Chapter 940: Alchemy-Artifact Hall; Embryo Refined; Fortunate Trouble (II)
With a faint smile, he sat cross-legged on the ground. He relaxed his fingers a little and then brought them together in the shape of a sword. Two streams of green flame shot from his fingertips straight at the shell. At the same time, he parted his lips and exhaled an extremely pure strand of green flame that completely enveloped the shell.
Within his sea of qi, his primordial true fire blazed intensely. His crimson core spun rapidly as refined mana continuously flowed into it, then was drawn out again in the form of flame. This first step was the most direct one: heating it up and forging it. Luo Chen's Withering-Flourishing True Fire was fourth tier, and it could very well deal with the remains of a Demon Emperor, but it would take time. Under his slow roasting, the shell suspended in the air gradually gained a charred layer on the surface as it changed from its unyielding, diamond-like state into something a lot more malleable.
Within the hall, demonic power began to leak out. This was the power of Demon Emperor Profound Rock, which it had cultivated for millennia. From an ordinary Ring-Head Turtle, he had awakened the bloodline of the Black Tortoise and became a Demon Emperor following that path. Even as a literal shell of what it had once been, the demonic power it exuded was immense. It was somewhat wasteful to just let it seep into the air like that, but Luo Chen couldn't do anything about it, so he ignored it and went on refining the shell. To prevent depletion of mana, he had held a supreme-grade True Flame Pill in his mouth. Such careless consumption might lead to side effects, but he no longer cared. After all the years of preparation, how could he fumble on the last step?
Luo Chen was genuinely a third-tier artisan now. The breakthrough came from the Compliant Jade Scepter he had given Zhou Shanshan. It really was something he had made himself; not a looted piece, and not something made using the Primordial Unity Cauldron. Over the years, he had spent a great deal of effort learning how to create the Six Shields. With repeated success, he gradually grasped the underlying logic. In the same year he made the Blazing Sun Prison Armor, he also successfully made an ordinary Compliant Jade Scepter.
In his view, although this Compliant Jade Scepter was said to balance offense and defense, it was quite average. It was slightly better than his Mystic Flame Sword, but not as good as the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel. But none of that mattered. What truly mattered was that he was now a genuine third-tier artisan, someone qualified to create enchanted treasures!
Time flew by. Three months later, Luo Chen, looking exhausted, finally cut off the Withering-Flourishing True Fire. He waved his hand, and the shell fell into his hand. Ignoring the searching heat, he carefully examined it. It was once more hard and solid, but it had clearly reached a far purer state, a state suitable for refinement.
"That's one part done."
It really was just one part; he was barely halfway through the process. Yet he took no time to rest and immediately placed the shell of the Profound Rock onto a specially made stone platform. He then removed his white Daoist robe, revealing his toned upper body. With a flick of his hand, the Flowing Fire Hammer appeared, and he brought it down heavily onto the glowing red shell.
BOOM!
Just one strike, and a thunderous sound erupted. It was so loud that it spread beyond the Alchemy-Artifact Hall and echoed across more than ten li, in spite of the formations sealing the hall.
On a solitary island, a three-inch figure, half-illusory and half-solid, was cultivating with a small wooden tag hanging from its neck. At the sound, he slowly woke up. He frowned, then sensed the energy fluctuations of the surroundings and understood what had just happened.
"So the kid has finally started. He's been careful and spent years preparing everything on his own before starting. But refining a Demon Emperor's remains... that's something only top-tier artisans can handle. I'm afraid he might be disappointed." The tiny figure shook his head. "Still... I hope he succeeds."
By the time he tried to listen in, however, the hammering sound was gone. Luo Chen had gone to the four corners of the Alchemy-Artifact Hall and reformed the soundproof formation so that nothing would leak out. He went back to the platform, took a look at the shell, and clicked his tongue.
"Didn't expect there would be so much demonic power left inside. It almost flung the hammer through the damn wall. But that's fine. The stronger the foundation, the greater the payoff if it works. Worst case, it just takes a bit more time."
He raised the hammer high and brought it down along a mysterious trajectory. Strike after strike followed, starting slowly but moving faster and faster. Eventually, the sheer speed of the Flowing Fire Hammer made it whistle as it flew through the air, followed by a flame that trailed behind it like the tail of a comet. It was the eponymous Flowing Fire Hammer technique, which Luo Chen had practiced to major mastery. It was an exceptional technique for forging extremely hard materials, one of the secret techniques of Hundred Craft Mountain that only Adepts could learn.
The entire forging process lasted three months. Even with a physique comparable to a Demon King or even a typical transformed Demon Emperor, he almost could not take it. After placing the fully forged shell into the Primordial Unity Cauldron, he collapsed onto the floor like a dead person and did not recover for an entire day.
Several days later, after recovering both his spirit and body enough to move, he resumed the crafting process.
The first stage of processing the primary material was complete. Next, he needed to fuse the auxiliary materials into it and refine the embryo. The idea was simple, of course, but the process was in fact extremely complex. It was the greatest test of an artisan's knowledge and skills, requiring thorough understanding of every auxiliary material and processing method. For instance, Copper Essence and Iron Essence only needed to be smelted and purified. Slightly higher-tier materials like Flowing Silver Tin had to be soaked in demonic beast blood, while Greenfield Kelp had to be soaked in specially treated seawater to restore its original state.
And that was just up to the third tier, where materials could be processed using basic methods. When it came to fourth-tier materials, things changed. Profound Link Celestial Crystal had to be crushed into powder. This sounded simple, but all grains had to be the exact same size, which demanded extreme control of the divine consciousness. The Three Yin Lightning Wood needed to be stripped of its bark using the Five Lightning Transformation Technique, ensuring the core was revealed perfectly but also preserved perfectly. The Colorless Sunken Sea Sand required yet another method...
He could not help but sigh. No wonder most of the famous artisans were members of cultivation families or sects. Such complicated material processing could hardly be mastered by one person alone. With specialized assistants handling each material during crafting, the master only needed to oversee the final integration. Naturally, he did not have such a luxury.
After a brief moment of reflection, he continued working. He failed a few times, but fortunately, he had enough spare materials, so it did not affect the overall plan.
Half a year later, it was time to process the last material, the millennial Lightning Essence. At this stage, Luo Chen actually relaxed. He flicked his wrist and threw one flower into the cauldron, where it slowly mixed with the other processed materials.
Yes, it was just that simple. It was as if the Great Dao preferred simplicity; up to a certain point, things got increasingly complicated, but then, the trend reversed, and they became simple once more. Thankfully, Luo Chen had watched Heaven Smelter use millennial Lightning Essence when crafting the Primordial Unity Cauldron, so he knew how to deal with it. The records from Hundred Craft Mountain also contained instructions for handling ordinary Lightning Essence. The instructions basically amounted to the same thing—just throw the thing in and let it do its part.
Luo Chen closely observed the reaction inside. Seeing that all was well, he gently laid in a second piece. Seeing that it was still stable, he threw the last piece into the cauldron. Finally, there was a stir within.
"Looks like this is as far as it'll go, about what I expected."
This shell came from a Demon Emperor who had survived a lightning tribulation. This shell was its armor, and it must have endured devastating blows during the tribulation. Such material, the hardest part of a Demon Emperor's body and second only to its demon core in importance, was certainly able to contain three pieces of millennial Lightning Essence. But moving forward, it was no longer a matter of the material itself. It would require far more from the artisan, and clearly, Luo Chen was not yet qualified to do more.
At this point, he could not help but admire the late Heaven Smelter. He was a true grandmaster artisan. Back then, when Heaven Smelter made the Primordial Unity Cauldron for him, he had handled everything with ease from start to finish, never showing any strain. If not for that strange drop of blood, Luo Chen would have thought the old grandmaster wasn't even breaking a sweat! But to this admiration was added a feeling of caution.
"Every craft runs deep. With the system, I can get started easily and even achieve decent results. But reaching the peak? That would take an unimaginable amount of time and effort. If I get too caught up in it, it'll end up affecting my cultivation instead. I need to remember that... really remember it!"
After reflecting, he adjusted the fusions of materials within the cauldron, occasionally adding or removing some to achieve balance. It took more than ten days until the proportions of materials inside the cauldron were what he judged optimal. Seeing that things were going well, he finally relaxed.
***
Luo Chen floated in the air in front of the cauldron, casting hand seals one after the other. Thin barriers of light formed around it and sealed it off completely. Then he shoved several pieces of third-tier wood beneath it, and the flames grew even stronger.
"The embryo's almost complete. It's been over a year...."
Anyone else would have been preparing to inscribe the formation by now, but Luo Chen was doing things differently. With a smile, he turned and walked out of the hall. This embryo was to be nurtured within the Primordial Unity Cauldron. The longer it stayed inside, the better. When the embryo reached perfection, the time would come to inscribe the formations, and at that point, Luo Chen would get a defensive treasure that was perfectly suited for him.
He was already starting to worry about what to call it, much like parents who had just conceived a child and were flipping through dictionaries and consulting experts to find the perfect name. He felt indeed fortunate to be facing this sort of trouble.
