Chapter 327
Under the eaves outside the door, Charcoal, who was dozing off as it laid on the ground while flicking its tail, was kicked awake again. This steed widened its eyes to look at the perpetrator but was no longer in a bad temper after it realized that it was Miao Yi who'd kicked him.
Miao Yi leaped onto his steed and beckoned to the two ladies. They let out bright smiles and lightly hopped on as well, sitting just behind him.
Charcoal leaped forward and landed outside of the courtyard, before galloping away toward the mountain forest.
This scene of a man and two women sharing a ride on a steed caused the maidservants bustling around Mount Calming Sea to become envious of them. They were envious of both Elder Auntie and Little Auntie because the only person who could ride a steed in such an 'offensively' lovey-dovey way in Mount Calming Sea was none other than the Mountain Chieftain himself.
They should only be jealous of other happy couples, yet what could they do when their hearts were full of discontent, both blinded by l.u.s.t and resentment?
They galloped over mountains and through ravines throughout the whole journey. When they reached the entrance to Yao Ruoxian's cave, the three of them then jumped off of Charcoal.
The ladies held hands and ran into the cave. Miao Yi could see how these two were able to go in and out of this place, and they seemed to already be familiar with the cave as if it were their own home.
Yao Ruoxian did not go underground to refine anything today. He was sitting on a stone chair inside the cave, with his legs crossed in cultivation. When the ladies went inside and cheerfully called out 'father', he opened his eyes and instantly let out a chuckle. He gazed at the ladies with a look full of love and affection.
However, when he saw Miao Yi entering behind them, he quickly let out a scoff. His smile vanished instantly.
"Senior Yao, I heard that my battle armor is already done?" Miao Yi approached him and cupped his fists together.
Yao Ruoxian flicked his hand and tossed something at him. Miao Yi raised his hands and caught the object. It was then that he realized that it was actually a storage bangle. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Is this for me?"
"This was refined from using the remaining Crystalline Obsidians. Your items are stored inside the storage bracelet." Their conversations had always been disagreeable. Yao Ruoxian was not in the mood for any nonsense, either.
Since Yao Ruoxian had used his items to refine the bracelet, then there was no need to be courteous about it. Miao Yi quickly slipped on the storage bracelet onto his wrist. The size was perfectly fine for him.
Miao Yi imbued his transcendence energy and a.n.a.lyzed the bracelet for a while. An expression of joy immediately appeared on his forehead when he found out that the capacity inside the storage bracelet was almost fifty times larger than ordinary storage rings. This item could save him some trouble, and at least he didn't have to wear so many storage rings on his fingers anymore.
Miao Yi was no longer a greenhorn like he used to be. He had more or less acquired some understanding toward the field of refining artifacts.
One should never see it as just a storage bracelet.
Even though storage rings or any sort of similar objects weren't considered decent transcendent artifacts, ordinary artifact artisans couldn't refine them. It was said that one required a substantial understanding of the facets of s.p.a.ce in order to refine those artifacts. The ability to refine storage rings was a turning point when it came to the skills of artifact artisans. Those who were able to refine storage bracelets with greater capacity were represented as artifact artisans of a higher level.
Miao Yi secretly exclaimed in his heart. He realized that this old man was indeed someone special. Yao Ruoxian had never failed in whatever he had set out to refine, and so it was within expectations that he'd be able to refine something like this after saying that he could.
Miao Yi actually didn't know much about the process. He later heard that refining transcendent artifacts wasn't 100% guaranteed to succeed every time. Artifact artisans with bad skills would easily fail and yield unsuccessful results most of the time. They would waste a lot of Yao Cores too. However, when the artifacts were being refined by Yao Ruoxian, it seemed like the attempts had never resulted in failure.
The s.p.a.cious storage bracelet contained two sets of battle armor. Miao Yi quickly invoked those items and held them in his hands. After the transcendent artifacts had recognized their master, he turned around and went outside of the cave.
Yao Ruoxian, who was in a bad temper, brought his daughters along and walked out to see what was happening.
Miao Yi called Charcoal to his side and tossed the battle armor into the air. As he pointed at the armor, they simultaneously exploded mid-air into black mist, before covering Charcoal and himself.
The black mist enveloping them abruptly vanished. A set of battle armor as black as ink had suddenly attached itself onto Miao Yi's body.
Just like the armor refined for the ladies, Miao Yi's armor set covered him fully. From the helmet to the boots, every piece was an integral part of the armor. The greatest difference between his armor and theirs was the sword attached to his hip.
Miao Yi was slightly disappointed when he looked at the battle armor on his body. A complete set of armor like this felt somewhat strange, even though it was better in terms of protection since none of his weak points were exposed. However,
Qian'Er and Xue'Er were a bit disappointed as well. The disparity in quality between this armor and theirs was too great. Qian'Er scowled, "Father, did you refine this? It doesn't look good at all." As she said that, she suspected that he hadn't refined the armor with caution and diligence at all.
Yao Ruoxian shook his head and replied, "Silly girl. What do you know about armor? What's the point of looking good? He's going to the Sea of Constellations, and you're afraid that he won't stand out or attract attention. Should I make an armor set that will provoke people into chasing him down and killing him? I intentionally made it look a bit crude."
Alright! Miao Yi approved of the reason he gave. He could accept the explanation, but… when he tried to stretch his limbs, he wanted to cry. "It feels a bit small. This doesn't quite fit my body!"
"Ah!" Qian'Er and Xue'Er exclaimed. What was the use of an ill-fitting set of armor?
"What are you making a fuss about?" Yao Ruoxian pointed at Miao Yi's body and said, "There is a slight change added to the armor—a certain amount of s.p.a.ce for elasticity. Try to invoke your art and adjust the armor yourself."
Miao Yi listened to him and invoked his art. A flash of blue light immediately appeared on his battle armor. Everyone was able to see that his armor had expanded a little. Miao Yi nodded cheerfully as the blue light converged onto his body. He clicked his tongue and exclaimed, "This is useful."
"That's good. This will give you another way to adapt to the situation. When you go to the Sea of Constellations, you might be able to hold on longer before you die…" Before he could finish his words, he saw the look of bitterness in his daughters' eyes. Yao Ruoxian rolled his eyes and changed his words, "It's useful for you. It's useful for others as well. If this item falls into the hands of someone else, they can use it with ease once they wear it on their body."
He motioned a finger at Charcoal, and said, "The battle armor set on this fat thief also has a certain s.p.a.ce for elasticity."
When he was done, he let out a sigh in his heart. There was some reluctance in his eyes as he gazed at Charcoal.
To be honest, he didn't want Charcoal to follow Miao Yi into the Sea of Constellations. However, he also knew that Charcoal's leg power might possibly save Miao Yi from danger during a critical moment.
What was the implication of allowing Charcoal's battle armor set to have a certain s.p.a.ce of elasticity? It meant that Miao Yi could adapt better to any changes should the situation call for it. Yao Ruoxian had already made preparations just in case Charcoal died. Should that happen, Miao Yi could still use Charcoal's battle armor on other dragon steeds as well.
Miao Yi nodded, indicating that he had understood what he meant. In actuality, he couldn't see the difference between Charcoal's previous set of armor and the one it had on its body now. The only difference he could see was the color. Even so, it seemed like the armor set it had on now still looked better than his own armor.
He turned around and closely a.n.a.lyzed the battle armor on his body. Suddenly, he cried out and lifted up his head, "This battle armor is double-layered?"
Yao Ruoxian shook his head, "I can't say it's double-layered. Try to take a closer look at it."
Miao Yi took another look at the armor and realized that it was indeed not double-layered. There looked to be a densely consistent mesh in between the exterior and interior layers. If he hadn't looked more closely, he might have taken the mesh as some sort of filler material. After a.n.a.lyzing it carefully, he realized that they were actually made from Crystalline Obsidians. They were an integral part of the armor as well.
When he was done a.n.a.lyzing the armor, he lifted up his head and asked, "Why is it made like this?"
"Besides having the defensive ability of a basic Second Grade transcendent artifact, when you receive damage, the middle layer in this armor set will be able to neutralize 30% of the impact force. The armor set on the fat thief has the same ability too," Yao Ruoxian said casually as if it were a trivial piece of information.
In truth, Yao Ruoxian had spent a large amount of time and energy in order to refine that tiny layer in between the slightly thick suit of armor. It wouldn't simply work just by adding a layer of insulation to the armor. This was also the reason why he required many years to refine these sets of battle armor.
"30%?" Miao Yi was pleasantly surprised as he listened to Yao Ruoxian explanation on the armor. He would have to cup his fists together and thank him multiple times for that.
He turned around and unsheathed the sword from the hollow meshed scabbard around his waist. The sword was completely dark. It had a normal shape, yet this was also considered a Second Grade transcendent artifact.
"Go!" Miao Yi scanned his surroundings before he suddenly hurled the sword into the air. The transcendent artifact glowed with a blue light, but before it could travel about 200 meters away, he was able to sense the subtle disconnection of his transcendence energy with the sword. He invoked his art with his finger and allowed the flying sword to cut down from the sky.
Rumble! A piece of mountain rock was split open. Miao Yi gestured with his hand and pulled backward, causing the flying sword to fly back to him and return to the scabbard on his waist with a swish.
Miao Yi breathed heavily after attempting to slice with the flying sword, which promptly caused him to shake his head. Based on his cultivation base, the flying sword had consumed too much of his transcendence energy. It was fine if he used it occasionally, but it definitely wouldn't work if he tried to use it constantly. If it were Qian'Er and Xue'Er, he feared that they might not be able to perform it based on their current cultivation base.
He then raised his hand and flicked his fingers. A black Inversed-Scales Spear appeared on his hand from his storage bracelet. When he invoked a little bit of his art, he could immediately sense the differences between this spear and the previous one.
Gleaming with a blue light, the sharp and barbed tri-edged spearhead appeared with a swis.h.!.+ The wings on the tri-edged spearhead turned around at the same time, causing the barbs to twist upward, swiftly combining the three edges into one and turning it into another form of a spearhead.
Miao Yi was very fond of it. From his many victories in close combat, he already knew that the barbed spearhead did indeed have its own advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was that the barbs could increase his might. At the moment when the spear was unleashed and retracted, as long as the barbs were out, his enemies would be killed or fatally wounded, especially during a situation where he was swarmed by the enemies. He could brandish his long spear recklessly and with extreme lethality.
The disadvantage would be the incapability of attacking when faced with enemies of a higher cultivation base. The barbs on the spearhead could easily be locked by the opponent's weapon, and therefore, once the spear was locked, the opponent might fling away his weapon if he continued to attack them with force. If he didn't already have an extraordinary spear technique, he might have encountered this situation a long time ago.
Miao Yi used to have mixed feelings about the advantages and disadvantages of the barbed spearhead. He'd had a bit of a hard time choosing as well. But it was all good now. He initially didn't think that Yao Ruoxian would be able to turn a useless item into something of value. For Yao Ruoxian to be able to make such changes to the spearhead, Miao Yi was excited knowing that the spear had been strengthened.
He turned back, gazed at Charcoal, and then proceeded to jump onto his steed while wielding the spear. Miao Yi rushed down all the way from the mountain and swung his spear in every direction, swiftly piercing the air.
When he reached the foot of the mountain, he motioned with a sudden thrust, causing Charcoal to swiftly turn around and charge up the mountain. The only thing that could be seen was the spearhead of the Inversed-Scales Spear continuously changing with each thrust of his spear, clacking every time it did. The spearhead became barbed, and then it changed into the form of a pyramid.
Yao Ruoxian could only give a light shake of his head as he saw Miao Yi use his spear without difficulty, even though he didn't have an opponent. He silently sighed, 'By refining a set of Second Grade transcendent artifacts for this kid, I don't know how many people will end up dying at his hands. He isn't a good kid, and he won't be soft-hearted or hesitate to act!'
Qian'Er and Xue'Er exchanged glances with each other. It sent chills through their hearts when their master unleashed his spear technique. Each piercing motion was seething with the word 'kill'. Their own spear techniques lacked the domineering force and murderous intent that Miao Yi had!
When he reached the outskirts of the cave, Miao Yi took back his spear and jumped down from his mount. A cloud of black mist exploded in the air as he quickly stored his weapon inside the storage bracelet on his wrist.
"This Second Grade transcendent artifact uses too much transcendence energy. The rate of consumption is ten times faster than when I use a First Grade transcendent artifact. I'm afraid I can't use it for a long time," Miao Yi said energetically, but at the same time sounding regretful as well.