Chapter 896: Chapter 619: Fierce Hammer, Martial King Fights Heaven
Lu Chenzhou just assumed that this hammer was an Eighth Rank Spiritual Weapon he didn’t recognize, and was preparing to apply his own soul imprint. Unexpectedly, the hammer actually contained a terrifying fierce spirit. The fierce spirit smashed through his spiritual barriers, broke into his mind world, and was blocked by the wandering wilderness.
"Phew, that was close. Luckily, my control of the Great Void Unlimited Spell is stronger than before."
In order to deal with Heavenly Gu, Lu Chenzhou had focused on strengthening his spirit while he was in seclusion at Mountain and Sea Tower.
The three great secret spells were the key point.
Although his proficiency was still far from Great Success, he had already improved from Small Success at the initial level up to Middle Rank.
After observing for a while, Lu Chenzhou found that the fierce spirit was just rampaging aimlessly through the wandering wilderness, and finally let out a breath of relief, saying, "This fierce spirit’s spiritual power doesn’t seem any weaker than Heavenly Gu, also at the level of Heart Cultivation at the Middle Stage of Eighth Realm, but it can only act on instinct. It can’t break my secret spell the way Heavenly Gu did. Relying on brute force, it can’t escape the wilderness. Wangliang’s remnant will, as a Demigod Level consciousness, is also trapped here. This means the fierce spirit in life was probably of the same level. Looks like it’s a Qilin-type True Spirit."
True Spirits are mostly Dragon and Phoenix types.
Qilin are relatively rare.
The only ones Lu Chenzhou knew were Fire Qilin and Mo Qilin—the former controls the Fire Element, and the latter, Water Element.
The one in front of him should be Ice Qilin.
"That unknown fierce beast’s leg bone may just be a Qilin leg bone... What rank of spiritual weapon could use a True Spirit as forging material? This hammer looks ugly and unremarkable, yet it’s at least of quasi-Supreme Treasure quality."
Lu Chenzhou was excited.
Lei and Qiu, good brothers.
One delivered the embryonic form of a Supreme Treasure.
The other sent a quasi-Supreme Treasure.
A quasi-Supreme Treasure sits between the Eighth Rank Top Grade Spiritual Weapon and the Supreme Treasure. In Mountain and Sea Tower, there is one quasi-Supreme Treasure, the "Emperor’s Sword", which was a failed work during Emperor Xuan’s forging, worth five thousand High Grade Primordial Stones. Actually, all items in Mountain and Sea Tower are undervalued because nowadays there are few buyers in the Three Thousand Worlds. In the Great Wilderness, a quasi-Supreme Treasure is priceless; as soon as one appears, there will be a frenzy, and even some newly advanced Great Powers would be moved. After all, it costs much less to cultivate a quasi-Supreme Treasure than to build a Supreme Treasure from scratch.
The power of a quasi-Supreme Treasure is overwhelming.
He didn’t know the true depth of that fierce spirit.
Lu Chenzhou didn’t dare continue refining the hammer.
"Better wait until I reach the Eighth Realm."
Lu Chenzhou searched through Qiu Kuangyi’s memory fragments for a long time and finally obtained some information.
"This Fierce Hammer was snatched by Qiu Kuangyi from a forbidden land of an indigenous tribe. That tribe worshipped the Fierce Hammer for generations, and could draw on some of the hammer’s power via their bloodline. Relying on this trump card, though they’d never reached Seventh Realm, they still squeezed into the ranks of top clans on Mystic Sky Continent. Their clan chief once used the hammer to blast a Seventh Realm, but the tribe was wiped out by Qiu Kuangyi. Except for me, no one knows that Qiu Kuangyi gained a mysterious treasure. If you want to find out its origin, that’s going to be difficult."
Lu Chenzhou hefted the hammer. Even with his body tempered inside and out and his Fifth Rank Late Stage Power Extreme Dao, he had some difficulty wielding it. It felt incredibly heavy, as if a star was hanging from the hammerhead.
"Let’s call it ’Shattering Star’."
Lu Chenzhou gave the Fierce Hammer a domineering name. Without refining it he couldn’t use the hammer’s divine properties, but given its sheer toughness and weight, even an Eighth Realm adversary couldn’t withstand one blow from it. Before his Divine Weapon is born, this hammer would serve as a perfect stopgap. Though he didn’t know any Hammer Technique, at his level, the Dao is simple—understand one method and all methods follow. Even using a hammer to unleash spear skills, he couldn’t display full power, but it was still more than enough to beat most enemies.
"But if I want to wield the hammer freely, I’ll need Sixth Rank Power Extreme Dao." Thinking this, Lu Chenzhou descended upon Mountain and Sea Tower, spent tens of millions in one go, and bought twelve Void Steles. Before leaving, he encountered the blue-robed beautiful matron, Spirit Phoenix Dominator.
The beautiful matron grabbed Lu Chenzhou’s arm.
"Land Army Master, are you in a rush?"
"No rush. Sis, do you have something for me?"
"No worries, I just wanted to invite you to my cave for some tea." Sister Feng said cheerfully.
...
Feng Jiuli poured the tea, standing to the side. Sister Feng glanced at her, then at Lu Chenzhou.
"Military Leader, pardon my asking, but that old man who bought blood with this little girl the other day—was it you?"
Lu Chenzhou nodded slightly.
"It was me."
He had a deep impression of the girl who sold her blood.
Feng Jiuli covered her forehead and said, "This junior was ignorant. Normally, to ensure bloodline security, our clan strictly forbids selling blood."
Lu Chenzhou took out a bottle and smiled:
"It’s fine. The blood is still here. If it’s an issue, I can return it to the young lady."
Feng Jiuli muttered in the corner.
"Obviously, I’m over a thousand years old..."
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator’s jade hand lightly pushed the jade bottle back into Lu Chenzhou’s fist.
"Military Leader, you’re too polite. Now that Tianxia and the Phoenix Clan are allied, we’re like family. If you need Phoenix Clan True Spirit Blood, just tell me directly. The nine great True Spirit Celestial Phoenix Bloodlines—I can get you any of them."
Lu Chenzhou’s expression changed slightly.
He was truly tempted.
Currently, the Four-nine Mystic Skill can only transform into four types of Phoenix Clan True Spirits: Undying Fire Phoenix, Sky Ice Phoenix, Profound Celestial White Phoenix, and Cangwu Cyan Phoenix. To advance his Four-nine Mystic Skill further, he needs to research more True Spirit Bloodlines—much better than working behind closed doors.
Sister Feng flicked her finger, and a blue bottle flew over. She opened it, and a cyan phoenix phantom flew out from within, radiating rich Wood Element vitality; wherever it passed, a hundred flowers bloomed, the fragrance intoxicating.
"This is the Eighth Rank Cangwu Cyan Phoenix bloodline—my ancestor’s, as a meeting gift."
Lu Chenzhou smiled and said, "I can’t accept such generosity for nothing. Sister, just say what you need me to do."
As one of the top figures in the Three Thousand Realms, Lu Chenzhou didn’t think his own charm was enough to make someone like her suddenly show him such favor.
The beautiful matron smiled, "Military Leader, you bought True Spirit fresh blood, probably to research some kind of transformation divine ability, right?"
"That’s correct." Now that he was strong enough, Lu Chenzhou didn’t bother to hide it.
The middle-aged beauty said slowly:
"In ancient times, the True Spirit Sect sought to investigate bloodline atavism and methods to ascend to True Spirit, but the Divine Court wiped them out overnight. Ever since, the transformation of True Spirits has been labeled forbidden by the Divine Court."
"As I thought..."
After seeing the myths of ancient times, Lu Chenzhou had also guessed that the True Spirit Sect was destroyed by the Divine Court.
True Spirits have tremendous potential.
It’s possible they threatened the status of the Divine.
The beautiful matron continued:
"All of us who are Dragon and Phoenix True Spirit descendants rely on our bloodline for strength, but with each generation, the bloodline thins and our power diminishes. So I wonder, if someone could develop the transformation divine ability to the Supreme Realm, could they recreate all True Spirits of old, and thus create new True Spirit bloodlines? If we could study this, perhaps we True Spirit descendants could cultivate as well—maybe even return to the True Spirit Realm."
She revealed her true purpose.
Lu Chenzhou understood.
"Have you never thought of researching it yourselves?"
The beautiful matron said with a wry smile:
"Those involved can’t see as clearly as outsiders do. Besides, the True Spirit descendants have always been born strong, so cultivation is just something they do along the way; they lack the research ability."
A Phoenix Clan descendant only needs to grow step by step, at most learning some basic combat skills or cultivation methods, and eventually reaching their bloodline’s limit.
Their path is visible at a glance. Like the Demon Race, the number of markings sets the achievement ceiling.
Lu Chenzhou put away the Essence Blood and said:
"Sister, you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high. Throughout history, no one has ever cultivated the transformation ability to the True Spirit Realm. I’m just groping in the dark. But if I master the method to ascend to True Spirit, I won’t keep it private—I’ll definitely share it with the Phoenix Clan."
"With your word, I’m at ease. By the way, Military Leader, you’re almost at Eighth Realm now and still haven’t sought a Daoist Couple. Others would have built a powerful family by now. Do you have someone in mind?"
Sister Feng suddenly changed the topic.
Lu Chenzhou was a little stunned—as if just now, they’d been talking heavy matters and she’d seamlessly switched over to matchmaking.
"I say, Land Army Master, you don’t need to just look at the Human Clan. At our level, as long as you spend some Yin Yang Qi Origin, race isn’t a barrier. In the Spirit Phoenix Clan alone, there are several Peak Seventh Realm True Phoenix descendants. I can introduce a few, giggle."
"Uh... Let’s talk about that some other time."
Lu Chenzhou quickly got up, bowed, and said his farewells.
The beautiful matron held her waist and smiled gently.
Feng Jiuli sighed in relief beside them. She had been afraid the clan chief would matchmake her off, but it seemed Land Army Master wasn’t interested.
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator smiled and said:
"Don’t overthink it. Your cultivation is too low—Land Army Master wouldn’t be interested. I’m actually hoping to marry off your sisters. If even a tenth of Land Army Master’s supreme comprehension could be passed down, paired with our Spirit Phoenix bloodline, it would be enough to produce a Great Power."
Feng Jiuli puckered her lips and stomped her foot.
"Looking down on me... Why does the clan chief think so highly of Lu Chenzhou? Is it just because he’s young? Don’t people say Martial Arts is just a form of forced growth, a Demon Dao?"
Sister Feng poked her forehead: "The outside world is full of stubborn old fossils stuck in the past, clinging to old views for a new era. In my opinion, the new era belongs to Martial Arts."
The death of Qiu Kuangyi and Lei Wanliu,
is exactly the sign of a new era arriving.
...
After that, time flowed by.
Ever since Tianxia took over the mine, everything has been peaceful. The Divine Alliance hasn’t responded with fury as the outside world expected, but instead, it’s been a calm before the storm.
In the Xia Realm, Tianxia Civilization, having obtained resources from the Mystic Sky Mine, began to develop rapidly.
Lu Chenzhou traded all the spoils captured from the Divine Race warriors and the treasure vault at Mountain and Sea Tower for Spiritual Weapons and arrays, fully arming the military. Among the mine slaves, he also discovered many talents in arrays, forging, alchemy, and the Hundred Arts of Cultivation.
With wealth in hand, Tianxia Civilization began recruiting experts from the Three Thousand Worlds through Mountain and Sea Tower.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Many Sixth and Seventh Realm experts from small and medium civilizations who had been oppressed by the Divine Alliance came flocking to Mystic Sky.
In just a year, a mercenary corps composed of three hundred Sixth Realm and eleven alien Seventh Realm experts was formed. Some even declared direct allegiance to Tianxia, gaining Tianxia citizenship and vowing to follow him unto death.
After the battle of Mystic Sky, Lu Chenzhou’s fame spread throughout the Eastern Extreme Territory. The fastest way to rise is to trample powerful enemies.
The Divine Alliance—his stepping stone.
Thanks to the subtle efforts of Tianxia’s traveling powerhouses, Lu Chenzhou was almost being packaged as the savior of the Human Clan and the small and medium civilizations in the catastrophe. Gradually, he earned some new titles:
[Calamity Responder of All Clans].
[Savior of All Realms].
More people called Lu Chenzhou [Martial King], and stories of him killing the two Great Commanders of the Divine Alliance were retold as [Martial King Fights Heaven].