Tower Defense: Public Enemy

The Azure Flame incarnate took the Azure Frog's whisk in its hand.

This whisk has a bronze-like handle engraved with lotus patterns. The whisk's fibers, made of some unknown material, are much finer than a strand of hair, crystal clear, and occasionally shimmer with tiny white light.

It is extremely heavy, possibly weighing over ten tons. It is silent when swung, yet it gives Lei Chi a sense that it can dispel illusions and break through obstacles.

"This whisk is no ordinary object; it must have extraordinary uses. Even as a weapon, it would be quite powerful. To fully utilize its potential, it needs to be delivered to its original owner first, and then appraised by the system..."

The Azure Flame avatar put away the whisk and looked at the giant sword on the door panel.

That giant sword was not a low-grade Heaven-Breaking Divine Sword. It was made of some unknown material and weighed an enormous amount, exceeding a thousand tons. Lei Chi thought that its power should be even greater than that of a low-grade Heaven-Breaking Divine Sword, which is why it was used as the main weapon by the third-level Heaven-Breaking Sword God, Yushula.

Unfortunately, this giant sword cannot respond to mental energy, so it is not a mental weapon. Lei Chi has not yet been able to figure out what power this giant sword has. Fortunately, the Azure Flame Avatar is powerful, so it can be used as a close-range slashing weapon.

After a short while, Lei Chi put away all the items and then controlled his Azure Flame avatar to properly tour the cave of Huangsha Lord Sha Wujing.

Around the current stone chamber, there are four larger stone chambers. Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar to explore them one by one. He did not encounter any accidents or discover any traps. Instead, he gained a large amount of refining materials, alchemy materials, cultivation pills, crafting diagrams, scrolls, gems, and so on.

These supplies were more than twice as much as those that Qinghuo's avatar had previously plundered from Qingmangzi and Youshula.

Lei Chi took everything without any hesitation.

"Unfortunately, these cultivation supplies are useless to the Azure Flame Avatar. If they were sent to my main body, they could greatly increase my strength. Lord Sha Wujing of the Yellow Sands is quite generous."

After a brief sigh, Lei Chi began to meditate in the cave until his spiritual power was fully restored before leaving to search for the caves of Qing Mangzi and You Shula.

Two days later, Lei Chi also cleaned out the supplies that Qing Mangzi and You Shu had stored in their cave. The two of them didn't have many supplies in their cave, mostly refining materials, and there weren't any particularly valuable items, which disappointed Lei Chi.

Next, Lei Chi went to the inner sect's weapon-refining pavilion and began refining weapons there.

This process lasted for more than ten days. When he left the weapon-refining pavilion, there were as many as 168 Sky Swords surrounding the Azure Flame Avatar.

The Azure Flame Avatar had used up all the materials for forging the Long Sky Sword, and with his current resources, using 168 Long Sky Swords to perform the [Mindless Cycle] was basically his limit.

The more psychic weapons that respond to the [Mindless Cycle], the better. However, for a psychic master to control psychic weapons with psychic power, more is not necessarily better. It is necessary to pay attention to the appropriateness. With Lei Chi's current psychic power, he can control tens of thousands of Sky Swords at will. However, controlling too many Sky Swords will not improve his combat power. On the contrary, it will lead to a decrease in combat power and waste of psychic power due to too much distraction.

In short, 168 Sky Swords are enough for Lei Chi's current needs.

The storage ring of the Azure Flame Avatar contained many refining materials, enough to forge many exclusive weapons such as the Meteor Divine Sword. However, Lei Chi was not in a hurry to forge them. He controlled the Azure Flame Avatar to quickly arrive at the Inner Sect Great Immortal Academy, where he first began the assessment of the Second-Level Turtle Flow Great Immortal.

For Lei Chi, who had mastered the [Free and Blissful Skill], passing the Level Two Turtle Flow Immortal's test was no challenge at all; he passed with ease.

The following day, Lei Chi also obtained his Level 3 Turtle Flow Immortal certificate.

On the third day, Lei Chi achieved mastery of the [Return to Origin Qi Gong] and passed the assessment for a Level 3 Return to Origin Immortal.

"The Turtle Flow Qi Gong is defensive, and with two Dharma Images guarding my sea of ​​consciousness, ordinary mental attacks are completely ineffective against me. The Azure Flame Avatar is also a God-like being, so it is not afraid of conventional physical attacks. The Azure Flame Avatar is now almost at maximum defense, so I should be able to play around a little without much trouble..."

After obtaining two Level 3 certificates, Lei Chi was in a good mood and quickly made a decision to go to the temple.

Qing Mangzi once told him that after 40,000 years, three temples were born in the temple pool: the Thunder Temple, the Star Temple, and the Gale Temple.

Lei Chi was also very interested in the three temples. In fact, after learning the names of the three palaces, he had some ideas in his mind and had long wanted to verify them.

A moment later, Leichi arrived at the Temple Pool.

This place is like a chaotic void, with three huge bubbles floating in it. In fact, there is a palace in each bubble, and each palace has a plaque on it. They are the Heavenly Thunder Palace, the Gale Palace, and the Star Palace.

When Lei Chi saw the three temples in the bubble, he was startled and countless associations arose in his mind.

Outside the Holy God Palace, in the ruins of the ancient Holy Domain, there are also the Thunder Palace and the Star Palace. Although they are dilapidated, they are roughly similar to the palace in the bubble. It is uncertain whether they are completely identical, but even if there are differences, they are not significant.

"Could it be that the many palaces outside the Ancient Sacred Domain originated from the Holy God Palace? Were the owners of those palaces inner disciples of the Holy God Palace?"

It's hard not to make that connection to Lei Chi.

After observing carefully for a while, Lei Chi flew towards the nearest Heavenly Thunder Palace.

"The guardian said that I am a disciple of the current generation and have the opportunity to obtain a temple. Whether I can obtain it or not is another matter. Let's see what mysteries this temple holds."

Lei Chi pondered silently, but he did not let his guard down. When he arrived near the bubble in the Thunder Palace, he controlled his Azure Flame Avatar to release two [Psychic Storms] before continuing forward.

The bubbles did not stop the Azure Flame Avatar from moving forward. The Azure Flame Avatar stepped into them and then saw a small, luminous figure standing near the Heavenly Thunder Palace.

"As expected, it is the spirit of inheritance! Whether we can obtain this Heavenly Thunder Palace depends on whether we can gain its recognition." Lei Chi, controlling his azure fire avatar, politely cupped his hands to the spirit of inheritance and said, "Yes, please provide a more detailed introduction."

"OK!"

The Spirit of Inheritance, like an emotionless artificial intelligence, said slowly, "In this era, the Holy Divine Palace has given birth to three temples: the Thunder Temple behind me, and the Gale Temple and Star Temple next to it. Those who are destined can obtain them."

The luminous little figure waved its hand, and a technologically advanced light and shadow animation appeared in front of it.

He continued, "The temple is a special treasure created by the Holy Palace. It can be seen as a cultivation cave, a starship, a manufacturing workshop, or a strategic weapon. Different temples have different focuses. Specifically, the Thunder Palace is equipped with six powerful Taiyi Divine Thunder Cannons. The outside of the palace is engraved with the Great Universe Thunder Array. The inside is equipped with complete Holy Palace-standard smelting and refining magic tools. It has a large storage space and can be charged deep into the stars. Theoretically, once fully charged, it can operate continuously for 10,000 years. Even in the vast starry sky, the Thunder Palace is an excellent combat ship. If you yearn to explore the stars, this Thunder Palace is very suitable for you."

"Equipped with a grand cosmic thunder array, and standard smelting and refining magical artifacts, it is being recharged deep within the stars..."

Lei Chi listened in a daze, then asked, "So how can one obtain this Heavenly Thunder Palace?"

The Spirit of Inheritance said, "Obtaining a temple depends solely on fate. One must enter the temple, and if one is fortunate enough, one can obtain the temple token and thus control the temple! Inheritor, would you like me to open the Heavenly Thunder Palace for you?"

"Wait a minute!" The Azure Flame avatar waved its hand. "Could you tell me about the other two temples?"

"Alright! The Star Palace can collect starlight power, and its ability is almost inexhaustible. It is equipped with the Starlight Array, the North Star Array, the Star-Shattering War Hammer, and the powerful charging weapon, the Galaxy Divine Spear. It excels in speed and is an excellent starship! The Gale Palace is the fastest temple, capable of easily breaking through the air. It is equipped with the Gale Array, the Space-Time Array, and the Divine Wind Cannon. There is a Spirit Gathering Array inside the temple, making it suitable for cultivation! To obtain these two temples, you need to enter the temple and trigger an opportunity, but a disciple can only possess one temple at most."

"Good heavens, this isn't a temple, it's a spaceship!"

Lei Chi sighed that he had learned a lot today. After a moment's thought, if he had to choose one of the Thunder Palace, Star Palace and Gale Palace as his temple, he would definitely choose the Thunder Palace. He was not interested in the magic arrays and weapons equipped in the Thunder Palace, but rather in the standardized smelting and refining magic artifacts inside.

Having made his choice, Lei Chi no longer hesitated. He bowed to the Spirit of Molten Fire, asking it to open the Heavenly Thunder Palace for him. A moment later, he entered the Heavenly Thunder Palace.

The Heavenly Thunder Palace seemed to be a self-contained space, with thick thunderclouds constantly rolling above and golden lightning flashing frequently. The ground inside the palace was shrouded in mist, as if the palace was built on top of the clouds.

Looking around from inside the hall, the walls are transparent, allowing a clear view of the outside world, including the entrances and exits, which appear as bright portals isolated in the clouds.

The temple was divided into several areas. At the back was a high platform with a throne on it. The throne resembled a pilot's seat. Lei Chi guessed that if he wanted to fly this temple like a spaceship, he would probably have to sit on that throne.

Below the throne, on the right, there is a "work table".

Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar to run over and check. He found that the workbench was almost identical to the one in the blacksmith's shop. It had everything the blacksmith's workbench had, except for the Star River Hundred-Refined Hammer and the Multiverse Hammer, there was also a Yin-Yang Magnetic Hammer.

"This workbench might be a bit more advanced..."

Lei Chi felt that having such a workbench would be great, and all his hard work in practicing the Star River Hundred Refinements Technique would not have been in vain.

Behind the "work table" is a "Bagua Furnace" that is more than two zhang tall. Lei Chi controlled the green fire avatar to walk up to it and saw the "instruction manual" engraved on the furnace body.

According to the instruction manual, this "Bagua Furnace" is called "Songmen Standard Smelting Furnace, Thunder Palace Special Edition, 6th Generation, Type 8". Its function is very simple: to smelt metals. The operation is even simpler. Just add the raw materials to the material inlet in the middle of the smelting furnace. It will draw energy from the central energy pool of Thunder Palace and then smelt the materials to finally form specific metals or alloys.

Lei Chi thought that this smelting furnace was a valuable asset, and combined with the blacksmith's workbench, it would form half a production line.

Looking to the right of the platform, there are the standard reaction pool and refining furnace of the Holy God Palace. Judging from their appearance, they are even better than the standard magical artifacts in the outer sect's refining pavilion.

"This place is practically a studio, no, it's a production workshop with a complete production line!"

Lei Chi found the Thunder Palace quite interesting. After exploring for a while, he discovered many interesting things, such as storage compartments, array activation buttons, and teleportation beam operation buttons. He also found that the blacksmith's workbench and smelting furnace were movable, so it seemed that they could be moved out of the Thunder Palace.

"Hmm, I've been wandering around here for so long, why haven't I found any opportunities? Could it be that the temple token is hidden somewhere, and I'm supposed to find it?"

Lei Chi muttered something to himself and continued exploring the temple. After failing to find anything, he simply took out some materials from his storage ring and used the forging furnace in the Thunder Palace to forge the Sky Sword.

To Lei Chi's great surprise, just as he had forged his first Long Sky Sword, that "opportunity" finally arrived.

In the center of the main hall, a small round table slowly appeared from bottom to top.

On the small round table was a divination tube containing more than a dozen long slips of paper. Just as Lei Chi was pondering the meaning of these slips, the spirit of inheritance suddenly appeared and said, "Inheritor, please come and draw a slip. If you draw the longest one, this Heavenly Thunder Palace is yours."

"What? We have to draw lots? Is this what they call 'the one destined to win'?"

Lei Chi felt this was very unreliable, but he still went forward and drew a lot as instructed. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but he actually drew the "longest lot".

"Inheritor! Congratulations! You are now the rightful owner of this Thunder Palace. Please keep the temple token safe. From now on, you can use this token to control the Thunder Palace..."

As the spirit of inheritance spoke, it flicked its small hand and produced a small jade token, which was presumably the temple token of the Thunder God Palace.

"That's it? Why does this feel so unreliable..."

Lei Chi accepted the temple token, feeling utterly incredulous.

Although the Thunder Palace already belonged to Thunder Pool, it could not be carried around. Two days later, after learning how to use the Thunder Palace, Thunder Pool temporarily left it at the Temple Pool, while the Azure Flame Avatar returned to its exclusive cave.

He reverted his consciousness back to his physical body.

Lei Chi's true form was still sitting cross-legged in that broken palace, with the giant tortoise carrying the Guiyuan Qigong stele lying in a slumber not far in front of him.

"Having mastered the Guiyuan Qigong, I have opened up 32 microcosms within my body. This giant stele is no longer of any use to me; it's time for me to leave."

Lei Chi gazed at the giant monument, said something indifferently, and then departed on the golden lotus of the other shore.

He will continue to explore this ancient sacred realm, seeking every opportunity.