Chapter 1 Unlikely

"Impossible!"

"There's absolutely no way to do that," Nangong Ju Hong stated decisively.

He then glanced at the Yuanyang Treasure Saber in Ye Chuxiao's hand and sincerely praised, "What a saber! Forged from a complete Yuanyang Stone mixed with a wisp of Sunfire Essence, perfectly flawless. Only the Ship of Rebirth possesses such skill. If I were to forge it, I'd still need to communicate with Heaven and Earth Fires and use Pure Yang Wood and Gold-melting Water as aids. No matter how much I simplify it, I'd inevitably introduce impurities and wouldn't be able to obtain such purity."

"Your saber should have been directly forged by communicating with the Sunfire Essence, melted and shaped in an instant. If we were to imitate that, the materials would be destroyed in an instant."

"However, now that your saber is complete, if you only want to raise its level and establish its foundation, you can slowly introduce some Sunfire Essence as forging fire to maintain its purity."

After saying that, Nangong Ju Hong took the saber from Ye Chuxiao and carefully examined it for a while before sighing again, "Ancestor Yu Shen, Master of Rebirth... What realm have you reached? What is extremely difficult for us might be casually created by you, or even without a thought?"

Ye Chuxiao was slightly dazed upon hearing this.

He hadn't heard the name "Ancestor Yu Shen" for a long time.

Now that he heard it again, it felt like a lifetime ago.

At the same time, he felt even more that the realm in which Ancestor Yu Shen existed was unattainable.

He was already an Intent Realm cultivator, but he couldn't even independently break through a world without the help of Dao Rhyme and the Ship of Rebirth.

"I'm already offering a very fair price of ten wisps of Dao Rhyme. Moreover, I can provide the forging materials myself. If you have suitable materials that can be added to my treasure saber, I can also buy them at a 30% premium," Ye Chuxiao said generously, pulling the topic back on track.

At this time, there was really no need to cooperate with Nangong Ju Hong to praise the Ship of Rebirth's divinity and lament Ancestor Yu Shen's boundless power.

It was better to focus on the present.

Nangong Ju Hong waved his hand and said, "It's not a matter of cost. Your cultivation is not low, so you must have come into contact with divine artifacts. You should know that the wonder of divine artifacts lies not in their materials, nor in their functions, but in their irreplaceable spirituality. Only when spirituality connects with divinity can they be called divine artifacts. Others, even if their functions are numerous and their mechanisms are exquisite, are merely spiritual artifacts."

"There are two main markers of a divine artifact with spirituality that connects with divinity. If the wielder is above the Intent Realm, they can use the artifact's help to enhance the range, intensity, and duration of their Intent Realm domain. If the wielder is below the Intent Realm, they can temporarily obtain a quasi-Rule Domain buff to fight against Intent Realm cultivators."

Ye Chuxiao nodded slightly upon hearing this.

During the battle with the Old Saber Emperor, Ye Chuxiao clearly sensed this.

The strength of his domain was actually far superior to that of ordinary Intent Realms, but it was split open by the Old Saber Emperor's fully charged saber strike.

That was because the Old Saber Emperor had a divine artifact in his hand.

It was precisely because of his battle with the Old Saber Emperor that Ye Chuxiao was determined to forge a divine artifact for himself.

"Superb forging skills and powerful forging materials can only shorten the process of spiritual connection with divinity for magical treasures and weapons, but cannot eliminate the process. It's like our cultivators cultivating. Those with good aptitude can cultivate to the Intent Realm in a few decades, while those with poor aptitude may struggle for hundreds of years and still have hope. But it always takes time. No one can be born and directly reach the Intent Realm and stand at the top."

In the mouths of ordinary cultivators, Intent Realm cultivators were already considered to be at the top.

The Undetermined Realm was not calculated by conventional means.

The fundamental reason was that from the Ignorant Realm to the Intent Realm, these many realms could be traced and had rules that could be summarized.

But the Undetermined Realm did not.

Below the Undetermined Realm, it was even impossible to summarize what this realm represented.

Moreover, not every world always had Undetermined Realm cultivators.

"Didn't I give you a year to grow?" Ye Chuxiao said.

Nangong Ju Hong's expression stiffened slightly, then he said helplessly, "A year... What difference does that make from nothing?"

"I can at most promise you success in ten years. After forging your Yuanyang Treasure Saber into a divine artifact embryo, I'll insert it into the Weapon Cleansing Pool and the Soul Condensing Platform. In about ten years, there should be a 50-60% chance of successfully connecting with divinity."

Of course, Ye Chuxiao couldn't agree. Where would he find ten years to wait?

Of course, if there was really no choice, temporarily upgrading both the Yuanyang Treasure Saber and the Yuanyang Treasure Armor to the level of divine artifact embryos was not impossible.

But right now, Ye Chuxiao wouldn't expose this bottom line. He had to give Nangong Ju Hong some pressure.

It could be seen that Nangong Ju Hong was very tempted by the ten wisps of Dao Rhyme that Ye Chuxiao offered as payment, and his attitude was no longer as arrogant as at the beginning. He had a normal business-like attitude.

"Weapon Cleansing Pool and Soul Condensing Platform, why can they accelerate the speed of spiritual connection with divinity?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

Nangong Ju Hong said, "The Divine Weapon Villa forges a large number of spiritual artifacts every year, then deliberately damages them and discards them in specific places, allowing their spirituality, which is still in a chaotic state, to be confined within a fixed range and volatilized, thereby being absorbed by the intact magical treasures placed within."

"This can achieve the purpose of quickly enhancing the spirituality of magical treasures."

"Because the cost is high, there is a fixed number of intact magical treasures and weapons that enter the Weapon Cleansing Pool and the Soul Condensing Platform every year. We can't break the rules."

Upon hearing this, Ye Chuxiao's eyes flickered slightly, "You mean... a large number of damaged magical treasures can help intact magical treasures condense spirituality?"

Nangong Ju Hong looked at Ye Chuxiao in astonishment, then suddenly seemed to think of something, but then felt that this idea was too absurd, so he abandoned it and said, "That's not what I meant. Only magical treasures and weapons that are deliberately damaged immediately after forging have this effect."

"Magical treasures and weapons that have been used and fought with by humans are inevitably tainted with the user's aura, and their spirituality becomes active and possesses a certain consciousness. If the same method is used to nurture spirituality, what is nurtured will be 100% demonic. What awaits you will not be a divine weapon, but a master-devouring demonic weapon."

"In fact, the principle of the Weapon Cleansing Pool and the Soul Condensing Platform is modeled after the formation of demonic weapons. Some ancient battlefields, after being silent for many years, suddenly have demonic weapons appear because the broken weapons and magical treasures on the ancient battlefield have their spirituality gathered on some intact objects."

Ye Chuxiao understood. This wasn't just an otherworld version of the Mount Shu Sword Tomb!

"Then forge more spiritual artifacts and break them and stuff them into your Weapon Cleansing Pool. I'm just asking, within a year, what level can your Divine Weapon Villa reach at full power?" Ye Chuxiao took out fifteen wisps of Dao Rhyme at once and floated them on his palm, provoking Nangong Ju Hong's nerves.

At the same time, the domain of the Intent Realm cultivator opened up and enveloped the past, deterring Nangong Ju Hong to prevent him from having any bad ideas out of greed.

Nangong Ju Hong swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looked at Ye Chuxiao and said, "Put away your domain! We are artifact cultivators, not robber cultivators. Refining artifacts is my profession. Generally speaking, if others don't offend me, I won't offend others. If we even rob our patrons, then our Dao Hearts will collapse."

After saying that, Nangong Ju Hong also calmed down from Ye Chuxiao's temptation.

"The Divine Weapon Villa currently has five divine smiths, and about three hundred spiritual smiths below them. To forge spiritual artifacts, you must at least be a spiritual smith. It is rare for those below the level of spiritual smith to successfully forge spiritual artifacts, which is a waste of spiritual materials."

"Even for spiritual smiths, success is not guaranteed."

Ye Chuxiao waved his hand, "Three hundred spiritual smiths, forging three thousand spiritual artifacts within a year, isn't that too much? Can't three thousand spiritual artifacts be specially supplied to nurture the foundation of a divine artifact?"

Nangong Ju Hong gritted his back teeth, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing. He almost had a blood vessel burst.

In fact, if it weren't for the powerful spiritual artifact胧月五烟纱 (Long Yue Wu Yan Sha, hazy moon five smoke gauze) in his body, which was specially used to protect blood vessels, his blood vessels would have already burst from anger.

"Fellow Daoist! You are not an artifact refiner, you don't understand... I don't blame you."

"But you must know that any artifact refiner, when crafting weapons or magical treasures, does not do so casually. Even I, if I want to forge a high-grade spiritual artifact, need to start from the most basic composition, combine spiritual patterns, deduce material combinations, and analyze firepower, climate, spiritual opportunity, timing, etc. It is not casual refining or casual action."

"If a spiritual smith can produce one spiritual artifact within a year, that is already high output. Even for a divine smith, the annual output rarely exceeds five fingers."

Of course, there was some reservation in Nangong Ju Hong's words, but it was generally close to the truth.

For Ye Chuxiao to ask the Divine Weapon Villa to hand over three thousand spiritual artifacts within a year as consumables to help him cultivate spirituality and nurture a divine artifact was simply a joke.

"The Divine Weapon Villa only has five divine smiths. Does the entire Immortal Treasure Realm only have five divine smiths?"

"The Divine Weapon Villa only has three hundred spiritual smiths. How many spiritual smiths are there in the entire Immortal Treasure Realm?"

"If all the spiritual smiths and divine smiths in the entire world are gathered together to do this for me, tell me... is it extravagant for me to want a divine weapon within a year?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

Nangong Ju Hong laughed when he heard this, pointed at Ye Chuxiao and laughed loudly, then directly burst out laughing and almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

Fortunately, the divine artifact treasure armor protecting his internal organs worked, so Nangong Ju Hong didn't really laugh himself to death.

"If it can really be done, let alone a year, at most three months, and I can give you an unparalleled divine weapon with the strongest spirituality in the world. But what you said is simply impossible. Don't say it's just ten or twenty wisps of Dao Rhyme, even if you take out one hundred or two hundred wisps of Dao Rhyme, you can't do it."

Ye Chuxiao could really take out one or two hundred Dao Rhyme.

He currently has about nine hundred wisps of Dao Rhyme in his hands. He was willing to use one or two hundred to exchange for time and divine weapons.

After all, the main purpose of Dao Rhyme is to absorb and digest it by oneself and use it as a ticket to travel to the heavens.

How long would it take for Ye Chuxiao to consume over nine hundred wisps of Dao Rhyme on his own?

What's more, the cauldron that could condense a large amount of Dao Rhyme definitely had something strange about it.

If Ye Chuxiao could arm and strengthen himself to the extreme when he returned, he might be able to snatch the cauldron from the tiger's mouth. At that time, he would no longer lack Dao Rhyme.

"If I really give you two hundred Dao Rhyme, how many people can you help me gather within a year to refine how many divine artifacts?" Ye Chuxiao asked Nangong Ju Hong.

Nangong Ju Hong was stunned again.

He had been stunned more times today than in the entire past year.

"You... do you really have it?"

"What is your background?"

"A Daoist from the Supreme Dao Sect? Or the Young Sect Master of the Original Intent Church? Or a prince of the Great寰 (Huan) Imperial Dynasty?" Nangong Ju Hong asked.

Ye Chuxiao had heard of the Supreme Dao Sect and the Original Intent Church.

But he had never heard of this Great Huan Imperial Dynasty.

But since Nangong Ju Hong mentioned it, it must be a great power, possibly not limited to one world, but spanning many worlds.

"None of the above. Can you do it or not?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

Nangong Ju Hong looked troubled, but no longer thought that Ye Chuxiao was fantasizing.

Everything has a price, and Ye Chuxiao was indeed offering too much.

This was no longer a simple premium.

This was simply renting the entire Shanxi province's vinegar to eat a dumpling.

"Spiritual smiths are easy to handle. If our Divine Weapon Villa lowers its face to borrow, invite, and poach people, we can gather thousands of spiritual smiths in a short period of time."

"But divine smiths... to be honest, they're not easy to get!"

"They are all giants in their own right, and they are already governing one side. Without any reason, they will not work for other forces. It's not a matter of paying the price," Nangong Ju Hong said.

Nangong Ju Hong's meaning was not difficult to understand.

Inviting divine smiths from other forces to work at the Divine Weapon Villa was like asking the head of a major country to temporarily work as a temporary worker in another major country.

This was no longer a matter of money.

It involved the issue of position and face.

Similarly, Ye Chuxiao couldn't do it alone without the Divine Weapon Villa.

Because refining artifacts always requires a place, and the Divine Weapon Villa has a mature Weapon Cleansing Pool and Soul Condensing Platform.

If Ye Chuxiao were to build one himself, the process of building infrastructure alone could take many years.

"This problem is simple!"

"Use Dao Rhyme as a prize, and the Divine Weapon Villa will hold a World's First Divine Smith Competition. At the same time, in order to encourage spiritual smiths to participate enthusiastically, the entire competition will be divided into Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings, which will be held simultaneously to compete for the first place in three different ages and levels."

"All the artifact refining materials will be provided by the Divine Weapon Villa... that is, by me. Of course, if I don't have them, I'll buy them from your Divine Weapon Villa. Naturally, all the artifact refining results will belong to me, whether it is a divine artifact or a spiritual artifact that appears in the competition, they are all mine."

"Of course, your Divine Weapon Villa must also help me keep a close eye on things and kick out the immature and unreliable ones during the audition stage," Ye Chuxiao said, racking his brains.

Upon hearing this, Nangong Ju Hong stared at Ye Chuxiao, taking a deep look, two looks... countless looks, and then said, "Your idea is great, but... for most people, it's a thankless task, and only someone like you who doesn't lack money can do this."

"However, divine smiths are all established figures, and I'm afraid that many of them won't easily enter the arena and cherish their feathers..."

Ye Chuxiao said decisively, "Cherish their feathers? Then find a way to launch public opinion and ruin their reputation!"

"Your Divine Weapon Villa is also in the business of opening doors, don't tell me you don't have any means of slandering your competitors."

"Once their reputation is ruined, they will have to participate in the competition to prove their strength."