Chapter 56: Refining Treasure

  "Baili Mu is He Lian's junior brother, who wanted to snatch the Qiankun Divine Sword from my hands and was killed by me!" said Wumu Dao Ren lightly.

  He then taught Shuǐ Shēng a method to absorb the treasures into his body, and had him try it with the Frost Sword and the Lyre of Shadows, using them as his life-bound treasures. After that, he took all the earth-attribute spirit stones and seven bottles of elixirs, leaving behind two bottles of Snow Ginseng Elixir and other items for Shuǐ Shēng, before retreating to the middle stone chamber to meditate and recover his spiritual energy.

  Shuǐ Shēng took a Snow Ginseng Pill as instructed by Wū Mù Dào Rén and sat cross-legged in stillness beside the water pool to treat the injury on his back inflicted by Qín Zhèng. In less than half a day, the wound no longer hurt and the flow of spiritual energy within him seemed smoother. This Snow Ginseng Pill was greatly beneficial even for Yuányīng Xiūshì's injuries; for Shuǐ Shēng, it was a cure-all.

  Shuǐ Shēng opened the two bottles containing Xuě Shēn Dān and counted them, unexpectedly there were more than 40 grains left. With a child's temperament, seeing Wū Mù Dào Rén eat a large handful last time, he decided to eat five more in one breath. Unexpectedly, after swallowing the five Dan medicines, his internal Fa Li suddenly surged up, and the three major Dan Tian were simultaneously filled with a strong True Qi. Immediately following, his heart was stirred up wave after wave. Shuǐ Shēng was greatly shocked, hastily calming his mind and urging his Fa Li to flow throughout his body. An hour later, his whole body's Fa Li finally calmed down, but the three major Dan Tian simultaneously transmitted a warm and comfortable feeling, it was truly pleasant!

  Shui Sheng hastily put the two bottles into his storage bag, and from then on, he didn't dare to easily consume such a "great supplement". He turned around and gazed at the water pool, and his heart moved again. He looked at the tightly closed stone room, took off his clothes, and quietly slipped into the water pool.

  A refreshing coolness seeped into his body through the countless pores all over, and Shui felt so comfortable that he let out a loud whoop. Suddenly remembering that Wumu Dao Ren was meditating to recover from his injuries, he hastily covered his mouth and submerged his head in the pool water. It seemed that by doing this, the sharp cry just now would not be transmitted into Wumu Dao Ren's ears.

  Fortunately, the stone gate of the stone room in Wumutao was tightly closed, silent and soundless. Shui Cheng then plucked up his courage, stuck out his head, and swam back and forth in the pond water.

  For seven consecutive days, Shuǐ Shēng had been practicing a mysterious technique called "Kòng Líng Shù" as instructed by Wū Mù Dào Rén. He controlled the flow of his internal Qi, trying to circulate it through the three main Dan Tian and then suddenly release all his Fa Li (mystical power) in an instant.

  In just seven short days, Shui Sheng was able to use his internal energy to condense into ice and iron spears that were several meters long when using the Ice Cone Technique and the Mystic Iron Stab. Moreover, he could manipulate the spears in his hand for as long as it took to finish a cup of tea before they disappeared without a trace.

  He uses his true energy to condense a long spear and launch an attack, which is even more powerful than when he used the Golden Sword Technique during the fourth layer of Qi training. This makes Shuǐ shēng feel proud of himself, and he slowly forgets the frustration of being robbed of the Golden Sword Technique by Qín zhèng.

  Jindan period cultivators can convert gaseous true energy into solid essence, stored within the Jindan. With the Jindan, not only is the speed of absorbing and controlling the original energy of heaven and earth greatly increased, but also when fighting against opponents or casting spells, one can easily release all their internal power in an instant. Cultivators in the Qi Refining period can only slowly condense true energy during the spellcasting process, gradually increasing the intensity, but cannot suddenly bring out most of their power. This creates a significant difference between the Jindan and Qi Refining periods.

  Even if a Qigong period disciple has an opportunity to reverse the heavens, they can cultivate their internal skills to be as high as those of a Jindan period cultivator. However, when engaging in combat, one side can instantly release their techniques while the other side's techniques are delayed, and this slight difference in timing is enough to lose one's life.

  To put the magic treasure into the body and make it quickly absorb and release, you also need to have instant spellcasting skills. Therefore, even if a Qi-practicing cultivator has a magic treasure in hand, they usually can't put it into their body, let alone use it to defend against enemies. In this way, for Qi-practicing cultivators, magic treasures are not as useful as a suitable magic tool!

  Shuǐ Shēng is currently doing what Wū Mù Dào Rén instructed, gradually shortening the time it takes to condense his magical power, in order to get closer to the casting speed of a Jīn Dān period cultivator, so that he can absorb the magic treasure into his body, refine and transform it with his heart, and use an even more powerful magic treasure to replace his current magic tool for defense against enemies.

  By the ninth day, Shui Sheng was in a state of panic due to hunger pangs. Logically, a cultivator who had reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining should be able to go without food for up to a month. However, Shui Sheng's progress was not gradual, but rather he had suddenly reached the peak of the seventh layer. Although his magical powers had reached this point, his internal organs were still unable to adapt to this process. Moreover, after entering the fourth layer of Qi Refining, Shui Sheng had never gone without food for more than ten days.

  His stomach was growling with hunger, and his heart was racing with anxiety. Water Birth could only pace back and forth inside the cave, getting hungrier by the minute. He looked over at Wu Mu's stone chamber, where he was meditating in silence, but didn't dare disturb him. In desperation, he took out a Snow Ginseng Pill from his storage bag and swallowed one.

  Unexpectedly, after taking the medicine, his expression was refreshed and his stomach was even more unbearable with hunger. Having no other choice, he took out a mid-grade water attribute spirit stone, did as Wu Mu Dao Ren said, grasped the spirit stone in his palm, and tried to refine it with his true energy. Unexpectedly, it really worked, one spirit stone eliminated all his hunger.

  If other cultivators knew that Shuǐ Shēng was using a mid-grade spirit stone as "food", they would definitely be so depressed that they would vomit blood. But Shuǐ Shēng secretly rejoiced at his own "clever" move.

  After Wu Mu Dao Ren closed his door for half a month, Shui Sheng finally shortened the time it took to merge the three true energies in his body by more than tenfold. With just one cycle of true energy running through his body, he could now bring out about 40% of his magical power and release it instantly. He hastily took out the Frost Sword and the Shadowy Flute, and according to Wu Mu Dao Ren's instructions, tried to acknowledge the two magical artifacts as his own and absorb them into his body as his bound magical artifacts.

  After using up a whole five days, and after thousands of uses of the two magical treasures, Shui Sheng finally got the Xuan Ying flute to acknowledge him as its master, and he successfully brought it into his body. Although the speed at which it was activated and put away was slow enough to make people anxious, Shui Sheng still felt a little excitement.

  However, the Frost Sword had Water's head spinning. Although Water could acknowledge it as his master, use his magical powers to make it larger or smaller, and wield it in mid-air to slash out a sharp sword energy that far surpassed the Golden Sword artifact, no matter what method he used, he couldn't get it to enter his body. This small sword seemed to be deliberately opposing Water, no matter how much spiritual energy Water exhausted, or how much magical power he drained, it simply refused to enter Water's body. After hundreds of failures, Water finally felt a bit disheartened, and with a fierce throw, slammed the small sword onto the ground before turning over and falling asleep.

  The next day, with a refreshed expression, Shuǐ Shēng took out three more magical artifacts. He looked at the white jade bracelet from left to right, and felt that it should be used by a woman. After some thought, he put it back in his storage bag, deciding to leave it for his younger sister, Xiǎo Juān, to use.

  He then picked up the three-inch-high white jade gourd again, played with it for a while, and saw that there were two seal characters "Tian Tian" engraved on the gourd. He couldn't help but feel excited, thinking that this name was so "frightening", it must have some special effect. He tried to inject a strand of pure blood into it to recognize its owner, and tried to put it into his body. Unexpectedly, after only seven attempts, the Tian Tian gourd was easily absorbed into his body by Shui Sheng.

  Shuǐ Shēng was taken aback, wondering if he had dozed off and his spellcasting speed had improved. He hastily picked up the Frost Sword that had fallen to the ground and tried to absorb it into his body. However, after more than ten attempts at casting the spell, the Frost Sword remained still. Shuǐ Shēng slammed the Frost Sword to the ground again, and if it weren't for the fact that the Frost Sword was a gift from Wū Mù Dào Rén, who had specifically instructed him that it was a very good top-grade treasure, Shuǐ Shēng would have long thrown it into the water pool.

  He naturally wouldn't know that the Frost Sword was a top-grade attack-type magic treasure refined by an ancient cultivator using special means, with enormous power. To say nothing of his water-born magical powers and casting speed, even a Yuan Ying stage cultivator like Bai Li Mu couldn't easily take it into his body.

  For a cultivator, to make their life-bound artifact exert its greatest power, this artifact must be one that matches the properties of their own cultivation method. Moreover, they must refine and absorb it into their body, using their vital energy and divine spirit to cultivate and nourish it over a long period, making it inseparable from their mind and spirit. It is precisely for this reason that Bai Li Mu would "generously" use his artifact to "exchange" with Wu Mu Dao Ren's Qian Kun Divine Thunder.

  Shuǐ Shēng walked back and forth in the stone cave, his eyes falling on the six-inch-long black broken sword. He picked it up and examined it carefully. Remembering what Wū Mù Dào Rén had said about the sword's immense power, he secretly suspected that he wouldn't be able to store it within himself. In these few short days, Shuǐ Shēng had already practiced the motion of storing treasures countless times, his hands developing a sort of inertia. As he pondered putting the broken sword back in his storage bag, his right hand, holding the sword, unconsciously tossed the sword into the air. With conditioned reflexes, he quickly channeled his true energy and performed a series of swift maneuvers.

  Something that shocked Shuǐshēng happened, and with just one careless move, the unowned broken sword suddenly flashed black light and quickly transformed into a size of an inch, entering Shuǐshēng's right arm. The muscles on Shuǐshēng's right arm felt a sharp pain, and a half-inch long crack appeared, with fresh blood gushing out! But that was not all, after the broken sword entered Shuǐshēng's body, it began to move around randomly, and as it moved, the essence and true energy in Shuǐshēng's body surged into the small sword like they were being devoured by a bloodthirsty monster.

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