After respectfully seeing off Qingwei Venerable and Xuanling Venerable from the valley, Li Mu continued to immerse himself in Artifact Refining.
Refining an ordinary six-tier spirit treasure with the assistance of Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire only takes four or five days. The reason he told them it would take two months was that Li Mu didn't want them to realize how easy it was for him to refine a six-tier spirit treasure.
After inspecting the Artifact Refining Materials provided by Xuanling Venerable, Li Mu's face lit up with joy.
Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire has too big an appetite; every time it refines a Spirit Treasure, it consumes an additional portion of six-tier fire-elemental Spirit Materials. Li Mu was just worrying about not having enough fire-elemental Spirit Materials to satisfy it!
The storage bracelet given by Xuanling Venerable contained nearly thirty kinds of six-tier Spirit Materials, mostly fire-elemental. After refining two six-tier spirit treasures, more than half would still remain.
The remaining Materials from Artifact Refining should be his reward!
How considerate!
Li Mu smiled contentedly, turned, and walked into the Artifact Refining Room to begin Artifact Refining.
First, he refined two fire-elemental Spirit Treasures, one for offense and one for defense, for Xuanling Venerable. Based on the Cultivation Technique he cultivated, Li Mu prepared to refine a fire-elemental round shield Spirit Treasure and a fire-elemental 'needle-shaped' attack Spirit Treasure for him, forming a complete set for offense and defense.
Li Mu summoned the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire, fed it fire-elemental Spirit Materials, and then instructed it to condense the Skyfire Refining Furnace.
Soon, the Purple-Gold Fire Phoenix consumed the fire-elemental Spirit Materials, then disintegrated, condensing into an Artifact Refining Furnace formed by purple flames in the air. Inside the furnace, purple flames blazed fiercely, emitting terrifying temperatures.
Although the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire's temperament is indeed volatile and it requires compensation for its work, it is very trustworthy. What's done is done; after receiving its reward, it will not steal the fire-elemental Spirit Materials put into the Skyfire Refining Furnace, which is very reassuring.
Li Mu focused on several tasks at once, preparing to refine two fire-elemental Spirit Treasures in one furnace.
Six-tier Heaven-Hating Gold, six-tier Myriad Elephant Flame Crystal, six-tier Niche Blue Glazed Stone, six-tier Spirit Scale Purple Copper… one by one, six-tier Spirit Materials were put into the Skyfire Refining Furnace. Under the calcination of the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire, they quickly melted into a mass of molten metal.
Li Mu's hands, forming Artifact Refining Skill seals, moved so fast they left afterimages. Streams of spiritual Qi flowed into the Skyfire Refining Furnace.
The molten metal mass inside the Heavenly Fire Furnace continuously rotated, expelling Impurities, refining and fusing constantly, while its volume gradually shrank… Not long after, the large mass of molten metal suddenly separated into two smaller masses, one large and one small. As streams of spiritual light were injected, they began to glow…
At this moment, Li Mu's entire mind was focused on the Heavenly Fire Furnace. His handsome face was tightly furrowed, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, indicating immense mental exhaustion.
Li Mu had tried refining two, even three or four artifacts in one furnace before, but that was when he was refining four-tier or five-tier spiritual swords or Spiritual Artifacts. The Spiritual Artifacts produced in one furnace had the same attributes and originated from the same spiritual source. When used together as a set, they could unleash greater power.
However, refining two six-tier spirit treasures in one furnace consumed far more spiritual Qi and Divine Thought than Li Mu had anticipated.
As the artifact embryos of the two Spirit Treasures gradually formed inside the Heavenly Fire Furnace, it was time for the crucial moment of condensing the artifact patterns and activating the artifact spirits. Li Mu's Divine Thought was already insufficient. Without thinking, he decisively took out a pill bottle from the nine storage spiritual pearl, poured out a six-tier Too Profound Clear Spirit Pill, and swallowed it.
As soon as the Too Profound Clear Spirit Pill entered his abdomen, a massive surge of medicinal power immediately erupted.
Li Mu's spirit was invigorated, and his depleted Divine Thought immediately received an endless supply. The efficiency of his Primordial Spirit's Divine Thought increased by hundreds of times. Streams of spiritual Qi were sent out, rapidly constructing the artifact patterns for the two Spirit Treasures.
“Clang, clang…”
Inside the Skyfire Refining Furnace, spiritual light burst forth. A needle and a small round shield, two fire-elemental Spirit Treasures, collided with each other inside the furnace, as if celebrating their new birth, or as if trying to use this force to rush out of the Skyfire Refining Furnace.
“Hmph!” The Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire, annoyed by their commotion, suddenly shot out a purple fire snake inside the furnace, intending to teach the two little fellows a lesson.
“No! Don't hurt them!”
Seeing this, Li Mu was startled and quickly spoke to stop it.
The two newly born six-tier spirit treasures were still weak in spirituality; how could they withstand a blast from the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire?
Hearing this, the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire gave up its attack. With a 'bang!', it dissolved the Artifact Refining Furnace, transforming into a Purple-Gold Little Fire Phoenix. It circled the 'trembling' and docile two Spirit Treasures, looking as if it was ready to 'bully' them again at any moment.
“Stop messing around! Help me refine another Spirit Treasure!” Li Mu was both amused and exasperated. He quickly waved his hand, collecting the small round shield and small fire needle, the two newly born six-tier fire-elemental Spirit Treasures, to prevent them from being harmed by the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire.
The medicinal effect of the Too Profound Clear Spirit Pill was still active. With the powerful medicinal assistance, Li Mu only felt his Primordial Spirit power surge, showing a tendency to Breakthrough. However, due to the spiritual Qi requirements of the Star Cloud Stargazing Cultivation Technique, he was unable to Breakthrough to the next Realm.
Nevertheless, his Primordial Spirit was in excellent condition. In this state, the success rate of refining Spirit Treasures greatly increased, and Li Mu prepared to refine the divination Spirit Treasure he had long been preparing for.
Among the ten Artifact Refining commissions this time, Li Mu specifically selected six-tier Spirit Materials possessing the power of Karma and Years. His intention was to utilize these high-tier Spirit Materials with Karma and Years attributes, such as the six-tier spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell, the seven-tier star beast remnant pearl, and the six-tier withered glory year wood.
Oh, and also the seven-tier year star fruit kernel he just acquired.
These high-tier Spirit Materials, with similar attributes and compatible characteristics, were more than enough to refine a Spirit Treasure possessing Years and Karma attributes!
Li Mu silently calculated, his heart inevitably a little apprehensive. This was his first attempt at refining a Spirit Treasure with such special attributes, and some of the unique artifact patterns were still somewhat unfamiliar.
“Chirp chirp!”
As soon as it heard Li Mu wanted to refine another treasure, the Purple-Gold Little Fire Phoenix immediately became excited and chirped at him.
“I know! Here!” Seeing the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire urging him for its reward, Li Mu quickly took out a portion of six-tier fire-elemental Spirit Materials from his storage bracelet and threw it to it.
Six-tier Blazing Yang Core Crystal, a Spirit Material that could make Nascent Soul cultivators fight to the death and Transformation God cultivators bleed heavily, was swallowed in one gulp by the Purple-Gold Fire Phoenix. In less than half an hour, it disdainfully spat out some ash.
“You've eaten the stuff, now get to work quickly. This Artifact Refining is very important to me, no slacking!” Li Mu's eye twitched as he warned the Purple-Gold Fire Phoenix.
“Chirp chirp!”
The Purple-Gold Fire Phoenix responded with a chirp, then with a 'bang!', its figure transformed into a mass of purple-gold flames. Following Li Mu's spell seals, it condensed into a purple fire Artifact Refining Furnace, hovering before him.
Li Mu took a deep breath, took out a five-tier Primordial Spirit Pill from the nine storage spiritual pearl, fully activated the Yin Yang Five Elements Scripture, refined the medicinal power, and restored his state to its Peak.
Li Mu waved his hand, and eight Spirit Materials, either emitting mysterious spiritual charm or appearing as ancient as ordinary objects, appeared around him.
A dull grey 'round earth bead', a 'fruit kernel' completely devoid of spiritual Qi, an off-white tortoise shell, a pitch-black broken wood, an ancient black vine…
They were, respectively, the seven-tier star beast remnant pearl, the seven-tier year star fruit kernel, the six-tier spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell, the six-tier withered glory year wood, the six-tier Myriad Years Black Core Vine… all containing extremely strong power of Years and power of Karma.
After Li Mu raised his Artifact Refining Skill to level 6, he gained a lot of knowledge about Spirit Treasure Artifact patterns and experience in refining six-tier spirit treasures. With his max-level Cultivation Technique - Yin Yang Five Elements Scripture, he had a deep understanding of Dao principles like Five Elements and Yin and Yang. This allowed him to increase the success rate of refining Spirit Treasures with corresponding attributes to 60%.
However, for special attributes like the power of Karma and the power of Years, the artifact pattern Dao principles are too profound. Li Mu estimated the success rate for this Artifact Refining to be only around 30%.
For this reason, Li Mu did not hesitate to use two seven-tier spiritual items to lay the Foundation for the Spirit Treasure and increase the success rate of Artifact Refining.
Divine Thought surged in Li Mu's mind, instantly calculating the Artifact Refining steps thousands upon thousands of times.
After confirming everything was correct, Li Mu took a deep breath, formed a hand seal, and put the spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell into the Skyfire Refining Furnace for calcination.
Under Li Mu's control, the Skyfire Refining Furnace released a gentle heat, softening the spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell and activating the innate Bagua tortoise patterns on its back.
Seeing this, Li Mu quickly controlled the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire to maintain this temperature, fearing to damage the innate spirituality and Karma power of the spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell.
Artifact Refining is an extremely mentally, spiritually, and divinely exhausting task, especially at the level of refining six-tier spirit treasures. The inherent spirituality of each Spirit Material and perfectly fusing them is an extremely difficult task in itself.
Six-tier Spirit Materials not only contain spirituality but also the powerful Dao principles and even spiritual domains of the Material itself. To refine them into one, condense them into a unified artifact array, construct artifact patterns, and give birth to an artifact spirit without destroying their inherent spirituality and Dao principles, the Divine Thought and mental effort consumed are truly terrifying.
Li Mu multi-tasked, maintaining the Skyfire Refining Furnace, controlling the fire temperature, maintaining the spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell's artifact patterns, adding other Spirit Materials, activating the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire, using different fire strengths to refine them, and attempting to fuse different Spirit Materials.
Powerful artifact might and mysterious Dao charm continuously emanated from the Skyfire Refining Furnace.
In front of the Skyfire Refining Furnace, Li Mu's hands, forming Artifact Refining Skill seals, moved so fast they were invisible. Streams of spiritual Qi gushed forth, injecting furiously into the Skyfire Refining Furnace, erupting with even greater spiritual might.
...
four directions house.
Xue'er stopped Cultivating, came out of the Cultivation Room, and looked at the Artifact Refining Room in horror. Powerful, profound, and mysterious fluctuations continuously surged out.
One could see that the falling leaves and rising dust near the Artifact Refining Room suddenly froze, or accelerated rapidly. The entire Artifact Refining Room was enveloped by a mysterious force, presenting a mysterious situation of extremely unstable space.
“What happened?”
“Oh my goodness! What kind of Spirit Treasure is Lord Li refining? How could such an anomaly occur!”
“Lord Li, you absolutely cannot be in trouble!”
...
Xue'er looked at the unusually perilous surroundings of the Artifact Refining Room, her face pale with fright, and she couldn't help but murmur worriedly. She was terrified by the scene before her.
Previously, when Li Mu succeeded in Artifact Refining, some abnormal spiritual Qi fluctuations would also appear near the Artifact Refining Room. However, this time, the abnormal phenomenon was so strange, and it lasted for an exceptionally long time.
One day, two days, three days…
Xue'er stood at the edge of the Artifact Refining Room, watching for seven consecutive days. The strange phenomenon continued, and the time in the entire area seemed to freeze, or perhaps accelerate, constantly changing.
With a muffled 'boom'.
A terrifying high temperature emanated from the Artifact Refining Room. The next moment, the Artifact Refining Room's door burst open, and Li Mu, pale-faced and disheveled, stumbled out of the Artifact Refining Room.
The Crimson Flame Fire Phoenix appeared out of thin air, conjured a fire cauldron, collected the unstable purple flames, and absorbed the high-temperature flames from his body.
“Lord Li, are you… are you alright!” Xue'er quickly stepped forward, supporting the disheveled Li Mu.
“Haha, I'm fine, I'm fine! That guy got angry, but luckily Little Phoenix acted in time.” Li Mu laughed heartily, waving his hand to indicate he was alright.
This Artifact Refining took too long and consumed too much. For the two seven-tier Spirit Materials, Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire had no choice but to consume its life-bound fire essence. Of course, for this, Li Mu reluctantly signed some unequal treaties to ensure the successful completion of the Artifact Refining.
However, the perfect conclusion of this Artifact Refining made everything worthwhile.
Li Mu stood up, quickly took out two pill bottles, poured out two Spirit Pills, and swallowed them. Then, he raised his right hand, revealing a palm-sized Spirit Turtle.
The Spirit Turtle's appearance was incredibly divine and mysterious. Its milky white tortoise shell shimmered with mysterious spiritual patterns, its limbs and head were of dark jade color, and its two eyes, one blue and one purple, seemed capable of captivating souls, drawing people in unconsciously.
“What a beautiful little turtle! Lord Li, is this the Spirit Treasure you just refined? What's its name!” Xue'er's eyes lit up as she looked at the turtle-shaped artifact spirit in Li Mu's hand and asked excitedly.
“This one! It's called Time Luck Spirit Turtle.” Li Mu smiled brightly, looking at the turtle-shaped artifact spirit in his hand and happily introducing it.
Under Heavenly Talent - Identifying Myriad Spirits, the attributes and functions of the 'Time Luck Spirit Turtle' were fully displayed on the character panel.
【Time Luck Spirit Turtle】
【Grade: six-tier spirit treasure】
【Characteristics: River of Years, Divination and Fate-Peeking, Instant Reversal of Time, Devouring Years, Karma Interforce, Obscuring Karma.】
【Status: Artifact Spirit Newly Born, Years Abundant.】
【A six-tier spirit treasure refined from seven-tier star beast remnant pearl, seven-tier year star fruit kernel, six-tier spirit rhyme mysterious tortoise shell, six-tier withered glory year wood, six-tier Myriad Years Black Core Vine… and many other Years and Karma Spirit Materials. By consuming the power of Years and using this artifact, one can peek into the long river of Years, deduce Karma, and avoid tribulations. However, an artifact formed by Years and Karma, its Dao principles are profound, and excessive use requires paying a corresponding price. Use with caution.】
“Time Luck Spirit Turtle? What's this Spirit Treasure for? It's so magical!” Xue'er couldn't help but recall the strange phenomena around the Artifact Refining Room earlier and quickly asked.
“It's for divination. I'll try it.” Hearing this, Li Mu's heart stirred, and he replied.
Having said that, Li Mu looked at the Time Luck Spirit Turtle, condensed spiritual Qi in his hand, and injected it into the turtle.
The next second, a milky white spiritual light suddenly appeared on the Time Luck Spirit Turtle's body, and a profound, mysterious, and agile wave of spiritual power transmitted out. Its purple and blue eyes suddenly burst forth with spiritual light.
The scene before Li Mu's eyes changed. His surroundings rapidly flowed, and many unfamiliar scenes imprinted themselves into his Sea of Consciousness: meeting Lin Baoqing, delivering the Spirit Treasure, traveling with Qingwei Venerable and Xuanling Venerable, searching for Purple Rhythm Heavenly Fire, encountering an ambush by the Nine Demon Sect, fierce battle for more than ten days, using all his means but still no match, hiding in the Painting World Treasure Mansion but being discovered, being hunted down and captured alive…
“Ugh!” Li Mu suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, suffering a backlash from the Spirit Treasure, and was cut off from the scene of peeking into the long river of Years.
“Lord Li, what… what's wrong with you?”
Xue'er was startled and quickly supported Li Mu's body, asking anxiously.
“I'm fine, I'm fine!” Li Mu waved his hand, only feeling weak and depleted of spiritual Qi and Divine Thought, but he hadn't suffered any fundamental damage.
The consumption of peeking into the long river of Years is truly immense! Fortunately, the vast majority of the cost was borne by the Time Luck Spirit Turtle.
The artifact spirit, Time Luck Spirit Turtle, looked listless, its eyes sadly gazing at Li Mu. Clearly, when it first peered into the long river of Years, it bore the vast majority of the cost and would need a long time to recover.
The Time Luck Spirit Turtle's status showed a warning of spiritual damage and lack of Years power. It was likely that this Spirit Treasure could not be used again for a short period.
However, all of this was worth it. Li Mu put away the 'Time Luck Spirit Turtle', a solemn expression appearing on his face.
