CHAPTER 174: CHAPTER 102: INNATE ARTIFACT BODY

"So many?!"

Upon returning to their residence, Xu Zhizhi took the storage bag thrown by Lin Jing and, with a sweep of his Divine Sense, was startled.

How did he remember that over the past two years, Lin Jing had been exchanging Dragon Ascending Pills at the Dragon Palace for high-level plants? Logically, he should have exchanged quite a lot; how could there still be so many pills remaining?

"Hasn’t your dragon carp, which can only refine pills, slept for the past two years?"

Lin Jing replied, "There’s the Awakening Pill, so why sleep?"

Xu Zhizhi was taken aback, "It really hasn’t slept? Zi Ling’Er’s pill rabbit wasn’t even that miserable!"

"Just kidding," Lin Jing laughed, "The main reason is practice makes perfect; our success rate in refining Dragon Ascending Pills is already very high."

Plus... we are not short of materials at all.

"Alright then..." Xu Zhizhi still suspected Lin Jing of mistreating his pet beast.

Though, he himself wasn’t a good Beast Master either, always trimming fur.

"You can work with any auction house; I hope that within seven days, we can sell all these Dragon Ascending Pills, and with the Spirit Stones obtained... as many Spirit Plants above grade three as possible should be bought from Celestial City."

"That’s not a problem." Xu Zhizhi also enjoyed helping Lin Jing with tasks, mainly because Lin Jing never freeloaded; he always gifted Dragon Ascending Pills as a thank-you, unlike his teacher, who treated him as free labor and never gave any Spirit Stones.

"But in doing so, I won’t have time to prepare for the Tianjiao battle." Xu Zhizhi hinted that this time, the Dragon Ascending Pills couldn’t be just one pill.

"It’s not a big issue; you probably won’t advance anyway," Lin Jing said.

Xu Zhizhi: ???

"Brother Lin, although you’re telling the truth, could you not be so blunt?"

"Just wait and see; thirty years east of the river, thirty years west, thirty years later, I’ll surely make you look at me with new eyes," Xu Zhizhi said indignantly.

Lin Jing sighed, "Indeed, this saying seems tailored for you. Given Brother Xu’s situation, once you become the lord of a city, gain some official position, and cultivate the latent dragon Secret Technique to the next stage, combined with the power of official luck, you will indeed have few rivals, eventually ranking high on the Earth Hero List."

Xu Zhizhi laughed heartily, "I have studied the classics for years, hoping to become a high-ranking official in the future, aiming to rise through the ranks effortlessly!"

The third stage of the latent dragon Secret Technique states that the higher the official rank, the stronger one becomes. Lin Jing truly believes that in the future, the Earth Hero List will be Xu Zhizhi’s stage. After all, to become a high-ranking official, time must be put in if one has no background. Luckily, Xu Zhizhi has talent; otherwise, even time alone would hardly lead to promotion.

...

Soon, news spread throughout Celestial City that the Dragon Palace members relied entirely on Dragon Ascending Pills to nurture pet beasts.

And in the coming days, there were even more Dragon Ascending Pills being auctioned in Celestial City.

However, Lin Jing himself wasn’t paying much attention to these matters; he was more concerned with the groupings announced for the second round of the Tianjiao battle by the Celestial Secret Tower.

If it were a one-on-one, Lin Jing wouldn’t worry much, as his one-on-one battles usually meant gang-fighting opponents by himself, with more assistance than anyone else.

But in an eight-person melee... he felt that with his prominence, he’d likely enjoy the treatment of being besieged, so he had to take it seriously.

"The first group..."

"The second group..."

"I’m in the third group on the arena, and besides me...the strongest on the surface is..." Lin Jing fell into brief silence.

"The third on the Tianjiao List, Yan Xiangbei?"

"How did I end up being assigned here right off the bat?"

"Well, now there should be no need to worry about being besieged. Most probably, this third Tianjiao will be the one besieged; this individual is considerably tricky...didn’t expect to encounter him so soon."

Lin Jing suspected that, as a Beast Master, his numerous helpers and external powers caused the Celestial Secret Tower to bring in this person to restrain him.

Yan Xiangbei, a disciple of the Fire Territory’s Refining Immortal Valley, a genius in artifact refining, has an Innate Artifact Manipulation Body, another Tianjiao adept at utilizing external force!

This Innate Artifact Manipulation Body is also a kind of Divine Body, ranking eighty-seventh on the Divine Body List, even higher than Wang Xiao’s Celestial Body.

The Celestial Body allows Qi Cultivation Cultivators to easily control wind, rain, lightning, and even summon the power of starlight, already quite freakish. When attacking Divinity Transformation, the Celestial Body can even more easily comprehend the Power of Heaven and Earth, almost guaranteeing Divinity Transformation.

And this still ranks after the Innate Artifact Manipulation Body.

The Innate Artifact Manipulation Body allows the refinement of magic treasures far surpassing one’s level, activating them with low consumption while unleashing more formidable power...

This singular ability alone.

Yet solely on this ability, every historical holder of the Artifact Manipulation Body achieved greater feats than those with the Celestial Body.

According to rumors, Yan Xiangbei, at the Foundation Establishment Perfection Realm, refined a top-grade magic treasure. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator can refine and even activate a top-grade magic treasure only because he possesses a Divine Body.

It’s not just Foundation Establishment Cultivators; even Golden Core Cultivators attempting to activate a top-grade magic treasure face one outcome: their Mana is drained instantly, leaving them powerless and dead, unable to control the treasure’s power.

But for an Innate Artifact Manipulation Body, what a Golden Core Cultivator can’t accomplish, he can achieve.

It is precisely this top-grade magic treasure that makes the Golden Core Stage keep away from Yan Xiangbei.

...

Meanwhile, various Tianjiao are preparing according to the list.

Including Yan Xiangbei, whom Lin Jing particularly concerns himself with.

Within a cave dwelling, an orange-haired youth looked expressionlessly at the list in his hand, "The one most worthy of attention is this Beast Taming Sect’s Lin Jing."

"However, he’s not worthy of me activating a top-grade magic treasure." Although he’s an Innate Divine Body, capable of activating top-grade magic treasures with low consumption, it’s only relative; the Foundation Establishment cultivation is still too low. Activating it once would be tough on him, severely depleting divine power, so he usually only uses medium-grade and low-grade magic treasures in battle. With his current Divine Body ability, even low-grade magic treasures can unleash medium-grade power!

As for top-grade magic treasures, they’re reserved for stronger foes like the first Tianjiao Chen Chong, and the second Tianjiao Mo Qianyi; these two people, Yan Xiangbei knows, can’t be restrained and can only be broken by force!

"Should I temporarily refine a magic treasure that restrains demon beasts?"

"Having previously studied the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect’s Ten Thousand Beasts Circle, since he defeated the disciples of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, it means that relying solely on the power of the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle isn’t enough to restrain his pet beasts. So I will adjust based on the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle, discarding the ability to subdue demon beasts, enhancing the ability to intimidate them."

"Moreover, he might have a stronger concealed Buddhist Technique, so I must break his Buddhahood to prevent him from displaying it. The simplest means to breakdown Buddhahood is ’heart desire’; coincidentally, I have a treasure from the Qingzhou Joyful Union Sect, which I’ll enhance further."

"But...something still seems to be missing."

Moments later, Yan Xiangbei’s token received information; after he read it, he chuckled, "As expected, according to the intelligence from a friend in the academy, Lin Jing’s pet beast actually masters space magic. A space pet beast, what a monster; no wonder he could breach the covert technique of the second Tianjiao from the Assassination Tower. In that case, I’ll also prepare a magic treasure that influences space for you."

"With a mere seven days, time is tight, so let’s start refining!" With such thorough preparation, Yan Xiangbei wondered how he could possibly lose.