Chapter 423 - 390: Framing

Chapter 423: Chapter 390: Framing

The night sky hung overhead. Amidst the rippling seawater, a wave suddenly swelled, and a beam of light shot toward the heavens.

The light streaked across the firmament and vanished into the clouds. A giant Wine Gourd slowly took shape.

The gourd cut through the wind as it flew, a faint membrane of light covering its entire surface. Atop the gourd, three figures stood in a line.

At the head of the gourd stood Xu Lingtian, a sword strapped to his back. His white robes billowed as if in a nonexistent wind. He was turned to the side, giving instructions to True Master Yun Xiao.

Chu Mu, however, was at ease, observing the Wine Gourd flying across the sky with great interest.

With his discerning eye, it wasn’t hard for him to tell that while this gourd was a flying Artifact, its ability to fly was merely a support function. The Artifact’s primary purpose was likely storage!

If it were only this, it would be nothing special to him, just a Magical Treasure that combined storage and flying effects.

But...

He had just seen with his own eyes that this Wine Gourd, now over ten feet long, had actually transformed from the one hanging at the waist of the Sword Dao Nascent Soul.

And that Wine Gourd was only about a foot long.

At this moment, the Wine Gourd beneath his feet was a completely solid artifact, not a product of Illusion.

In other words, this Wine Gourd... possessed the Big and Small Ruyi ability!

Chu Mu couldn’t hide the fiery passion in his eyes!

’The Big and Small Ruyi ability isn’t the simple transformation of ordinary artifacts. All those transformations are illusory and can’t exist permanently in a solid form.’

’Just like my Flaming Blade. Through Man-Sword Unity imbued with Sword Intent, I can make the Flaming Blade grow from several inches to tens of feet, or even over a hundred feet, with a single thought!’

’But such a change in size is clearly insubstantial, a mere product of illusion.’

’Without the support of my Magical Power and Divine Sense, it would dissipate in an instant.’

’But the Big and Small Ruyi of the Wine Gourd before me is completely solid!’

’The Wine Gourd remains stable whether it grows larger or smaller, and its intrinsic quality isn’t weakened by the change in volume!’

’Nor will it shatter just because it is no longer controlled by Magical Power and Divine Sense.’

"Big and Small Ruyi..."

Chu Mu silently recalled the records from the Artifact Refining General Outline of the Immortal Dao Sect. In the Tier Three Chapter of the Artifact Refining General Outline, there was a record of the refining method for the Big and Small Ruyi ability.

All the artifacts he had ever refined, whether they were Magical and Spiritual Artifacts or even Puppetry Tools, had their shapes completely fixed after the refining process was complete.

Just like worldly tables and chairs, what they are is what they are. A table can’t just grow a size larger or shrink a size smaller out of thin air.

The Artifacts he refined couldn’t spontaneously grow larger or smaller either.

To create an Artifact with the Big and Small Ruyi ability, one needed not only a special Artifact Refining Technique but also equally special Spiritual Materials.

According to the Tier Three Chapter of the Artifact Refining General Outline, the method for Big and Small Ruyi required a special smelting technique to extract the very core essence of the Spiritual Materials.

In the Artifact Refining General Outline, this essence was called Spiritual Essence!

This meant that to create an artifact using only this core Spiritual Essence, one would need tens, or even hundreds of times the amount of Spiritual Materials that would otherwise be required.

And that was just the first step.

The Big and Small Ruyi ability also required an extremely special Spiritual Material. In the Artifact Refining General Outline, its name was: "Celestial Cyan Amethyst."

According to the records, this Crystal Stone was born from the shattering of space. It was also a Spatial Attribute Spiritual Material and could be used for refining Storage Items.

But this Crystal Stone, in addition to containing a dense Power of Space, was also tinged with some incomprehensible worldly providence due to its birth from the shattering of space.

This so-called worldly providence was not detailed in the Artifact Refining General Outline, but it was said that this very providence was the source of the Big and Small Ruyi ability.

Without a doubt, to refine an Artifact with the Big and Small Ruyi ability, one first had to prepare tens, or even hundreds of times the normal amount of Spiritual Materials, and also possess the extremely rare "Celestial Cyan Amethyst." Only then would it be possible.

After all, smelting and compressing Spiritual Essence was not something a mere Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could accomplish.

According to the Artifact Refining General Outline, one must have the cultivation of the Golden Core Realm to even have a chance at smelting and compressing Spiritual Essence.

’Golden Core Realm... a Tier Three Refiner...’

Chu Mu pursed his lips. As he fell into contemplation, his Divine Sense Perception briefly focused on the "Ninth True Inheritor" token, and the hesitation in his heart strangely subsided.

His gaze shifted, and he glanced at the two people standing at the front of the Wine Gourd. With a slight flicker in his eyes, a Jade Scroll suddenly appeared in his hand.

He had obtained this Jade Scroll some years ago at an exchange meet in the True Understanding Pavilion. Based on his original thoughts, the contents recorded in the Jade Scroll should have been extremely remote from his own life.

But now, what was once so remote seemed to be right before his eyes. He had even been dragged into it, becoming a core part of it...

The conversation between the two seniors in front of him had not excluded him.

From their words, the entire sequence of events revolving around the Heavenly Deceit Pill had become undoubtedly clear to him.

Simply put, the purpose of the Heavenly Deceit Pill was to carry out a grand deception and fan the flames of conflict.

In the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, the Chen Family reigned supreme. This was naturally beyond doubt.

However, although the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was named after the Vast Sea, it clearly did not represent the entirety of the Vast Sea.

The Vast Sea was boundless. The vast sea region occupied by the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was likely just an extremely insignificant corner of it.

In the Endless Vast Sea, Demon Beasts were without number.

Although Demon Beasts below Tier Four lacked complete Spiritual Wisdom, after countless years of proliferation in the Endless Vast Sea, there was naturally no shortage of Tier Four Demon Beasts.

Tier Four Demon Beasts possessed complete Spiritual Wisdom, no different from humans. Demon Beast cultivation obviously also required resources, and under this demand, corresponding factions naturally formed.

This Jade Scroll recorded several Vast Sea Demon Beast Race factions that had contact with the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

Such as... the Flood Dragon Race, which was entangled with the Vast Sea Chen Family, and for instance, the Profound Serpent Race, the target of their current trip.

The Jade Scroll recorded that the Flood Dragon Race was based in the West Sea of the Vast Ocean. Of course, this "West Sea" was just a term used by the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, referring to the vast sea region to the west of the boundary between the Inner and Outer Seas.

The relationship between the Flood Dragon Race and the Chen Family seemed somewhat strange. According to the records, the two were sometimes inseparable allies and at other times, mortal enemies.

The Profound Serpent Race, on the other hand, was entrenched in the East Sea. According to the records, the Profound Serpent Race and the Flood Dragon Race were already mortal enemies due to a dispute over their respective dragon and serpent bloodlines.

Since the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World revered the Chen Family, and by extension the Flood Dragon Bloodline, the relationship between the Profound Serpent Race and the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was also extremely tense.

The several large-scale Beast Tides that had swept through the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World in recorded history were all initiated and led by the Profound Serpent Race.

The Profound Serpent Race and the Flood Dragon Race were also the only two massive Demon Beast Races to have direct contact with the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World!

In the past, such matters were naturally far removed from his life. If chaos truly broke out, he could have just walked away without a second thought.

But now, Chu Mu glanced at the two people standing at the front of the Wine Gourd, a trace of helplessness flashing across his brow.

Now, his identity was the Ninth True Inheritor of the Longevity Sect.

The purpose of their trip was to capture and kill a Tier Three Profound Snake.

And the identity of this Profound Snake was the legitimate son of the Profound Serpent Race’s current patriarch!

It was said that this Young Master Profound Snake had an extremely outstanding bloodline and aptitude. Moreover, he had awakened his intelligence early; despite being only Tier Three, he already possessed wisdom comparable to an ordinary human’s.

He was regarded by the Profound Serpent Race as a genius among geniuses!

’Use the Heavenly Deceit Pill for a grand deception, assassinate that Young Master Profound Snake, and frame the Vast Sea Chen Family.’

’A perfect plan.’

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t find a single flaw.

As long as they killed the Young Master Profound Snake, given the deep-seated hatred that had festered for countless years between the Profound Serpent Race and those with Flood Dragon Bloodline, there was no doubt that the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World would know no peace.

Even if the Vast Sea Chen Family and the Flood Dragon Race united to fight the Profound Serpent Race, it was clear that for a long time to come, the Chen Family would no longer be able to curry favor and stir up trouble in the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World as they had before.

It was just...

This hard-won peace was clearly gone for good.