Chapter 192: Spirit Armament
Chapter 192: Spirit Armament
"The Mystic Mechanism Pavilion's true teachings are indeed filled with cunning and deceit, though they do talk a lot of nonsense."
Chen Mu, after beheading Han Guang, whose eyes remained open even in death, slowly lowered the blade in his hand.
Han Guang, possessing a Soul Spirit Amulet as a life-saving talisman, the ability to escape in waterways, and using the black water serpent to hinder pursuit, would have likely escaped from Chen Mu's grasp if he hadn't ultimately fled into a dead end.
Even in the dead end, Han Guang didn't give up. He immediately sensed that it was a dead end and hid in the shadows beside the pool, waiting for Chen Mu to move away from the pool before trying to escape into the water again.
However, the surface of the water was not the same as being underwater. Chen Mu's Autumn Wind Perception allowed him to instantly perceive the movements and breaths within the entire stone cavern. Although Han Guang hid and tried to suppress his breath, he couldn't escape Chen Mu's perception.
The most crucial point was that Chen Mu didn't feel rushed at all.
He knew that if it wasn't a dead end, Han Guang would have escaped. If it was a dead end, he wouldn't be able to flee. So, after stepping out of the pool, Chen Mu didn't rush to explore further but stood by the pool to sense the situation first.
Han Guang, failing in his first plan, devised another. He forcefully took Chen Mu's thunder flame blade strike, pretending to be dead, hoping Chen Mu would let down his guard and shift his attention to the spirit artifacts and treasures in the cavern, giving Han Guang another chance to escape.
Despite his cunning, Han Guang still met his end. However, Chen Mu still gave him credit, as Han Guang's strength was nearly half of his own. If Chen Mu showed the slightest opening or relaxed his vigilance a bit, Han Guang would have had a chance to escape. Compared to Cheng Houhua, Han Guang was indeed a much more formidable opponent.
Chen Mu squatted down and began to carefully examine Han Guang's body. After some searching, he pulled out a simple jade amulet from beneath Han Guang's charred black robe. Despite being scorched, the amulet remained undamaged.
Soul Spirit Amulet!
"Good thing it's still intact."
A faint light flashed in Chen Mu's eyes.
This life-saving object was undoubtedly valuable, even to him. Although it belonged to the 'storage' category, and could only be activated once after storing Essence Energy, it was still useful in critical moments. Previously, after Chen Mu's thunder flame blade strike had overwhelmed Han Guang's Essence Energy, there was still nearly 'three portions' of power left. Yet, this amulet's Spirit Energy shield blocked it.
Chen Mu held the amulet in his palm and, with a thought, channeled his Viscera Qi, absorbing Heavenly Earth Primordial Energy to slowly infuse it into the amulet. After about a quarter of an hour, the amulet's dull surface once again emitted a faint bioluminescence.
"Hmm... The power of this amulet seems to be proportional to the holder's Essence Energy strength. I wonder what the upper limit is, but it's probably difficult to store more than five portions of Spirit Energy."
Chen Mu felt that the amulet's capacity wasn't fully utilized, but it was like filling a pressure vessel with air. The more Heavenly Earth Primordial Energy he infused, the greater the internal pressure became, requiring stronger internal energy circulation to continue infusing. This continued until the amulet's material reached its limit.
Currently, Chen Mu's Essence Energy hadn't reached the amulet's maximum capacity.
The power stored within the amulet was now roughly equivalent to Chen Mu's own Essence Energy strength, capable of generating a shield that could block around 'two and a half portions' of power, enough to withstand a full-power strike from someone like Han Guang.
If Meng Dan Yun had possessed such a spirit artifact, he could have forcibly withstood the Blood Concealment Tower's attack or Han Guang's strike from the very beginning, forcing his way into the passage and escaping.
After briefly studying the Soul Spirit Amulet's effects, Chen Mu kept it on his person.
Then, he continued inspecting Han Guang's body.
This time, there were no further discoveries except for a bamboo stick made of unknown material, which seemed to be a divine artifact. It was clear that Han Guang hadn't searched for heavenly treasures and earthly treasures upon arriving in the underground cavern but had immediately sought out Meng Dan Yun.
Chen Mu thought for a moment and decided to keep the bamboo stick as well, as it was a divine artifact, albeit with a 'vitality' attribute, which seemed to align with the Water Hexagram Intention.
Huff!
After thoroughly examining Han Guang's body, Chen Mu finally stood up, waved his hand, and a flame erupted, engulfing Han Guang's corpse once more. The body burned intensely, gradually turning into ashes.
Chen Mu, illuminated by the firelight, turned his gaze to the entire stone cavern. He quickly approached several stone walls and chiseled out various minerals.
"Another Gold Thread Jade Mine."
"Hmm, and a Silver Thread Mine. Now I have most of the main materials for crafting a divine artifact soft armor."
Chen Mu examined the spirit minerals in his hand, his expression thoughtful.
At least before reaching the Six Viscera Realm, a Divine Artifact-quality soft armor would still be quite useful to Chen Mu, given his robust physique and iron-like bones. Even with his Soul Spirit Amulet, if the assassins of Blood Concealment Tower were to find his weakness and launch a surprise attack, it would be extremely difficult to kill him.
Chen Mu carefully examined the stone cavern.
Although the walls were dotted with bioluminescent minerals, they were all low-value jade mines.
"In such a deep place, there's a stone cavern that hasn't been completely flooded by water, and it should have more than just these things..."
Chen Mu's expression turned pensive. Although he couldn't see any treasures with his eyes, after some thought, he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he used his Mountain Root Concept to carefully sense along one corner of the wall, inch by inch.
This stone cavern wasn't too big or small, with a radius of nearly twenty zhang. Chen Mu meticulously sensed and explored along the wall, not missing a single detail, but after almost a full circle, he had only chiseled out over ten holes in the rock wall, and the yield was meager. Only a small piece of Flowing Gold Mine barely caught his eye.
As he was about to finish examining the last corner, Chen Mu shook his head slightly.
Perhaps he had read too many bizarre stories, which made him overthink a bit. It seemed that this stone cavern was indeed just an ordinary place with nothing else inside.
However, just as Chen Mu was about to finish checking the last corner, he suddenly stopped and stared at the rock wall beside him. The wall didn't seem different from the rest, but his Mountain Root Concept sensed an empty space about two chi deep, devoid of Earth Pulse Power.
"Two chi... That's a bit too deep."
Chen Mu's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
The rock walls here were infused with Earth Pulse Power, making them extremely difficult to chisel. Not to mention two chi, even an inch or two would require him to use his Primordial Energy to break through, chiseling inch by inch.
At this rate, it would take him half a day to chisel through two chi.
If there was indeed just an empty space inside, and nothing else, then he would have wasted a lot of time here.
But in the end, Chen Mu raised his Flowing Flame Blade towards the rock wall.
It wasn't that he wanted to take a gamble, but he had already spent time circling the cavern, meticulously checking almost every inch. If he abandoned it after discovering an anomaly, then all his previous efforts would be in vain.
Moreover, if he hadn't been chasing after Han Guang, he might not have even discovered this extremely deep stone cavern.
Ka! Ka! Ka!!!
Infused his Primordial Energy True Strength to slash the rock wall with his Flowing Flame Blade, clashing with the Earth Pulse Power flowing within. He carved out blade marks and slowly chiseled a hole, gradually penetrating deeper.
Like a prisoner in a cave, slowly carving out a path to freedom.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Mu's Flowing Flame Blade suddenly stabbed deeper, finally piercing through the last thin layer of rock and creating a hole.
As he glanced into the hole, Chen Mu's eyes widened in surprise.
Inside the hole was an extremely narrow space, a small stone cavern with a radius of about three chi. In the center of this cavern, a desiccated corpse sat in meditation, seemingly deceased for an unknown number of years.
Beside the corpse, there was nothing else but a plain black short spear stuck in front of it.
"This wasn't manually chiseled; instead, after dying here thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago, the Earth Pulse gradually swallowed it, but how did it form such a hollow cavern instead of being completely sealed by the rock layer..."
A glimmer flashed in Chen Mu's eyes.
He then looked at the short spear stuck in the rock layer, the only item besides the corpse.
Hum.
Chen Mu reached into the hole, and his Primordial Energy True Strength formed an invisible giant hand, grasping the black short spear.
But just as Chen Mu's Primordial Energy touched the black short spear, a purple thunderous light burst from it, crackling and shattering the nearby corpse into powder. Chen Mu's Primordial Energy was also forcefully repelled, and the surface of the spear was still woven with lightning arcs.
Witnessing this, a glint finally flashed in Chen Mu's eyes.
"No wonder the Earth Pulse didn't swallow this place; it's a spirit artifact!"
This black short spear was a Spirit Artifact!
Among all artifacts in the world, only Spirit Artifacts surpass Divine Artifacts in quality. The biggest difference between Spirit Artifacts and Divine Artifacts is that even with high-quality Divine Artifacts like the Flowing Flame Blade, they still require the user's active control to unleash their power. However, Spirit Artifacts inherently possess the ability to accumulate Heavenly Energy!
His Soul Spirit Amulet was almost like a Spirit Artifact, making it a semi-Spirit Artifact.
And this pitch-black ancient spear, along with the desiccated bones that had been lying here for who knows how many thousands of years, had already been swallowed up by the surging earth pulse, yet it could still emanate thunderous might, clearly beyond the capabilities of ordinary weapons or divine artifacts. Only a Spirit Weapon could achieve such a feat!
Hmm.
A flash of light shone in Chen Mu's eyes, and his Essence Energy surged forth once more, grasping the ancient spear from afar.
The ancient spear still retained traces of lightning arcs, and once again, it transformed into purple thunder, but this time, it didn't directly unleash its power against Chen Mu. Instead, the two forces began to clash fiercely.
Crackle! Crackle!
The purple lightning arcs continued to intertwine and clash, grinding against Chen Mu's Essence Energy. This went on for a moment, and gradually, the lightning arcs on the spear dimmed.
Chen Mu finally took a deep breath. His Essence Energy transformed into an invisible giant hand of raging wind, tightly gripping the ancient spear. With great effort, he pulled it out, yanking it from the rock wall.
Sizzle. Sizzle.
The pitch-black ancient spear fell into Chen Mu's hand, its surface still sizzling with lightning arcs, but this had no effect on Chen Mu.
Chen Mu examined the spear carefully, his gaze falling on the bottom of the spear. There, he saw two words—'Evil Exorcising'.
"Evil Exorcising..."
"A Thunder Attribute Spirit Weapon."
Chen Mu murmured. It was his first encounter with a Spirit Weapon, but he knew quite a bit about them. There were various types, mostly for killing, but there were also unique ones like the Universe Flask.
In reality, a Five Viscera Realm cultivator could harness the power of a Spirit Weapon, but due to their rarity and value, they were seldom seen in the hands of Five Viscera Realm cultivators, including true transmitters like Han Guang.
However, according to Chen Mu's knowledge, if these true transmitters took another step and entered the Six Organs Realm, they would have the chance to obtain a Spirit Weapon from the sect. But it was just an opportunity, as Spirit Weapons were scarce, and compatibility was crucial.
This ancient spear was purely of the Thunder Attribute. Only those who mastered the Thunder Concept could unleash its power. If one didn't possess the Thunder Concept, it wouldn't just be a matter of failing to unleash its might; forcibly harnessing it would also drain one's own strength.
"Huff."
Chen Mu exhaled lightly. His eyes flashed with a hint of thunder as his Essence Energy transformed into pure thunder, infusing the Evil Exorcising ancient spear.
At first, his Essence Energy was strongly rejected by the spear, but gradually, as the thunderous light enveloped it, dispersing the residual energies within the spear, it no longer resisted his Essence Energy. Soon, its surface was covered in intertwining lightning arcs.
Chen Mu tightly gripped the thunder spear and suddenly hurled it at the rock wall.
Boom!
The spear, entwined with lightning arcs, burst forth and fiercely pierced the rock wall, forcefully breaking through and penetrating the earth pulse flowing within. It dug in nearly two inches before finally stopping!
After this strike, Chen Mu's face paled. The previous action had rapidly drained his Essence Energy and converted it into thunderous might, and the amount drained was enormous. The speed at which it was drained was so fast that his Viscera Qi circulation couldn't keep up with the replenishment.
But the power of this strike was indeed terrifying.
With all his might, he could only leave a half-inch mark on the rock wall, but with this Spirit Weapon, he had pierced the wall by nearly two inches!
Although spears were generally easier to penetrate than knives, and a direct comparison wasn't possible, the power was almost twice as much!
At this moment, Chen Mu's Viscera Qi circulated continuously, drawing energy from heaven and earth to replenish himself, but his face remained slightly pale. The one-time expenditure was too great, making it difficult for him to recover quickly.
In his judgment, perhaps only after entering the Six Organs Realm could he fully harness and control the power of this Spirit Weapon.
"This strike... It must have unleashed nearly ten times the thunderous might!" Chen Mu murmured.
Although the expenditure was exaggerated, his current Essence Energy was almost completely drained, and its power was indeed terrifying, far surpassing the might of his own full-power strike with the Flowing Fire Blade.
If Han Guang had held this thunder spear and struck with it, even with a Soul Spirit Amulet protecting him, he would have undoubtedly died a certain death.
Chen Mu took a moment to adjust, then stepped forward again, gripping the spear and pulling it out of the rock wall. He examined it carefully, then bowed towards the rock wall's cavity, where the stone cavern was filled with dust, now reduced to powder.
"I don't know your senior's surname or where you're from, but I, your junior, have disturbed you. Please accept my apology. From now on, this weapon will be held by me, and I promise to not tarnish its might. Please rest assured as you depart."
(End of Chapter)
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