novelraw Chapter 727 672: The Strongest Artifact Refiner
Chapter 727 672: The Strongest Artifact Refiner
"Is this Crystal Wall enough?" Li Qing asked.
The woman remained silent; this person had no idea of the currency value of this Divine Stone.
But she dared not deceive.
In the current era, the two words "Celestial Human" were enough to intimidate everyone.
"It's enough, please come inside, Senior." The beauty shopkeeper led him upstairs, made tea, and sent a message to the artifact refiner.
Soon enough, a red-haired man with disheveled hair emerged, looking as if he had been pulled away mid-artifact refining.
The shopkeeper introduced him as the most powerful consecrator of their faction, ranked among the top three on the Origin Continent, with countless people yearning for a Divine Artifact from him.
"And you are?" the red-haired man asked, clasping his fists.
"Can you refine this kind of thing? If you were to improve it, how would you do it?" Li Qing gave him a cold glance and produced an artifact refining scroll.
It was clear this was a test for him.
The red-haired man took the scroll, infused it with his consciousness, and revealed a look of shock, "And this is?"
"Just give it a try," Li Qing said, sipping his tea.
Over a dozen days later, the red-haired man presented a satisfactory report.
He had improved the structure of the artifact, making the connections in the set softer.
Li Qing glanced at it and showed satisfaction, "Excellent! Quite excellent; your reputation is well deserved. Among the billions of beings across the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms, you can rank in the top ten of this era."
"For one person to research to this level, even in Heaven, it would be an end level."
End level.
It seemed low level.
In reality, it was already astonishing.
Celestial Humans thrive on various accumulated knowledge, a talent above 120, and hundreds of thousands of sages for comparison, yet for him to achieve this alone proves his prodigious abilities.
Whoosh.
A light enveloped them, encapsulating both.
"Let me ask you, do you wish to become a Celestial Human?" Li Qing began. "Ascend the Origin Ancient Tree? Become one of the high and mighty Celestial Dao Gods?"
The red-haired man's face turned deathly pale, "Are you... the ruler of this era, His Majesty the God of Light?"
"You recognize me with just a word; you are very clever," Li Qing smiled.
The red-haired man's face remained ashen.
From the beginning, his every action indicated unmistakably that he was a Celestial Human.
And his mere words were outright rebellious, a Celestial Human's trait was clearly 120~130 aptitude.
How could other humans become one?
The only way for a human to become a Celestial Human was to kill one and replace them.
This warranted extermination of the nine clans!
Only when descending to the Lower Realm, when the Saint Son and Saintess of the Light Church arrived, could some reckless criminals dare attack Celestial Humans who hadn't grown enough to ascend.
But successful ones were rare, and even if successful, they would ascend to the Abyssal Supreme Realm next door, never daring to ascend to the Ancient Tree world.
The man before him wanting him to become a Celestial Human surely meant killing one and transferring the identity to him?
Killing a Celestial Human to usurp identity!
Backing his identity would mean a position on the tree... certainly not low!
The God of Light himself, perhaps.
It could only be achieved with someone of his caliber assisting in the cover-up.
"Can I even refuse? I am willing to join," the red-haired man said with a wry smile, realizing refusal led only to death.
Learning this secret and not joining—how could escape be possible?
"You are very sensible."
The God of Light, now a young man in white, said, "I need some artifact refining geniuses from the Celestial Human race, but regretfully, none of the millions of the current Celestial Humans suit me."
"So, you boldly seek mortals to replace Celestial Humans?" the red-haired man mused. "We mortals have a larger base and population, making us more likely to produce pioneers in various domains. As long as their baseline aptitude is elevated, absorbing the Celestial Human baseline, in some sense, they might surpass them."
The God of Light, as the leader of the Celestial Humans, was killing his own kind, secretly betraying his race?
He cultivated power in secret, even willing to search among mortals whom Celestial Humans despised.
This was the act of a usurper, certainly with terrifying grand designs.
He might even have ulterior motives against the Origin Ancient Tree, for after reincarnation, Celestial Humans were a race with limited lifespans.
The lifespan of a Celestial Human was no different from an ordinary Ancient God.
The Ninth Layer Ancient God had a lifespan of merely a thousand years.
The God of Light before him, with only a millennium left, how could he be content? Must be seeking a way for immortality.
Perhaps even targeting the Ancient Tree for immortality!
This was laying out plans across the Cosmos.
This existence was also preparing for a war of two realms, so if calamity erupted, wouldn't he also have notions about the Ancient Tree...
The more the red-haired man thought, the more terrified he became, feeling he had been dragged onto a pirate ship!
"What do you think I need you to do?" the God of Light suddenly asked.
The red-haired man suddenly replied, "You are seeking an artifact refiner to craft higher and more powerful Postnatal Tao Artifacts, to control more authority, to match the combat power of hundreds of layers of Ancient Gods, to secretly close the gap in combat power against the Ancient Tree?"
"You align well with my thoughts." The God of Light smiled, "As expected, to ascend, one must emerge from amongst billions of geniuses; your wisdom and calculations are indeed exceptional."
"Far surpassing those of the Celestial Human race," the red-haired man quickly added.
"Your flattery is unnecessary," the God of Light shook his head, refilling the tea. "Celestial Humans have strong aptitude but aren't necessarily smart; in fact, they now dislike using their brains, quite arrogant."
After all, the traits of Celestial Humans were somewhat grasped.
Combat Talent: 120~130
Research Aptitude: 120~130
Wisdom and Strategy: 60~100
Their minds, even more straightforward than mortals, anymore dense, and they'd rival the likes of Black Star.
The reasoning wasn't complicated.
Being born amidst chaotic turbulence, not driven into a concussion, was already their significant strength.
The previous reincarnated God of Light, a genius, had an intelligence of merely 87.
His straightforward nature and lack of subtlety got him caught by Li Qing, who took the opportunity to act.
"This too is your opportunity," the God of Light smiled warmly. "Others would long for but can never attain, becoming one of the celestial gods in the sky, dwelling on the tree; those below are inferior."
"And you, along with me, shall become a Ninth Layer Ancient God. Of course, like me, with only a millennium left, pursuing immortality together in this lifetime."
The red-haired man's expressions shifted multiple times, eventually letting out a long sigh.
The God of Light was conducting this discreet expedition to find the strongest artifact refiner on the Origin Continent, in quite a straightforward manner.
He directly came to this artifact refining organization.
After all, on this Origin Continent, finding their organization was the most direct approach.
"If that's the case, I would also like to recommend a fellow comrade; this person is the chief alchemist of our organization." The red-haired man hesitated several times.
"What is this person's talent?" asked the God of Light.
"This person excels in medicine refining. If reborn as a Celestial Human, with heightened aptitude, it could greatly assist in our dominance," the red-haired man replied.
The God of Light slowly said, "If as you say, then you two shall become Celestial Humans. I will pave the way for you, slaying the reincarnated Celestial Dao currently ascended, for you to clandestinely take their place and become a god on the tree."
After a while, the red-haired man brought forth a mature voluptuous woman, with bronze skin, introducing her, "This is her, named Black Star, mother of three children, though her husband passed away early."
The God of Light assessed her medicine refining skills, satisfied, "Very good, by the way, what is your name?"
The disheveled red-haired man clasped his fists and bowed, "Ta."