Chapter 100: Good Treasure

"Crack!" Two extremely distinct sounds of bone breaking rang out. Chen Mo looked at the iron-armored giant before him, which had no head and only a single eye.

The other Giant Hammer swung up as well. The iron-armored giant's arms were already broken, and with nowhere to dodge, it could only take this blow head-on.

Its entire body was smashed down by half a foot, emitting an extremely sharp, shrill roar.

Chen Mo had originally thought that, given the opponent's size and momentum, it might be a match for him.

But once they actually clashed, he discovered the opponent was just a silver-plated wax spearhead.

Or rather, one couldn't blame it for being too weak; the main reason was that he was too strong.

After several more hammer blows, the one-eyed giant made not a sound more.

Its upper and lower body had basically merged into one. Chen Mo now felt like a cook.

Holding two Giant Hammers, he was constantly pounding minced meat. The gap in strength between the two sides was simply too great; the opponent was like fish on a chopping block, with almost no ability to resist.

However, he was also clear in his heart that the strength of this one-eyed giant was still much greater than the Deer King.

This was only a small Mirage Sea with just over eighty people, yet it could produce a Mirage Spirit as formidable as the one-eyed giant.

It was hard for Chen Mo to imagine how vast and boundless the Mirage Sea in the prefecture city, with its population of nearly three hundred thousand, must be, and what powerful Mirage Spirits might exist there.

And that was just the prefecture city; the state capital had a population of eight hundred thousand, and the national capital had several million.

No wonder his foster father had spoken of the Mirage Sea with a faint sense of helplessness that day.

Looking at it this way, it was indeed very difficult to deal with.

Chen Mo's current strength was absolutely top-tier across the entire Xingyuan Prefecture; even looking at the whole Ding Prefecture, there were likely few who could steadily defeat him.

Yet even so, he dared not enter the Mirage Sea of Zhu Niu Ji at will.

Let alone the Mirage Seas of the prefecture or state capitals; with his current strength, going in was no different from seeking death.

Even if the top powerhouses of this world were stronger than him, they had no great way to deal with the Mirage Sea, only able to restrict or delay it, but unable to resolve it.

Chen Mo swung his Giant Hammer. The one-eyed giant had now become one-eyed giant paste, its flesh and blood, turned into a slurry, constantly surging.

He activated his Blood Qi Eye to further stimulate his power.

Chen Mo could now see the changes in the one-eyed giant's body; it looked like flesh and blood, but in essence, it was not. The writhing flesh was merely dissipating and evolving.

Even the flesh stuck to his hammer was constantly writhing toward the largest pile of mush.

It wasn't just the flesh; its weapons and armor also seemed to have come alive, all constantly aggregating and evolving.

Until finally, everything disappeared completely, leaving only a walnut-sized round bead in its place.

Chen Mo shifted his thoughts, keeping the power of the Blood Qi Eye in a normal state; even if he exited the Mirage Sea, he would absolutely not see the black shadow on the moon.

From Xiaqi Mountain and his foster father, Chen Mo had learned quite a lot.

The Mirage Sea was indeed dangerous, but once one entered this place, one would no longer be affected by the weirdness outside.

Even if he operated his Blood Qi Eye at full power after entering the Mirage Sea, what he could see would absolutely only be things that existed within this area.

As for the black shadow on the moon, or the grey-white figures floating in the air, he would absolutely be unable to see them before the Grey Mist around him dissipated.

The one-eyed giant should be the strongest in this patch of Mirage Sea. Once he dealt with it, exploring carefully would be relatively much safer.

If this Mirage Sea could only evolve such a strongest being, then he could come once every month and treat it as a relatively fixed source of income.

Chen Mo put down one hammer and reached out to pick up the silver-white Treasure Pearl, but as soon as he touched it, he sensed something was wrong.

This silver-white Treasure Pearl was not large, but it was very heavy, weighing nearly three hundred catties.

Moreover, its texture was quite hard; if he really tried to eat it, not to mention the toll on his teeth, he would have to spend quite some time slowly digesting it.

Chen Mo didn't try to refine it with Inner Qi; the Mirage Sea was, after all, the Mirage Sea. Even if his strength was sufficient, he could not take this lightly.

He would put it away for now and experiment later.

Picking up the Treasure Pearl, he couldn't stuff it into the satchel he carried with him.

This satchel had been sewn by Zhao Yu herself; it used five layers of cloth inside and out, was sturdy and wear-resistant, and most importantly, was sewn to his measurements.

It felt completely different from those bought outside; things made at home were always the most convenient to use.

Chen Mo had placed the few Mirage Spirits he had obtained previously inside it.

But it couldn't bear this Treasure Pearl, because the bead was too small; if he really put it in, the satchel would break immediately.

Chen Mo could only hold it in his hand for now and think of a way to deal with it later.

Fortunately, after killing the one-eyed giant, the Mirage Spirits he encountered next were relatively weaker, so even with a walnut-sized object in his hand, it didn't affect Chen Mo using his dual hammers to smash them to death.

Not until he had basically cleared out all the Mirage Spirits in this patch of Mirage Sea did Chen Mo gently strike his Copper Gong and quietly leave this military camp.

The two round Giant Hammers, originally smooth, had now become pitted and dented.

Although the one-eyed giant couldn't be called copper-skinned and iron-boned, it was still quite hard to kill, not to mention it was wearing armor.

After fighting it, it was perfectly normal for his weapons to sustain damage.

At this rate of wear, he would likely need to replace his pair of hammers after two more uses.

Fortunately, he had already instructed He Luoyun some time ago to find a top-notch blacksmith to help him forge a pair of high-quality Giant Hammers with a total weight of three hundred catties, made entirely of refined steel.

Such Giant Hammers took time and even more silver to forge.

But Chen Mo was currently lacking Blood Essence Stones and Mirage Spirits, just not silver.

Stepping into the wilderness, the cold moonlight spilled down. Chen Mo only kept his Blood Qi Eye at its minimum effect, enough to see the road at night, but absolutely not enough to see other things.

Carrying the two Giant Hammers and treading on the moonlight, he hurried all the way back to the Zhu Niu Ji military camp.

Returning to his barracks, Chen Mo let out a long breath and picked up the candle on the side to light it.

Since there was a lighting implement, there was no need to consume his own Qi and Blood.

The Origin True Stone was the first thing Chen Mo took out; this Mirage Spirit could not be used by himself, at least not for the time being. He would have to swap it out later before he could use it.

Immediately after, he took out the other eleven Mirage Spirits, all of varying sizes and styles.

The most unique among them was the Treasure Pearl evolved from the one-eyed giant, which was silver-white all over and shimmered with a metallic luster.

Although it was only the size of a walnut, it was quite heavy; Chen Mo didn't even dare to place it on the table and could only hold it in his hand.

Squeezing it hard, it was even more solid than he had imagined.

He circulated his Inner Qi to see if he could refine it, yet the moment his Inner Qi touched the Treasure Pearl, the bead seemed to come alive, turning into a mass of flowing liquid.

This mass of liquid could be large or small; Chen Mo tried to make it change into a brow-high staff, then continuously extended it, only stopping when it reached a length of one and a half zhang.

Controlling it carefully with his Inner Qi once more, a bright silver long spear slowly emerged.

Chen Mo picked it up and swung it; the weight was quite substantial.

Not only that, its shaft was as flexible as a wooden pole, capable of whipping and changing moves at will, and could be shaken to create vibrations in the long spear.

The weapon evolved from this silver-white Treasure Pearl seemed to possess the qualities of an Iron-Reinforced Spear.

It was sufficiently sturdy, yet also flexible.

However, using Inner Qi to control this transformation was by no means an easy task.

In just a short moment, two or three tenths of the Inner Qi in Chen Mo's body, which surged like a great river, had already been consumed.

Moreover, he could not be easily disturbed during this process and had to be fully focused.

In the midst of a life-and-death battle, he would not be able to make it change again.

Otherwise, this Treasure Pearl could be called a divine artifact; an enemy might think they had blocked his attack, yet with a circulation of Inner Qi, his weapon would suddenly extend by three feet, piercing them through.

But even if it could not be transformed during a life-and-death battle, this Treasure Pearl could still be considered a quite excellent treasure.

He had originally planned to go and have a weapon forged; he hadn't expected the pillow to arrive just as he was getting sleepy.

At nearly three hundred jin in weight, it was quite suitable for his current strength, and most importantly, it was sturdy enough.

Chen Mo circulated his Inner Qi, controlling the liquid to spread flat on the table and making it change continuously; he wanted to see if he could transform it into a set of close-fitting armor.

However, when the liquid touched the Mirage Spirit on the table, Chen Mo could clearly perceive that the liquid wanted to devour it.

He did not stop it, and the silver-white liquid quickly devoured the Mirage Spirit completely, its own volume and weight increasing as well.

After just one consumption, the weight of the silver-white liquid increased by thirty or forty jin, and it became even sharper and tougher.

It was growing, but Chen Mo could perceive even more that this growth had an upper limit.

It could not be improved without limit.

But for now, it was still far from reaching that limit.

Looking at it this way, this weapon would be enough for him to use for quite a long time.

Chen Mo tried other styles the weapon could transform into; it could indeed become armor, but the coverage area was too small.

As for a Giant Hammer, it could also transform into one, but a single hammer weighing over three hundred jin was relatively heavy.

Chen Mo still did not intend to bring this weapon, or rather treasure, into the Mirage Sea, because it was relatively precious.

The one-eyed giant had been killed by him this time, but next time, it would not evolve into the same Mirage Spirit again.

Wanting to obtain another Mirage Spirit not much different from it would not be so easy.

Chen Mo finally transformed it into a Short Blade that was easier to carry and put it away to the side.

The next day, he returned home carrying only the Short Blade, leaving the original two Giant Hammers in the military camp to be retrieved later.

With a few maidservants in the house, Zhao Yu felt much more relaxed, no longer needing to toil over chores like sweeping, washing, and laundry.

However, Chen Mo's three daily meals were still cooked by her personally; firstly, because the skills of these hired maidservants were far inferior to hers, and secondly, because she worried Chen Mo would not be used to their cooking.

Even so, she was much more relaxed; she only needed to manage the seasoning and the heat, leaving other matters to the maidservants.

Walking into his small courtyard, Chen Mo could already smell the fragrance wafting from the kitchen.

"There were quite a few leftovers yesterday, so I had someone heat them up. I also made some oil cakes and boiled a pot of porridge."

Seeing Chen Mo return, Zhao Yu smiled, walked to his side, and said softly.

In this weather, leftovers could be kept, and the two of them would not throw them away and waste them.

This had nothing to do with being rich or poor; they simply could not bear to waste food.

After finishing breakfast, Chen Mo walked back to his room and pulled a wooden box from under the bed; the Dutian Great Dao Scripture was kept inside it.

Carrying the wooden box into the practice room, Chen Mo prepared to try and study this cultivation manual again.

(End of chapter)