Chapter 94: Promotion to Level Nine: Immortal Orichalcum

"You have acquired the Class Proficiency: Magic Power Healing I."

"Magic Power Healing I: You can consume magic power to stabilize injuries. When you fail a Constitution check to stabilize injuries, you do not lose 1 Hit Point. Additionally, you can consume 1 point of magic power to restore 1d6 Hit Points."

The ability of this proficiency is that when the body suffers severe trauma, as long as magic power remains, the injuries within the body will not worsen.

Moreover, one can restore one's own Hit Points by consuming magic power.

These abilities had already been manifested in previous uses of magic power.

When manifested as a proficiency, the abilities are further enhanced.

If Fang Shi had possessed this proficiency during the previous Limit Break, he would have had no need to drink any healing potions.

Nor would he have needed to use the White Crane Sword Art to stabilize injuries; simply using Magic Power Healing would allow the body to recover quickly.

However, after undergoing four Limit Breaks.

Fang Shi, besides acquiring three Transcendent Attributes, had not gained nothing else beneficial.

"Tenacity I: You are especially difficult to kill. Not only do your injuries automatically stabilize when you suffer extremely severe damage, but you can also remain conscious and continue acting, even having touched the threshold of death.

When Hit Points drop below 0 but you have not yet died, you can automatically stabilize injuries, requiring no constant Constitution checks to prevent Hit Point loss.

You may choose to act as if paralyzed, rather than being dying.

However, any other strenuous action will cause you to take 1 point of damage upon completing the action.

When your negative Hit Points reach a value equal to or exceeding your Constitution, you will die immediately."

This is the ability Fang Shi acquired after experiencing four instances of ninety-and-a-half percent cellular destruction.

This means that even if Fang Shi's Hit Points drop to 0, as long as he takes no damage, he can still make 21 attacks.

It is only on the 22nd time that he will perish violently.

"You have acquired a Personal Proficiency."

For the current Fang Shi, magic power is equivalent to attack power, equivalent to Hit Points.

Therefore, when choosing a Personal Proficiency, there is no need for excessive consideration.

"Extra Magic Power II: Your magic power increases by 6 points."

"Your magic power has been increased: 16 → 20."

"Name: Fang Shi"

"Race: Human"

"Attributes: Strength 23+1, Agility 28+6, Constitution 22, Intelligence 14, Perception 21, Charisma 15"

"Class: 5th Level Martial Artist / 4th Level Qi Refiner"

"Stage: Qi Refining"

"Hit Points: 116/116"

"Magic Power: 15/20"

"Experience Points: 43264/45000"

"Attribute Points: 4"

"Proficiency Points: 1"

"Survival Points: 13216.4"

"Race Proficiency: Versatility I"

"Life Skills: Omitted"

"Class Skills: Omitted"

"Personal Traits: Transcendent Strength, Transcendent Agility, Transcendent Constitution, Transcendent Perception"

"Personal Proficiency: Omitted"

"Class Proficiency: Omitted"

"Combat Proficiency: Omitted"

Fang Shi looked at the experience bar on the attribute panel, which was short 1800 points from being full, and wore a helpless, bitter smile.

He had not forgotten the words of the Heart Demon before it died: "We will meet again."

Therefore, even though he had enough experience points, Fang Shi dared not level up.

At least, he dared not continue leveling up within this world.

Although the Heart Demon's words were difficult to discern as true or false, Fang Shi dared not gamble.

One does not fear the ten thousand possibilities, but one fears the one in ten thousand.

Fang Shi worried the Heart Demon possessed other means.

This time, Fang Shi merely seized an opening; the Heart Demon, caught off guard for a moment, lost its life.

The next time they meet, it may be another life-and-death struggle.

"No wonder I rarely saw cultivators initiate attacks along the way."

"I thought they were all indifferent, uncaring of worldly affairs."

"It turns out this world has a rule such as the Heart Demon."

"However, cultivators cannot avoid killing; for the sake of their own futures."

"They must have developed methods to resolve the Heart Demon."

"

"Later, when I return to Long Yu Mountain, I will ask those cultivators."

On Long Yu Mountain, there are actually many cultivators seeking refuge.

But Fang Shi had been busy with his own affairs and had not communicated much.

Now, with the threat of the Heart Demon, Fang Shi intends to communicate.

He would also find a cultivator proficient in runes to ask how the runes within his body came to be.

And whether there is room for improvement.

Fang Shi was not satisfied with a rune whose function was merely the weak and monotonous detection of Qi.

If possible, he wanted to inscribe a powerful spell rune upon his body.

Thereby enhancing his own combat power.

……

Zuo Yuanzhong was a lone cultivator, belonging to no sect or clan, with no home or noble family.

He had always indulged himself among the mountains and waters, traveling the vast landscapes of the Shenzhou continent.

However, after the calamity of the Evil God, he met with terrible misfortune.

He happened to be traveling in Yizhou and was also coincidentally blocked by the White Cloud Banner.

To preserve his own life, he had no choice but to come to Long Yu Mountain to participate in construction work.

He performed preliminary preparations for three top-tier Divine Sense cultivators to refine Nine-Turn Jin Dan.

Do not look down on Zuo Yuanzhong as a mere lone cultivator; he too possessed a lineage.

It was just that the family Zuo Yuanzhong belonged to had long since declined, and by his generation, they had fallen into poverty.

Had he not awakened his Immortal Bone, Zuo Yuanzhong would have been unable to activate his ancestors' lineage and enter the ranks of cultivators.

And the Zuo family's lineage happened to be in the direction of artifact refinement, following the path of Natural Creation.

What is called Natural Creation?

Heaven and Earth as the furnace, Creation as the craftsman, Yin and Yang as the charcoal, and all things as the copper.

This is Natural Creation.

Simply put, it is to calculate every detail of time and place, utilizing the birth and death changes of natural Qi.

Placing an ordinary material in a certain location to let it absorb the essence of the sun and moon.

Then, after several decades or even a hundred years, it forms a magical treasure.

Of course, the above is the most primitive method, which has already been discarded by cultivators.

The reason is simple: first, this method is difficult to calculate; unless one is a grandmaster of numerology, it is absolutely impossible to exhaust the changes of nature.

Second, this method is affected by human activity.

Actions such as carving open mountains and rivers, opening canals, and so on, all affect the changes of nature.

Finally, this method consumes one's lifespan; ordinary people simply cannot wait that long.

But legend has it that at the beginning when Heaven and Earth were opened.

Many powerful spiritual treasures grew up in this manner.

Each possessed immense power.

Humans in ancient times also learned the growth methods of these treasures.

Thereby creating the most primitive path of Natural Creation.

The Zuo family's lineage was certainly not this ancient technique.

They changed it to use artificial means to arrange time and place.

Later, they progressed further, directly simulating time, place, and Qi changes within a square inch.

Refining the magical treasures they desired.

One day, Zuo Yuanzhong was busy as usual when he suddenly felt a movement in the talisman in his bosom.

He immediately knew a guest had arrived and quickly rose to welcome them.

With a few strides, he arrived at the small courtyard.

He saw a cultivator with snow-white hair and a youthful face waiting quietly, accompanied by a Daoist boy.

"This Zuo has kept your esteemed guest waiting."

The Daoist boy said loudly, "This is True Person Fang Shi, who admires Master Zuo's path of artifact refinement and has therefore come to exchange ideas."

True Person!

Zuo Yuanzhong's heart shook; Daoist boys were scarce on Long Yu Mountain, and there were many cultivators these days.

It was simply impossible to assign one to every cultivator.

Seeing that Fang Shi was accompanied by a Daoist boy, he had long known this was an esteemed guest, but he did not expect it to be a True Person.

This was a great cultivator of the Divine Sense stage, only one step away from becoming a Earth Immortal.

It was not something a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him could compare to.

Thus, he became even more respectful: "Greetings, True Person Fang."

Fang Shi smiled: "Greetings, Master Zuo. I have come this time because I heard that Master Zuo is skilled in artifact refinement."

"Therefore, I have a request to make, and of course, I will not let Master Zuo work for nothing."

"This is refined gold, a metal that is extremely solid."

Speaking thus, Fang Shi took out a thumb-sized piece of golden metal.

"This is Immortal Refined Gold!"

Zuo Yuanzhong was greatly shocked; disregarding propriety, he took the metal and examined it carefully.

Fang Shi did not stop him; he feared the person would not recognize the value, but if they did, it would be easy to handle.

After a while, Zuo Yuanzhong returned the refined gold to Fang Shi and apologized: "I lost my composure; please do not mind, True Person."

Fang Shi said: "It is nothing, but Master Zuo, you called it Immortal Refined Gold; does that have some meaning?"

"I have only heard of it as refined gold; what kind of title is 'Immortal'?"

Zuo Yuanzhong sighed: "Refined gold, as the name implies, is refined gold."

"And Immortal-grade means continuing to refine within the fine gold until it sublimates."

"True Person Fang's piece of fine gold is practically on the verge of a qualitative change, reaching the threshold of Immortal-grade."

Fang Shi's heart stirred — anything tied to Immortal-grade must surely be worth far more: "Then how does one make it transform into Immortal-grade?"

Zuo Yuanzhong sighed and said, "That would require the true fire of an Earth Immortal to sublimate this piece of fine gold."

Fang Shi was a little disappointed upon hearing this; he had thought Zuo Yuanzhong could refine it.

"What is Immortal-grade fine gold used for?"

Zuo Yuanzhong hesitated and said, "May I dare to ask if True Person has any lineage inheritance?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Uh, any cultivator with a lineage inheritance knows the value of fine gold."

"Fine, I am but a solitary cloud and wild crane — a man who by chance awakened immortal bones and set foot upon the Dao. I have lived in the mountains all along and have no great breadth of experience."

Fang Shi admitted it openly and generously; he was not like some cultivators who cared greatly about face.

Who would have thought — upon hearing of Fang Shi's experiences, Zuo Yuanzhong instantly took a liking to him.

He was also a loose cultivator and knew the hardships of loose cultivators; especially for a cultivator like Fang Shi with no lineage inheritance, reaching the Divine Sense Stage must have cost untold suffering.

But at the same time it proved Fang Shi's outstanding talent — to reach the Divine Sense Stage through sheer hard cultivation.

"The uses of Immortal-grade fine gold are simple. The first is that when condensing a Jin Dan, it can serve as the main material for reinforcing the Jin Dan."

"The second is that it can be used as material for refining a Nine-Turn Jin Dan."

"The third is that it can be used to forge an Immortal-grade artifact."

Fang Shi asked, "What is meant by Jin Dan?"

Zuo Yuanzhong said, "Gold is that which is hard, firm, eternal, and undecaying; Dan is that which is perfect, luminous, and without flaw. The Jin Dan is the Dao Fruit of an Earth Immortal."

Just as expected! Jin Dan equals Earth Immortal — that hack Zhang Cheng probably hasn't even gotten his foot through the door.

He doesn't even know such simple common sense.

Fang Shi asked again, "I do understand the latter two uses — they're nothing more than pill-forging and artifact-forging."

"But what I most want to know is how Immortal-grade fine gold is added into the Jin Dan."

"Whether or not Immortal-grade fine gold is added — what difference does it make for an Earth Immortal?"

Zuo Yuanzhong understood and said, "True Person has already cultivated to Divine Sense, so naturally you would be concerned with your own Dao path."

"A Jin Dan with Immortal-grade fine gold added has magic power that is thicker and more enduring, far surpassing peers of the same rank."

Fang Shi understood — it simply meant a thicker mana pool. This method truly did not exist within the Heaven Sword Sect.

He was very interested in it for the moment.

A more powerful Jin Dan — Fang Shi wanted it too.

"Master Zuo, I'll speak plainly — this method concerns my Dao path, and I want it very much."

"If Master has any conditions, speak them."

By all rights, asking another about their methods was practically a taboo in the Cultivation World.

Generally only close friends and relatives might exchange such things with one another.

But Fang Shi had no time to warm up to people — being able to obtain it through a direct transaction would be better.

Zuo Yuanzong was inwardly surprised — this True Person Fang was truly candid.

But thinking of Fang Shi's identity as a loose cultivator, perhaps only this kind of candor could have carried him to the Divine Sense Stage.

Of course, Zuo Yuanzong could not possibly agree — this was not something a little goodwill could make up for.

Lineage inheritance is extremely precious in the Cultivation World; it is the founding foundation of a clan.

Especially methods concerning Earth Immortals — those are priceless treasures.

Still, outright refusing a person was too impolite.

And Fang Shi was a Divine Sense Stage cultivator — if one could avoid offending him, one should.

Zuo Yuanzong said with a face full of regret, "It's not that I won't give it to True Person — it's that I don't have it either."

"Everyone understands these things, but those who actually possess the methods are very few."

"Only those top-tier great clans possess them."

Fang Shi sensed the situation and said nothing either way.

"Then forget it. I came this time to consult you on some questions regarding artifact-forging."

"All within Master Zuo's area of expertise."

"Easy to say, easy to say — True Person Fang, please come inside."