Chapter 288 - 269: The Prevalence of Bloodlines

Chapter 288: Chapter 269: The Prevalence of Bloodlines

「The third month.」

The Earth Fire slowly died down, revealing a gleaming, lustrous, jade-colored Pill Furnace hovering in mid-air.

A series of Techniques shot forth. Countless, densely packed Array Prohibition Inscriptions swirled into existence throughout the room, eventually enveloping the jade-colored Pill Furnace in layer after layer.

This process lasted for nearly seven days and seven nights.

At last, the exquisite Pill Furnace settled steadily before Chu Mu.

As his Divine Sense swept over it, he could clearly feel the fluctuations of Spiritual Power, which far surpassed those of a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact.

A Magical Treasure Prototype...

It was complete!

Chu Mu exhaled softly. Though he couldn’t hide the exhaustion on his face, his eyes burned with excitement.

A Magical Treasure Prototype!

Even as a mere prototype, it was still a Magical Treasure—a creation far beyond the abilities of a Tier Two Refiner.

And that wasn’t all—the Spiritual Materials used in its creation were far more precious than those of an ordinary Magical Treasure!

Stroking the Pill Furnace before him, Chu Mu felt a surge of excitement.

His excitement was twofold. First, he had successfully refined a Magical Treasure Prototype. And second...

Previously, he had never had a clear concept of the kind of Pill Furnace his Alchemy Skill required.

After all, he had never refined a Pill Furnace before. Moreover, since taking up the Artifact Refining Skill, he had long neglected his Alchemy.

But now, he had personally refined a Magical Treasure-level Pill Furnace—and one designed to maximize the efficacy of Alchemy!

With the Magical Treasure complete, countless new ideas and inspirations flooded his mind.

What’s more...

Chu Mu looked at the numerous leftover Spiritual Materials, unable to suppress the excitement in his eyes.

A fingernail-sized piece of the Ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Jade remained, along with a thumb-sized section of the Thousand-Year Wood Marrow Core. The other precious Spiritual Materials also had varying amounts left over.

The quantities weren’t large, but their quality was far beyond what ordinary Spiritual Materials could ever compare to.

’If I were to refine these into a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Pill Furnace...’

Chu Mu mused to himself. ’The quantities of these dozen or so Spiritual Materials are too small. It’s impossible to make a complete Pill Furnace from them alone.’

’That means if I want to refine a Pill Furnace, I’ll have to add some of my own Spiritual Materials to the mix.’

’The question now is, how much of these dozen or so materials should I use, and how much should I save?’

After a moment of thought, he came to a decision. With a wave of his sleeve, all the remaining Spiritual Materials fell into a Jade Box.

He raised his hand, forming a seal. One after another, Restriction Inscriptions landed on the Jade Box, sealing the precious Spiritual Materials completely inside.

Once everything was put away, his gaze fell once more upon the Pill Furnace before him—his Lifebound Treasure prototype.

At this moment, looking back on the past few months of refining, he couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

He had come so close to failure midway through the process.

The reason was simple: he had been overlooking a critical issue.

Using over a dozen Spiritual Materials, all at least Tier Three, only to produce a Magical Treasure Prototype that wasn’t even a Lower Grade Treasure—this undoubtedly defied common sense.

But for a Lifebound Treasure, this was not only normal, but necessary.

According to his usual Artifact Refining habits, his instinct was to consider how to maximize the efficacy of the Spiritual Materials.

Only by doing so could the final product achieve perfection.

But Lifebound Treasures were not like this.

For a Lifebound Treasure, the most important thing is... growth!

It wasn’t about pushing it to its absolute limit from the very beginning.

The primary purpose of using so many precious Spiritual Materials was simply to give the Lifebound Treasure a deeper foundation, thus making its future growth and evolution easier.

In other words, when refining a Lifebound Treasure, the goal wasn’t to push the properties of the Spiritual Materials to their limits. Instead, it was to preserve as much of their essence as possible within the final product, thereby increasing the Magical Treasure’s potential for growth!

If he hadn’t realized something was wrong halfway through and adjusted in time, this attempt would have undoubtedly failed.

That was also why so little of the Spiritual Materials remained. What should have been a surplus had instead been largely consumed by that one mistake.

’A blessing in disguise...’

Chu Mu shook his head with a smile and closed his eyes to meditate and recover his energy.

Outside the Artifact Refining Room, Ji Ming had treated the main hall as his own private meditation chamber ever since Chu Mu had entered.

For nearly three months, this Artifact Room within Celestial Wind Pavilion had become a virtual forbidden zone.

Ji Ming sat cross-legged, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, but his trembling eyelids betrayed his inner turmoil.

Of course, when one’s entire future in cultivation was on the line, it was unlikely anyone could remain composed.

Even setting aside the value of the Spiritual Materials, which were like Supreme Treasures in their own right, the promise of a thirty percent increase to one’s Core Formation success rate was enough to drive any Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator to madness.

Just then, the Array Prohibition enveloping the Artifact Refining Room abruptly vanished. Amidst the faint ripples of energy, Ji Ming seemed to remain lost in his own anxious thoughts.

"Master, the Restriction has dissipated."

The concubine at his side couldn’t help but remind him.

"What?"

Ji Ming clearly hadn’t registered her words at first. Then, he shot to his feet, his bloodshot eyes glued to the closed door.

A moment later, the door slowly opened, and a figure in Qingyi robes came into view.

"F-Fellow Daoist Chu, did you... did you... succeed in the refining?"

His voice was shaky, filled with both unconcealable hope and obvious apprehension.

"Fortunately, I have not failed you."

Chu Mu cupped his fist. With a mere thought, a Storage Talisman floated out from his robes and hovered before Ji Ming.

"It... it’s a success?"

Ji Ming seemed caught between disbelief and immense relief, a cascade of emotions flashing across his face.

He carefully took the Storage Talisman. The next second, a crystal-clear Pill Furnace appeared before them.

Ji Ming stroked the Pill Furnace as if touching a Supreme Treasure, his already complex expression growing even more so.

After a long moment, he finally looked at Chu Mu, his expression returning to normal.

"I have been anticipating this for too long. I truly lost my composure just now. Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist."

Ji Ming smiled and handed over two Jade Scrolls. "As agreed, this is your payment, Fellow Daoist."

"This one is a Pill Book I’ve compiled."

"This second one is a comprehensive guide to bloodlines. It’s said to be part of an inheritance from the Ancient Sect, the Beast Taming Sect. As for its authenticity... I am no expert in the study of bloodlines, so I can’t be sure."

"If you wish to deepen your understanding of bloodlines, Fellow Daoist, I suggest you take a trip to the south."

"The Vast Sea is boundless and its Demon Beasts innumerable. Because of this, the study of bloodlines is extremely prevalent in the Cultivation Immortal Realm of the Southern Sea Territory."

"If you go there, Fellow Daoist, you should be able to gain a much clearer understanding of the path of bloodline cultivation."

"The Southern Sea Territory... the study of bloodlines is extremely prevalent there?"

Chu Mu was intrigued. This was news to him.

"The Cultivation Immortal Realm is full of endless wonders. Once you’ve seen more, Fellow Daoist, you’ll find it quite normal."

"Does the Vast Sea Chen Family also follow the path of bloodline cultivation?"

Chu Mu asked again.

"Yes."

Ji Ming nodded. "The Vast Sea Chen Family is one of the foremost powers in that field."

"Their Flood Dragon Bloodline allows them to roam the seas unhindered. It is precisely for this reason that the Vast Sea Chen Family has been able to establish such a firm foothold in the Sea Border..."

"However, within Great Chu’s borders, Demon Beasts are nearly extinct. Therefore, aside from the south, which borders the Vast Sea, and the northeastern Land of Ice and Snow, bloodline Cultivation is exceedingly rare elsewhere."

"Secret Skills like Demon Beast Bloodline transplantation are rarer still..."

"However, in the Cultivation Immortal Realms of the many small nations to the Southwest, the art of Gu Poison is extremely prevalent. It should share some principles with the path of bloodline cultivation..."

"There are quite a few Cultivators from the Southwest in our alliance right now. You could try asking them, Fellow Daoist..."

Having gained a wealth of new knowledge from the conversation, not to mention the comprehensive guide to bloodlines and the Alchemy Inheritance, Chu Mu did not linger. He walked out of Celestial Wind Pavilion, thoroughly satisfied.

The morning sun was rising, and a thin mist still lingered in the air. After leaving Celestial Wind Pavilion, he didn’t head straight back to his courtyard. Instead, he made a trip to Xie Hui’s shop, where he acquired a batch of Spiritual Materials and picked up an accumulation of refining jobs.

His Sound Transmission Order was also filled with accumulated messages. There were invitations to gatherings and requests to refine Artifacts.

Xu Yuan was still stationed at the front lines. He said it was easy to earn contribution points there, and his current duties weren’t dangerous, so he was planning to stay for a while.

As always, he would periodically send a long message, almost like a formal report, recounting his recent experiences.

Because of this, despite being in the rear, Chu Mu had a fairly reliable understanding of the war on the front lines.

It was just that Xu Yuan was only working in logistics at the front, so his knowledge of specific battle situations was limited. Most of what he shared was just hearsay.

Lost in thought, he returned to his courtyard in the bamboo forest. He spent the next month busying himself with refining the Magical and Spiritual Artifacts for all the tasks he had accumulated.

After easily earning a tidy sum of contribution points, he finally had the time and energy to turn his attention to the comprehensive guide to bloodlines.

After all, Wangcai had been stuck at the threshold of Tier One Perfection for many years...

...