Chapter 409 - 242: Heavenly Work

Chapter 409: Chapter 242: Heavenly Work

"Oh, right. My master wrote that poem."

With that, Shi Ziran went off to handle his own business.

Huo Zhen Court’s eyes widened, and he froze on the spot. After a long moment, he couldn’t help but curse.

"Son of a bitch! We’re all just crude Martial Artists, so how the hell do you know how to write poetry?"

Huo Zhen Court grumbled, "Good thing you have absolutely no talent for the Weapon Casting Technique!"

...

Inside the room, Zhang Zhongmei wore a serious expression as he took a yellowed animal hide from his robes.

Su Mu gave him a strange look. Zhang Zhongmei had a Space Ring, so why didn’t he use it?

’Hiding it from others is one thing, but is he afraid of me seeing it, too?’

Noticing Su Mu’s gaze, Zhang Zhongmei explained.

"I gave that Space Ring to the Divine Weapon Pavilion in exchange for this."

Zhang Zhongmei pointed to the animal hide before him and said solemnly, "But rest assured, the Divine Weapon Pavilion thinks it’s the only Space Ring in the world."

"I told them I crafted it myself. If they want one, I can tell them how to craft it, as long as they can gather the materials."

Zhang Zhongmei was explaining that he hadn’t leaked the secrets of the Space Ring.

Su Mu nodded, not particularly concerned.

The existence of the Space Ring couldn’t be kept secret forever. After all, over a hundred people had watched Zhang Zhongmei forge the weapon that day.

Someone with keen eyes would discover its existence sooner or later.

However, Su Mu was curious what Zhang Zhongmei would trade a Space Ring for.

"This is...?"

Su Mu looked down at the animal hide.

"This is an Artifact Refining Technique!"

Zhang Zhongmei said in a low voice, "Years ago, the founder of the Divine Weapon Pavilion chanced upon an Artifact Refining Technique. Since he could never master it, he settled for the next best thing, learning a Weapon Casting Technique from it and then establishing the Divine Weapon Pavilion."

"He couldn’t master it, yet he still founded the Divine Weapon Pavilion?"

Su Mu was rather surprised.

The Divine Weapon Pavilion was one of the largest sects in Da Xuan; it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to call it the number one sect in Da Xuan.

Even the imperial court’s Refining Bureau wouldn’t dare claim its Weapon Casting Technique was definitively superior to the Divine Weapon Pavilion’s.

’A sect this powerful, and their inherited Weapon Casting Technique is just a defective product?’

"To be precise, the founder of the Divine Weapon Pavilion mastered a portion of the Artifact Refining Technique, which is the Weapon Casting Technique passed down in the Divine Weapon Pavilion today."

"The Divine Weapon Pavilion’s Weapon Casting Technique can, at most, forge Profound Weapons. But the complete Artifact Refining Technique can create Divine Weapons, and even Immortal Soldiers!"

Zhang Zhongmei said, slightly emotional.

"I know about Divine Weapons, but what are Immortal Soldiers?"

Su Mu asked, confused.

Recently, he had learned some basic knowledge about weapons from Huo Zhen Court.

Mortal Weapons, Profound Weapons, Divine Weapons.

He possessed a Profound Weapon himself, and Huo Zhen Court had boasted that the power of a Divine Weapon was enough to shatter the heavens and extinguish the earth.

If Divine Weapons were already that powerful, what kind of existence would an Immortal Soldier be?

"I can’t say for sure what power an Immortal Soldier has."

Zhang Zhongmei said, "In short, it’s the ultimate weapon."

"But that’s not the point. We’re not capable of refining an Immortal Soldier."

"If I could just refine a single Divine Weapon in this lifetime, that would be enough."

Zhang Zhongmei said, his voice full of yearning.

"So, you traded the Space Ring for this Artifact Refining Technique in the hopes of one day being able to refine a Divine Weapon?"

Su Mu smiled.

"That’s one reason."

Zhang Zhongmei continued, "The second is that I wanted to give this Artifact Refining Technique to you. After all, you gave me the Space Ring."

"What would I do with it? I don’t know anything about weapon casting."

Su Mu laughed.

He had been learning the Weapon Casting Technique from Huo Zhen Court recently, with the results he’d just seen—the iron ingot he forged was worse than what even an apprentice could produce.

Though he was unwilling to admit it, he truly had no talent for weapon casting.

Most importantly, despite studying for so many days, nothing related to weapon casting had appeared on his system panel.

"You might not want to practice the Weapon Casting Technique now, but from what I understand, once a Martial Artist’s Cultivation reaches a certain level, further advancement becomes incredibly difficult. So, they usually learn another skill, partly to avoid wasting time, and partly to gain new insights through analogy."

Zhang Zhongmei continued, "Take your Taiping Bureau, for example. Marquis Lin practices the Crossing Technique, and Marquis Mingyi is a highly skilled Weapon Master."

"If you encounter a bottleneck in the future, perhaps you could cultivate this Artifact Refining Technique."

Su Mu felt a bit helpless at his words. Wasn’t this basically cursing him to hit a bottleneck?

However, he knew Zhang Zhongmei meant well.

After a Martial Artist cultivated to a certain realm, their lifespan was longer than that of an ordinary person. If they encountered a bottleneck in the Martial Dao, they might not make any progress for decades. At such times, having a skill to occupy themselves and ease their minds was indeed necessary.

Even for Su Mu, the higher his Cultivation, the more Points he needed to advance.

For example, deducing a phenomenon cost one hundred thousand Points for a single attempt, and saving up that many Points would take at least fifty to sixty days.

The key issue was that a single attempt wasn’t even guaranteed to succeed.

The progression of his Unlimited True Essence Technique of Heaven and Earth was also absurd. It cost one hundred thousand Points to go from Entry to Minor Accomplishment, three hundred thousand from Minor to Major Accomplishment, and a staggering one million from Major Accomplishment to Perfection.

These massive amounts of Points all required time to accumulate.

While accumulating Points, learning something new was indeed a good option.

’In any case, it’s not like I’m planning to make a living with my weapon casting skills. There’s no harm in learning it, so what does it matter if I’m good or bad at it?’

Thinking of this, Su Mu no longer refused Zhang Zhongmei’s offer.

He reached out and picked up the yellowed animal hide from the table.

The hide was densely covered with tiny characters and numerous diagrams.

Su Mu took one look and couldn’t help but raise his head to look at Zhang Zhongmei.

He didn’t speak, but the meaning in his eyes was clear.

’Are you kidding me?’

The characters on it were like something a ghost would scribble; Su Mu couldn’t recognize a single one!

Zhang Zhongmei realized what was wrong and quickly said, "This is Ancient Secret Text. My father was invited by the Divine Weapon Pavilion to translate it back in the day because he understood this script. That’s how he met my mother."

Su Mu: "..."

’Are you trying to tell me how important it is to learn a skill? You can even find a partner with it?’

"I’ve studied the secret text since I was a child. The student has surpassed the master."

Zhang Zhongmei said proudly, "Let me translate it for you."

Su Mu felt a bit helpless. If he didn’t know what kind of person Zhang Zhongmei was, he would have thought he was deliberately showing off.

"This Artifact Refining Technique is called the Heavenly Craft Refining Technique. The founder of the Divine Weapon Pavilion originally wanted to name his sect the Celestial Craft Pavilion, but later felt he was unworthy and called it the Divine Weapon Pavilion instead."

Zhang Zhongmei said.

He pointed to the characters on the animal hide and explained them one by one.

Su Mu listened intently, committing it all to memory.

Although his talent for weapon casting was poor, his memory was excellent.

After Zhang Zhongmei finished his explanation, Su Mu had already memorized the entire Heavenly Craft Refining Technique without missing a single word.

"That’s what the words mean, but I still can’t comprehend their full meaning when put together."

Zhang Zhongmei said honestly.

To put it bluntly, even if you recognized every single character, you still wouldn’t understand what it all meant when read together.

This thing had been in the Divine Weapon Pavilion’s possession for who knows how many years, yet no one had ever succeeded in cultivating it.

Su Mu thought he must be crazy to even consider studying this Heavenly Craft Refining Technique with Zhang Zhongmei. He couldn’t even master the basic Weapon Casting Technique.

Just as Su Mu was about to say something, he, on a whim, called out his system panel.

The next moment, he was stunned.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Silver-faced Killer (Part-time), Governor (Fourth-Rank)]

[Points: 120,000]

[Realm: True Essence Realm]

[Divine Techniques: Indestructible Golden Body, Blood Body, Giant Body]

[Cultivation Technique: Unlimited True Essence Technique of Heaven and Earth (Entry/+)...]

[Martial Arts: Thunder Shock Realm (Major Accomplishment/+), Kan Water Realm (Major Accomplishment/+), Gen Mountain Realm (Major Accomplishment/+), Xun Wind Realm (Perfection), Li Fire Realm (Perfection), Archery (Perfection)]

[Phenomenon: None (Deduce+)]

[Skills: Heavenly Craft Refining Technique (Uninitiated/+)]

...