Missile Control Artifact

Jiang Ding noticed that three missiles in the swarm shone exceptionally brightly.

They flew in a triangular formation, now on the left, now on the right. At times, they abruptly accelerated past hundreds of missiles as if probing for something; at other times, they slowed down, flew alongside the others, and blended into their ranks, leaving nothing unusual visible from the outside.

In less than half a second, those sights vanished. The sky was empty, and the sound of children crying filled his ears.

Boom!

In the distance came a fierce flash, visible even in broad daylight. About a second later, the thunderous roar reached them, drowning out the crying, followed at last by a scorching blast of air that howled past.

"...A mere junior at the ninth level of Qi Refinement! I have roamed unhindered for over two hundred years..."

A faint voice drifted through the wind, soft—so soft that it would have been completely overlooked amid the gusts if one did not pay attention. Jiang Ding, in his special state of focus, caught a fragment of it.

The voice was immensely infectious, brimming with furious unwillingness.

Then he heard nothing more.

The air-raid siren stopped abruptly.

They waited for quite a while, but nothing further happened.

The panicked crowd gradually settled down. Many people, their souls still not returned to their bodies, used their phones to confirm their relatives' safety. Some abandoned the buses and chose to walk, but most passengers still returned; the distance was simply too far to cover on foot.

Amid the blaring horns, the frozen traffic slowly began moving again.

There were noticeably fewer people on the bus, and Jiang Ding managed to take a seat beside the driver.

"That thing is called a missile control artifact."

Seeing Jiang Ding still staring into the distance, the middle-aged driver casually said, "It can attach specialized spells to missiles—Acceleration Arts, Flight Arts, Breath Concealment Arts, Sharpness Arts, and so on. A cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refinement can control one and attach it to a missile, giving it a certain degree of threat even against Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"The air-raid alarm stopped so quickly. The realm-crossing cultivator was probably already killed. I just don't know how many people died..."

Every invasion by cultivators from beyond the realm caused heavy civilian casualties.

Compared with mid- and high-level cultivators, ordinary people were simply too fragile.

Jiang Ding's heart skipped a beat. He called his mother and younger sister. Fortunately, both of them were far from that area and were unharmed.

The driver deliberately took a long detour.

Jiang Ding only saw that the place seemed to have become a patch of ruins, with red mixed among it. He could see nothing else.

"Fortune's Home has arrived. Next stop, Hundred Sons..."

Jiang Ding jolted awake with his face pressed against his knees. He rubbed his eyes, wiped away his drool, and stumbled off the bus in a daze.

Fortune's Home was an old residential complex that had been around for twenty years. It was property Jiang Ding's grandparents had bought when they were young. It had seven floors in total—because of air-defense safety requirements, buildings generally could not exceed seven floors unless protected by formations.

"Fairy Xiao Fei, we're best friends..."

As soon as he entered the apartment, Jiang Ding saw a chubby little girl with a round face watching television in rapt attention. Without even turning her head, she said, "Jiang Ding, I bought the groceries. They're in the kitchen."

"Don't call me by my name."

Ever since Jiang Yuan entered middle school, she had started becoming rude. She had been much cuter in elementary school.

In the kitchen, Jiang Ding looked at the lonely three eggs and one tomato inside the plastic bag.

"Jiang Yuan!"

Blocking the television, Jiang Ding was speechless. "Even embezzlement needs limits, okay? Do you take the two of us for birds?"

Their mother often worked overtime. Since Jiang Yuan's school was close to the market, she was responsible for buying groceries every day. This girl was extremely untrustworthy.

"Um..." Jiang Yuan's eyes darted about as she looked everywhere but at him. "I ran into the school bully, and he robbed me of most of the grocery money."

"Very good."

Expressionless, Jiang Ding took out his phone and dialed 110. "Perfect. We'll report it and have him arrested. Who was it? What's his name?"

There was no need to worry about finding him. Aside from private places such as homes and bathrooms, most public areas were under the surveillance of the Banyan City Array-Spirit Computer. This was one reason why the cultivator's cross-realm invasion had been resolved so quickly earlier.

Jiang Yuan's face fell. She turned her head away. "Fine, I admit it. I used the money and my savings to buy a Fairy Xiao Fei figurine."

Jiang Ding shook his head, switched his phone to the payment code, held it before her, and said nothing.

This little thing was like a pixiu, possessed by a wildly obsessive hoarding habit. From childhood until now, he had never seen her buy anything worth more than ten yuan. Even a Fairy Xiao Fei figurine could not possibly have made her spend money.

Of course, it was different when it came to his money. She spent Jiang Ding's money with great generosity and abandon.

The two stared at each other for a full three minutes.

"Jiang Ding!"

Jiang Yuan fumed indignantly, but in the end she had no choice but to concede and scan the code to transfer the money.

Ding! 25.4 yuan!

Ignoring her clawing and flailing, Jiang Ding added a little money of his own and ordered two takeout meals. He warned, "If you go this far again, I'll report you to Mom and have your grocery-buying privileges taken away. If Mom doesn't want her son malnourished every day, she'll agree."

"Got it."

Jiang Yuan answered unwillingly.

Jiang Ding got up and went to the kitchen. He washed the lone remaining tomato, placed it on the cutting board, and rested his hand on his sword hilt.

Clang!

A snow-bright sword flash burst forth, flickering three times in rapid succession, then another three times before returning to its sheath.

"Not bad!"

Jiang Ding spread open the tomato, which was still spherical. It had been cut into seven slices, each perfectly even in thickness. He nodded with satisfaction, then sighed. "I still need to cut it once through the middle before it can go into the pan. A Body Refinement cultivator cannot achieve that with one sword strike; it exceeds the fundamental laws governing mechanics... If only I had true qi."

Speaking of which, although he ranked at the bottom in every subject from Chinese to mathematics, his swordsmanship was quite good—stronger even than the Internal Qi martial artists in his class. According to his teacher, if he worked hard for several more years, he might even touch the threshold of comprehending 'Intent.'

Unfortunately, it was useless as tits on a boar.

No matter how high one's swordsmanship was, a burst from an assault rifle would put one down. If that was not powerful enough, one could simply set up a heavy machine gun and rake the area with a curtain of bullets. Even Qi Refinement cultivators would have to temporarily maneuver around and take cover.

The main purpose of the cold-weapon elective was to cultivate one's temperament and understand the combat methods of the Immortal Sect's enemies beyond the realm.

"Jiang Ding, did you wash your sword?" Jiang Yuan shouted. "Your sword gets dust and sweat on it when you practice. You may be able to eat that, but I can't!"

"Don't worry. I used the school's practice sword today."

Soon, a perfectly ordinary plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes came out of the pan and was placed on the dining table.

Jiang Yuan was still watching her Fairy Xiao Fei, while Jiang Ding sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting his mind. The black scabbard lay across his knees as he silently contemplated the Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Art.

This cultivation method was broad and profound. It seemed to be merely a sword art, but it actually encompassed everything: the principles of cultivation-method talismans from Chinese class; the principles of formations and formation inscriptions from mathematics and physics; the skeletal muscles of the human body and the internal meridians, flesh, and blood structures of spirit beasts and demon beasts from biology; all of it was contained within. The better one learned the related subjects, the deeper one's understanding of swordsmanship would become.

"Um, Jiang Ding..."

"Speak."

Jiang Ding did not open his eyes.

"Dad contacted me today. He just asked whether I was studying hard and whether I was healthy... Should I reply to him?"

"Either is fine. It's up to you. Don't tell Mom."

Jiang Ding glanced at the conflicted Jiang Yuan, then closed his eyes again.

Not long after Jiang Yuan was born, Jiang Ding's father had divorced their mother. From then on, their mother had brought the two of them here, to her own home.

Back then, Jiang Ding had practically cried and screamed for his father every day. But as he grew older, he gradually mentioned him less and less.

Over the years, through his uncle and other relatives, he had formed some guesses about the reason for his parents' divorce.

Back then, from elementary school and middle school through high school, university, and marriage, his father and mother had been childhood sweethearts since they were young. Yet his father had likely cheated on her, and seemingly even had a child slightly older than Jiang Ding while keeping it from her.

Knock, knock, knock!

At the seventh-floor window, a palm-sized white bird tapped the glass with its sharp beak—one heavy tap, followed by two light ones. Its claws clutched a rice-yellow bag.

"Mr. Jiang, your takeout has arrived. Please sign for it. The Spirit Cuisine House thanks you for your patronage."

"Mm."

Jiang Ding rose, opened the window, pulled a receipt from beneath the bird's belly and wrote his name on it, then tucked it back in. He took the takeout bag from its claws.

"We welcome you to visit the Spirit Cuisine House again."

The white bird flapped its wings and flew into the distance.

After eating, washing the dishes, and finishing that day's homework with Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan arranged to play with her classmates while Jiang Ding returned to his room.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Ding opened a drawer.

A crimson Broken Sword Tip appeared before his eyes. It was the size of two fingers, exquisitely small. Its fracture was jagged and uneven, as though it had been forcibly snapped apart by some violent force.

"Could it be a fragment of a magic treasure?"

Jiang Ding pinched the Broken Sword Tip between two fingers. It felt warm and soft like jade, not like metal.

He had picked it up at a bus stop three days ago, and it had not been by chance. At the time, while still at school, his soul had trembled, and he had suddenly sensed that something immensely important, something bound to him by blood, had appeared somewhere.

Following that sensation, he had eventually found it beneath a bus-stop sign.

The instant he touched the broken sword tip, an instinct surfaced, telling Jiang Ding that it was called [Crimson...]. As long as he willed it, it could carry its host across to another world.

Jiang Ding's first reaction to such a heaven-defying opportunity had been disbelief.

There was precedent. More than eight hundred years ago, a Nascent Soul Cultivator from beyond the realm had lost both Nascent Soul and body during a war, leaving only a remnant soul to escape. It disguised itself as an old grandfather and hid in the sea of consciousness of True Lord Canghai, who had then still been a minor Qi Refinement cultivator.

The young True Lord Canghai had nearly been possessed, allowing the enemy to infiltrate the Immortal Sect's confidential departments and steal its secrets.

One hundred and thirty-seven points in Ideology and Morality.

Without any delay, he had gone straight to the municipal library where the Banyan City Array-Spirit Computer was stationed, using his once-a-year student authorization for a comprehensive examination.

The Banyan City Array-Spirit Computer was a split spirit of the Central Array-Spirit Computer, and its database was linked to the main body. Its knowledge was nearly equivalent to that of a Spirit Transformation great cultivator. If there had been anything suspicious, it would certainly have detected it.

The examination results showed no problems at all.

"I'm taking the gamble."

Greatly reassured, Jiang Ding muttered, "Even if there is a problem, it would be one capable of deceiving a Spirit Transformation great cultivator. A game between figures like that surely won't erupt within a hundred years, right? That would be far too lacking in style."

"Besides, this is only wild speculation on my part. The chances are overwhelming that no great cultivator would be bored enough to scheme against an ordinary person like me."

Once he had made up his mind, Jiang Ding did not waste time. He picked up a cardboard box half a person tall, took his ID card and medical insurance card, and rented a room at the hotel outside the city's First Hospital.

Rong City First Hospital, the best public hospital in Banyan City, had extensive experience treating knife wounds, gunshot wounds, and poisoning. So long as one's head was not blown apart on the spot, even severed limbs or a ruptured heart could be saved.

With student medical insurance, the cost was not too difficult to bear either.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Ding did not cross over immediately. Instead, he opened the cardboard box.

These items had cost him all the New Year's gift money he had saved since childhood, as well as the money his mother had given him after he entered his senior year of high school to support his martial arts training and purchase supplements. In total, it was just over twenty thousand yuan.

A camouflage uniform, including boots, and a pair of transparent tactical gloves.

Manufactured by the Luban Military Technology Company, they were made from bulletproof materials and could reshape themselves to fit the human body. At maximum strength, they could withstand more than two close-range handgun shots, equivalent to a full-force strike with a sharp weapon from a martial artist at the initial stage of Internal Qi.

One tactical panoramic helmet.

It was spherical, like a glass basketball. It could protect against poison, supply its own oxygen for one hour, withstand several full-force attacks from a martial artist at the major stage of Internal Qi without suffering the slightest damage, connect to drone vision and a communications module, and receive orders from superiors. It was one of the standard pieces of equipment for Immortal Sect infantry combat.

If he found the helmet too cumbersome, the seller had also included a pair of contact lenses. They could carry the communications module and connect to drone vision, though they offered no protection whatsoever.

There were also four rotor drones, with a flight altitude of two thousand meters. Each came equipped with a high-definition camera and miniature sensing radar. They could clearly observe the movements of people and animals within five kilometers on the ground. If the target did not conceal their aura, they could even roughly sense the target's strength.

He was armed to the teeth.

Last of all, he had also bought a pile of cold medicine, Yunnan Baiyao, and other common medicines, while on his chest was the Heavenly King Life-Saving Elixir that his mother had bought for him as a child with half a year's wages.

"That'll do."

Jiang Ding gritted his teeth and activated the Broken Sword Tip. In an instant, heaven and earth spun.