On this day, the massive doors of the Pill and Artifact Hall, whose furnace fires had remained cold for a long time, slowly ground open with a heavy rumble.
Luo Chen walked in front with Tianxuan trailing behind, stepping into the crowded hall.
"Master, all the materials you requested have been prepared in advance. To guard against failure, I also had the Zhang family stock up on extra spares."
"Mm."
Luo Chen grunted in acknowledgment, his gaze sweeping over the dazzling array of materials filling the hall.
There were fully ten thousand jin of copper essence and iron essence, the most common basic Tier 1 materials for artifact forging.
The Tier 2 Flowing White Silver-Tin was liquid under normal conditions, so it was stored in colored glass bottles. There were five bottles in total. At current market prices, a single bottle cost seven hundred low-grade spirit stones. However, this batch had been purchased quite early, right when the Righteous-Demonic War had just begun, costing only five hundred and eighty spirit stones per bottle, which saved a tidy sum.
Tier 2 materials made up the majority. Luo Chen inspected them one by one, finding their grade and quality to be exceptionally good.
Next were the Tier 3 mineral resources that drew his closer attention.
Green Field Kelp was not a mineral, but a spiritual plant. Such material was produced only in the deep sea and required specialists equipped with dedicated tools to dive into the ocean and harvest it, making it rather expensive.
There was good reason for a spiritual plant to appear among a heap of ores: Green Field Kelp aged over a century possessed extraordinary ductility. Melting it into a magic treasure allowed the finished piece to perfectly accommodate a Ruyi Formation.
The defensive magic treasure Luo Chen intended to forge was of the armored robe style, possessing both the sturdiness of plate armor and the agility of a robe.
Most importantly, beyond its core defensive capabilities, this magic treasure had to shift size at will and adapt to his body as he transformed.
The reason for such a requirement was that Luo Chen's peak combat prowess was not displayed in his normal state, but after transforming into his Heavenly Peng True Form.
Yet once he assumed the Heavenly Peng True Form, while his increased size certainly boosted his attack power, his exposed flaws multiplied hundreds or thousands of times over.
Back in the late Foundation Establishment stage, during the battle on the Great Snow Mountain against the Grand Elder of the Lianyun Merchant Alliance, his unprotected Heavenly Peng True Form had been wounded by a Tier 3 Ten Thousand Swords Talisman. Although he had not suffered a crippling blow, his bloodied body was clear proof that his defensive capabilities in that transformed state left much to be desired.
Another example was the battle at the Mo family fishery on Lengguang Island, where the Mountain Master of Baizao Mountain had driven a treasure mountain smashing down upon him, and Luo Chen had countered with brute force.
Was it because of an overbearing combat style?
No, it was simply because in his Heavenly Peng True Form, his exposed surface was far too vast. Faced with such a colossal mountain, he could not dodge the area of effect and had no choice but to clash head-on.
After that exchange, his energy and strength had been nearly spent. Even though he subsequently fled ten thousand li, he still had to spend time finding a hidden retreat to heal his injuries.
In short, during ordinary combat, Luo Chen was well-balanced in offense and defense; even if he was not overwhelmingly dazzling, he remained agile and adaptable, directing his power as easily as breathing. In his peak state, however, while the Heavenly Peng True Form granted him unmatched combat prowess, his defense plummeted drastically, leaving him to endure blows solely through the raw resilience of his physical body.
Therefore, the armored robe he was about to forge had to satisfy the needs of both forms.
Yet the Heavenly Peng True Form easily spanned dozens of zhang in size, far beyond the stretching capacity of ordinary Ruyi Formations.
This Green Field Kelp, a specialty of the Northern Sea cultivation world, solved that problem perfectly.
At this moment, inside the Pill and Artifact Hall, the dried, withered-yellow Green Field Kelp was stacked a full zhang high, looking like a small hill.
One could well imagine how immense it would swell once it was soaked in specially prepared seawater during the forging process.
When such a massive quantity of Green Field Kelp was merged into the magic treasure, its ductility would reach an astonishing degree!
"Seven jin of high-grade Origin-Tracing Clay, partly bought from the auction on Lengguang Island and partly contributed from the estate of the second brother of the Wu family from Lianfeng Firm."
"Five pieces of Fire-Warding Lava, each worth several thousand spirit stones!"
...
As Luo Chen inventoried each item, he continuously simulated the upcoming forging process in his mind.
The Tier 3 materials were crucial, as they determined the baseline quality of the magic treasure.
Yet evidently, what determined the upper limit was the higher-grade materials.
Under Tianxuan's watchful eyes, Luo Chen lightly flicked his fingers, and streaks of light flew out from his storage ring.
"Tongxuan Heavenly Crystal!"
"Three Yin Thunder Pole Wood!"
"Colorless Sea-Sinking Sand!"
Luo Chen murmured each name. This batch of Tier 4 ores was not obtained through robbery, but purchased at great expense with his accumulated savings at the Feileng Auction on Lengguang Island.
To prevent failure, he had intentionally purchased multiple portions.
From this, one could also see why high-tier artifact masters could earn spirit stones.
The sale price of magic treasures was not particularly exorbitant to high-tier cultivators, making it difficult for an artifact master to turn a substantial profit. Only by cutting production costs to the bare minimum could they reap severalfold or dozens of times their investment in profit.
When it came to defensive magic treasures, which carried a much higher failure rate, ordinary high-tier artifact masters rarely forged them at all under normal circumstances, taking on only custom commissions. Even then, the client had to cover all material costs and pay a hefty crafting fee on top.
"Master, what is that?"
When Luo Chen gingerly set down three objects resembling white camellia blossoms onto the table, Tianxuan finally could not resist asking.
Looking at the three blossoms, especially the silvery-white electrical arcs dancing intermittently across their petals, her eyelids twitched violently.
A thrumming dread from deep within her soul made her realize this thing posed a primal threat to her.
Luo Chen did not even glance at her, merely speaking softly.
"Millennium thunder essence."
Hearing that name, Tianxuan could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
Having maintained human form for many years and read extensively through human texts, she was no longer the naive fledgeling who knew nothing of the human cultivation world.
Thunder essence was a pinnacle Tier 4 mineral!
Any cultivator seeking to forge a natal magic treasure would yearn for a single blossom in vain.
Yet her master had casually produced three.
Furthermore, it was *millennium* thunder essence!
Did that not mean it rivaled Tier 5 minerals?
Luo Chen paid no heed to her astonishment, merely calculating his remaining thunder essence in his head.
Back then, in the cave dwelling of the Soul Formation powerhouse Bai Ye, he had collected eighteen blossoms of millennium thunder essence in total.
To forge the Hunyuan Cauldron, he had consumed three.
Later, he had given three to Vice Hall Master Youquan of Duzhen Hall and two to Demon Emperor Qingshuang, the Hall Master of Zhoukong Hall.
During the melee at Mount Cangwu, to guard against the Thunder Prison Divine Roc making a move on him, he had surrendered another blossom.
Thus, he had only nine blossoms of millennium thunder essence left in his hands.
For this refining of the Demon Emperor's remains, he planned to use at least one, and at most three!
The reason he planned to incorporate this material was that he held extraordinarily high hopes for it.
Under the nurturing of a Golden Core cultivator, an ordinary magic treasure could at most advance by one or two sub-grades, and often could not advance at all.
Take his Poyue Wings: after years of nurturing, they had only reached the medium grade.
Meanwhile, the soul defense treasure Lanke Black Chess Piece had been nurtured for even longer, yet remained at the low grade, with any breakthrough nowhere in sight.
This showed just how difficult it was to upgrade a magic treasure's rank.
Yet one category of magic treasures was different!
Those that incorporated thunder essence.
Such treasures were tempered by blazing fire during their creation and cleansed by lightning during their nurturing. Over time, they became clear and flawless, able to grow alongside the cultivator's cultivation realm.
This was also one of the reasons cultivators loved incorporating thunder essence into their natal magic treasures.
A natal magic treasure was meant for dual cultivation of nature and life—referring to the simultaneous cultivation of mind and body, as well as the concurrent cultivation of master and treasure.
For the magic treasure he was about to forge, the core material was the shed remains of a Tier 4 Demon Emperor, an entity comparable to a Nascent Soul True Person!
How could such a treasure be treated like an ordinary artifact?
If it succeeded, it would become his greatest trump card second only to the Hunyuan Cauldron, destined to accompany him for a very long time.
If it could not advance alongside his realm and ended up holding him back in the future, that would be a terrible waste.
"Three blossoms used on the Demon Emperor's remains leaves six. Those six must not be wasted either; once the Hunyuan Cauldron is nurtured to its limit in the future, I can integrate them to elevate its ceiling once again."
In an instant, Luo Chen made up his mind.
A magic treasure forged without thunder essence could not have thunder essence added to it later. But once thunder essence was inherent to its nature, identical material could be fused into it down the road.
When everything was ready, Luo Chen glanced at Tianxuan.
The latter immediately understood.
"Rest assured, Master. I will handle outside affairs for you, and this time I will not let anyone disturb you."
With that, she bowed respectfully and walked out of the Pill and Artifact Hall.
The heavy bronze doors shut with a booming rumble.
Once she was gone, Luo Chen retrieved two items in succession.
One was the Hunyuan Cauldron, which landed with a clear clatter.
The other was the profound turtle shell, which floated in midair.
This time, Luo Chen did not cast the turtle shell into the Hunyuan Cauldron, but left it suspended in the air.
"Such material is the crystallization of a demon powerhouse's lifelong cultivation, something that can no longer be measured by simple grades."
"When refining it, ordinary techniques will produce little effect."
"Fortunately, using that set of forging diagrams from the Penglai Immortal Sect, I worked out a method of my own."
Smiling faintly, he sat cross-legged on the floor.
He spread his fingers loosely, then brought two together like a sword. Two wisps of azure flame shot from his fingertips, racing straight toward the Demon Emperor's remains.
Not stopping there, he parted his lips slightly and exhaled an incomparably pure wisp of azure flame, thoroughly enveloping the Demon Emperor's remains.
Within his Qi sea, the source true fire surged!
His crimson Golden Core spun briskly, drawing in stream after stream of purified, refined magic power before venting it outward in the form of flames.
This first step was the most direct: burning and tempering!
Luo Chen's Wither-Bloom True Fire was a Tier 4 flame, fully qualified to temper the remains of a Demon Emperor.
It would simply take a considerable amount of time.
In the days that followed, under Luo Chen's relentless burning, the profound turtle shell suspended in midair shifted from its initial unchanging state to gradually charring, slowly beginning to soften.
Surging demonic power even began leaking out into the hall.
This was all demonic power accumulated over years of cultivation by Xuanyan Demon Emperor, the ancestor of the Ring-Headed Turtle clan. To reverse his bloodline from the plainest Ring-Headed Turtle and cultivate the body of a desolate beast profound turtle proved just how formidable his capabilities had been.
Even though these were merely partial remains left behind, the latent demonic power within was immense.
Having it stimulated and vented like this was somewhat wasteful.
Luo Chen did not care, persevering in his burning of the turtle shell.
To prevent his magic power from running dry, he kept a supreme-grade True Flame Pill tucked beneath his tongue.
Perhaps consuming pills in this manner without careful refinement would leave minor side effects, but he could not afford to worry about that now.
Having prepared for so many years, now that he was at the threshold, how could he shrink back?
On his status panel, Luo Chen's artifact forging had already made him a genuine Tier 3 artifact master!
The catalyst for his advancement had been the jade ruyi he had gifted Zhang Jiadi on his wedding day.
That had not been spoils seized from past battles, but something he had forged with his own hands—and without relying on the nurturing effects of the Hunyuan Cauldron!
Over the past years, he had continually forged the six sets of profound armor.
Through repeated success, he had gradually grasped certain crucial knacks.
Ultimately, in the same year he forged the Flame Sun Prison Armor, he had experimentally forged an ordinary jade ruyi magic treasure and succeeded.
In Luo Chen's eyes, although that jade ruyi claimed to possess both offensive and defensive capabilities, it was rather mediocre. It was superior to his Profound Fire Sword of the past, yet inferior to the Sky Moon Purple Gold Wheel—respectable enough, but nothing extraordinary.
None of that mattered, however. What mattered was that Luo Chen had truly crossed the threshold into becoming a Tier 3 artifact master, fully qualified to forge magic treasures!
Time slipped quietly by.
Three months later, an exhausted Luo Chen finally drew back his Wither-Bloom True Fire.
Reaching out, he summoned the floating turtle shell into his hands.
Ignoring the terrifying heat, Luo Chen carefully felt the condition of the shell.
It was still remarkably hard, but it had clearly reached a workable state.
"The softening work is mostly complete."
Indeed, reaching this stage was only half the preparation.
Luo Chen had no time to rest. He immediately set the Xuanyan Demon Emperor's turtle shell upon a specially made stone anvil.
Slipping off his white Daoist robe, he revealed the knotted, lean muscles of his upper torso.
With a flick of his wrist, the Flowing Fire Hammer appeared in his hand.
Aiming at the glowing-red turtle shell, he brought the hammer down with all his might.
*Boom!*
A single strike produced a thunderous crash.
The sound was so loud it echoed beyond the Pill and Artifact Hall, rolling across more than ten li of Lake Penghu.
On a solitary island, a three-inch figure, half-illusory and half-corporeal, wearing a small wooden placard around its neck, was quietly cultivating.
Aroused by this tremendous noise, it drifted awake.
The tiny figure frowned, then pinched its fingers to calculate, realization dawning in its eyes.
"That kid has finally started."
"It wasn't easy for him to be so cautious, spending years preparing before daring to lay hands on it without seeking help from others."
"Yet the remains of a Demon Emperor can only be forged by a pinnacle artifact master. I fear he is bound for disappointment."
Amidst his sigh, the tiny figure suddenly shook his head.
"Still, I wish him success!"
When he pricked up his ears once more, the thunderous hammering could no longer be heard.
Inside the Pill and Artifact Hall, Luo Chen returned from the four corners of the hall.
He had just reinforced the sound-insulating formation to ensure no commotion leaked outside.
Returning to the iron anvil and looking down at the Demon Emperor's turtle shell, he clicked his tongue.
"To think remnant Demon Emperor magic power was still inside. It nearly jarred the Flowing Fire Hammer right out of my hand."
"Then again, this is fine. The deeper its latent foundation, the greater the benefits to me once it succeeds."
"It just means spending a bit more time."
Raising the hammer high with his right hand, he brought it down in a profound trajectory with an explosive boom.
Stroke after stroke, starting slow and building in speed.
Eventually, sparks flew like shooting stars and hammer blows fell like a sweeping cloak throughout the Pill and Artifact Hall—the consummate mastery of the Flowing Fire Hammer Technique!
It possessed exceptional effectiveness for forging excessively rigid raw materials.
This was also one of the secret forging arts that only Golden Core cultivators of Baizao Mountain were permitted to learn.
Hammering and tempering the turtle shell took Luo Chen another three full months.
Even with a physique resilient enough to rival a Demon King or an ordinary transformed Demon Emperor, he nearly failed to endure the strain.
After depositing the thoroughly tempered turtle shell into the Hunyuan Cauldron, Luo Chen collapsed onto the floor like a dead dog, unable to recover his breath for an entire day.
Several days later, having rested both mind and body until he was fit to move, Luo Chen resumed his forging work.
The first step—the preparation of the core material—was complete.
Next came blending the various secondary materials into it to forge the magic treasure embryo.
This process appeared simple, but was actually exceedingly tedious, serving as the ultimate test of an artifact master's cumulative expertise.
It required an intimate understanding of every secondary material and the application of distinct techniques for each.
Basic iron and copper essences merely needed to be melted and purified. The slightly more advanced Flowing White Silver-Tin had to be soaked in demon beast blood, while the Green Field Kelp had to be immersed in large amounts of specially treated seawater to restore its original state.
These were still relatively fundamental.
The harder ones were the Tier 4 minerals.
The Tongxuan Heavenly Crystal had to be crushed into powder, but every single particle had to be of the exact same size, a process that required microscopic precision using divine sense.
The Three Yin Thunder Pole Wood required the Five Thunders Ultimate Dissolution Hand to strip away its lightning bark and extract its wooden core.
The Colorless Sea-Sinking Sand called for yet another technique...
In his idle moments, Luo Chen could not help but sigh. No wonder most renowned artifact masters in the cultivation world attached themselves to clans or sects.
Accumulating such intricate methods of material preparation through one's own efforts alone was as hard as scaling the heavens.
If one had dedicated artisans specifically processing each material during the forging process, a master crafter would only need to oversee the final assembly and refinement.
Luo Chen, however, had no such luxury.
After his brief lament, he had to press on.
Along the way, he failed a few times, but fortunately he had prepared enough spares, so it did not derail the overall work.
Half a year later, it was time to handle the final material.
The millennium thunder essence.
Reaching this stage, Luo Chen actually breathed a sigh of relief.
With a casual flick, he cast a blossom of thunder essence into the Hunyuan Cauldron, allowing it to slowly fuse with the other prepared materials.
Yes, it was just that simple.
As if embodying the principle of great truths being simple, the higher the grade of a material, the more straightforward its processing became.
As for how Luo Chen knew how to handle it? Back on Mount Cangwu, when the Hunyuan Cauldron was forged, he had watched with his own eyes how Tianyezi used millennium thunder essence.
Furthermore, the records of Baizao Mountain contained methods for handling ordinary thunder essence.
Combining the two, the differences were minor; the technique was universal.
Once the first blossom of millennium thunder essence entered, Luo Chen monitored the reaction inside at all times.
Seeing that everything was normal, he tentatively tossed in a second.
Still normal.
Then, the third blossom entered the cauldron.
At this moment, a restless tremor rippled through the cauldron.
"It seems this is the limit, pretty much as I expected."
This turtle shell came from Xuanyan Demon Emperor.
That was a Tier 4 Demon Emperor who had survived heavenly tribulations!
As the hardest part of his body, the shell's importance was second only to the demon core.
It had certainly endured ferocious bombardment during those tribulations.
Such material possessed the latent foundation to accommodate three blossoms of millennium thunder essence.
Any more, however, would no longer test the material itself, but would demand even greater artifact-forging skill from Luo Chen.
Evidently, the current Luo Chen was not yet qualified.
Reaching this point, Luo Chen could not help but admire the late Tianyezi.
That man had been a true grandmaster-level artifact master!
Back then, when Tianyezi forged the Hunyuan Cauldron for him, he had operated with effortless ease from start to finish, never showing the slightest strain.
Had it not been for that bizarre drop of blood, Luo Chen's natal magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron, could practically have been considered something Tianyezi produced with a wave of his hand.
Beneath this admiration, a warning also sounded in Luo Chen's heart.
"Every craft is boundless and profound."
"With the system in hand, I might easily get started on a skill and achieve notable success. But to reach the pinnacle, the time and energy demanded would be unimaginable."
"If I lose myself in it, it will inevitably undermine my own cultivation."
"I must remember this! Always remember!"
After reflecting upon himself, Luo Chen used his forging techniques to regulate the fusion rate of the various materials inside the cauldron, occasionally adding or trimming materials to bring the proportions to their optimal state.
This adjustment took ten-odd days.
Ten days later, the material ratios inside the cauldron reached what Luo Chen considered the most ideal balance.
At this stage, he could finally breathe easy.
Inside the Pill and Artifact Hall, Luo Chen hovered in midair, casting hand seals toward the Hunyuan Cauldron in rapid succession.
Layer upon layer of thin qi barriers enveloped it, sealing it off completely.
Next, he added a few bundles of Tier 3 firewood beneath the cauldron, causing the furnace flames to blaze even brighter.
"The magic treasure embryo is nearly formed, having taken a full year and more. For anyone else, reaching this step would mean preparing to engrave the formations, but I am different."
With a faint smile, Luo Chen turned and walked out of the Pill and Artifact Hall.
Let this treasure embryo be nurtured inside the Hunyuan Cauldron!
The longer it was nurtured, the better.
When the treasure embryo became perfect, that would be the time to engrave the formations.
Perhaps before long, he would obtain a protective treasure exquisitely tailored to him.
Luo Chen had even begun racking his brain over what to name this magic treasure.
It felt just like parents who had just conceived a child, already flipping through dictionaries and consulting wise elders, doing everything possible to come up with a wonderful name.
It truly was a blessed dilemma!
Chapter 621