Chapter 33: Gui Water Essence
An indescribable flavor exploded on Song Changsheng’s tongue, like tiny currents of electricity spreading through his mouth, he nearly bit off his own tongue.
“This...”
Song Changsheng began devouring the at jerky like a storm of chopsticks, finishing nearly half the plate before sheer willpower managed to rein him in. Otherwise, he might’ve cleared the whole dish.
His reaction made Zhu Yiqun very pleased. The chubby man leisurely picked up a piece of at, took a sip of wine, and chewed them together. His eyes closed in pure enjoynt.
Song Changsheng imitated him, and the flavor truly rose to a new level. Even more impressively, the spiritual wine transford into pure spiritual energy as soon as it entered his belly, flowing straight to his dantian. He could clearly feel his cultivation improve slightly.
It dawned on him just how extraordinary that seasoning was.
“You felt it, didn’t you?” Zhu Yiqun said proudly. “My seasoning not only enhances flavor, it maximizes the spiritual power extracted from spirit food and converts it directly into cultivation progress.”
Song Changsheng gave a respectful nod.
“Your skills as a dicinal chef are indeed extraordinary. I’m convinced. Compared to you, Yushi Restaurant’s cuisine really isn’t much.”
Just that bit of seasoning had elevated the flavor to a whole new tier. If Zhu Yiqun cooked the whole al himself, the result would be sothing else entirely.
“You flatter . But your accomplishnts in the art of formations and artifacts are just as admirable.”
After so mutually courteous praise, the two continued to drink. Eventually, they lost count of how many cups they’d had. It was already sunset by the ti they stumbled out of Yushi Restaurant with arms draped over each other’s shoulders.
The al had cost Song Changsheng thirty spirit stones, quite the luxury.
Before parting ways, they each left a trace of their spiritual sense on the other's communication jade, to serve as a future link.
When Song Changsheng returned to the Seeking Treasure Pavilion, he saw Song Changqian standing by the entrance, seemingly waiting for soone.
This surprised him. Ever since he had easily defeated Cheng Xiao, she hadn’t shown him her face in over half a year.
Was the sun rising in the west today?
Still, it had nothing to do with him. Reeking of wine, he planned to go clean himself up, so he ignored her and walked past.
Just as he was about to go upstairs, he heard Song Changqian whisper, almost inaudibly:
“Thank you.”
Song Changsheng paused, then replied without looking back:
“We’re all working for the family, no need for thanks.”
With that, he returned to his room, leaving Song Changqian staring blankly at the doorway.
Back in his room, Song Changsheng washed off the scent of alcohol and laid out all the goods he had acquired at the market that day.
“Let’s see if this Kongming Iron gives a pleasant surprise.”
He took out a short blade and began stripping away the shell of the Kongming Iron like peeling layers from an onion. Fine dust drifted down like sand.
Soon, the fist-sized raw ore shrank to the size of an egg, and he could clearly sense the aura of water spiritual energy emanating from it.
“At least second-rank quality. Not bad, I’ve made a profit,” Song Changsheng smiled as he removed the final thin layer.
With a few clean slices, a smooth, oval-shaped piece of tal appeared before him.
The tal shimred with a dreamy blue hue, its mirror-like surface covered in wave-like gradient patterns.
“This... could it be Gui Water Essence?” Song Changsheng’s heart leapt with joy. He flipped the tal over again and again, admiring it.
After a while, he pulled out the severely damaged defensive artifact from his last battle, Water Elent Shield and chuckled, “You’re in for a treat this ti.”
The artifact had been his early practice piece, yet it had served him well through many battles. After it was damaged in the last fight, he had never found suitable materials to repair it.
Until now.
Gui Water Essence was a rare second-rank water attribute spirit material, durable and perfectly suited for crafting magical tools. Adding a bit of it during refining could significantly boost an artifact’s quality and amplify a water cultivator’s combat power, perfectly complenting the Water Elent Shield.
Without hesitation, he shut himself into the forging chamber. After several days of work, he successfully reforged the Water Elent Shield, upgrading it to a top-grade first-rank artifact. He even re-inscribed all its internal formation patterns.
Holding the newly reforged shield, Song Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief:
“Ever since I started cultivating Water-Fire Commanding Technique, I’ve beco acutely sensitive to fluctuations in both elents. If not for that, I would’ve missed this opportunity.”
Next, he refined several more pieces of ore in the bronze cauldron. These were more ordinary, altogether worth four or five spirit stones.
Once the refining was complete, he took out a broken formation base and a damaged jade fragnt.
The formation base, shaped like a disc, was only two-thirds intact. Its surface was covered in web-like cracks, and all spiritual light had long since faded.
A worthless piece of junk, the kind people wouldn’t glance at on the street. Yet Song Changsheng had spent ten spirit stones to buy it.
Not because he was foolish with money, but because he had spotted sothing interesting.
The cracks on the surface might look like battle damage, but from a formation master’s perspective, the patterns followed an intentional structure like formation inscriptions.
Song Changsheng cald himself and traced his finger slowly over the patterns. A near-identical image began forming in his mind.
He had ntally recreated it in his sea of consciousness using his spiritual power.
As the image gradually beca complete, he beca increasingly convinced, these were indeed formation patterns. Moreover, they were extrely advanced, beyond anything he had encountered before.
According to ancient records, the art of formations was passed down from mighty beings of the upper realm in primordial tis. It encapsulated the laws of the universe, a path of true cultivation.
High-level cultivators would perceive the mysterious workings of nature and reproduce them through artificial ans, forming formation patterns, the basis of all formations.
The Song clan possessed a third-rank formation inheritance, and Song Changsheng had studied it from a young age.
Comparing it to what he now saw, he was certain this was a second-rank primordial formation pattern.
That excited him greatly. These patterns carried raw laws of nature. If he could comprehend them, his mastery of formations would rise substantially.
“Even though a third of it is missing, with my understanding of formations, I still have a chance to reconstruct it. These ten spirit stones were worth it.”
He imdiately took out a jade slip and imprinted the incomplete formation pattern from his consciousness for safekeeping and future study.
Finally, his gaze turned to the damaged jade fragnt.
The last two items had already brought him great surprises, he was filled with anticipation for this one as well...
(Chapter End)
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