Stars were as tiny as specks of dust, and the two massive Nine Nether Kun Whales silently glided past, one after the other, leaving a brilliant yet fleeting trail in the depths of the Universe.
Dark Spirit Star was incredibly distant; even at the speed of the Nine Nether Kun Whales, it would take over a decade to reach.
Li Mu immediately decided to use this long journey to continue enjoying his leisurely life.
Inside the Painting World Treasure Mansion, Li Mu resumed his usual pace of life, tending to spiritual plants, cooking delicious meals with Miss Xue Er, brewing spiritual wine, and enjoying this rare tranquility and ease. However, with the Perfection of the Star Cloud Contemplation Method and the qualitative change in his Divine Soul, Li Mu now exuded a more ethereal and otherworldly aura.
During his leisure time, Li Mu also prepared to improve his other skills.
One day, Li Mu, on a whim, took out the Divine Inscription True Explanation, which had been at the bottom of his box for a long time. He suddenly discovered that the Legacy, which had been self-sealed due to being an incomplete volume, could now reveal a trace of its Divine Runes under the influence of his powerful Divine Soul.
Under the Heavenly Talent - Identifying Myriad Spirits, this incomplete ancient book, the Divine Inscription True Explanation, revealed its new appearance.
【Divine Inscription True Explanation (Incomplete)】
【Grade: Eighth-Grade Dao Scripture】
【Characteristics: Eternal Divine Runes, Impervious to Water and Fire, Ancient Thought Legacy (Sealed), Divine Runes Self-Evolve (Unsealed), Three Thousand Divine Runes (Unsealed)】
【Status: Divine Essence dissipated, Spirituality incomplete, Divine Object self-defiled and reverted to common item】
【An ancient Chaos Beast hide of the eighth-grade, an ancient Divine Runes scripture drawn by Immortal Thought, suffered devastating damage. After thousands of Years of erosion, its divine charm dissipated, and its spirituality became incomplete, reducing it to a common item. Only by gathering the Innate Five Spirit Runes, a thousand threads of the Silk of Years, and ten thousand strands of Karma power can it be unsealed and self-restore.】
Li Mu couldn't help but dedicate a large amount of time to it, studying the mysteries of the Divine Runes in this True Explanation daily, and collecting some of the unsealing spiritual materials to unseal it.
As Li Mu immersed himself day after day, more and more Profound Truths within the Three Thousand Divine Runes were gradually unveiled, each revealing its unique and powerful function.
"Elemental Storm" Divine Rune: This Divine Rune can summon the Five Great Elemental Powers (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) from heaven and earth to form a massive storm, delivering devastating blows to enemies.
"Life Weaving" Divine Rune: Unlike the "Source of Life" Divine Rune, Life Weaving focuses more on the precise manipulation and creation of life. Through this Divine Rune, Li Mu can heal almost any type of injury.
"Soul Power Resonance" Divine Rune: This is a Divine Rune involving the Soul Power level; it allows the user to establish a direct connection with the Soul of others, enabling mental exchange and communication.
...
Li Mu successfully deciphered one-fifth of the Divine Inscription True Explanation, roughly six hundred Divine Runes. They greatly simplified the formation of Artifact Runes, Pill Runes, Talisman Runes, and Puppet Runes, enabling more efficient operation.
This discovery invigorated Li Mu. These Divine Runes changed Li Mu's understanding; they seemed to transcend the original cultivation arts system of the Spirit Realm.
Li Mu's eyes gleamed with an unprecedented light, realizing that the Divine Runes he had mastered were not just the acquisition of new knowledge, but also the key to a completely new cultivation Realm.
The efficiency and intricacy displayed by these Divine Runes led Li Mu to re-examine and optimize the skills he had mastered, striving to unleash the power of the Divine Runes from among the hundred arts.
Li Mu began to research more deeply, preparing to integrate these Divine Runes into the Cultivation Techniques and skills he had mastered. The Perfection of the Star Cloud Contemplation Method not only gave his Divine Soul a qualitative leap but also elevated his understanding of all things in heaven and earth to a new height.
And these Divine Runes gave Li Mu a great advantage. If he could successfully integrate them into Artifact Refining, Puppet, Spiritual Talisman, and even Alchemy, the power of the finished products would be greatly enhanced.
First, Li Mu turned his attention to his most proficient Dao of Artifact Refining.
Li Mu waved his hand, condensing a ball of Five Elements Spiritual Fire, then took out a batch of fifth-grade Five Elements Artifact Refining spiritual materials from the nine storage spiritual pearl, and began to refine a fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact with Divine Runes as its foundation.
Heavenly Meteorite Spiritual Gold, star wood, One-Yuan Heavy Water, Sun Flame Golden Lotus, and Earth Elemental Treasure Essence—five types of fifth-grade Artifact Refining spiritual materials—slowly melted into the flickering Five Elements Spiritual Fire under Li Mu's powerful Divine Soul control.
Li Mu performed the Divine Refining method, refining artifacts out of thin air by controlling the spiritual fire. The Five Elements flames seemed to be endowed with life, dancing lightly around the five Artifact Refining spiritual materials, precisely stripping away Impurities and purifying the essence.
As the refining deepened, the Impurities on the surface of the spiritual materials were gradually removed, revealing their pure Five Elements essence within.
Seeing this, Li Mu knew the time was right. He closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and immersed his thoughts into his Sea of Consciousness, carefully sensing them, refining them together, and urging them into an artifact embryo. At the same time, using his Divine Thought as a brush and spiritual power as ink, he began to draw Divine Runes within the artifact embryo, condensing them into an artifact array, and then into artifact patterns.
Li Mu's powerful Divine Sense, like an invisible large hand, effortlessly molded the entire mass of Five Elements essence into a ring-shaped artifact embryo. Strands of Divine Runes, formed by Divine Thought gathering and condensing spiritual power, flowed like schools of fish, one after another, into the artifact embryo.
These Divine Runes possessed numerous effects: Spirit Augmentation, Fusion, Spirit Transformation, Phase Shift, Star Shift, and dozens, nearly a hundred, other Divine Runes with different functions.
There was a significant shift from Li Mu's previous Spiritual Artifact refining approach. The structure of the Divine Runes was more intricate, and the composition was more precise. With ordinary Artifact Refining methods, a Spiritual Artifact of a certain grade could condense at most four artifact patterns. However, by using Divine Runes to condense the artifact patterns, a Spiritual Artifact of the same grade could seemingly condense forty Divine Runes. Each additional Divine Rune condensed would grant the Spiritual Artifact an additional function, and its overall power would be greatly enhanced.
However, Li Mu only possessed six hundred Divine Runes, and some of their inherent functions were mutually exclusive. Therefore, in this attempt to refine a fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact with Divine Runes, Li Mu did not try to condense two hundred Divine Runes into it all at once.
Deeply aware of the preciousness and complexity of Divine Runes, Li Mu made careful selections to ensure that each Divine Rune maximized its effectiveness while avoiding conflicts among them.
Li Mu's Divine Thought, like fine threads, precisely controlled each Divine Rune, ensuring their perfect position and arrangement within the artifact embryo.
This process was extremely difficult, requiring extremely high mental concentration and a deep understanding of Divine Runes. Relying on his powerful Divine Soul and his profound understanding of the Dao of Artifact Refining, Li Mu gradually found his rhythm, successfully integrating Divine Runes one by one into the artifact embryo, as if weaving a complex and powerful net for this Spiritual Artifact.
As Divine Runes were integrated one by one, subtle changes began to occur within the Spiritual Artifact. The Five Elements elemental power gathered in the Spiritual Artifact embryo, guided by numerous Divine Runes, began to intertwine and fuse, forming a more complex and varied energy field.
These energy fields not only enhanced the Spiritual Artifact's stability and durability but also endowed it with more diverse functions.
Li Mu did not stop there, continuing to explore the potential of Divine Runes, attempting to combine Divine Runes of different functions to create entirely new effects.
For example, the combination of "Spirit Augmentation" and "Spirit Transformation" Divine Runes allowed the Spiritual Artifact to enhance its own spiritual power while also changing its form according to the user's needs; pairing the "Fusion" and "Phase Shift" Divine Runes allowed the Spiritual Artifact to instantly traverse space in combat, increasing its evasion capabilities, and so on...
Time flew by. The spiritual light emanating from the Five Elements circular artifact embryo grew stronger and stronger... At the same time, as Li Mu drew Divine Runes, refined them into the artifact embryo, and condensed them into Divine Rune artifact patterns, his internal spiritual power and powerful Divine Thought were rapidly consumed, but he remained completely unaware.
At this moment, Li Mu's heart held only the pursuit and yearning for a perfect Spiritual Artifact. The movements of his hand Seals were too fast for the naked eye to perceive, and the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth within the Treasure Mansion Space unconsciously gathered towards him.
"What's happening? What is Li Dage doing in there?"
Looking at the Artifact Refining Room with its violent Spiritual Qi fluctuations, Miss Xue Er finally discovered the huge commotion Li Mu was causing. Not daring to use her Divine Sense to peek and disturb him, she quickly summoned the Treasure Mansion Spirit and asked with concern.
"Master is refining a new artifact, but this time, the Artifact Refining situation seems a bit different." The Treasure Mansion Spirit responded in shock, extremely surprised by Li Mu's Artifact Refining technique. As an eighth-grade Spirit, it had detected the extraordinary nature of Li Mu's current Artifact Refining method.
"Li Dage, did he refine another Dao Artifact? So amazing!" Upon hearing this, Miss Xue Er's eyes sparkled with excitement and admiration. Although she didn't understand the Dao of Artifact Refining, she could sense the extraordinary nature of Li Mu's current Artifact Refining from the Treasure Mansion Spirit's shocked tone. She tried to peek through the half-open Artifact Refining Room door crack, but could only see a blurry outline shrouded in spiritual light.
"Not a Dao Artifact, it's more like a low-grade Immortal Artifact." The Treasure Mansion Spirit's voice held a hint of solemnity and reverence as it speculated.
"What? Immortal Artifact?"
The Treasure Mansion Spirit's words exploded in Miss Xue Er's heart like a thunderclap. Her eyes instantly widened, and she looked at the tightly closed Artifact Refining Room door in disbelief.
"Immortal Artifact? This... How is this possible?"
Miss Xue Er's voice trembled slightly. Having followed Li Mu and served as the manager of the Li Clan's Treasure Pavilion, she had been exposed to and learned much about the grades of various Spiritual Artifacts and treasures. But the name Immortal Artifact, to her, was practically a legendary existence, only found in ancient books and legends, a divine object even Mahayana Realm cultivators dreamed of.
Immortal Artifacts, shouldn't they only exist in the Upper Realm?
How could Li Dage refine one?
At this point, Miss Xue Er couldn't help but doubt the Treasure Mansion Spirit's judgment.
"Miss Xue Er, what Master is refining should be a low-grade Immortal Artifact. I have never seen such an exquisite Artifact Refining method. The artifact patterns Master condensed are extremely complex and numerous, already exceeding my understanding of Dao Artifacts. That power seems capable of communicating with heaven and earth, automatically drawing all the Spiritual Qi in the Treasure Mansion. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either." The Treasure Mansion Spirit, Five-Colored Flood Dragon, slowly explained, its tone filled with both astonishment and anticipation, displaying a rare trace of human emotion.
Miss Xue Er stood there in a daze, countless thoughts swirling in her mind. She couldn't imagine what it would be like for Li Mu to actually be able to refine a legendary Immortal Artifact.
Just as the two were discussing, the light inside the Artifact Refining Room suddenly intensified, dazzling like the scorching sun, illuminating the entire Treasure Mansion Space. Immediately after, a vast and boundless aura surged out from the Artifact Refining Room, carrying an extremely concentrated artifact might that made both Miss Xue Er and the Treasure Mansion Spirit feel a pang of trepidation.
The next moment, the Artifact Refining Room door opened. Li Mu, with a smiling face, slowly walked out, holding a simple five-colored spiritual ring in his hand. A faint spiritual light flowed on the five-colored spiritual ring, yet it suppressed the surrounding Spiritual Qi from approaching, as if it were a born king, disdaining to associate with it, appearing both mysterious and solemn.
"You were waiting for me!"
Li Mu's voice carried an undisguised joy and pride. Looking at the five-colored spiritual ring in his hand, his eyes were filled with delight, as if it were a child into whom he had poured all his heart.
Seeing this, Miss Xue Er quickly stepped forward, her eyes full of excitement and curiosity: "Li Dage, this... is this the Immortal Artifact you refined? It's incredible!"
"Immortal Artifact?"
Hearing this, Li Mu was slightly startled, looking at Miss Xue Er in confusion.
"The Treasure Mansion Spirit said so! It said your Artifact Refining method this time was unusual, a method for refining Immortal Artifacts!" Miss Xue Er glanced at the Five-Colored Flood Dragon and explained.
"Master, you refined a low-grade Immortal Artifact, right!"
The Five-Colored Flood Dragon flew to Li Mu's side, circling him anxiously, showing its excitement.
Li Mu heard this, a smile played on his lips, and a mysterious light flickered in his eyes. He nodded with a smile: "Oh, so that's it. The Treasure Mansion Spirit indeed has a Wisdom Eye like a torch. However, strictly speaking, it can't quite be considered an Immortal Artifact."
"However, its grade isn't high, and it's not an ordinary Spiritual Artifact or Spirit Treasure, yet its power is not much inferior to a Dao Artifact. Calling it a low-grade Immortal Artifact is not an exaggeration!" After a pause, Li Mu pondered for a moment, looking at the five-colored spiritual ring, and agreed.
This artifact was refined using Divine Runes. Although it was only fifth-grade, its power was many times greater than ordinary fifth-grade Spiritual Artifacts or Acquired Spirit Treasures. Moreover, the refining process was extremely difficult, and Li Mu almost exhausted his spiritual power and Divine Soul.
Fortunately, being within the Painting World Treasure Mansion, he could still mobilize and replenish the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.
It was also fortunate that Li Mu wasn't too greedy and only used fifth-grade Artifact Refining spiritual materials to experiment with refining a fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact. Unexpectedly, it accidentally triggered the potential of the Divine Runes, causing this originally ordinary fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact to transform into such an extraordinary existence.
This Artifact Refining experiment, integrating the Artifact Refining skill of Divine Runes, was an ultimate challenge to Li Mu's willpower and Divine Soul cultivation.
"I originally only wanted to verify the effect of the newly learned Divine Runes through this refining, but I didn't expect such astonishing gains. If I were to refine it again, I'm afraid it would be difficult to replicate this success." Li Mu looked at the five-colored spiritual ring in his hand, his eyes filled with emotion as he spoke.
Miss Xue Er looked at Li Mu with eyes sparkling with adoration and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Li Dage, what is so special about this Immortal Artifact?"
"Watch closely!"
Li Mu smiled slightly, then gently waved the five-colored spiritual ring in his hand. The spiritual light flowing around the ring body suddenly became dazzling, and five different colored lights intertwined, forming a brilliant rainbow that illuminated the entire space with vibrant colors.
"This artifact has many functions, and it contains the supreme Profound Truth of the Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint." Li Mu explained: "When I guide it with my mind, it can release corresponding elemental power according to my will. Whether it's scorching flames, sharp golden light, heavy earth aura, gentle water waves, or even the mysterious and unpredictable wood-generating power, all can be controlled at will."
As he spoke, Li Mu chanted a spell again. The five-colored spiritual ring glowed brightly, instantly splitting into five streams of spiritual power with different attributes, circling around him, like five loyal Protectors, each guarding a piece of heaven and earth.
"The Five-Colored Spiritual Ring can also automatically adjust its attack method according to the enemy's attribute, achieving the optimal restraining effect. In combat, it will be your capable assistant, allowing you to handle various enemies with ease. You can also use it as a base to set up Five Elements Magic Arrays..."
"Next, it can also transform into a Five Elements Armor..."
As Li Mu's words fell, the five-colored spiritual ring seemed to respond to his thoughts. Its light changed again, and five streams of light, each with a different color, rapidly fused, transforming into a layer of shimmering armor that perfectly fitted Li Mu's body. It looked extraordinarily magnificent and exuded an ineffable sense of solidity and resilience, as if it could withstand all attacks in the world.
"The Five Elements Armor, it combines the essence of the Five Elements power, capable of resisting attacks from any direction, and as your cultivation improves, the armor's defense will also increase accordingly." Li Mu demonstrated the Five Elements Armor's magical qualities, continuing to explain to Miss Xue Er.
Miss Xue Er's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief as she watched this scene. She had never seen such a magical Magic Treasure, nor had she ever imagined that a low-grade Immortal Artifact could possess so many functions and transformations, and its power was incredibly immense. (End of Chapter)