Chapter 252: Exchange with the Profound Whale Hammer

"Truly capable of drinking!"

On the mountain path, Li Yuan stimulated his internal Qi to disperse the wine scent, gently rubbed his brow, and looked at the Dragon Stele beside him.

At the very top of the Dragon Stele, Long Long Xinglie's name shone brilliantly, standing out more conspicuously than anyone else's.

"Blood Replacement perfected, and clad in Qianshan Qianshan Qilin Divine Armor; whether he is a Grandmaster is uncertain, but below Grandmaster, who could defeat him?"

An unparalleled powerhouse.

Regarding this

"Divine Weapons! I heard that within the secret treasury of Longhu Temple lie divine weapons left by past patriarchs. Those who have established great merit or are genius disciples ascending to the True Disciple position may attempt to choose one; as long as a divine weapon accepts them, they can take it away directly..."

A thought arose in Li Yuan's heart.

The status of a True Disciple is far higher than that of an Inner Gate Disciple; this is true for any sect, and Longhu Sect is no exception, even more exaggerated than ordinary sects.

"The Dragon List..."

Li Yuan examined the rankings on the stone stele; he was still fifty-sixth. Those before and after him had perfected Meridian Opening, while the top fifty were clearly great masters who had successfully refined their Zang organs.

Just this single stone stele was enough to feel the huge gap between Daodao Sect and other sects.

The Divine Weapon Valley siphons an entire prefecture, while Longhu Temple siphons all prefectures, commanderies, and counties across a circuit; over two thousand years of accumulation is enough to stretch the gap between them to an extremely exaggerated degree.

Li Yuan stopped to observe, silently memorizing in his heart, also pondering.

The Dragon Stele is the key to entering and exiting the Health Preservation Mi Jing; he guessed the rankings on it were likely also related to the Health Preservation Furnace.

But from their meeting just now, Long Long Xinglie did not emit the aura of a Health Preservation Furnace.

"I reckon it's the same as the Split-Sea Profound Whale Hammer; this is just..."

Li Yuan turned the thought in his mind.

The more he knew, the more he felt the terror of the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing; a single Health Preservation Furnace had laid the foundation for Longhu Temple's prosperity for over two thousand years, producing Earthly Immortals generation after generation.

What scene would it be to truly command the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing?

Master Li Dao felt some agitation in his heart; after blowing in the mountain wind for a while until the wine scent completely dissipated, he finally walked home along the mountain path, where lights from the mountains could be seen dotting the landscape.

One light, one temple, worshipping the past patriarchs of Longhu Temple; on the mountain path, one could occasionally see Outer Gate Disciples lighting incense and extinguishing lamps at night.

Li Yuan felt a bit concerned about the incense offerings to the patriarchs.

He was very short on incense; whether for the Dingxin Dingxin Shitai or the Weapon Fusion Furnace, without incense, they would be completely ineffective.

The incense from just the Hun Tian Thirteen Peaks was enough for him to fuse thirty or forty sixth-rank Weapon items, and the Hun Tian Thirteen Peaks were merely one of the nine major halls of Longhu Sect.

"The nine major halls of Longhu: three on Dragon Mountain, three on Tiger Mountain, and the three major halls of the Dao Master lineage are in the Health Preservation Mi Jing... In that Mi Jing, the tower likely holds high-rank incense of seventh-rank or above!"

Li Yuan felt some restlessness in his heart.

Regarding the characteristics of weapons forged with Divine Fire, once he wore them, they would take effect; and weapons hammered out in the Divine Fire Weapon Fusion Furnace had a significantly lower threshold for control compared to weapons of the same rank.

If he could truly freely mobilize Longhu Temple's incense to fuse ten or twenty seventh-rank divine weapons, let alone Chu Shan Xuan Kong, he would even dare to clash with this senior brother.

"Dragon List rankings, incense, Longhu Longhu Dadan, Longhu Hun Tian Hammer, and the blood of the five great Spirit Beast Kings..."

Li Yuan muttered to himself; just thinking about it felt very fulfilling. There were indeed many things he needed to do, but none of them were easy.

"Take it step by step; before my cheap master emerges from seclusion, I'll prepare first."

Li Yuan planned in his mind the things he needed to do next, returning to his courtyard before the curfew.

Most of the time, Master Li Dao was very rule-abiding.

Returning to the courtyard, Li Yuan did not see his one cat and one rat.

"Ran out again?"

Li Yuan didn't mind; spirit beasts are beasts, and they become extremely active in the mountains, especially the little rat, which could find a huge batch of rats wherever it went.

In these past few months, he had heard no end of disciples from Hun Tang Hall talking about the recent rat infestation, even sparking a wave of cat-raising.

"Hoo!"

With the wine scent gone, Li Yuan stood in the horse stance as usual

, practiced the hammer, and transformed his root and bone.

He still had quite a few Root Charts on him, brought from the Divine Weapon Valley, enough to support him in completing sixty forms; it was just that there were fewer Spirit Forms.

The martial arts learning regulations within Longhu Temple were quite complex,

After night deepened, Li Yuan washed off his sweat, did not enter the room, but sat quietly under the tree in meditation, and incidentally, took stock of his own assets.

On the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, six large incense burners held spiritual rice, gold and silver, pills, Root Charts, Wu Gong manuals, and various iron materials, beast skins, beast bones, and the like that he had collected bit by bit.

"Nine thousand taels of gold notes, sixteen thousand taels of silver, jewelry, hmm, several pieces."

Li Yuan was taking stock.

Master Master Gongyang Yu's generous support, even with the promotion of the Weapon Command Talisman, purchasing shops in Dao City to open and recruit, various buying and buying, had not yet been spent.

"The next batch of support is still two and a half years away; currently, I must save a bit, and also open new revenue streams. Materials for promoting the Weapon Command Talisman to eighth rank..."

While taking stock of his assets, Li Yuan was in a good mood until he thought of the materials for promoting the Weapon Command Talisman.

"Forget it, take it slowly; once Wu Gong is practiced up, gold and silver are no issue. The only thing slightly difficult is things like refined gold, hmm, collect slowly."

Li Yuan took stock for quite a while, feeling that he wouldn't need to worry about gold and silver for at least a year; after all, items like spiritual rice and spiritual pills had quota limits, and even if he wanted to buy, he couldn't buy much currently.

Outside the incense burners were various controllable weapons.

He had previously made time to categorize various weapons, arranging them neatly by type and rank; a single glance revealed quite a tidy scene.

Except for a small number of first and second-rank Weapon items, most weapons in the Weapon Command Space were third-rank or above; fourth and fifth ranks were rare, and the only sixth-rank one was the Fire Dragon Sword.

Weapons above the rank of Famous Vessel were too expensive; fusing was better than buying. Now that incense was insufficient, he could only prepare first, fusing the collected low-rank weapons into third-rank ones.

Apart from the categorization, there was a pile of broken weapons.

These were obtained over the past few months from Inner Gate Disciples who asked him to repair their weapons; it was an exchange of old for new, and those who disagreed were in the minority.

Among these, the best was 【Hexagonal Patterned Dragon Hammer (Fifth Rank)】, with the control effect of 【Longhu Hun Tian Hammer Perfected】 and a fifth-rank hammer technique talent.

The next tier down is the 【Six-Faced Mixed-Steel Hammer (Tier 4)】, with the control effect of 【Dragon-Tiger Hun Tian Hammer Mastery】 and a Tier 4 hammer technique aptitude.

Counting in a Tier 3 heavy hammer, he was now prepared to cultivate the Dragon-Tiger Hun Tian Hammer.

"Dragon-Tiger Hun Tian Hammer; even with the Weapon Control Talisman, it will take me at least three or four years, perhaps even four or five, to reach Great Perfection, right? Unless I can control a higher-level heavy hammer..."

Li Yuan pondered this in his heart.

Of course, he intended to learn the Dragon-Tiger Hun Tian Hammer; the hammer technique remains his most proficient Wu Gong and the weapon type he has collected most comprehensively.

But the primary goal is naturally to control the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer.

Vmm~

As if sensing Li Yuan's gaze, the Black Whale Hammer, suspended in mid-air at the center of the gray stone platform, emitted a faint humming sound.

"The conditions to control the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer are too difficult; if I reach Great Perfection in the supreme hammer technique, acquiring several heavy hammers to boost my stats might suffice, but this Body of a Hundred Forms and Form of a Hundred Shapes will be very hard to achieve."

Li Yuan sighed.

The conditions to control the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer are truly too high; currently, he has not even reached half of them.

"If this hammer could recognize me as its master, these conditions would surely drop significantly, but making it recognize me is no easy task..."

Li Yuan felt somewhat of a headache.

After being sealed into the Weapon Control Talisman, this hammer appeared extremely furious, yet he absolutely could not let it go free.

For one, the Xieshen Sect is watching hungrily; they could even deduce my false name, Li Li Yuanba. For another, I fear this hammer, in its extreme anger, might simply leave.

"Currently, to control the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer, I must either satisfy the control conditions, or create the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Diagram..."

Li Yuan opened his eyes, glanced at the little tiger cub that had just jumped back in from the window, and then closed them again.

His desire to control the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer was urgent, but alas...

Vmm~

Upon lightly touching the Black Whale Hammer, Li Yuan opened his eyes again and found himself at the peak of the Upside-Down Mountain.

He looked around; the Black Whale Mi Jing is much smaller than the Nourishing Furnace Mi Jing, but he surmised this has nothing to do with the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing's rank; it is purely because no one nourishes this hammer, whereas the Nourishing Furnace is nourished by the entire Dragon-Tiger Temple.

"Look how well the Nourishing Furnace lives; your Mi Jing is so shabby, yet you still hesitate to recognize me as your master?"

Li Yuan's voice was loud, echoing across the mountain peak.

Although he could not sense the will of the Sea-Splitting Black Whale Hammer, he knew this hammer was definitely watching him.

Boom~

A thunderclap rolled from the horizon, and the mountain peak suddenly shook violently.

Swish!

Li Yuan looked at the stone stele beside him; the original Sea-Splitting Black Whale Diagram on it had vanished, and lines of text shifted like water ripples, finally coalescing into a single line of messy, stuttering words.

It was as if the will of the Black Whale Hammer was trying to communicate with him:

【Imprisonment... Despicable... Heavens... Talent insufficient... Deception... You deceived... Will not recognize master... Will not recognize master... Talent poor... Only entry-level...

Black Whale Diagram...】

The characters on the stone stele were very messy; Li Yuan read them several times before finally grasping their meaning and realizing the source of the hammer's anger.

It was not only because it was imprisoned by the Weapon Control Talisman, but also because it discovered he was not a 'genius'.

"This hammer despises my insufficient talent and thinks the talent boosted by the Weapon Control Talisman is fake?"

Having grasped the situation, Li Yuan felt somewhat amused yet helpless, while also forming a slight speculation about the hammer's intelligence.

Stubborn, and with very low, very low intelligence.

"This hammer never considered on what grounds I could 'imprison it'; it is completely unaware of the Weapon Control Talisman's existence, right? Hmm, so,

in this hammer's view, my previous stacking of hammer technique aptitudes to attract it was deception..."

Li Yuan finally understood what was happening.

"It's all because of the talent!"

After figuring it out, Li Yuan felt a sense of relief in his heart.

Although he hasn't dealt much with children of very low intelligence, logically speaking, they should be easier to fool... and easier to get along with... than those cunning old schemers?

"Hmm, talent... since the talent is insufficient, I will stack it again!"

Li Yuan formed a plan in his mind.

You think Daoist is being deceitful, eh?

Wait until Daoist stacks his hammer technique aptitude to Tier 7, Tier 8, or even Tier 9, and see if you little hammer feel tempted!