Chapter 329 - 301: The Cause and the War (Part 3)

Chapter 329: Chapter 301: The Cause and the War (Part 3)

The duties of the Artifact Hall remained logistical maintenance.

The work mainly consisted of maintaining the city wall and ensuring the various Artifacts atop it were operational. It wasn’t too different from the tasks he had previously accepted from the Artifact Hall.

On the North City Wall alone, there were over three thousand such refined Artifacts, spread across its entire length.

At this very moment, these Artifacts were all being operated by Righteous Alliance Cultivators, each one fulfilling its purpose.

And there were over two hundred Artifact Refiners responsible for maintaining these three thousand-plus Artifacts.

However...

After years of bitter fighting here in Jingmen, a great many of the Righteous Alliance’s experienced and capable Artifact Refiners had died.

After all, the art of Artifact Refining inherently required vast amounts of resources and time.

For a Cultivator, while the amount of resources one could acquire depended on various factors, time was a fixed commodity.

Studying a skill basically meant dedicating the vast majority of one’s time to it, and it wasn’t unheard of for this to hinder one’s Cultivation Progress.

The vast majority of Artifact Refiners, and indeed most Cultivators who studied the Hundred Skills of Cultivation Immortal, could never be like him—possessing not only other skills but also formidable Combat Power.

Usually, they were either skilled in their craft but weak in Combat Power, or mediocre in both.

’When faced with an inescapable situation, they could do little more than wait for death.’

’Someone like him, who could either calmly slip away or just kill their attacker when faced with danger, was clearly in the slimmest of minorities.’

’Otherwise, it wouldn’t have fallen to an outsider like him to take charge of the Artifact Hall.’

This position was actually quite to Chu Mu’s liking.

It came with high status and considerable authority, and he didn’t have to risk his life fighting the enemy.

’Even if the Grand Array fell and the two armies clashed head-on, it would have little to do with him.’

Led by several disciples from the Artifact Hall, he made his rounds along the city wall on an inspection tour.

For now, his duties were still quite relaxed.

With the protection of the Grand Array, everything inside the city remained calm and orderly.

The Righteous Alliance had operated in Jingmen City for a long time, and their reserves of Artifacts and materials were clearly abundant. Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

But the more orderly everything seemed, the deeper Chu Mu’s unease became.

His recent conversation with Xie Cangfeng had revealed a great deal, and one point in particular was crucial.

Namely, the City Defense Array before his eyes was linked to the Lifebound Treasure of a Nascent Soul powerhouse.

Although he had no systematic understanding of the Array Dao, as an Artifact Refiner, he at least had a detailed knowledge of Array Prohibitions and Lifebound Treasures.

’Using Artifacts to create an Array Formation is a common practice.’

’But for an Array to be formed from a Lifebound Treasure... that meant the Nascent Soul expert in question was most likely an Array Master in the Nascent Soul Realm.’

’Normally, having such a powerhouse stationed in Jingmen, with an Array formed from their Lifebound Treasure, would have made the city virtually impregnable.’

’But the current situation was clearly anything but normal.’

’After all, the fortress had been compromised from within, creating a fatal flaw.’

’A Golden Core True Master had turned traitor, sabotaging the array’s core and damaging the Nascent Soul Cultivator’s Lifebound Treasure.’

’This meant there was clearly a problem with the Grand Array’s core.’

’And if the Grand Array was still operational despite a compromised core, it could only mean one thing: the Nascent Soul Cultivator was forcibly maintaining its function.’

’Which, in turn, meant that every Attack the Grand Array sustained was tantamount to an indirect blow against that damaged Lifebound Treasure.’

’In other words, that one Nascent Soul Cultivator was single-handedly holding back this entire dazzling, sky-spanning onslaught!’