Chapter 285 - 267: Compliments, Goodwill...

Chapter 285: Chapter 267: Compliments, Goodwill...

「Half a month later.」

In the bamboo grove’s stone pavilion.

The True Flame gradually died down, and the Magic Robe floated in the air. Chu Mu raised his hand to form a seal. As his Magical Power surged, one Artifact Pattern Array Prohibition after another slowly appeared on the pale green robe.

His Magical Power and Divine Sense churned, sending out waves of energy that swept through the area. The bamboo branches swayed, and leaves rained down like a flurry of swords.

A moment later, Spiritual Light flowed over all the Array Prohibition Patterns on the Magic Robe. Finally, the light shot out and vanished into his fingertip.

The robe, hovering in mid-air, seemed to lose all support and drifted slowly toward the ground.

With a flick of his sleeve, he made the Magic Robe float above his palm.

The robe was a pale green, and the fresh scent of bamboo was unmistakable.

Its Array Prohibition Patterns were contained within, sealing it off from the outside world and awaiting its master’s touch.

Chu Mu flipped his hand, and the Magic Robe disappeared into his Storage Talisman. Then, with a thought, all the remaining Spiritual Materials from the refining process appeared on the table before him.

His rules were very clear: an extra fifty percent of the main materials and double the auxiliary materials.

And the Spiritual Materials left before him...

"This should be enough to refine another Magic Robe..."

A smile touched Chu Mu’s lips, his delight hard to conceal.

The main material for a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Robe was Tier Three Lower Grade Wood Marrow Silk.

Wood Marrow Silk was created by taking the marrow of a Tier Three Spirit Wood that had grown for at least five hundred years and refining it with at least Tier Two Upper Grade silkworm silk, or other Spiritual Materials with similar properties.

This Wood Marrow Silk possessed the gentle life force of the Wood Attribute, as well as the toughness and Magical Power conductivity of the silkworm material, making it an excellent Spiritual Material for refining Magic Robes!

Moreover, the Magic Storage effect could only be realized using a main material with the properties of this Wood Marrow Silk.

As for basic effects like being impervious to water and fire, warm in winter and cool in summer, temperature-regulating, and self-cleaning, this Magic Robe naturally possessed them all.

A flicker of light crossed Chu Mu’s eyes.

’This one Magic Robe...’

’And a custom-made Top Grade Spiritual Artifact at that. This is clearly enough to make my title as an Artifact Refining Master completely undeniable.’

He didn’t care about fame, but...

Chu Mu looked at the Spiritual Materials before him, and at the many other leftover materials from past Artifact Refining jobs stored in his Storage Ring...

The vast majority of them were treasures that the Cultivators who sought his services had painstakingly searched for and accumulated. They were resources and wealth that could hardly be measured in Spirit Stones.

He didn’t care about fame, but the wealth and resources that fame brought him? He was more than happy to accept them. Ecstatic, even.

He took out his Sound Transmission Order. Compared to before, it now had dozens of new transmission Seals. Aside from a few, the rest were all left by fellow Foundation Establishment Cultivators he had met during this time.

Through these transmission Seals, both parties could contact each other as long as they were within transmission range.

After half a month of closed-door refining, a large pile of messages had accumulated on the Sound Transmission Order.

After listening to all the messages, Chu Mu pondered for a moment before sending out a transmission of his own. With a wave of his sleeve, he swept the many Spiritual Materials on the table into his Storage Ring.

In a single leap, he crossed several hundred meters, landing lightly in front of his courtyard gate. Behind him, Wangcai followed closely, dashing to his side.

Pushing the gate open revealed a Marketplace street. However, since this was the Housing District and consisted entirely of residences, there weren’t many pedestrians on the street.

Chu Mu looked back at Wangcai. Sensing his Tier One Perfection aura, his previously pleasant mood was instantly clouded by a shadow of gloom.

According to the information he’d gathered recently, bloodline transplantation was no easy task.

Furthermore, he had no idea what the specific method entailed.

When it came to something as critical as bloodline transplantation, he couldn’t possibly rely solely on that one Bloodline Technique manual to carry it out.

’Test subjects, a transplantation method...’

After a moment of thought, Chu Mu paused and glanced back at two iron cages in the bamboo grove, both covered in Array Prohibition Patterns.

Inside the cages, one red and one black, two giant wolves lay listlessly. Despite their lethargy, the faint, tyrannical aura they exuded clearly proved that both were Tier One Late Stage Demon Beasts.

These two giant wolves had also come into his possession by a fortunate coincidence.

Previously, a Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivator had been introduced to him by Zhu Zhang. He had heard from Zhu Zhang that this Foundation Establishment Cultivator was skilled in taming Demon Beasts.

So, he had casually asked a few questions and ended up accepting these two giant wolf Demon Beasts as payment for his Artifact Refining services.

He had no intention of undertaking the thankless task of taming Demon Beasts. Instead, he planned to use them as experimental subjects.

Over the past few days, he had been constantly observing the two giant wolves and conducting small experiments on their bloodlines. He was slowly gathering information about bloodline transplantation.

However, his understanding was still minuscule.

Although he had sent word long ago for Xie Hui to search and had also put out feelers at recent exchange meetings, there had been no results so far.

"Let’s go..."

He took a deep breath, suppressed the gloom in his heart, and started walking straight toward the Contribution Hall.

In half a year’s time, not much had changed in Water Heaven Workshop.

The battle on the front lines was still at a stalemate, seemingly having devolved into a state of permanent deadlock.

However, the various small-scale skirmishes in the rear had never ceased.

As a transfer point for the Righteous Alliance adjacent to the front lines, Water Heaven Workshop was naturally a frequent target.

Although there hadn’t been another incident like a direct assault on the Marketplace, clashes outside its walls had never stopped.

As far as he knew, just a few days ago, a team from Water Heaven Workshop transporting supplies to the front lines was ambushed by the Longevity Sect. Of the two Foundation Establishment Realm leaders, one was killed and the other was severely injured.

He had even met one of the Foundation Establishment Cultivators a few times at a previous exchange meeting.

Arriving at the Contribution Hall, he found it as bustling and noisy as ever.

As a regular visitor to the Contribution Hall, a disciple of the Righteous Alliance immediately approached him the moment he stepped inside, respectfully leading him into a side hall.

He had barely sat down for a moment when a hurried voice came from outside the hall.

"Fellow Daoist, were you successful in the refining?"

"Fortunately, I did not disappoint."

Chu Mu raised his hand, and the Magic Robe appeared, floating above it. With another wave, the robe drifted straight toward Xie Nan.

"Good, good! Excellent!"

Xie Nan was overjoyed. He examined the Magic Robe, and while exclaiming his approval, his Magical Power surged as he began to refine the Spiritual Artifact Robe on the spot.

In just a moment, with a flash of Spiritual Light, the Magic Robe was already perfectly fitted to Xie Nan’s body.

"With skill like this, I doubt there are many Artifact Refiners even within our Righteous Alliance who can compare to you, Fellow Daoist."

Xie Nan praised him without reservation.

"It’s just a meager skill to make a living."

Chu Mu waved his hands dismissively. There is no absolute best in the arts, only in combat; one couldn’t make such claims lightly.

"Hahaha, Fellow Daoist, you are far too modest."

Xie Nan laughed heartily. "With skills like these, if you were in my Righteous Alliance, or my Xie Family, you would soar to the heavens! Your Immortal Path would be limitless!"

Chu Mu smiled but said nothing.

Seeing this, Xie Nan didn’t press the matter, treating it as just another casual attempt to probe him.

Such attempts had not been infrequent during this period.

The few Righteous Alliance Artifact Refiners he had befriended, as well as Xie Hui, had all said similar things.

Chu Mu either played dumb or politely declined.

So far, things had remained peaceful.

After some small talk, Chu Mu didn’t leave alone this time. Instead, he walked out of the Contribution Hall with Xie Nan, heading toward the Celestial Wind Pavilion.

Their destination was, of course, the exchange meeting at the Celestial Wind Pavilion!

As far as he knew, this type of exchange meeting, organized by the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment Alchemy Master Ji Ming, had been going on for many years.

It was held once every three months, and in the past half-year, he hadn’t missed a single one.

"Fellow Daoist, you probably don’t know the full extent of it, but Elder Ji is incredible. His Alchemy Skill is simply divine. Elder Ji handles a large portion of the Foundation Establishment Pill refining for the Alliance..."

Along the way, the two chatted idly. The Cultivators they passed saw them coming and, sensing their Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivation, all moved aside one after another.

On the bustling street, the two of them walked forward without the slightest obstruction.

Everything felt so natural, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Chu Mu was the same; he had already grown accustomed to it.

"Elder Xie, Elder Chu, this way, please!"

Before they even entered the Celestial Wind Pavilion, two Maids were clearly waiting to greet them. Seeing them arrive, they immediately came forward to welcome them respectfully.

"Fellow Daoist, have you ever thought of taking a concubine?"

Seeing the two Maids, Xie Nan seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked.

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

"I have a niece with Three Spirit Roots Talent. She’s as beautiful as a flower. If you’re interested, Fellow Daoist, perhaps you could take her as a concubine. It would be good to..."

Seeing Xie Nan’s earnest, persuasive expression, the corner of Chu Mu’s mouth twitched. He waved his hands repeatedly, "I am used to being alone. Let’s just forget it."

Xie Nan smiled and said no more.

As usual, he knew when to stop and didn’t press the issue.

They walked up the stairs. It seemed they had arrived a little late, as many Cultivators were already seated in the main hall.

Unlike his first visit to the Celestial Wind Pavilion when no one paid him any mind, this time, the moment he entered the second floor, he was met with an endless stream of greetings.

Some called him "Fellow Daoist," others addressed him as "Master..."

Compliments, goodwill...

Everywhere he looked, it was the same.

After he took a seat, voices from all around struck up conversations one after another.

He had to deal with them for quite a while before he finally got a bit of peace.

He glanced around. Most were familiar faces, with only a few strangers. Evidently, these newcomers were mostly Loose Cultivators or Righteous Alliance Cultivators who had returned from the front lines to rest.

The exchange meeting proceeded without any major waves, unfolding in an orderly fashion as usual.

Perhaps because it was located near the front lines and many front-line Cultivators had settled here, rare items would appear at almost every one of these exchange meetings.

At the last exchange meeting, a Magical Treasure had even appeared, which caused quite a stir among the Cultivators present for a long time.

This time, there were also many rare items, including a proper Grand Array.

It seemed to be a City Defense Array seized from a destroyed Longevity Sect Marketplace. It was ranked as Tier Two Upper Grade, and although damaged, it was still extraordinary.

As for the other items for exchange, although there were many rare things, they were all overshadowed by this Grand Array.

Even after the exchange meeting ended, the Cultivators’ conversations still revolved around the Grand Array.

"It should be the Grand Array from Cyan Cloud Mountain Marketplace. A while ago, I heard that several Loose Practitioner Foundation Establishment cultivators hired by our Alliance worked together to break it. I don’t know the specific details..."

Xie Hui explained from the side.

Chu Mu glanced with some curiosity at the Cultivator who had put the Grand Array up for exchange. The meeting had just ended, and the person had already left in a hurry, clearly unwilling to interact with the other Cultivators present.

"Elder Chu."

As Chu Mu was lost in thought, a clear voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Chu Mu turned to look and saw that it was Ji Ming’s concubine.

"My master invites you to the back hall for a talk, Elder."

The woman was respectful.

Chu Mu frowned and looked at Xie Nan beside him.

Xie Nan shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know the reason either.

"Alright."

Chu Mu was a little puzzled. After all, ever since he had first attended the exchange meeting, Ji Ming had been in seclusion. Each meeting was hosted by his concubine on his behalf, who would present some Elixirs for trade.

Other than that one unsuccessful transaction, he had basically had no other interactions with this Alchemy Master.

’So this time...’

He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he nodded and followed the concubine into the back hall.

...