Chapter 353: Wanyao Sect
Xiao Zheng Peak.
Inside Cave Residence No. 281.
Ning Zhuo held a small hammer, repeatedly striking the White-Faced Golden Steel.
This metallic material was extremely hard, its surface appearing white under the light.
While hammering, Ning Zhuo simultaneously performed a weapon-refining incantation, allowing his mana to continuously seep into the metal, making the White-Faced Golden Steel slightly softer, easier to strike and shape.
After finishing the hammering, Ning Zhuo used his spiritual sense to control three or five mechanical floating hands, spreading out their palms and aiming at the White-Faced Golden Steel.
Whoosh!
Five streams of fire shot onto the White-Faced Golden Steel, turning it red-hot and rapidly softening it.
Tiny runes, as small as fingertips, flickered with silver-gray light, faintly visible within the White-Faced Golden Steel.
Ning Zhuo infused a scripture into the White-Faced Golden Steel with his mana, successfully forming a restriction.
He summoned the Floating Ice White Jade Hand.
The White Jade Hand mechanism slowly floated above the White-Faced Golden Steel, while the other five mechanical floating hands stopped spewing fire and retreated to the sides.
The Floating Ice White Jade Hand's slender fingers formed a series of incantation gestures, releasing streams of frosty mist.
The mist was very fine, gradually cooling down the White-Faced Golden Steel.
If a normal cooling method were used, the surface of the White-Faced Golden Steel would rapidly crack upon sudden immersion in cold water, creating countless fractures. If that happened, it would have to be reforged.
The White-Faced Golden Steel completely cooled down, floating in mid-air in a long, flat rectangular shape.
Ning Zhuo took out Tea Copper.
Three mechanical floating hands flew over, emitting invisible lifting force, raising the Tea Copper into the air.
Then, the mechanical floating hands' palms once again spurted flames, roasting the Tea Copper.
The Tea Copper slowly melted, turning into a pool of molten copper.
Ning Zhuo activated the refining technique, removing the impurities from the molten copper and purifying it.
After completing this step, he used his spiritual sense to shape the molten copper directly.
He gradually molded the molten Tea Copper into a straight line.
Seizing the moment before the Tea Copper completely cooled, Ning Zhuo quickly brought over the White-Faced Golden Steel and wrapped the Tea Copper around it, forming a complete circle, connecting the front and back ends.
Finally, he continued casting incantations, covering the Tea Copper with restrictions.
"Another Vajra Mirror," Ning Zhuo said, inspecting his work before satisfactorily storing it in his storage belt.
The Vajra Mirror's refining technique came from the Transmission Bell, part of the Three Sect Lords' Mirror Platform Spirit Technique at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Practicing the Mirror Platform Spirit Technique required external tools. Specifically, it included methods for creating eight types of mirror-type magical artifacts, one of which was the Vajra Mirror.
Back in Misty Hidden Mountain, Ning Zhuo had competed in spiritual sense with Sun Lingtong and lost.
The gap between them was still significant.
Ning Zhuo had also informed Sun Lingtong of the truth—he needed mechanical constructs to assist him in harnessing the power of the Mirror Platform Spirit Technique, allowing his spiritual sense range to expand significantly.
During the Misty Hidden Mountain phase, aside from running around, Ning Zhuo had been pondering the refining methods for these magical mirrors.
After much contemplation, he found that the Vajra Mirror's refining technique was relatively simple, with straightforward steps and easily obtainable materials.
Therefore, after arriving at Xiao Zheng Peak, he had started crafting Vajra Mirrors whenever he had the time.
This was already the third Vajra Mirror he had created.
"The Vajra Mirror is easy to manage since it doesn't require a specific refining environment. But for the next mirror, relying solely on my hands won't cut it."
Ning Zhuo needed a weapon-refining furnace.
Although the refining chamber within the Wanli Dragon was usable, it consumed far too much, being completely overkill for this task.
Ning Zhuo also didn't want to rent an external refining room.
He didn't feel entirely comfortable with unfamiliar places.
Though the Wanyao Sect was a large faction with a good reputation, it was still made up of people.
And as long as it involved people, human nature came into play.
Sect members in charge of official duties were often the ones most likely to bully outsiders like Ning Zhuo.
This could be seen from how the sect members handling the cave residences accepted bribes without hesitation.
This was a form of local oppression!
External refining rooms might also risk leaking the details of his refining process.
In the Lava Immortal Palace, though the Transmission Bell resonated throughout, only Ning Zhuo had obtained the Foundation Establishment-level Three Sect Laws.
Until Meng Kui deciphered the Transmission Bell, Ning Zhuo alone had mastered these techniques, so he kept them as secret as possible!
Ning Zhuo didn't get too absorbed in refining.
After completing his refining tasks, he resumed his daily cultivation.
The Three Sect Laws of Buddha, Dao, and Demon arts alternated continuously, allowing Ning Zhuo's cultivation to steadily advance.
Currently, Ning Zhuo's cultivation speed was still impressive.
On one hand, he had talent and decent comprehension. On the other hand, he never hesitated to invest resources into his cultivation.
Even within his cave residence, Ning Zhuo would always add extra spirit stones to maintain the spiritual energy concentration during his practice.
Midway through his cultivation, the mechanical bird suddenly began chirping.
Ning Zhuo knew the time had come, so he opened a small gap in the cave's protective array to let Sun Lingtong in.
In the past few days, Sun Lingtong had gone out daily, either hiding or disguising himself, gathering information from various places.
Because he personally collected this intelligence, it was far more detailed and reliable than what they could buy.
It was this level of intelligence that had given Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo a deeper understanding of Wanyao Valley over the past few days.
Wanyao Valley was surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a flat valley in the middle.
The four mountains were Yaotian Mountain, Xiao Zheng Peak, Da Zheng Peak, and Yuanlai Mountain.
Yaotian Mountain was almost entirely made up of terraces, with each level of terrace growing different medicinal herbs. In essence, the entire mountain was covered in herbs.
Xiao Zheng Peak housed a large number of foreign cultivators, each of them seeking something different.
Da Zheng Peak contained the Myriad Demon Cave, where many great battles had occurred, staining the green mountain with blood. However, it had been many years since any demonic problems had occurred.
Lastly, Yuanlai Mountain wasn't originally a part of Wanyao Valley; it had been moved from elsewhere when the Wanyao Sect relocated.
The one who moved the mountain was the mountain god of Yuanlai Mountain, a being of great power! He had used his natural talent to achieve the level of moving mountains. But due to excessive use of his power, the mountain god had fallen into a deep slumber after the relocation, rarely responding to the prayers of his followers.
The Wanyao Sect had gone to great lengths to relocate because of Wanyao Valley's unique advantage—it was rich in spiritual energy.
Beneath it flowed a wide, underground river.
This underground river was filled with dense spiritual energy, belonging to the water element spiritual vein.
The springs within Wanyao Valley were also spiritual springs. The reason the Wanyao Sect produced large amounts of medicinal herbs was due to the abundant irrigation from these spiritual springs.
Thus, Yuanlai Mountain served as the sect's main mountain, filled with a variety of palaces, corridors, and other structures, making it the gathering place for Wanyao Sect's cultivators.
Its defenses were the strongest.
Da Zheng Peak, on the other hand, had the weakest defenses. Because of the many wars fought there, almost every inch of the mountain soil had been soaked with the blood of demonic and human cultivators alike. Da Zheng Peak was a place of postnatal danger, filled with the aura of slaughter, unsuitable for growing medicinal herbs.
Xiao Zheng Peak was where the Wanyao Sect specifically housed foreign cultivators. Naturally, these cultivators were a mixed group, each harboring different schemes.
At the center of the four mountains lay Wanyao Valley.
The terrain in the valley was flat, with fertile soil, and countless spiritual springs interconnected, forming a network of spiritual water channels.
Here, the sect had set up the Six Harmonies Longevity Array and planted the most precious herbs of the Wanyao Sect.
In comparison, the herbs on Yaotian Mountain were primarily for bulk production, serving as merchandise for trade and external sales.
(End of this chapter)