362: Chapter 362 Three-in-One

(Chapter 1: Smart People)

Listening to the noisy clamor of this group of people, Xiao Guang bared her little canine teeth, unleashing her aura as a Fifth-Order being to suppress the captives.

She was no human, so she naturally had no intention of coddling them.

Instantly, the people who had been grumbling shut their mouths, all huddling together in fear and trepidation.

Yishi Mansion had its own code of conduct; complaining a bit usually wasn't a big deal, resulting in a beating at most.

But if Yishi Mansion handed them over to this exotic beast, heaven only knew if they would end up eaten.

"She's actually quite cute."

Right then, Amivika, who was standing nearby, suddenly mumbled.

Amelia had always been very well-behaved growing up, so seeing Xiao Guang, who looked exactly like her, baring her teeth and grimacing felt incredibly novel to Amivika.

"Mother!"

Amelia was displeased, looking at Amivika with a deeply aggrieved expression.

Amivika shrugged helplessly. "Don't mind me. You're usually quite cute too."

With this interruption, the oppressive atmosphere in the area eased up a bit.

Xiao Guang glared fiercely at everyone present before finally withdrawing her pressure.

Suddenly, Xiao Guang's ears twitched.

Immediately after, Xiao Guang looked at Amelia's mother. "He wants you to go in."

At those words, everyone present turned to look at Amivika, and even Amelia, who was standing to the side, wore an unfriendly expression.

After all, judging by their interactions outside earlier, Nie Ning and Amivika shouldn't have known each other. Even if he wanted to call someone in, it should have been Amelia, whom he was familiar with.

But what kind of move was this, calling his future mother-in-law inside?

"Are you sure you didn't mishear?"

Amelia looked at Xiao Guang, who looked identical to her, with a look of displeasure.

Xiao Guang curled her lip. "I didn't. Besides, you're definitely not as good-looking as me."

Hearing this, Amelia was so furious her chest nearly burst. She wanted to step forward to argue with Xiao Guang, but she was held back by the people from Yishi Mansion.

Amivika's beautiful eyes flickered slightly. She seemed to realize something, and a trace of a smile appeared in her eyes.

"You all wait here. I'll go down and see what's going on."

After giving her instructions, Amivika walked beneath the stone hammer and followed the long staircase all the way down, soon arriving in a spacious underground chamber.

Looking at Nie Ning, who was floating cross-legged at the edge, Amivika couldn't help but look toward the center of the Fire Gathering Array, as well as the landscape projections reflected around it.

Upon seeing that ring, Amivika recalled the rings she had seen on Nie Ning's wrists earlier.

Just as she thought, this kid was quite calculating.

"You didn't call me down here just to watch you refine tools, did you?"

Amivika raised her eyes, asking despite already knowing the answer.

"Of course not. I mainly wanted to ask if you have anything that can help ward off the Heavenly Tribulation."

Nie Ning didn't turn around, replying via voice transmission.

Of course, he didn't actually need help dealing with the lightning tribulation.

In truth, the reason he had called Amivika down was simply to prevent others from accusing him of stealing the treasures here, which could lead to troublesome consequences.

As for why he chose Amivika, it was naturally because she was smarter; talking to smart people saved a lot of effort.

"This shouldn't be within the scope of our deal. If you want help..."

"Never mind then."

Amivika was just about to ask Nie Ning to share the refined tool when she was ruthlessly cut off by him.

At this moment, Amivika's teeth itched with annoyance.

She finally understood why Amelia never gave Nie Ning a pleasant look.

This kid might be clever, but he was indeed quite irritating!

Clearly, he had no intention of asking for her help at all; he just didn't want her making wild guesses outside about what was happening in here.

Looking at the god-forbidden ring not far away, Amivika ultimately abandoned the idea of teaching this kid a lesson.

transcendent artifacts were not that easy to refine, yet Nie Ning was able to replicate his previous success multiple times. He was clearly far more valuable than the average person.

And Yishi Mansion's philosophy of survival was to befriend such talented individuals.

While it wasn't as straightforward as outright robbery, the risk was significantly lower.

Besides, given Yishi Mansion's current scale, most of the people they befriended were highly capable.

If someone suddenly flew into a rage, there was no guarantee they could successfully rob them, and they might end up suffering even greater losses.

Therefore, in most cases, Yishi Mansion's conduct prioritized peaceful development.

"Since there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first. I doubt your refining process will go too smoothly, so I need to make some arrangements outside."

Amivika composed herself, looking up at Nie Ning to let him know.

"Then I'll trouble you, Auntie."

Nie Ning's voice drifted back.

Amivika did not linger, turning around to ascend the long staircase once more.

...

Over the next period of time, Nie Ning devoted his entire mind and soul to refining the god-forbidden ring.

Because the strength of the Fire Gathering Array was higher than Nie Ning had anticipated, the upgrade of the god-forbidden ring was already nearing its end by the evening of the second day.

At this moment, dark clouds blanketed the sky, filled with flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder.

Seeing this, the people waiting outside all showed expressions of astonishment.

Although Amivika had already forewarned them that Nie Ning was refining something extraordinary inside,

actually witnessing such a scene was still deeply shocking.

But it was also a bit strange.

After all, refining most transcendent artifacts was extremely difficult, with materials being just one of many challenges.

Yet, how much time had passed, and this guy was already starting his second refinement?

Was it really that easy?

Everyone couldn't help but speculate on what exactly Nie Ning was refining.

*Boom!*

A bolt of blue lightning fell from the sky, striking directly toward the stone hammer.

But at that moment, a red light flashed atop the stone hammer, and a red array appeared above the Trial Grounds.

The lightning struck the array, which then began to rotate slowly, absorbing the blue lightning into itself.

"As expected of a great tool-refining sect."

Amivika gazed at the array above, unable to help but sigh in admiration.

The lightning not only failed to damage the refining grounds but even provided circulating energy to the area below.

...

Meanwhile, inside the refining grounds.

Nie Ning was still sitting cross-legged in front of the Fire Gathering Array.

Sensing the commotion outside and the sudden surge of energy within the array, Nie Ning was already mentally prepared.

This was because when he had touched the red bead on the control console earlier, it had provided explanations regarding this.

Furthermore, the array here was not only for absorbing and converting energy; it could also use the power of lightning to temper the forged tool on a deeper level, enhancing its overall strength.

The only thing Nie Ning had to do was control this force so that it wouldn't disrupt the refinement process of the god-forbidden ring by being too violent.

After all, unlike others, what he needed was stability.

The god-forbidden ring housed a portion of his soul; if anything went wrong, it would be a major disaster for him, so his priority was naturally to pursue stability.

...

(Chapter 2: Continue Refining)

Under Nie Ning's tireless efforts, time soon reached the latter half of the night.

By now, the dark clouds in the sky had dispersed, and the entire refining grounds had returned to tranquility.

Nie Ning looked at the fully forged god-forbidden ring. The surrounding landscape projection remained, but the animals within it had become much more lifelike.

On the god-forbidden ring, unique black patterns were engraved upon its white surface, forming a painting filled with an exotic beauty.

With a wave of his hand, the god-forbidden ring flew into Nie Ning's palm.

Feeling it slightly, the strength boost that had previously dropped a bit returned to double, and its energy storage capacity had received a massive upgrade.

However, none of this was the most important part. The most crucial aspect was the god-forbidden ring's new ability.

Spatial Traverse!

Nie Ning's Spiritual Power resonated with the god-forbidden ring.

Immediately after, the god-forbidden ring flew in front of Nie Ning, slowly expanding to half a meter in size.

Under Nie Ning's astonished gaze, a white light flickered on the god-forbidden ring, and tiny black rifts began to emerge from it.

But after waiting for a moment, the portal still did not open.

The energy in his body was consuming rapidly, yet only spatial rifts appeared in the center of the god-forbidden ring.

Seeing this, Nie Ning couldn't help but furrow his brows.

'Why is this a bit different from what I imagined?'

'Could there have been a mistake somewhere?'

Yet his refining process had strictly followed the Stairway to Godhood, with no other modifications except for the chaos crystal.

'Is the problem with the chaos crystal?'

Nie Ning fell into deep thought.

Although being unable to use the portal didn't affect his strength much, he had upgraded the god-forbidden ring specifically for Spatial Traverse.

If he didn't have this ability, he might as well have refined other god-forbidden rings directly.

Suddenly, Nie Ning's gaze swept over the Fire Gathering Array ahead, and an embarrassed look instantly appeared on his face.

"Haha, so that's why. I was wondering how there could have been a mistake."

Nie Ning scratched his head and let out an embarrassed chuckle.

He had forgotten that this place was protected by arrays, and the basic structural formulas of the arrays included a spatial stabilization effect.

After all, wizards were not stupid; any shortcuts others could think of, wizards naturally could as well.

Therefore, in almost all defensive arrays, spatial stability was the primary structural formula, specifically to prevent users with spatial abilities from infiltrating the array.

As a Seventh-Order great sect, and the refining grounds of Iron Mountain Fortress, it naturally had restrictions of this kind to prevent any disturbances during refinement.

Of course, it mostly depended on strength; a strong enough individual could still disrupt the spatial stability.

But clearly, Nie Ning's strength had not yet met those requirements.

To break an array set up by a Seventh-Order Transcendent force, one would need to be at least at the Seventh or Eighth-Order, though the possibility of the array being in disrepair after so many years couldn't be ruled out.

Without continuing to test the effects of the god-forbidden ring, he had to make use of the remaining time to refine the other god-forbidden rings.

But before that...

...

At Nie Ning's call, Xiao Guang returned to the refining grounds.

"What is it?"

Xiao Guang furrowed her delicate brows, looking at Nie Ning in confusion as she asked.

Since Nie Ning had previously mentioned that he wasn't just refining one god-forbidden ring, why was he suddenly calling her now?

"Didn't you also learn the Stairway to Godhood? It's the perfect time for you to refine a couple too."

Nie Ning took a large pile of materials out of his spatial ring and tossed them in front of Xiao Guang.

Although his materials were limited—the materials here were only enough to refine four god-forbidden rings—Nie Ning had no intention of using them all himself.

The reason was simple: too many god-forbidden rings would interfere with his cultivation speed.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

The god-forbidden ring can actually be seen as a separate entity; it requires him to inject energy to increase the god-forbidden ring's energy storage limit.

However, relatively speaking, this would require sacrificing his cultivation time.

If he were to use the time spent upgrading the god-forbidden ring for his own cultivation, the enhancement effect would only be maximized at the same level, but his greatest progress comes when breaking through major ranks.

Although the god-forbidden ring provides a high boost to strength and increases energy storage capacity quickly, it still cannot compare to breaking through levels.

Therefore, rather than spending time on the god-forbidden ring, it is better to first raise his strength to a certain level.

"Are you sure?"

Xiao Guang's face revealed a look of surprise.

After all, she and Nie Ning were not of the same species, so she had never thought that Nie Ning would let her forge a god-forbidden ring.

"Of course, these materials are just sitting there anyway."

Nie Ning smiled slightly.

Wasting Xiao Guang's cultivation time, then using the god-forbidden ring to enhance Xiao Guang's strength, and then using that to protect his current self.

It could only be described as perfect!

This way, he would have a safer cultivation environment.

Xiao Guang looked at Nie Ning with some suspicion, feeling that Nie Ning did not have good intentions, but this was a tangible benefit.

After all, the power of the god-forbidden ring was evident to all.

Even if one could not break through due to a bottleneck, one could still rely on the god-forbidden ring to exponentially increase one's strength.

"Don't overthink it. We are partners; my things are naturally yours, and there will only be more good things like this in the future."

Nie Ning patted Xiao Guang on the shoulder, then sheepishly retracted his hand under Xiao Guang's disgusted gaze.

His strength bottleneck was different from others; at least, he hadn't encountered one yet, so there was no need to forge so many god-forbidden rings to hinder his own cultivation.

"Then I will reluctantly believe you this once."

In the end, Xiao Guang compromised.

After all, she was now a 'person', so she naturally had to learn the human way of advancement.

With the help of the god-forbidden ring, her strength would also see a huge increase.

Nie Ning smiled knowingly.

Sure enough, no living creature could resist 'becoming stronger'.

If it were his previous life, seeing small flyers thrown on the ground, the first thing he would think of would be a honey trap scam.

But thinking aside, many people were still willing to try.

...

The man and the fox did not delay.

Because the space in the forging ground was large, and the equipment here had long been designed for scenarios where multiple people were forging items.

Coupled with the powerful Fire Gathering Array, it was enough for the two of them to forge the god-forbidden ring together.

Even if a lightning tribulation came, it could be resolved by relying on the array here; it could only be said to be very comprehensive.

While the two were busy forging the god-forbidden ring, a group of uninvited guests arrived outside.

Originally, Amivika wanted to go down and check on Nie Ning's situation, wondering why the forging wasn't finished even though the lightning tribulation had already passed.

But seeing the people who had broken in, Amivika dismissed this idea, her beautiful eyes revealing a look of solemnity.

At this moment, a group of nearly a hundred people had already arrived above the forging ground.

Most of these people were those who had been tricked away by Nie Ning previously, and some were those who had followed later; there were even people from Yishi Mansion.

They were the same people who had previously gone to capture the Master of Earth Wolf Valley.

...

(Chapter 3: Old Simp)

The members of Yishi Mansion in the crowd saw that the atmosphere was a bit off and hurried to fly in front of Amivika and the others below.

"Teacher, how did you get in?"

A fifth-order female member of Yishi Mansion asked, somewhat confused.

Not to mention that the keys were in their hands, but the previous message clearly stated that they had been captured, causing them to search outside for two days.

If someone hadn't sensed that something was wrong and prepared to enter here first to check the situation, they wouldn't have known that Amivika and the others had already entered.

"Secret."

Amivika looked vigilantly at the Transcendent in the sky, or rather, the man with a scar on half of his face who was leading them.

The other party was sturdy, wearing a gray tight-fitting suit, with long dark golden hair.

Rayleigh, a Sixth-Order Wizard from the Dark Swamp!

"Amivika, I didn't expect to see you here."

The scarred man laughed, a flash of joy appearing in his eyes as he looked at Amivika.

Amivika sighed inwardly; she hadn't expected the person who arrived to be this troublesome guy, or rather, one of her former suitors.

"Ten years have passed in a flash; it really has been many years since we last met."

Amivika felt a bit emotional; one could only say that time flies.

Having strong Spiritual Power is like this; one's memory is too good, and past events seem to have happened just a short while ago.

"It would have been so good if you had been with me back then. Look, I have already reached the mid-stage of the sixth order, while you are still lingering at the fifth order. It seems that old geezer Helian doesn't treat you very well."

Rayleigh said this seriously, with no intention of mockery in his tone.

"Perhaps."

Amivika replied vaguely.

Regarding this matter, Amivika neither refuted nor agreed.

After all, her current husband was not bad either, or rather, he was already at the peak of the sixth order when he pursued her, the only drawback being that he was a bit old.

And back then, Rayleigh was indeed a premier genius; there were even few people in this region who could compare to him.

But so what? In the world of Transcendents, who among those who manage to grow up is weak?

Look at the half of Rayleigh's face that was destroyed; it was left behind when he was ambushed during a field expedition back then, and he had even nearly died because of it.

Therefore, those who can survive are all formidable, and besides, the environment of Yishi Mansion was more suitable for her growth.

Seeing that Amivika did not want to bring this up, Rayleigh did not continue to press, but instead looked up at the tunnel entrance below the stone hammer.

"You should have come in a long time ago, yet you haven't left. Could it be that there are still treasures here?"

When the others heard this, a flash of greed appeared in their eyes.

However, due to the reputation of the Dark Swamp and Rayleigh's strength, no one dared to make a move.

"There are no treasures, just a junior forging some mystic tools."

Amivika brushed her hair slightly and said with a smile.

"I see. It's been a long time; why don't we go over there and chat?"

Rayleigh did not continue this topic, but instead invited Amivika to catch up.

Hearing this, most people in the venue showed expressions of disdain, and couldn't help but curse inwardly: Old Simp!

Rayleigh could be considered a very famous person in this region, but what he was famous for was that simp-like, super romantic brain.

Amivika had expressed her refusal many times, but this old simp knew she was married and still brought people to Yishi Mansion to cause trouble.

It was only because of Yishi Mansion's neutral status that they just beat him up and threw him out.

If it were any other faction, at the very least, his entire cultivation would have been crippled.

Even so, this guy Rayleigh would send gifts every now and then during holidays, still refusing to let go of Amivika.

Then, after being seriously injured during an expedition, he finally calmed down, but his pursuit of Amivika never stopped.

Not to mention sending gifts, he would often provoke the Master of Yishi Mansion, spread unfavorable rumors about the Master of Yishi Mansion outside, and even say that sooner or later he would snatch Amivika back.

And just five years ago, the Master of Yishi Mansion advanced to the seventh order and specifically made a trip to the Dark Swamp to hang Rayleigh up and beat him.

Only then did this matter finally subside.

...

Everyone's gaze fell on Rayleigh, lamenting that this guy's romantic brain had acted up again.

Of course, in reality, they were also very curious about what Amivika actually looked like.

Because Rayleigh was not the only suitor of Amivika; almost all the prominent people in this region had once admired Amivika.

And among those factions, there were quite a few that were stronger than Yishi Mansion.

Unfortunately, Amivika chose that old man from Yishi Mansion, an outcome that left many people dumbfounded.

"Let's skip the sitting down; I really can't get away right now."

Amivika glanced at the crowd behind Rayleigh and shook her head slightly.

"Then let's talk about the treasures inside."

Hearing this, Rayleigh's expression turned serious, and he unleashed his aura.

Under the sixth-order pressure, the Transcendents of Yishi Mansion below the fourth order felt their bodies sink, as if a ten-thousand-jin boulder was pressing down on them.

Seeing this, Amivika extended her fair right arm.

With a gentle wave of her hand, a pale yellow barrier rose from the ground, enveloping the entire forging ground.

Being inside the great array, the Transcendents of Yishi Mansion felt their bodies lighten, and they felt much more comfortable.

Seeing this, Rayleigh narrowed his eyes: "Seven Absolute Stone Gate Array..."

The Seven Absolute Stone Gate Array, a super-strong defensive barrier among fifth-order arrays; even an ordinary sixth-order Transcendent would find it difficult to break through in a short time.

"You are really willing to spare no expense. It seems that even if there are no treasures inside, the item being forged is likely extraordinary."

Looking down at Amivika below, Rayleigh smiled and said.

He just liked Amivika, but that didn't mean his brain didn't work well.

Based on his understanding of Amivika and the background of Yishi Mansion, being able to use the forging array of Iron Mountain Fortress meant that it was highly likely that whatever was being forged was not a simple item.

'Could it be Yishi Mansion's Jedi Dream-Returning Needle?'

Thinking of this, even Rayleigh's breathing became rapid.

If this thing were used for a sneak attack, even a seventh-order Transcendent would only meet their doom.

If he could snatch it over and use it on that old geezer Helian...

"Since you refuse to move aside, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Rayleigh snorted coldly, and a mass of black shadow condensed in front of him, then transformed into a giant black shadow beast.

Seeing that Rayleigh was playing for real, the others couldn't help but show expressions of astonishment in their eyes.

Based on their understanding of this old simp, expecting Rayleigh to take action against Amivika was better than expecting a meteor to fall from the sky.

That probability was actually higher.

The shadow beast was like a violent bear, with a body standing nearly twenty meters tall, and its huge black claws swiped towards the Seven Absolute Stone Gate Array.

'Bang!'

The light screen formed by the Seven Absolute Stone Gate Array shook violently.