Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 481 Encountering the Broken Gold True Monarch Again: Unexpected Encounters
We traveled all the way from Pingyi to Qingquan Fudi.

Xiao Chencai gained a deeper understanding of the widespread impact of the Great Sweep on the new cultivation world.

Especially in the border area between the two blessed lands, which can be described as the most desolate place.

While it's not quite to the point where not a single rooster crows for miles around, it's definitely a place with a vast but sparsely populated area.

At the same time, the farther away from the blessed land, the more complex, solemn, and strictly guarded the various defensive formations and the more guarded the personnel.

It's clear that order has deteriorated in these places.

Xiao Chen was initially somewhat surprised by this.

In any case, the sweep is a major blow to the Rebel Alliance, so they shouldn't be defying the odds.

But he gradually came to his senses later.

The problem may not lie with the Rebel Immortal Alliance at all, but rather with the Great Sweep itself.

In this light, it really is a rather speechless situation.

Xiao Chen skillfully arrived at Wangpu Mountain, where they had met last time, and there he saw a Golden Core cultivator who had been waiting for a long time.

After he took the initiative to explain his purpose.

The other party immediately bowed respectfully: "This junior has been waiting here for a long time on the orders of my master."

"Due to the special circumstances, my master is not able to appear in public for the time being. Please come with me, senior."

He then gestured for them to proceed, before taking flight on his sword and leading the way.

Ok?
Xiao Chen was even more surprised to see this. How could this be?
It's inconvenient for him to appear in public. Could it be that something happened to True Lord Suijin?

An ordinary person might start to suspect that there is something wrong with this situation by the time they get to this point.

However, Xiao Chen was confident and boldly followed the Golden Core cultivator, winding his way to a mountain stream that was far more desolate than Wangpu Mountain.

After entering a dark and damp cave and opening a concealment array,

Finally, in a not-so-spacious secret room, they saw the Broken Gold True Lord, who looked slightly dejected.

Perhaps the other party heard the noise inside, for they actually took out their spirit shield and held it in their hand beforehand.

After recognizing Xiao Chen and his disciple, he relaxed his guard and put away his spirit shield again.

Then he took the initiative to greet them, saying, "I'm really sorry, this place is so simple and doesn't really belong here to entertain guests."

"Unfortunately, the current situation is special, so please don't mind, fellow Daoist, and make do with a seat."

Xiao Chen didn't mind this, and instead of sitting on the stone chair that the other party had probably prepared, he simply sat on the nearest rock.

Then he tentatively asked, "We haven't seen each other for more than half a year, why is it like this?"

"Logically speaking, even if it's a large-scale sweep, it shouldn't affect a fourth-tier weapon refiner like you, right?"

"Of course, I just asked casually. If there's anything I'd rather not say, then just pretend I didn't say anything."

Xiao Chen was indeed very curious.

Normally, such a person should have their own network of relationships, and shouldn't be someone that others can easily mess with?
How did things get so badly damaged?
"Alas, I'm sorry to have made you laugh, fellow Daoist."

The Broken Gold True Lord chuckled self-deprecatingly: "There's really nothing wrong with this. Those who know me well are basically aware of the inside story."

"It was mainly due to my youthful arrogance that led to this bitter outcome."

It turns out that his situation was related to the Xia family, one of the seven powerful clans in the Holy City.

Back then, the Broken Gold True Lord believed that he had an exceptional talent for weapon crafting and that he would surely achieve great things in the future.

Therefore, when facing the Xia family members around him, especially those who had no real ability but only relied on their family background to gain a reputation, they tried to get close to him.

Not only did they all give me a cold shoulder, but some friction also arose.

It wasn't a big deal in itself, since quite a few people were optimistic about Broken Gold True Lord at the time and were willing to invest in, advise, and take care of him.

But the problem arose during a later weapon-refining competition.

It should be noted that in the new cultivation world, the Xia family holds absolute dominance in the field of weapon crafting.

It's no exaggeration to say that the entire weapon-refining competition was basically filled with their own people, from top to bottom.

The grand prize has already been reserved for a rising star of the Xia family.

As a result, on the day of the competition, the opponent underperformed for some reason, while the Broken Gold True Lord was in good condition that day and could be said to have performed exceptionally well.

Then he saw that the Xia family had actually submitted a spiritual artifact that had already been refined to make up the numbers.

What followed was naturally resentment, public questioning, refusal to apologize, and finally a humiliating exit from the holy city.

If this had ended there, it might have been just one of many cases of powerful families oppressing independent cultivators.

However, the problem is that the Broken Gold True Lord has basically lost the possibility of advancing any further.

However, the Xia family member he had offended continued to rise through the ranks and became a powerful figure.

And coincidentally, the special envoy delegation for this large-scale operation expanded to a full 58 people.

Among them happened to be a Nascent Soul True Monarch who wanted to curry favor with the Xia family but had been struggling to find a way.

So they set their sights on Lord Shattered Gold, instructing their subordinates to fabricate a confession in preparation for arresting him for investigation.

It is common knowledge that once someone is imprisoned, there is no shortage of evidence to frame them.

Fortunately, the skill of the Broken Gold True Lord was indeed excellent, so his sect helped cover for him, allowing him to temporarily hide and avoid the limelight.

If we can delay the large-scale cleanup, the subsequent internal investigation within the sect will be much easier to handle.

At that time, you can just make up any reason to get away with it.

And that's how it turned into the situation we see now.

"Oh, so that's what happened."

Xiao Chen understood, so he took the initiative to comfort him, saying, "Since it was a villain who framed you, you should focus on protecting yourself and not rush things."

"I believe that you, fellow Daoist, can turn misfortune into good fortune and successfully overcome this hurdle."

"As for the magical artifact, there's no need to rush. As long as it can be completed in time, that's fine."

The main problem is that things have already come to this point, and even if Xiao Chen sternly urges him with a stern face, it won't solve the problem.

Instead of getting angry and defensive, it's better to offer advice frankly and openly.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao misunderstands. The major change I was referring to is not this."

Upon hearing this, True Monarch Shattered Gold shook his head: "This fully fused spiritual artifact can be said to be the most important spiritual artifact of my life, and I cannot afford to make the slightest mistake."

"How could we be forced to stop because of this little setback?"

"Before leaving the sect, I brought all the necessary tools and materials with me."

"Currently, a new forging room has been opened inside the cave to continue casting."

what?
Xiao Chen was stunned for a moment when he heard this. If it doesn't affect the full fusion of spiritual artifacts, then why did you call me over?
It can't just be about inviting someone over for a chat, can it?
Perhaps she noticed the confusion in his eyes.

The Broken Gold True Lord explained, "The reason I wrote to you earlier is because during the actual forging process, we encountered an unexpected and significant change."

"The problem lies in the spearhead that you provided, fellow Daoist."

"I wonder if you still remember the solution we discussed together back then."

"We will first try to stimulate the essence of the demon beast through auxiliary materials. If that fails, we will then proceed with the stripping process."

what?
Xiao Chen blinked: "Uh, I remember it should be like this."

"So the problem lies with this plan?"

To be honest, he had never been involved in weapon crafting since embarking on the path of immortality, so he really didn't know much about it.

"Not at all."

Shattered Gold True Monarch shook his head again: "Generally speaking, stimulating essence blood should be extremely difficult."

"Due to its age, it will fail most of the time."

"Even if there is a successful example, it will usually be limited by time. You just need to follow the 'Huang Family Forging Secrets' to handle it."

"However, the spearhead you took out, Fellow Daoist Xiao, is an exception."

At this point, a hint of doubt appeared on the face of the Broken Gold True Lord, mixed with a wry smile: "The actual activation process went quite smoothly."

"And it will be ten times smoother than the best-case scenario that you and I initially anticipated."

"Based on my observation, the spearhead itself is extremely unusual."

"At the same time, it must have directly pierced the heart of a fifth-tier savage giant elephant, thus extracting some exceptionally precious heart blood."

"Most importantly, the essence and blood that have been stimulated are still quite active."

"After thinking it over, I think it's probably because that giant elephant has a mutated bloodline, specifically a mutation in the direction of vitality and life force, which is why this happened."

"Of course, the specific reasons are no longer important."

"The main problem now is that we didn't actually consider this special situation when we were preparing the auxiliary materials."

"In other words, if we want to protect the spearhead, the existing spiritual materials are completely insufficient."

"However, discarding excess essence and blood would be a tremendous waste."

"If we could make use of all this blood and sweat, we could inscribe more bloodline artifact patterns."

“We even tried to handle it according to the ‘method of the three gates and nine arts’.”

"It's equivalent to being able to borrow a portion of the bloodline power of a fifth-tier savage giant elephant, and also to add a layer of intense pressure to the spear."

"The difference is quite significant."

The Broken Gold True Lord gave a long explanation in one breath, interspersed with descriptions that only weapon refiners would understand.

So much so that even Xiao Chen found it a bit difficult to listen to.

But he roughly understood what the other person meant, so he confirmed, "In other words, a major change has occurred."

"This change is not a bad thing; it can even be considered a good thing."

“I could choose to continue with the original plan, but doing so would mean missing this opportunity.”

"Alternatively, you can choose to modify the plan to maximize the power of the magical artifact."

"But it will cost extra."

"Is that roughly the idea?"

Xiao Chen didn't understand the art of weapon crafting, but he knew that since the existing spiritual materials were insufficient, it meant that additional budget had to be allocated.

"Um... well... you could understand it that way."

Upon hearing Xiao Chen's summary, True Monarch Shattered Gold was taken aback for a moment, then quickly added, "Actually, it's not about adding money; the main issue is the spiritual materials."

"If you decide to modify the plan, fellow Daoist."

"It seems that the matter of collecting spiritual materials will have to be handled by you, fellow Daoist."

"Given my current situation, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to even write a letter to a few acquaintances, let alone go out to make purchases."

"If anyone among them has ulterior motives, it will be difficult to explain to the sect in the future." Understood.

Xiao Chen finally understood.

No wonder they called me in for a face-to-face meeting; it turns out it might involve two major issues: revising the forging plan and procuring spiritual materials.

Of course, he could choose to proceed according to the original plan.

However, this is, after all, my first custom-made spiritual artifact. Since there is room for improvement, it's better to go for it right the first time.

Therefore, after a moment's thought, Xiao Chen nodded: "I think it's okay."

"Just tell me what other spiritual materials you need, and I'll take care of it."

Upon hearing this, True Lord Shattered Gold was overjoyed.

He immediately took out a forging plan that he had prepared in advance and pulled Xiao Chen aside to discuss it one by one.

There are actually only three main points.

The first option is to purchase additional materials worth approximately five million spirit stones, which can be considered a supplementary plan.

The second step is to add approximately eight million spirit stones worth of spiritual materials to strengthen the essence and blood of the Savage Giant Elephant.

The third step, based on the second, involves replacing some of the more expensive but also more effective spiritual materials.

The total additional cost was approximately 18 million spirit stones, but it fully utilized the effects of the essence blood, effectively enhancing the lethality of the final spear.

"Um, well..."

Finally, the Broken Gold True Lord seemed a little embarrassed as he explained, "The prices I mentioned are the market prices before the big sweep."

"Then if you want to buy now, the price may rise further."

Goodness, that's probably more than just a slight increase, isn't it?

Xiao Chen had already fully experienced the impact of the sweep in Guiyun Market.

Almost all spiritual items saw their prices surge by 30% to more than double.

Even if we calculate based on the minimum 30%, choosing the third modification option would cost an additional 24 million spirit stones.

He almost wanted to retort: ​​Is the spearhead made of gold, or is the shaft made of gold? How can it be so expensive!
Even for Xiao Chen, this was not a small expense.

But it doesn't matter, he has accumulated quite a few mid-grade spirit stones over the years.

I'm usually reluctant to spend money, not because I'm stingy, but because I want to spend it wisely.

In a way, the tip of a gun and the blade are quite similar; both are areas that are well worth investing in.

Xiao Chen has always been willing to spend money on arming himself and improving his own strength.

As the saying goes, while others hoard grain, I hoard guns.

A spear is still a spear, no problem!

Since that's the case, there's no point in hesitating. Spend the money as it comes: "Let's go with the third option. Could you please make a list for me?"

Xiao Chen's choice was indeed beyond the expectations of True Monarch Shattered Gold.

He had thought it might end up being the second option.

The reason for listing the third option was to set a higher expectation, making it easier to persuade Xiao Chen to settle for the second option.

Hearing this, I was still somewhat incredulous.

He quickly asked Xiao Chen for confirmation, and then repeated the confirmation.

Only then did he happily take out paper and pen and begin to list in detail the spiritual materials and requirements.

Before long, he had written down a total of forty-five fourth-tier spiritual items.

It was also specifically noted that most of the spiritual items could be replaced with spiritual materials of similar nature.

There are only two crucial spiritual objects, which are a pair of important auxiliary materials used to balance Yin and Yang.

Ideally, one should obtain one of the top-tier, extremely Yin spiritual items, such as the Heart of the Yin Spirit or the Ghost Infant Fruit.

And one of the top-tier extremely yang spiritual items, such as the Pure Yang Qi Fruit and the Heavenly Thunder Wood.

This is to ensure that the forging effect is maximized.

Xiao Chen happened to have two Yin Spirit Hearts, so this problem was essentially solved.

The remaining forty-three spiritual items could also be replaced by twenty-seven identical or similar substitutes found in the storage ring.

The remaining sixteen items were also described in ancient books, so they were not entirely unfamiliar to me.

It shouldn't be too difficult to buy, especially since I'll be going to Hundred Herbs City soon to participate in the exchange event from Storm Sea, which will make things even easier.

The only problem might be with this top-tier, extremely yang spiritual object.

Because both the Pure Yang Qi Fruit and the Heavenly Thunder Wood seem to be things that only exist in the new cultivation world.

Anyway, Xiao Chen had browsed through so many books, but he had not seen any similar records in the Eastern Region.

So he specifically asked, "Does it have to be these two items? Or will any item that is extremely yang in nature be acceptable?"

The Broken Gold True Lord immediately said, "It would be best if it were something purely of extreme Yang."

"If we really can't find these two items, then we'll have to make do with slightly inferior spiritual items, but in general, the fewer impurities the better, and we should try to get the highest quality."

This is, after all, an auxiliary material; there's no situation where it's completely irreplaceable.

"Okay, then I'll be relieved."

Xiao Chen nodded, then changed the subject and asked, "If we gather all these auxiliary materials, how long will it take to complete the forging?"

"Does this mean we have to wait another year?"

True Monarch Shattered Gold immediately shook his head: "Please rest assured, fellow Daoist, it will definitely not take that long."

"The gun body has been mostly finished, and all the existing auxiliary materials have been preliminarily processed."

"If it weren't for this unexpected event, it would have been completed by now."

"However, with this change, we will definitely need to spend some more time redesigning the gun head and the connection point."

"It should only take... about seven or eight months. And I can guarantee that there will be no further delays this time."

so long?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen's resolve wavered.

Maybe we should just leave it as is and finish it.

He then pressed on, "If it's finished like this, how lethal will this spear be? Will it be able to defeat a failed defensive magic weapon?"

"It's a defective product that failed to be refined; it's not a real magic weapon."

Even the Broken Gold True Lord was somewhat unsure about this: "It's hard to say. The result will probably be about the same, depending entirely on the user's skill level."

His main consideration was that the crafting requirements for most magical artifacts were no less stringent than those for fully fused magical artifacts.

Unless you encounter an ancient relic from the distant past, the kind that was not fused with spiritual materials before being refined.

Otherwise, they should be roughly equal.

"That's it, then it's okay."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen immediately decided to increase the destructive power in an effort to defeat the Seven Treasures Life-Protecting Pagoda.

The two finished discussing business smoothly, and then began the usual polite conversation.

We chatted about some interesting things that had happened recently or things we had seen and heard.

Xiao Chen didn't actually know much about this place, but he met Zhang Cunfu before he came, and told him some rumors he had heard from him.

However, Lord Shattered Gold hasn't gone out much during this period.

He thought for a moment and then mentioned the rumors his sect had recently gathered: "Speaking of last month, two major events came out of the Holy City. I wonder if you've heard about them, fellow disciple."

"The first Blazing Flame Warship, which was previously led by the Yan family and took hundreds of years to build, has finally been completed."

"It only requires one mid-Nascent Soul cultivator to operate it, and it can withstand the siege of five Nascent Soul Great Perfection cultivators."

"It seems they have already set off for the northern border, apparently intending to use the dangerous terrain there to conduct combat tests in extreme environments."

"But there are also rumors that there seems to be something unusual in the Northern Territory, with a large number of Reverse Immortal Alliance cultivators suspected of being active there."

what?
Xiao Chen had never heard of such a thing before.

Let alone him, I doubt anyone in the entire Eastern Region has ever heard of such a thing from ancient times to the present.

After all, this use case is a bit too outrageous.

The first crucial question is how to gather five Nascent Soul Grand Perfection cultivators.

Not to mention they were even thinking of using a warship to fight back.

In the Eastern Region, no normal person would even consider this possibility.

Perhaps only in the new cultivation world, or more precisely, in places like the Holy City where Nascent Soul cultivators gather, would such a demand or rather, such a whimsical idea arise.

"It actually succeeded?"

Xiao Chen feigned surprise: "I really didn't know about this."

"We were so busy dealing with the large-scale investigation and protecting our ancestral property from being taken away by those vultures that we didn't have time to find out what was going on."

On this point, True Lord Shattered Gold almost felt the same way: "Alas~, those greedy beasts!"

After cursing, he shook his head: "Forget it, let's not talk about such discouraging things."

"Let's get back to the Holy City. Last month, in addition to the Yan family publicly displaying the Blazing Flame Warship, the He family also announced a very important piece of news."

"For people like us, this is a good thing to look forward to."

"It is said that after many failures, they finally succeeded in developing a new type of Three Talents Strengthening Pill with spiritual minerals as the main ingredient, based on the original herbal formula."

what?
Xiao Chen was truly astonished: "This one actually broke through too?"

He wasn't questioning the timing, because such things could very well have been prepared long ago, and then the time was chosen to announce them to the public.

The key point is that he had seen information about the Three Talents Strengthening Pill in the Cai family's collection of books.

This thing appeared more than a million years ago and is a famous breakthrough elixir.

It can increase the success rate of a Nascent Soul True Monarch breaking through to the Divine Transformation realm by about 30%.

At the same time, it can effectively protect the divine consciousness, ensuring that it will not be damaged even if the breakthrough fails, thus preserving the opportunity to try again to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

Previously, the biggest drawback of this product was that the main ingredient it required was extremely rare and had almost completely disappeared.

Starting around 300,000 years ago, it became extremely difficult to find the corresponding spiritual medicine even after searching the entire new cultivation world.

However, if a new elixir formula with spirit ore as the main ingredient is truly developed, it means that its biggest drawback has been eliminated.

Even if the elixirs made from metal and stone might contain a considerable amount of toxicity, it would be a minor flaw in an otherwise perfect elixir, not worth mentioning.

(End of this chapter)