Chapter 206 - 177: The Gift and the Big Brain

Chapter 206: Chapter 177: The Gift and the Big Brain

The moment Li Changsheng touched the robe, he froze. "A Magical Artifact!" he exclaimed.

Picking up the robe, he channeled his Spiritual Power into it.

In an instant, he understood the functions of this Magical Artifact robe.

Besides the essential abilities to repel water, fire, and dust, it contained a restriction. When activated, it could release a protective shield comparable in strength to the Early-Meridian Condensation stage. It was a low-grade Magical Artifact robe.

Li Changsheng didn’t hesitate. He took off his once-favorite Tier One Middle-Grade Magic Robe and slipped on the new Magical Artifact.

Well, what can I say...

"So comfortable!"

He didn’t know if it was just psychological, but Li Changsheng felt the robe’s material was soft and light. After putting it on, he felt much lighter himself.

It was a shame there wasn’t a bronze mirror in the room; otherwise, he’d have spent some time admiring his new look.

After admiring his new possession for a while, Li Changsheng opened the wooden box gifted by Elder Qing.

His eyes fell upon three palm-length, azure-gold Golden Needles, their surfaces covered in a dense pattern of fine runes.

"More Magical Artifacts!"

Li Changsheng’s eyes lit up. He picked one up, examined it for a few moments, then channeled his Spiritual Power into it.

The moment the Spiritual Power flowed in, he felt his mind connect to two intertwined, dazzlingly complex restrictions.

HUMMM...

As the Magical Artifact’s restrictions lit up one by one, the other two Golden Needles in the box rose up and floated before him, shimmering with a faint golden light.

Li Changsheng stared in surprise at the three floating Golden Needles, feeling the mental connection to them. His gaze fell on a nearby table, and a thought flickered through his mind.

SWOOSH...

The three Golden Needles trembled for a moment, transformed into three streaks of golden light, and instantly appeared before the wooden table.

Under Li Changsheng’s command, the Golden Needles danced up and down.

In just a few moments, dozens of tiny holes appeared on the wooden table, which then collapsed to the ground.

Li Changsheng beckoned with his hand. The Golden Needles returned as streaks of golden light, landing in his palm as their glow slowly faded.

"A set of middle-grade Golden Needle Magical Artifacts!"

A pleased look appeared on Li Changsheng’s face. ’As expected of an Elder,’ he thought with delight. ’So generous.’

In that moment, he couldn’t help but recall some of the books he had read in his previous life.

It was the ideal relationship: masters were benevolent to their disciples, and seniors were gracious to their juniors.

After a few moments of appreciation, Li Changsheng immediately began to refine the Magical Artifacts one by one, along with the Vein Condensing Ghost.

Upon reaching the Vein Condensation Realm, one could leave their own Spiritual Power imprint on a Magical Artifact. This not only made it easier to control the artifact but also prevented it from being stolen.

Time passed quickly.

By sunset, Li Changsheng had refined the magic robe, the Golden Needles, and the net-shaped defensive Magical Artifact awarded by the sect, one by one.

Afterward, he began to refine the Soul Nourishing Jade that contained the Vein Condensing Ghost.

This Soul Nourishing Jade was actually a simple, special type of Magical Artifact.

It had only one function: to control the ghost’s origin. With it in hand, one could destroy the ghost’s soul with a single thought.

Li Changsheng refined the Soul Nourishing Jade without much effort. With a flicker of his thoughts, a mass of black qi, thick as still water, flew out of the Soul Nourishing Jade.

It twisted and morphed in mid-air for a few moments before solidifying into a meter-tall figure resembling a child from a New Year’s painting.

Its facial features were somewhat stiff, clearly having been artificially modified.

"Greetings, Master!"

The ghost performed a deep bow towards him.

"Rise."

Li Changsheng waved his hand. Looking at its somewhat vacant gaze, he thought for a moment, then pointed at the collapsed wooden table on the floor. "Throw that outside in the courtyard."

"Yes, Master."

The ghost’s figure flickered and appeared in front of the table. A large cloud of black mist billowed from its arms, which were as slender as lotus roots. It enveloped the table, effortlessly lifted it overhead, then walked to the door, raised its arms, and tossed it into the courtyard.

Then it drifted back and came to a stop beside Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng glanced at it and thought, ’It doesn’t seem very bright.’ After a pause, he added, ’But that’s fine. The smart ones don’t live long anyway...’

He strode to the doorway and ordered the ghost to move the table into the kitchen.

When it returned, Li Changsheng looked it up and down, thought for a moment, and said with a smile, "From now on, your name is Brains."

"Yes, Master."

As if pre-programmed, Brains’s mouth split open to the sides, revealing a stiff smile.

"Festive!"

Li Changsheng chuckled and walked into the kitchen.

With a ghost servant at his disposal, there was no time like the present to put it to work.

Under his step-by-step instruction, Brains quickly mastered the method for making Tusked Pig Food.

However, it wasn’t very reliable when it came to actual cooking.

Brains could only follow instructions by rote; with a mind like its, it couldn’t grasp concepts like heat control at all.

Li Changsheng shook his head, giving up on the idea of training it to be an all-purpose servant.

Still, he was quite satisfied watching Brains skillfully chop the stinky fern and stinky-sock tree branches.

「An hour later.」

Li Changsheng walked out of the kitchen with his hands behind his back, followed by Brains, who was carrying two wooden buckets nearly as tall as itself.

He opened the beast pen.

Xiaohua and her family filed out, oinking and grunting nonstop.

SLOSH...

Under his command, Brains poured the two buckets of Tusked Pig Food into the trough. It then returned to the kitchen, filled another bucket most of the way, and poured that in as well.

Watching Xiaohua’s family gobble down their food, Li Changsheng nodded in satisfaction.

He then led Brains back to the kitchen and had it start scrubbing the pots and washing the buckets.

After it had finished, Li Changsheng flipped his hand over, producing the piece of Tier One Top-Grade Profound Iron given to him by the Patrol Guard Captain.

He took out a wooden basin, and a black-red Spiritual Power flowed from his palm. He cupped his hands around the Profound Iron, and, circulating his Spiritual Power, rubbed them forcefully in opposite directions.

CRACK... With a soft sound, a fine powder trickled into the wooden basin.

Li Changsheng opened his hands. His palms were only slightly red, without a single scratch.

He looked at Brains, who was standing to the side, and stuffed the Profound Iron into its hands. "Just like I did," he ordered with a chuckle, "grind this into powder."

"Yes, Master."

Brains’s expression remained unchanged. It mimicked Li Changsheng, squatting before the wooden basin and cupping its hands around the Profound Iron. A stream of black qi, exuding a chilly yin aura, flowed out.

It copied Li Changsheng’s technique, rubbing its palms in opposite directions.

CRACK... A few nearly invisible specks of powder fell from its palms into the basin.

"Not bad!"

Li Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. Although it was much, much less than what he produced, the fact that it could do it at all was enough.

At his command, Brains continued to grind the Profound Iron with its hands.

’I wonder if Senior Brother Tan has any more of these ghosts...’ Li Changsheng watched it, lost in thought.

It was just so damn useful!

「A short while later.」

Li Changsheng walked into the courtyard, retrieved an ironwood post, and set it up. He then began to test the three special powers contained within his Spiritual Power one by one.

First was the most potent of the three powers, the Evil Qi, which was displayed as Lv. 3 on his panel.

Li Changsheng closed his eyes and focused, his mind sinking into his Spiritual Power. He began to untangle and separate the three chaotic, intertwined properties within it.

「A Cup of Tea’s Time later.」

Li Changsheng opened his eyes, raised his arm, and focused his thoughts.

A wisp of dark gray Spiritual Power slowly rose from his palm, exuding a faint, savage aura.

Nearby, Xiaohua’s family, who had been busy gobbling their food, suddenly tensed up. They raised their heads, looking toward the source of the savage aura and letting out uneasy grunts.

"Evil Qi."

Li Changsheng murmured to himself, a look of remembrance in his eyes.

According to the travelogues he had read and the jade slip Ma Rong had given him, although there were many types of Evil Qi, they were broadly divided into two categories.

The first was Evil Qi generated naturally in treacherous terrain. The second was Evil Qi generated by natural disasters and human calamities.

Due to the different conditions under which they formed, their power and effects varied slightly.

The Evil Qi contained in his Spiritual Power belonged to the latter category: Martial Evil Qi, born from human calamity.

Using it to power a Magical Artifact not only increased the artifact’s might but also had a weak, spirit-enchanting effect.

Li Changsheng took out the Golden Needle Magical Artifact and tried it out.

Compared to when he used it with his chaotic, mixed Spiritual Power, its power was about thirty percent greater.

Li Changsheng then tested the "blood" and "soul" properties.

The blood property contained a yin-cold blood poison. Although its power was much weaker than the Martial Evil Qi, the blood poison could attack directly and was as hard to remove as maggots clinging to bone.

As for the soul property, he couldn’t test it because he had no Magical Artifacts or Magic related to the soul.

After finishing the tests, Li Changsheng closed his eyes and focused, his mind sinking back into his Spiritual Power. He began trying to perfectly fuse his Spiritual Power with the three properties.