txolops Chapter 117 The Azure Nether Scripture
Chapter 117 The Azure Nether Scripture
Chapter 117 The Azure Nether Scripture
"You tricked me, and you think you can get away unscathed?"
Luo Ming coldly stared at Su Yan struggling in the banner, then turned and flew back to the deserted island.
The island had been ravaged beyond recognition by the great battle, and the nearby monsters had been slaughtered. It was no longer suitable to stay there for long. It was a good time to find another place to rest and take stock of what they had gained.
Shortly after Luo Ming left, four streaks of light sped over and stopped above the island. Luo Ming recognized one of them; he was Liu Kun from Mingyue Pavilion.
"The tracking mark stopped here. It seems we're too late. A great battle has just taken place here. The aura is very complex, with the aura of demonic beasts and the aura of corpses..." One of the black-robed cultivators frowned after casting a spell for a moment.
"Ignore the rest and see which direction the last person to leave went," Liu interrupted the other's analysis and said in a deep voice.
The black-robed monk circled the island, only to find that the last person had left underwater and could not be tracked down.
One month later.
On another gourd-shaped island covered in coral, Luo Ming held a blue shuttle, his face full of shock.
This flying shuttle was obtained from Su Yan. At first, he thought it was just an ordinary flying magic weapon. However, when he accidentally glanced at the high-level wind spirit stone at the core of the formation, which had exhausted its spiritual power, he had an idea. He then embedded the mid-level wind spirit stone in his hand into it and discovered the extraordinary nature of this treasure.
After being embedded with the Wind Spirit Stone, the shuttle's speed increased several times over. It was enveloped in an invisible layer of wind spirit power, making it fly silently and its trajectory unpredictable, making it an excellent tool for escaping and saving one's life.
However, the spiritual energy consumption of this treasure is also extremely terrifying. A mid-grade wind spirit stone was completely exhausted after less than ten breaths of activation, turning into a piece of waste stone.
Without the Wind Spirit Stone to power it, the speed of this Wind Shuttle is about the same as that of an ordinary flying magic weapon.
"It seems I'll need to stockpile more high-grade wind spirit stones in the future."
Luo Ming was both delighted and helpless as he put the cyan shuttle into his storage bag.
Although he could cultivate high-grade spirit stones using the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, the process was extremely long. In the current spiritual environment, it would take at least a year to upgrade a mid-grade spirit stone to a high-grade one, and during that year, the Spirit Gathering Cauldron could not be used for any other purpose.
Even so, he planned to cultivate two as backups, since these were treasures that could save lives in times of crisis.
After tidying up a pile of messy magical artifacts, Luo Ming took out a cyan jade slip.
At first, he thought it was just an ordinary martial arts manual, but the more he read, the more alarmed he became.
When he saw the section on Core Formation stage cultivation techniques, his pupils suddenly contracted—the technique recorded three choices for the natal magic weapon, one of which was none other than the Azure Needle, which he was quite familiar with!
"The Mysterious Pearl, the Mysterious Nether Sword, the Azure Nether Needle—could it be that the Qingyi Hermit also cultivates this 'Azure Nether Scripture'?"
A ripple of excitement stirred within Luo Ming, and he developed a strong interest in this cultivation technique. However, after carefully studying the methods for refining the three magical treasures, he was immediately struck by a headache.
"The Xuan Water needed to refine the Xuan Yuan Pearl is relatively easy to find. It can be found in the deep sea, or it can be condensed from the bodies of some special demonic beasts."
"The amount of Xuanming True Water and Geng Essence required to refine the Xuanming Sword is outrageous! Even Nascent Soul stage monsters might not have these rare treasures in stock, let alone the terrifyingly large quantity needed to set up the Xuanming Sword Formation."
In contrast, the method of forging the Azure Nether Needle was much more normal; in Luo Ming's view, it was more like a simplified version of the Profound Nether Sword.
Presumably, the predecessors lacked the materials to forge a complete set of twelve Xuanming Flying Swords. In order to barely achieve some of the power of the Xuanming Sword Formation, they made a compromise and forged a needle-shaped magic weapon like the Qingming Needle.
This sword formation is based on twelve Xuanming swords. Relying on the number of sword lights generated by the sword-splitting technique, it can be divided into three layers of sword formation: thirty-six, seventy-two, and a complete set of one hundred and eight flying swords.
Looking at the refining requirements in the jade slip, which even Nascent Soul cultivators would find troublesome, Luo Ming was momentarily at a loss for words.
Xuanming True Water is an extremely yin and cold water. Just a wisp of it can freeze everything. Even diluted Xuanming Water is a high-level refining material that Nascent Soul cultivators covet. Adding just a little bit to a magic weapon can multiply its power.
It is said that Gengjing Qi must be extracted from Gengjing ore. A piece of Gengjing the size of a walnut can often only yield a wisp of pure Gengjing Qi, and this wisp is only enough for one flying sword.
Geng essence is inherently extremely hard and sharp. When it is combined with Xuanming True Water and refined into a magic weapon, it can create a top-tier power that combines hardness and softness and is infinitely changeable.
Just looking at the descriptions of the magical treasures' power in the jade slip made Luo Ming extremely envious.
After years of cultivation, he had always longed to obtain a top-tier cultivation technique. Today, he finally got his wish, but he has now fallen into a new dilemma.
"However, the difficulty of cultivating this top-tier technique is more than twice that of ordinary techniques, and it will probably take twice as long to make any progress."
Luo Ming frowned, caught in a dilemma.
If he continues to cultivate the current "Spirit Control Technique", with the resources at his disposal, he is confident that he can break through to the late stage of Core Formation within a hundred years. If he is lucky, he may even be able to touch the Pseudo-Nascent Soul realm.
However, if one were to switch to cultivating the "Azure Nether Scripture" at this moment, not only would it take a lot of time to rebuild one's foundation, but the "Mysterious Water Condensing Yuan" secret technique recorded in the cultivation method, although it can purify and compress magical power, doubling its strength, would also require a significant increase in the amount of magical power needed to break through realms in the future.
"Should I prioritize increasing my cultivation speed to reach the Nascent Soul realm as soon as possible and have enough power to protect myself before switching to the Azure Nether Scripture, or should I start switching now and slowly accumulate profound true essence?"
Luo Ming was caught in a dilemma.
Since forming his Golden Core, the Heaven-Mending Pill he had taken in his early years has gradually taken effect under the continuous refinement of the internal fire. He believes that in a few decades, his aptitude will not be much inferior to that of cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Roots.
After all, it was a Heaven-Mending Pill that had been enhanced by the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, so it was reasonable that its effects were doubled.
However, if he were to switch to cultivating the "Azure Nether Scripture" now, he would probably still be stuck at the early stage of Core Formation when the Void Heaven Palace opens. Even if his true essence is abundant, it would be far inferior to the combat power of someone who has cultivated the "Spirit Control Technique" to the late stage of Core Formation. Both his magical power and the strength of his divine sense would be several times weaker.
After all, the "Spirit Control Technique" is the main cultivation method of Spirit Beast Mountain, and it is by no means a low-level technique.
"Wait a minute! Why do I have to choose one of the two? I can have both!"
Just as Luo Ming was struggling with his decision, the phrase from his previous life, "Only children make choices," suddenly came to mind, and he suddenly understood.
The "Spirit Control Technique" is an attribute-free cultivation method, so there is no need to completely switch to it. You only need to extract the secret techniques and magic weapon crafting methods from the "Azure Nether Scripture".
Just like when Han Laomo cultivated the secret technique of the "Mysterious Yin Scripture", his use of the Mysterious Yin Slash did not hinder his cultivation of the Azure Origin Sword Art. After all, although those secret techniques could only achieve their strongest power when combined with cultivation methods, the difference was not significant.
Moreover, the magical treasures recorded in the "Azure Nether Scripture" are mostly of the metal and water attributes, which perfectly match his spiritual root and can solve the embarrassing situation of him not having a powerful natal magical treasure.
Having understood this, Luo Ming felt a huge weight lifted from his heart and immediately calmed down to carefully study the details in the "Azure Netherworld Scripture".
As for the tasks of hunting monsters and collecting resources, they were entirely entrusted to the Golden Gu Elder and the Black Tortoise. With the assistance of several other spirit beasts and the formation, as long as they did not encounter high-level monsters of level seven or above, there was no need for him to lend a hand.
Sure enough, with subordinates to share the burden, he could focus on his cultivation, and life was quite peaceful.
On this day, Luo Ming sat cross-legged on a giant reef, engrossed in studying the refining method of the Xuan Yuan Pearl.