74: First time forging a spirit bone artifact

Coral Manor Villa No. 9.

Ling Xian stepped into his room.

“Eye of Detection!”

As the skill was activated, those obscure and difficult-to-understand ancient characters were instantly deciphered.

Whale Swallows the World, a needle-based martial technique.

At its peak mastery, one can command ten thousand needles to converge and transform into a sea-swallowing giant whale.

This martial technique, which relies on powerful Spiritual Power to drive it, happened to be a perfect fit for Ling Xian at this moment.

Even if it was only a fragment, it was sufficient for him for now.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for seizing the fragment of "Whale Swallows the World," intercepting Su Ran's opportunity, and gaining +1000 villain points!】

“illusion dream, be quiet.”

Ling Xian had just immersed himself in the comprehension of the martial technique when he was interrupted by the system notification tone, forcing him to refocus his concentration.

He whispered the formula, and with a reach of his hand, he took out nine rain listening needles from his storage ring.

The nine golden needles slowly floated up according to the formula; at first there was only one, then two, then three... An hour passed, and the nine rain listening needles were completely under Ling Xian's control.

Unfortunately, the number of rain listening needles was too small to truly unleash the real power of Whale Swallows the World.

However, for golden needles of this quality, there were probably fewer than a hundred on the entire Blue Star, let alone thousands or tens of thousands.

Even with just a fragment, one could command hundreds or thousands of needles to move at will; if the full version were obtained, this technique would have long since transcended the scope of martial arts and should be classified as a secret art.

No wonder Su Ran used this martial technique from beginning to end in the original plot.

It's useful! He loves using it!

At this moment, the nine rain listening needles were like an extension of Ling Xian's own arms, his degree of control having increased several times over compared to the beginning.

This is the advantage of practicing an orthodox needle-based martial technique.

Having skill on one's side is, after all, better than brute force.

If Su Ran had obtained this needle technique from the start, Ling Xian might not have held the upper hand so steadily, even if he suppressed him with true qi and physical constitution.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

A knock sounded at the door.

Ling Xian finished his practice and stood up in a great mood; he only needed to polish his proficiency later.

He thought it was that girl Taohua coming to beg for candy or perhaps having taken a fancy to some newly released dessert.

“Come in.”

The door creaked open, and Ling Wu carried a large wooden box, placing it steadily at the doorway.

“Young Master, these are items sent by the Old Master via a messenger.”

Hearing that it was sent by his grandfather, a light flashed in Ling Xian's eyes, and he quickly stepped forward to pry open the wooden box.

Boom!

A baleful aura with an almost congealed, fatty texture instantly filled the entire room.

Inside the wooden box were actually stacked beast bones, and they were by no means ordinary ones.

“The density of these beast bones...” Ling Xian picked one up and squeezed it hard.

Even without using full strength, it shouldn't have remained as unscathed as it was now.

Seeing the young master's puzzled expression, Ling Wu quickly explained, “The last time you sent the report on the genetic Serum to the Old Master, he immediately began experiments using wild beasts.

Currently, after ordinary wild beasts are injected with the Serum, their strength can reach up to the third rank, and some can even break through to the fourth rank.

But the Serum has a fatal flaw: the test subjects lose all intelligence, leaving only the instinct to kill.

So the Old Master has temporarily halted the experiments, fearing a disaster might occur.

Later, the Old Master heard that you needed spirit beast bones, so he sent over these beast bones left over from the experiments to see if they could be of any use.”

“They are of some use.”

Ling Xian nodded in approval but then changed the subject. “Ling Wu, you are my man.

I do not wish for anything to reach the Old Master's ears without my permission.”

As the words fell, a pressure that felt like falling off a cliff enveloped Ling Wu.

In an instant, cold sweat soaked through the clothes on his back.

“Yes, Young Master!”

Ling Wu was the Ling Family's Ling Wu, but he was even more Ling Xian's Ling Wu.

It didn't matter before, but going forward, his methods would become more numerous; the more trusted the subordinate, the more they had to keep their mouth shut.

After Ling Wu withdrew, Ling Xian moved the wooden box into the room.

“Forging bone needles from these beast bones might result in slightly inferior quality, but the advantage lies in winning through quantity.

When the time comes, suddenly mixing a few rain listening needles among ten thousand bone needles will be enough to give the enemy a real headache.”

No sooner said than done, Ling Xian immediately prepared to forge spirit bone artifacts using the inherited secret methods of the Beast Bone Tribe.

He opened the system mall to select the tools needed for forging, but after scanning the prices, he couldn't help but frown; a set of high-quality tools would actually cost over a hundred thousand villain points.

“Too expensive, I'll just pick some affordable alternatives.”

Ling Xian filtered repeatedly, crossing out all non-essential tools, and finally selected items totaling 5100 villain points.

“I'll make do with these for now and change to better ones once I have more villain points in the future.”

He could only comfort himself this way, truly not expecting that a set of spirit bone artifact forging tools would be so expensive.

“Open panel.”

【host: Ling Xian】

【villain points: 21,000 points】

【Cultivation: Sixth Rank (Mid-stage)】

【Skills: God-level Calligraphy, Advanced Driving Skills, Eight Languages, Beginner Business Proficiency, Advanced Piano Skill...】

【Techniques: Five Beasts Stance Technique, Golden Needle Technique】

【Martial Arts: Dragon Capturing Hand, Five Beasts Fist, Whale Swallows the World】

【Divine Ability: Undead Divine Fire】

【Special: Super Recovery】

【Weapon: rain listening needle】

【Subordinate Forces: Eight Hundred Silent Undead Army (Not awakened)】

With the exchange complete, Ling Xian immediately threw himself heart and soul into forging.

These tools were exchanged with villain points and allowed for not even a hint of carelessness; if he forged a bunch of rejects, it would be a huge loss.

The forging process for spirit bone artifacts seemed simple.

Use special metal and stone to polish the beast bone into a weapon prototype, then inject a specialized material into the core, and finally carve inscriptions.

This was the most basic method of forging spirit bone artifacts and the only technique Ling Xian could master at the moment.

However, although the process was simple, it didn't mean the forged spirit bone artifacts would be fragile.

Crack!

Another bone needle shattered while the inscription was being carved.

Over a dozen beast bone blanks had all broken.

“The shape of the bone needle is too slender; whether it's injecting material or carving inscriptions, the difficulty far exceeds other spirit bone artifacts.”

Ling Xian pondered for a moment and decided to change his approach.

He took several other beast bones from the wooden box and forged them in the shape of bone arrows.

With the difficulty lowered, the fourth bone arrow was successfully produced.

After that, bone arrows were formed one after another; Ling Xian specifically chose three beast bones of the best quality and carved the Dragon Fire Explosion Inscription of the Beast Bone Tribe onto the arrow shafts.

Had the materials not been of high enough quality, they wouldn't have been able to bear such an overbearing inscription at all.

“If I find a handy powerful bow, this will be an excellent set of killing weapons.”

As his proficiency grew, Ling Xian simply forged bone needles all through the night.

The next morning, the sun rose in the east.

The beast bones in the wooden box were exhausted.

“Ninety-nine bone needles, eighteen bone arrows.” Ling Xian looked at the results covering the table and whispered with a sigh, “A bountiful harvest.”

Before his voice had even faded, he collapsed onto the bed, and thunderous snoring erupted... At the same time, the Feng Family truly went bankrupt.

The Feng Family owed over a hundred million in debt simultaneously.

In the hospital, people were coming and going.

Inside a simple ward, the sound of crying appeared intermittently.

“Dad, it's okay, there will definitely be a chance for a comeback.”

Feng Yixue sold the prized paintings she usually liked.

But this money was still a drop in the bucket against the Feng Family's terrifying opponents.

For the first time, she understood how oppressive it was to be in her father's position.

“Feng Yang, pay back the money!” The appearance of a voice broke Feng Yixue's last bit of composure.

It was Feng Yixue's aunt, along with a crowd of distant relatives of the Feng Family.

Feng Yixue didn't even recognize many of them.

“What are you all doing?”