Having not used Slaughter Spring water for a while, nearly ten drops had accumulated inside the Slaughter Spring, ready for her to extract and use.
As her divine sense merely approached the Slaughter Spring, an aggressive, sharp intent of slaughter rushed toward her, sending waves of stinging, slicing pain through her mind.
Shi Yu did not dare be careless. She carefully wrapped a drop of Slaughter Spring water in spiritual energy, rapidly extracting it before the spiritual energy dissolved completely, and dropped it into a pre-prepared bucket.
Watching the dense ink-black liquid spread rapidly, Shi Yu threw in several spiritual materials she would be using.
The materials sank into the water like quicksand without making a splash. Soon, a sizzling sound echoed from the bucket as wisps of greyish-black mist rose from within—the impurities being purged from the materials.
Shi Yu left them to soak and turned her attention to preparing the medicinal liquid for treating the silk.
Refining spirit robes and battle armor often required medicinal treatment techniques. Such methods were mostly passed down through experience, and the medicinal ratios were guarded like an alchemist’s pill formula, rarely shared with outsiders.
Fortunately, Shi Yu possessed a vast wealth of medicinal treatment recipes in her memory.
Coupled with the fact that she was an alchemist herself, thoroughly familiar with the properties of numerous spiritual plants, she did not follow formulas blindly. Taking the combination of spiritual materials into account, she made adjustments and improvements to prepare a medicinal liquid with the best possible suitability.
Since her spiritual meridian was of the Fire attribute, this spirit robe would naturally rely primarily on Fire-attribute spiritual materials.
After mixing the medicinal liquid, the spiritual materials in the Slaughter Spring water were nearly finished being tempered and purified. Shi Yu plunged her divine sense back into the Fate-Tapping Bell and harvested a wide-mouth jade bottle full of fresh blood from the Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python.
The space within the Fate-Tapping Bell preserved items without decay or loss of spirituality. Thus, when the python blood was drawn, its spiritual energy was vibrant and even radiated a touch of warmth, its potent Fire-attribute energy practically bursting forth.
Shi Yu drew the curved blade from inside the Hidden Hatred Flute, channeled her spiritual energy into it, and carved an “Activation” restriction onto the wide-mouth jade bottle.
Upon completing the restriction, a flash of bright light erupted, and the python blood inside instantly boiled, bloody bubbles roiling vigorously while a thick stench of blood filled the room.
She dropped the python scales—already tempered by the Slaughter Spring water—into the blood, and placed the remaining spiritual materials, including the Mist-Cloud Silkworm silk, into the prepared medicinal liquid. Shi Yu clapped her hands together. “All done.”
Now, she only needed to let them soak for a few days before she could begin refining.
...
The next day, when Shi Yu opened her stone door and walked out, Qingzhou heard the sound and was about to come over to call her for a meal. But as he reached the doorway, he caught the scent of blood, and his eyes drifted toward the wide-mouth jade bottle holding the soaking snake scales inside Shi Yu’s main room.
Seeing him stare unblinkingly, his throat bobbing slightly, Shi Yu raised an eyebrow. “Do you want some?”
Realizing he had overstepped, Qingzhou quickly lowered his head, shifted his gaze away, and shook his head.
“The scales, or the blood?” Shi Yu asked calmly.
“I...” Qingzhou hesitantly lifted his eyelashes.
Shi Yu retrieved a bottle of fresh python blood from the Fate-Tapping Bell. “This?”
After appearing to struggle internally for a brief moment, Qingzhou finally said, “This snake blood... is of high quality. It would benefit my cultivation.”
“You certainly have good eyes.” Shi Yu let out a soft chuckle and tossed the bottle into Qingzhou’s hands. “Take it.”
After a simple meal, Shi Yu returned to her main room.
Over the next few days, once all the spiritual materials had finished tempering and medicinal processing, she summoned the Void Fissure Spiritual Flame to begin refining.
The earth fire in the cave dwelling had been cautious and timid lately, and when the Void Fissure Spiritual Flame appeared, it wished nothing more than to shrink deep underground.
Unaware of this, Shi Yu focused her mind and began the refining process.
According to the blueprint in her mind, every single snake scale needed a miniature restriction carved onto it. Because their placements on the spirit robe would vary, there were subtle differences among the restrictions.
The down feathers of the Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon required similar treatment.
This was the most intricate artifact she had refined to date, naturally consuming a considerable amount of time.
Before she knew it, twenty days passed, and the base artifact was only just completed.
Fortunately, once the base artifact was ready, the remaining steps were much faster. She only needed to connect the numerous restrictions into a complete heavenly cycle.
Another three days passed. As the numerous restrictions connected into a complete heavenly cycle, threads of red light surged onto the surface of the robe like flowing rosy clouds, spreading across the entire garment.
It was finished.
The red light flowed, flickering endlessly like fire. Yet up close, one could faintly hear a sound akin to a gurgling spring emanating from the robe.
At the same time, the treasure Qi generated by the completed artifact surged into her body, rapidly converting into cultivation.
The amount of treasure Qi generated this time was far greater than on previous occasions, forming an additional cyclone of spiritual energy in her dantian, much to Shi Yu’s pleasant surprise.
The spirit robe was light as dust, feeling weightless in her hands. Shi Yu held it up and unfolded it, feeling as though it had drifted down from the sky, exuding a radiant, indescribably magnificent glow.
“As expected of Mist-Cloud Silkworm silk—it truly is beautiful.”
The crimson snake scales resembled condensed rubies, neatly and densely covering the robe’s sleeves and chest like a raging fire. The accenting silver-white bird feathers were soft and light, resembling a cloud of ethereal mist, graceful and serene.
The crimson scales and silver-white feathers complemented each other, weaving a striking picture that rendered the entire robe breathtakingly magnificent.
“Isn’t wearing this a bit too flashy?”
She mumbled to herself, though her eyes glinted with amusement as she changed into the spirit robe.
The robe was light and flowing, softly clinging to her body like a tender cloud. Thanks to the Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon feathers, the dress fluttered gently without any wind, its hem shimmering with brilliant light as she walked.
“I’ll call you ‘Flowing Radiance.’”
Shi Yu recalled how back in the game Xian Yuan, she had enjoyed collecting all sorts of beautiful spiritual materials to refine lovely dresses, practically playing it as a dress-up game for a time.
That said, Flowing Radiance was far from just a pretty showpiece.
Beautiful as the Mist-Cloud Silkworm silk was, its defensive power and flexibility were exceptionally good among spiritual materials. Furthermore, using the arrangement of the Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python scales, she had inscribed a restriction called the Soul-Heart Protection Formation, which combined both nourishing and defensive effects.
The power within the restriction could nourish the mind, soothing the spirit and benefiting divine sense.
At the same time, the restriction could automatically absorb Fire spiritual energy from the surrounding world. When under attack, it could trigger a defensive shield, which could also be actively activated by channeling spiritual energy.
It truly combined beauty and practical utility in one.
Shi Yu stroked the edge of her sleeve and murmured, “Now that it’s refined, I’ll visit Master Ji—it happens to be a good chance to show him.”
Stepping out of her main room, Shi Yu saw Qingzhou watering the spiritual grain in the medicinal field. “Qingzhou.”
Qingzhou looked up, freezing when he caught sight of Shi Yu.
The young girl stood before him gracefully, her dress fitting slenderly against her delicate frame. The indescribable brilliance enhanced her features, making her look even more exquisite.
Shi Yu was also taken aback when she saw Qingzhou.
The youth who previously had no cultivation at all now had an aura that had leaped straight to the second layer of the Qi Refining Realm!
“It’s only been a few days...”
Shi Yu surveyed him from top to bottom, guessing Qingzhou must have benefited from that bottle of python blood.
After all, that Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python possessed cultivation close to the Golden Core Realm. With the bloodline of a serpentine spirit beast flowing inside Qingzhou, the python’s flesh and blood were naturally of infinite benefit to him.
Even so, was this rate of progress not a bit too fast?
The cultivation talent of the North Rock Desert’s Snakefolk clan was only average among serpentine spirit beasts. Qingzhou’s speed... was truly astounding.
“I’m heading to the Alchemist Association and happen to be going down the mountain. Is there anything you need me to pick up?”
Qingzhou was still a little dazed. After a moment, he shook his head.
Understanding, Shi Yu waved at him, left the cave dwelling, and headed toward the Alchemist Association.
Walking along the road after descending the mountain, her new spirit robe indeed attracted many glances. Several passing female cultivators looked back repeatedly, gazing at her dress with envy.
Shi Yu thought to herself that in the future, she could refine a few more spirit robes to sell—they would surely be quite popular.
*
At the entrance of the association, the two previous guards had been replaced. The new guards had stern expressions, but upon seeing Shi Yu, they offered warm smiles. “Are you Miss Shi?”
Shi Yu had never seen these two new guards before, but assuming Wen Wen had described her appearance to them, she nodded. “Is Master Ji in today?”
“You arrived at a good time, Miss. Master Ji just came in a short while ago.”
Shi Yu thanked them and headed inside.
When she found Master Ji, he was holding a tome and reading. Seeing Shi Yu arrive, his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, “Little Yu’er!”
“Master Ji, what has made you so happy?”
Master Ji set down the ancient tome and chuckled delightedly. “The President and the others are returning from Hengze Prefecture tomorrow! I was just about to send someone to find you so they could meet you and arrange your Tier-2 alchemist certification assessment!”
“How lucky that you came on your own!”
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