Chapter 193: Refining the Mechanical Device
“Demonic nature? It’s just a weapon. If used for good, it’s good, if used for evil, it’s evil.” Zheng Jianlian shook his head.
Zhu Xuanji said, “The cultivation methods, spells, and refining techniques of the Night Rain Dynasty were almost completely lost after being eradicated and sealed by a later dynasty and two empires. They are vastly different from what we know now.”
“Your perspective only applies to the cultivation methods we are familiar with; it doesn’t apply to the Night Rain Dynasty.”
“Think about it, during the Night Rain Dynasty, whenever night fell, the entire world would descend into endless slaughter.”
“Darkness was filled with despair and madness, leaving the people with no way to survive.”
“Was there no one rational in that world? The problem lies in the cultivation methods themselves. Under such techniques, how could the weapons refined not have issues?”
The Golden Core cultivators present fell silent.
Zheng Shuanggou had to nod in agreement, “Indeed, everything passed down from the Night Rain Dynasty carries a heavy killing intent.”
But then he changed his tone.
“That’s why we thought long and hard and came up with a method to completely refine it.”
“In this refining method, we must first kill it, then revive it, making a complete transformation.”
“Sir Detective, we understand your concerns, and they are ours as well.”
“How about we proceed with our original plan and refine it first?”
“At worst, once we enter Mount Huoshi, we simply won’t use it.”
“Well then.” Zhu Xuanji sighed softly. At this point, there was no turning back. He had been subtly manipulated by the three Golden Core families.
But in this situation, since Zhu Xuanji needed the help of the three Golden Core families, he had no choice but to compromise.
The light from the Heavenly Craft Lamp grew stronger, illuminating the entire refining room with a red glow.
The red light enveloped the surroundings, and even the powerful formation in operation couldn’t stop its penetration.
Every Golden Core cultivator’s face was bathed in the red glow.
The red light accumulated and thickened, gradually forming clusters of cloud-like mist that began to fill the refining room.
The room’s temperature rapidly increased!
The Heavenly Craft Lamp was specifically designed to gather the power of flames into a single point, creating an immense refining force.
Now that the heat was leaking out, it was clear that the Heavenly Craft Lamp had been pushed to its limits, with the lamp flames reaching an incredibly terrifying temperature!
Within the lamp’s world, fierce flames roared, rising seven or eight meters high, completely enveloping the mechanical black snake.
The black snake lay motionless on the ground. The dark shadow emanating from it had already shrunk to its surface, and the demonic aura had weakened to the extreme.
Even so, the black snake’s expression remained rebellious, filled with resentment and hatred, unwilling to submit!
Zheng Jianlian’s face was pale, his body trembling slightly. He had exhausted too much of his mana in a short time, leaving even his Golden Core in a weakened state.
Fortunately, Zheng Shuanggou had recovered about thirty percent of his strength after a quick rest and hurried over to fully support Zheng Jianlian.
The two of them practiced the same cultivation technique and were now casting a spell together.
Spell—Sea of Flames, Dragon Soars!
A dragon’s roar echoed, and the roaring flames, seven or eight meters high, shot into the sky, transforming into fire dragons.
The fire dragons spiraled and danced, intertwining with one another.
Then, they dove down, crashing into the mechanical black snake on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each impact sent waves of fire surging.
The fire dragons dissipated, but quickly reformed with the fire waves, shrinking slightly in size before rising back into the sky.
Amidst the waves of fire, the black snake’s shadow shrank continuously until it vanished from its surface.
The black snake hissed, its cry filled with pain, unable to withstand the continuous impact of the fire dragons. Its entire body began to melt.
The two Golden Core members of the Zheng family watched closely, their expressions tense.
When the mechanical black snake was completely melted beyond recognition, the Zheng family’s Golden Core cultivators exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.
“Now’s the time!”
They performed hand seals, releasing the mechanical black snake.
The black snake was placed into the formation outside the lamp and was immediately locked in place by the formation, suspended mid-air.
The Ning Family Ancestor had long been prepared and unleashed a frost spell with all his might.
Beside him, Ning Xiaohui extended her hands, activating her innate talent—Ice Jade Hand.
The two forces combined, eventually forming a miniature blizzard, enveloping the mechanical black snake.
The black snake was lifted by the pure white blizzard, its body standing upright.
The blizzard quickly dissipated, leaving behind a round ice pillar that sealed the mechanical black snake inside.
Within the ice pillar, the black snake’s aura gradually faded until none remained.
The ice pillar began to change, and from the cold, icy breath, a trace of life force slowly emerged.
This was the qualitative change produced by Ning Xiaohui’s innate talent participating in the refining!
Inside the ice pillar, the life force grew stronger.
The mechanical black snake’s body was rapidly restoring itself at a visible speed.
When the life force reached its peak, it suddenly disappeared, and the ice pillar collapsed on its own, turning into countless ice crystals.
The tiny ice crystals vanished into nothingness before they even touched the ground.
In the end, what remained on the ground was a fully restored mechanical black snake, with a large and flat snakehead!
“Heaven and earth dyed with dancing fire dragons, frozen snow brings new life. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!” Zheng Jianlian’s eyes gleamed as he was the first to step forward, touching the mechanical black snake.
He infused his spiritual sense mixed with mana into it.
Compared to before, when there had been resistance, his mana now flowed smoothly through the entire body of the mechanical black snake.
Crack, crack, crack…
A series of light clicking sounds followed as the mechanical black snake quickly transformed into a pitch-black long-handled scythe, which Zheng Jianlian grasped in his hand.
Zheng Jianlian took out a remaining piece of Night Wind Soft Iron and tossed it into the air.
As the iron ingot fell, the long-handled scythe in Zheng Jianlian’s hand gave a slight tremor.
A faint dark light flickered.
When the Night Wind Soft Iron landed, it had already been neatly cut into ten equal pieces.
Seeing this, Zhu Xuanji’s pupils contracted slightly, his heart shook, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “So sharp!”
Zheng Jianlian gently stroked the scythe’s surface, his face filled with affection and excitement.
Zheng Shuanggou laughed heartily, “If it weren’t so, why would our family go through so much trouble and expense to refine it?”
Zhou Nongying congratulated the Zheng Family’s Golden Core cultivators, “This weapon refining has been a great success!”
Zhu Xuanji took a deep breath, his expression solemn, “Even so, we must remain vigilant.”
“What you’ve acquired is a relic from the Night Rain Dynasty. For it to have been passed down through the ages, it is likely not simple.”
“Our weapon refining this time was based on an ancient item. It was already formed using techniques from the Night Rain Dynasty. We’re merely refining it further without understanding its true mysteries.”
“Naturally!” Zheng Jianlian responded absentmindedly, continually stroking the scythe, his words filled with perfunctory meaning.
Zhu Xuanji’s face darkened a bit more.
The Zheng Family’s mechanical weapon had been successfully refined, while Ning Zhuo’s Golden Core-level mechanical ape was still in the process of being forged.
In the weapon-forging workshop.
More than thirty weapon-forging cultivators worked bare-chested, sweat pouring down in the steaming heat, illuminated by the firelight, continuously hammering away. Sparks flew with each collision of their hammers and iron ingots.
Striking the Ten Thousand Strikes Profound Iron required skilled weapon-forging cultivators to use mana to create refining lines. Only when these refining lines accumulated to a certain extent and connected in an instant could the quality of the Profound Iron be improved by at least one level.
This was almost universally true for all metal refining.
But with the Ten Thousand Strikes Profound Iron, it was especially evident.
In the Earth-tier weapon-forging room.
Innate Talent—Opening Gold and Stone!
Zheng Hua activated his innate talent, applying it to the Red Sun Copper. The latter gradually dissolved like water.
The Red Sun Copper liquid flowed through a pipeline into a furnace, where it was immediately roasted.
Repeatedly using his innate talent left Zheng Hua pale, forcing him to continuously consume pills.
At the Zhou Family.
More than ten formation cultivators sat in a circle around a long table.
They all squinted their eyes, heads bent, staring at the Walnut Mountain Essence placed on the table.
The Walnut Mountain Essence was small, resembling a walnut kernel. It was a stone essence, heavy and sturdy, capable of bearing numerous formation lines.
Therefore, it was often used as the foundation for formations.
Among the formation cultivators, some held long, slender awls, others ground it with mana, and still others meticulously examined the Walnut Mountain Essence.
Ning Zhuo diligently continued his cultivation.
Others were responsible for crafting mechanical parts while he focused on his own cultivation.
This was the benefit of running a force.
Tasks that could be delegated to others were outsourced, saving himself a vast amount of time and energy, allowing him to focus on more important matters.
“My force
may have grown more than sevenfold, but it still has enormous room for growth.”
Ning Zhuo’s current force was still far from fully developed. He lacked all kinds of talent and had to rely on the help of the other two families to meet the refining requirements this time.
He continued to cultivate the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, using a crude, hastily assembled mechanical ape for the time being. The progress of his demonic cultivation remained second.
The Mirror Platform Spirit Technique was still advancing rapidly! Since Ning Zhuo started cultivating this technique, he had never encountered a bottleneck, and his speed had been swift. Ning Zhuo always regarded it as his main practice, and the improvement in his spiritual cultivation had not disappointed him.
This left him wondering in his spare time, “Why do I have such an outstanding talent for Buddhist techniques?”
“Is it due to my innate Early Wisdom talent? Or is it because of some mysterious innate talent within me?”
“Or perhaps, I am inherently righteous, protecting justice and punishing evil, aligning with Buddhist ideals?”
Among the three techniques, the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art progressed the slowest.
However, Ning Zhuo still had about two taels of Ice Jade Wine as a backup, so he wasn’t worried for the time being.
All three techniques were making progress. In addition to refining his essence, energy, and spirit, Ning Zhuo actively practiced spells.
His main focus was the Five Elements Mutual Generation and Restraint Technique.
For every practice session, he relied on the Five Elements Ruler. This magical tool could instantly divide his Five Elements mana into five distinct streams of mana.
Ning Zhuo would then use these five streams of mana to continually generate or extinguish their corresponding counterparts, often gaining insights and becoming increasingly proficient.
As for exploring the Immortal Palace, he did it three times a day.
These explorations no longer focused on Buddhist or Daoist methods but on demonic methods.
He chose many rewards from the demonic sect, many of which were used on his newly refined mechanical ape.
For example, the Blood Spring Flask, and the Frenzied Thought Drum.
(End of this Chapter)