Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 95: Consuming Magical Artifacts, Chaos in the Grotto-Heaven
In the cave.

After carefully inspecting the condition of the items in the cave, Zhao Wuji breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, the Golden Goblet Wine wasn't lost.

He stored the wine in an imperial wine jar, mixing it among many other wine jars. Only a connoisseur of wine, like Old Hu from the Sutra Pavilion, could discern its secrets.

The three volumes of "Zhen Gao" and other ancient books such as "Qian Jin Fang" are still extant.

Besides these, the most valuable items in the cave are the five Dragon Tiger Pills and the Purple Cloud Cauldron given to them by Yan Boyuan.

But none of these things fell out, and they didn't even move an inch.

However, after Zhao Wuji performed the guiding technique, he clearly understood that some things had been touched by the person who entered the cave.

For example, books, and wine jars.

The guiding technique involves the circulation of spiritual energy.

A wisp of phoenix breath appeared like a needle.

It was the unique, faint fragrance of cinnabar and snow marrow emanating from Empress Yu Lanxi's sleeves, along with her distinctive phoenix aura.

"It seems they knew I was out patrolling the mountains, so they took advantage of my absence to enter my cave and check the situation before going into the mountains to observe me."

Zhao Wuji looked at Xiao Yue, who had a blank expression on her face. It was clear that even the gatekeeper and medicine boy had no idea that the Empress had entered the cave.

He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

This empress is truly a shrewd and cunning person.

"If I accidentally reveal even the slightest flaw, she might catch me red-handed."

"Although with my current strength and background, I am no longer as afraid of her as before and unable to resist her, if things get out of hand, I will definitely be in big trouble with the criminal justice department."

Many things will remain unclear, including why he possessed magical powers before even coming into contact with Master Huafeng.

"You could have broken the Imperial Observatory's array in the inner palace to take the treasure, so why did you suddenly lose your magic power when you came into contact with Peak Master Hua? This could directly lead Peak Master Hua to suspect me."

Zhao Wuji secretly rejoiced, stepped out of the cave, and came to the half-cultivated medicinal field on the hillside outside, lightly picking at the soil with the toes of his boots.

"Zheng!"

A strange weapon shaped like a beast's claw burst from the ground, with a few weeds still stuck to its blade.

These are the claws of various beasts used as farming tools.

Fortunately, he had never been comfortable using the magical artifact from the Myriad Beasts Cave that the old fox had given him, and he was also wary of its origin.

Therefore, after obtaining the Frost Soul Flying Sword, he used the Hundred Beast Claw as a rake to cultivate the medicinal herb field, and finally simply left it there.

If this magical artifact were still inside the cave, there might be a very small chance that the Empress would determine that it belonged to the Myriad Beasts Cave.

"This magical artifact can't be kept, nor can it be consigned for sale. Let's just melt it down."

Zhao Wuji shook his head, but he was already relieved.

Although the Empress's series of methods were insidious and radical, she did not launch an attack in the end, obviously because she had no clues and no longer suspected him.

"If things can be peaceful for a long time, I really need to set up a formation to protect the cave."

Zhao Wuji returned carrying the Hundred Beast Claw, pondering to himself.

In the past, when Hua Qingshuang was stationed at Hanyue Peak, no foolish person dared to come up the mountain to spy on her.

But now, even the empress who was slapped by Hua Qingshuang back then dares to go up the mountain again.

Upon returning to his cave, Zhao Wuji set up the Purple Cloud Cauldron and used his Weapon Control Technique to place the Hundred Beast Claw inside. He then forcibly refined the Hundred Beast Claw, much like refining alchemical elixirs.

He thought of the spiritual stone he had obtained from the fox den.

I once thought about using alchemy to refine weapons, but I haven't tried it yet.

I'll try them all today.

He immediately took out the stone material and threw it into the Purple Cloud Cauldron to refine it together.

He unleashed martial arts energy from both palms, rapidly manipulating and intensifying the flames, which turned into bluish-purple flames.

Refining and reshaping magical artifacts using alchemy methods is no easy task.

If I learn the Flame Breathing Technique in the future, it will help speed up the weapon forging process.

Zhao Wuji made hand seals and performed a guiding technique.

During the flow of Qi in guiding exercises:

The fiery energy, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, gathers at the heart of the cauldron.

The spiritual essence of the ritual implements unfolds like silk threads being peeled away from a cocoon.

After this process, the magical artifact and the stone quickly turned red and softened, and the proficiency of the guiding technique was also improved.

"My guiding and consuming techniques are almost up to par. The next stage is when I'll be proficient. Will my consuming technique allow me to directly digest magical artifacts raw? Or swallow source crystals directly?"

Zhao Wuji suddenly had a strange idea. Feeling the drops of golden liquid being refined by the magical artifacts inside the cauldron, he suddenly had a strange appetite and his mouth watered.

For the past five months, he has been using guiding techniques and ingesting elixirs almost every day.

Even with a proficiency level of 200 in minor arts, there is only a gap of a dozen points left before a breakthrough.

As time passed, the fire in the alchemy room raged, thick smoke billowed, and several bundles of charcoal had burned.

Finally, the magical artifacts and stones inside the Purple Cloud Cauldron were all refined into a pool of boiling golden liquid.

Zhao Wuji looked rather disheveled. He extinguished the fire, opened the cauldron, and let the liquid gold inside cool down.

"Using charcoal to refine pills is ultimately not a good strategy, and the firepower is insufficient. We should collect better fire-making materials another day. The Flaming Sun Stone from Master Yan's mountain peak is a very good example."

After the liquid inside the cauldron cooled slightly, Zhao Wuji dipped his fingertip into the still-liquid gold liquid, and the instant it entered his mouth:
The first taste is like soft lead coating the tongue, and the burning bitterness is like charcoal struck by lightning.

After the ingestion technique was activated, it transformed into spiritual nectar, which entered the stomach along with the golden liquid.

Zhao Wuji felt as if his limbs and bones were soaking in a hot spring, and his bones faintly emitted the sound of metal striking stone. A new spiritual energy condensed in his dantian.

Zhao Wuji carefully considered the situation and felt slightly invigorated.

Consuming magical artifacts can indeed enhance spiritual power and is also beneficial to the body. After consuming an entire artifact, one can probably condense four or five streams of spiritual power. With long-term consumption, one's physical bones may be significantly strengthened.

“In the Dharma-ending Age, we have discovered a new way to practice: Dharma implements that are difficult to dispose of in the future can be eaten.”

Zhao Wuji devoured the food while it was still hot.

After consuming half of the magical artifact, he was already full, and five streams of newly generated spiritual energy flowed within his stomach like swimming fish.

The refining speed of the ingestion technique has gradually stagnated.

This physical body has not yet reached the level of "consuming gold and iron as usual".

"Half a cauldron of golden liquid is enough. The rest..."

He flipped his hand and put the solidified metal block into the jade box.

"I'll eat the remaining half next time. That should improve my ingestion technique. Perhaps I can also collect some discarded pills from the Purple Cloud Palace to maximize the power of my ingestion technique."

The art of ingesting poison can transform it into nourishment. What is poisonous pills to others is honey to Zhao Wuji.

This can be considered an alternative path of cultivation for acquiring resources in the Dharma-ending Age.

He got up and walked out of the alchemy room, and suddenly found that the spiritual energy in the air outside had further declined, almost only slightly better than the spiritually barren environment outside, which startled him.

"Why has it declined again? Can the grotto-heaven withstand it?"

Just as he was wondering what was going on, he discovered that Dai Zhiyun had actually come to the cave and was sitting there drinking tea, being entertained by Xiao Yue.

Seeing him walk out, Dai Zhiyun immediately stood up with a smile, "Junior Brother Zhao, you've finally finished refining pills. I have some good news for you."

Zhao Wuji's heart skipped a beat. Connecting the dots with the decline in spiritual energy, he exclaimed in surprise, "Peak Master is back?"

"Hmm, as expected, nothing can be hidden from you, junior brother."

Dai Zhiyun nodded excitedly, then took a few steps closer and said with slight worry, "However, the Peak Master was seriously injured. After returning, he went directly to Linlang Peak and is currently healing in the Linlang Zhou Tian Star Array mobilized by the Cave Master."

"It's better that you're back than anything else."

Zhao Wuji nodded, walked out of the cave and looked in the direction of Linlang Peak.

Lingjue could sense that a vast amount of spiritual energy was gathering there, forming rings of five-colored clouds, like a giant whale swallowing the sea. Each cloud ring was drawing spiritual energy from a radius of a thousand miles, encircling the main peak.

The thousand-step jade staircase atop the main peak is faintly visible, appearing and disappearing amidst the colorful clouds, leading directly to the celestial palace at the top, resembling a true abode of immortals.

"Atop the Linglang Peak, a heavenly palace stands, half shrouded in white clouds, half of which belongs to me. That is where the cave master cultivates day and night. With such a constant flow of energy, no wonder the spiritual energy of the other peaks has suddenly diminished."

Zhao Wuji stood on the hillside, his gaze sweeping over the medicinal herb fields below.

The once lush and verdant spiritual fields have now been mostly dug up, leaving only neat pits.

The few remaining spiritual plants that were not picked withered and turned yellow due to the depletion of their spiritual energy, their leaves drooping listlessly.

Clearly, the cave had experience with similar emergency measures before, and even if a large amount of spiritual energy was drawn away, it was able to minimize the loss of resources.

"It felt like I experienced a spiritual energy depletion within a celestial realm. In past dynasties, how many cultivators must have despaired when the spiritual energy was depleted across the entire world?"

As Zhao Wuji pondered, he saw that Dai Zhiyun had already hurriedly gone to the peak master's bedroom to prepare for cleaning, so he decided to go down the mountain alone to find out what was going on.

The scene down the mountain was more desolate than I had imagined.

The once bustling training ground is now deserted, with the largest number of gray-robed disciples almost nowhere to be seen.

The few remaining disciples in green and blue robes also looked hurried, walking in groups of three or five.

I only found out after asking around a bit.

Another group of elite disciples has been dispatched to guard the market town a thousand miles away, to prevent Yunfeng Cave Heaven from taking advantage of the situation.

Another group dispersed to various resource sites in the production areas of spiritual materials to maintain order.

The entire Linglang Cave was like a sophisticated machine, operating smoothly and methodically despite the crisis.

He had just finished his patrol mission and, according to regulations, had a few days of rest before he would likely have other missions scheduled afterward.

As soon as Zhao Wuji turned past the blue stone screen wall in front of the Hall of Affairs, he heard a dispute.

"Junior Sister Li!" Qi Feng, a disciple in blue robes, stood with his hands behind his back, the jade pendant at his waist jingling. "This is the Linglang Grotto-heaven, not the outer palace. It's not a place where you can play tricks!"

"I know."

Li Shiyu gently brushed her hair aside with her slender fingers, and with a radiant smile, handed over a piece of Origin Crystal: "Senior Brother Qi, would you be so accommodating for half a day? Perhaps I can go to Elder Yu's place later."

"Snapped!"

Yuan Jing was slapped to the ground.

"Don't give me that. We're short-handed right now. You'll be going down to the mines with the team. We're just asking you to supervise the mines and prevent the spirit-eating insects from causing trouble, not to mine."

"It seems that this time, the shrewd imperial concubine has offended someone. It's easy to offend the King of Hell, but difficult to deal with his underlings."

Zhao Wuji strolled over.

Just then, Li Shiyu picked up the source crystal from the ground with her slender fingers, when she suddenly saw Zhao Wuji's figure, and a flash of panic crossed her eyes.

She quickly straightened her back, her fingertips subtly brushing away the stray hairs at her temples, her smile remaining unchanged.

"What brings Senior Brother Zhao here?"

Her voice was clear and gentle, as if the argument had never happened. "Is the patrol mission complete?"

"You even knew I went on patrol?" Zhao Wuji was taken aback, then smiled and nodded. "It's done. What's this?"

Qi Feng, the blue-robed disciple who had spoken earlier, suddenly chuckled, flicked his sleeve, and feigned a bow:

"Who do you think it is?"

A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes. "So it's Junior Brother Zhao, the 'Master of Both Alchemy and Sword' from Cold Moon Peak. I've heard so much about you!"

Before he finished speaking, his gaze swept over Li Shiyu, then he turned to Zhao Wuji and chuckled softly:
"I almost forgot that Junior Brother Zhao and Junior Sister Li entered the sect at the same time."

He drew out the last syllable, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, "Could it be that Junior Brother Zhao has taken a fancy to this Junior Sister Li?"

One more chapter is being revised; it will be posted in fifteen minutes.
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(End of this chapter)