The solution Liu Bai spoke of could only be to seek external assistance.
Within the Artifact Refining Courtyard, Elder Chi Huo's old face twitched slightly as he stared at the youth before him. He nearly wanted to pry open his skull to see what was inside and how exactly he thought.
"You want to construct your own Spirit Convergence Array… fine. But you also want the academy to provide the key materials and the array diagram? What nonsense is this? You're trying to take advantage of the academy itself!" Elder Chi Huo huffed angrily, his beard trembling.
"You can't put it that way. Once the Spirit Convergence Array is built, it cannot be moved. We'll only be able to use it for a few years while we're at the academy. In the end, won't it still belong to the academy?" Liu Bai said with a grin.
"Besides, the academy won't have to set it up or maintain it. We're only asking for a few materials. As for the array diagram, is that really a problem for the academy?"
Elder Chi Huo shook his head. "Don't bring that up with me. I am merely a supervising elder of the Artifact Refining Courtyard. These matters can only be decided by the dean…"
"I'd like to ask the dean myself, but I cannot meet him right now. That's why I have to trouble you, Elder, to help inquire whether the dean might agree to this."
Elder Chi Huo sighed. "You little brat, always giving me trouble. It's been so many days already. How has your artifact refining progressed? Come here and show me. If your artifact refining level satisfies me, I'll help you with this matter."
"No problem!"
Liu Bai patted his chest with confidence.
Although he had only refined a single low-grade Spiritual Artifact during this time, with the system's blessing, his techniques would not deteriorate from lack of practice. On the contrary, with that single experience added to his already solid foundation, he could even attempt to refine a mid-grade Spiritual Artifact.
"By the way, Senior, I once saw Spiritual Artifacts at an auction that were refined using Spirit Beast Essences. How are those different from the Spiritual Artifacts we refine using Spiritual Patterns?" Liu Bai asked, recalling what he had seen at the Auction House.
Hearing this, Elder Chi Huo's brows furrowed. As an orthodox artifact refiner, he clearly disdained such methods. In order to prevent the youth he valued from straying down the wrong path, he immediately explained seriously.
"Refining artifacts with Spirit Beast Essence is nothing more than a shortcut used by mediocre people. Not only can such a method never produce high-grade Spiritual Artifacts, much less Divine Artifacts, but the stronger the Spirit Beast Essence, the greater the danger to the wielder."
"After all, Spiritual Beast Essences almost always contain remnants of the beast's true spiritual will. Many refiners are incapable of fully erasing that will. As a result, such artifacts cannot perfectly resonate with their wielders. The more powerful the artifact, the greater the backlash. Many have even ended up enslaved by their own artifacts, turning into Artifact Demons. Such harmful things should never be touched."
Liu Bai nodded. Clearly Elder Chi Huo held deep disdain for the practice, revealing nothing further. Originally, Liu Bai had hoped to glean some knowledge about it.
From Elder Chi Huo's stockpile, Liu Bai selected two special materials, Cold Moon Ice Marrow and Cloud Crystal Stone, then combined them with the common Purple Crow Gold to attempt one of his three available mid-grade Spiritual Artifact blueprints: the Yunhua Spirit Sword.
Liu Bai's hands moved smoothly. With Elder Chi Huo's Earthfire Cauldron and Cold Spirit Pool as aids, his mastery over the fundamental refining steps ensured no issues during either smelting or tempering.
The true challenge lay in the engraving of Spirit Patterns.
Mid-grade Spiritual Artifacts were not so simple as inscribing a single attribute Spiritual Pattern. To succeed, at least five Spiritual Patterns had to be combined into a minor elementary Seal.
Does that sound similar to how Spiritual Array Masters construct arrays?
Indeed, it was so. Yet the Spiritual Patterns engraved within a Spiritual Artifact were not temporary formations. They had to exist as permanent Seals, making the difficulty hundreds of times greater than arranging a Spiritual Array.
Just like now: Liu Bai was capable of arranging a Fifth-Rank Grand Array with six hundred Spiritual Seals, yet when faced with the simplest Spirit Convergence Seal of only five Spiritual Patterns, he still needed nearly an hour of painstaking effort to complete it.
When the semi-transparent emerald-green Spirit Sword, glowing faintly with violet light, was finally completed, most of the day had already passed, and Liu Bai was drenched in sweat.
"Good heavens, that was more exhausting than a full battle against Fan Tong. Truly, being an artifact refiner is not work meant for humans…"
These cheeky words instantly darkened Elder Chi Huo's expression.
But as his eyes fell on the sword in Liu Bai's hands, he could not suppress his sigh of amazement.
"What a monstrous talent. Who would have thought this brat would also possess such terrifying aptitude in artifact refinement? In so short a time, he can already refine mid-grade Spiritual Artifacts…"
"What a pity this rascal refuses to devote himself fully to artifact refining."
"Senior, how is it? Are you satisfied?" Liu Bai offered the sword with both hands, presenting it to Elder Chi Huo.
"Senior? So in your eyes, I'm just a mere senior, huh? Sigh, it seems I've overestimated my worth…"
Watching the old man's exaggerated act, Liu Bai secretly rolled his eyes.
Still, he tactfully changed his words. "Teacher, this Yunhua Spirit Sword has been completed. Please give me your guidance."
Hearing the word "teacher," Elder Chi Huo immediately felt pleased. He took the Spirit Sword, carefully examining it.
"Mm, overall the technique is good. The fusion of the materials is nearly perfect. The only flaw lies in the Seal engraving, which is a little stiff. Though it doesn't appear to affect much, it will cause a slight obstruction during Spirit Power infusion. Therefore, it can only be considered a passable product."
As expected of a top-tier Spiritual Artifact Master, Elder Chi Huo's eyes were razor sharp. During the refinement of this Yunhua Spirit Sword, Liu Bai had briefly paused while engraving the Seal. Although he still succeeded, the minor flaw remained.
"Your refining techniques are already very proficient. From here, you just need to focus more on Seal engraving."
"Many thanks for your guidance, Teacher."
The word "teacher" rolled off Liu Bai's tongue more smoothly each time, and Elder Chi Huo's face broke into a wide smile.
Such a monstrous refining talent—whether or not the boy aspired to it—this master-disciple bond must be cemented. In the future, when Liu Bai's fame spread, Elder Chi Huo's name would shine as well.
"So about the Spirit Convergence Array…" Liu Bai seized the chance to bring up his true objective as he looked at Elder Chi Huo's smiling face.
"Alright, alright. I'll go see the dean about it."
"Thank you, Teacher!"
Leaving the Artifact Refining Courtyard, Liu Bai returned straight to the new headquarters of the Willow God Society.
By this time, under Guo Xiong's command, the relocation had already been completed. The once-empty buildings were now bustling with people, dispelling the sense of desolation.
However, Liu Bai's own residence was far removed from the others, a suspended pavilion built over the lake. Normally, no one would disturb him there.
Back in his room, Liu Bai opened his system interface.
With so much accumulated experience, it was time to make use of it…
Looking at his attribute panel, Liu Bai first upgraded the Mountain God Art to the seventh level.
Boom!
The Earth attribute Spiritual Power within his Spleen Acupoint surged wildly. The four-winged Flood Dragon coiled atop the divine mountain let out a joyous roar. A powerful aura burst forth, adding an edge of ferocity to Liu Bai's presence.
Half-step Heaven Transformation Realm!
As a high-grade Spiritual Art, every advancement of the Mountain God Art brought immense growth. Reaching the seventh level directly pushed Liu Bai to the very limit of the Heave Fusion Realm, with one foot already stepping into the Heaven Transformation Realm.
In comparison, his other four mid-grade Spiritual Arts were weaker. Each required two level-ups, all the way to the tenth level, to reach Half-step Heaven Transformation Realm.
"Upgrading the Mountain God Art to the seventh level took forty-five thousand experience points. As for the other Spiritual Arts, raising each to the tenth level requires nearly sixty thousand. In total, that would be two hundred eighty-five thousand experience points."
All of a sudden, Liu Bai realized that his remaining experience was not much, or perhaps it was that the number of things in his possession that devoured experience was simply too many.
"I need a new cultivation technique right now."
Liu Bai told himself in his heart.
But this could only be fulfilled through the agreement he had made with the Northern Sea Dragon. After all, he had already searched through the Spiritual Value Hall, yet he had never once seen a technique that allowed simultaneous cultivation of the five elements. If he continued to exchange for and cultivate five separate techniques, then this devouring of experience was something that could not be avoided, and would even become far more severe.
"That Thunder God Pill lies in the deepest depths of the Thunder Region, enveloped by the endless Black God Thunder. In the original story, Mu Chen succeeded only because the Thunder God Physique and the thunder poison within his body concealed his aura, allowing him to slip past the eyes of the Thunder Spirit. If that is the case, then if my Five Elements Divine Lightning Art reaches a sufficiently high level of mastery, could it not serve the same purpose?"
Liu Bai pondered inwardly.
Back then, the Northern Sea Dragon Kun had told him that at the very least the Five Elements Divine Lightning Art must reach the Greater Mastery stage. In that case, if he advanced it further to the Perfect Stage, would the effect not be even greater?
Having thought of this, Liu Bai no longer dwelled on the fact that his remaining experience was insufficient to push him into the Heavenly Completion Realm. Instead, he shifted his focus toward raising the Five Elements Divine Lightning Art.
"The Five Elements Divine Lightning Art requires ten thousand experience points to progress from Entry to Minor Mastery, thirty thousand for Greater Mastery, and sixty thousand for Perfection. Altogether, it needs one hundred thousand experience points."
In an instant, his reservoir of experience once again shrank. In just a few short moments, the more than four hundred thousand experience points he had accumulated had dwindled to merely fifteen thousand.
"It really does not last long at all."
He sighed softly, then immediately immersed himself into the comprehension of the Perfect Stage of the Five Elements Divine Lightning Art.
His mind sank into his body, and Liu Bai's Divine Soul directly descended into the Fire Element space within his heart aperture.
Originally, this space was a sea of fire, with a blazing sun hanging in the heavens and an Ancient Golden Crow within it, wantonly unleashing its blazing energy.
But now, as soon as Liu Bai entered this space, the first thing he saw was not the sun and the Golden Crow, but rather an enormous crimson thunderbolt spanning across the entire sky. That thunderbolt was a thousand feet in size, and from a distance it appeared just like a colossal dragon soaring through the heavens. Just a single glance at it would cause one's heart to tremble in fear.
As for the Ancient Golden Crow that had once rampaged without restraint, it was now like a phoenix forced down to the earth, shrinking within the sun whose light had been completely overshadowed, not daring to show its head.
"Tsk tsk, what terrifying thunder power…"
Even Liu Bai felt that if he were to directly come into contact with that thunderbolt, his body would be reduced to ashes in an instant.
It seemed that unless his cultivation reached a corresponding level, he would be completely unable to freely command this terrifying thunder as his own.
Liu Bai then glanced into the other apertures of his body. They were all roughly the same as the heart aperture. As for the Four Winged Flood Dragon and the Golden Nì Beast, those beast souls were the most pitiful. Their domains, which once belonged solely to them, had now been occupied by these far more terrifying existences, leaving them shrunken in corners, unable to even release their aura.
With a mere thought, Liu Bai's entire body from the inside out was instantly cloaked in a layer of thunderous aura. If he were to enter the Thunder Region now, it was very likely that no one would be able to sense his presence.
He would become one with the endless sea of thunder, inseparable.
"Good. It seems I need to make a trip to the Thunder Region and take a look…"
The Thunder Region was even more popular than the Spirit Convergence Array in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. When Liu Bai arrived at the floating stone platform at its entrance, what met his eyes was a sky filled with countless human figures.
In front of the stone platform stretched a dim sky, the space there twisted as though it were an entrance leading into a world of thunder. Lightning would flash within from time to time, and low rolling thunder constantly rumbled from that distorted void.
"So this is the Thunder Region…"
Liu Bai could not help but sigh. This was a special space formed entirely by human hands, brimming with the endless thunder force of heaven and earth. Such a feat of power was truly difficult to even imagine in the outside world.
Shaking his head in quiet amazement, Liu Bai's figure moved and directly shot toward the distorted space. As he drew near, he clearly saw a faint spiritual light membrane covering the space. He felt only a slight resistance before he broke through.
This was a safeguard set up by the Academy to prevent students below the Divine Soul Realm from approaching.
Once his body pierced through the light membrane, the distorted space became even clearer. It squirmed as if a colossal beast were lurking in the void, enough to stir fear in one's heart.
However, for most students of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, this had long since become something they were accustomed to. Thus what Liu Bai saw were countless figures swarming across the sky like locusts, surging toward the distorted space.
.....
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