Chapter 1393: Forged Successfully (II)

Light and shadow intertwined as time flowed like water. Flames surged forth, crows cried, and rustling sounds rose on all sides as purple flames ascended.

Dingling...

The wind chime hanging on a jade pillar nearby moved without wind and rang softly. Only then did Li Ximing awaken as if from a dream. He felt as though he had only contemplated quietly for a short while and practiced the two spell arts with a controlled flame, yet someone had already come to report. Only then did he notice that gardenia blossoms had piled nearly three feet thick upon the ground. A few sparks flickered atop the flowers and slowly died out as he regained awareness.

More than half a year had passed.

No wonder most Purple Mansion Realm cultivators are distant and detached. These six months felt like less than a single month. If one truly enters seclusion, how could one still remember anyone...

"Come up!"

Li Ximing was still reluctant to let go of that earlier sensation. He silently deepened his grasp of it as an old man climbed the steps. A red robe was casually draped over his upper body, and his build was burly. It was naturally Chu Minglian.

When he reached the steps and saw gardenias carpeting the ground and the jade pillars gleaming white, he did not dare step through and hesitated to advance. Li Ximing felt a surge of joy and appeared before him in an instant.

Chu Minglian immediately said, "Congratulations, Daoist Master! The spirit embryo is complete!"

"

Haha!

" Li Ximing's face brightened with joy.

He lifted his brows, and lifted the old man up with a sweep of heavenly light. He stepped through the great void and manifested on the Viewing Pavilion. Below, people dropped to their knees in a rush.

Chu Minglian bent at the waist as well and offered congratulations, "Congratulations, Daoist Master!"

A thunderous chorus rose from below. Refining the spirit embryo had required many Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators working in rotating shifts, and the news had not been deliberately sealed. Many in the surroundings already knew, and congratulations rang out from all sides.

Li Ximing raised his hand lightly, and a dense blue-yellow radiance rose within. The blue drifted and coiled, while the yellow was solemn and weighty. They illuminated each other, like finely ground sand of two colors spilled together and mixed into one.

Clang!

On both sides of the Viewing Pavilion, blue-yellow patterns of mountains and rivers appeared. A roar like mountains and seas surged over the cultivators again and again, knocking them off balance. Then heavenly light followed like a prison.

Smiling, Li Ximing flicked his sleeve. All phenomena instantly contracted back into the dharma artifact's true body and vanished, revealing the true form of Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers.

The ruler's main body was bright yellow, with silver sand that appeared and disappeared. Large stretches of its patterns were azure-jade in color, depicting the designs of mountains and rivers. It was approximately forty-seven centimeters long, two point three centimeters thick, and four point seven centimeters wide.

The treasure still carried an elegant bearing, with less heaviness and more of a slender beauty. It floated quietly amid the blue and yellow hues. A small, palm-sized range of undulating mountains and rivers with rolling waves, like a fine azure-jade stand presenting the treasure in midair, was reflected beneath it.

Li Ximing accepted it lightly and felt a considerable weight. After refining, Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers was a three millimeters thinner than before and around seven centimeters longer, roughly the width of six fingers.

In the hand, it's rather like a thick-backed short blade.

Now that he had it in his hands, he could not help but feel reluctant to part with it. He loosened his fingers, and the spirit ruler obediently flipped over and fastened itself at his waist. Li Ximing swept his gaze over the crowd. No one could look away.

Smiling, he instructed them, "Disperse!"

Heavenly light surged up, swept Chu Minglian along, and descended toward Zhijing Mountain. The old man's gaze could not move from the spirit ruler either. As an artifact smith in front of a spirit embryo he had personally helped refine, how could he not be moved? Faint tears of excitement even glimmered in his eyes.

Li Ximing sat down beside the table. The gardenias on its surface obediently scattered and flew away. He cradled the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers in his hands, and Bright Yang divine ability spread through it.

Yang Apex carved at the tail, Heavenly Radiance carved at the head. Paint mountains and rivers, write no gods.

Kuiqi had once mentioned that the material of the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers was Crane-River Azure Jade, which had long been extinct. Though Jade True had returned and jade was flourishing again, there was still no word of anyone obtaining it. Jade was beautiful in itself, and with Bright Yang spiritual essence added, it became even harder to look away. As Bright Yang divine ability suffused it, he gradually became familiar with controlling the object.

The primary function of the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers was the manifestation of mountains and rivers itself. Once activated, it summoned the patterns of mountains and rivers and covered an area of one hundred sixty-three meters in every direction, roughly the span of one palace and one hall. It could push and entangle enemies within the mountains and rivers. The closer they were, the more effective it became.

The second was Sovereign Weighing. The Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers contained a trace of might. If an enemy's spell entered the mountains and rivers, the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers could halt its measuring and distinguish the spell's power, sweeping away deception.

These mountain-and-river patterns also had uses as a shortcut when followed, and as a long path when reversed, as well as aiding cultivation and discerning enemies. Their might was not great and overlapped somewhat with the mysteries of the heavenly light at his brow, but one could never have too many good mysteries.

Compared to Brilliant Yang King's Axe, Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers is naturally inferior by quite a bit. Kuiqi was right. It has more than enough subtlety, but insufficient might. This was not the imperial family's true weapon. It was more like something meant to display the imperial family's dignity, valuing subtle elegance above all.

Although the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers fell within the broader scope of spirit artifacts, it was ultimately still a spirit embryo. One could not demand too much. The result as it stood already left Li Ximing very satisfied.

At the very least, it has been infused with Purple Mansion Realm spiritual essence. It will not be mediocre.

He examined it carefully and began calculating on his fingers. A spirit embryo had to be nourished at all times with the mind and divine ability. If it left the Purple Mansion Realm and went too long without the nourishment of divine ability, it would gradually lose its subtlety and revert to a dharma artifact.

When Li Ximing first learned of this, he had suspected that many particularly subtle ancient dharma artifacts were in fact spirit embryos of ancient cultivators that had degenerated. Calculating now, with the support of Purple Mansion Bright Yang spiritual essence, if the Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers were suddenly taken and deprived of Bright Yang divine ability, its power would slowly weaken. It would only take five years for it to completely fall into a dharma artifact, though it would still be far more subtle than it had originally been.

That would be a grievous loss. If Li Ximing were to retrieve it later and refine it again on the Viewing Pavilion, it would still not reach its present power even after ten or twenty years of refinement unless he obtained another strand of Bright Yang spiritual essence.

Now the spirit embryo is complete. I leaned on the connections of others, took on debts, spent a Purple Mansion Realm spirit item treasured for years, ran back and forth, and even paid the price of standing idle without action when the True Monarch came to the lake... At last my strength has risen to another level.

That Li Ximing could achieve such a leap in strength in such a short time was partly his own fortune and partly the deliberate assistance of Kuiqi and the Supreme Yang Dao lineage. In truth, during the turmoil in Jiangbei when the Supreme Yang Dao lineage was secretly plotted against by Buddhist cultivators, he was the one who benefited most in the shadows.

The Ruler of Manifested Mountains and Rivers could not be stored within heavenly light like Brilliant Yang King's Axe. He only needed a subtle gesture for the blue-jade and bright-yellow interwoven spirit embryo to hang itself at his waist. Li Ximing felt refreshed and raised his brows.

"These past years have been hard on Senior Chu. Setting aside the reward, you and Qiuhu have been of great help to Moongaze."

Chu Minglian had been sent by Ning Wan. Li Ximing naturally could not forget the Autumn Lake Fairy. Chu Minglian was even more emotional than he was, tears streaming down his aged face.

"That I could achieve this in my lifetime is thanks to your fulfillment, Daoist Master! How would I dare speak of reward?!"

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Li Ximing laughed heartily and exchanged a few pleasantries. When he heard that Li Jiangqian had already prepared the reward, he felt reassured and sent the man off. He then sat down again in contentment, yet he had not forgotten the matter in the north.

There is less than a year left. I will continue in seclusion to cultivate spell arts. The fragment in the north must not be lost. No matter which house comes to seize it, no matter what grave injuries I suffer or what price I must pay, I will obtain that thing!