MTL NOVEL Chapter 224: Attempt
Li Zhirui talked about each problem he had encountered in Artifact Refining and then handed over the Magic Artifact he had refined to Li Chenghuo, asking, "Take a look, what's going on with this?"
"Uh..." In Li Chenghuo's view, the issues Li Zhirui was facing were very basic, and he wanted to point them out, but feared hurting the other's pride.
Li Zhirui noticed something and laughed, "It's alright, just speak frankly."
"Uncle Shiling, then I'll just say it," Li Chenghuo organized his words so as not to hurt his pride, "Things like the Power-limiting Spell Array and Levitation Spell Prohibition contradict each other, which is why the flying speed is so slow, and the root system's attack strength doesn't meet your requirements."
"Also, the additional prohibitions you wanted to add, such as golden light and sharpness, overlap during the combination, resulting in a less nimble operation of the prohibitions, which is why the bamboo leaves' attack power is not strong..."
Beyond that, there were incompatibilities between the Spirit Materials, which required neutralization with other Spiritual Objects, among various other issues.
In short, due to Li Zhirui's high requirements and his lack of professional Artifact Refiner expertise, simply cramming everything together, the result was naturally unsatisfactory.
After listening to Li Chenghuo, Li Zhirui smiled sheepishly, realizing he was indeed a bit greedy, and asked humbly, "Then do you see any solution?"
"Uncle Shiling, aren't you planning to reduce some functionalities?" Li Chenghuo frowned and said, "Your requirements are too many, even if they were given to a professional Artifact Refiner, it would not be easy to refine successfully."
Li Zhirui shook his head, not wanting to give up easily, "No problem, let me try refining it myself first. If it really doesn't work, then I'll consider removing a certain functionality."
Hearing this, Li Chenghuo did not continue to persuade him and, after a long moment of thought, offered his own suggestions.
Despite his exceptional talent for Artifact Refining, due to his cultivation level and family background, he could only offer some basic advice.
That is to say, there are no theoretical issues now, but as for the actual results of the Refining process, it's unpredictable.
"This is enough," Li Zhirui was quite satisfied, simply planning to rely on using an abundance of Spirit Materials. For him, low-level Spirit Materials were trivial, and he could just refine a few furnaces of Spirit Pills.
After all, with his current cultivation at the Golden Core Realm, the likelihood of failing at refining second-order Spirit Pills was almost nil. Discover exclusive tales at My Virtual Library Empire
"I have no use for these Spirit Pills anymore; you take them and assimilate them," Li Zhirui took out several bottles of exceptionally high-quality Spirit Pills from his storage ring—although he had obtained the storage ring a while ago, he had not dared to use it openly previously due to insufficient cultivation, but now it was no problem—and handed them to Li Chenghuo.
"Uncle Shiling, I was merely theorizing, and it may not necessarily lead to success, you needn't be so extravagant," Li Chenghuo declined repeatedly.
"Take it, are you worried I'll run out of Spirit Pills?" Li Zhirui said, "Besides, your cultivation level, as well as that of the Flame Toad, is a bit too low."
Logically, with Li Chenghuo's cultivation level and his contract with a third-grade Spirit Beast, along with the family's nurturing, he should have broken through the mid-phase of Foundation Establishment by now, or at the very least, been lingering on the verge of a breakthrough.
Yet he was still far from breaking through!
The reason was this rascal—he actually traded those resources for some Artifact Refining materials to improve his own skills in Artifact Refining!
"While it's true that advancing the craft can feedback to one's cultivation, it's still primary to focus on your cultivation and not to be engrossed in Artifact Refining all day," Li Zhirui said persuasively.
"Right now, you're only in the Foundation Establishment stage; even if you refine many Magic Artifacts, those are just Magic Artifacts. Don't you want to personally refine third-order Magical Treasures?"
"Moreover, beyond Magical Treasures, there exist superior six-tiered Spiritual Treasures, as well as nine-tiered Demi Immortal Artifacts, and even Immortal Artifacts. Without sufficient cultivation, you won't be able to witness their splendour."
For Li Chenghuo, an idiot obsessed with Artifact Refining, the high-tier Magical Artifacts mentioned by Li Zhirui were no less coveted than the dream of every Cultivator to achieve Tribulation Transcendence, perhaps even more so!
"Uncle Shi, you're right! I shouldn't just focus on Magic Artifacts; there are even more powerful treasures and Spiritual Treasures ahead!" Li Chenghuo declared with determination.
Li Zhirui nodded in satisfaction. After all, among the current generation of clan members with the "Cheng" in their names, it was only Li Chenghuo who had the potential for Core Formation. As an elder, he naturally hoped he would have a brighter future.
Of course, this might be because Li Zhirui hadn't been home often these years. He wasn't as familiar with the clan affairs as before, so he was somewhat unclear about the condition of the "Cheng" generation and even less so about the younger "Da" generation clan members.
Although there were no geniuses with dual spiritual roots among them, there were quite a few with high Spiritual Root Purity.
Among them was even one clan member who possessed a special Spiritual Body known as Moist Water, which could enhance affinity with Water Spiritual Energy. The Water-based spells they cast carried a nourishing effect, making this individual particularly suited for the path of a Spiritual Plant Cultivator or a Beast Tamer.
But back to the point!
After returning to his cave dwelling, Li Zhirui resumed his attempts at refining Magic Artifacts day and night, consuming an untold amount of Spirit Materials daily. Although he had yet to succeed, he saw the possibility of success.
Because with each attempt at refining Magic Artifacts, the results were a little better than the last, and this was enough to keep Li Zhirui going.
In the mountains, time flies unnoticed, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, several months had passed quietly by.
Peep!
Da Qing, who had immersed itself in cultivation since Li Zhirui's breakthrough, finally opened its eyes.
And its cultivation level had, just as Li Zhirui had guessed, smoothly advanced to the later stages of Foundation Establishment!
Unfortunately, now in the space, there was only that nest of Giant Spirit Poison Bees, and no one else to share its joy with.
What about Xiaoqing? It had woken up some time ago, and its cultivation had also smoothly ascended to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. It was now frolicking freely on Da Rong Island.
Luckily, every few days, Li Zhirui would come in to harvest some Spiritual Medicine for Alchemy, and he quickly discovered Da Qing.
"Da Qing!" Li Zhirui called out in surprise. He had not expected Da Qing to awaken at this time.
It is said that any Spirit Beast contracted to a Cultivator practicing the Wanling Sutra, as long as the Cultivator successfully breaks through, the Spirit Beast will not face any bottlenecks. With enough accumulated Mana, it can smoothly progress.
For Da Qing, accumulating Mana was just a matter of time. With Li Zhirui the Alchemist around, there would never be a shortage of Spirit Pills to increase Mana.
Of course, the limitations of a Spirit Beast's bloodline still existed. Take the Spirit Beasts of Li Shiqing and Li Shilian, for example; even though their masters had broken through to the Golden Core for many years, they haven't yet advanced past the third tier.
Unless they encounter some fortuitous opportunity in the future, the likelihood of them advancing past the third tier is as difficult as a Cultivator's Core Formation.
This difficulty has decreased quite a bit, though. If it were a second-tier Devil Beast in the wild wanting to break through to the third tier, the level of difficulty would at the very least double!