Chapter 48: The Void Ark

  In the main hall of Wenshitang Temple at the waist of Hanyang Peak, more than 40 Qi-refining cultivators stood in four neat columns, each with a solemn expression.

  These cultivators in the Refining Qi stage, surprisingly, most of their cultivation is at the 13th layer of the Refining Qi stage. Among them, about ten people have reached the peak of the 13th layer. The other cultivators are generally around the 12th layer of the Refining Qi stage, and only three or four are at the 11th layer.

  These monks are mostly in their 20s and 30s, with a few elderly ones who appear to be in their 50s or 60s. There is not a single young monk under the age of 20 among these more than 40 people, and only five of them are female monks.

  In front of these masters, five or six foundation-building cultivators stood, among whom an old man with white hair and beard was talking non-stop to more than 40 Qi-refining cultivators. After a while, his voice suddenly became high-pitched and full of motivation. The cultivators who were listening attentively were also stirred up by their emotions, and their eyes emitted strange glows.

  These more than 40 cultivators were the ones who had accepted the task of going to Dragon Descent Valley, and were about to head to Dragon Descent Valley to "send themselves to death" as Foundation Building disciples. And that old man with white hair and beard was the leader of Tai Xu Men, Xiong Yue.

  Xiong Zhangmen first repeatedly reminded them of some things to pay attention to in the task of Xianglong Valley, and then used the sect's opening of some favorable conditions to boost their morale.

  Zhao Di was also among the more than 40 Qi-refining cultivators, and he felt that Master Xiong's words were empty and lacking in substance, yet they were extremely stirring to the heart. Even he himself felt a surge of passion after hearing them, which was truly strange. Suddenly, he remembered some records he had read in ancient texts. Cultivators with much higher cultivation levels could use subtle details such as speech or gaze to release the power of illusions, easily controlling the minds of lower-level cultivators and manipulating them without their knowledge.

  At this thought, Zhao had an epiphany, and his consciousness circulated briefly within his body. He immediately recovered from his state of frenzied excitement and listened with interest to the passionate speech of the Master of the Bear Palm Sect.

  The speech was not long, and after a cup of tea, under the loud announcement of Xiong Zhangmen, Zhao Di and other refining Qi practitioners stepped onto the already prepared "Tai Xu Zhou" and followed several Jibei period elders to Liaozhou's Xiānglóng Valley.

  Looking at the excited fellow disciples, Zhao felt a sense of sadness. He knew that among the more than 40 cultivators who left, only over 10 lucky ones would be able to return to Taixu Sect on this boat, while the remaining 30 or so people would disappear from this world forever.

  Among the more than 40 people, three were familiar to Zhao Di. One was his senior brother Sun Ming, who had been defeated by him in person, and the other two were Bai Chuli and Jin Yesan, who had also been eliminated in the foundation-building competition, as well as Jian Xian'er's good sister - Golden Leaf Immortal.

  These were all cultivators of the 13th layer of Qi Refining, yet none had passed the Foundation Establishment trial. Unwilling to wait another five years, they would rather take a risk and participate in this mission to Dragon Descending Valley.

  Zhao Di let out a faint sigh in her heart and lowered her head, quietly falling silent.

  Looking back on the gains of this half year in the seventh-grade instrument room, Zhao couldn't help but feel a little proud.

  He not only successfully produced more than 20 "Earth Prison Talismans", "Earth Escape Talismans", and "Wood Escape Talismans" which were high-level auxiliary talismans for the Qi Refining stage, but also supplemented over 200 "Fire Snake Talismans", "Golden Shield Talismans", "Wooden Armor Talismans", and "Water Curtain Talismans" which were mid-level attack and defense talismans, causing the total number of various talismans in his storage bag to reach an astonishing figure.

  Apart from that, he used a small cauldron and easily refined dozens of kilograms of top-grade Blood Silver with an astonishing amount of spiritual energy.

  What makes it even more luxurious is that he uses these top-grade blood silver threads, combined with an astonishing amount of high-grade spirit stones, to attempt to forge a top-grade artifact!

  Because the raw materials were extremely good, and he only refined sword-type artifacts, after wasting over a dozen high-grade spirit stones and several catties of blood silver, he finally successfully refined a small sword-shaped top-quality artifact!

  This small sword is about three inches long, shining with a silver light. However, if you look closely at close range, you can see thread-like bloodstains that seem to be there but not quite, all over the body of the sword.

  Zhao Di named this sword as Fish Intestine Sword.

  With this top-grade treasure, Zhao Di believed that among the dozen or so people who would ultimately survive, he must have a share. After all, for Qi-refining disciples, top-grade treasures were simply legendary and unattainable treasures. Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, not everyone could possess a top-grade treasure.

  Another thing that delighted him was that he had used the small tripod to cultivate several low-grade ice-attribute spirit stones, and indeed, the small tripod could smoothly upgrade these spirit stones. It seems that the small tripod not only has a boosting effect on the five-element attribute materials, but also has the same effect on the products of the five-element attribute variation. I suppose the promotion of wind spirit stone and thunder spirit stone is also feasible.

  If a high-ranking cultivator knew that Zhao Di was refining equipment in this way, he would definitely be furious and scold him for being a loser. An ordinary five-element attribute high-grade spirit stone is worth more than 100,000 low-grade spirit stones on the market. The auction price of an extreme-quality artifact is usually only around one or two thousand spirit stones. In other words, one high-grade spirit stone can easily exchange for dozens of extreme-quality artifacts like the Fish Intestine Sword. But Zhao Di spent over a dozen high-grade spirit stones and was only able to refine this one artifact! As for the value of over ten kilograms of extreme-quality Blood Silk Silver, it's simply negligible.

  This account Zhao Di will certainly be calculated, but in the case of not daring to openly use high-order spirit stones, he can only use it with such ultra-low efficiency.

  With the top-grade artifact, Zhao Di's confidence greatly increased. However, he also realized that once he used this Fish Intestine Sword, he must make sure to leave no survivors! Otherwise, as a Qi Refining stage disciple who possessed an extreme-grade artifact that even Foundation Building stage cultivators did not have, if news of it got out, he would definitely be caught and interrogated by some envious Foundation Building stage cultivators.

  Zhao Di withdrew his thoughts and quietly examined the "Tai Xu Zhou" artifact under his feet.

  This is the legendary, one-of-a-kind, ultimate flying artifact of Taixu. When it appears, it can reach dozens of feet in length, seven or eight feet in width, and five or six feet in height. The entire body of the boat is made of crystal-clear Qingxiang jade, with golden threads and lines floating on top to create a series of vivid, lifelike five-clawed golden dragons. The head of the boat is even more impressive, with a giant golden dragon's head carved into it, over three feet tall, while the tail of the boat is nearly ten feet long, covered in gold scales the size of fists. The entire Taixu Boat is shrouded in a faint layer of blue light, giving it the appearance of a flying golden dragon, evoking a sense of opulence and extravagance.

  This void boat not only has a stunning appearance, but its speed is also extremely fast. Even with dozens of monks on board, the flying speed is still far beyond that of the flying feather artifact. According to Zhao Di's estimate, it's roughly a terrifying speed of over a thousand miles in about an hour.

  Zhaodi listened to the sound of the wind whizzing past outside the light shield, secretly astonished. He thought that driving such a huge and high-speed flying artifact would require how much spiritual power, even if it was the three foundation-building cultivators leading the team, they wouldn't be able to hold on for long!

  He soon found the answer, and after a day and night of flying in the golden jade boat, the speed slowed down. At this time, one of the three foundation-building monks, a middle-aged monk dressed as a young woman, walked to the front of the dragon's head and gently patted a horn on the dragon's head. As a result, the horn moved slightly, revealing a hole the size of a human head. The woman took out a wooden attribute mid-grade spirit stone that was about to run out of spiritual power from the hole, and then took out a new mid-grade wood spirit stone from her storage bag and put it in the hole. Finally, she moved the horn back to its original position. In an instant, the giant boat restored its extremely fast speed.

  Witnessing this scene, Zhao Di suddenly realized that the Tai Xu Zou was actually a mid-grade spiritual artifact, using the spiritual power provided by the mid-grade spirit stone to fly.

  After that, the young woman had to replace a piece of medium-grade wood spirit stone every day. Such a huge consumption of spirit stones seemed that this Void Ferry was not something that just anyone could afford to use.

  The Dragon Descent Valley event, with the exception of the Tai Xu Men, all three sects and four schools will send dozens of disciples to participate. The Tai Xu Men's use of the luxurious but extremely expensive Tai Xu Zou as a flying instrument is also somewhat intentional show-off. After all, the Tai Xu Men claims to be the number one sect in Jin Yan Country, and cannot lose face in these details.

  Zhao Di couldn't help but sneer at Tai Xu Men's behavior. He thought to himself, "I've been trying to figure out how to pretend to be poor all day, and now I see the sect showing off their wealth. The contrast is quite amusing."

  After changing seven or eight spirit stones in the foundation period, the group finally arrived at a large desert in the center of Liaozhou. Not far away, hundreds of cultivators wearing colorful clothes were waiting with bated breath.

  (First update! Seeking recommendations, collections and advertisements!)