Chapter 582: Life-Bound Magical Artifact — Spirit Communication Mirror
“An aphrodisiac divine medicine?” Ning Zhuo was slightly stunned.
Looking at the burly, bearded Yang Weida in front of him, two things came to his mind.
One was Yang Weida’s identity. He was a traveling merchant from Feiyun Country. Therefore, selling some aphrodisiac medicine was not strange.
The second matter concerned what the Golden Core ghost cultivator Qing Yan had once told Ning Zhuo. Qing Yan had said that Jiao Ma cultivated the Jiao Family’s core technique, the Three Jiao Righteous Yang Scripture. It was precisely this scripture that made Jiao Ma’s yang energy extremely vigorous, allowing Qing Yan to conclude that Jiao Ma would certainly stand out among the male consorts.
After thinking of these two points, Ning Zhuo nodded slightly and transmitted his thoughts to Yang Weida through spiritual sense: “Then I’ll buy a little and see how effective it is.”
Yang Weida immediately revealed a smile.
But very soon, the smile froze on his face.
The reason was that the “little” Ning Zhuo mentioned truly meant only a tiny amount of medicine!
“Jiao Ma, with such an amount, how am I supposed to sell it?” Yang Weida complained. “You’re not short of money either.”
Ning Zhuo shook his head, his attitude firm. “You say it’s divine medicine. Of course I need to try it first and judge it personally. Otherwise, if I buy too much and the effect is poor, what then?”
“You may be an outsider, but here, in the eyes of others, we’re all from the same village stronghold.”
“We’re one of our own!” Ning Zhuo patted Yang Weida on the shoulder. “So take care of your own people a little.”
Yang Weida gritted his teeth. “If we’re our own people, then we should indeed take care of each other. Fine!”
He glanced around, then took out a medicine box.
After opening the box, a paste was revealed inside.
Using his spiritual sense to manipulate objects, Yang Weida took out a fingertip-sized portion of the paste, placed it into a small medicine bottle, and handed it to Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo also took out more than ten Spirit Stones and handed them to Yang Weida.
Money was exchanged for goods.
Before parting, Yang Weida reminded him, “If it works well, contact me. We’re from the same village stronghold, so I’ll give you the biggest discount!”
Ning Zhuo nodded without saying much and soon left the scene.
Yang Weida then targeted other male consorts and spoke frankly during conversation: “You saw it too—someone just bought my aphrodisiac divine medicine. If others buy it and you don’t, you’ll suffer a loss! You should know that the admission spots for the Strengthening Yang Courtyard are limited…”
This scene fell into Sun Lingtong’s eyes.
After returning to Room No. 1 of the First Grade Residence, Sun Lingtong reported the situation to Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo had long anticipated this and instead felt pleased. “This is exactly what I wanted him to advertise.”
He took out the medicine bottle, used a wooden stick to pick out a tiny amount of the paste, and tested it with several other medicinal materials, roughly confirming the results.
This paste indeed strengthened yang energy, and the effect was quite good.
Yang Weida had not lied about this aspect.
However, when Ning Zhuo intended to apply the paste onto himself, the Mechanical Ring slightly contracted.
A cold light flashed in Ning Zhuo’s eyes. After informing Sun Lingtong, he put the paste away.
Sun Lingtong sighed. “That Yang Weida, with those thick eyebrows and big eyes, actually used such a method to scheme against others. It seems he’s quite confident in his divine medicine—or perhaps there are other forces behind him that are his real backing.”
“Never mind him. We’ll just pretend we don’t know. And if we run into him later, we should still buy some paste,” Ning Zhuo said.
Sun Lingtong nodded in agreement.
They were not short of money.
Yang Weida had his own schemes, so Ning Zhuo would simply play along with them.
“Find a way to meet the Mourning Music Phantom Actress and obtain the divination results. Then we’ll leave this place,” Ning Zhuo instructed Sun Lingtong.
Sun Lingtong nodded. If it weren’t for the matter involving Meng Yaoyin, he would actually prefer staying here to seek adventure and excitement.
“Xiao Zhuo, you continue playing the role of Jiao Ma. I’ll go outside and find a way,” Sun Lingtong volunteered.
“Boss, when you handle things, I’m naturally at ease. However…” Ning Zhuo changed his tone, “wait half a day first while I test a new method.”
The new method Ning Zhuo wanted to test was none other than the life-bound spell he had obtained—the Spirit Communication Mirror!
His cultivation had already entered the stage of Manifestation of Symbolic Phenomena, and the Mirror Platform Spirit Technique had inexplicably formed a complete spell talisman.
The Mirror Platform Spirit Technique allowed Ning Zhuo to communicate with objects possessing spirituality.
The life-bound spell Spirit Communication Mirror went a step further—it could communicate with spiritual objects from within the mirror surface, possessing a certain degree of summoning power.
“According to the contents of the Mirror Platform Spirit Technique’s Foundation Establishment chapter, if I want to fully display the power of this life-bound spell, I must first create a life-bound magical artifact. Boss, please lend me a hand!” Ning Zhuo invited.
Sun Lingtong readily agreed.
Normally, matters involving a cultivator’s primary cultivation technique should be kept secret.
But what relationship did Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong share? With their intimate bond, such taboos simply did not exist.
Ning Zhuo immediately handed the contents over for Sun Lingtong to read.
After reading it, Sun Lingtong carefully comprehended it until he fully understood.
The two entered the Wanli Dragon together and arrived before the Mechanical Work Platform.
Ning Zhuo took out the Wood-Within-Fire and infused it with mana.
The flames of the Wood-Within-Fire were not fierce, but within a few breaths they melted all kinds of precious materials into liquid.
Cold Iron, Flowing Cloud Sand, Taibai Gold Essence, Heavenly Crystal, Thick Earth, and others fused together, turning into a stream of silver liquid.
Sun Lingtong controlled the Mechanical Work Platform and, within a groove, pulled the silver liquid into the embryonic shape of a perfectly round mirror.
Continuing his manipulation, he rapidly arranged a formation inside the mirror embryo using the platform.
Finally, a three-hundred-pound quenched copper weight rose from the Mechanical Work Platform.
Clang!
The quenched copper weight slammed down heavily, fixing the formation and the mirror embryo completely in that instant.
Ning Zhuo bit the tip of his right index finger, letting a bead of blood seep out.
Using his own essence blood, he engraved the relevant magical restrictions onto the mirror embryo.
The Wood-Within-Fire was handed to Sun Lingtong.
Holding the flame seed in his palm, Sun Lingtong gently blew on it.
The flame flew onto the mirror embryo and instantly wrapped it in a ball of fire.
When the fireball dissipated, Ning Zhuo used Cold Moon Dew to cool it.
With hissing sounds, the clash of heat and cold produced seven-colored mist.
When the mist dispersed, the mirror embryo floated in midair, trembling slightly.
Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and carried out the final step without hesitation—he extracted the spell talisman of the Spirit Communication Mirror from his Sea of Consciousness and directly imprinted it into the formation core of the mirror embryo.
After a soft chime, the magical artifact Spirit Communication Mirror was complete!
Ning Zhuo began testing it.
“Meng Yahu.” He took out Shadowblade — Night Tiger.
Holding the Spirit Communication Mirror, Ning Zhuo aimed it at Meng Yahu.
A beam of light shot from the mirror’s surface and enveloped Meng Yahu.
Since Meng Yahu was already closely connected to Ning Zhuo, it offered no resistance and even cooperated. In an instant, Meng Yahu vanished, absorbed into the mirror’s internal space.
Ning Zhuo then shook the mirror again, releasing another beam of mirror light.
The beam shone onto a distant spot and almost instantly deployed Meng Yahu there.
“Not bad.” Ning Zhuo nodded, already forming many combat strategies in his mind.
He stored Meng Yahu in his storage belt.
Then he activated the Spirit Communication Mirror again and emitted another beam of mirror light.
This time it was ten times more difficult than before, yet it still easily summoned Meng Yahu to the location covered by the mirror light.
“Wonderful!” Ning Zhuo’s delight was now written all over his face.
The storage belt was another space entirely, vastly different from the outside world.
Yet Ning Zhuo could directly summon Meng Yahu from within the storage belt using the Spirit Communication Mirror. On the surface it merely seemed slightly more convenient, but in reality this represented a tremendous qualitative transformation.
Of course, this was also related to the internal connection between Ning Zhuo and Meng Yahu through Divine Ability—Life Hanging by a Thread.
Soon, however, Ning Zhuo discovered many cracks appearing on Shadowblade — Night Tiger.
The act of communicating across a spatial layer had caused Meng Yahu to suffer considerable damage.
“This means Meng Yahu’s materials must be upgraded. If it reaches the level of a magical treasure, it will be able to withstand more damage from spirit communication transfers.”
“However, when it reaches the magical treasure level, my Spirit Communication Mirror will also need to be upgraded to the magical treasure level. Otherwise, it would be like a small horse pulling a large cart.”
“Interesting. I can actually do many more things with this.” For a moment, Ning Zhuo’s eyes shone brightly as his thoughts raced.
His gaze suddenly turned toward Sun Lingtong.
Sun Lingtong immediately sensed something, his heart jolting. He turned to Ning Zhuo. “Xiao Zhuo, why are you looking at me like that?”
Not long afterward, Sun Lingtong left Room No. 1 of the First Grade Residence with a slight sense of dizziness.
Hidden Yang Residence had its own management rules. Although male consorts were not forbidden from entering or leaving freely, they still had to report and obtain approval.
In contrast, ghost servants like the Ghost Clan’s Iron Lump only needed to inform the gate guards when entering or leaving.
Sun Lingtong passed through the area and walked past the central courtyard.
He saw more than a dozen cultivators gathered around a certain notice board, discussing something heatedly.
Curious, Sun Lingtong approached to take a look.
“A Ghost Clan? Whose servant are you? Scram, scram, scram—don’t stand near us!” A human male cultivator beneath the notice board waved his hand in disgust upon seeing Sun Lingtong and tried to drive him away.
A cold glint flashed in Sun Lingtong’s eyes, but outwardly he bowed and scraped, immediately stopping and only observing from afar.
He vaguely saw that it was some kind of ranking list. It was a magical artifact, and the rankings were constantly changing.
Just as he was about to use a spell to observe more carefully, a male cultivator strode proudly into the area.
This man had a powerful physique, with a muscular upper body shaped like an inverted triangle and long slender waist and legs. His pair of crimson-gold heavy pupils were sharp, and his hair was dark gold.
His clothing was luxurious—scarlet fire-cleansing cloth as the base layer, covered with a golden-thread sun-radiance soft armor. At his waist hung a thousand-year Li Fire jade pendant, and on his feet were Thunder Cloud Flame-Treading Boots. His expression was arrogant.
Seeing the crowd of cultivators ahead, he flicked his sleeve, releasing a burst of air that directly swept the clustered male consorts aside.
Caught off guard, some male consorts staggered and nearly fell. Some turned around in embarrassment, ready to curse loudly.
But the next moment, after recognizing who had acted, they froze. The curses stuck in their throats and could not come out.
The arrogant male cultivator snorted disdainfully, raised his head, and walked beneath the notice board to examine it closely.
Seeing his own name, “Jin Yangzi,” ranked first, he snorted again.
“A bunch of trash.”
Though they had been mocked and belittled, the surrounding male consorts did not dare make a sound. Their faces were full of anger, yet they restrained themselves and did not act.