Ti has passed and will never return.
The past can only be reminisced.
Spring turns to autumn, another ten years have co and gone.
On this day.
In Yuezhou, Anhua County, within the Qinling outskirts, deep in a lava cave in Feiying Mountain.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Chen Jichuan, bare-chested, swung a heavy iron hamr with force, striking repeatedly. Under his hamr, an iron sword gradually took shape.
Switching from the heavy hamr to a smaller one.
Then from the smaller one back to the heavy hamr.
Simultaneously controlling the hamr and the sword embryo.
Through changes in force, nurous patterns were etched onto the sword’s surface, appearing intricate, profound, and precise. The patterns increased in quantity, initially looking abrupt and sowhat disjointed. As ti passed, the patterns multiplied, intertwining layer upon layer in both depth and shallowness, eventually creating a peculiar sense of beauty.
A sight that was hard to look away from.
It was unknown how much ti had passed.
Finally, Chen Jichuan paused, the sword embryo in his hand fully ford, lacking only the final sharpening.
Many patterns were hidden, covered, or buried deep within, leaving only a limited selection visible, which were extraordinarily elegant.
To an ordinary observer, the patterns might seem decorative, but they concealed endless mysteries within.
He held the sword hilt with tongs, swung it twice to gauge its balance, then tossed it aside near the lava, hanging it above the molten surface.
Scanning around.
There were nearly a hundred unsharpened longswords in various styles and lengths.
They swayed slightly, exposed to the heat rising from the lava below. Occasionally, the swords closest to each other collided, producing sharp tallic sounds.
"Artifact refining is no easy task!"
Chen Jichuan glanced at them casually and sighed deeply.
Another ten years had unknowingly passed.
He had been in the Qinling World for so eighteen to nineteen years now. Ever since he first entered, he had been studying Situ Kong’s Dao Fruit and learning the foundational knowledge of artifact refining.
For ordinary cultivators, these basics are often the most formidable barrier.
The path of artifact refining is vast and profound, far from being simpler than alchemy.
First, one needs a certain level of understanding of various ores, tals, and other diverse refining materials—identifying them, knowing their properties, understanding how to purify and temper them, and mastering the application of this knowledge.
Just this alone requires ten years of painstaking effort, or even longer.
During this period.
One also needs to learn the "Artifact Refining Language."
Magic Artifacts and Magical Treasures, used by cultivators, inherently possess imnse power. Once refined by a cultivator, their strength far surpasses that of ordinary weapons.
And all of this is grounded in the runes and arrays embedded within Magic Artifacts and Magical Treasures.
Each foundational rune is akin to a character. Each array functions like a sentence. To refine artifacts, to inscribe runes and arrays, one must first master thousands of foundational runes.
Once proficient.
At this point, one can begin crafting the lowest-grade Magical Artifacts.
Such as the "Gale Sword," with just a single "Gale" rune.
Or the "Light Body Boots," with rely a single "Lightness" rune.
These are the simplest kinds, requiring only basic rune knowledge and familiarity with the required refining materials to eventually inscribe the rune onto the artifact created with corresponding materials.
However, while this sounds simple, this initial step is enough to block many aspiring refiners.
When crafting more complex Magical Artifacts afterward, it becos necessary to delve deeper into the interactions between the basic runes. For example, understanding which combinations amplify each other, efficiently creating powerful artifacts with fewer runes. Similarly, knowing which rune pairings should be avoided due to conflicts.
If multiple runes can be combined to enhance each other significantly instead of causing conflicts, this forms an "array."
This knowledge cannot be obtained through rote morization alone; one must comprehend the underlying principles.
Due to differences in materials—either large or subtle variations—not only among different artifacts and treasures but even within individual ones.
Such disparities make applying fixed arrays problematic to varying degrees.
Only by fully grasping the principles, understanding the logic, can one adapt flexibly, swap out appropriate runes, and fully exploit a material’s properties and an array’s potential.
Runes equate to "characters," arrays to "sentences," while the patterns ford by combining them within an array could be considered "grammar."
Yet this "grammar" vastly exceeds the complexity of any language in the mortal realm, profound and unfathomable.
To master artifact refining—
One starts with morizing runes.
Followed by grasping basic arrays.
Then learning as they go, summarizing the underlying principles. An excellent artifact refiner typically possesses deeply theoretical knowledge and an exceptional grasp of the logic governing these processes.
They not only replicate what’s written but innovate new thods.
Chen Jichuan was still at the stage of replicating what was written. Over the past ten years, while he hadn’t devoted all his ti to artifact refining, it still constituted a considerable portion. Yet he remained unable to combine basic runes into even the simplest array, let alone combine arrays into closed loops to refine Magical Treasures.
He could only manage to forge low-level and mid-level Magical Artifacts with great effort.
This was all thanks to the Dao Fruit left by Situ Kong, an Artifact Refining Master from Jade Spring World.
Otherwise, he likely wouldn’t have morized even the foundational runes by now.
The fortunate thing for Chen Jichuan was his tranquil heart.
Coupled with ample ti and a long lifespan.
He could take his pursuits slowly, accumulating bit by bit, advancing step by step, with no need to rush.
Today, the timing seed right.
Having lingered in Feiying Mountain for seven to eight days, Chen Jichuan had gained so insights. Now he needed to pair them with Situ Kong’s Dao Fruit to consolidate his progress from the past few days.
Moreover, he’d nearly exhausted the refining materials in this lava cave, necessitating a replenishnt.
Thus, he would no longer remain in Feiying Mountain.
"Red Scale!"
He called out to the lava below—
Crash!
The boiling molten lava surged, erging a beast the size of a small mountain.
Over three zhang tall and five or six zhang long, its entire body covered in black scales. With four hooves, short sharp spikes on its back, and a long, wide mouth.
In front of it, an ordinary person would appear no more than an ant.
A re glimpse might cause one to lose their courage.
If Mrs. Wang were here, she’d undoubtedly recognize the beast as the companion to the "Black Fire Spirit Fruit" that aided her in advancing to the Innate realm—naly the "Red-scaled Beast."
Historical texts recorded.
The Red-scaled Beast is savagely feral, impossible to ta.
Initially, this was indeed the case.
Chen Jichuan tracked it, fought it, and stole its treasured Black Fire Spirit Fruit and Black Fire Spirit Root, earning the beast’s undying hatred toward him.
But later, Chen Jichuan subdued it with a "Tightening Spell," tornting it, while simultaneously luring it with various pills and enticing it through other ans.
A combination of stick and carrot.
It took a full seven to eight years before he managed to ta this Red-scaled Beast and make it compliant.
Continued feeding of pills—the Black Fire Spirit Fruit, which he had seized, was gifted to Mrs. Wang. The Black Fire Spirit Root was offered to Wang Yan.
However, this was only because the pills he refined weren’t suitable for them; otherwise, he’d have had difficulty explaining their origins.
As for the Red-scaled Beast, there was no need for such caution.
The pills he refined for improving his alchemy skill—besides a portion he stored and so he used personally—were mostly consud by the Red-scaled Beast.
The key to taming the beast wasn’t the Tightening Spell; rather, it was the endless supply of pills Chen Jichuan had, which greatly amplified the beast’s power after consumption.
This creature wasn’t lacking in intelligence.
...
Whiz!
Chen Jichuan flicked a "Fire Yang Pill" with his fingers.
The Red-scaled Beast opened its mouth and swallowed it.
It smacked its lips in satisfaction, then leaped into the air, compressing its muscles, bones, and scales rapidly. By the ti it landed beside Chen Jichuan, it had transford into the size of a regular horse.
The spikes on its back had retracted.
Without the overwhelming intimidation of its massive size, the Red-scaled Beast appeared rely ugly rather than terrifying.
"Giddy-up!"
Chen Jichuan mounted its back and soon left the cave.
...
After departing Feiying Mountain and Anhua County.
He swapped the Red-scaled Beast for a regular horse and headed toward Pengshan City.
A few days later.
Upon reaching Pengshan City, he hadn’t yet made his way to the fourth division headquarters of the Blood Clothes Army when Sect Master Yangg Xiong summoned him.
"Sect Master."
Chen Jichuan entered the hall.
The empty hall contained no one else but Yangg Xiong.
"You finally returned." Yangg Xiong smiled upon seeing Chen Jichuan, and said, "I imagine you’ve heard so rumors on the road pertaining to why I’ve called you here."
"I’ve heard so things, but I’m not entirely clear on the details."
"I only know sothing happened in the depths of the Qinling, drawing major sects and nurous Jianghu people to gather."
Chen Jichuan recounted what he had gleaned on his way back from Feiying Mountain.
Before entering Pengshan County, he relied on his mount’s capabilities to cross mountains and rivers, trekking through unfrequented wilderness and wetlands.
After entering Pengshan County, he switched to a regular horse, riding along official roads, where he noticed an unusual number of Jianghu people, all hurriedly traveling southward.
After asking around.
He learned that sothing had stirred in the depths of Qinling.
However, no one could definitively say what it was.
So claid it was Emperor Yong’s Treasure, others insisted it was Sword Ancestor’s Treasure, while so speculated rare demon beasts, peerless divine beasts, or unmatched Immortal Elixirs had been discovered in Qinling.
None of this could be confird.
The abundance of mixed and dubious rumors left Chen Jichuan puzzled.
"It’s not Emperor Yong’s Treasure, nor Sword Ancestor’s Treasure, though it does involve demon beasts and Immortal Elixirs."
Yangg Xiong wasted no ti revealing the specifics to Chen Jichuan.
Only then did Chen Jichuan learn.
It turned out soone had discovered a group of Iron Arm Monkeys in the depths of Qinling.
The Taixu Sword Sect had already verified this information and pinpointed the monkey group’s location.
Iron Arm Monkeys are classified as demon beasts.
According to historical texts, Iron Arm Monkeys are most distinguished for their front limbs and claws. Their arms seed forged from divine weapons—impervious to blades and bullets, yet astonishingly powerful, able to tear apart ferocious beasts effortlessly. Their claws were even more lethal, capable of shattering massive boulders with ease.
Even a single Iron Arm Monkey could tear apart a top-level Martial Artist or dominate an Earthly List expert.
The small leaders among them possessed the strength of ordinary Transforming Strength Grandmasters.
Their chief, in turn, reached the pinnacle of Transforming Strength, rivaling Heavenly List Grandmasters. The Iron-Arm Monkey King stood as an unrivaled Grandmaster—both the monarch among their group and the king among demon beasts.
Given this, the individual strength of Iron Arm Monkeys is undeniably formidable.
But aside from their individual power, Iron Arm Monkeys are terrifying precisely because they operate in groups. They live and hunt collectively, displaying teamwork as seamless as that of highly trained elite soldiers.
With hundreds or thousands of Iron Arm Monkeys roaring through the mountains, even the entire Blood Clothes Army’s twelve thousand soldiers would likely stand no chance against them.
Unyielding strength.
Invincible in group combat.
This was Chen Jichuan’s first impression of the Iron Arm Monkey group.
And then he recalled another attribute of Iron Arm Monkeys—
...
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