28: Chapter 28 The Spirit-Breaking Crossbow is Completed, and the Four Islands Form an Alliance

After the Chen family's first batch of Spirit Stones was put into storage, Blue Moon Island's Second Workshop was truly lit for the first time for three full days and nights.

The entire island was like having its neck constricted by a rope; no one dared to slow down, and no one could stop.

The city walls continued to rise, a second pier was expanded at the Outer Port, and the five thousand newly arrived Mortals were divided into several groups by Shi Jian: some entered the Workshop, some went to the highlands to move stones, and some went to the fields to dig irrigation canals. The flesh and blood sent by the Chen family were almost instantly chewed and assimilated into Blue Moon Island's own foundation.

And deep inside the Second Workshop, the most critical piece was still the crossbow.

After the Mystic Ice Jade was cut into thin slices, it was not as easy to embed into the crossbow body as initially imagined. The moment the first prototype was strung, the crossbow arm cracked by half an inch on the spot due to the clash between the cold pressure and the fire patterns; the second one held up, but after firing, the Array Pattern backfired, almost crippling the hands of the Artifact Refining apprentice responsible for carving the patterns.

After two consecutive failures, even the usually stubborn craftsmen began to fall silent.

But Su Qingli was more ruthless than anyone else.

She didn't give anyone a chance to be discouraged, instead directly spreading the shattered crossbow arms and burnt Array Pattern boards out on the long table, dismantling them one by one for everyone to see.

"The Qi-conducting lines are too straight."

"The cold energy is being compressed to the end in one go, so the crossbow body naturally cannot withstand it."

"Change it. Use arc-shaped induction, and add a backflow buffer. The Flame Talisman cannot be placed directly on the main groove; it must be moved back by half an inch, waiting for the ice patterns to crack the protective shield before it explodes."

When she said these words, her lips were pale, and the area under her eyes was dark and bruised from several days of staying up, yet her voice grew increasingly steady.

Lu Changyuan stood to the side, neither urging nor comforting her, only handing her a cup of perfectly warmed Spirit Tea when she stopped.

"The third one."

"Try again."

The third test firing was conducted on an empty stone slope on the north side of Qingyuan Terrace.

Three layers of second-order high-grade protective shields were temporarily set up in front of the slope, and a terrifyingly thick slab of black iron target was hung behind it. Several Dao soldiers stood far away, and even Lu Hu had raised his protective Qi aura beforehand.

Shi Jian led a team of Mortal gunners who had just been drafted into the Workshop and stood guard behind the crossbow.

These people had never even touched a proper Magical Artifact before, let alone this new thing that was only half-modified and looked hair-raising just to behold. But the more this was the case, the brighter the light in their eyes became. Because everyone knew that once this thing was completed, Blue Moon Island's sharpest teeth would no longer just grow in the hands of Cultivators.

Su Qingli personally calibrated the final Array Pattern, retreated to Lu Changyuan's side, and said in a hoarse voice,

"Master, it is ready."

Lu Changyuan looked at Shi Jian.

"String the bow."

Three Mortal gunners simultaneously tensed their arms and slowly slotted the special spirit arrow, which was embedded with Mystic Ice Jade guide pieces and had a fire pattern talisman core pressed at the tail, into the crossbow groove. As spiritual power was poured into the entire crossbow body, a very faint sound of cracking ice was emitted, followed by a layer of azure cold light that crawled along the crossbow arms to cover the entire body.

At this moment, even Lu Hu subconsciously held his breath.

"Fire."

With a low shout from Shi Jian, the crossbow string exploded with a boom.

The spirit arrow was like a bolt of lightning wrapped in cold light, instantly tearing through the wind in front of the slope. The first layer of the second-order high-grade protective shield had just lit up when it was directly pierced with large cracks by the cold force of the Mystic Ice; the second layer of the shield was penetrated almost in the next instant; by the time the third layer of the shield tried to close, the fire pattern talisman core at the tail suddenly exploded, the ice and fire clashing, forcibly blasting the third layer of the protective shield into a sky full of shattered light.

Immediately afterwards, the spirit arrow, its momentum not yet exhausted, fiercely nailed into the black iron target board behind.

With a muffled boom, half of the target board was actually pierced through, and a deep pit was blasted into the stone wall behind it, with large patches of white frost rapidly forming around the edge of the pit.

The entire stone slope fell into instant silence.

Even the wind seemed to stop for a breath.

The next moment, the eyes of everyone in the Second Workshop who had been staring at this arrow lit up.

Lu Hu was stunned at first, then burst into loud laughter.

"It's a success!"

"It actually worked!"

Shi Jian clenched his fists directly, his chest feeling as if it had been fiercely struck by something. He didn't understand the complex mechanisms inside, but he understood how those three layers of second-order high-grade protective shields were shattered, and he understood what it meant when this arrow hit the black iron target.

This was something that could nail even the high and mighty Cultivators down.

Su Qingli stood in place, her body swaying, almost losing her footing.

The string that had been taut to its limit finally loosened by half an inch at this moment.

Lu Changyuan raised his hand to support her, a trace of genuine joy finally appearing in his eyes.

"Name."

Su Qingli looked at the target board torn apart by both frost and fire marks, and softly uttered four words.

"mystic ice spirit-breaking crossbow."

Lu Changyuan nodded.

"That shall be it."

"Seal and record the first one as a sample, and have the rest of the people work day and night following this method. Dismantle all six old crossbows; modify them first, then build new ones."

He paused and looked at everyone in the Workshop.

"Everyone who participated in the successful creation of the crossbow will receive an additional ten percent on top of the previously promised reward."

"Su Qingli."

She looked up.

"I will not go back on what I promised you. From today, send another letter to the main branch in Yunzhou, along with your top merit. I will exchange the pill for you."

Su Qingli's eyes trembled slightly, and after a long while, she replied in a low voice: "...Yes."

But before the news of the crossbow's completion on Blue Moon Island could even be fully stored away, the Ironwood Island side had already completely exploded into chaos.

After Matriarch Xu Sushuang returned to the island, the Chen family could not suppress their pent-up anger. Great Elder Chen Xinglie was leashed like a dog by Blue Moon Island, and one hundred thousand Spirit Stones and five thousand Mortals had been forcibly snatched away; every one of these cuts was slicing into the Chen family's century-old reputation.

What was even more fatal was that the spiritual energy in the reef area was still leaking.

Everyone knew that there was a big haul there.

Matriarch Xu Sushuang and the Chen family head, Chen Chengyue, endured it for two days, but in the end, they couldn't hold back. However, this time, they weren't stupid enough to swallow it alone; instead, they sent the news out in a roundabout way.

The island masters of Chi Luo Island in the east, Wu She Island in the west, and Black Tide Islet in the north received secret letters one after another. The letters did not mention the Star Sand mine, only that a "fourth-order treasure" capable of changing one's fate had been unearthed in the waters outside Blue Moon Island; the Chen family had intended to take it quietly, but Blue Moon Island had used its backing from the Lu family to forcibly seize it, even capturing the Grand Elder alive.

If it were just a letter, these old foxes might not have believed it.

But Chen Chengyue happened to have an ancestral "Illusion Star Disk" in his hands—it was said to be a remnant artifact the Chen family ancestors had picked up from a dilapidated ancient array sect ruin, with only the last wisp of array spirit remaining. This thing had no other use, except that it could disguise existing spiritual energy as a higher-order phenomenon. However, every time it was activated, the array spirit would weaken by a fraction. Chen Chengyue hesitated in the secret room for an entire night, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and used it for the last time.

With this fuel added to the fire, the three surrounding families could no longer sit still.

The fact that the Chen family had suffered a loss at the hands of Blue Moon Island showed that Blue Moon Island was not easy to chew; but the harder it was to chew, the larger the piece of meat. If a fourth-order treasure had truly emerged, it was not something one family could swallow; whoever was a step slow would only be left to drink the soup.

Three days later, at a hidden bay on Ironwood Island.

The four island masters sat in a circle across the black water, none of them placing their Spiritual Artifacts far away.

Matriarch Xu Sushuang sat beside Chen Chengyue, her face as cold as ice.

Chen Chengyue then spoke slowly.

"The Chen family suffered a loss this time because we underestimated the enemy."

"But no matter what, Blue Moon Island is just a new island that has only just established itself."

"Now that it is holding both that heavy treasure and the reef mine entrance, it also wants to rely on the Lu family's banner to suppress the surrounding waters."

"If you all continue to watch, by the time it truly settles down with the item, it will be too late to reach out."

The Chi Luo Island master narrowed his eyes: "Your Chen family lost face, and now you want to drag us into the fray?"

Chen Chengyue did not get angry; he only raised his hand and released the illusion induced by that strange treasure. The spiritual light in mid-air twisted, and it actually revealed a purple-blue pillar of Qi that was much thicker than an ordinary third-order mineral vein.

At this, the eyes of the other three changed.

The Wu She Island master gasped lowly: "Fourth-order?"

Chen Chengyue did not answer, only sneered.

"Whether it is or not, see for yourselves."

"But one thing is certain."

"Blue Moon Island has already been tested by us; its ability to fight a wave relies on ambushes in the reef sea and the Lu family's background to save face. If we really press forward head-on, its shallow foundation cannot withstand the joint force of four families."

This sentence finally pushed away the last bit of hesitation.

After a moment of silence in the bay, four wine bowls simultaneously landed on the reef table.

"Then we shall join forces."

"First divide Blue Moon Island, then divide the heavy treasure."

The wind swept across the bay, and the war banners rustled low in the night.

The four-family coalition was thus formed.