The largest city on Shaxing, Wanhe City, was a divine metropolis situated within the Ten Thousand Ravines Abyss. The flat expanse, spanning tens of thousands of li, was fractured by countless chasms and gorges, large and small, resembling river trenches. The widest were about a hundred li across, and the narrowest still spanned three or four li. These ravines plunged an average of two hundred li underground, with the deepest rumored to reach tens of thousands of li beneath the surface; some ravines’ depths remained entirely unexplored.
Between these ravines, carved into the sheer cliffs on either side, were rows upon rows of palaces and pavilions, descending from above. Their exquisite grandeur rivaled that of any imperial palace in the world. Connecting these pavilions were bridges like soaring rainbows, weaving all the architecture into a single, unified whole.
These architectural clusters varied in size; the smallest could house only a few hundred residents, while the largest were carved onto immense platforms, forming cities capable of supporting millions. Fierce winds, carrying swirling mists, swept between these clusters, occasionally punctuated by flashes of colored light—beings ascending or descending—vanishing instantly from sight.
The cliffs flanking these ravines were rich with spirit stones, brimming with spiritual energy, which continuously emitted a brilliant radiance, illuminating the surroundings day and night.
At the central point of Wanhe City, upon a cliff face the color of blood, approximately three thousand li above the ground, someone had used immense magical power to carve out a stone platform spanning nearly a hundred li in circumference. This platform was adorned with various exotic flora and trees, and spring water diverted from the cliff walls flowed down, transforming into cascading waterfalls that plunged into the deep ravines below.
The platform held palaces and pavilions, towering pagodas and secret chambers that pierced the clouds. Numerous cave dwellings, resembling a honeycomb of holes, were also carved into the rock face.
This was the sacred heart of the Artifact Sect. Ranking third on Misha Star, the Artifact Sect supplied flying swords, magic artifacts, and other necessities to over eighty percent of the cultivators on the star, virtually monopolizing the trade in magical implements on Misha Star. They were undeniably one of the most pivotal major powers on the entire star.
Because of their control over the artifact trade, the Artifact Sect was extraordinarily wealthy, a fact that also invited unwanted attention. Consequently, the area surrounding the sect’s main gate was riddled with countless arrays and restrictive formations, covering a territory spanning eight hundred li. Without the express permission of the Artifact Sect, not even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could easily gain entry. The successive generations of the sect’s disciples had managed to transform this location into an impregnable fortress.
In these recent days, everyone within the Artifact Sect was meticulously managing their affairs, daring not to slacken or become careless.
Half a month ago, Wai Chenzi, the favorite legitimate grandson of the Sect Master Wai Lingqi, was severely injured during a routine patrol by the Sky Patrol Team. He was blasted by three fanatical Core Formation stage True Demon cultivators who self-detonated. Wai Lingqi was furious over the incident, and his temper had been raging in recent days, leading him to severely punish several disciples.
The cautionary example was fresh in everyone’s minds. Two days prior, a disciple responsible for smelting raw materials accidentally ruined a batch of Mottled Purple Ding Silver. In response, Wai Lingqi ordered the disciple to be brutally whipped one hundred times with a Dragon Flood Whip and then banished to mine ore in the sect’s mine tunnels, seven thousand six hundred li beneath the sect's main gate.
Mining in the tunnels was the most arduous and punishing duty within the Artifact Sect. Furthermore, the unfortunate disciple had been quite favored by Wai Lingqi previously. For just one furnace of Mottled Purple Ding Silver—a material so highly volatile that seven out of ten batches typically failed—ruining a batch was hardly a noteworthy offense. Yet, for such a trivial lapse, the punishment was so severe. Who among the others dared to be negligent now?
Fortunately, good news arrived this very day: Wai Chenzi, who had been unconscious for half a month, finally awoke. The sound of Wai Lingqi’s joyous laughter echoed throughout the entire sect grounds, and every disciple breathed a collective sigh of relief.
In an exquisitely furnished chamber, Gu Wuchen, lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes and let out a weak moan.
A tall, imposing middle-aged man rushed forward, accompanied by more than a dozen beautiful women. Joy was evident on everyone’s faces. The middle-aged man immediately seized Gu Wuchen’s wrist, cautiously releasing a wisp of True Essence to probe within his body.
Having perfectly simulated the same True Essence fluctuations and True Essence intensity as that damned Wai Chenzi, Gu Xiachen grunted toward the middle-aged man, “I’m fine. Why are you being so cautious? Hurry and cancel my engagement with that vicious shrew Zi Guoying, and I’ll be perfectly well!”
Gu Xiachen had perfectly mimicked Wai Chenzi’s tone and speech patterns. The middle-aged man before him, Wai Qianji, was Wai Chenzi’s biological father. However, the former Wai Chenzi had always spoken to his father with just such an air. Gu Wuchen was quite content to avoid calling him the overly familiar ‘Father’ too many times.
Wai Qianji’s smile froze. He snorted coldly, “Nonsense! Can such an engagement be casually broken? It’s your fortune to secure this match! You little brat, you don't know the immensity of heaven and earth, spouting such rubbish!”
Gu Xiachen was about to speak when a massive hand suddenly shot out, grabbing Wai Qianji by the shoulder and tossing him aside.
Wai Lingqi, three inches taller and even more imposing than Wai Qianji, lunged toward Gu Wuchen’s bed. He pressed a hand against Gu Wuchen’s chest, asking with concern, “Does your chest still hurt? Those damned True Demons deserve death; they nearly blasted your lungs apart, truly a narrow escape!”
Seeing Wai Lingqi, Gu Xiachen finally relaxed, letting out a languid, sullen grunt as he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position.
Glancing impatiently at Wai Lingqi, who stood rubbing his hands before the bed, Gu Wuchen drawled, “I’m fine. Hmm, when those True Demons blasted me away, I was already thinking that my recent string of bad luck must be due to my engagement with that vicious shrew Zi Guoying. How could I run into legendary True Demons during a routine patrol? Who did I offend?”
Wai Lingqi’s expression stiffened. His long white eyebrows twitched a few times before he stroked his beard. Frowning, he asked Wai Qianji, “The one who arranged the compatibility reading for Chenzi and Zi Guoying was that old fellow, Master Mi, wasn't it? Didn't he say their horoscopes were perfectly matched and extremely auspicious?”
Before Wai Qianji could reply, Gu Xiachen was already shaking his head and shouting, “Auspicious? Me being injured like this is auspicious? Call off the engagement! Cancel it quickly, or I’ll end up dead by her hand sooner or later! That vicious shrew broke both my legs years ago, and now she’s nearly caused my untimely death! If this engagement isn’t broken, she’ll kill me!” Gu Xiachen’s unrestrained shouting and tantrums perfectly portrayed the spoiled son of a prominent family. Wai Qianji’s face looked awkward and troubled, and Wai Lingqi also frowned with worry.
Only one woman, adorned in jade and emeralds, rushed forward to embrace Gu Xiachen, crying out repeatedly, “Cancel the engagement! Cancel it, Father, Husband, cancel the engagement! Since Chenzi dislikes that Zi Guoying, why should we still value this marriage? Although she is the granddaughter of the Heart Sword Sect Master, she is an illegitimate granddaughter of loose morals. Wouldn't it be a joke if our Chenzi married her?”
The Heart Sword Sect was the second-ranked major sect on Misha Star. Its disciples specialized in the Heart Sword, possessing mysteries that confounded gods and ghosts. If not for the smaller number of disciples in the Heart Sword Sect—less than one-tenth the population of the Azure Sky Cliff—the Azure Sky Cliff would never have ascended to become the number one sect on Misha Star.
The Heart Sword Sect Master, the ‘Aged Man Jianxin,’ had broken through the barrier thirty years ago to become a master at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level. Aged Man Jianxin was only the second such expert in Misha Star’s history, currently the only being on the star at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level. Once he consolidated his current realm and emerged, even with fewer disciples, the Heart Sword Sect would firmly establish itself as the strongest power on Misha Star.
Consequently, even though Zi Guoying was illegitimate, she was still Jianxin’s only granddaughter and a rare cultivation prodigy, having already surpassed her peers to reach the Nascent Soul Mid Stage at such a young age. Marrying Zi Guoying was indeed a major stroke of luck. Yet, the Gu Wuchen disguised as Wai Chenzi insisted on breaking the engagement with Zi Guoying...
This created a dilemma for Wai Lingqi and Wai Qianji, who doted excessively on Wai Chenzi, and for Wai Chenzi's mother, Shen Chuqian.
Marrying the only granddaughter of Jianxin Elder would bring immense benefits to the Artifact Sect. But since Gu Xiachen was adamant about calling off the wedding, what were they to do?
Watching the troubled Wai Lingqi, Wai Qianji, and Shen Chuqian with cold eyes, Gu Wuchen swiftly scrambled off the bed. Seizing the momentum of his feigned anger, he roared, “Fine! Fine! Fine! If you refuse to break the engagement, I won’t bother seeing that vicious woman. I’ll go into seclusion! I can go into seclusion, can’t I?”
He snatched a long robe from beside the bed, haphazardly draped it over himself, and stomped out of the exquisite chamber wearing soft boots.
As he walked, he bellowed, “Resign my post in the Sky Patrol Team for me! I don't care about the meager rewards from that team. On my very first patrol, I run into a True Demon invasion—how many lives do I have to risk playing with them?”
Wai Lingqi quickly called out, “Resign then! Resign immediately! The rewards from the Sky Patrol Team are nothing! It was meant for you to gain experience anyway. If Chenzi doesn’t want to go, just resign, just resign!”
Wai Qianji added on the side, “The Sky Patrol Team has strict rules. Resigning so abruptly might look bad. Just say Chenzi is severely injured and confined to continuous recuperation in his quiet chamber. That way, no one will gossip. It also conveniently covers why Chenzi won't be seen much while he’s supposedly in secluded cultivation.”
Shen Chuqian was even more thoughtful. She smiled, “Not only is it inconvenient to see people? The True Demons have been rampaging recently. Small clans and families across Misha Star have had their gates broken down, and all their members slaughtered. It’s much safer for Chenzi to remain hidden at home!”
After a pause, Shen Chuqian praised, “Chenzi has learned to be smart after experiencing this ordeal. This excuse is excellent!”
With a cold snort, Gu Wuchen walked toward the ‘Dingzhen Pavilion’—the Artifact Sect’s seclusion site—without looking back. He yelled, “Prepare ample materials for me! I plan to enter long-term seclusion this time. I absolutely will not emerge until I have forged a legendary Innate Magic Treasure!”
Glancing back at Wai Lingqi, Gu Xiachen grinned mischievously and said, “Tell that shrew if she’s impatient waiting for me, she should hurry up and break the engagement and marry someone else! Heh heh, I won't marry until I forge an Innate-grade magic treasure!” Wai Lingqi looked stunned, then let out a few chuckles.
Wai Qianji frowned slightly and tentatively said beside him, “Father, this is also a good excuse. Should we just stall for now and see?” Wai Lingqi coldly laughed a few times, slowly nodding, “Then let’s stall and see?”
Having smoothly fabricated an excuse for secluded cultivation, Gu Wuchen navigated the myriad restrictions inside and out of the Dingzhen Pavilion with practiced ease, striding into the core artifact refining chamber. He loudly demanded that the supervising disciples stationed there bring him every single artifact refining scripture the Artifact Sect possessed. He then requisitioned countless precious materials from the storerooms before happily commencing his forging attempts.
With access to the Artifact Sect’s entire collection of refining texts, Gu Wuchen effortlessly mastered the more profound applications of formations and restrictions in this universe. The former Wai Chenzi, despite his unpleasant personality and somewhat dissolute tendencies, was indeed a talented refiner, which explained the intense doting he received from Wai Lingqi.
With the refining knowledge obtained from Wai Chenzi’s soul as a foundation, Gu Wuchen, at the Saint’s realm, swiftly digested all the Artifact Sect’s refining lore. He integrated it with his own established methods, developing a path of artifact forging that was even more profound and exquisite.
“So that’s how it is. The materials and laws of this universe are truly unique.”
After sitting quietly in the meditation room for three days, Gu Wuchen nodded thoughtfully. Following the guidance in the Artifact Sect’s scriptures, he had successfully integrated himself into this universe. In a sense, only now had he truly stepped into this cosmos, gaining initial contact with the universe’s genuine heavenly laws.
The cultivation method of the Artifact Sect was rather marvelous: one cultivated using the spiritual energy naturally emitted as a magic artifact takes shape during the refining process. The stronger the artifacts one could forge, the faster the cultivation progress. If one could forge an Upper Grade Immortal Artifact or even an Extreme Grade Immortal Artifact every day, the Artifact Sect’s cultivation speed would vastly surpass that of other major sects on Misha Star.
However, within the current Artifact Sect, even with Wai Lingqi’s cultivation and skill, it would take him half a jiazi (sixty years) to forge one superior Upper Grade Immortal Artifact. Conversely, lower-tier Immortal Artifacts could already be mass-produced by the Artifact Sect.
The quality of various materials in this universe was simply too high; any cultivator with even slight proficiency in artifact forging could easily craft a Lower Grade Immortal Artifact. The Artifact Sect’s forging methods were indeed brilliant, and theoretically, they could forge even more powerful Extreme Grade Immortal Artifacts—they even felt confident about Innate Magic Treasures. The difficulty lay only in Wai Lingqi’s insufficient cultivation, which made forging Upper Grade Immortal Artifacts so arduous.
Because the quality of materials in this universe was so high, any casually forged artifact was considered a high-quality Immortal Artifact, and anything above an Immortal Artifact was classified as an Innate Magic Treasure.
Both Core Formation cultivators and Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivators manufactured Immortal Artifacts. To distinguish the quality tiers of these artifacts, Gu Wuchen learned from the Artifact Sect’s texts that Immortal Artifacts in this universe were divided into Three Realms, Nine Grades, and Eighty-One Ranks.
The Three Realms were Heaven, Earth, and Man. An Immortal Artifact meticulously forged by at least a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could qualify for the Heaven Realm. The Earth Realm quality artifacts were those generally forged by Grand Unity Golden Immortals and Golden Immortals. The Human Realm Immortal Artifacts were those forged by ordinary cultivators and common Celestial Immortals.
Furthermore, each realm of Immortal Artifacts was further divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower Grades, and each grade was ranked from First to Ninth, totaling nine levels.
What ordinary cultivators referred to as Upper Grade Immortal Artifacts or Extreme Grade Immortal Artifacts were merely the Upper Grade and Middle Grade artifacts within the Human Realm.
Currently, Wai Lingqi possessed the cultivation base of a Mid Stage Celestial Immortal. With his power, by diligently refining, he could forge a superior Lower Grade First Rank artifact of the Human Realm. This made him a top-tier artifact master on Misha Star.
Comparing this to the records in the Artifact Sect’s texts and recalling the information stored in Wai Chenzi’s memory, Gu Wuchen could only laugh inwardly at the cluelessness of the cultivators in the vicinity of the Shenling Territory. Was Misha Star the weakest planet? It harbored an expert at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level, and likely boasted the presence of Golden Immortals too. Mid Stage Celestial Immortals like Wai Lingqi were certainly not few in number. Weren't the cultivators from the Nvgong Kingdom just sending themselves to their deaths?
With a cold sneer, Gu Xiachen assessed Wai Chenzi’s cultivation level: peak Core Formation. Utilizing the Artifact Sect’s refining crucibles and the Pure Yang Earth Fire drawn from the planet's core, he should be able to forge Immortal Artifacts of the Lower Grade Second to Third Ranks of the Human Realm. However, this was far from enough—it was vastly insufficient for Gu Wuchen’s plans!
After a moment of contemplation, he pushed away the myriad thoughts swirling in his mind and focused entirely on the refining crucible in the quiet room, summoning the Pure Yang Earth Fire from deep beneath the earth. The violet-green earth fire roared out of the crucible, and waves of heat immediately washed over the chamber.
Casually tossing a few materials into the crucible, Gu Xiachen immersed himself in his very first artifact refinement in this universe.
With simple hand seals and crude movements, Gu Wuchen followed the techniques from Wai Chenzi’s memories, refining at the level that the original host should possess. The first flying sword emerged—a crude item of the Lower Grade Third Rank of the Human Realm, only slightly better than the common flying swords seen in the Nvgong Kingdom on Shuitui Star.
This first flying sword consumed Gu Xiachen three months, yet the result was such a crude thing.
The second flying sword successfully emerged two and a half months later. Its quality showed a slight improvement over the first, and the refining time was also notably quicker. Though it seemed like only a half-month reduction, for a refiner, shortening the process by half a month indicated significant progress along the path of forging. The third sword took two months.
The fourth flying sword cost Gu Xiachen another three months, but its quality improved to the Lower Grade First Rank of the Human Realm.
The fifth flying sword emerged after another three months, its quality stabilizing at the Lower Grade First Rank of the Human Realm. This was followed by the sixth, seventh, and eighth...
Time flowed rapidly. By the time Gu Wuchen forged his one hundred and eighth flying sword, he spent only nine days, and the quality of the resulting sword reached the Middle Grade Fifth Rank of the Human Realm. In the division of Three Realms, Nine Grades, and Eighty-One Ranks, each rank of Immortal Artifact was approximately twice as powerful overall as the rank below it.
A sword of the Human Realm Middle Grade Fifth Rank was more than thirty times stronger than one of the Human Realm Lower Grade First Rank—a remarkable leap.
Gu Wuchen intentionally summoned the supervising disciples of the Artifact Sect and had them take the one hundred and eight Immortal Swords out of the chamber before closing the door again.
Wai Lingqi, who had been waiting outside the chamber, snatched the Immortal Swords from the supervising disciples almost greedily.
He examined the swords one by one, Wai Lingqi stroked his beard happily, continuously nodding and praising the Artifact Sect for having such a worthy successor. As he smiled, Wai Lingqi’s expression suddenly shifted to one of profound shock. He grabbed the last three forged swords and simply stared blankly.
While the overall methodology of these three flying swords still followed the Artifact Sect’s refining principles, subtle details had undergone strange transformations.
In one sword, the built-in speed-acceleration formation had changed from seven layers of nesting to nine layers of nesting. This increased the flight speed by about thirty percent without changing the difficulty of the sword’s smelting, causing its overall evaluation index to surge by a factor of nearly one and a half.
The other two swords were similar; minor alterations led to significant improvements in the artifacts' overall quality. “This... this...”
Even the experienced Wai Lingqi was rendered speechless by the strange brilliance Gu Wuchen displayed.
Observing the ingenuity in these three flying swords, this was clearly the performance of an Artifact Forging Grandmaster!
However, the usual Wai Chenzi, although talented in refining, always followed rigid procedures when forging—a stark contrast to his typical mannerisms. Could it be that Wai Chenzi had suddenly achieved enlightenment?
While Wai Lingqi was pondering this in surprise, a faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation emerged from within the quiet chamber.
This was the fluctuation of magical power only seen when breaking through the Core Formation stage to form a Nascent Soul!
The ‘Wai Chenzi’ inside the chamber had shockingly broken through the Core Formation stage and successfully condensed his core.
Wai Lingqi was nearly driven mad by Gu Wuchen’s achievements. Just as he was about to sneak into the secret room to investigate, Wai Qianji rushed over in a flurry. Wai Qianji’s forehead was slick with sweat, and his face held an indescribable look of distress. Zi Guoying, the fiancée engaged to the original Wai Chenzi, had arrived to call off the engagement, accompanied by a handsome man. Moreover, her words were far from polite, and she had already injured two disciples of the Artifact Sect.
Wai Lingqi erupted in fury.