Chapter 70: Loyalty

As the main door was pushed open, what appeared before him was a slightly overweight middle-aged cultivator.

Clad in a loose Daoist robe, his belly rolls surged like waves when he stood up. He didn’t look like a profound Foundation Establishment cultivator at all—instead, he resembled a disheartened Qi Refining cultivator.

With a lazy tone, he casually tossed out a formation disk. “What formation is this?”

Chen Beiwu received the formation disk and glanced over the formation patterns. “The aura of the formation lines is thick and heavy, their movements resemble an earthworm’s crawl. This should be a First-Tier High-Grade formation, the Binding Earth Trap Formation.”

“Not bad.” The overweight cultivator nodded and retrieved another set of formation disks from his storage ring. “What about this set?”

Chen Beiwu swept a glance with his eyes and replied without hesitation, “The formation lines on this disk sparkle like starlight, aligned in the Big Dipper constellation. This should be a Second-Tier High-Grade formation, the Minor Celestial Qi-Guiding Formation.”

“Very good. You’ve got a solid foundation in formations.” The overweight cultivator grew more serious and pointed at the shelves of complete formation disks. “Now you may begin inscribing formation lines.”

Chen Beiwu calmed his breath and focused, picking up a First-Tier test formation brush from the table and began inscribing on the formation disk. The overweight cultivator stood beside him, watching with keen interest.

Time ticked by. As the formation lines gradually took shape under his strokes, Chen Beiwu smiled slightly and stopped his hand, looking at the certification officer.

“Your foundation is solid. With a good mentor, your skills could quickly rise to the level of a First-Tier High-Grade Formation Master. Even reaching Second-Tier isn’t out of the question.” The overweight cultivator stroked his chin and spoke.

“I’m Li Yuan, a Second-Tier High-Grade Formation Master and a director at the Talisman Master Association. I give lectures at the Association on the seventh day of each month. If you’re interested, you may attend.”

Chen Beiwu nodded and replied with a word of acknowledgment.

Hearing this, understanding Chen Beiwu’s subtle rejection, Li Yuan set aside his appreciation for talent and casually tossed him a jade token. “You’ve passed the First-Tier Formation Master assessment. This is your certificate.”

Chen Beiwu accepted the jade token and thanked him, then turned to leave.

The lectures of a Second-Tier High-Grade Formation Master were too expensive—just one session cost a hundred Spirit Yuan.

Moreover, taking on a master in any cultivation art required paying a high entrance fee.

Someone like Li Yuan, a Second-Tier High-Grade Formation Master, charged at least one thousand Spirit Yuan annually. Any less, and he wouldn’t even consider it.

It wasn’t that Chen Beiwu couldn’t afford the Spirit Yuan; he just thought the cost-performance ratio was too low.

At least until he encountered a bottleneck in either formations or talismans, there was no need to spend heavily to take a master.

Back home, Chen Beiwu called the courier.

The artifact he had ordered in the morning had already arrived, but since he wasn’t home, the courier hadn’t delivered it yet.

…

Southern Wastes, a crude cave dwelling.

Upon unwrapping the package, a set of light-blue soft armor with a faint moon halo appeared before Chen Beiwu’s eyes.

“So this is the Tidespring Silk Armor!”

He carefully picked up the armor, then activated his spiritual sense and power, dripping blood to refine it.

Refining a Second-Tier artifact required a significant amount of power. Some Qi Refining cultivators with lower realms couldn’t even make an artifact recognize its master.

To avoid failure, Chen Beiwu had deliberately teleported to the Southern Wastes, where the heaven-and-earth fortune was abundant, to prevent any insufficiency in spiritual power.

“Buzz!”

Sensing the purity of the Clearwood Spiritual Power, the Tidespring Silk Armor emitted a joyful hum, transforming into a rainbow light that clung to Chen Beiwu’s body, then instantly vanished without a trace.

‘That easy?’

Chen Beiwu was somewhat surprised. The power cultivated from the All Laws Converge, Heaven Book of the Divine Tree was so formidable that it easily resonated with the artifact’s spirit, making it submit voluntarily.

Touching the close-fitting soft armor, Chen Beiwu felt greatly reassured and said, “Iron Egg, release Fireball Art at me.”

“Woof!”

Iron Egg widened his eyes, shaking his head frantically and barking while backing away, as if saying, “Are you crazy?”

“Look at you, so cowardly.”

Chen Beiwu shook his head slightly, then turned to Golden Egg and communicated with his mind, “Golden Egg, your turn. Use Water Cannon Art on me, and use full power!”

“Glup.”

Golden Egg opened his mouth, obediently following the command. Within a three-zhang radius, moisture condensed into liquid in the blink of an eye, gathering rapidly into a high-pressure water orb that exuded intense might.

“The casting speed of Water Cannon Art is too slow. It takes time to charge up, but the power is decent. It should easily break through a cultivator’s protective power at the Seventh Level of Qi Refining,” Chen Beiwu commented.

Humans could cultivate arts, and naturally, beasts with strong innate bloodlines could as well.

Aside from converting power and cultivating formations and talismans recently, Chen Beiwu had also painstakingly taught Golden Egg three First-Tier High-Grade arts.

Among them, Water Cannon Art was the fastest and most powerful water-type offensive art Golden Egg had mastered so far.

“Boom!”

Once Golden Egg finished charging the art, he closed his mouth, and the fully formed water cannon spun rapidly and launched forward. It expanded as it flew, erupting with a deafening roar.

“Woof!”

Seeing this scene, Iron Egg instinctively spat out flames from his nose, his figure flashing to block in front of Chen Beiwu.

Flames erupted from his body, forming a flowing fiery curtain behind him. A phantom dog’s head roared toward the sky, and scorching heat instantly swept through the entire cultivation room.

‘Is that a variant application of the Blazing Flame Convergence?’ Chen Beiwu was stunned. He instantly recognized the art Iron Egg had performed.

Goodness. How long had it been since Iron Egg acquired Blazing Flame Convergence? And he was already able to execute it to this degree?

In terms of talent in arts alone, Xu Ziqing might not even come close to Iron Egg!

“No!” Chen Beiwu snapped out of it and grabbed Iron Egg, rushing ahead as he activated the Tidespring Silk Armor.

“Buzz!”

The Tidespring Silk Armor instantly deployed, manifesting a never-ending Tidespring Water Curtain.

The curtain expanded and surged forward, actively colliding with the rapidly incoming water cannon.

“Rumble!”

Under Chen Beiwu’s gaze, the powerful water cannon smashed into the water curtain and immediately exploded, turning into a mist that filled the air.

Dozens of water ribbons shot into the air, linking head to tail and instantly wrapping around Golden Egg in an inescapable water net.

“The Tidespring Silk Armor’s defensive capabilities are truly impressive!”

Sensing only a minuscule drain of power from within, Chen Beiwu was very satisfied.

If he had cast the First-Tier Peerless Art Water Wall Art to block this attack, it would have consumed at least one-tenth of his power.

But now, it only took one-twentieth of his power to activate the Tidespring Silk Armor’s ability, easily blocking the attack and even capturing the opponent.

Of course, it wasn’t without cost.

Power didn’t come from nowhere. To avoid diminishing the Tidespring Silk Armor’s power, Chen Beiwu would need to regularly nourish its spirit with Spirit Stones and pre-charge the artifact.

This was the price Qi Refining cultivators had to pay for using artifacts above their level!

Thinking of this, Chen Beiwu looked at the grimacing Iron Egg with deep emotion in his heart.

With his powerful spiritual sense, Chen Beiwu had clearly perceived Iron Egg’s instinctive reaction earlier.

Even for a test, Iron Egg had refused to attack him.

And when danger approached, Iron Egg had instinctively rushed to the front to protect him.

One must know, Golden Egg’s bloodline, aptitude, and cultivation years were all above Iron Egg’s.

If the Water Cannon Art had hit, it could’ve seriously injured or even killed Iron Egg.

Yet even so, Iron Egg had ignored the threat to his life and charged ahead without hesitation.

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