Chapter 692: The Wise Gather
Tần Mục stood in the darkness, sweeping his gaze around. There were still starving ghosts in the darkness, but their numbers were no longer many. As far as his eyes could see, only a few scattered starving ghosts drifted aimlessly in the gloom.
Of course, these starving ghosts were still extremely dangerous—they moved too fast. If an ordinary person were to enter the darkness, they would certainly be gnawed to pieces without a complete corpse remaining.
The darkness remained, but the number of starving ghosts had decreased. This indicated that the battle between Thiên Âm Nương Nương and Âm Thiên Tử had already ended, and Âm Thiên Tử had failed to enter Thiên Âm Giới to slay the Nương Nương.
His control over Thiên Âm Giới had weakened, which led to the reduction in the number of starving ghosts.
The other starving ghosts were presumably being suppressed by Thiên Âm Nương Nương within Thiên Âm Giới.
Tần Mục's spirits soared. He said, "Wait for me here. I'll enter Thiên Âm Giới again to see what the situation is."
"Alright."
Hòa Y Y còn muốn nói gì đó, but Viêm Tinh Tinh cut in decisively: "Be careful yourself."
Tần Mục leaped into the air, flying toward the fissure that led to Thiên Âm Giới. Hòa Y Y whispered, "Tinh Tinh tỷ, why let him go alone to such a dangerous place? You're a thần kỳ—wouldn't it be safer if you stayed by his side?"
Viêm Tinh Tinh shook her head. "His skills are extremely high. If he encounters danger, he can escape. If we follow him, we'll only distract him. Besides, if we truly face Âm Thiên Tử, even I as a thần kỳ would be of no use."
Hòa Y Y seemed thoughtful, casting a deep glance at her.
Tần Mục sped through the mountain fissure, and after a long while finally arrived at the Thiên Âm Giới stele. He circled around the stele and looked around. He saw a pagoda suppressing the space in midair, pressing the space of Thiên Âm Giới into distortion—like an iron ball pressing down on a taut bedsheet.
The area where that pagoda suppressed was already devoid of starving ghosts. Countless starving ghosts were crushed and forced to hide at the edge of the sky, trembling. The originally dim sky had also become much clearer, though still not bright.
Tần Mục let out a breath of relief and sped forward. Finally, by the seaside, he saw the Nương Nương who was still worrying.
Thiên Âm Nương Nương sat there, her hands propping up her cheeks, staring listlessly at the sea. Her feet were placed in the seawater, which only covered her ankles.
She wore no clothing in the traditional sense—only ribbons of divine light wrapped around her body, carrying the untamed wildness of ancient gods.
Tần Mục walked up and sat down on the sand, imitating her by stretching his feet into the seawater. A large wave crashed over, dousing the youth's head and face with seawater.
Thiên Âm Nương Nương chuckled, saying, "You're too small. Just now, when I fought Âm Thiên Tử, the waves in the sea became quite large."
Tần Mục was speechless for a moment, then smiled. "Nương Nương, are you worrying about these starving ghosts and the darkness?"
Thiên Âm Nương Nương lowered her arms, propping herself up from behind, and looked up at the sky. "I don't want to be left all alone. I also want my place to be as lively as Huyền Đô. Huyền Đô is very lively—many thần ma build houses on Thiên Công's body, and countless living beings live in the continents on his body, with favorable weather and harmony all around. Even Thổ Bá has countless ghosts living in his horns. But my place is becoming a world of starving ghosts and darkness. The starving ghosts are foolish—they only know how to eat."
Tần Mục thought for a moment. Another large wave came crashing, and the youth hurriedly used his nguyên khí to block it, avoiding getting drenched again. "Nương Nương, I think solving Thiên Âm Giới's predicament might require Thiên Công's help."
He explained his temporary solution. Thiên Âm Nương Nương shook her head. "If I steal a sun and hang it here, Thiên Chi Âm would become part of Huyền Đô. If Thiên Âm Giới no longer exists, then how can I stand on equal footing with Thiên Công? Wouldn't I become his little maidservant? If I punch a hole through the bottom of his foot, he certainly wouldn't be happy, and neither would I—his smelly foot bleeding would all flow down to my place."
Tần Mục laughed despite himself. "I have a volume of Sinh Tử Bộ here. Perhaps Nương Nương can comprehend Âm Thiên Tử's thần thông from it."
"Âm Thiên Tử's thần thông is also only a temporary solution—it won't work."
Thiên Âm Nương Nương shook her head. "I want my Thiên Âm Giới to have living beings. Âm Thiên Tử's skills are good, but he can't solve the starving ghost problem either."
Tần Mục racked his brain until his head ached. Suddenly he laughed. "One person's wisdom is limited. Nương Nương, wait here for a few days. I'll go invite several people of extraordinary wisdom. Perhaps they can find a way to solve the problem of the starving ghosts and the soul black sand."
Thiên Âm Nương Nương said in surprise, "Are there people in this world smarter than you?"
Tần Mục became extremely serious and said solemnly, "Nương Nương jests. Of course there are people smarter than me. I am naturally dull-witted—how would I dare claim to be the smartest in the world? Those smarter than me number one, two... hmm, four or five people!"
Thiên Âm Nương Nương lowered her head to look at his serious expression and giggled. "Alright, go find them. I also want to see who these four or five people smarter than you are."
Tần Mục smiled. "They are the pillars of Diên Khang's reform, and also the Diêm Vương of Phong Đô. Nương Nương will certainly be greatly surprised."
He was about to let his nguyên thần leave his body when he suddenly remembered something. He stood up and stepped back a few paces before activating the Tam Nguyên Thần Hội Quyết.
Thiên Âm Nương Nương watched him curiously. She saw Tần Mục's nguyên thần leave his physical body and depart from Thiên Âm Giới.
"Is he so at ease? Not afraid the starving ghosts will eat his physical body?" Thiên Âm Nương Nương dispersed the starving ghosts that had come following the scent, thinking to herself.
At the Thái Học Viện, in the Thái Học Hall, many nguyên thần arrived one after another at the invitation, appearing in the hall.
"Giáo chủ, what is it this time?" Tư Vân Hương asked.
"I need to find Quốc Sư, Tiều Phu Thánh Nhân, Hư Sinh Hoa, and Sơ Tổ."
Tần Mục said rapidly: "Please find them and ask them to set out immediately for the cliff at the source of Dũng Giang. There is important business! Also, when they pass through Phong Đô, please ask Diêm Vương to bring along several experts proficient in soul arts."
"Giáo chủ, rest assured. It won't take long to find them."
Everyone withdrew their nguyên thần one by one. Before long, Tần Mục's nguyên thần returned to his physical body. He saw Thiên Âm Nương Nương staring at him with her big, dark eyes full of curiosity.
"Have you already contacted them?" Thiên Âm Nương Nương was surprised to see him wake up so quickly.
Tần Mục smiled. "Nương Nương, rest assured. They will arrive here in a few days. Nương Nương, I'll go outside to refine my kiếm hoàn. I'll come back in a few days."
Thiên Âm Nương Nương nodded, and Tần Mục departed immediately.
Below the cliff, Hòa Y Y led the women of the Hòa family in continuing to repair the road, while Viêm Tinh Tinh helped Tần Mục control the Huyền Đô celestial fire to smelt Phật Nguyên Xích Các and Thiên Âm Chi Kim.
Phật Nguyên Xích Các carried a strong Buddhist nature—when refined into treasures, it would emit brilliant Buddha light. Most of those who used this divine metal to forge weapons were monks. Thiên Âm Chi Kim, on the other hand, was a material for refining soul artifacts. This divine metal could accommodate souls and was highly thân thiện with nguyên thần, but activating such a spiritual weapon would inevitably carry ghostly aura.
When Thiên Âm Nương Nương refined her pagoda, she needed to steal Thiên Công's celestial fire precisely to burn away the dense ghostly aura.
However, Tần Mục used the Buddha light of Xích Các to neutralize the ghostly aura of Thiên Âm Chi Kim—neither would it make one seem like a monk at every turn, nor would activating the spiritual weapon summon chilling winds.
He and Viêm Tinh Tinh first tested the mixing ratio of the two divine metals. Besides neutralizing the two metals, they also needed to find the optimal hardness and flexibility.
Tần Mục experimented over a hundred times before finally finding the perfect ratio. He then began smelting and forging his kiếm hoàn.
Viêm Tinh Tinh watched him forge one flying sword after another, finding it very tedious. She couldn't help asking, "Phóng Ngưu ca ca, I've seen you forge swords—you can forge a flying sword to the point where it flows like water and changes at will. Since that's the case, why forge them one by one? Why not just forge the divine metal directly to the flowing-like-water stage? Wouldn't that save you from forging eight thousand flying swords?"
Tần Mục focused intently on forging the flying sword in his hand. "Each flying sword has different phù văn imprinted on it. The phù văn within the sword must align with my Bá Thể Tam Đan Công so that it perfectly matches me. Therefore, I need to ensure the phù văn of each sword has no errors..."
Suddenly his body trembled slightly. He stopped forging and stared blankly into space.
Viêm Tinh Tinh watched him curiously. She saw the expression on Tần Mục's face gradually turn serious, then slowly shift from serious to relaxed and joyful, then to deep contemplation. In just a short while, he cycled through more than a dozen expressions.
"You're right!"
Tần Mục suddenly clapped his hands and laughed heartily: "You're right! I was forging flying swords one by one to accurately forge each one to its most perfect state, accurately imprinting my công pháp mark on each. Doing it this way is indeed too tedious. I can indeed directly forge a ball of divine metal and refine that ball into a kiếm hoàn."
He suddenly hugged Viêm Tinh Tinh, trying to lift her up and spin her around, but let out a muffled groan—his own waist nearly snapped.
Viêm Tinh Tinh was a thần kỳ at the thần cảnh. Her body looked petite, but her actual weight was astonishing. Tần Mục was still at the thiên nhân cảnh giới—trying to lift a god and spin her around was, of course, a pipe dream.
Viêm Tinh Tinh's face flushed slightly. She secretly circulated her pháp lực to make herself lighter, allowing Tần Mục to continue his excitement and spin the girl around two wild circles.
"Forging one by one requires me to exhaust my mind considering the phù văn distribution of each sword, dividing my own công pháp mark into eight thousand parts. I was so muddled by my study of thuật số and toán thuật that I forgot the simplest method."
He set her down and paced back and forth, delighted: "I'll directly forge a kiếm hoàn... no, I'll directly forge a sword... no, I'll directly forge a ball! This ball will be my sword, my blade, all my spiritual weapons—in other words, my Bá Thể Tam Đan Công..."
He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Soon he took out all the Phật Nguyên Xích Các and Thiên Âm Chi Kim, melted them together, and forged them into a large ball about four hundred trượng tall.
Tần Mục waited for the divine metal ball to cool, then tried to lift it. He found he couldn't budge it in the slightest—truly an ant trying to shake a tree.
Viêm Tinh Tinh stepped forward and also couldn't move it at all. The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
Tần Mục's face flushed slightly. Viêm Tinh Tinh helped him control the Huyền Đô celestial fire and cut a piece off the divine metal ball. "Can you lift this piece?"
Tần Mục tried, then said with a red face, "Still too heavy."
Viêm Tinh Tinh controlled the celestial fire to cut off another piece. Tần Mục lifted this piece of divine metal—still somewhat strenuous—but smiled and said, "This works now. Once my cultivation improves and my physical body strengthens, it won't be so strenuous to wield."
Viêm Tinh Tinh helped him forge this piece of divine metal into a ball. This divine metal ball was about the height of a small mountain. Tần Mục summoned his ten-trượng nguyên thần to forge and temper it, continuously imprinting his công pháp as phù văn into it, using the phù văn marks as hammers to refine the spiritual weapon.
His nguyên thần tempered it for a full day and night, yet the divine metal ball showed no sign of being refined.
Tần Mục also flew around the divine metal ball, imprinting various công pháp and thần thông together with his nguyên thần. After two or three days like this, the divine metal ball only shrank a little.
"Phóng Ngưu ca ca, why don't we just forge them one by one after all?"
Viêm Tinh Tinh couldn't help saying: "This way of forging is actually more time-consuming and laborious."
Tần Mục shook his head. "Forging eight thousand swords would require mobilizing the Đốc Tạo Xưởng to smelt them in order to finish in a short time. Doing it alone is actually more laborious and time-consuming. Moreover, Diên Khang's Đốc Tạo Xưởng was designed by me—it still struggles somewhat with smelting divine metals."
Just as he finished speaking, Tiều Phu Thánh Nhân's voice came: "The Đốc Tạo Xưởng has already been redesigned by me. Now smelting divine metals is no longer difficult."
Tần Mục followed the sound and saw Tiều Phu Thánh Nhân, Diên Khang Quốc Sư, Sơ Tổ Nhân Hoàng, and Hư Sinh Hoa walking out of the Thái Hoàng Thiên tunnel. Behind them, shadows shifted, darkness shrouded and moved.
Diêm Vương wore a cloak of darkness, covering his entire figure in gloom.
Sơ Tổ Nhân Hoàng looked up at this kiếm hoàn over thirty trượng tall, somewhat dumbfounded. He shook his head. "This is no way to forge a kiếm hoàn. Too crude. Don't you already have your own kiếm hoàn?"
"It was shattered by someone."
Tần Mục smiled. "Lão sư, I've found the source of the darkness."
Everyone's hearts shook violently. Even Tiều Phu Thánh Nhân's expression changed drastically. He blurted out: "You found Thiên Âm Giới? You've met Thiên Âm Nương Nương?"
"I invited you all here this time precisely to solve the ultimate nan đề of Thiên Âm Giới and Thiên Âm Nương Nương."
Tần Mục took out the skin of the Khai Hoàng thần nhân and spread this god out. "Lão sư, do you still recognize him?"