100: Chapter 100 Preparations for Dispersing Power

Refining peiyuan pills was exhausting work, batch after batch.

The medicinal fragrance in the Immortal Cave was so thick it could not dissipate, and even his robes were stained with a lingering, bitter herbal scent.

He refined over ten batches, eventually obtaining dozens of peiyuan pills, mostly High Grade, with the occasional top-quality one.

The most successful batch produced seven top-quality pills, their surfaces covered in layer upon layer of pill patterns numbering at least a dozen. Holding them in his palm, he could feel a warm, gentle pulse of medicinal power.

Preparations for defensive measures proceeded in parallel.

The Meteor Shield was the only Tier 1 top-quality defensive Magical Artifact he had refined.

The main material was a piece of extraterrestrial meteorite iron the size of a human head, purchased at the Tianxing Hall for nearly two hundred Spirit Stones.

Embedded within the honeycomb-like pores on the surface of the meteorite iron were pale purple Lightning Tribulation particles—the brand left behind when the meteorite passed through the Lightning Tribulation dome as it fell.

He threw the meteorite iron into the Artifact Refining furnace and calcined it with Spiritual Qi fire for seven days and seven nights.

The iron was stripped away layer by layer, turning into black smoke. The smoke surged at the furnace mouth but was pressed back into the furnace belly by the Fire Gathering Restriction, leaving only the most essential meteorite iron core.

The essence core was dark silver, with naturally formed star-like lightning patterns on its surface, glowing with a faint purple light within the Spiritual Qi fire.

The meteorite iron essence core served as the shield heart, mixed with secret silver to enhance Spiritual Qi conduction, and gold essence to reinforce the structure.

He inscribed ten Restrictions on the shield face—three layers of Defense Restrictions superimposed into concentric circles. The innermost layer was the densest and thickest, with each layer becoming slightly sparser as they moved outward. The point where the three rings overlapped was the very center of the shield heart.

Two Rebound Restrictions could reflect thirty percent of incoming attack power. The inscription technique originated from the same source as the flame rebound Restriction on his Red Sun Bracer, but was more refined—the lines of the Rebound Restrictions wove through the gaps of the Defense Restrictions without touching them; the slightest carelessness would cause the Restrictions to devour each other.

A Lightning Arc Counterattack Restriction utilized the Lightning Tribulation remnants within the meteorite iron itself, automatically triggering a lightning counterattack when struck.

Two Durability Restrictions and one Lightness Inscription reduced the shield's weight to less than three catties.

With all ten Restrictions inscribed, he withdrew the Spiritual Qi fire.

The Meteor Shield flew out from the furnace. The lightning patterns and star points on the shield face shone simultaneously, and the entire shield hovered in mid-air, emitting a low rumble of thunder.

The sound was not loud, yet it pressed down so heavily that the air in the Immortal Cave trembled slightly, and a few more stone chips fell from the edges of the cracks on the stone walls previously caused by his fist wind.

He waved his hand to recall the shield. The shield shrank to the size of his palm, a dark silver hexagon, light as if weightless.

He weighed it in his palm; it was less than three catties. After injecting Spiritual Qi, it could freely expand and contract, reaching up to half a person's height at its maximum.

Refining the Small Five Elements Sword Array took a full twenty days.

The five High Grade Flying Swords, corresponding to Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, each required its Restriction patterns to perfectly match its corresponding attribute.

Geng Metal was refined into the Sharp Metal Sword, its blade dark cyan. It featured a total of nine Restrictions, with Sharpness Restrictions superimposed with Armor Piercing Restrictions. The tip of the blade glinted with a cold, piercing light under the glow of the night-luminescent pearls.

Purple Sun Wood was refined into the Green Wood Sword, its blade emerald green like the new leaves of early spring. With Entanglement Restrictions and Regeneration Restrictions as the core, the natural wood grain on the sword spine intertwined with the Restriction patterns into a dense spiderweb.

Cold Iron fused with the water-attribute spirit mineral brought back from the bottom of the cold pool at Black Wind Cliff was refined into the Profound Water Sword. The blade was deep blue, with water-wave-like Restriction patterns naturally flowing along the sword spine. After injecting Spiritual Qi, a thin layer of water veil would appear on the surface of the blade.

Blazing Sun Iron combined with Lava Fire Crystal was refined into the Li Fire Sword. The blade was crimson red, and a Fire Amplification Restriction kept it constantly wrapped in a layer of pale red firelight. Holding it in his hand, he could feel a continuous, warm pulse.

Obsidian fused with snake bone powder was refined into the Thick Earth Sword. The blade was pitch black, and Heavy Strike Restrictions and Vibration Restrictions made this sword the heaviest—three times heavier than the other four.

When deploying the Small Five Elements Sword Array, the Five Elements Spiritual Qi stimulated and amplified each other between the blades.

He tested it once in the Immortal Cave—the five swords hovered in front of him in a circular Formation, arranged from left to right as Metal, Wood, Water, Earth, and Fire. Spiritual Qi shot out from the tip of the Sharp Metal Sword, passing through the other four swords in the ring; each time it passed through a sword, the Spiritual Qi strengthened by a fraction. By the time it returned to the Sharp Metal Sword after a full cycle, its power had more than doubled.

When the sword array operated, the five Flying Swords emitted a very faint humming sound simultaneously. The frequencies of the hums were all different, but combined, they formed a strange resonance.

He tested it three times repeatedly, confirming that the Five Elements Spiritual Qi flowed smoothly between the five swords without stagnation, before placing the five swords into his Storage Pouch to be kept separately.

Two sets of top-quality Formation Plates took him an entire month.

The first set was an attack Formation Plate. It was upgraded based on the Li Fire Killing Array, with Lava Fire Crystal as the array eye, supplemented by ten top-quality array patterns.

The base of the Formation Plate was cast from fire copper mixed with secret silver. When inscribing the array patterns, the depth of every stroke was precise to the thickness of three strands of hair.

Once activated, it could turn a radius of a hundred zhang into a sea of fire, with every flame in the sea of fire equivalent to a full-force strike from a Late Stage of Qi Refining Cultivator.

He added a circle of Fire Gathering array patterns to the edge of the Formation Plate, which could reabsorb the fire Spiritual Qi that dissipated during the burning of the sea of fire back into the array eye for recycling, extending the duration by a full double compared to ordinary attack Formation Plates.

The second set was a defensive Formation Plate.

It used the snake bones brought back from Black Wind Cliff as the main material—the vertebrae and ribs of that Tier 1 Peak snake monster were ground into bone powder and mixed with meteorite iron residue to cast the base of the Formation Plate.

He inscribed ten defensive array patterns, each running in a hexagonal, interlaced network. Once activated, it could form a yellow Spiritual Qi barrier one zhang thick around the perimeter of the Immortal Cave.

When he was selling Magical Artifacts at the Qianbing Pavilion, he had heard Sun Desheng mention that the Tier 2 High Grade defensive barrier of the Li family's city-protecting grand array was only five or six zhang thick—although the defensive power of this Formation Plate could not compare to a Tier 2 High Grade grand array, it should be no problem to withstand a few strikes from a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator.

The core control tokens for both sets of Formation Plates were refined by him using his essence blood.

Holding the token in his palm, with his mind connected, he could activate it with a single thought.

He tucked the tokens close to his body, and inscribed an extra Disguise Restriction on the surface of the tokens, making them look like ordinary iron-wood tokens.

Preparations for Talismans were divided into two parts.

He refined the High Grade Talismans himself—he had purchased a large quantity of Talisman paper and spirit ink from the market. Fireball Talisman, Wind Blade, Flame Explosion Talisman, Golden Light Talisman, Godly Travel Talisman, Earth Escape Talisman; he refined dozens of each. The failure rate for top-quality Talismans was too high, and he had failed a few times when drawing them himself, so he simply went to the Spirit Talisman Pavilion to purchase them.

The shopkeeper of the Spirit Talisman Pavilion was an old man at the Qi Refining Stage 7 with a sparse goatee. Seeing him buy seven or eight top-quality Talismans at once, his goatee twitched, and he fished a box out of his Storage Pouch.

Inside the box were dozens of Talismans neatly stacked, the Spiritual Qi light flowing on the Talisman paper particularly eye-catching in the dim shop.

"Fellow Daoist, are you planning to risk your life against someone?" The shopkeeper placed the iron box on the counter and tapped his fingers lightly on the lid.

Jiang Yan didn't respond, choosing a few top-quality attack Talismans, and then selecting a few Tier 2 Low Grade Golden Body Talismans and Substitute Talismans.

The price of Tier 2 Talismans was nearly ten times that of Tier 1 top-quality ones; a single Tier 2 Low Grade Golden Body Talisman cost three hundred Spirit Stones and could save his life for a moment against a full-force strike from a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator.

When he counted out the Spirit Stones, the shopkeeper's eyes darted back and forth between the Golden Body Talismans and the Spirit Stones several times. Finally, he lowered his voice and asked: "Fellow Daoist, with so many good things, are you planning to leave Black Stone City?"

Jiang Yan put the Talismans away and turned to leave.

The snake egg was placed by him in the center of another High Grade Spirit Gathering Array in the corner of the Immortal Cave.

This was something he had specially refined for the snake egg—the Formation Plate used fragments of water-attribute spirit minerals as the array eye, with Spirit Gathering Array patterns inscribed on the base of the Formation Plate. Once activated, the concentration of water-attribute Spiritual Qi within the array's range was several times denser than outside.

The snake egg lay quietly in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array, the water-wave-like dark patterns on the deep blue eggshell becoming increasingly vivid under the infusion of Spiritual Qi.

Through the shell wall, that extremely slow life pulse was a few shades stronger than before—no longer a barely perceptible tremor, but a steady beat that could be clearly felt every short half-hour.

He checked the temperature of the eggshell every few days.

Placing his palm on the eggshell, the touch was warm and moist, like pressing against a pebble just fished out of warm water.

Confirming that the life fluctuation was stable, he kept the Spirit Gathering Array running at its lowest power.

The hatching of the snake egg could not be rushed; it required continuous incubation for months or even years.

The Spirit Gathering Array he used for his own Cultivation was also upgraded.

A set of High Grade Spirit Gathering Array Formation Plates replaced the simple Spirit Gathering Array originally in the Immortal Cave—the new Formation Plate had a dozen pieces of spirit jade embedded at the edge as a Spiritual Qi buffer, and the core array eye was a piece of Spirit Gathering Jade purchased at a high price from the Baizhen Pavilion.

After activating the new Spirit Gathering Array, the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the Immortal Cave was several times denser than outside.

When the array was running, the dim green light of the night-luminescent pearls embedded in the stone walls was refracted by the Spiritual Qi to be slightly bluish, and there was a faint, sweet scent in the air.