256: Chapter 257 Comprehending the Structure of the Nine Cauldrons, Taoist Weapon Refining

Lu Chen's Divine Sense was like mercury spreading across the ground, silently covering a radius of six hundred and sixty kilometers.

Mountains, rivers, cities, vegetation, birds, beasts, insects, fish, and even the movement of a single grain of dust were clearly presented in his perception.

This sense of control was unprecedented.

A change in quantity led to a change in quality.

His Divine Sense was not only vast in range, but its ability to investigate at the 'microscopic' level had also reached an inconceivable state.

In the past, when his Divine Sense swept over, it was like a satellite looking down at the earth, seeing the outlines of mountains and rivers and distinguishing the textures of plants.

But now, his Divine Sense seemed to have turned into countless electron microscopes that could be infinitely magnified, capable of delving deep into the subtle structures of matter.

A strange throb came from the nine tripods deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

With a single thought, his massive Divine Sense focused instantly.

No longer looking at the macroscopic projection, it 'drilled' directly into the body of the nine tripods!

Buzz!

It was as if he had broken into a completely new world.

What lay before him was no longer the simple and heavy ancient bronze tripod.

Instead, it was a dense and complex internal structure that made one's scalp tingle!

Countless shimmering 'pipes' crisscrossed throughout the interior of the nine tripods' walls, forming an incredibly precise and profound network.

These pipes were more like paths for energy flow, similar to the Meridians and collaterals of the human body, yet hundreds of millions of times more complex!

They branched, converged, circled, and straightened, following some unspeakable law as they traveled and circulated within the thick walls of the tripod.

'This is...'

Lu Chen's heart stirred slightly as his Divine Sense cautiously probed into one of the outermost shimmering pipes.

The sensation was cold, yet it contained a strange 'vitality.'

He tried to mobilize a negligible amount of spiritual energy and inject it into this pipe.

Buzz!

Like a drop of water falling into boiling oil, that sliver of spiritual energy was instantly 'swallowed' by the pipe and flowed rapidly along the established route!

The speed was far beyond his expectations!

Moreover, in the process of flowing, this sliver of spiritual energy seemed to be constantly 'purified,' 'compressed,' and 'transformed' by the power of the pipe itself!

In just the blink of an eye, when this sliver of spiritual energy flowed out from the other end of the pipe, its nature had undergone a subtle change, becoming more concentrated, purer, and even carrying a hint of... heaviness and solidity?

Lu Chen's eyes narrowed.

He remembered the miraculous attribute of the nine tripods being able to change size at will.

Could it be...

His Divine Sense sank in once more. This time, he was no longer just testing the waters but fully spreading out his massive Divine Sense power, like the most skilled anatomist, beginning to analyze the energy channel network inside the nine tripods inch by inch.

The deeper he investigated, the greater the astonishment in Lu Chen's eyes.

This was no mere dead object cast from bronze!

This was clearly a Magic Treasure with an extremely precise structure, containing the ultimate principles of heaven and earth!

Yes, a Magic Treasure!

It was definitely not something that could be achieved by mortal hands.

These energy channels, as complex as a galaxy inside, must have utilized some 'Artifact Refining' technique that transcended mortal cognition!

A flash of inspiration struck Lu Chen's mind.

Modern technology uses silicon-based chips, etching nano-scale circuits and driving them with electricity to achieve various complex calculations and functions.

And the nine tripods before him...

It used bronze as a base, with incredibly complex 'spiritual energy channels' constructed inside, using the spiritual energy of a cultivator as the power source to drive its various incredible attributes!

For example, changing size!

This absolutely involved the Space Law!

Although with his current cultivation of two thousand levels of Qi Refining, his Divine Sense strength was still insufficient to completely see through the most core and deepest structure of the nine tripods or understand the mysteries of space folding.

However, just these peripheral energy channels he had explored, along with their effects on the transformation and amplification of spiritual energy, had already allowed him to glimpse the doorway to a brand-new discipline!

Artifact Refining!

This was the true art of Artifact Refining!

It wasn't as simple as a mortal blacksmith hammering and quenching.

True Artifact Refining involves constructing specific energy flow paths—which can be called 'Formations' or 'Rune Circuits'—inside Materials like metal.

When spiritual energy is input into these internal Formations, it is guided, transformed, and amplified, thereby granting the object various miraculous attributes.

If an ordinary iron sword had a Formation path capable of guiding fire-attribute spiritual energy engraved inside it, then when the user inputs spiritual energy, the blade could slash out flames!

By the same token, there could be ice, thunder, sharpness, and so on!

A Magic Treasure is essentially a 'spiritual energy effect converter' and a 'spiritual energy effect amplifier'!

And the core of Artifact Refining is how to construct these stable and efficient energy channels within hard metal or other Materials, which is 'Formation Encapsulation'!

This requires an extremely deep understanding of material properties, energy flow, and Formation runes, and even more so, a powerful Divine Sense to perform exquisite and minute control while the material is forming or even in a molten state, in order to 'draw' those internal structures that are countless times finer than a hair.

No wonder! No wonder those Magic Treasures in myths and legends are so powerful!

This is simply condensing and encapsulating grand Formations into a small object!

Lu Chen's Super Brain worked frantically, greedily absorbing the information he gained from the internal structure of the nine tripods.

Although he still couldn't master high-end technology like space folding, just some basic Formation circuits on the periphery had already given him massive gains.

The [Nine-Turn Reincarnation Array] could cause the metal crystal structure to undergo hierarchical reorganization, greatly enhancing the material's structural strength.

The [Four Symbols Spirit-Suppressing Array] could use high-frequency vibrations to guide the uniform distribution of stress, significantly improving the material's bending and impact resistance.

The [Earth Vein Hidden Array] could greatly improve the material's fatigue and wear resistance, as well as its lifespan.

These three Formations could directly change the lattice arrangement of the metal, completely optimizing the metal material. The Powder Metallurgy developed in later generations was also fundamentally about changing the lattice arrangement of the metal through various alloys to achieve different performances.

To put it simply, these three Formations were the basic Formations for tempering Artifact Refining Materials.

Of course, different Materials would gain different improvements, and some Materials could not withstand the modification of these Heaven-Defying Formations.

The better the material, the higher the improvement; for ordinary iron, the improvement would certainly be limited.

Even so, although they were only a few of the most basic types, using them in combination was enough to transform ordinary iron!

He could now be considered an Artifact Refiner who had just caught a glimpse of the threshold!

Furthermore, with his Divine Sense and spiritual energy control far exceeding ordinary people, as long as there were enough Materials, he was confident in refining 'Quasi-Magic Treasures' that far surpassed the Sharp Weapons of this era!

'Whew...'

Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

In his eyes, a brilliant light was contained, carrying a sense of clarity from having understood the essence of things.

Within his Divine Sense, the sunlight was just right, spilling onto the ancient city walls of Yazd and reflecting a warm glow.

The flags of the Ming Army fluttered atop the city walls, and on the streets, pedestrians in various clothing came and went. Among them, Persian Manichaeans and Auxiliary Army soldiers wearing Ming Official Robes with sabers at their waists were patrolling.

A new order was being established, somewhat raw but also full of vitality.

As Lu Chen watched all this, the excitement in his heart from glimpsing the secrets of 'Artifact Refining' gradually calmed down.

Guard against arrogance and impatience, and continue to comprehend! Not just the nine tripods, but even the base of the nine tripods, the superconductor, was taken out by Lu Chen for research.

The [Yin-Yang Edge-Quenching Array] could allow Materials to withstand extreme low and high temperatures, forming a gradient hardened layer on the surface of cutting tools to improve sharpness.

The [Star Orbit Overcast Array] could greatly enhance the creep resistance of Materials, which was exactly one of the most difficult material problems to solve for later generations' Aero-engines and high-end Steam Turbines.

The [Qiankun Wuji Array] could allow Materials to absorb a large amount of external impact, using lattice vibrations to directly dissipate external forces. Wasn't this thing just like Vibranium!

The [Five Elements Gathering Essence Array] could give Materials the characteristic of self-repair, somewhat similar to Memory Metal.

The [Spirit Vein Profound Array] was a magic Formation understood from the base of the nine tripods that could amplify the flow of spiritual energy. Lu Chen discovered that the Formation seemed to have a side effect, and this side effect could actually give the metal Room-temperature Superconductivity, which simply overturned Lu Chen's worldview.

It was an unexpected joy!

The [Guixu Nirvana Array] could allow these Formations to fuse together, coupling with each other without failing.

Finally, with Lu Chen's current cultivation, he could no longer comprehend the secrets within these nine tripods, and the art of space folding was even further out of reach.

But for now, the foundation for being a Grandmaster-level Great Master of Artifact Refining was fully in place.

Strengthening, toughness, durability, wear resistance, energy absorption, transformation, memory...

Imagine an elite Ming Army unit fully equipped with invulnerable armor, weapons that could cut through iron like butter, and where everyone had Cultivated the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art... wouldn't they be like heavenly soldiers and generals?

The most critical part was that it could also achieve superconductivity. This was too Heaven-Defying. With Room-temperature Superconductivity achieved, many technological achievements could be reconstructed.

War is not just about people; it's also about equipment, logistics, technology, or rather, the art of Artifact Refining.

Of course, the current Ming Army was enough to crush the whole world, so there was no need to prepare such Heaven-Defying Magic Treasures, but this thing was like a nuclear weapon—you might not use it, but you must have it!