Chapter 145 – Core Formation (2)
The three cores fused into one to form the prototype core. The next step will be for it to fuse with the body. If his body doesn’t reject it, Wang Lin will begin to nurture it with his spiritual energy and divine sense. After a certain point, it will turn into a golden core. When that happens, Wang Lin will have stepped into the Core Formation stage.
The final push with spiritual energy would require the help of the Distant Heaven Pill. As Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes, cracks started appearing below his head. His body let out crackling sounds and soon, the cracks covered his body.
As his body moved, the cracks became even larger. Wang Lin slowly stood and violently shook his body. The ice fragments quickly fell as if there was a powerful wind blowing them away.
The clothes on his body also turned to dust and disappeared. Only the dragon hide inner armor still remained tattered on his body.
Wang Lin silently stood in place and closed his eyes. After a long time, he opened them. A blue light shined from his eyes. Although he was only half a step into the Core Formation stage in terms of cultivation, his Underworld Ascension Cultivation Method had reached completion.
A mass of blue flames came out of his prototype core and flowed through his body before appearing in his hand. At this moment, three inches above his hand, there was a silently burning mass of blue flame.
Instead of releasing heat, the flame emitted cold. This flame was the essence of the Underworld Ascension Cultivation Method; the Underworld Flame.
The moment the Underworld Flame appeared, the blue ice around him immediately started to emit a white gas. It was as if it was going to melt. Wang Lin waved his hand and the blue flame disappeared. The white gas slowly dissipated and a dent was revealed in the ice.
Wang Lin examined the power of the flame before looking around and putting on another set of clothes. With his eyes locked onto the bones, he began to think. After a while, he sat down in the lotus position and took out the dragon’s skull.
Staring at the skull, Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He decided to go to Nan Dou city to trade for a pill furnace so Li Muwan could complete the Distant Heaven Pill. Although three years had passed in the blink of an eye, he knew through the Soul Blood Essence that Li Muwan didn’t meet any danger.
However, after seeing the countless frozen beast bones, he hesitated. The War God Shine’s refining technique required a reaction furnace.
After the first failure, he had he never gotten his hands on more skulls of spirit beasts. He told Li Muwan to save the dragon’s skull because he wanted to use it to make the reaction furnace. However, due to him trying to fuse his three cold cores, plus the fact that he wasn’t sure he would succeed, he hadn’t tried it yet. After all, should he fail, it would take a lot of effort to find another one.
But now that he found that he was surrounded by bones, his urge to make a reaction furnace surfaced again. He recalled the steps to make the reaction furnace from his memory before taking out the jade to double check.
He put his hands together, then, as he reopened them, threads of spiritual energy connected his two hands. Wang Lin’s expression became serious as he threw his hands up. The threads of spiritual energy flew up as well.
Wang Lin didn’t even blink as he joined his hands again and repeated this process over and over again. More and more threads of spiritual energy gathered before him until they were like a tense bundle of glowing silk.
After doing all of this, Wang Lin let out a sigh. The first step to making the reaction furnace was complete. Now he had to see if the skull could withstand the fusion of the threads.
He pointed at the dragon’s skull and the threads touched it. The threads slowly fused with the skull and the purple of the skull gradually lessened.
But before long, cracks started to appear where the threads were touching. Then the skull shattered into pieces, leaving only the threads of spiritual energy hanging in the air.
Wang Lin let out a dark sigh, but then he quickly revealed an unwilling expression. He stood up, grabbed the threads, jumped to another corpse, and pressed them down. This corpse was about 500 or 600 meters long and was grey. Its head was very big, almost the same as the size as the dragon’s skull.
The moment the thread reached the corpse, it went right through it. Wang Lin was startled. He tried again and the threads once again just went through the bones.
Wang Lin stared at the beast and his eyes lit up. The bones were covered in his blue ice, as if they were frozen. Wang Lin reached out and squeezed the bone. There was a series of crackling sounds, but the bones didn’t break.
Wang Lin pondered a bit, then took out the Underworld Flame. The moment the flame got near the bone, waves of white gas floated out of the beast bone. The closer the flame got, the more white gas appeared, and the blue ice melted at a visible rate. Eventually, all of the blue ice melted, revealing the grey bone within.
Wang Lin didn’t hesitate; he pressed the threads of spiritual energy down. This time, the threads directly warped around the skull.
But after half an hour, the skull changed colors three times before shattering. There were now a lot less threads. It seemed they had lost a lot of spiritual energy.
Wang Lin frowned. The difficulty of making this reaction furnace was far higher than he through. It seemed the reason there were so few people who had managed to learn the refining technique was due to this reaction furnace.
It already took a large amount of luck to even obtain the skull of a spirit beast, and for a reaction furnace, you want the skull of a spirit beast that had just died, and the higher quality the spirit beast, the better. If you use the skull of a spirit beast that has been dead for a while, the success rate drastically lowers.
Of course, if one could get the skull of a desolate beast, then even if the beast had been dead for a long time, the success rate would increase several fold.
As a result, the difficulty became exponentially more difficult. If he had tried right as the dragon died, then his chance would have been higher. However, back then, he didn’t have any time to think about it as all of his focus was on reaching the Core Formation stage.
Wang Lin let out a soft snort as he looked at the endless sea of corpses around him. As for how much spirit beast bones there were, he didn’t know.
“I don’t believe that I can’t make one reaction furnace with this many spirit beast corpses.” Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he closed his hand and created more threads of spiritual energy. After replenishing the threads, he grabbed them and placed them on another skull.
One hour later, the skull shattered again.
Just like this, he continued trying. Wang Lin didn’t even remember how many skulls he had shattered, but he knew that he had replenished the threads more than 100 times.
His eyebrows furrowed even harder. Finally, he jumped into the air and coldly looked around. He threw the threads of spiritual energy out and they began to circle around him.
His hands constantly open and closed. Everytime he did this, more threads were made. His hand moved faster and faster and the threads appeared like rain. Gradually, the amount of threads of spiritual energy increased.
The number threads of spiritual energy greatly increased and he didn’t stop as he used up all of the spiritual energy in his body. He quickly took a few gulps of spirit liquid and continued to make threads.
Time slowly passed and the mass of threads became larger and larger. It was now more than 100 meters wide.
Wang Lin looked at the size of this sea of corpses and thought, “Still not enough.” Then he drank more spirit liquid and began to make more threads. Finally, when the mass of threads was more than 1000 meters wide, he stopped. He spread out his divine sense to control all of the threads, then pressed them down. With that, blue flames appeared as well.
There were thunderous rumbles as the threads pressed down and kicked up waves of ashes. The wave of ashes roared forth and all of the bones in its path were turned to ashes and joined this wave.
Along with this wave, there was also a mass of white gas. This sight was very breathtaking. Once all of the white gas dissipated, nothing was left. Wang Lin clenched his teeth as he drank more spirit liquid and created more threads before pressing them down again.
Waves of ashes roared across the area. After the white gas dissipated, Wang Lin’s eyes locked onto the corpse of a small beast all by itself in this 1000 meter radius open area.
Wang Lin revealed a happy expression and immediately flew toward the corpse. He took a closer look and found that there was nothing unusual about it.
The bone was very white and looked very normal. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he pointed at the sky. He quickly grabbed the threads of spiritual energy and pressed them against the small beast’s skull.
The skull’s color quickly changed. One time, two times, three times… after it changed color nine times, the skull detached from the spine and floated into the air.
The threads had completely fused with the skull. After the skull changed color nine times, it slowly morphed into a bowl shape while emitting waves of spiritual energy.
Wang Lin caught it in his hand and began to examine it.
The origin of the War God Shrine’s refining technique was very mysterious. Rumor has it that it was found with the Heaven’s Way technique by the War God Shrine’s ancestor. The later generations spent a lot of time developing it into the current refining technique. The reaction furnace is a part of this and has 10 ranks of quality.
The higher the rank of the reaction furnace, the better it is. It’s also easy to identify the rank. When it is being made, the number of times it changes colors determines what rank it is.
“Rank 9!” Wang Lin muttered to himself. He felt very regrettable. With this vast amount of spirit beast bones at his disposal, he still wasn’t able to make a rank 10 reaction furnace.
However, a rank 9 was better than none. Wang Lin took out the jade and checked it again.
What the jade didn’t mention was that even the Nascent Soul cultivators in the War God Shrine only had rank 6 reaction furnaces. As for the rest, almost all of them were rank 3 or lower.
Wang Lin’s reaction furnace being rank 9 had a lot to do with the corpse of that little beast. This little beast was a rare desolate beast in this sea of beast corpses.
After a desolate beast dies, its bones aren’t much different from a spirit beasts’. Unless you are an expert on this, it is hard to tell them apart.
After Wang Lin’s divine sense withdrew from the jade, he began to ponder. The War God Shrine’s refining technique focused on three key points: transfer, melt, and fusion.
Wang Lin became very focused as he took out materials from his bag of holding and threw them into the reaction furnace. These were some of the materials recorded in the jade. After he got familiar with the contents of the jade, he was able to find some in his bag.
Chicken Blood Stone: when infused with spiritual energy, it can produce a lot of heat.
Violent Moon Vine: a type of plant that can produce decomposition effects after being refined by the Heaven Star Wood.
Heaven Star Wood: a type of wood with corrosive properties.
Wang Lin had all three of these materials in his bag. Although it was not much, it was enough for refining a treasure. Wang Lin had always been very confused about the materials he had obtained in the foreign battleground, but at least he knew a bit now
He started putting the Violent Moon Vine inside the reaction furnace. Every time he placed a piece, he would crush it with a piece of spirit beast bone. His divine sense was focused on the inside of the reaction furnace. Gradually, the reaction furnace was filled with a thick, violet paste.
Staring at the reaction furnace, Wang Lin muttered as if he was waiting for something. Then his eyes lit up and he flicked a drop of his blood inside.
At this moment, bubbles appeared inside the reaction furnace. Wang Lin didn’t panic as he calmly sent spiritual energy into it.
The jade gave a detailed description of what the reaction furnace did. The reaction furnace takes a side route in refining by using the reaction furnace as a medium to allow the refiner to directly manipulate the materials inside.
Wang Lin took a deep breath. After hesitating for a bit, he took out the Heaven Star Wood, crushed it, and sprinkled it into the reaction furnace.
The violet liquid quickly started bubbling and released a pungent smell. Wang Lin quickly took out his only piece of Chicken Blood Stone and threw it in.
After finishing all of this, his expression became even more serious as his hands quickly formed seals. The violet liquid inside the reaction furnace quickly gathered together to form a violet ball.
Wang Lin pondered for a bit, then waved his hand. The ball split in half. One half floated upward while the other sank back into the reaction furnace.
Under Wang Lin’s control, the ball that floated up went higher and higher. Wang Lin pondered a bit before pointing at his chest and forehead. He spat out a mouthful of purple spiritual energy, then the spiritual energy immediately entered the ball.
The first step of the War God Shrine’s refining technique, transfer, was complete. Now it was time for the second step, melt.
This melting process required treasures to use as materials. Wang Lin slapped his bag of holding and 35 flying swords came out.
Wang Lin pointed at one of the flying swords and stabbed the ball with it. Slowly, the tip of the sword melted until the entire sword melted into the ball.
After that, the remaining 34 flying swords melted into the ball under Wang Lin’s control. Finally, the ball began to emit a rainbow-colored light that was very blinding.
The entire process, from placing the Violent Moon Vine into the reaction furnace to now, had taken two hours. In these two hours, Wang Lin focused all of his attention on refining. Not only did he not relax, but he became even more focused as he took out the black flying sword from his bag of holding.
It could be said that this flying sword had been through a lot with him. From when he got it after killing Zhang Hu’s master, to being chased by Teng Li, and finally when he died in the battle outside the Jue Ming Valley. Then he was saved by Situ Nan’s Nascent Soul and the sword’s body was destroyed. However, due to its connection with Wang Lin, the sword spirit was able to survive by staying within Wang Lin’s soul.
Afterward, Wang Lin tried to find multiple new bodies for it, but none of them worked. This black sword was the latest one, and after using teleportation a few times, it was already a mess.
Wang Lin grabbed the sword and gently rubbed it. The sword hummed loudly. Shortly after, an illusionary image of the sword flew out. The devil also flew out and stood to the side. He stared blankly at his surroundings. No one knew what he was thinking about.
Wang Lin took a deep breath and grabbed the ball. He clenched his teeth, sent out an order, and the black flying sword flew right into the ball.
Wang Lin’s divine sense immediately spread out and surrounded the ball. The last step of the War God Shrine’s refining technique, fusion, started now.
Time slowly passed. The ball slowly elongated and gradually solidified. After an unknown amount of time had passed, there was a loud cry, then a crystal-clear flying sword appeared before Wang Lin.
The moment this flying sword sword appeared, a vortex of spiritual energy appeared next to Wang Lin. After circling Wang Lin a few times, the vortex entered the flying sword. Wang Lin looked at the flying sword for a long time before opening his mouth. The flying sword flew inside.
The devil was startled. He forced a smile, rubbed his hands, and said, “This… since you swallowed the sword, where am I going to live?”
Wang Lin raised his head and looked at the devil. He waved his hand and the dragon’s tendon flew out from his bag of holding. He reached inside the reaction furnace and scooped out the half of the ball that had gone back into the reaction furnace. His eyes lit up and the dragon’s tendon immediately flew into the ball.
After he refined it for a while, the ball became smaller and smaller. Finally, it turned back into the dragon’s tendon, but now it was a golden color. Wang Lin looked at the devil and he obediently entered it.
He waved his right hand and the dragon’s tendon came down. After observing it for a while, he put it away. He raised his head and looked at the icey, blue wall above him. The blue Underworld Flame appeared in his hand and he flew up.
He charged through over 1000 meters of dirt and rock like he was breaking through paper. His speed was too fast, and adding on the destructive power of the Underworld Flame, it caused the Corpse Valley to tremble. This caused the expressions of all the cultivators inside the Corpse Valley to change. They all quickly left the area as the trembling on the ground intensified.
A few key cultivators saw that a loud roar came from the 14th valley as a black shadow charged into the sky and disappeared into the fog.
The cultivators stared confusedly at the 14th valley for a long time. After all of this happened, various rumors began to spread. Finally, the rumor became that it was a corpse that had been sleeping inside the Corpse Valley for tens of thousands of years. Then it suddenly woke up and charged out from underworld. The thing that flew up was the cultivating corpse.
After Wang Lin flew out, he didn’t stop and continued flying north. According to the information he had received from Sang Muya, Nan Dou city was about 300,000 kilometers north of the Corpse Valley.
Wang Lin knew that he had already spent a lot of time refining, so he didn’t want to waste any more time. He only had one goal right now, and that was to get a pill furnace to complete the Distant Heaven Pill.
After two days and nights of flying, a city came into Wang Lin’s view. This city was very large, and at first glance, he couldn’t even see where it ended. This was Nan Dou city, one of the 999 cities in the Sea of Devils.
The city was named Nan Dou because that was the city’s lord’s name. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator with many experts under him. It could be said that he was the ruler of this area.
Basically, if someone owned a city, they must have at least a certain status, and the city’s lords were always well know. Under the city’s lord, there were various sects, but none of them could compare to the city’s lord.
Luckily, Nan Dou City’s lord disappeared 500 years ago, so this area had been going out of control like a headless dragon. This was also what allowed large sects like the Fighting Evil Sect to form.
Nan Dou City became a lordless city in the Sea of Devils and was managed by a few of the large sects. However, Nan Dou City was at the edge of the Sea of Devils, so resources were scarce, and the lack of spirit veins made it so Nascent Soul cultivators would rarely come out here. This resulted in a situation where within millions of miles of Nan Dou City, there were no Nascent Soul cultivators but a lot of Core Formation cultivators.
Someone once said that if a Nascent Soul cultivator were to appear here, that person would become Nan Dou City’s new lord.
It was not like there hadn’t been any Nascent Soul cultivators that wanted to rule the city, but none of them could stand the lack of spiritual energy and barren land, so they all eventually gave up.
At some point, Nascent Soul cultivators stopped coming. After all, there were almost 1000 cities in the Sea of Devils, so there was no reason to come to a crappy city like Nan Dou.
The current Nan Dou city was managed by the Punishing Heaven Sect, the Soul Extinguishing Sect, and the One Heaven Path Sect. Although the Fighting Evil Sect had the power to also be a ruler, thanks the power of the three sects, they couldn’t get a foothold in the city.
After all, splitting the ownership of the city three ways was very different from splitting it four ways. Also, no one liked watching the Fighting Evil Sect wiping out other sects as they grew in power, so the three sects agreed on this matter.
After paying ten low quality spirit stones and obtaining the token for entering the city, Wang Lin quickly walked through the streets toward the Treasure Refining Pavilion in the east.
The Treasure Refining Pavilion had three floors. The items in each floor were several time more expensive than the ones in the last. Currently, there were about seven or eight cultivators bargaining with the workers inside.