knowledge, there were currently only one hundred and twenty-one ranked amateur swordsmen, mostly from the Golden Pill Sword Dao training classes.

If there are no significant changes this year, each person could get at least eight hundred low-grade Spirit Stones!

Converted to Spirit coins, that's over eight thousand, and in Mortal coins, it's more than one hundred thousand!

If you're an amateur third or fourth-rank swordsman, casually earning six or seven hundred thousand is like play.

A million-a-year salary is nothing to brag about!

Originally, because he was busy with work, he didn't have time to attain a ranking.

Now,

He had the time.

At a time when there are not many amateur swordsmen, it's basically like picking up money!

It's foreseeable that once the news spreads, countless people will go crazy instantly. The number of people competing for rankings and positions in the Tai Xu Fantasy Realm will multiply by hundreds, if not thousands!