novelraw Chapter 898 761: Studious
Chapter 898 761: Studious
This is no empty claim. If the Sky Splitting Sword could cut these chains, the Demon Path wouldn't need to consider the 'Desolate Broken Blade' and would have set its sights on the Yanbao Sect long ago.
Hearing that even the Sky Splitting Sword struggled, Tong Mingshan touched those iron chains in astonishment and said, "What is this?"
Shi Chun: "I don't know either. Anyway, they're just chains. Don't ask where they come from, just see if you can refine them. I reckon the usual methods won't work."
The same logic applies: if they could be easily refined, the Demon Path wouldn't be so fixated on the 'Desolate Broken Blade.' Now, we can only rely on Tong Mingshan's extraordinary Two-flavor True Fire.
"I'll give it a try," Tong Mingshan nodded, feeling a surge of challenge.
Shi Chun: "If you can make it into Heavenly Court Battle Armor, so be it."
Tong Mingshan quickly waved his hand, "That's not possible. The Heavenly Court Battle Armor is a regulated item and unauthorized imitation is not allowed. Being caught would be troublesome, especially since the Master intends to wear it out. People would instantly recognize it's my imitation, which could ruin my reputation in the Artifact Refining World. Besides, I've never come across the formation within that armor, which is far superior to what I know."
Shi Chun was surprised, "Without the unloading formation, wouldn't the defensive power be significantly weaker?"
Tong Mingshan: "Theoretically, yes, but you can't generalize. If the material for refining is as solid as the Master claims, its defensive effects might not be inferior to the Heavenly Court Battle Armor. Not being able to break it is its greatest strength. In other words, no matter how good the formations inside the Heavenly Court Battle Armor are, the Sky Splitting Sword can still break it, but the armor made from these chains may not be broken by the Sky Splitting Sword even without internal formations."
Shi Chun hesitated and said, "So, when faced with a sharp weapon's strike, this chain-made armor has better defense, but when faced with huge impact forces, the Heavenly Court Battle Armor is better?"
Tong Mingshan: "That's roughly what it means. However, if the impact is too great, the Heavenly Court Battle Armor can't withstand it and will shatter. And, even if the armor made from these chains can bear the impact, it might shake the person inside to death." Saying this, he felt a little ashamed, "It's due to my lack of skills, wasting the Master's fine materials."
"You can't be blamed for that. After all, the standards of your 'Hundred Refinement Sect' are just that. Actually, your foundational skills aren't bad; this was evident to all during the Divine Fire Covenant contest..." At this point, Shi Chun paused, recalling a statement the other had made after the contest, admitting he didn't know how to refine the 'True Nine-orifice Exquisite Heart,' but simply imitated his own heart at a one-to-one scale.
After a brief silence, he suddenly began taking off his coat, tossing it to Tong Mingshan, and gesturing, "Put it on."
"Uh?" Tong Mingshan was puzzled.
Shi Chun gestured again, "Put it on."
Okay then, Tong Mingshan, still full of confusion, put on the coat. Before he could grasp the situation, Shi Chun suddenly attacked, striking him on the body.
Bang, Tong Mingshan staggered back two steps, looking at Shi Chun in confusion.
The seated Huang Yingying inside also opened her eyes to look at them.
Seeing that Tong Mingshan hadn't reacted, Shi Chun said, "Try hitting yourself with some force."
Seeing Tong Mingshan still full of doubt, Shi Chun reluctantly revealed, "That is a Treasure Garment, which can dissipate force. Examine it and see if you can discover anything."
"Treasure Garment?" Tong Mingshan was astonished, then indeed slapped himself, with a bang, and after feeling the force, his face lit up with joy.
As someone in this line of work, he's very aware that the method of integrating formations into soft garments is much more advanced than embedding them in armor, so he immediately sat down to study it.
Shi Chun then squatted in front of him, patted the pile of chains beside him, and said, "Sect Master, regardless of whether you can come up with a more advanced refining method or not, you must first try to see if you can refine these chains. You're familiar with the rules of the Battle of Great Pardon; later, all extinguished Centurion Tokens will be reactivated and displayed on the Mountain River Map. The ensuing battles will be brutal. We also have several hundred tokens, which can't be easily concealed. These are our assets, and unless absolutely necessary, I won't easily hand them over, nor do I want anyone to take them easily!"
Tong Mingshan's joyful expression froze, realizing the Master's intentions. Even if he couldn't forge a more advanced armor, something slightly inferior would suffice. Facing the final crisis, even a tiny increment in self-preservation power would be beneficial.
The Master was reminding him not to delay major matters due to indulging in personal interests.
Understanding this, Shi Chun said no more, rose, and walked behind Huang Yingying, picking up the black cloth bag containing the last demon cultivator.
Regardless of whether it was this demon cultivator or those from the Netherworld, there was no need to keep them and they had to be dealt with quickly.
As he exited the cave, he noticed the weather had changed. It had been calm before, but now fierce winds were billowing high waves.
Looking around, he found Li Hongjiu standing at the seaside with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance. Zhu Xiangxin's group was there too. He flashed over and asked, "What's going on?"
An Wuzhi pointed to a forming tornado ahead, "It's Boss Wu. Not sure what he's up to now."
Seeing the rising tornado, it looked too familiar, so Shi Chun immediately glanced at Li Hongjiu, who also met his gaze with a knowing look of doubt.
Alright, Shi Chun roughly guessed what Wu Jinliang was doing, probably practicing a cultivation technique he learned something from Li Hongjiu.
But now wasn't the right time to test it. Carrying the black cloth bag, Shi Chun swiftly flew over, charging into the rising tornado, and shouted to the meditative Wu Jinliang, "That's enough. Resume it later, first let's head to the Netherworld."
Wu Jinliang opened his eyes, saw his backpack, understood the task, and reluctantly ceased his practice, flying away with him.
The two, while over the sea, found an uninhabited island, tunneled underground, and once again burned 'Death Refusing Incense' to open the Two Realms Passage, skillfully slipping into the Netherworld, heading straight for the cave guarded by Chu Jingtang and the others.
After a brief greeting, the three stayed outside the cave to keep watch, while Shi Chun entered the depths of the cave alone.
He pushed aside the space wrapped in white cloth and checked the condition of the living demon cultivators. Once he confirmed they were fine, he didn't hesitate further. He started by absorbing all the demon essence from the Heavenly Immortal realm demon cultivator he brought along in one breath.
Then, he proceeded to the earliest captured Heavenly Immortal realm demon cultivator. The demon essence of this Heavenly Immortal realm was intact, clearly at least a third more than the previous three, and he absorbed it all in one breath.
Lastly, he drained the demon essence from those seven Earth Immortal realm demon cultivators one by one.
As he expected, absorbing so much demon essence at once still didn't reach his current absorption limit. Based on his past experiences, he estimated he would need to absorb five times to achieve another breakthrough.
This was just the Earth Immortal Small Achievement Realm; it was so difficult to break through to the upper grade. The thought of reaching Great Success seemed almost impossible.
Given the situation, he couldn't even imagine the day he'd break into the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Perhaps even annihilating all the world's demon cultivators wouldn't be enough?
With a bang, his arms shook, and the nine corpses turned into dust as his figure flashed out of the cave.
Outside the cave, after instructing Chu Jingtang and Lao Changtai on some matters, Shi Chun took Wu Jinliang back to the outside world.
On the way back to their island base, Wu Jinliang suddenly asked, "Chun Tian, now that there's nothing urgent, we're not in a rush to leave, right?"
"As long as no one disturbs us, there's no rush for now. The Sky Splitting Sword is not with us, and with the strength Luo Que and others have shown, Mulan Jin probably won't let her daughter take more risks. With Mulan Jin blocking Manxi, Manxi probably won't bother us lightly either. Let's just wait and take this time to rest well and prepare well. When all the token markers light up on the Mountain River Map, we won't be able to hide even if we want to. Everyone will see us as juicy meat," Shi Chun sighed, then suddenly felt something was off and turned to ask, "What are you planning to do?"
"What else can I do?" Wu Jinliang clapped his hands, counting on his fingers with his eyes shining, "We've been hiding and running so much, it's finally a break, you have to help me talk to Li Hongjiu. His lightning summoning skills, the blinding light tricks, the monstrous wave slaying a thousand people trick, and the power borrowing trick that can withstand the attacks of a fifth-grade magical treasure even back in high martial, I want to learn them all."
Shi Chun rolled his eyes and asked, "And his artifact refining skills, you want to learn?"
"Not that one, it doesn't increase my cultivation, if I have time I'll find Tong Mingshan." Wu Jinliang shook his head and continued counting on his fingers, "Also, Tong Mingshan's Escape Technique, if I learn even seventy percent of it, it'll be incredible for running away. Also, Zhu Xiangxin's 'Fire Prison God Suppression Stele', and An Wuzhi's skill that can break 'Fan Sleeve Heaven'.
Have Mulan Qingqing, that woman who listens to you, show her Su Yuan Sect 'Soldier Resolution Technique' for me to study. There's also Han Bao's 'Mad Demon Transformation', that cultivation technique is great, Dongguo Shou didn't even handle it properly. Yes, and about Dongguo Shou, he seems to treat you quite well, try to make friends with him and see if he'll let me learn his 'Inch and Mile' and 'Word and Law Follow'."
"..." Shi Chun was a bit speechless. He didn't get tired of talking, but hearing it all did tire Shi Chun. Nevertheless, having a big appetite wasn't inherently bad, though he replied without much goodwill, "Talk so much, aren't you afraid of biting your tongue? Learn what you can first, and then talk about the rest."
So once they returned to the island, Wu Jinliang, with the attitude of absorbing everything, went off to play with tornadoes again.
As the wind and waves rose, Li Hongjiu couldn't help but emerge from his cave once again, gazing toward Wu Jinliang by the sea. No one invited him, but he seemed already interested in Wu Jinliang on his own.
On the other side, Shi Chun didn't look for Li Hongjiu to gather Thunder Sword and strike himself, primarily because he hadn't yet fully absorbed demon essence and striking himself halfway felt a bit lacking.
Of course, the main reason was he wanted to try normal cultivation with demon essence paired with pills to see if cultivation growth would be more this way. After all, the lightning strike method couldn't always find so much demon essence; he had to think more about the future.
Once he entered Huang Yingying's cave, he found the iron chains on the ground were gone. Tong Mingshan was still there, purely engrossed in holding and contemplating on a Treasure Robe, his expression shifting between joy and worry, seemingly enchanted.
This was precisely what Shi Chun feared the most, so he immediately called out to awaken him, "Sect Master, can those chains be refined?"
The awakened Tong Mingshan stood up quickly, responding with actions. With a wave, a heap of metal balls the size of washbasins fell to the ground with a clang, covered in gold and blue patterns, obviously the chains from before.
Shi Chun exclaimed in surprise, "They've been refined?"
He squatted down and hugged them to inspect; each one was very heavy.
Tong Mingshan said, "These things truly are extremely hard and can't be refined by ordinary Divine Fire. I couldn't melt it with One Flavor True Fire either; it wasn't until I combined Two-flavor True Fire that I could melt it, and subsequent refinement also required Two-flavor True Fire combined. Master, I'm curious, how was it originally forged into chains?"
"I don't know either; naturally, there's some secret method." Shi Chun put down the items and patted his shoulder happily, saying, "The rest is up to you. Old Huang, let's dig another cave and leave this one for him undisturbed."
"..." Huang Yingying suddenly felt a bit undervalued.
But still, she got up and followed them out.
As soon as the two went out, they immediately began digging another cave, with Huang Yingying doing the labor and Shi Chun assisting with the adjustments.
While digging, Shi Chun suddenly frowned because Qilin A San inside the Qiankun Bracelet was being restless, knocking on stuff inside as if wanting to communicate with him.
So Shi Chun waved his hand, releasing it in the unfinished cave, and questioned, "Didn't I tell you to stay quietly? Why are you restless?"
Qilin A San repeatedly bowed his head apologetically, "Master, it wasn't intentional to disturb, but the items inside your bracelet stirred me uneasily, so I'd like to seek Master's guidance."
Shi Chun questioned, "What nonsense, except for you, everything in my bracelet is lifeless, what could disturb you? I think you're just dishonest."
Qilin A San quickly argued, "No, no, no, it's not a living thing, it's the pearls. Master, it's the aura from those nine pearls."