A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

He reached out and picked up the letter, twisted it slightly, and a thin sheet of paper emerged from the gap.

Without hesitation, Zhou Ping pulled it out, opened it, and began to examine it.

The moment the thin paper was opened, Zhou Ping's previously enthusiastic expression immediately turned from sunny to gloomy, becoming completely somber.

A moment later, a small flame popped out from his fingertip and burned the letter to ashes in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace.

The letter was actually a wanted notice issued by the Crimson Robe Society. In addition to detailing the background and cultivation level of the wanted person, it also included a portrait of the person.

After Zhou Ping glanced at the wanted poster with a slight twitch in his eye, he realized that the ordinary-looking and slightly aged man in the poster was none other than himself.

"Wu Yingxue! The Crimson Robe Society! You've really gone to great lengths!"

Zhou Ping silently made a mental note of it again, and muttered through gritted teeth.

Unexpectedly, Wu Yingxue even told the Crimson Robe Society about his appearance in such detail. No wonder several divine senses swept over him as soon as he left the Spirit Mountain Realm. They only retreated in frustration after discovering his appearance with the animal skin mask on his face. It turned out that they already knew his exact appearance and had been waiting there for him.

Zhou Ping recalled his experience when he left Jiyun City with a gloomy expression, feeling extremely fortunate. Luckily, he had taken precautions at the time; otherwise, if he had been targeted by the Crimson Robe Society, who knows what kind of tragic fate awaited him.

Given the opponent's methods and power, even if a few more Qi Refining stage cultivators were to jump out, they would be beyond his ability to contend with.

Especially within the Crimson Robe Society, besides Fire Toad and Jade Serpent Gentleman, there were reportedly several other leaders at the late stage of Qi Refining with even higher cultivation levels, which made Zhou Ping even more chilled.

After taking a deep breath, Zhou Ping calmed himself down and picked up the only remaining jade slip in front of him.

Gently place it on your forehead, and a wisp of divine consciousness emanates from between your brows, slowly enveloping it.

"The Chongyuan Pearl?"

After half an incense stick's time, Zhou Ping withdrew his divine sense from the jade slip, a look of shock appearing in his eyes.

The jade slip did not contain the cultivation technique he had secretly guessed was a method for refining a magical artifact called the "Chongyuan Pearl".

This document details the refining process and techniques of this magical artifact, listing all the necessary spiritual materials and even the substitutes between them. From the raw materials to how to refine and forge them, and finally to the formation of the artifact, the entire process is extremely comprehensive.

It is no exaggeration to say that any cultivator who obtains this jade slip, once they have stepped into the realm of weapon crafting, can immediately begin crafting once they have gathered the necessary spiritual materials. It is practically a legacy jade slip for weapon crafters.

Of course, all magical artifacts carry a certain risk of failure during the forging process, and even the master craftsman who recorded this jade slip could not avoid this risk.

However, having this jade slip undoubtedly reduces the risk of failure when refining this magical artifact, making it vastly different from the process of a weapon refiner figuring things out on their own.

According to the description in this jade slip, if the Chongyuan Pearl is successfully refined according to the method described above, it will be at least a mid-grade magic weapon. If the quality of the materials collected for refining is higher, the quality of the magic weapon can be further improved.

If that were all, it wouldn't have shocked Zhou Ping. After all, most magical artifacts could be crafted by providing sufficiently precious spiritual materials, resulting in high-grade artifacts.

For example, the fox-crow beak he sold to Wanbaoge was a core spiritual material of a level two demon beast. The Golden Crow Hairpin made from it was actually a top-grade magic weapon, and its power was astonishing.

What truly shocked Zhou Ping about this jade slip was that at the end, the person who engraved it left behind some words that revealed a deep sense of resentment and regret.

"The 'Heavy Yuan Pearl' that I painstakingly crafted possesses considerable power, but according to my initial design, it is only a half-finished product."

"In my imagination, this treasure should contain the essence of the five elements and the wonder of mutual generation. It should be layered and stacked, with the five pearls emerging together as a set, so that it can fully display its extraordinary power."

"Alas, although I am skilled in crafting weapons, my own cultivation is far inferior. After wasting decades, I could not withstand the passage of time and died without being able to unleash this treasure. I can only leave this jade slip for future generations, hoping that they will fulfill my wish and comfort my heart."

It's not hard to tell from what the other party said that this Chongyuan Pearl was only a semi-finished product and had not yet met their expectations.

In this person's vision, the final form of this magical artifact would require the refinement of five different elemental beads to form a complete set, in order to fully unleash its power.

Zhou Ping gently rubbed the emerald green jade slip in his palm, slowly pondering the information left by the other party within it.

If we can truly forge the magical artifact that the other party envisions, its power will likely be at least at the level of a top-grade magical artifact, and it is even possible that it will surpass it.

After all, it is already extremely fortunate for a cultivator to obtain five magical artifacts with different attributes. To think that these five magical artifacts with different attributes could be of the same origin, be transformed into a whole, and be refined as a set is a pipe dream and impractical to Zhou Ping.

"Regardless of the circumstances, this person's skill in weapon crafting is enough to qualify him as a grandmaster."

Zhou Ping shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic ideas in his mind. He had no time or energy to refine the Yuan Pearl right now.

Putting aside the fact that he has never been involved in weapon crafting, he is currently unable to collect all the spiritual materials needed to craft this bead, and he will not bother to search for them elsewhere.

After all, he was still suffering from the injury to his Dao Foundation, and whether he could find a way to break the curse was still uncertain. He had no mood to study any weapon-refining techniques.

However, the jade slip was not entirely useless; at least it allowed him to know what the spherical magic artifact he had obtained from Liu Chong was.

"I never expected Liu Chong to be so ambitious. He actually managed to successfully refine an earth-attribute Heavy Yuan Pearl according to the refining method on the jade slip."

Zhou Ping took out the items he had previously put into his storage bag again, and took a special look at the spherical magic artifact he had obtained from Liu Chong, exclaiming in amazement.

Although there is only one of these beads, which is completely unrelated to the five beads mentioned in the jade slip, after Zhou Ping urges it on, ignoring its unremarkable speed, in terms of power alone, the Azure Scale Sword and the Crimson Fire Hammer in his hand are far inferior to it.

Perhaps in some special circumstances, using this as a powerful trump card might bring him some unexpected surprises.