On Peng Island.
A full year had passed since Luo Chen announced his secluded cultivation.
Throughout that year, countless cultivators seeking Dao-protecting treasures had attempted to pay him a visit, only to be turned away at the door.
All the hubbub of the outside world seemed to have nothing to do with these eight hundred li of Lake Penghu.
Yet clearly, the outside world could hardly ignore a master capable of refining defensive magic treasures.
Even though Luo Chen claimed to be in seclusion, countless eyes remained fixed on his movements, watching to see whether he could forge a second defensive magic treasure.
If he truly succeeded, it would prove his genuine ability, rather than a stroke of beginner's luck.
Faced with the outside world's anticipation and skepticism, Luo Chen acted as though completely oblivious.
***
Inside the Pill and Artifact Hall.
Luo Chen gazed at the Hunyuan Cauldron, which was enveloped in layers of raging Wither-Bloom Fire. His eyes shone brilliantly, reflecting the flames like piercing golden orbs.
"This magic treasure embryo has been nurtured for a full year, with even more thorough preparation than when I refined the Deep Blue Mystic Armor."
"An ugly bride must eventually face her in-laws; it is time!"
Calculating the time in his mind, Luo Chen raised his hand and released a streak of magic power.
Instantly, the azure flames dispersed, and a hazy yellow light flew out from the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Looking closely, it was an armor suit seven feet tall and earthy-yellow in color.
Dense earth-attribute spiritual qi gathered upon it, giving off an immediate impression of solid reliability.
Upon the armor, there were no patterns and no cracks, smooth as if woven from the heavens without seams.
Yet Luo Chen knew that this was merely the embryo. Whether it would succeed depended entirely on the subsequent engraving of formations.
With a thought, the yellow armor floated before him.
To his left, a basin of specially prepared black liquid was already waiting.
Engraving formations while refining a magic treasure differed greatly from setting up ordinary formations.
In normal circumstances, establishing a formation drew upon spirit stones, formation flags, and even the natural advantages of mountains and rivers—everything usable was leveraged to amplify the formation's power.
Refining a magic treasure, however, was another matter. The treasure's physical body was only so large, leaving no room for many external objects.
Thus, to engrave formations onto it, one had to use something akin to "ink."
This basin of black liquid, known as Array Ink Liquid, was the most commonly used formation-laying ink in the cultivation world.
Come to think of it, back when Min Longyu had instructed him to practice calligraphy before studying formations, it carried a similar underlying principle.
Luo Chen smiled faintly. His right hand gave a slight tremor and flushed reddish. As his magic power surged, his right hand turned redder and redder, as if engorged with blood.
On his status panel, the Iron Refining Hand—which he had already cultivated to Great Perfection—was activated.
"Ordinary formation masters helping artifact refiners forge implements would use talisman brushes and ink awls to engrave formations. Yet from the classics of Baizao Mountain, I acquired this technique called the Iron Refining Hand. It can be used to smelt metal ores, and equally to lay down formations on a magic treasure embryo—achieving twice the result with half the effort compared to conventional formation masters."
"That Baizao Mountain could stand tall on Lengguang Island for so many years without falling indeed speaks to their true skill."
"A pity Lengguang Island was destroyed. I wonder how many of those factions that besieged me back then managed to survive. Otherwise, once my cultivation progresses further, I would truly like to pay them a personal visit."
Thoughts churned in his mind while the red hue on his right hand reached its peak, resembling a glowing hot branding iron.
The *Micromote Origin Art* circulated naturally, severing stray thoughts.
With absolute focus, Luo Chen dipped his right hand into the basin, instantly producing a series of sizzling hisses.
When he lifted his right hand, a thick layer of Array Ink Liquid clung to it.
Luo Chen remained entirely undistracted. Magic power and spiritual sense converged as one, and his right hand descended slowly onto the armor.
As his fingers moved, black formation lines settled upon the pliable armor.
With the gentle push of his force, the black formation lines sank deep into the material, penetrating into the interior of the Bright Yellow Rock Armor.
What he was engraving now was a Tier 1 formation called the Solid Gold Formation, the most fundamental formation required by many defensive magic treasures, which enhanced the structural stability of the treasure's materials.
Beyond that, two more Tier 1 formations needed to be engraved: the Spirit Locking Formation and the Qi Gathering Formation.
After Tier 1 came the Tier 2 formations: the Feather Scale Formation and the Xuanguan Formation.
Only at the very end would he engrave the core of this magic treasure—the Tier 3 Bright Yellow Rock Armor Formation.
Three Tier 1 formations, two Tier 2 formations, and one Tier 3 formation, layered atop one another to encompass every part of the magic treasure, would ultimately forge an unbreakable, purely defensive magic treasure.
This process allowed no room for failure!
The slightest slip would ruin all previous efforts, and in severe cases, cause the embryo to self-destruct.
If an embryo were made of superior materials, it might still retain a shred of power through sheer material quality, becoming a so-called "top-grade magical tool."
Clearly, however, the materials Luo Chen had used for practice were nothing extraordinary.
Though the spirit stone cost was low, losing it would still sting.
The material cost was modest, but the time investment was steep!
Others crafted directly once they gathered the right materials.
He, on the other hand, had used the Hunyuan Cauldron to nurture this magic treasure embryo for a whole year.
He did not begrudge the spirit stones; he begrudged the year of lost time.
Fortunately, mere Tier 1 and Tier 2 formations held virtually no possibility of failure under his Great Perfection formation proficiency.
Unlike alchemy proficiency, formation proficiency was closer to spells: one either mastered it or did not, without that lingering failure rate that persisted even after reaching perfection in alchemy.
Taking two days, Luo Chen finally succeeded in engraving the three Tier 1 formations and two Tier 2 formations onto the embryo of the Bright Yellow Rock Armor.
Next came the most vital and central part: the Bright Yellow Rock Armor Formation.
Without resting for even a moment, Luo Chen simply steadied his mindset, reactivated the Iron Refining Hand, dipped it in Array Ink Liquid, and began tracing brand-new formation lines across the armor.
This time was different from the silence of before.
Laying out a Tier 3 formation demanded exceptionally harsh conditions.
Even an accomplished formation master setting one up in the outside world required corresponding formation flags, formation plates, and the right terrain to assist them.
To engrave it onto a single piece of equipment was vastly more demanding!
It tested not only the formation master's attainments, but also the strength of the material itself, requiring meticulous attention to the compatibility between the formation and the magic treasure.
*The materials of this embryo are ordinary. I wonder if it can withstand a complete Bright Yellow Rock Armor Formation?*
Carrying a trace of concern, Luo Chen watched lines of formations gradually take shape beneath his fingers and settle onto the armor.
As strand after strand of the formation was inscribed, Luo Chen's astonishment grew.
*Such flawless harmony!*
*Are the earth-attribute minerals resonating with the Bright Yellow Rock Armor Formation? Or is the embryo I refined simply too perfect?*
*No. This feeling... it seemed to happen when I refined the Deep Blue Mystic Armor as well. At the time, I assumed it was merely a stroke of inspiration, but now that the scene has repeated itself, it is clearly not an isolated occurrence.*
The astonishing compatibility between the magic treasure embryo and the formation nearly caused Luo Chen to lose his concentration.
In an instant, however, he regained his composure and continued the work at hand.
It took a full day.
The earthy-yellow armor, originally devoid of patterns or ornament, began to reveal mysterious, extraordinary markings after Luo Chen completed the formations.
Those were the outward manifestations of the formations.
Once the Bright Yellow Rock Armor Formation was smoothly engraved, Luo Chen finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Next comes the final nurturing, allowing the formations and the materials to fuse into one. During this stage, repulsive reactions often occur—either the materials cannot endure such a powerful formation, or innate flaws appear when catalyzed."
"This cannot be overlooked."
Luo Chen gave the armor a close inspection and placed it back into the Hunyuan Cauldron.
The Wither-Bloom Fire that had been extinguished earlier ignited once more.
Luo Chen swallowed a pill and sat cross-legged before the Hunyuan Cauldron.
As he regulated his breath and restored his magic power, he gazed at the Hunyuan Cauldron, reflecting on the sensation from earlier.
A magic treasure embryo nurtured for a long period within the Hunyuan Cauldron possessed flawless compatibility with formations—such a bizarre phenomenon was practically unheard of in the cultivation world.
Why had he experienced it twice?
*Is it due to my natal magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron?*
*Yet I never heard of the Hunyuan Cauldrons previously refined by Azure Pill Valley having any such effect! At most, they could marginally increase the success rate of pill concoction.*
*Could it be an additional effect gained after the Hunyuan Cauldron was nurtured by the Dragon Nourishing Basin?*
As he racked his brains, a sudden flash of insight struck Luo Chen's mind.
A scene surged from his memory.
Years ago, in the dungeon of Mount Cangwu, Tianyezi had refined the Hunyuan Cauldron for him.
In the hands of such a renowned master of artifact crafting, refining a mere magic treasure should have been effortless.
Yet an accident had occurred.
That accident caused all the mineral ores Luo Chen had gathered over many years to be completely consumed. Even that proved insufficient, prompting Tianyezi to ask Qingshuang to intervene and stabilize the Hunyuan Cauldron with the power of spatial laws.
And the cause of that accident was the bizarre blood smeared upon a Fire Spirit Diamond.
Luo Chen had once wondered about it, but could find no answers.
Later, when Tianyezi breached the restrictions, Luo Chen had even suspected that the artifact crafting grandmaster had intentionally engineered the accident to draw out Demon Emperor Qingshuang and spy on her spatial restrictions.
Looking back now, however, that was no scheme of Tianyezi's, but a genuine accident!
*When that blood merged into my Hunyuan Cauldron, it crazily absorbed all kinds of materials without turning anything away.*
*For an ordinary magic treasure, blending so many unprocessed materials together would have caused it to self-destruct from repulsive reactions long ago.*
*Yet my Hunyuan Cauldron remained utterly unscathed, emerging as a high-grade treasure upon completion. Nurtured over the years, it has only grown stronger, to the point where even I cannot unleash ten-tenths of its might.*
*Evidently, that bizarre drop of blood exerts a strange influence over all types of ores.*
*Consequently, the Hunyuan Cauldron that absorbed it acquired a similar property. Magic treasure embryos nurtured within it become virtually flawless, and even the engraved formations achieve an exquisite harmony.*
As memories flipped through his mind, Luo Chen's thoughts grew clearer and clearer.
While the Dragon Nourishing Basin could nurture magic treasures and enhance their rank and power, it did so strictly on the basis of what was already present; it could not create something out of nothing.
The Hunyuan Cauldron's extraordinary property was clearly not the work of the Dragon Nourishing Basin, but the result of that bizarre drop of blood.
Having sorted this out, Luo Chen felt enlightened, yet filled with lingering doubt.
Just what kind of creature's blood was that?
A single drop possessed such marvelous power.
What realm must its owner have reached, and what manner of being could it be?
Even after combing through all the knowledge he had accumulated over the years, Luo Chen could find no relevant information.
In the end, he could only sigh.
"Knowing that it is so, yet not knowing why it is so—what an itch in the heart!"
"Still, for me, this is an excellent thing."
It truly was a good thing!
If the Bright Yellow Rock Armor succeeded this time, it meant his success could be replicated!
Refining the Demon Emperor's remains in the future, or forging any other magic treasures, would be like adding wings to a tiger, practically eliminating the chance of failure.
Were word of this to spread, the entire cultivation world would be shaken!
For a time, Luo Chen's attention was not even on the Bright Yellow Rock Armor currently fusing with the formations, but on his natal magic treasure itself.
The Hunyuan Cauldron, bound to his very life and soul, carried boundless possibilities!
***
Half a month later.
Luo Chen dispelled the qi barrier sealing the Hunyuan Cauldron and retrieved the flawless Bright Yellow Rock Armor from within.
Using the newly engraved Ruyi Formation, he shrank it into a single yellow armor scale, resembling a clod of earth.
"Aura restrained, formations and materials perfectly fused without the slightest repulsion."
"Inner armor and qi armor arise naturally, matching the Penglai Immortal Sect's description of successful completion."
"Done!"
Those two simple words conveyed the joy in Luo Chen's heart.
Yet clearly, his delight stemmed from far more than merely forging a magic treasure.
It was the wondrous efficacy of the Hunyuan Cauldron!
For a moment, he felt a powerful urge to directly refine the Demon Emperor's remains.
In the end, he held himself back.
*I haven't discovered the upper limit of the Hunyuan Cauldron's wondrous effect on artifact crafting. What if it only works on ordinary materials and low-grade magic treasures?*
*The previous plan cannot change; I must take it step by step!*
*No rush!*
Without impatience in his heart, Luo Chen handled everything else with greater composure.
Refining qi, refining the body, studying formations, and forging artifacts—every day's schedule was packed to the brim.
When the third piece, the Yi Wood Light Armor, was successfully crafted in the second year, Luo Chen even drew analogies across disciplines and gained new insights into body refinement.
Blending various ordinary materials together, discarding the dross and extracting the essence, combining them with formations to produce a magic treasure of boundless might—such was the essence of artifact crafting.
What if the human body were treated as a magic treasure as well?
Could one use the methods of artifact crafting to temper the physical body?
To refine the body itself into a formidable magic treasure?
Such an insight did not emerge out of thin air, but arose naturally from long accumulation.
At the same time, an indelible image lingered in his mind... Tianyezi, unable to channel the power of his Nascent Soul, withstanding the mid-Tier 4 Thunder Prison Divine Roc using only his physical flesh!
One had to know that body cultivators had long since fallen into decline in the contemporary cultivation world.
Yet at the Nascent Soul realm, Tianyezi possessed extraordinary body refinement cultivation. He had certainly comprehended a corresponding body-refining art.
Had Luo Chen known that Tianyezi had once even withstood a palm strike from Demon Emperor Qingshuang with his bare body, his appraisal of Tianyezi's body refinement would have been three degrees higher still!
Of course, even without knowing that, Luo Chen began adjusting his body refinement technique during his spare moments.
The *Convergence of Myriad Paths* was originally created by him with the aid of the system.
Even the name had been changed later, drawn from the idea of taking the strengths of myriad schools and uniting all dharmas into one origin.
Even though he had reached Great Perfection in this cultivation technique many years ago, in Luo Chen's view, it still had room for improvement.
He began attempting to incorporate artifact-crafting techniques such as the Hundred Refinements Technique, Iron Refining Hand, Gold Shaving Art, and Snow Blowing Technique into it.
At the same time, he used the Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste to experiment with tempering his physique.
He even contemplated engraving formations onto his body, had there been suitable ones available.
He had done such things before; even now, his body bore the Yinwei Formation to conceal magic power fluctuations.
And indeed, under his constant adjustments, although a new version of *Convergence of Myriad Paths* had not yet emerged, his body refinement progress saw a tangible, significant boost.
Already at [Desolate Ancient Tier 3: 78/100], it was advancing toward the 80 mark at an even faster pace.
One could imagine that Desolate Ancient Tier 4 was not far off!
***
While Luo Chen devoted himself to artifact crafting and cultivation, the outside world's attention on him reached another level.
For the Bright Yellow Rock Armor had been placed upon the shelves of Qingyang Firm.
Advertised as the shop's crowning treasure, it would not be sold for anything less than five hundred thousand spirit stones!
Because of this outrageously high price and Master Qingyangzi's second emergence, it instantly attracted countless eyes across the Myriad Immortals Association.
Chapter 618