Chapter 366: Evil God Ritual, Thunder Dragon Enters the Viscera (Part Two)

The Thousand Spirit Salvation Stele (sixth-tier) — Li Yuan had held this stele for quite some time, but because of that deity on its face, he had been unable to extract the incense and fire within. "Thousand Spirit Stele, this one, should be the remnant god of the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva, one of the deities with the most flourishing incense and fire in Great Fortune…" Li Yuan mused in his heart.

The four methods of slaying gods — first, he had no spirit phase; second, he did not know where the divine ailment lay; razing mountains and smashing temples was even more impossible; as for incense and fire of a dharma-master level.

He looked at an incense burner wreathed in curling smoke; before he had tossed Yun Xiang Ding to Brother Brother Sikong, the incense and fire had all been stored here.

"Among this incense and fire, there should be incense and fire from other dharma masters, but how to distinguish them is also a problem; moreover, my highest incense and fire is only sixth-tier — can it refine that deity?"

As for how to deal with this deity, Li Yuan had some plans in his heart, and also some hesitation.

He had incense and fire of an evil god, and he also had a method to ignite incense and fire.

But he did not want to waste incense and fire; these past days he had been pondering other methods.

"How about, give it a try first? Just trying, only a few strands of incense and fire — now Daoist Master has them."

With a shift of his mind, Li Yuan took the Divine Fire Ten-Thousand Forging Hammer (sixth-tier) out from the Soldier-Forging Codex, and also brought over the Fire Dragon Sword (sixth-tier).

The Slaying God tome given to him by the Dragon Dao Lord contained a crude method to harness incense and fire, but he had a superior technique—namely, the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace.

"The methods of the Xieshen Sect are unfathomably strange; this Thousand Spirit Stele is best not taken outside."

Out of wariness toward the Xieshen Sect and consideration for his own safety, Li Yuan had always been very cautious; from the moment he obtained this stele, he had never taken it out.

"Try a few times; if it doesn't work, seek another method."

With a hum, the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace rose up with pure-yellow flames; Li Yuan felt a pang of heartache — his sixth-tier incense and fire totaled just over a hundred strands in all.

Having made his calculation, Li Yuan did not hesitate, and directly tossed the Thousand Spirit Stele, Fire Dragon Sword, and Ten-Thousand Forging Hammer all into the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace.

Synthesizing a seventh-tier divine weapon requires seventh-tier incense and fire, but what he wanted was failure.

Hum.

The Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace suddenly paused; Li Yuan took the opportunity to toss in some gold and silver, and the flames blazed up mightily. Before long, with another hum, all three weapons were spat back out.

Was it useful?

Li Yuan could not be bothered to feel heartache over the incense and fire as he carefully examined the Thousand Spirit Salvation Stele up close — under close observation, it seemed some of the fine, dense patterns on the stele had already been burned away: "Seems like it has some effect?"

It was useful, but not by much.

Li Yuan's heart eased a little; if sixth-tier incense and fire were completely useless, he would have had to seek another method.

"Again!"

Convinced it was useful, Li Yuan hardened his heart and reignited the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace.

Hum.

Hum.

On the dim and gloomy stone platform, the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace flickered more than ten times in succession; when these three weapons were once again spat out, Daoist Master Li was truly heartache-stricken.

In his heart, a single strand of sixth-tier incense and fire represented one superior-grade piece; in one breath, he had wasted more than ten strands.

"Still not burned away?"

Li Yuan frowned as he examined it — the patterns on the Thousand Spirit Stele were mostly gone.

He tried to guide the incense and fire within, and only felt the stele tremble slightly; a strand of seventh-tier incense and fire had already been drawn out by him.

"Good!"

Seeing this, Li Yuan's heart eased, and he did not hesitate any longer, reigniting the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace at once.

Hum.

Hum.

Another dozen-plus flickers; when the Thousand Spirit Stele was once again spat out, the patterns on it had completely vanished.

"Wasted thirty strands of sixth-tier incense and fire."

Li Yuan could not be bothered to feel heartache; with a shift of his mind, he had already drawn out all the incense and fire from the Thousand Spirit Stele. After a quick tally, the heartache in his heart was instantly swept away.

"Seventh-tier incense and fire, twelve strands; eighth-tier incense and fire, four strands!"

Under the interweaving of strands of pale-gold and gold incense and fire, the gray stone platform seemed as if draped in a layer of golden robes; Li Yuan's heart settled — although incense and fire had been wasted, the harvest was more than enough to make up for it.

"If all succeed, this would be four eighth-tier divine weapons!"

Li

Daoist Master had not even considered the matter of failure; feeling the radiance of high-tier incense and fire, he was already pondering how to use them.

"There are only four strands of eighth-tier incense and fire; I must deliberate carefully and absolutely cannot waste a single strand."

Heaven knew when he could obtain eighth-tier incense and fire next time; Li Yuan was very cautious and did not rush to try. After taking stock of the weapons on the stone platform, he listened to the sounds as usual some twenty times, and fell asleep in contemplation.

Rain at night makes for good sleep; this sleep, Li Yuan slept very soundly, only rising the next day when the sky was already bright.

"Comfortable."

After loosening up his sinews and bones and standing in two sets of stake-postures, Li Yuan finally left the Weapon-Forging Shop.

After the heavy rain, the sky cleared; there was still a faint trace of moisture in the air. Li Yuan ate some breakfast along the way, and wandered around various weapon shops, silk and satin stores, and leather shops.

He rarely went down the mountain, but every time he did, he would wander around, eat some good food, and also purchase some things.

Mount Hengshan city, a central hub, coupled with the imminent martial arts demonstrations of the various paths, all manner of goods from across the lands were available. Li Yuan wandered around for a circuit and nearly filled up the horse carriage.

"Plenty of good stuff indeed."

Having spent the last of his silver, Li Yuan reluctantly returned to the mountain; the horse carriage — he took stock of it.

Spirit-leather boots — three pairs that entered the tiers, sixteen pairs that did not; the rest were all things like bone ornaments and waist belts — not few in number, though not high in tier either.

"There are more and more experts."

In the horse carriage, Li Yuan glanced out the window from time to time.

After the Soldier-Forging Codex advanced to eighth-tier, the moment he focused his mind slightly, he could sense the radiance of all weapons within a range of one hundred and sixty meters, even those hidden deep underground could not escape him.

At this moment, the moment he glanced around, the radiance of weapons surged like tides and waves; at a glance, there were hundreds and thousands, and not lacking were famous weapons and superior-grade famous weapons, and occasionally he could even sense supreme-grade famous weapons.

"When the martial arts demonstrations of the various paths are held, the scene will be even more spectacular."

Li Yuan sighed in his heart, lowered the carriage curtain; there was still a year until the demonstrations, yet Mount Hengshan city was already very lively — everywhere was a sea of people. More than ten routes, and it took over two hours to traverse.

The plaza before Dragon Tiger Temple's mountain gate was also very lively. Young disciples from various sects, upon arriving at Mount Hengshan City, made this their first stop to walk through the memorial archway.

Li Yuan paused to observe for a while. Those who dared to come here mostly had some confidence in their own talent, and were likely prominent figures within their respective sects.

But to draw forth the shadows of the Azure Dragon and Bai Hu — how easy could that be?

After the ninth table, the archway had only trembled once more, and that was for Brother Zhongli Wang Luan, the champion of the previous generation's martial display.

"Yan Yan Chunyang also counts. That person's talent is probably even better than Senior Brother Long's…"

His thoughts scattered briefly. Li Yuan instructed Liu Zheng to send the purchased items back to the courtyard, while he himself went to the Surging Wave Hall to observe the four great divine smiths at work.

By the pool, the four great divine smiths and their disciples were busy forging iron.

Li Yuan had long since finished his own iron materials for the day, and sat drinking tea while observing.

"Forging divine weapons is too tedious. Weapon fusion is more cost-effective."

Li Yuan held his teacup, his thoughts drifting.

Forget trading two thousand unranked weapons for one divine weapon — even twenty thousand for one would be an extremely good deal. It's just that incense qi is also very hard to come by.

"High-grade incense qi is scarce. Not a single wisp can be wasted. Weapon fusion must also be carefully considered."

Li Yuan murmured to himself.

For him personally, the priority was naturally boots, followed by bone ornaments, then armor, and finally, the heavy hammer.

Among these, the heavy hammer was the easiest to obtain. The other three were very troublesome. Armor was prohibited — getting a few thousand pieces at once would alarm even the Dragon Dao Lord.

As for boots and bone ornaments, it was purely that there were too few on the market; he simply couldn't gather enough.

Musing to himself, Li Yuan looked at the four divine smiths. He had always been very dedicated to the art of weapon-forging. At first, it was a livelihood, but later, he truly immersed himself in it.

The sound of hammering put his heart at ease.

An ordinary day passed. Li Yuan still shuttled back and forth along his three points, alternating martial training with forging, and cycling through visualization and organ refinement.

Blessed by his epoch-defying talent, his martial arts grew day by day, evolving constantly. Several stance techniques and martial arts sequentially reached Grand Completion, pushing his count of body transformations to one hundred and twelve.

Cloud Dragon Nine Appearances had reached Great Completion, and the stance skill of Dragon Snake Nine Transformations was also approaching Grand Completion.

"Hah!"

"Hoo!"

At night, in the small courtyard, Li Yuan stood holding his hammer, his long breaths accompanied by the summer cicadas' song.

He stood motionless, but beneath his Daoist robe, his sinews and bones naturally trembled. He appeared still, but in truth, his qi and strength were being consumed tremendously — this was the training method of the Long Chan Vajra Sutra.

This absolute art, which combined horizontal-training asceticism, had strange movements at the introductory stage, even more exaggerated than the yoga of his previous life, but in the end, it became a still cultivation.

Unmoving and unattending, yet both body and mind were in motion.

"Hah!"

At a certain moment, the heavy hammer landed. Li Yuan brought his palms together before his chest and bowed slightly, like Fayin Fayin Tongzi.

This was the most ordinary of movements, but as he bowed, beads of sweat poured from Li Yuan's body like water, like clothes just pulled from water being wrung dry.

Hum—

Accompanied by a resonant hum, true qi behind Li Yuan naturally interwove, transforming into a vajra shadow roughly a zhang tall, with a dragon coiled at its waist.

"Roar!"

"Howl!"

Li Yuan seemed to hear the sound of the vajra's wrathful gaze and the Azure Dragon's long cry. The trembling of his body grew more intense, his sweat evaporating like rising qi.

"Hah!"

After a long while, the trembling subsided. Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a faint light gleaming in his pupils: "Long Chan Vajra, Dragon-Maintaining Vajra, the union of motion and stillness, ascetic cultivation and horizontal training… This absolute art has a higher conception than Dragon Tiger Heaven-Splitting Hammer. The Dragon Nine Forms, the Vajra is also Nine Forms…"

One absolute art reaching Great Completion altered eighteen of his sinews and bones.

"Old Han definitely doesn't have one hundred and thirty."

A bucket of cold water poured over his head, washing away the sweat. Li Yuan felt exhilarated. He didn't need to try at the Dark Whale Gate's archway — he could feel it himself.

After the Long Chan Vajra Sutra reached Grand Completion, his own talent had also crossed the threshold of Unparalleled.

Even without the augmentation of his Soldier, his current talent was already closing in on Long Long Xinglie's. And if he were to activate the augmentation of various weapons…

"Above Epoch-Unrivaled…"

Li Yuan recalled the Dragon Demon Daoist's muttering when he had previously listened to the Heavenly Sound: "Talent to dominate an age?" Daoist Li smiled slightly. He didn't go inside, but sat cross-legged right under the old tree. True qi rose vigorously behind him, transforming into the shadow of a flood dragon, then quickly fell back, sinking into his viscera.