231: The Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Bow is complete!

Three years later, inside the Immortal Cave's Artifact Refining Room.

Su Ling slowly removed a section of Soul Wood, flowing with faint blue patterns, from a slender jar filled with Soul Crystal Liquid.

This jar of Soul Crystal Liquid weighed a full five catties. If brought back to the Canglang Plane, it would be enough to cause countless Spirit Transformation Cultivators to fight over it frantically; its value was no less than several million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

Even as the person in charge of this place, Su Ling had spent a million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to exchange for it.

Fortunately, soaking this section of Ten-Thousand-Year Ghost Soul Wood did not consume too much Soul Crystal Liquid.

Lifting the Soul Wood, which had absorbed the spiritual liquid and softened, Su Ling walked to the center of the Artifact Refining Room and used his magic power to suspend it in mid-air.

Immediately after, a wisp of black flame emerged from his palm.

The edges of the flame flickered with illusory chain-like shadows, burning silently as it began to eerily roast the bottom of the Soul Wood.

This fire was named the "Soul-Imprisoning Flame," produced deep within the Shadow Prison Canyon.

During the two hundred years the Bitao Sect Disciples had been stationed here, they had only obtained two sparks.

The one before him had just been born ten years ago and was taken by Su Ling for research.

He had accidentally discovered that this fire had miraculous effects on refining Yin-soul attribute Magic Treasures.

When he had originally re-refined the ten thousand souls banner, Su Ling had only hoped to elevate it to a supreme grade Magic Treasure.

Unexpectedly, when processing various Yin-soul Materials, the Soul-Imprisoning Flame not only failed to damage their spirituality but instead made their attributes increasingly condensed.

Ultimately, the ten thousand souls banner had actually leapt into the ranks of low-grade spirit tools in one go.

This unexpected pleasant surprise gave Su Ling the idea of using this fire to refine the nine nether soul devouring bow.

After long preparations, he finally opened the furnace once again at this moment.

As the Ten-Thousand-Year Ghost Soul Wood was scorched and refined by the Soul-Imprisoning Flame, strands of Impurities dissipated.

Guided by Su Ling's will, the gradually elongating Soul Wood began to deform accordingly.

An hour later, the embryonic form of a bow body gradually became visible.

He beckoned with his hand, and a bowstring beside him—formed by fusing Fifth-Rank Nether Dragon Tendon with Soul-Binding Spider Silk—slowly drifted toward the Soul Wood bow embryo.

The moment the bowstring tightened, Su Ling took a Soul Core from his Cold Jade Ring and embedded it into the center of the great bow.

This vengeful Soul Core was taken from a Fifth-Rank Cursed Vengeful Soul in the Vengeful Soul Mist Plane, and its value also exceeded a million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

Time passed in silent flow.

The bow embryo, repeatedly refined by the Soul-Imprisoning Flame, was finally completely formed.

Su Ling slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

Over the past few decades, he had repeated these same steps many times and knew them by heart.

However, the cause of his repeated failures had always been the final step—Soul Attachment!

Using the refiner's Divine Soul as a guide, he had to carve the Nine Nether Soul Devouring Formation Runes within the bow body.

With a solemn expression, Su Ling lightly touched the Purple Mansion between his brows.

As his finger pulled back, a wisp of deep purple Divine Soul was slowly drawn out.

A flash of pain crossed his eyes, yet he dared not be distracted in the slightest, guiding that wisp of Divine Soul directly into the suspended Soul Devouring Bow.

The Divine Soul sank into the bow body and began to outline profound formation runes within its interior.

As time ticked by, fine beads of sweat gradually broke out on Su Ling's forehead.

Carving the Nine Nether runes was not something that could be done in one go; it required a continuous infusion of Divine Soul power.

Furthermore, he had to use the previously separated Divine Soul as a brush during the process; the pain involved was truly beyond words.

After an unknown amount of time, a bright light suddenly flickered in his eyes. The formation runes, which had previously stopped at seventy percent due to insufficient Divine Soul, were actually approaching Perfection this time.

At a certain moment, the nine nether soul devouring bow suddenly trembled, and a deep purple radiance burst forth!

Strands of Power of Lost Souls actually surged spontaneously from the surrounding Void Realm, gathering toward the bow body.

“It’s done.”

Withdrawing that significantly depleted wisp of Divine Soul, a pale-faced Su Ling let out a long sigh of relief.

This kind of depletion was not comparable to the simple consumption of Divine Soul power.

The part of the Divine Soul that had disappeared was integrated into the Soul Devouring Bow in a very real sense.

In a way, it could be considered a regression in Su Ling’s Realm.

Though it wasn't much, after a dozen experiments, it had completely worn away the portion of Divine Soul cultivation he had gained from devouring ghosts back then.

Feeling the close connection between the Soul Devouring Bow and himself, a smile finally climbed onto the corners of Su Ling's mouth.

Previously, the formation runes would inevitably collapse at seventy percent, and even the bow embryo would be scrapped along with them.

But over these past three years, he had studied Alchemy with Sean, and many insights had gradually grown in his heart, making the reasons for his failures progressively clear.

It wasn't that Alchemy was superior to the Artifact Refining Legacy, but rather that Su Ling had previously possessed the secret methods but lacked guidance. He was quite deficient in material ratios and heat control, resulting in refined embryos that could hardly bear his Divine Soul power, which was comparable to the Soul Transformation stage.

This time, he used top-tier Materials from the Jinhun Realm as a foundation, integrated the subtle processing techniques of Alchemy, and combined them with the experience accumulated from past failures to finally refine the embryo to a near-perfect state.

Although his cultivation Realm had suffered some loss, it was all worth it.

[nine nether soul devouring bow, supreme grade Magic Treasure (Growable), exclusive weapon for Nine Nether Soul Devouring True Scripture. Using this bow to cast the Nether Soul Arrow Secret Art will significantly increase its power.]

“Significantly increase?”

The information from the Immortal Eye of Treasure Appraisal brought joy to Su Ling's heart.

According to the "Nine Nether Soul Devouring True Scripture," when using this bow to fire a Ghost Soul Arrow, one could draw upon the Power of Lost Souls from the Void Realm for enhancement, increasing power by at least thirty percent.

The "significant increase" indicated by the Immortal Eye was likely even greater than that.

Furthermore, many of the Materials used in this refining exceeded the quality recorded in the True Scripture; the jump from a high-grade magic treasure to a supreme grade Magic Treasure was proof of that.

This was not because Su Ling's Artifact Refining skills had reached the level of spirit tools, but rather because he relied on the excellence of the Materials this time.

The brand-new ten thousand souls banner was the same; besides the extraordinary Materials, Su Ling had used his authority to collect over ten Fourth-Rank ghosts, which was what pushed it to a low-grade spirit tool.

After placing the nine nether soul devouring bow into his Purple Mansion for nurturing, Su Ling took a Medicinal Pill and focused on recovering his Divine Soul... Three days later, with his condition fully restored, Su Ling was about to head out when he saw a Bitao Disciple rushing over as soon as he left the Immortal Cave.

Su Ling frowned slightly. “Haoming, why the rush?”

“Senior Brother Su!”

The Disciple named Wen Haoming looked delighted and hurriedly cupped his hands. “A Fifth-Rank Bone Demon has appeared under the Bone Cliff in the upper reaches of the canyon. Senior Brother Lu has already rushed there and specifically asked me to see if you have finished your seclusion.”

“A Fifth-Rank Bone Demon?”

Su Ling's eyes flickered, and his figure already turned into a dark shadow as he streaked toward the sky. “No need to panic, I will go check it out personally.”

“Yes, Senior Brother Su!”

Wen Haoming bowed in response.

By the time he looked up, Su Ling's figure had already disappeared into the clouds and mist.

Facing a Fifth-Rank Bone Demon comparable to the Soul Transformation stage, every bit of magic power was precious.

Thus, Su Ling tossed out the soaring wing boat in mid-air instead of continuously using the Shadow Evasion Art to travel.

An hour later, when he reached a steep cliff that looked as if it had been carved by knives and axes, he saw from afar a black skeleton about four or five zhang tall, wielding a three-zhang-long blade, slashing down violently.

“Boom!”

Countless bones turned into powder and rose up.

A brilliant white figure flew backward out of the smoke and dust, followed immediately by over a hundred sword lights that rained down, blocking the black skeleton as it stepped forward.

Lu Tao's feet traced two marks in the air before he managed to steady himself.

The look in his eyes as he watched the black skeleton was very solemn.

His taixu boat was quite a bit faster than the soaring wing boat, and this battle had already lasted for nearly half an hour.

At first, Lu Tao had wanted to rely on his Indestructible Golden Body to clash with this immensely powerful Fifth-Rank skeleton.

But the black skeleton's strength and defense had truly exceeded his expectations.

Relying solely on his Physical Body, he couldn't gain the slightest advantage.

Instead, he had accidentally been grazed by that long blade and suffered some minor injuries.