Chapter 592: Special

In a deep-sea trench, a dark and gloomy place, Chu Mu, dressed in a new cyan Magic Robe, strolled along holding a Compass.

The Compass’s needle wavered, guiding him toward the area of spatial fluctuations.

After a moment, Chu Mu stopped before a coral reef. Strange rocks stood in dense clusters amidst sprawling coral. This time, he happened to be outside the deep-sea trench, on the seabed at its very edge.

Chu Mu closed his eyes, his Divine Sense circulating as he carefully perceived his surroundings.

About an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes. Spiritual Radiance still lingered in them, but it couldn’t hide his doubts.

The spatial fluctuations were clear, but they were no different from what he had observed before.

As things stood, he still had no way to break through the concealed entrance to the ruins.

‘Forget it…’

Chu Mu shook his head. With a wave of his hand, a Jade Scroll materialized, hovering over his palm.

The Jade Scroll had come from Xie Yu. According to him, it recorded information related to these ruins.

‘Whether the information is true or false remains to be seen.’

‘But the information it contains is undoubtedly worth a look.’

According to the Jade Scroll, these ruins were a legacy from ancient times, the Cave Mansion of a Great Divine Power Cultivator left behind in this world.

The portal connecting the Cave Mansion to the outside world appeared once every sixty-year cycle. However, while passing through the portal was easy, a grand Restriction array blocked the way once inside.

The Jade Scroll stated that the Grand Array enveloped the entire Cave Mansion space. Forcibly breaking it would certainly destabilize the space within the Cave Mansion, leading to unpredictable consequences.

Therefore, the only way to enter the Cave Mansion was through clever means.

The Jade Scroll recorded the locations of several nodes in the Grand Array. One only needed to briefly break open one of these nodes to create a temporary portal into the Cave Mansion. This method wouldn’t damage the foundation of the Grand Array and thus wouldn’t disturb the Cave Mansion’s space.

It was recorded in the Jade Scroll that the Xie Family had successfully entered the ruins several times before by using this very method.

Xie Yu’s plot to seize that Tier Four Forbidden-Breaking Talisman was, naturally, for this purpose as well.

The interior of the Cave Mansion, however, was somewhat peculiar.

According to the Jade Scroll, this Ruins Cave Mansion seemed to be a trial intentionally left behind by that ancient Great Divine Power User for future generations of Cultivators.

There were no Cultivation restrictions for entry; even a Nascent Soul Great Power could enter.

But any living being who entered would be randomly teleported, after which they would face layer upon layer of trials!

The Jade Scroll recorded that these so-called trials were all different. Each one was ever-changing. The Xie Family had entered many times but had never discovered a pattern, nor had they ever encountered the same trial twice.

Passing a trial would earn a blessing left by the master of the Cave Mansion.

The magnitude of this blessing depended on the Cultivation of the person taking the trial. The Jade Scroll mentioned that a Nascent Soul from the Xie Family had even obtained a great opportunity within.

‘Whether this is true or not is still unclear, but this Ruins Cave Mansion is definitely not simple.’

And most importantly…

Chu Mu looked again at the extremely faint spatial fluctuations before him, a grim look appearing on his face.

According to this Jade Scroll, after the Xie Family discovered traces of these ruins, they began treating them as a part of their clan’s foundation.

Whenever sixty spring and autumns passed and the ruins opened, they would quietly lead a large group of Xie Clan members here to seek opportunities.

For hundreds of years, this entrance had been the exclusive property of the Xie Family. No one else had noticed it, and no one had come to take a share of the pie.

But every time the Xie Family entered the ruins, they discovered many Cultivators who were not from their clan, and even Spiritual Demons!

However, according to the Jade Scroll, these Cultivators and Spiritual Demons did not seem to be creatures from the Celestial South Realm.

Although the Jade Scroll didn’t provide too many details on this point, it undoubtedly proved that this Ruins Cave Mansion did not have only one entrance!

This Ruins Cave Mansion appeared once every sixty-year cycle, which meant it wasn’t just the few of them waiting for it to manifest.

In other places—or rather, at other potential entrances to these ruins—there were other beings waiting for the ruins to appear, waiting for the opportunities and fortunes within…

The implications of this were obvious.

The world bustles with people, all for the sake of profit; the world rushes about, all for the sake of gain.

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, profit meant slaughter. It meant… a storm of blood!

Chu Mu’s eyes narrowed. He pondered for a moment but ultimately didn’t dwell on it for too long.

After all, he had come for profit. There was no doubt that he would have to pay the corresponding price and take the corresponding risks for the profit he desired.

Besides, the credibility of this Jade Scroll had yet to be determined.

‘In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, the only difference between people is their Cultivation Realm. There is no difference in their minds or their Spiritual Wisdom.’

‘No one is foolish enough to reveal all their secrets and trump cards while under someone else’s control.’

Zhao Shuang and the other two merely had low Cultivation; they were clearly not stupid.

He was handling the three of them, but it was entirely possible they were using their information advantage to plot against him.

It was just like when he plotted against the True Demon who had him in their grasp back in the Demon Realm.

If he had trusted them without reservation, he wouldn’t have lived to see this day.

Tossing the Jade Scroll into his Storage Space, Chu Mu shifted his gaze and fixed it on the three already-sealed Cave Mansions not far away. After watching them for a moment, he looked away, took a step, and with a flicker of his figure, returned to the Sky-Breaking Flying Boat.

This time, with a ripple in space, the Flying Boat vanished again, hovering in the void, completely undetectable.

The dozen or so Cyan Bird Puppets remained positioned in all directions, monitoring everything in this sea region. Any anomaly would be immediately reported to the Sky-Breaking Flying Boat, thereby alerting Chu Mu inside.

And at this moment, inside the Flying Boat, the door to the Secluded Meditation Chamber was once again shut tight.

In the room, Chu Mu sat cross-legged. Before him were several Jade Boxes of various sizes.

When the Jade Boxes were opened, several pieces of Nine Heavens Profound Gold of different sizes were revealed.

Chu Mu casually picked up one of the pieces of Nine Heavens Profound Gold. As he examined it, his brow furrowed in thought.

For him, with his level of Artifact Refining, Refining a Magical Treasure—even conceiving and designing one from scratch, perhaps even a Lifebound Treasure—was by no means too difficult.

This Sword Intent Supreme Treasure, however, did not seem to fall into that category.

After all, from what he understood of the Sword Pill Cultivation System, orthodox True Cultivators of Sword Intent did not require any external power.

Their entire power was concentrated in that one Sword Pill.

The Sword Pill was the crystallization of their entire Cultivation and also their most powerful Attacking Means.

For a True Cultivator of Sword Intent, spitting out their Sword Pill meant a fight to the death.

But he, a True Cultivator of Sword Intent, did not practice the orthodox methods of a Sword Cultivator. Instead, his main practice was the orthodox Immortal Dao Dual Cultivation of Dharma and Body. The method of a True Cultivator of Sword Intent—that is, the Void Nether Saber Scripture—was merely a means to support his Immortal Dao Cultivation.

This undoubtedly meant that his Sword Intent Supreme Treasure was extremely special, to the point that he could hardly find any examples to reference.

In fact, it was probably unknown whether a case like his had ever existed.

After all, be it Sword Intent or any other True Intent, unless it was self-realized by a heaven-sent genius, it was almost always passed down through generations within major powers.

Furthermore, a True Intent offered Unrivaled Attack power. When one appeared in the world, its user would invariably be courted by all the major powers and become their prized asset. With the deep foundations of these powers, it was naturally impossible for a situation like his to occur—a True Cultivator of Sword Intent who nevertheless practiced orthodox Immortal Dao Techniques.

Even if such a person existed, they would be an exception among exceptions.

As of now, his only additional insight into his special case, into this Sword Intent Supreme Treasure, came down to the single word from that Sword Dao Nascent Soul: “purity.”

Most of his other ideas were merely his own deductions.

‘Perhaps I’ll have to experiment a little…’

As his thoughts flowed, Chu Mu pressed his lips together, not dwelling on it for too long.

When it came to Artifact Refining, he was very confident. His foundational knowledge of Artifact Refining and his understanding of the Artifact Refining Skill were in no way inferior to any other Artifact Refiner in the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

This was true even when compared to an Artifact Refining Master at the Nascent Soul Realm, or even an Artifact Refining Master who was a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator.

This wasn’t blind confidence, but a hard fact.

To this day, although the Light Curtain Panel only rated his Artifact Refining level as a Tier Three Upper Grade Refiner…

…this rating was only because his Cultivation couldn’t support the Refining of High Tier treasures, not because his Artifact Refining skill was insufficient.

Under the “Spiritual Radiance Blessing,” his greatest strength was never any single skill, but rather his ability to learn and comprehend.

His absorption of knowledge, in particular, was beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.

For an ordinary person, learning a certain Magic Technique or a particular skill might take several years or even longer. But for him, under the “Spiritual Radiance Blessing,” it might only take a few dozen days, or even just a few.

Artifact Refining was naturally the same.

Years of research and study, a massive investment of “Spiritual Radiance,” the two volumes of the Artifact Refining General Outline from the Immortal Dao Sect, countless Artifact Refining legacies and fragmented Artifact Formulas he had collected himself, the fusion of the Artifact Refining Systems from two Cultivation Immortal Realms—Great Chu and the Vast Sea…

His Artifact Refining Skill had long since surpassed the conventional Grade divisions.

No matter how special the Sword Intent Supreme Treasure was, even if it was unprecedented, he could become the pioneer and set the precedent.

Chu Mu swept his sleeve, and Spirit Paper spread out before him. He picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and after a moment of thought, a rough concept emerged.

Then, the brush fell, its strokes crisscrossing as the thoughts in his mind flowed out from its tip. He drew upon the Spirit Paper, and finally, thanks to the special properties of the Spirit Paper and Spiritual Ink, the image appeared before his eyes, vivid and lifelike.

With the first draft complete, Chu Mu didn’t pause for a moment. Under the “Spiritual Radiance Blessing,” countless leaping inspirations and ideas for the Sword Intent Supreme Treasure flooded his mind.

He needed to verify the feasibility of each one, then meticulously select the best, verify it further, and finally, conduct a true experiment on the most perfect design…