Chapter 172: Artifact Manipulation Body

“So many?!”

After the Dragon Palace group returned to their residence, Xu Zhizhi took the Storage Pouch Lin Jing threw at him. After a sweep of his Divine Sense, he was startled.

How did he remember it? Over the past two years, Lin Jing had been constantly using Rising Dragon Pills at the Dragon Palace to exchange for High Grade vegetation. Logically, he should have exchanged quite a lot: why were there still so many Medicinal Pills?

“In these past two years, that Dragon Carp of yours that knows Alchemy… surely it hasn’t even slept?”

Lin Jing said, “There are Spirit Awakening Pills; why sleep?”

Xu Zhizhi was stunned: “It really hasn’t slept? Even Zi Ling’er’s Dan Rabbit isn’t that miserable!”

“Just kidding.” Lin Jing laughed. “Mainly, practice makes perfect. Our success rate in refining Rising Dragon Pills is already very high.”

Plus—there was no shortage of Materials.

“Alright then—.” Deep down, Xu Zhizhi still suspected Lin Jing of abusing his Pet Beasts.

Though, he wasn’t exactly a good Beast Master either, always shearing fur.

“Cooperating with any auction house is fine. I hope to sell all these Rising Dragon Pills within seven days. Then, with the Spirit Stones obtained—buy as many Rank Three or higher Spiritual Plants on the Celestial Mystery City market as possible.”

“That’s no problem.” Xu Zhizhi also liked doing things for Lin Jing, mainly because Lin Jing didn’t treat him poorly.

Every time, he would give Rising Dragon Pills as a thank-you gift, unlike his teacher, who used him as free labor and didn’t even give Spirit Stones.

“But this way, I won’t have time to prepare for the Heavenly Pride Battle.” Xu Zhizhi hinted that for this batch of Rising Dragon Pills, he couldn’t just give one.

“It’s not a big problem; there’s a high probability you won’t advance anyway,” Lin Jing said.

Xu Zhizhi:???

“Brother Lin, even if you’re telling the truth, could you please not stab me in the heart to my face?”

“Just you wait. Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west. In thirty years, I will definitely make you look at me in a new light,” Xu Zhizhi spoke indignantly.

Lin Jing lamented: “Indeed, this phrase is practically tailor-made for you. Given your situation, Brother Xu, once you become a City Lord, secure an official post, and Cultivate the Hidden Dragon Secret Technique to the next stage, combining it with the power of official fortune, I suspect few will be your match. In the future, you will surely climb to the top of the Earth Ranking of the heavenly pride ranking.”

Xu Zhizhi laughed and said, “I, Xu, have studied the books of the Sages for many years precisely to become a high official in the future. I hope to have a meteoric rise when the time comes!”

In the third stage of the Hidden Dragon Secret Technique, the higher the official Rank, the stronger one’s own strength. Lin Jing truly believed that the future Earth Ranking would be Xu Zhizhi’s stage. After all, if one wanted to be a high official without a background, it was impossible without biding one’s time. It was fortunate Xu Zhizhi had talent; otherwise, even with time, it would be hard to achieve a High Promotion.

Soon, news that the Dragon Palace members relied entirely on Rising Dragon Pills to nurture their Pet Beasts spread throughout Celestial Mystery City.

Furthermore, a large number of Rising Dragon Pills were subsequently put up for auction in Celestial Mystery City.

Lin Jing himself didn’t pay much attention to these things. What he cared about more now was the grouping for the second round of the Heavenly Pride Battle announced by Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

If it were one-on-one, Lin Jing wouldn’t be too worried. After all, a one-on-one for him actually meant he had more help than others. But this eight-person melee—he felt that with his current fame, there was a high probability he would enjoy the treatment of being besieged, so he had to take it seriously.

“Group One—..”

“Group Two—..”

“I’m in Group Three’s arena. Besides me… the strongest on the surface is—” Lin Jing fell slightly silent.

“Ranked third on the heavenly pride ranking, Yan Xiangbei?”

,

“How did I get assigned here right from the start?”

“Fine, now I probably don’t have to worry about being besieged. It’s eighty percent likely this third-ranked Prodigy will be the one besieged. This person is quite troublesome—I didn’t expect to meet him so early.”

Lin Jing suspected that because he was a Beast Master with too many helpers and too much external force, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had brought this person in to limit him.

Yan Xiangbei, a Disciple of the Fire Domain’s Immortal Refining Valley, an Artifact Refining Genius, and a Congenital Artifact Manipulation Body. He was also a Prodigy who excelled at using external forces!

This Congenital Artifact Manipulation Body was also a type of God Body, ranked eighty-seventh on the God Body Ranking, even higher than Wang Xiao’s Heavenly God Body.

The Heavenly God Body allowed a Qi Refining Cultivator to easily manipulate wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and even draw upon the power of starlight, which was already quite perverted. When breaking through to Soul Transformation, the Heavenly God Body could even more easily sense the power of heaven and earth. It could be said to be a one hundred percent Soul Transformation.

And yet, it was ranked behind the Congenital Artifact Manipulation Body.

The Congenital Artifact Manipulation Body allowed one to refine Magic Treasures far beyond their own Rank, and allowed refined Magic Treasures to be activated with low consumption while exerting even greater power—

Just this one ability.

But based on this ability alone, every Artifact Manipulation Body in history had achieved more than the Heavenly God Body.

According to rumors, this Yan Xiangbei, at the Foundation Establishment Perfection realm, had refined a High Grade Magic Treasure. For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to be able to refine or even activate a High Grade Magic Treasure, it could only be because of a God Body.

Never mind Foundation Establishment Cultivators; even for Golden Core Cultivators, activating a High Grade Magic Treasure had only one outcome:

Their magic power would be instantly drained, leading to death from exhaustion, and they still wouldn’t be able to control the power of the Magic Treasure.

But for a Congenital Artifact Manipulation Body, what a Golden Core Cultivator couldn’t do, he could.

It was precisely because of this High Grade Magic Treasure that even those in the Golden Core Stage had to take a detour when they saw Yan Xiangbei.

At the same time, Prodigies from all paths were making preparations based on the list.

Including Yan Xiangbei, whom Lin Jing paid particular attention to.

Inside an Immortal Cave, an orange-haired youth looked expressionlessly at the list in his hand: “The one most worth noting is this Lin Jing from the Beast Taming Sect.”

“However, he’s not worth me activating a High Grade Magic Treasure.” Although he possessed an Innate God Body and could activate High Grade Magic Treasures with low consumption, that was only relative. His Foundation Establishment cultivation was still too low. After activating one strike, he wouldn’t feel good either; his Divine Power would be heavily consumed. Therefore, he would normally only use Medium Grade or Low Grade Magic Treasures in battle.

With his current God Body abilities, even a Low Grade Magic Treasure could exert Medium Grade power!

As for High Grade Magic Treasures, they were reserved for even stronger opponents, such as the number one Prodigy Chen Chong and the number two Prodigy Mo Qianyi.

Yan Xiangbei knew very well that these two couldn’t be countered; they could only be broken with brute force!

“Should I temporarily refine a Magic Treasure that counters Yao Beasts?”

“I’ve studied the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect before. Since he defeated a Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciple, it means the power of the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle alone isn’t enough to counter his Pet Beasts. In that case, I’ll base it on the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle but discard the ability to capture Yao Beasts to strengthen the ability to deter them.”

“Besides that, the opponent might also be hiding stronger Buddhist Spells. I must break his Buddhist nature so he can’t use them. The simplest way to break Buddhist nature is ‘Heart’s Desire.’ I just happen to have a Magic Treasure from the Hehuan Sect of Qingzhou in my collection; I’ll strengthen it a bit more later.”

“But—I always feel like something is missing.”

A moment later, one of Yan Xiangbei’s tokens received intelligence. After reading it, he chuckled: “As expected, according to intelligence from my friends at the Academy, this Lin Jing’s Pet Beast actually masters spatial Spells. A spatial Pet Beast, truly a monster. No wonder he could break the concealment technique of that Assassination Tower Prodigy. In that case, I’ll prepare another Magic Treasure for you that affects space.”

“Seven days is a bit tight. Let’s start Artifact Refining!” With such thorough preparations, Yan Xiangbei didn’t see how he could lose.