by <unknown>
"How exciting and enjoyable! I can sense that my fighting will is soaring!"
Huangpu Shiyi smiled vaguely. Now that the topic at hand was refining, the king of his era showed an unparalleled dominating aura. He said casually, "What are the rules?"
Li Yao squinted and replied, "I'm a man who likes to challenge the impossible. Since you are adept at explosive magical equipment, and we've been talking about that for many days, let's just have a match of crystal bombs!
"We will refine a crystal bomb respectively and compare their damage. The one with a higher damage output will be the winner. There will be three rounds.
"Don't be hasty. I'm not done yet.
"You've studied explosive magical equipment for twenty years, and you are in the Core Formation Stage. You are better than me in every regard. I don't stand the slightest chance of winning in a normal competition!
"If you are brave enough, why don't you ask me to select the materials, and we will refine crystal bombs with identical materials?
"Also, for the three rounds, only if you win them all will you be the final victor; if you lose any of them, I will be the winner!
"Do you think such rules are fair?"
Huangpu Shiyi considered them carefully for a moment. His eyes suddenly shone as he said in amusement, "Good boy. It seems that you are not as foolish as I thought. You came up with such a way and want to try your luck! Excellent. Such rules indeed make up for the gap between our levels and experience. Very reasonable!
"However, they are still useless. An egg crashing into a stone ten thousand times will only break ten thousand times. It will never be able to leave the tiniest crack on the stone!
"Not just three rounds, even if there are a hundred rounds, I will still crush you effortlessly!
"You may choose materials freely at your will, but they have to be in the inventory that I prepare. After all, I only brought some thirty-six hundred materials for the trip. If you ask for random materials, I may not be able to provide them!"
Li Yao agreed quickly, "It's a deal. If the egg is really broken, I will respect you as my master immediately, and this jade chip will be my tuition fee. You can check it out first!"
Li Yao took out a jade chip from his pocket and threw it over without any hesitation.
Huangpu Shiyi picked the jade chip. He was going to insert it into his crystal processor, when he stopped briefly and tossed back a jade chip, which he had retrieved from his sleeve, as he said, chuckling, "My good disciple, your master won't deceive you, either. Inside this jade chip are the ten best techniques that I spent all the night deliberating over, including the ultimate knowledge about crystal bombs and the delicate tricks of sword-forging from the Huangpu family. You can browse through them first!"
Li Yao was not courteous at all. He took over the jade chip and inserted it into his crystal processor. After reading them for three minutes, he was certain that there was nothing wrong with the techniques.
It was only reasonable that Huangpu Shiyi was giving him authentic techniques right now because the man was trying to dig out more techniques from him. What good could the man get by giving him false techniques and pissing him off?
Meanwhile, Huangpu Shiyi was exclaiming in a low voice, "Such magnificent ancient rune arrays? So many tricks about refurbishment? Where did you get so much good stuff?"
Li Yao smiled and said, "This is just a small proportion of what is inside my brain. It will be great if you can understand it all. You can analyze the techniques first and explain them to me in detail later. When I have grasped all of them, I will give you new ones. It will be a win-win!"
While talking, he threw Huangpu Shiyi's jade chip to Black Stone unhesitatingly. "Fatty, this jade chip will be in your custody for now. I will come back for it myself in a moment."
Huangpu Shiyi swallowed and, managing to suppress his greed, gave Li Yao's jade chip to White Dew slowly.
The ten techniques inside Li Yao's jade chip were even more valuable than those he had picked.
Now, all of Huangpu Shiyi's suspicion had disappeared. After he took a deep breath, his eyes were focused again, and he was wreathed in an unshakable vibe; he had entered the state of a super refiner.
"Thirty years later, a Skyhill Sword Seminar in the sea of stars… Let's begin!"
Chapter 521: Boom! |
Half an hour later, hundreds of materials were all set. Li Yao and Huangpu Shiyi each stood on one side of the warehouse with an operation desk in front of them. Below their feet were large defense rune arrays that were emitting gold brilliance. They constituted translucent circular walls around them.
Black Stone, White Dew, and the other spectators all hid themselves in a strengthened room in a corner of the warehouse.
The refinement of crystal bombs was not something to be underestimated. Although both of them were experts, nobody could guarantee that their products would not explode half way through their work.
"The first round, twenty-seven materials, ten minutes. It's just a warm-up!"
"Come on!"
A queer smile popped up on Huangpu Shiyi's face. His eyes suddenly bulged. Wrinkles appeared in the corner of his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he extended his withered hands and opened his palm!
"He!" Huangpu Shiyi roared. Blood spurted out of his pores and quickly span around him!
A weird thing happened!
The flesh, blood, and vigor of his body seemed to have been pumped away instantly. He became dry and shrank in size, turning into a walking skeleton!
His head was just a skull with a thin coating of skin now. However, the veins there were as thick as before. As a result, his face seemed to have been cut with countless wounds and couldn't be more hideous!
All his vitality and strength had been absorbed by his hands, which quickly expanded like a balloon. They were even more flawless than regular hands now, as if they were carved out of white jade. Bizarre brilliance was beaming out of them!
His left hand, which was born with six fingers, was particularly impressive. With a tiny movement, thousands of waves were already raised in the air!
"Hehe. Hehehehe!"
In Huangpu Shiyi's fleshless head, the two bloodshot eyes were more obtrusive than ever. They were focused on his own hands in fascination, while he laughed annoyingly and declared to Li Yao, "Come on!"
Li Yao seemed to be shocked, but he did not respond and simply nodded his head gloomily.
The first round had begun!
Li Yao's hands suddenly vanished into thousands of shadows that swept over the materials on the desk and polished them in midair!
Yet, Huangpu Shiyi was not in a hurry to start at all. With a captivated expression, he gazed at his own immaculate hands narcissistically and mumbled, "What a pair of beautiful, delicate, and unblemished hands!
"If you could consume less of my vitality and last for more than an hour, I would never bear to replace you!
"It's decided then. After I put on Huangpu Xiaoya's hands, I will refine you into magical equipment so that you can accompany me forever…"
Huangpu Shiyi's caressed his dry cheeks with his hands while letting out sensual moans. It was not until he had enjoyed them for five minutes that he suddenly acted!
When he was still, there seemed to be nothing extraordinary about him. But when he acted, earsplitting noises were echoing nonstop. Rumbling thunder burst out in front of him, and white mist the shape of umbrellas appeared and spread out!
Huangpu Shiyi's two hands had entered the supersonic state simultaneously!
"Boy, don't think that breaking the sonic barrier with your hands is something worth being proud of!
"Maybe you are a somebody in the Building Foundation Stage Cultivators. But always remember that there are people stronger than you that you haven't met yet!
"In the world of magical equipment, you are just a frog at the bottom of a well. There is still a long way to go, and there are still a lot of walls to hit! Today, let me help you taste the feeling
of being completely crushed. Haha. Hahahaha!"
At that moment, Huangpu Shiyi seemed to become the lunatic from thirty years ago who had dominated the Skyhill Sword Seminar and challenged the leader of the Mo family in front of thousands of spectators!
He laughed crazily. His hands were unpredictable and as fast as lightnings. He had started much later than Li Yao, but he caught up to him quickly and finished the first crystal bomb ten seconds earlier!
"Huchi! Huchi! Huchi!"
Li Yao was like an irritated bull. His eyes were red, his sweat was pouring, and he gazed at his opponent while breathing raggedly.
"Come on. Come on. Let's cut the nonsense and test them!"
Huangpu Shiyi grinned. He marked his own mini crystal bomb and sent it to the examination platform together with Li Yao's work.
The magical equipment to test the power of a crystal bomb was a pair of hemispheric iron shells. When they were combined and sealed by rune arrays, they would make a perfect iron ball.
This hollow iron ball was connected to a spiritual energy metric by a tube.
When the bomb was detonated, the power of the bomb would be transmitted to the metric through the tube. By looking at the reading of the metric, the specific power of a bomb would be calculated.
Two pieces of such magical equipment were placed next to each other. The two metrics were juxtaposed, too. One would be able to tell which of the two bombs was better with a quick glance.
Li Yao was apparently very nervous. He gazed at the metric without even blinking.
Huangpu Shiyi, on the other hand, was apparently quite relieved; a confident smile was plastered on his face.
BOOM!
The two bombs were triggered at the same time!
Outside of the two black, hollow iron balls, hundreds of rune arrays shone at the same time and locked the explosion inside the balls. The power of the explosions, having nowhere else to run to, had to crowd into the metric through the tube before they were transformed and diminished multiple times!
Shua!
Two streaks of redness jerked like two hot springs. But Huangpu Shiyi's reading was apparently soaring faster. It was a third higher than Li Yao's. When Li Yao's reading culminated and plummeted, Huangpu Shiyi's reading still persisted for five more seconds before it gradually fell.
The test result suggested that Huangpu Shiyi's crystal bomb was more powerful and would take less time to be triggered. The power of the explosion sustained for a long time, which meant that the crystal bomb could still deal a lot of damage five seconds after it was detonated!
Li Yao suffered a brutal failure in the first round!
"Do you still want to finish the other two rounds?" Smiled Huangpu Shiyi.
"Why not?"
Li Yao gnashed his teeth, his face gloomy.
The second round, eighty-five materials, twenty minutes. The goal was a small-scale bomb!
"Li Yao, I was merely playing with you, who only has the capability of the peak of the Building Foundation Stage.
"This time, I will be using the true capability of the Core Formation Stage and show you how terrifying a refiner in the Core Formation Stage is when we get serious!"
While talking, Huangpu Shiyi opened his spotless hands. Spiritual energy spread out of the pores bit by bit and enveloped him, making his body somewhat blurred and wreathing him in an aura of divinity and unpredictability.
When Li Yao closed his eyes and perceived the situation with his spiritual root, Li Yao 'saw' that Huangpu Shiyi was like an erupting volcano. Inside his abdomen, tremendous spiritual energy was entangled and transformed into a half-solid thick pool!
Forming the Core! His spiritual energy was becoming solid. It was the sign of the Core Formation Stage!
Huangpu Shiyi burst into laughter. His hands were absolutely still, but hundreds of silver spiritual threads stabbed out of his eleven fingers and tied all the materials.
Huangpu Shiyi's fingers shivered slightly, as if he were controlling puppets by the strings behind them. Under the delicate control of the tiny muscles in his fingers, the hundreds of spiritual threads were operating on the materials swiftly!
It was like Huangpu Shiyi had suddenly grown another hundred fingers.
Li Yao's face suddenly turned extremely awful. He grunted and started his own refining work.
Twenty minutes later, when he completed his work, his hands were bleeding, and holes deep to the bones could be found on his index finger and middle finger, where vague smoke was still popping up!
"Well, well, well. Very hardworking!"
Huangpu Shiyi chuckled. "It's too bad that refining is not all about hard work! Li Yao, let me tell you some experience of a super expert now: when we reach the Core Formation Stage, our hands can break into the supersonic speed any time we want, but normally we wouldn't do that.
"Because the arts of refining are not just about speed. Even 'precision' is not as important as you think!
"The most important thing is to sense, feel, and listen to the materials according to their characteristics before you process them in their unique way!
"Remember, even the same materials will have many variations if they were gathered from different locations at different times!
"Only after you grasp the variations can you really appreciate the arts of refining and become a super expert!
"You are still far away from that!"
In the second round, Huangpu Shiyi was still in the lead. Made of the same materials, his bomb was a third more powerful than Li Yao's!
Li Yao's eyes were bloodshot, as he mumbled, "It's impossible. It's impossible. I'm the best refiner. The best!
"Come on, let's do it again! There's still the third round! I'm going to craft a destructive bomb and blow you up!"
Huangpu Shiyi smiled calmly. "You already failed. Your current metal state is not fit for refining. Let's stop here. I think very highly of you. If you follow me and train yourself, you will be as good as me one day with my guidance."
"Haha. Hahahaha! You are scared. Scared!"
Li Yao laughed crazily. He pointed at Huangpu Shiyi and shouted, "You do not dare to fight the third round because you have reached your limits. You can't persist any longer, can you?"
Huangpu Shiyi glared. There was anger on the skeleton's skull. He sneered, "Alright, in the third round, the crystal bombs I craft will be twice as powerful as yours. Come on!"
The third round, one hundred and seventy-four materials, thirty minutes. The creation of mid-sized crystal bombs began!
This time, Huangpu Shiyi stared at Li Yao's face from the beginning.
He discovered that, maybe because Li Yao had never been defeated before, he was somewhat crazy. The guy was enthusiastic one moment, then frustrated, next he was cramping, before becoming desperate, and later excited.
Li Yao's hand speed was brought to the highest and entered the supersonic speed without bothering about anything. His sweat was vaporized and formed a vague mist around him.
The mist blocked Li Yao's hands and made Huangpu Shiyi unable to determine what bomb Li Yao was working on.
However, judging from his shaking hands and unstable metal state, Huangpu Shiyi did not expect his product to be anything good. Chances were that his result would be even worse than the previous two rounds.
Time went by one second after another.
15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 28 minutes… And finally, in the 29th minute!
Li Yao had completely gone mad. His face was even more hideous than Huangpu Shiyi's skeleton-like face, and he murmured to himself. "No. This is still not powerful enough. It has to be better. I'm going to carve another attack rune array. I'm going to add another…
"Blow you up. I'm going to blow you up!
"I'm not going to fail. I'm the best!"
Right then, Li Yao's body suddenly shivered, as if he'd accidentally pierced the cutter through his finger and exclaimed in pain.
In front of his face, weird spiritual waves floode
d out!
Huangpu Shiyi couldn't be more familiar with the situation. His face suddenly turned pale as he shouted, "Not good. The bomb is exploding!"
Hardly had he finished his sentence when a large fireball broke out in front of Li Yao and consumed him!
"Save him!" Huangpu Shiyi shrieked.
The best disciple he could ever get was about to be his. Countless techniques were waiting to be excavated. How could he allow such a guy to be killed without a good reason?
If he survived the explosion but somehow suffered brain injuries, it would still be an unacceptable outcome for him!
Not far away from Li Yao, the air suddenly blurred, and waves spread out!
Su Jiuzhen, the ace assassin who had been lurking behind him and monitoring him for more than half a month, finally revealed himself!
Su Jiuzhen did not want such a promising Immortal Cultivator to be destroyed just like that, either.
The young man was ambitious. His hands were fast, and his brain was faster. With a few years of studying, he will be a great assistant for the Lotus King!
After the multiple tests, Su Jiuzhen had no doubt about Li Yao anymore.
Therefore, he showed up without any hesitation and dashed at Li Yao, trying to pull him out of the sea of flames!
Right then, the defense ring Li Yao was in was filled with fire and smoke. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside!
Chapter 522: Kill When He Must |
Su Jiuzhen was as agile as a phantom. He slid forward and rushed into the smoke.
However, the moment he entered the fire, the experienced assassin felt something was wrong.
The glamorously-burning crystal bomb did not cause an intense blast. The only thing it emitted was a dazzling 'fire ball', smoke, and spiritual waves that apparently could block any observation from outside!
It was not a powerful crystal bomb, more of a cross between a smoke grenade, a flash bang, and a jamming grenade!
Su Jiuzhen was greatly alarmed.
Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, he simply shouted and pointed his two fingers at the center of his eyebrows, trying to summon his crystal suit!
