Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Shen Wang reviewed his hard-earned savings.

In the backyard, under the nurturing aura of the gathering spirit formation, the Qinghan stone shed its rough exterior, becoming smooth and translucent, and the flowing gold stone sparkled even brighter.

The spiritual plants exchanged from the Xuanxue Association had grown considerably.

The seeds given by the Xuan Jade Immortal Book were still tender, with a few just breaking through the soil.

Shen Wang, who had never paid much attention to the pair of spirit bees, noticed that they had successfully broken through, faintly exuding the aura of demonic beasts as they joyfully fluttered among the spiritual plants.

Shen Wang, stroking his chin and watching the two spirit bees, was contemplating how to catch these fragile little creatures for inspection when they suddenly flew over, circling him in several figure eights.

Intrigued, Shen Wang extended his hand and watched as the two tiny bees delicately landed on his fingertips, affectionately nuzzling him.

Shen Wang was somewhat surprised: "They’ve actually developed spiritual intelligence?"

Upon closer inspection, the two little spirit bees still looked chubby, resembling the cartoon bees seen in animations, with their small black and yellow fluffy fur and tiny transparent wings on their backs.

Compared to before, these two little creatures had grown slightly larger and plumper, looking innocent and harmless.

Seems like they've been eating quite a lot. Shen Wang played with the spirit bees with his fingertip before placing them on a nearby spiritual plant.

Unlike ordinary bees, spirit bees can not only feed on nectar but also nibble on tender leaves. That's why Shen Wang could leave them unattended in the backyard… By now, they no longer looked wilted and listless as they did when they first met, but were lively and full of energy.

After checking the growth of the spiritual plants, Shen Wang reactivated the defensive formation and sat down cross-legged in his usual cultivation spot, his gaze falling on the Qinghan stone.

Qinghan stone, Liujin stone, thousand-year thunderstruck wood, Shamushi... along with everything looted from the Qingcheng Mountain treasury, were scattered on the ground.

Shen Wang, resting his chin in his hand, looked at his spoils and picked up a palm-sized Jiejian stone, taking a deep breath: "Without proper fire, I’ll have to grind it slowly."

Without a refining furnace or spiritual fire, it was Shen Wang's first time refining under such difficult conditions.

Tossing the Jiejian stone into the air, Shen Wang slowly closed his eyes. Blue flames appeared over his head and shoulders, floating upwards and eventually merging into one.

Everyone is born with three soul flames, but these flames are not only connected to one's destiny, they also don’t have much use. Humans, unlike demonic cultivators, aren’t born with the ability to control beast fire. Without special methods, it’s hard to summon soul fire.

Shen Wang knew how to use soul fire because it was mentioned in the Xuan Jade Immortal Book, in a recipe for using soul fire in alchemy.

Soul fire, unlike other more powerful types of yang fire, took a while to melt the Jiejian stone. Shen Wang was well-prepared for this and focused intently, carefully removing impurities.

Only after the pure black Jiejian stone melted into a small pool of black liquid did Shen Wang seize the right moment to add the other materials he had prepared.

Red gems, green stones, and even crystal-clear transparent stones – no matter their color, they all disappeared without a trace once merged into the black liquid.

As more items were added, the initially small amount of black liquid gradually expanded, then slowly shrank under the fire’s refinement, finally becoming a single large drop smaller than the original mass.

A lychee-sized black liquid twisted and deformed in the air, gradually taking the shape of a small sword.

As the liquid-formed small sword solidified and hardened, falling into Shen Wang's hand, a full seven days had passed.

The tiny sword, only the size of two fingers, appeared like a delicate little toy, entirely in a matte black color. Its darkness was profound, without a single reflection, as if it could swallow any color.

Shen Wang let out a long sigh: "Not bad."

The result was much better than he had imagined.

Placing the black little sword aside, Shen Wang sat in meditation to restore his spiritual power, then turned his attention back to the materials.

The sword promised to Gu Dongting had been forged, and now it was time to prepare a weapon for himself.

This time in seclusion, Shen Wang had disappeared for a whole month. Just when Shi Yan began to suspect he had taken something and run away, Shen Wang finally contacted him, unhurried.

Lying on the sofa, Shen Wang talked on the phone with Shi Yan while playing with several small swords in his hand: "I was just in closed-door cultivation, didn't I tell you? What's the rush?"

Shi Yan's mouth twitched: "The national competition is about to start. All the other contestants have already arrived in the capital. How can I not be anxious?"

He had promised to make Shen Wang the team captain. Without the captain, how could the other participants from the special department go ahead?

Fortunately, although Shen Wang was unreliable, he was a man of his word.

Shi Yan had to admit, after getting in touch with Shen Wang, he felt greatly relieved: "I'll book you a flight right away, directly to the capital. No problem, right?"

Shen Wang lazily hummed in response, then asked, "No problem... How is Dongting doing recently? What's he busy with?"

Shi Yan: "..."

He suspected that this person only called him because he couldn't reach Brother Gu. Shi Yan snorted coldly and said irritably, "Brother Gu is preparing for the national competition."

After saying this, Shi Yan asked in confusion, "Why don't you call Brother Gu?"

Sending messages might go unnoticed, but a call, Brother Gu usually wouldn't miss.

Shen Wang sighed, "Isn't it said that I shouldn't call him unless it's important? It might disturb his work... Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

Having said that, Shen Wang hung up the call.

As the beeping sound echoed in the phone, Shi Yan's temples throbbed with frustration. He wished he could call back immediately and yell at Shen Wang: "If you can't disturb Brother Gu with trivial matters, why bother me?!!"

Remembering being woken up in the middle of the night by a call just to deal with an insignificant thief, Shi Yan couldn't help feeling annoyed.

If it weren't for needing a favor... Shi Yan tried to suppress his anger, consoling himself, "Forget it, it's not the first time he's had double standards."

Damn, it still makes me so angry! Such unfair treatment!

Unaware of Shi Yan's anger, Shen Wang looked at the small swords in his palm, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

In total, there were four small swords, each in different colors: a shimmering brilliant gold, a crystal clear deep emerald, and a calm, soft pale yellow, besides the black one.

Four small swords, four colors, each exquisite and beautiful, their hues interplaying like a set of precious gemstone ornaments.

Shen Wang admired his masterpiece for a while before selecting the black small sword and setting it aside.

Then, Shen Wang pricked his middle finger with the small sword and smeared the bead of blood on the other three swords. In an instant, the blood on the swords' blades was absorbed completely, leaving them as pristine as new.

Upon closer inspection, the already beautiful swords seemed even more striking, as if they were given a finishing touch, now radiating a special aura.

Shen Wang swallowed the three small swords in one gulp and chuckled, "A set of Five Elements Swords, now I've gathered metal, wood, and earth, only missing water and fire."

The three small swords quietly hung in his dantian, forming a cycle with the spiritual energy of wood, fire, and earth, significantly speeding up his cultivation.

After discovering he had a Five Elements spiritual root, Shen Wang decided to cultivate all five elements and forge a set of Five Elements magical treasures for himself.

Although the Five Elements spiritual root was considered inferior, having five differently colored treasures would be incredibly cool!

Using Qinghan Stone as the base, Shen Wang made the wood, earth, and metal swords using millennium Thunderstruck Wood, Shamushi Stone, and Liujinshi Stone as the main materials.

These materials could represent the five elements, but their quality was not the best. Additionally, lacking fire and a furnace, he could only forge them to this extent.

Sighing, Shen Wang closed his eyes to feel the three small swords inside his body, "Well, I'll reforge them with better materials when I find them."

Being an artifact refiner himself, he wasn't worried about the inability to refine the properties.

Holding the remaining small sword and thinking of its owner, Shen Wang couldn't help but smile.

As soon as he left seclusion, he opened Gu Dongting's chat history and found that Gu had messaged him several times over the month, either telling him what he was doing or expressing concern about his cultivation retreat.

Shen Wang sent a message to inform Gu that he had come out of seclusion. After waiting a while without a reply, he called Shi Yan to inquire about Gu's business.

Learning that Gu Dongting was busy preparing for the national competition, Shen Wang couldn't help but laugh: what a coincidence, he was also going to participate in the national competition.

After laughing, Shen Wang realized that Xiao Hei Ge, who always responded to requests, hadn't contacted him for a month.

Something seemed to flicker in his mind, but it was quickly dismissed. Shen Wang also sent a message about his emergence from seclusion to Xiao Hei Ge: "He must be busy."

After all, Xiao Hei Ge always had an elusive presence, mysterious and traceless.

Shi Yan booked a flight for Shen Wang for the next day.

With little time to spare, Shen Wang quickly tidied up the backyard, handed the house keys to Li Pingping and others, and then hurriedly met up with Shi Yan and the rest to head to the capital for the national competition.

Seeing the few participants at the airport, Shen Wang was at a loss for words: "Only you guys are competing?"

"Yes."

"Long time no see, Brother Shen."

Everyone present was an acquaintance, besides Shi Yan, there was Xie Qingming, the head of the Demon Extermination Department, and his subordinate, the captain of the first team of the Demon Extermination Department, Huang Guoqiang.

The last person was Qin You Rong, whom he hadn't seen for a while.

Qin You Rong greeted Shen Wang cheerfully, his previously blonde hair now dyed back to black, looking much more mature: "Wuwu, Brother Shen, I've missed you so much, did you miss me?"

Shen Wang: "..."

Not that much more mature.