Chapter 284 - 266: Initial Success and Magic Storage

Chapter 284: Chapter 266: Initial Success and Magic Storage

On the eastern side of Water Heaven Workshop, beside the lake.

B Class, Number Eighteen.

Stopping before the gate, Chu Mu stared at the residence before him.

He took a few steps back and looked again, his expression turning inexplicably strange.

Since entering the Cultivation Immortal Realm, he had mostly lived in small rooms, or what you might call pigeonholes. The few times he had stayed in a residence, they had the layout of an ordinary farmhouse—exquisite, perhaps, but far from large.

But this B Class residence before him...

The courtyard wall visible from the street alone was several hundred meters long.

The wall was dozens of feet high, like a city wall, and clearly refined from some kind of Low Tier Spiritual Material. The gate itself was even more magnificent.

A blank plaque seemed to await the master’s inscription. The gateway was like a city gate, tall and grand.

He flicked his sleeve, and the Restriction Token in his hand flashed. An invisible ripple resonated with the residence’s Array Restriction.

The courtyard gate swung open, and he stepped inside.

What greeted him was not the high-walled courtyard he had expected, but a sprawling bamboo forest.

A small path paved with jade stone meandered through the bamboo. Faintly visible in the depths of the forest was a thatched cottage.

Dense Spiritual Qi lingered in the air. A gentle breeze drifted by, creating an inexplicably refreshing atmosphere within the forest.

A bamboo forest, bordering the street and the water. The cottage was not large, but at a glance, it was extremely exquisite and elegant.

"This is Divine Peace Bamboo..."

Chu Mu caught a falling bamboo leaf, lost in thought.

Although Divine Peace Bamboo was only a Tier One Upper Grade Spiritual Plant, and its finished products had no miraculous effects, the bamboo released an elegant, clean fragrance as it grew.

Just as its name suggested, the bamboo’s fragrance calmed the spirit!

For an ordinary Cultivator, the calming effect of practicing in such a place was clearly far more important than the dense Spiritual Qi.

He pushed open the bamboo door and walked in. The thatched cottage was fully equipped with an Alchemy Room, an Artifact Room, and a Secluded Meditation Chamber.

After confirming everything was in order, he returned to the courtyard and stood before the gate, his gaze flickering as he pondered.

A moment later, he sat down on the spot, his Divine Sense already probing his Storage Talisman.

The Gong Palace Pill required a total of ten types of Spirit Medicine. He already had eight of them.

The remaining two were Spirit Medicines with a medicinal age of about two hundred years. They weren’t exceedingly rare, but properly collecting them would certainly not be easy.

While considering this, he took out a Sound Transmission Order and sent a message to Xie Hui.

First, to have him come and pick up the refined Magical Artifacts. Second, to ask him to search for these two Spirit Medicines on his behalf.

Then, with a slight stir of his Divine Sense, the Artifact Book on Rune Refining that Xie Hui had gathered for him appeared in his hand. He began to slowly flip through it.

In the time that followed, Chu Mu slowly adjusted his daily schedule.

He had been busy for a long time since first entering Foundation Establishment.

Now that things had finally settled down a bit, his Artifact Refining plans and Cultivation plans both needed further organization.

Given his poor aptitude, Cultivation without external help was an indescribably rugged path for Chu Mu.

And since the Spirit Medicines would be hard to find in the short term, he simply decided to set aside his Foundation Establishment Cultivation for now.

He threw himself wholeheartedly into three things: Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and his Sword Technique cultivation.

Of course, for him, the most important thing at the moment was still his plan to become an Artifact Refining Master.

Over several months, his collaboration with Xie Hui continued. To his surprise, after that one sudden drop, the volume of work never decreased by much again.

Each order was still for dozens of Magical Artifacts, but the interval between them had noticeably lengthened.

His plan to become an Artifact Refining Master, however, was progressing exceptionally smoothly.

After successfully and perfectly refining the custom Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact Shield for Zhu Zhang, several Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators had contacted him through various channels over the past few months, asking him to refine artifacts for them.

He basically accepted all comers. With each successful refinement, he, as an Artifact Refining Master, naturally began to build a modest reputation.

「Half a year later.」

In the stone pavilion within the bamboo forest.

Amidst the clinking of cups and exchange of toasts, hearty laughter would occasionally ring out.

In their leisure time, small groups of fellow Daoists would gather to exchange cultivation experiences. In the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World, this seemed to be the norm for those at the Foundation Establishment level.

Now that he had settled in Water Heaven Workshop, Chu Mu was naturally no exception.

Including Chu Mu himself, there were ten people present, all at the Foundation Establishment Realm of cultivation.

Among them were Xie Nan, the Righteous Alliance’s Foreign Affairs Elder who was in charge of the Contribution Hall in Water Heaven Workshop; several Artifact Refiners stationed in Water Heaven Workshop; and Loose Cultivators like Zhu Zhang.

With the superb Artifact Refining Skill he displayed, as long as he wasn’t a complete recluse, it wasn’t difficult to build some connections even without actively trying to socialize.

These connections, formed so casually, had undoubtedly saved him from a lot of potential trouble.

The gathering, which was more of a party, didn’t break up until late into the night.

Chu Mu saw them to the gate. Only after the last of his fellow Daoists had left did he close the courtyard gate and return to the thatched cottage in the bamboo forest.

Looking at the mess left behind in the stone pavilion, Chu Mu’s expression was unreadable. In the end, he couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.

He raised his hand and formed a seal. A breeze swirled like a tornado, and in the blink of an eye, the mess before him was swept up, compressed, and deposited into a nearly depleted Storage Talisman in his hand.

With a squeeze of his fingertips, the Storage Talisman shattered. The bundle of mess within vanished from the world.

Chu Mu let out a soft breath, deep in thought. Then, with a flicker of his will, a Jade Scroll and a Storage Talisman floated before him.

Inside the Jade Scroll was an Artifact Refining Formula.

For a Wood Attribute Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Robe.

And inside the Storage Talisman were the corresponding Spiritual Materials for this robe.

The Spiritual Materials required for a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Robe were naturally all quite rare and precious.

He sent his Divine Sense into the Storage Talisman. A dozen or so Spiritual Materials, each glowing with a different light, appeared. With a flicker of his will, all of them were placed on the stone table before him.

The client for the Magic Robe was none other than the Righteous Alliance’s Foreign Affairs Elder in charge of the Water Heaven Workshop’s Contribution Hall... Xie Nan!

This was his first real attempt at refining a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Most of the Cultivators who had sought him out before had requested Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts or Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts. Upper Grade Spiritual Artifacts were few and far between.

Let alone a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact, and an extremely precious Magic Robe at that!

And the most important purpose of the gathering just now had been this very Magic Robe.

Gazing at the Spiritual Materials before him, Chu Mu’s brow furrowed slightly in thought.

A Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Robe wasn’t a huge problem for him.

The difficult part was that Xie Nan had a very special request for this robe.

He requested that, in addition to its normal defensive capabilities and expected effects, the robe must also have an added Magic Storage effect.

The so-called Magic Storage, just as its name implied, was for storing Magical Power!

Adding a Magic Storage effect to the robe meant that a portion of the Magical Power from a Cultivator’s Dantian Meridians could be stored within it.

This portion of Magical Power stored in the robe shared the same origin as the Cultivator. When needed, because they were from the same source, it could directly replenish the Cultivator’s spent Magical Power without any need for Refinement or Breathing.

This effect was clearly far better than the recovery provided by items like Elixirs and Spirit Stones. At a critical moment, even the slightest bit of Magical Power could be a lifeline.

But... for a Magic Storage with such a miraculous effect, the difficulty of refining it was naturally immense.

The Yin Yang Five Elements represent a Cultivator’s Cultivation Technique Attribute, and the specific Cultivation Technique, in turn, determines the nature of the cultivated Magical Power.

Take him, for example. His primary Attribute is Fire, and he mainly cultivates the Great Sun True Flame. His Magical Power was naturally not just simple Fire Attribute Magical Power, but Magical Power that had been burned and refined by the Great Sun True Flame.

Because of the existence of his Divine Soul Saber, his Supreme Yang and Firmest Magical Power had also gained a hint of sharpness through daily tempering.

Even another Cultivator practicing the same Great Sun Scripture would have Magical Power that was clearly different from his.

Moreover, the very existence of Magical Power is a process of using Divine Sense to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and ultimately refine it into Magical Power.

Therefore, even without the Divine Soul Saber, Magical Power would still be influenced by the Divine Soul.

The Divine Soul is unique, and so is one’s Magical Power.

Once Magical Power of this nature leaves a Cultivator’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit System, it would undoubtedly and naturally dissipate back into the world.

And herein lay the difficulty of Magic Storage.

One had to construct a storage space that simulated a Dantian. And because Magical Power is unique, this artificial "Dantian" had to share the same origin and nature as the Magical Power it was meant to store. Only such an artificial "Dantian" could hold Magical Power.

The slightest conflict in nature would make it impossible to store the Magical Power.

Not to mention, this effect had to be added to a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Robe, rather than refining a separate Magic Storage artifact.

One could only imagine the difficulty hidden within this seemingly simple request for Magic Storage!

Even though Xie Nan had brought up this idea more than a month ago, and he had spent much time conceptualizing it since then...

...now that the time had come, he couldn’t help but be cautious.

Although he had learned about the existence of Magic Storage from that copy of the Artifact Refining General Outline, this was his first time actually refining one.

After all, the Spiritual Materials for refining a Magic Storage were extremely rare, and for him, its function was more or less optional.

With his Divine Soul Saber, Great Sun True Flame, Ancient Cultivation Technique, and Dual Cultivation of Dharma and Body, the quality and quantity of his Magical Power and Divine Soul had long surpassed those of Cultivators of the Same Tier.

Adding to that his physical transformation at Foundation Establishment and his various other methods, such as powerful tools like Puppets.

If he were ever truly pushed to his limit, a little extra Magical Power wouldn’t be what saved him.

Furthermore, because the Magical Power in a Magic Storage is separated from the Cultivator’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit System, it needs to be periodically nurtured and re-refined.

It was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and resource-intensive, and on top of that, not very significant for him. So naturally, he had rarely studied or contemplated it.

After long periods of thought and deliberation, it wasn’t until the dawn of the sixth day that this refinement finally began.

The "Spiritual Radiance Blessing" had already descended. Devoid of joy or sorrow, there was only a focused mind, free of distractions, and a transcendent logic.

’Difficulty also means challenge.’

’For his Artifact Refining Skill, it means an increase in his foundational experience...’

’It means that his title as a Tier Two Upper Grade Artifact Refining Master will become even more well-deserved...’

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