Chapter 2198.1: Undercurrents

Lu Yun wasn’t the only cultivator who’d ever had the impulse to refine a formation disk into a treasure—it conveniently enabled one to deploy formations with a wave of their hand. At the same time, he was likely the only person who dared do so.

The creator of the formation disk seemed to have the same thought, but didn’t dare see it through. If the formation disk of a ninth rank formation exploded, it would destroy everything within five hundred kilometers.

Formation disks differed from treasures in that they needed to be arranged for ahead of time so they could absorb the energy of the elements and meld into the environment. It also took some time for a formation disk to activate.

Typically speaking, formation disks were just formations that could be moved elsewhere at any time. When Lu Yun utilized the Nineheavens Brahman Formation to kill Peng Yue, he first used the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements to collect the origin elements. That was how he set up the formation in such a short period of time and operated the array.

This method was available only to him. No one else could manage it.

If formula dao was present..

Lu Yun’s cheek spasmed. He really wanted to bring formula dao into this world! But if he did, his suppressed memories would recover since formula dao was not of this time. The heavenly dao would be the first to destroy him then.

Heaving a sigh, Lu Yun called upon the Eye of Nullification. Connate li fire floated over his palm as he took out countless materials from his storage ring. He conducted a series of experiments to assimilate, distill, and otherwise study the connection between formation disks and treasures.

He stopped after a full day and night passed.

“A ninth rank formation is on par with an immortal weapon.. If it’s fashioned into a treasure, that will inevitably affect the formation’s strength.” Lu Yun shook his head. He’d found a way to craft the formation disk into a treasure, but that would decrease the formation’s power. If the treasure’s rank was too high, it would also be too difficult to deploy its power.

Lu Yun sat cross-legged on the floor and settled into meditation.

“Hmm?” He brightened and took out the Forge of Heaven and Earth. The radiance of the five elements shimmered over his fingers as they flicked through hand seals.

BOOM.

The formation disk exploded into motes of scarlet radiance and flowed into the forge. The Forge of Heaven and Earth shuddered and absorbed all of the illumination, like a whale drinking water. Scintillating scarlet runes crept over the forge’s surface.

Lu Yun had destroyed the formation disk and used a special method to split out the formation’s attributions from the disk. He sent them into the Forge of Heaven and Earth so it would have the attributes of the Nineheavens Brahman Formation.

A cross forge was the heart of a cross ark, the equivalent of a cultivator’s nascent soul. His forge was an enhanced version. Since it was a hub of energy, all it needed was a sufficient amount spirit stones to release the formation from itself. It could even bring the full might of a ninth rank formation to bear.

....

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Another day and night passed before Lu Yun’s fingers paused. The Forge of Heaven and Earth remained the same as before—one meter tall, deep blue throughout, and runes of five colors intersecting over its surface.

Thunder and lightning roared inside it while nine hundred and ninety-nine crimson dragons almost three hundred meters long snaked through the air. Due to the thunder and lightning inside the forge, these fire dragons also bore a hint of the power of thunder! It was a very pleasant surprise for Lu Yun.

“The Forge of Heaven and Earth isn’t a treasure, but that’s even better! Enormous true origin and cultivation is needed to wield a treasure. As long as I have sufficient spirit stones and spirit crystals, I’ll be able to utilize the full strength of the Forge of Heaven and Earth! I have an immortal weapon at my disposal.” A smile curved his lip.

Ai, it was something from his sealed memories again. Although the memories were sealed, the instincts of his soul could not be erased. The cross forge was an instinctive creation from the remnants of those memories.

This Forge of Heaven and Earth..

A typical cross forge required a corresponding cross ark to deploy its strength. The inside of his forge, however, contained the framework of the five elements. That made it possible to be independent of a cross ark’s existence.

With the Nineheavens Brahman Formation assimilated into it, it could also attack. As long as there was sufficient fuel to power it, it could bring the formation’s entire might to bear.

Lu Yun studied his creation with immense satisfaction before putting it back in his storage ring. He then dragged out Tie Shanhe’s nascent soul from the sword pagoda.

After all this time, the latter’s nascent soul was greatly shriveled. While there was a lower rank spirit vein inside the pagoda, his nascent soul was so firmly constrained by Lu Yun that it didn’t receive one iota of energy. He would fade away after a few days.

“So it was indeed you.. who took Ashflame’s spirit vein.. and you have a spatial treasure.. that can store living beings..” Tie Shanhe weakly lifted his head, then realized something and quickly sat down cross-legged to absorb the qi in his surroundings.

Although only a nascent soul remained of him, his instinctive desire to live remained. There were three options available for a nascent soul. One, rebirth through possession. Two, become a wandering immortal. Three, find a treasure that could reshape a physical body for him.

Each option was exceedingly difficult.

“There is no future for you after killing Wuxi Mountain disciple Hui Chang, even with all these treasures,” Tie Shanhe said before Lu Yun had a chance to respond.

“Wuxi Mountain?” Lu Yun blinked. Hadn’t Peng Yue said he was from there as well? Who would’ve thought that Housekeeper Hui in Ashflame would be another one of their disciples?

Tie Shanhe smiled ruefully. “Even Great Xia’s titled kings don’t dare set themselves against Wuxi Mountain. You, a mere nascent soul cultivator, killed one of theirs. If they find out, you, your sect, and your family will be annihilated.”

“So what if I killed one of theirs? They’re just a Wuxi Mountain.” Lu Yun rummaged through his memories. He seemed to have heard this name when reincarnating through Great Xia. But back then, he’d been overlord of all and even the Human Emperor greeted him respectfully. Though he’d heard of Wuxi Mountain, Lu Yun hadn’t paid much attention to them then.

“Forget it, they’re not important.” He laid a restriction on Tie Shanhe’s nascent soul. “From now on, you are my gardener. Look after the spirit herbs in this area.”

“Um..” Tie Shanhe’s eyes widened and he stared dumbly at Lu Yun. “Are you not at all afraid of Wuxi Mountain?”

“Pfft.” Lu Yun curled his lip and ignored the man.

He’d set up a great number of restrictions in the seed storage formation of the secret vault. Tie Shanhe was able to walk around only in the spirit herb garden. He couldn’t reach any place else.

When Lu Yun saw the gray jiao napping next to the dragon egg in a pond, he couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, why don’t you refine the Hongmeng Fruit?”

It was placed next to the dragon egg, as if lending its aura to nurture the egg.

“Roar!” The jiao shook its head. Although it ardently wished for the fruit, it was in no hurry to refine it.

Lu Yun shook his head with resignation and took out another fruit, giving it to the gray jiao. “Senior, this junior’s family is about to face off against our enemy. There will be certain things that we request your help with, so it’s best if the senior recovers as soon as possible.”

The gray jiao’s head crashed into the water with absolute astonishment at the second fruit. It took a while for it to compose itself and accept it.

The young man had an endless supply of the sixth item of the ten heavenly treasures! Were these Hongmeng Spirit Fruit weeds by the side of the road?

Little did it know that Lu Yun only needed one fruit and a bit of time to study it if he wished to replicate its effects with other spirit herbs. Thus, he didn’t think too much of the heavenly and earth treasures.

Directly refining the Hongmeng Fruit meant that much of its medicinal effect would go to waste. Only when it was made into pills or spirit cuisine could it be fully utilized. Sadly, Lu Yun’s cultivation level was too low to process ingredients of this caliber.

Reforming medicinal properties was an entirely different matter from refining pills or cooking spirit cuisine. Only the method was needed for the former, whereas cultivation was also needed for the latter.

....

Terra Demon didn’t cause a disturbance when he emerged from seclusion. After two days, he was initial soul separation. Lu Yun relaxed when he saw that the Hongmeng Fruit had been fully refined.

Terra Demon’s strength underwent a complete change after obtaining the meaning of an immortal overlord from the fruit. Even his immortal king nascent soul was beginning to recover.

Kong Mengqian found Lu Yun as soon as he left the secret vault.

“Master, isn’t it time that you taught me something? Like how to use low level spirit herbs to cook immortal level spirit fare, and the Nine Forms of the Cloud Dragon!” The girl pouted as she grabbed Lu Yun’s arm. Goosebumps rose all over Lu Yun.

“Have you refined the bamboo that I gave you?” He raised his eyes to her face.

“No, not yet..” Her face spasmed when Lu Yun mentioned the bamboo.

“Refine it first. There’s three hundred and sixty-five restrictions on it. I will satisfy one request for each one you refine and teach you one thing.” The smiling young man freed his arm from Kong Mengqian’s grasp. Although the girl was only sixteen years old, her body was well developed. While Lu Yun was no upstanding gentleman of sound moral character, he wouldn’t take advantage of his own disciple.

Not to mention.. he really wasn’t interested in other women.

Sky had sent down a gift when he accepted Kong Mengqian, indicating that the heavenly dao acknowledged this martial granddaughter.

“If you refine all three hundred and sixty-five, I’ll teach you anything you want.”