Strongest War Emperor

Xiao Qifeng felt his head swim again.

He was already growing numb to Shen Lang’s astonishing words and terrifying deeds, but Shen Lang still managed to say things that left him utterly dumbfounded.

’The Dean had already shown extraordinary grace by allowing Shen Lang to personally reforge the Celestial Water Blade. How could he dare to take advantage of the Dean?’

’But that’s not quite right either. If he can really reforge it, doesn’t that mean the Spiritual Artifact would basically be his creation?’

’Besides, with his abilities, he could just trade a Spirit Array Map and have no shortage of Spiritual Artifacts of this grade!’

"No problem. If you can truly do everything you just said, I will give you this Celestial Water Blade," Mo Liusheng replied without hesitation.

"Then it’s a deal." Shen Lang wasted no more words, walking over to take the Celestial Water Blade and tossing it into the Furnace Cauldron.

Having learned from last time, Xiao Qifeng was even more focused now. He ran to the side of the Furnace Cauldron, his eyes wide, watching Shen Lang’s every move without blinking. He was so close the furnace fire nearly singed off his eyebrows.

Seeing Shen Lang’s confident demeanor, Mo Liusheng’s lingering doubts were all but gone. He too fixed his gaze on Shen Lang’s movements.

"Do you have any Spirit Stones? Low Grade Spirit Stones will do. If you have them, give me twenty," Shen Lang said, holding his hand out to Mo Liusheng.

Mo Liusheng gave a wry smile. Twenty Low Grade Spirit Stones was no small sum, equivalent to over twenty thousand Gold Coins. ’This kid really knows how to ask.’

’Oh well. If what he said is true, it would be worth it even if it cost two hundred Spirit Stones!’

Mo Liusheng took out twenty Low Grade Spirit Stones and handed them over. He then watched as Shen Lang put eleven of them away and placed the remaining nine around the Furnace Cauldron, beginning to set up an Array.

"This little rascal..."

Mo Liusheng was about to speak but suddenly swallowed his words, his eyes locked on Shen Lang’s hands.

Shen Lang placed the nine Spirit Stones around the Furnace Cauldron, then began to circle it, shifting the stones as he went.

As he moved, lines of spiritual energy—Spiritual Lines—burst forth from the stones, linking them together...

A profound and mysterious Array was set up with incredible ease.

"A High Grade auxiliary Array!" Mo Liusheng exclaimed in shock. Even he was incapable of setting up such an Array.

One had to understand that many High Grade auxiliary Arrays were exceedingly complex. Not only was the setup process difficult, but the consumption of Spirit Stones was also immense.

Yet Shen Lang had managed to set up an Array using just nine Low Grade Spirit Stones.

And it was ridiculously simple—he had just walked a few circles and casually nudged the Spirit Stones into position!

’This is too much...’

"This auxiliary Array should be worth ten Spirit Stones, right?" Shen Lang asked casually, his hands a blur as they formed a series of Mantra Seals.

Mo Liusheng’s old face flushed, and he laughed awkwardly. "More than worth it! Absolutely more than worth it!"

"Good to hear." Shen Lang’s hands continued to form various complex Mantra Seals. Jets of True Flame shot out from the Array, and under the control of his palms, they periodically spewed toward the Furnace Cauldron like fiery dragons.

Particularly on the side where he stood, Celestial Fire burst from the Array, surging forth like a tidal wave. The nearby temperature spiked, scaring Xiao Qifeng into crying out and stumbling backward.

Reforging a Spiritual Artifact was something an Outer Disciple might think would be simple.

They assumed that since the Spiritual Artifact was already formed, it was just a matter of patching up the unsatisfactory parts.

Only a true Artifact Refiner knew that reforging a Spiritual Artifact was actually more difficult than forging a new one.

First, the Spiritual Artifact was already formed. Remelting it could easily cause the various materials within to separate again. A single lapse in control could turn the weapon into a pile of scrap metal.

Second, it was extremely difficult to fuse new materials with the original ones.

Usually, it required a Herculean effort: using powerful Divine Thought to control the materials while closely monitoring the temperature and heat...

For all these reasons, when a Spiritual Artifact was significantly damaged, many Artifact Refiners would simply melt it down, extract the materials for recycling, and not waste time and energy trying to repair it.

However, such difficulties were nothing in Shen Lang’s eyes.

Aside from his Divine Thought being a little weak at present, he encountered almost no obstacles throughout the entire artifact-refining process.

This was no surprise. In his memories, he was a Master Level Artifact Refiner, one who stood at the peak of the Human Realm.

In fact, it wasn’t just Artifact Refining. There was also Alchemy, Talisman Making, and so on and so forth. He was practically a master of all trades.

Shen Lang himself didn’t quite understand this point.

’In my opinion, my dream self must have been bored out of his mind, with absolutely nothing better to do.’

’Otherwise, why learn so many different things?’

’A person’s life is short. Even if you become an unparalleled powerhouse, you’re still bound by your lifespan.’

’Many people spend their entire lives on just one path, like the Artifact Refining Dao, and no matter how hard they try or how talented they are, they could never reach that level.’

’But him... he mastered them all. If that’s not being bored out of your mind, what is?’

As Shen Lang worked, his casual ease left Mo Liusheng more and more shocked...

In his eyes, Shen Lang’s entire set of movements, from start to finish, was as smooth as flowing water, without the slightest pause. It was like watching a work of art.

He truly couldn’t understand. How old was this boy in front of him?

’Never mind his powerful Divine Thought, but why are his techniques so exquisite?’

’It’s as if he’s already refined countless Celestial Water Blades, as if he could do it all with his eyes closed!’

Not only that, but his movements were so elegant and effortless. The waving of his hands seemed to secretly align with some kind of Heaven and Earth Rules, as if he had touched upon the Great Dao itself. It was so natural that upon seeing it, one would subconsciously think, ’Of course, this is how it must be done!’

As time passed, the Mantra Seals formed by Shen Lang’s hands became more and more frequent, his speed ever increasing. They danced up and down, trailing ribbons of light...

Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He shouted, "Dean, lend me your Pill Fire!"

’This kid knows my Spiritual Power is more abundant than his. He won’t let a single bit go to waste, won’t let me off the hook...’ Mo Liusheng wiped the sweat from his brow and hurried forward to help.

Shen Lang indeed wasted nothing, immediately putting Mo Liusheng to work as manual labor. He had him continuously temper the newly reformed Celestial Water Blade with his Pill Fire, never telling him to stop.

Only when the Celestial Water Blade was fully reformed and began to emit an azure glow did Shen Lang look at the profusely sweating Mo Liusheng with some amusement. "You can stop now, old man. Any more and you’ll melt the Celestial Water Blade!"

"It’s done? So quickly!" Mo Liusheng said, a little surprised.

Seeing the grand scale of Shen Lang’s work and being asked to use his Pill Fire so early on, he had thought he would need to take a Qi Recovery Pill and continue for a while longer.

After all, they were refining a Spiritual Artifact.

He never expected that just as he was starting to feel a little tired, the job was already finished!

"It’s done. If I hadn’t been worried about preserving the integrity of the Fire Spirit Array Map inside and didn’t dare to destroy it, I could have finished in half the time," Shen Lang said, sounding slightly dissatisfied.

"..." Mo Liusheng was utterly speechless. It had taken less than half an hour. If it were half the time, wouldn’t that mean just fifteen minutes?

’This is enough to scare a man to death!’

Mo Liusheng asked cautiously, "So next... what do we do with the Fire Spirit Array Map inside? Should we just remove it and then carve a new Water Spirit Array Map?"

He was just being considerate. The original plan was for Shen Lang to directly modify the Fire Spirit Array Map, but that was far too difficult. Forget doing it—even someone as old as Mo Liusheng, who had been involved in artifact refining for so many years, had never heard of more than a few people capable of such a feat.

’I’ve already witnessed how powerful this boy is in the Artifact Refining Dao. It’s best to know when to stop.’

Being able to modify a Spirit Array Map, what did that imply?

It meant that a master of this level could create Spirit Array Maps at will!

By learning just two or three Spirit Array Maps, he could extrapolate and create dozens, or even more, Spirit Array Maps of the same grade!

How astonishing was that!

According to legend, there were indeed people who could modify Spirit Array Maps, but they were all reclusive old monsters.

And for them, modifying a Spirit Array Map wasn’t something that could be done in a day or two. Taking several months was completely normal.

The higher the grade of the Spirit Array Map, the more difficult it was to modify or restructure.

Just being able to learn something from a single Spirit Array Map was already a sign of extraordinary, breathtaking talent.

Otherwise, why would Artifact Refiners have it so hard now, with everyone only learning a few Spirit Array Maps? Why were they impossible to buy even with Spirit Stones?

Shen Lang stroked the Celestial Water Blade in his hand. The long blade had been reforged by him, and even its appearance had changed considerably.

The back of the long blade was almost a straight line with very little curve. If not for its relatively thick spine, one might even mistake it for a Great Sword.

He flicked the body of the blade with his finger. A wisp of Spirit Light flashed in the air, releasing a beautiful radiance.

Then, without answering Mo Liusheng, he simply drew two fingers straight from the tip of the blade all the way to the hilt.

BZZZT!

A soft hum rang out, and in the next moment, a violent aura erupted from the blade.

"No way! You..." Mo Liusheng jumped in fright. "How could you just violently shatter the Fire Spirit Array Map? Th-th-this..."

He was so shocked he couldn’t get another word out.

The reverence he had felt for Shen Lang just a moment ago vanished completely...

’Isn’t this just messing around? Does this little ancestor even know how to handle a Spirit Array Map?’

’If you just destroy it with brute force, not only is the Spirit Array Map ruined, but the blade itself could explode at any moment!’

’Did you work on it all this time just so the Spiritual Artifact would make a prettier explosion?’

’If this Spiritual Artifact explodes, how much destruction will it cause here...’

’Oh, my dear mother!’

Xiao Qifeng, of course, understood this as well. Seeing even Mo Liusheng in such a panic, he was so scared he was on the verge of tears.