Chapter 71:
The strength of a First-Grade Golden Core cultivator lay in the fact that Li Su believed he could handle a Nascent Soul Initial Stage opponent, and if not, he could escape unscathed.
I need to improve my alchemy skills quickly, Li Su thought. His current treasures were low-quality, and even the Flying Immortal Sword was only a low-grade spiritual weapon.
Li Su could use the Great Yang Sword Formation as a treasure, given the quality of the thirty-plus Great Yang Swords, each being at least of high-grade spiritual weapon quality, with some even being top-grade spiritual weapons.
Typically, Golden Core cultivators used low and medium-grade spiritual weapons, Nascent Soul cultivators used high and top-grade spiritual weapons, and those above Nascent Soul used even higher-level treasures. While the Great Yang Swords could be used as treasures, they didn’t feel as comfortable as a true spiritual weapon when used as such.
Suppose Li Su had better treasures, even just top-grade spiritual weapons when he reached the pinnacle of the Golden Core stage. In that case, he might be able to contend with ordinary Nascent Soul Initial Stage cultivators or at least hold his ground against them. That would be quite impressive. Having slightly better treasures would make Li Su even more formidable.
The power of a First-Grade Golden Core cultivator was indeed remarkable. However, overly exaggerated challenges across realms were still difficult to overcome due to the substantial gap in cultivation levels.
Aside from treasures, techniques and secret arts could also enhance one’s combat abilities. Li Su possessed various techniques, and the Flying Immortal Sect had its secret art. Now, what could provide a rapid boost to his combat power was the acquisition of a new treasure.
Coincidentally, just a few days later, Li Su’s descendants reached another complete unit, totaling 140,000. After reaching another complete unit of descendants, Li Su’s experience in artifact forging had accumulated to over seven hundred years.
“Elder Huang, I need to find some materials for artifact forging in the sect’s storage,” Li Su said.
“No problem, Elder Li. You can go and look,” Elder Huang replied.
Li Su went to the Flying Immortal Sect’s storage first to find materials for artifact forging. In the secret location, he had acquired numerous high-quality materials, as they were not edible for magical beasts and had been preserved perfectly. Unlike herbs, the issue with many wasn’t their lack of quality but the insufficient time they had to grow. Many magical beasts guarding herbs would often eat them themselves after guarding them for some time.
The problem of refining materials does not exist. Those refining materials were not discernible when Li Su had low refining skills. However, from Li Su’s current perspective, he could refine high-quality spiritual tools and even one or two top-grade spiritual tools.
Soon, Li Su found some materials. So, he once again immersed himself in the refining room of the Flying Immortal Sect. The refining materials he obtained could finally be used in that secret place.
The process of crafting magical treasures was different from alchemy. Some fixed magical treasures had fixed crafting methods. However, skilled craftsmen could also tailor magical treasures according to the needs of cultivators, unlike alchemy, where he needed to follow a specific recipe.
In alchemy, if he didn’t have a recipe, how many medicinal herbs he would need to experiment with would be a considerable amount. Those alchemical recipes were passed down through generations by predecessors and were the result of countless alchemists’ time, effort, and the consumption of numerous medicinal herbs to develop. Li Su wouldn’t waste time experimenting independently if there were readily available recipes.
On the other hand, crafting spiritual tools was much simpler. Li Su had experience in crafting, which he could use. He could tailor the crafting process to suit his own needs. Of course, he couldn’t just haphazardly craft without any reference. It was best to have some reference; if there was none, he would need to figure it out.
However, common spiritual tools were already within Li Su’s grasp. For example, the Flying Immortal Sword, the most commonly used tool in the Flying Immortal Sect, was something Li Su was very familiar with.
This time, Li Su spent several months in the crafting room. His face was filled with a smile when he emerged from the crafting room after those months. During these past few months, Li Su’s gains were quite substantial. With over seven hundred years of crafting experience, he was capable of crafting high-quality spiritual tools, even top-grade spiritual tools.
Li Su crafted two high-quality spiritual tools and one top-grade spiritual tool. The two sets of Flying Immortal Swords were meant for his personal use and the sect leader. Cultivators in the middle stage of the Yuan Ying realm could use high-quality spiritual tools. Top-grade spiritual tools were preferred for those in the later stages of the Yuan Ying realm.
Of course, if higher-level artifacts were available, that would be even better. If the sect leader managed to break through to the later stages of the Yuan Ying realm, Li Su could give her these Flying Immortal Swords as a present.
The sect’s craftsmen were only capable of crafting low-quality spiritual tools. It had taken Li Su over a year to repair the five low-grade spiritual tool-level formation flags he had found previously. However, Li Su’s crafting skills have improved significantly since his previous attempts, which showed that time could significantly affect one’s abilities.
This set of high-quality spiritual tools consisted of 48 items, which were incredibly flexible and sharp. Four Flying Immortal Swords had reached the standard of top-grade spiritual tools. The reason there were only four was due to a shortage of materials. Li Su crafted four for himself and four for the sect leader. This way, both sets of high-quality spiritual tools, Flying Immortal Swords, contained four top-grade spiritual tools useful in critical situations.
Another item was a pure top-grade spiritual tool, which was a mirror. Li Su crafted this mirror based on Su Yun’s Green Light Mirror as a prototype. It served as a defensive spiritual tool, but Li Su refined it to the standard of a top-grade spiritual tool.
The best approach for Li Su to leverage his experience in refining tools was to use a prototype and refine it to improve its quality. This was faster and more effective than trying to create something from scratch.
“Let’s call it the Green Rue Mirror.” Li Su added the character “Yun” from Su Yun to the name, making it “Green Rue Mirror.”
With this, he became quite versatile. He had formations tailored for the Nascent Soul stage, his strength had increased, and he possessed a set of high-quality spiritual tools and an excellent defensive spiritual tool. If the sect leader advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, the Saintess of the Hidden Moon wouldn’t dare to challenge them. She wouldn’t even have a chance to retreat.
“Elder Li, you are truly amazing. You are the master!” The artifact refiner from the Flying Immortal Sect admired Li Su greatly. Seeing how skilled Li Su was in artifact refining, he even considered becoming his disciple, although Li Su didn’t accept him. He naturally wouldn’t resent Li Su for not accepting him as a disciple. He was incredibly grateful for the fact that Li Su allowed him to visit.
After successfully refining the spiritual tools, Li Su went to a secluded and uninhabited place to test them. After a day of testing, there was a commotion within the Flying Immortal Sect.
“Our sect leader has broken through to the Nascent Soul stage!”
When Li Su returned to the Flying Immortal Sect, the entire sect was filled with joy. A burst of radiant light shot into the sky in the rear mountain, shaking the entire sect. The sect leader had successfully broken through to the Nascent Soul stage.
A smile appeared on Li Su’s face. This news was truly a piece of good tidings. Their sect leader had finally made the breakthrough!
The commotion in the rear mountain continued for quite some time before subsiding. About half a day later, a figure soared into the sky. It was the sect leader. She was still dressed in white, but now she appeared much more powerful than before. Her entire presence had become even more remarkable.