Chapter 253: Basic Artisan

Like tattooing Guan Gong, only those who operate within related industries and possess a strong enough destiny to withstand it can get such a tattoo.

Within it, there are further distinctions—whether the eyes are open or closed, whether it imposes pressure on the body, drains lifespan or fortune—there are numerous taboos.

But overall, it’s a middling, unorthodox path; if used well, it might yield miraculous results, yet it’s a risky deviation, prone to disaster, with an uncertain future—nothing compared to proper cultivation methods.

“Tattoos? Maybe try them later, see what kind of magic they hold. If they’re useless, downgrade them to soldier level.”

Because the exact strength is unknown.

After formulating a solution based on the existing explanations, Louis turned to the final technique—the Basic Artisan’s Handbook.

As expected, it was the Divine Lord’s own personal notes, detailing precisely how to forge artifacts, what details to watch for, how to modify and maintain them, and how to craft basic semi-artifacts and low-grade magic treasures.

It was essentially a specialized annotated introduction to the art of forging.

Yet this very book filled Louis with overwhelming joy.

Compared to the first two uncertain, mediocre techniques, this Basic Artisan’s Handbook, though foundational, was incredibly useful!

It was exactly what he urgently needed right now.

Although over the years he had followed the steps in the Golden Pages to create all six magic treasures—and even added numerous spell seals—he still had no idea how to proceed further in forging.

With this, his foundation in the path of the artificer was finally filled; crafting legendary space artifacts might now be within reach.

“Let me see what’s inside.”

“Hmm, it can awaken the latent power within materials and forge them into semi-artifacts—like peachwood swords or Bagua mirrors.”

“Space artifacts… really? The lowest tier, storage bags, with three spell seals?”

“Huh? There’s also a method to forcibly transform special treasures into magic artifacts?”

The more he read, the more delighted Louis became.

Though labeled “basic,” this was a specially annotated version by the Divine Lord, packed with unique techniques.

Such as awakening a material’s inherent properties to forge semi-artifacts, triggering a one-time explosive burst of a magic artifact’s power, forcibly modifying rare celestial treasures or others’ artifacts…

In any sect, these wouldn’t be “basic”—each one was a secret technique!

One could only say the Divine Lord’s level was truly exalted; even the scraps he casually revealed were treasures sought after by mortal sects.

“Hmm, interesting.”

Louis immediately began experimenting—he’d been stuck at this mediocre level in forging for years, and now he could finally solidify his foundation.

He casually picked up a peachwood sword; due to the initial technique granted by the Civil Code—Peachwood Crafting—anything Louis made from peachwood possessed a certain exorcistic property.

But this merely exploited its natural trait; without Louis’s permission, these peachwood items couldn’t function at all in others’ hands—severe limitations, weak power.

But now…

Louis’s internal fire-attribute magic power, generated via the Five Qi Technique—Heart of Fire—surged and flowed into the peachwood sword.

Hum!!

Red light instantly enveloped the entire sword like a thin film, radiating intense heat; within the blade, at microscopic angles, its structure underwent special transformation.

Just five minutes.

A brand-new, entirely red peachwood sword emerged.

“No spell seals—but it can absorb external energy and convert it into exorcistic power, even store it.”

Without spell seals, it wasn’t a true magic artifact; its power remained weak for Louis, but to evil spirits, it was already highly threatening.

Ordinary evil spirits, lacking special abilities, would be obliterated by a single strike.

And this was merely Louis’s five-minute casual creation.

Louis then tested other objects and found that, theoretically, all inanimate matter could be transformed toward semi-artifact status—but difficulty and final potency varied wildly due to material differences.

Metal and wood were most suitable for transformation; stone was simply a waste of time.

“Not bad, useless to me… wait, not entirely. Semi-artifacts are still artifacts—if so, then…”

Louis immediately tested another technique from the handbook: the one-time explosive burst of a magic artifact—briefly called Artifact Self-Detonation.

Each magic artifact is precious; each spell seal contains immense power, granting durability and special abilities—and amplifying the explosion when the artifact detonates.

But precisely because of the spell seals, destroying a magic artifact is extremely difficult—unless you forcibly flood it with massive magic power. Yet even then, using that power for direct attack is far more effective than forcing a detonation.

Moreover, if the artifact is yours, its destruction damages your own spirit—so combined, artifact self-detonation became a last-resort suicide tactic.

But this technique in the handbook was different—it required far less magic power to trigger detonation.

And now, Louis could also transmute ordinary objects into semi-artifacts using magic power—so could semi-artifacts detonate too?

Louis quickly got his answer.

Boom!!

The basement erupted with the force of several grenades.

Shards of stone and fragments capable of piercing human skulls flew everywhere—but all were blocked by a thin film woven from silver threads, finally contained within a silver sphere.

Flame, light, debris…

Glowed within the semi-transparent silver thread sphere—actually, quite beautiful.

Louis’s eyes burned with intensity.

He’d just developed an interesting ultimate technique.

What if—just suppose—I forcibly transmute a portion of separated land into a semi-artifact using massive magic power, then detonate it…

“Gulp, give me time, I might be able to deploy entire missile or even nuclear arsenals myself.”

Provided I have enough magic power—and there are still issues, like the range and strength of Louis’s spiritual perception—but these are solvable in the future.

Even the magic power issue can be solved now: the evil spirits stored in Louis’s dantian could act like perpetual motion machines, supplying endless magic power.

“Artifact detonation doesn’t just cause physical damage—it also inflicts fire-attribute magic power that bypasses defenses and suppresses mystical beings. This will be an ultimate technique.”

“I’ll call it the Ten Thousand Treasures Shatter the Void Scripture.”

Louis even felt this technique had further potential—like mass-producing true magic artifacts, even just single-seal ones, or exploiting their inherent properties…

“Looks like I’ll need to forge more artifacts regularly—but first, I must craft a space artifact, otherwise carrying them is inconvenient.”

The lowest-tier storage bag requires many materials, but with Louis’s organization’s scale, most can be gathered; the only problem is the need for a primary material with spatial properties.

“Tsk, guess I’ll have to have my subordinates search slowly. Hope this world has materials related to space.”

“But I can do this too.”

Louis retrieved the extradimensional stone box he’d transferred here—the very container where the Moth God had once resided.

Louis had previously examined it and discovered it was a special space, akin to a cave of blessings or a deity’s shrine domain—now severely damaged, with only about five years left before destruction.

The outer stone casing was merely its surface manifestation, yet undeniably possessed spatial properties.

Louis began experimenting with another technique from the handbook: forcibly altering and seizing another’s treasure or artifact.

He called it the Treasure Seizing Art.

Massive magic power poured into it; the two-head-sized stone box twisted violently—but not a single crack appeared, only a swirling white glow filled the air.

Louis frowned; this process demanded not only immense magic power but also vast spiritual perception—Yin Spirit energy.

As the deep transformation progressed…

The stone box shrank to fist size—but still not enough.

Louis’s spiritual perception darted through the extradimensional space within the box, into the rocky cavern, swiftly locating its core: a white, six-sided crystal, half a fist in size.

Vast amounts of spiritual perception flooded into it.

Gradually, it took on Louis’s “color.”

Outside…

Louis sat cross-legged, the stone box now reduced to thumb size, resembling a gray pebble.

Time passed slowly.

The gray pebble suddenly changed shape, as if guided by invisible hands, transforming into a ring’s form.

Quickly…

A gray ring, engraved with mysterious patterns, appeared on Louis’s finger.

Louis opened his eyes.

His gaze was filled with exhaustion.

Bloodshot veins crisscrossed his eyeballs—clear signs of extreme fatigue.

This wasn’t simple—or rather, the task Louis undertook was too difficult. Merely seizing control would’ve been easy with his current strength.

But modifying it? That was hard.

Fortunately, Louis’s reserves were extraordinary—he succeeded, transforming it into a ring, linked to his spirit, becoming a unique new magic artifact.

Yet its internal space still had less than five years of lifespan—this problem must be solved in the future.

For now, Louis possessed a space artifact capable of holding living beings, with a volume equal to a soccer field.

“Now I can store many artifacts.”

The Ten Thousand Treasures Shatter the Void Scripture now had far greater room to operate.

Louis exhaled, massaged his temples, easing the discomfort in his head.

“I now understand all three techniques. The Basic Artisan’s Handbook is undoubtedly the most practical—once rested, I’ll forge a batch of semi-artifacts and store them.”

“The tattoo and spirit-invoking techniques may seem mediocre, but I still need to study them—might yield surprises.”

“Let’s start with spirit invocation—my adoptive father can help, progress should be easier, and it’s been a while since I last spoke with him.”

“Also, I mustn’t overlook England—Warak and Malthus are big fish; I must monitor developments there constantly.”

“…”

After categorizing and organizing these matters in his mind, Louis stretched lazily and walked upward.

The waiting members entered automatically and began repairing the basement.

Walking onto the villa, Tang Mi and the others were still patrolling, but they kept coming over to check on Jason, even though they couldn’t enter the room, they still wanted to take a look.

Louis glanced over.

The cold in the room was growing heavier.

Thin ice had formed along the entire corridor; the door was completely frozen shut by thick chunks of ice, and the walls beside it were likewise encased.

Louis stood before the door, having come up from the basement.

Looking at the door, he seemed to already see the monstrous thing forming behind it, and a smile appeared on his face.

“The corpse coffin and Jason’s special corpse are truly a perfect match—already auto-advancing to the eighth level of magical seals?”

“This is enough to nurture a Guardian Spirit.”

“Given its uniqueness, might it rival a Yangshen the moment it emerges?”

Having never seen a true Yangshen, Louis could only speculate.

But no matter what, once Jason emerged, he would be an immensely powerful being—otherwise, he could never have warranted Louis’s earlier dread or this prolonged investment.

“Twelve-layer perfected Blood River Pearl, ten-layer magical seals on the Ten Thousand Illusions Robe and Puppeteer’s Hands, eight-layer magical seals on the Corpse Cultivation Coffin, three-layer magical seals on the Soul-Subduing Ruler and Centipede Wasp Sack.”

“Without realizing it, six magical artifacts have traveled so far down the path toward perfected inferior grade.”

A normal cultivator would never possess so many artifacts, nor could they afford the consumption required for their advancement—Louis’s six artifacts were already extraordinary.

In fact, Louis himself hadn’t expected this—he never intended to perfect all his artifacts from the start.

One could only say this place was blessed with exceptional people and fertile land.

Blood nourished the Blood River Pearl, countless monsters nourished the Ten Thousand Illusions Robe, demons nourished the Puppeteer’s Hands…

“Ah～”

Louis yawned.

The weariness in his eyes grew more pronounced.

Since breaking through to Pure Yin Realm—no, Yinshen Realm—Louis hadn’t felt this exhausted in a long time.

He shook his head.

Louis returned to the spacious second-floor room.

He collapsed onto the soft, large bed and quickly sank into sleep.

And at this very moment,

The long-overdue, extreme fatigue seemed to cause a slight shift in his soul.

A faint snore sounded.

…

While Louis was refining his artifacts,

England.

London, suburbs.

In a certain basement, hiss～ huff～

The heavy breathing was especially audible in the darkness.

Suddenly,

A sliver of light opened in the basement; a square exit appeared overhead, and a middle-aged man, exhausted, dragged a woman’s corpse and kicked it inside.

Just as he kicked it in,

A terrifying, inhuman roar erupted.

A pale hand, long and clawed, swiftly yanked the corpse into the darkness.

(End of Chapter)