Chapter 303 - 280: Orderly (Part 2)

Chapter 303: Chapter 280: Orderly (Part 2)

Just smelling the Pill Fragrance gave him the sensation of his Magical Power surging, even boiling.

He observed it for a long time before putting the Jade Bottle away.

Breaking through the limit of One-Patterned Elixirs to refine Two-Patterned or even Three-Patterned Elixirs seemed much more difficult than he had anticipated.

According to his own expectations, back when he first started learning Alchemy Skill, his foundation was shallow. Yet even with a broken Pill Furnace that couldn’t even be considered a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, he had been able to refine a One-Patterned Elixir.

But now, his understanding of the Alchemy System had gradually expanded, and he had even personally refined his Pill Furnace—a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Pill Furnace perfectly suited to him. Refining an Elixir that surpassed One-Patterned shouldn’t have been difficult.

The reality, however, was that the appearance of a Pill Pattern Elixir was related to the refining process to some extent, but there seemed to be other factors at play.

Based on his own observations and experiments, it seemed to be related to the immersion in the elixir’s refinement during Alchemy, ’a sort of... state of oneness between man and pill?’

He wasn’t entirely sure. But in refining these Gong Palace Pills, six furnaces worth, he was under the effect of Spiritual Radiance Blessing. This should have been more than enough for him to master the refining process for this Elixir.

Yet, the result was that the two Two-Patterned Elixirs came from the second and fourth refining attempts.

It wasn’t a matter of the probability increasing the more skilled and familiar he became with the process.

Lost in thought, it was a while before Chu Mu came back to his senses. He looked at the Sound Transmission Order in his robe, where several more messages from Xu Yuan had accumulated.

Wangcai’s breakthrough and transformation were still ongoing. Judging from the images Xu Yuan had sent, Chu Mu’s estimate of over a year might just be the minimum.

Right now, his only concern was perhaps the news he had received about Elder Li.

Changzhou was quite a distance from Jingmen.

Moreover, Changzhou was located in the Longevity Sect’s territory.

Most importantly, the only information he had was the name of the place: Changzhou.

From what he had managed to find out, Changzhou was a county under the jurisdiction of Qianbei County.

Trying to find one person in an entire county was no easy task, especially since it was in Longevity Sect territory.

’Once things here are settled, I’ll go look for him...’

Chu Mu mulled it over, his mind already made up.

Since coming to this world, very few people had shown him kindness.

And among those few, the only one whose kindness was free of self-interest was Elder Li.

This trip was a must.

His thoughts settled. He straightened his clothes, pushed the door open, and walked out.

After several days, although the camp had not been fully repaired, it had already begun to operate normally.

Many Cultivators who were either out on missions or fighting on the battlefield were resting temporarily in the camp.

The tide of war had brought great chaos and destroyed much of the old order.

Like Jingmen City, this outpost camp had almost no rules aside from the prohibition of fighting within its grounds.

Stalls lined the streets, with Cultivators still carrying the faint scent of blood sitting behind them, selling a wide variety of items.

Among them, the most common goods were the physical bodies and Divine Souls of Cultivators.

Flesh and blood could be refined into Qi and Blood Pills, fed to Demon Beasts, or even have their blood and marrow extracted for use in Artifact Refining, Talisman Making, or even growing Spiritual Plants...

As for Divine Souls, their uses were even greater. In Artifact Creation, most artifacts that didn’t require a Cultivator’s Magical Power to operate would have a central control hub.

And for this control hub, a Divine Soul was the absolute best choice.

"Fellow Daoist Chu!"

Chu Mu was strolling leisurely down the street when a voice called out from behind him. It was immediately followed by the thunderous sound of footsteps as a man clad in Puppet Battle Armor strode over.

The Battle Armor was a dark gray, stood about two meters tall, and completely encased its wearer. As it strode forward, its presence was quite intimidating.

Seeing the commotion, the other Cultivators on the street quickly made way.

A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator in Tier Two Puppet Battle Armor was an unmistakable sight.

The Battle Armor stopped in front of Chu Mu, and the helmet’s armor retracted, revealing a handsome face.

Chu Mu was familiar with the man, and even more familiar with the Puppet Battle Armor.

The handsome man before him was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator named Sun Donghong, whom he had met after dealing with Zhao Hong.

The reason they met was, naturally, because of Artifact Refining.

This very Puppet Battle Armor had been refined by Chu Mu using Spiritual Materials provided by Sun Donghong.

The rules were the same as back in Water Heaven Workshop: fifty percent extra for the main materials, two sets of auxiliary materials, plus the refining fee. He had earned quite a lot from it.

"Fellow Daoist, this is what I’ve gathered these past few days. See if there’s anything you need."

Sun Donghong said with a cheerful laugh, handing over a Storage Talisman.

Chu Mu accepted the Storage Talisman with practiced ease. Since arriving at the front-line camp, he had met many Foundation Establishment Cultivators and had long since put out word that he was looking to purchase Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicine.

Here on the true front lines, where battles raged daily, rare items naturally appeared one after another.

Given his status as an Artifact Refining Master, most Foundation Establishment Cultivators, much like Sun Donghong before him, were willing to build a good relationship and foster goodwill with him.

Whenever they had a haul, quite a few of them would come to trade with him.

"How about these few items, for a total of three thousand Contribution Points?"

After picking through the contents, Chu Mu took out several Jade Boxes from the Storage Talisman: a 230-year-old Spirit Medicine, a Divine Soul from an Early Stage of Foundation Establishment cultivator, and several Tier Two Spiritual Materials of varying weights.

"Done!"

Sun Donghong was very easygoing; he agreed without a second thought.

After taking back the Storage Talisman, Sun Donghong seemed to suddenly remember something. He pointed to his suit of Battle Armor and asked, "Oh, right, Fellow Daoist, can this Battle Armor of mine be modified again?"

"Modify it?"

Chu Mu was slightly taken aback. He looked at the Battle Armor before him, and its original design specifications surfaced in his mind.

He remembered that Sun Donghong was a Body Refining Foundation Establishment cultivator, so this Battle Armor was primarily built for close-quarters combat.

It adopted an amplification design similar to the Giant Divine Arm, mainly focused on enhancing Power and physical Defense.

With such a design, the Battle Armor was naturally very simple. It had no weapons, just a suit of armor for brawling fist-to-flesh.

’Modifying it...’

Chu Mu looked at the expectant Sun Donghong and asked, "What did you have in mind, Fellow Daoist?"

"This Battle Armor is great and all, but it’s a bit too cumbersome. If someone tries to run, it’s hard to chase them. And if I run into danger, it’s hard for me to escape myself..."

"I mainly want to make the armor more agile, ideally with a burst of speed. And... could we add some kind of ranged Attack? Nothing fancy, just something to restrain enemies would be enough..."

As Sun Donghong grew more and more excited, the corner of Chu Mu’s mouth twitched. He was at a loss for words.

Finally, Chu Mu could only interrupt Sun Donghong’s fantasy. "It can all be done."

"It can all be done?"

Sun Donghong was overjoyed.

"But it would significantly affect, or even weaken, the Battle Armor’s original functions."

"I wouldn’t recommend modifying it that much, but the restraining-type ranged Attack you mentioned... that could be added."

"How about this: you prepare some Tier Two Wood Attribute Spiritual Materials, preferably vine-type Spiritual Materials."

Chu Mu thought for a moment, then added, "Thorny Vine types would be best."

"Alright, I’ll go find some right now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Donghong strode away.

Chu Mu watched the swaggering Puppet Battle Armor go, his gaze flickering. A Jade Scroll was now clutched in his hand.

Inside the Jade Scroll were also the design specifications for a Puppet Battle Armor.

However, this particular Puppet Battle Armor was one he had designed for himself.

According to his plan, it would be best to do it all in one go and directly refine the strongest possible Puppet Battle Armor short of a Magical Treasure.

However, that idea was still a distant prospect.

After all, Puppet Battle Armor was enormous, and the amount of Spiritual Materials it required was several, or even dozens of times, that of an ordinary Artifact.

And the Puppet Battle Armor he wanted to refine fell into that "dozens of times" category. Moreover, the required Spiritual Materials, without exception, were all Tier Two Upper Grade, or even Tier Three Spiritual Materials.

Gathering them all would be extremely difficult!

However...

Chu Mu sized up the Spiritual Materials in his Storage Ring. It seemed he already had enough materials for his Second Generation Ranger Puppet...

’A Tier Two Middle Stage Ranger Puppet?’

The corners of Chu Mu’s lips curved up, and a faint smile appeared on his face...

...