457: Chapter 457 Artifact Spirit

"Yaoyao, your Bloodline has advanced to Fourth-Grade Medium Grade. Aren't you close to Nascent Soul Formation?" Liu Xuan asked.

"Mhm!" Yun Yao nodded joyfully. "I feel that the Bottleneck hindering my Breakthrough has completely disappeared. I can Breakthrough in at most ten years."

"If I can take enough High-Grade Medicinal Pills and have a Fourth-Grade Spiritual Vein for Breakthrough, I'm even confident I can successfully Breakthrough within a year."

Yun Yao had been stuck at Peak Golden Core for decades, with the only obstacle being her insufficient Bloodline grade.

Now that her Bloodline had risen to Fourth-Grade Medium Grade, Nascent Soul Formation was just a step away for her.

"You don't have to worry about Medicinal Pills and Spiritual Veins; your husband will take care of everything for you."

"Really?" Yun Yao was first surprised, then moved, saying, "Why are you so good to me?"

"You call me master, shouldn't I be good to you?"

Liu Xuan reached out and gently stroked her delicate chin. "If you really want to thank me, why not give me another child?"

"How can one be enough?" Yun Yao's big eyes lit up, and she declared boldly, "I want to have ten!"

Yun Yao was more than willing to have children; after all, she had just gained immense benefits from giving birth.

With her son Liu Tongxiao's birth, her Bloodline had advanced to Fourth-Grade Medium Grade. If the next child also enhanced her Bloodline, wouldn't continuously having children and continuously improving her Bloodline mean that Soul Transformation was within reach?

Not just Soul Transformation; if it truly could be like this, even Immortal Ascension could be hoped for.

Who said having children would delay Cultivation? Yun Yao now felt that having children for Liu Xuan was the greatest Cultivation shortcut, wishing she could get pregnant immediately.

"Ten?" Liu Xuan chuckled, "Then you'll have to work hard."

"Don't worry!" Yun Yao hooked her arms around Liu Xuan's neck, confidently saying, "This maiden has plenty of strength and methods!"

With that, she used a Escape (Escape Technique), pulling Liu Xuan out of the courtyard, to let Liu Xuan witness her strength and methods.

...

A month later.

More and more Flying Boats arrived from the north, occasionally forming fleets that covered the sky.

The Endless Demon Court, fighting on foreign ground, saw its losses suddenly increase. Knowing it was impossible to conquer the Star Academy, the Yao Race began to gradually withdraw, returning to their own territory to set up defenses.

With the Earth Vein Grand Array in place, the defending side in a war would have a huge advantage. This was true for Peach Blossom occupying the Star Academy, and equally true for the Yao Race occupying the Endless Demon Court.

Retreating to defend, even if the Beast Taming Sect was very strong, it couldn't destroy the Demon Court in a short time. With continuous unequal consumption, the Beast Taming Sect would surely suffer greater losses, and the Demon Court might not be without a chance to turn the tables in the future.

Based on this self-consolation, the Yao Race's retreat speed became faster and faster, and the front line of the battlefield shifted to the boundary between the south of the Star Academy and the Demon Court.

The Yao Race was busy building defensive lines, and the Beast Taming Sect was busy reorganizing and recovering. The fierce war suddenly cooled down.

Great Sun City became lively again, with Cultivators from the Beast Taming Sect's main forces stopping to rest, and teams returning from the front line. At this rate, the liveliness would soon surpass its previous Peak state.

The war had temporarily cooled down, but the overall tone hadn't changed. From the bottom to the top, everyone was still incredibly busy.

The Star Academy's territory was only so large, and there were only so many Spiritual Veins. With large numbers of Cultivator teams from the Beast Taming Sect's Main Mountain squeezing in, stable development couldn't continue indefinitely. With the Demon Court retreating, the Beast Taming Sect would have to take the offensive from now on.

All in all, the Pioneering War had truly begun, and whether it was offense or defense, it couldn't be stopped.

Everyone was busy, and Liu Xuan was also busy. At this moment, he held his ten-year-old daughter Xin Ci in his left hand and his son Tong Xiao, less than three months old, in his right, standing outside a room, quietly waiting for his six hundredth descendant to be born.

Transmigration Calendar, May 16th, thirty-ninth year. In forty years, Liu Xuan's six hundredth descendant was about to be born!

If this were in ancient royalty, six hundred descendants vying for succession, how exciting would that be?

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, your six hundredth descendant has been born. Ninth-Grade Spiritual Root. You have received 5 High-Grade Spirit Stones.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, your number of descendants has reached six hundred. You have received a Fourth-Grade Supreme-Grade Acquired Spirit Treasure: ninefold sun yang furnace.]

[ninefold sun yang furnace: A Fourth-Grade Supreme-Grade Acquired Spirit Treasure Pill Furnace, a treasure of the Dao of Alchemy. With ancient Purple Gold Amber as its bone, Profound Fire Spirit Crystal as its spirit, and Meditation Sand as its Meridians, it naturally possesses a trace of spirituality, which can greatly reduce Divine Thought consumption during Alchemy. It gathers flames and locks spirits, capable of nourishing Medicinal Pill essence, greatly improving Medicinal Pill quality and success rate. It suppresses evil and wards off disturbances, capable of refining Heart Demons and strengthening the Divine Soul...]

A Fourth-Grade Supreme-Grade Acquired Spirit Treasure Pill Furnace was precisely the top-tier treasure Liu Xuan could use.

Since obtaining the Fourth-Grade top-tier Alchemy Legacy, the Third-Grade Low Grade Magical Artifact, purple poison cauldron, had become somewhat insufficient.

Not long ago, Liu Xuan had already used his Artifact Refining knowledge to design a large Third-Grade top-tier Pill Furnace. The blueprints weren't even finished yet, and it was already obsolete.

From the System's description, what Liu Xuan was most satisfied with was its inherent trace of spirituality, which could greatly reduce Divine Thought consumption during Alchemy.

This was too suitable for him. Liu Xuan possessed the Incarnation Divine Ability, and reduced Divine Thought consumption meant he could use his Incarnation for Alchemy, only needing to transfer his full attention and refine with care during critical moments when Divine Thought consumption increased.

Alchemy and Artifact Refining, as long as they involved high-grade items, inevitably required Divine Thought support.

Liu Xuan had always tried to use Formations and Magical Artifacts to replace manual labor, like modern industry, to achieve automated Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

But the reality was more difficult than Liu Xuan imagined. The higher the grade of Medicinal Pills and Magical Artifacts, the more indispensable Divine Thought support became. Ordinary Formations and Magical Artifacts simply couldn't achieve it.

Even if Low Grade Magical Artifacts and Medicinal Pills could be automatically refined, while the refining speed decreased, the cost would increase additionally.

The Laws of Heaven and Earth were different; it wasn't so easy for Liu Xuan to take shortcuts with his past life's experience.

This ninefold sun yang furnace could reduce Divine Thought consumption during Alchemy. Perhaps he could gain some insights from it and replicate this effect.

The child's mother was the champion of the previous Great Sun City beauty pageant, Junior Sister, who was nineteen this year.

Liu Xuan went in to offer a few words of concern, then casually gave the child a name, and left after staying for half an hour.

Pill Refining Tower.

With a thought, a Pill Furnace with three legs, two ears, an ancient and simple shape, three feet tall, and a round belly, appeared out of thin air.

The Pill Furnace had no superfluous decorations; its simplicity exuded majesty, and its tranquility contained Dao rhyme (Dao Charm). One look revealed it was no ordinary item.

"Buzz~"

The Pill Furnace vibrated slightly, and Liu Xuan actually perceived a faint, almost imperceptible will from it, as if it were alive.

Objects nurturing spirits and giving birth to Artifact Spirits—this was a Divine Effect only possessed by Fifth-Grade Spirit Treasures.

Moreover, not all Fifth-Grade Spirit Treasures could give birth to Artifact Spirits. This not only required a sufficient grade but also a long period of nurturing.

Just like the Fifth-Grade top-tier spirit treasure genealogy in Liu Xuan's Sea of Consciousness, it didn't have an Artifact Spirit. Firstly, it wasn't needed, and secondly, it hadn't been nurtured.

High-Grade Spirit Treasures are not weak without Artifact Spirits, but having an Artifact Spirit definitely signifies extreme power and also possesses room for advancement.

If this trace of spirituality in the ninefold sun yang furnace could grow into a true Artifact Spirit, it could directly advance to a Fifth-Grade Spirit Treasure.

If it refined High-Grade Medicinal Pills for a long time, absorbing the Dao of Alchemy Laws within to complete itself, it might even have a chance to undergo a Lightning Tribulation and advance to a Sixth-Grade Immortal Artifact.