Chapter 63: Requirements for Artifact Refining

In the small courtyard.

Ren Li checked it carefully once more, then nodded with a grave expression.

"It is indeed a cub, currently in a period of rapid growth, which is why it needs to feed frequently."

"What is the specific situation?"

Seeing that he had already deduced the general sequence of events, Du En asked directly.

"It came during the typhoon last year; it was likely a pregnant mother leopard waiting to give birth. To ensure it could deliver its cubs safely, it first ate corpses and then began actively hunting."

At the same time, seeing him unable to help but beam with excitement as he spoke, one could guess that he had actually been thinking for a long time about how to reasonably and with dignity help Du En refine artifacts, so he could get his hands on such rare spiritual materials himself.

"After all, that mother leopard will come looking for you sooner or later. I imagine you wouldn't want to encounter a fully healed mother leopard without any preparations, would you?"

And to make demonic power grow rapidly, it is not enough to just rely on eating people; one also needs to be able to continuously and massively inhale spiritual Qi!

Du En was not at all reserved, stating his own requirements: "After gathering spiritual Qi, it would be best if you could help regulate and comb it, making it easy to perceive and absorb. Then, since its rapid growth did not obviously affect its mental state, I imagine it should also have some subtle characteristic of soothing the mind. I hope to amplify that, and also..."

"Uh, you certainly dare to dream."

Seeing that Du En still wanted to press further, he changed the subject and interrupted: "Also, stop asking if the Nascent Soul stage will work. Even if you were lucky enough to break through, you would still only be able to obey the Immortal Sect's mobilization; the probability of being assigned to Chiwu City is very, very low!"

Conversely, its current injuries appeared very severe; it hadn't even been able to notice at the first moment that its cubs had been harmed, and it was unable to come over to spy on and remember him.

Du En did not hide anything and placed those ores directly in front of Ren Li.

Verifying his own thoughts, Ren Li couldn't help but shake his head, then picked up the ore to observe and tap it.

Furthermore, Du En had no intention of hiding the ore, bringing it all out for him to see, and then decisively decided to share half with him, so that both sides could exert effort together in the future.

Well, how should one put it?

"I can only say that the probability is much higher by comparison!"

"In that case, let's each take half of the reward; the combined probability of two people is naturally higher."

"So? What treasure is Shi Lei hiding?"

"Because of this, it was unable to take care of these cubs born not long ago, so they naturally had to come out to hunt for themselves. So, your luck is actually quite good; what you encountered after breaking through were just such tender, new cubs."

Ren Li was somewhat speechless and shook his head again, "That won't work either. Although the Southern End Border City is a remote and desolate place, far from the front lines, it can still accommodate one or two Golden Core stage cultivators. Of course, the prerequisite is that you must get on good terms with the City Lord and the Chief Steward."

He said this while looking like he had more to say but was holding back.

"Can leopard skin also be used as a primary material? It's only first-tier middle-grade, right?"

Since all its essence was in its fur, then naturally, this endowment should also be gathered there!

"Gathering and absorbing spiritual Qi, this... is possible, but... don't you think this is a bit of a waste?"

Although it was his own actions that allowed Shi Lei to have a brief moment of recovery, and he would also help fulfill his dying wish, no matter how he looked at it, he felt he was being opportunistic and profit-driven!

Ren Li was already feeling a bit of regret.

It was only a first-tier perfection demonic beast, and it had been injured repeatedly; it was impossible for it to hide from the current Du En.

Du En naturally pushed the boat with the current and asked directly: "What kind of thing can it be refined into?"

Through Ren Li's explanation, everyone felt their horizons broadened; they really hadn't expected it to be like this.

Listening to Ren Li's explanation, Du En nodded slightly, and without giving him a chance to change the subject, he spoke on his own: "But in this way, I will probably be targeted by the mother leopard?"

"Then can you do it?"

As for the parcel in front of him, there were no subtle signs of spiritual Qi disturbance, so it should just be ordinary items, probably some memento or relic; he was not so tactless as to pry.

"Gathering and absorbing spiritual Qi."

"Those few foremen once joined forces to defeat and injure the mother leopard, which clearly affected its hunting process. And now, it has already given birth to cubs; I fear this is what caused it to be injured and weakened, leading to it being heavily wounded by a counter-attack when it tried to hunt Shi Lei, despite being at first-tier perfection. In the end, it didn't get to eat the heart and liver and fled in a sorry state."

These words made a lot of sense, and Ren Li also had the intention of actively offering help, which made Ning Caize and the others all nod in unison.

Facing Du En's concerned inquiry, Ren Li immediately regained his composure and sense of superiority, smiling and nodding: "You don't know about this. Its name is Shadow of the Forest; naturally, the essence of a Forest Shadow Leopard lies in this fur."

It appeared exceptionally bright, putting himself to shame!

This simply wouldn't do!

Glancing at the subtle, strange little looks from Ning Caize and the others, Ren Li found it hard to bear!

"Ahem! That, uh, give me the leopard cub's skin, teeth, claws, plus your half of the ore here, and I can refine a magical tool for you."

Ren Li stated his speculation, but Du En did not think so.

Because being skilled at artifact refining, being an artifact refiner, had almost become an instinct.

"... You speak."

Du En just calmly asked in return.

"Yes."

So, thinking as he went, Ren Li raised his head and said to Du En with a serious expression: "Give me these rewards, and I will help him fulfill his dying wish. After all, it is very, very difficult for you to leave the Southern End area, even if you break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, it won't work."

"Haha! I knew it! He had the ability to gather the stone-digging workers together, and he clearly held resentment toward those above him; he would definitely choose to secretly intercept good ore. Sure enough, I wasn't wrong—there are even three pieces of second-tier low-grade ore! Tsk tsk tsk!"

"Since you've said so, then I will make a few more requests; see if they are feasible."

In this case, there was no need to worry too much about this threat in the short term.

"What about the Golden Core stage?"

Although Ren Li did not know this, he speculated that the mother leopard was now unable to continue wreaking havoc, so he pulled the topic back to the reason he had come over.

"Don't look at it as just a cub; because its bloodline is relatively superior, it is growing rapidly. That is to say, this skin possesses quite a wide, quite potential extensibility!"

"What kind of properties?"

The fact that this Forest Shadow Leopard cub could grow so fast was only one aspect of its body increasing in size and weight; the other aspect was the strengthening of its demonic power.

"Stop, stop, stop. Do you mean you want to make it entirely into an auxiliary-type magical tool, the kind that assists in cultivation?"

"That depends on your needs. Using ore as the main material, it can be refined into an attack-type magical tool; using leopard skin as the main material, it can be refined into a defense-type magical tool. However, the finished product can only be first-tier, because the amount of second-tier ore is too small, and I won't be filling in the gaps for you this time."

"Mm, yes, that's right. Even on the road back, it might have already seen you from afar and firmly remembered you!"

Because on the way back, he had not detected this kind of spying.

"That is indeed true..."

Subconsciously, he began to ponder.

Du En's gaze flickered, and he keenly noticed another point: "If I don't put the specialization points into defensive properties, but instead into the other properties it should possess, would that be feasible?"

"Under normal circumstances, this kind of leopard cub is very difficult to have delivered to one's doorstep on its own, and this kind of pelt is also very difficult to keep so intact, so, if we really had to set a price, this single pelt alone could be worth the total price of these high-grade Tier 1 ores!"

As he said this, his gaze was already fixed on the pack behind Du En's back.

Ren Li replied, looking at Du En, then looking at the ores, his mind turning it over; the more he pondered, the more he felt he hadn't performed very well in this matter.

Du En nodded.

What defensive magical artifact could be harder than his Earth Armor?

What offensive magical artifact could be stronger than his Earth Bullet?

If the Earth Bullet isn't strong enough, there are still fists; if the fists still aren't enough, then put on the armor!

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(End of this chapter)