Chapter Eleven: The Heart of the Instrument
In some place of the Heavenly Punishment Mountains, the hundred-meter-tall form of Wu Yuan, after transforming, excitedly trampled on the golden qilin.
The golden qilin had been pierced by the jade sword dozens of times; its blood surged violently, and its vital energy was inexplicably drawn away by the sword. Thus, it could only lie helplessly on the ground, continuing to be tormented by Wu Yuan.
Hmph!
The golden qilin gasped for breath, filled with anger. But after being trampled hundreds of times, its highly resilient physical defenses finally gave way.
“Ugh, so satisfying!” Wu Yuan shouted triumphantly, trampling even more eagerly.
Unable to bear it any longer, the golden qilin looked at Qu Yi, who was sitting aside in deep thought, and called out dejectedly, “Hey, human! Didn’t you ask me to become your demon pet? I agreed, but with one condition—only for a hundred years.”
Qu Yi opened his eyes, not even glancing at the golden qilin, but instead focusing on the Miao Rong Spring. There, Bai Man and Mu Han had already drunk a few sips of the spring water, using it to purge impurities from their bodies and greatly transform their meridians.
The golden qilin became furious. It had conceded, yet Qu Yi still showed no gratitude. Still, the qilin was clever enough to realize that this time frame might not satisfy Qu Yi, so it immediately resolved to try again.
“Hey, human! I’ll make a concession—I’ll become your demon pet for 150 years. Is that acceptable? After 150 years, you have to set me free,” the golden qilin said complacently, believing this time would persuade Qu Yi.
Qu Yi suddenly turned and shouted at Wu Yuan, “Wu Yuan, crush this golden qilin! At this point, it’s still trying to negotiate with me?”
Wu Yuan let out a loud roar, leaving the golden qilin utterly stunned.
Thud, thud, thud!
Wu Yuan seemed to be enjoying the most triumphant day of his life, while the golden qilin’s eyes were completely blank. After blinking hard a few times, it finally made up its mind.
“Alright, I admit defeat. I’ll become your demon pet. Kill me or exploit me however you want—I can’t take it anymore,” the golden qilin roared in despair after enduring Wu Yuan’s torment.
Qu Yi smiled faintly, then approached the golden qilin. He touched its dragon head and smiled triumphantly before inserting his spiritual consciousness into the qilin’s essence, locating its soul and implanting a soul shackle.
“Five yuan, you dead beast! You’re enjoying trampling me, aren’t you? Daring to step on my magical pet is like slapping me in the face—I must punish you. Golden Qilin, rise! Do whatever you want to torment Wu Yuan, but don’t kill him.” Qu Yi, who had just enslaved the Golden Qilin, suddenly changed his attitude and looked at Wu Yuan mockingly.
The Golden Qilin’s eyes suddenly glowed brightly, while Wu Yuan was instantly stunned. He was only in the early stages of leaving his body—how could he possibly defeat a beast like the Golden Qilin, which was already in the later stages?
Soon, the Golden Qilin got back on its feet and kicked Wu Yuan to the ground with one leg, then began trampling him viciously.
The roles had switched, and the scene repeated itself!
……
After waiting for Bai Man and Mu Han to refine the spring water, Qu Yi had the Golden Qilin give each of them a bottle of its essence blood to help them advance in their cultivation.
The Golden Qilin’s blood actually contained dragon blood as well, and it was rich in gold energy—far superior to gold-based pills. It would surely help Bai Man reach the early stage of Yuan Ying cultivation.
Then, Qu Yi, Bai Man, and Mu Han stayed inside the Dimensional Sphere, while the Golden Qilin, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan continued their training in the Heavenly Punishment Mountains.
At that time, Qu Yi sat by the lake, with the Artifact God beside him.
After some thought, the Artifact God finally made a decision and said calmly, “Qu Yi, the formations I taught you are collectively called Formation Heart. The basic formations I gave you earlier are actually the first level of Formation Heart, called One Element Dao. As the name suggests, it’s a formation that uses only one type of the five elements’ energy. You should be able to fully understand One Element Dao in about ten years. By then, I can teach you Two Element Dao.”
After hearing this, Qu Yi thought for a moment before suddenly saying, “Artifact God, do you mean to teach me the art of crafting?”
The infant-like Artifact God nodded and smiled, saying, “Yes. I’ll teach you the art of crafting now. From now on, you’ll need to practice both formations and crafting simultaneously. Originally, I planned to teach you crafting after you mastered One Element Dao, but since your spiritual awareness is already at 60%, you can practice both now.”
After saying that, Qu Yi fell into a coma, his soul having already received the crafting techniques taught by the Artifact God.
The Artifact God’s crafting technique was called Artifact Heart. In brief, it involved using true fire to melt materials, while the spiritual awareness had to quickly analyze each material’s properties and determine which formation would be suitable for the resulting artifact core.
Only after forming a formation does an artifact embryo acquire the characteristics of a magical weapon and possess powerful offensive capabilities. Therefore, before teaching Qu Yi the art of artifact crafting, the Artifact God first had him study formations, purely to ensure he firmly grasped the key skills of crafting. Qu Yi briefly scanned the core of the artifact and exclaimed, “Artifact God, you’ve taught me so much about materials, but not the actual methods of crafting. You’re not planning to make me melt materials with real fire day after day to get familiar with each material’s properties, only to prevent me from creating a real magical weapon, are you?” It turned out that after reading the introduction to the artifact core, Qu Yi found that the rest was entirely about materials used in crafting. The Artifact God smiled indifferently and said, “Qu Yi, just like the core of a formation, understanding the artifact core also starts from the basics. What kind of formations can each material support? How many types of formations are suitable for it? What is the ultimate strength of the strongest formations it can combine?… You must start learning from the most fundamental materials. On Green Wood Planet, you seized the materials from all four sects, and on Tianfeng Planet, you gathered countless materials. I’ve already sorted out those basic materials inside the Inch Realm Sphere. From now on, use the Panfire Cauldron to get familiar with their properties.” Hearing this, Qu Yi became annoyed. He had been dreaming of learning powerful crafting techniques right from the start to create a mighty magical weapon and show it off to Bai Man. “Artifact God, I’m really frustrated. Scanning your formations originally took a hundred years, but with six parts of my spiritual consciousness, it now only takes me fifteen or sixteen years. Yet you say this is still just the First Principle. So how long will it take me to scan the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Principles? Moreover, I don’t even know if I need to scan even more advanced formations after the Fifth Principle. Now, just as I was looking forward to you teaching me the art of crafting, you tell me to get familiar with basic materials first. Good heavens, there are countless materials in this cultivation world—until when do I have to get familiar with them? I now realize you’re just playing with me, Artifact God,” Qu Yi vented his frustration.
The Artifact God stared at Qu Yi and chuckled, “Little Qu Yi, life is full of hardships—now you understand that, right? Since you say so, I’ll tell you then: the core of a formation, the core of an artifact. If you truly want to achieve something, you’ll need to spend a long time learning these fundamental knowledge. By the time you reach the Mahayana stage, you might still not be able to craft artifacts properly. I’ll only allow you to do so after I’ve solidified your foundation in artifact crafting.”
Qu Yi immediately slumped, feeling utterly dispirited.
The Artifact God lowered his head, realizing that Qu Yi was just acting to impress him, and sighed bitterly. “Alright, it depends on your performance from now on. Maybe I’ll let you craft one or two powerful magic artifacts. For example, the Sea Eye Dark Crystal you got from Emerald Wood Planet could allow you to craft an artifact at some point.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi burst into laughter. “Artifact God, you really do have a human touch! If you really made me keep scanning formations and heating materials with real fire every day, I’d go crazy!”
The Artifact God could only smile faintly before suddenly thinking of something and saying with a smile, “Qu Yi, you still don’t know how many materials you have now, do you? Let me show you—to boost your morale.”
Qu Yi immediately looked at the Artifact God happily. All the materials he had obtained from Emerald Wood Planet and Tianfeng Planet had been taken care of by the Artifact God, so he really didn’t know how many were stored now.
Suddenly, a rippling water-screen appeared in front of Qu Yi. As the waves moved, it displayed a vast amount of artifact-crafting materials stored in a certain space within the miniature realm.
“Wow!” Qu Yi was amazed. On the screen, there were thousands of mountains, each covered from top to bottom with materials, as if the mountains themselves were made of them.
Seeing Qu Yi’s exclamation, the Artifact God smiled and said, “These materials range from the most basic ones to those at the spiritual artifact level. From now on, while scanning formations in this miniature realm, you can also melt the materials I give you.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi’s joyful expression immediately turned grim. “Artifact God, you’re really cruel.”
The Artifact God crossed his arms behind his back, gazing at the lake with a faint smile.
On the other side of the miniature realm, Bai Man suddenly exclaimed happily, “Qu Yi, I’ve reached the early stage of Yuan Ying!”
It turned out that after drinking the essence blood of the Golden Qilin, Bai Man had used its golden energy to advance to the early stage of Yuan Ying.
Qu Yi immediately shook off his gloomy mood, flew over to Bai Man, hugged her, and said with a smile, “Senior sister, congratulations! You’re now a master too.”
Bai Man’s face turned red as she buried herself in Qu Yi’s chest and said softly, “Qu Yi, this is all thanks to you. Without the blood of the Golden Qilin, I guess it would take me even longer to make progress.”
Qu Yi chuckled, held her tighter, and whispered in her ear, “Senior sister, don’t worry. From now on, I’ll definitely help you find better pills to keep your cultivation advancing.”
Bai Man nodded, filled with sweetness and happiness.