But it was absolutely impossible to get him to give up the giant serpent that he had obtained with great difficulty.
Before long, he arrived at Feng Baiyi's residence. Before he could even knock, the wooden door opened automatically.
Xiao Wenbing sighed inwardly. He was making progress, but Feng Baiyi was making progress in the same way. Although he tried his best to conceal his aura, she still discovered it one step ahead of him.
Upon entering the gate, Feng Baiyi was already standing by the door to greet us.
"White-robed man, give me the Universe Ring."
“Alright.” Feng Baiyi took the Qiankun Ring off her fair wrist and handed it to Xiao Wenbing.
Although the Qiankun Ring was initially in Xiao Wenbing's possession, the Mirror God needed to be involved in refining the giant serpent. The Mirror God's secrets couldn't be revealed, and two spiritual beings were temporarily residing within the Qiankun Ring, so Xiao Wenbing had no choice but to entrust it to Feng Baiyi for safekeeping.
He caught the Qiankun Ring, and intentionally or unintentionally, his hand lightly touched Feng Baiyi's soft, boneless hand. Their gazes sharpened simultaneously, and Xiao Wenbing tightened his grip, firmly holding the delicate hand in his.
"White clothes..."
"Um."
Xiao Wenbing stepped forward, his eyes filled with deep affection...
But before he could say anything, someone behind him called out, "Master, I want one too."
Xiao Wenbing was startled, all his movements stopped abruptly, and he turned around angrily. What a rare good atmosphere...
However, before he could get angry, Butterfly Fairy suddenly darted up, grabbed one of his arms, and laughed happily.
He slightly twitched the corner of his mouth. Facing that pretty face exactly like Feng Baiyi's, Xiao Wenbing asked, half-laughing, half-crying, "What do you want?"
The fairy smiled and took his other hand, saying, "I want to hold your hand too."
Xiao Wenbing: "Oh, hold hands..."
Feng Baiyi: "……"
A flash of light appeared. The Wood Spirit emerged from the Universe Ring.
After much persuasion, Xiao Wenbing entrusted the Butterfly Fairy to Feng Baiyi's care. He then took the Qiankun Ring to the quiet room, set up a restriction around it, and finally summoned the Wood Spirit.
"What are your instructions, Fellow Daoist Xiao?" Mu Ling knew that Xiao Wenbing wouldn't come to the Three Treasures Hall without a reason, so since he had asked her to come out, he must have something to ask.
Xiao Wenbing reached out and pulled out a jade bottle. He opened the lid and said, "Fellow Daoist Mu, please take a look."
"Netherwater." Upon seeing it, Mu Ling exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and delight, "Fellow Daoist Xiao is truly skilled; you've even managed to obtain Netherwater."
"No, no..."
"With the Nether Water in hand, Master's healing ability is now much more assured."
“But…” Xiao Wenbing frowned and sighed, “Is this quantity enough?”
“That’s enough,” Mu Ling said confidently.
Xiao Wenbing shook his head. He said, "It's far from enough."
"Impossible." Mu Ling looked at it again after hearing this, and finally came to a conclusion: "It's definitely enough."
Xiao Wenbing smiled slightly and said, "But I want to build a Five Elements passage between the Flame Realm and the Cultivation Realm. Do you think this little bit of Nether Water is enough?"
A glint flashed in Mu Ling's eyes as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, do you still wish to prolong the life of the divine tree in the Flame Realm?"
"Exactly. If there really is no other way, I will give up, but since there is a possibility, why don't we give it a try?"
Mu Ling pondered for a moment and said, "Very well, this is a great merit. If it succeeds by chance, it will be very beneficial in the future."
Xiao Wenbing nodded, smiling broadly, and said, "Actually, I have a way to obtain a large amount of immortal fire and underworld water."
The wood spirit was taken aback. If these words hadn't come from Xiao Wenbing, it truly wouldn't have believed them. Immortal Fire and Nether Water—these were both priceless treasures, not so easily obtained. But Xiao Wenbing, well, he had a history of doing things in unexpected ways; it wouldn't be surprising if he pulled another stunt.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, your methods are truly remarkable. I admire you."
"No problem, but I'm currently facing a bit of a difficulty, so I'd like to ask Brother Mu Ling for help."
"Please speak, fellow Daoist."
"There's too much water and fire, I don't have any containers to hold it all," Xiao Wenbing complained in great distress.
"Yes, really... you need a container!" The wood spirit looked at him with a new layer of meaning. Others would go to great lengths to obtain even a little bit of immortal fire or underworld water, but he, on the other hand, was worrying about having too many. It's truly infuriating to compare oneself to others...
Volume 4, The Divine Artifacts, Chapter 331: Forging the Fortress
------------------------
Xiao Wenbing pointed to the tall wooden barrel in front of him, which could fit five people, and the stone barrel of the same size, and excitedly asked the Mirror God for credit: "Mirror God, is that enough?"
The Mirror God's mouth twitched slightly. He stared blankly at the two giant barrels, remaining silent for a long time before cautiously asking, "Are the Spirit of Wood and the Spirit of Earth still alive?"
“Of course it’s alive.” Xiao Wenbing looked at the Mirror God in utter bewilderment. How could it say such a thing!
"But!" The Mirror God hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "You...you really peeled off a layer of skin from the Wood Spirit and the Earth Spirit?"
“Yes,” Xiao Wenbing laughed. “The Wood Spirit is relatively easy to talk to, but the Earth Spirit is not so kind. I had to beg for a long time to get it.”
The Mirror God's lips twitched, and he said with a half-smile, "Alright, that's enough. Give me the Spirit Gathering Platform and these two big barrels."
“Sure.” Xiao Wenbing generously pushed the things aside and handed them to him.
Watching as the Mirror God casually piled the two large barrels in a corner of the inner mountain gate, then pointed a finger, a wisp of energy emanated and entered the Heavenly Void Ring. A moment later, countless spirit stones, as if pulled by an invisible thread, flew from the Heavenly Void Ring into the air, and then piled up next to the two large barrels.
Xiao Wenbing watched with interest and greatly admired its control. This Mirror God truly lived up to its reputation as a spirit of a divine artifact; even without divine status, it could wield energy with effortless ease.
Divinity… Xiao Wenbing was suddenly startled. He carefully observed the Mirror God’s movements and felt a sense of familiarity. It was as if the Dark Infant was creating a Golden Core. The whole process was smooth and effortless, like a gazelle hanging its horns, leaving no trace.
A thought suddenly struck him: Could it be that the Mirror God also possesses divine status?
A moment later, a small mountain of spirit stones had been piled up on the ground.
Xiao Wenbing asked curiously, "Mirror God, what are you going to do with so many spirit stones?"
The Mirror God glanced at him indifferently and said, "Nonsense, of course it's to cultivate immortal fire and underworld water."
"So many? Mirror God, are you sure you're not mistaken?" Xiao Wenbing stepped forward, pointing to the pile of spirit stones that was more than twice his height and countless times his size, and said, "Didn't you say that no matter how much we squandered them, it would be difficult to use up all these spirit stones within a hundred years?"
"That's right, I did say it was hard to use it all up. But I never said it couldn't be used up at all..."
After a long silence, Xiao Wenbing asked, "Does refining those two items really require so many spirit stones?"
The Mirror God shook his head and calmly replied, "I don't know."
"You...don't know?" Xiao Wenbing dragged out his words. If you don't know, why did you bring out so many things?
"Yes, I've made up my mind. I won't stop until these two big barrels are full," Mirror God said confidently.
"Hmm, fill these two big buckets?" Xiao Wenbing shielded his forehead with his hand. Although with his cultivation level he no longer needed to worry about the not-so-scorching sunlight, he still felt a slight glare when he saw the two big buckets that could hold ten of him.
******
"Whoosh..." The small opening of the Spirit Gathering Platform was pulled open by the energy wave, and a bit of immortal fire poured out.
Fortunately, the Mirror God uses energy to manipulate it, and these celestial flames cannot ignite the energy clusters without human manipulation, otherwise the Mirror God would have been on fire long ago.
Xiao Wenbing peeked around and saw that it was already about halfway there.
"Mirror God, can you hurry up?" Xiao Wenbing pointed to the half-full stone barrel and said, "Or, we may have enough of these things, so we might as well put them aside for now."
"No way." The Mirror God said without any room for negotiation, "Since you've decided to fill it up, you must see it through. For us cultivators, the most taboo thing is to give up halfway. Don't you know that?"
Xiao Wenbing was speechless. He looked up at the sky and saw that the sun had already risen and set seven times.
During these seven days, the Mirror God achieved remarkable results, filling both buckets halfway with both celestial fire and underworld water.
Such a speed has indeed reached the limit of the Spirit Gathering Platform. However, what reassured Xiao Wenbing was that although the Mirror God had used up a considerable amount of the mountain of spirit stones in front of him, it was probably not even a fraction of the total number of spirit stones. It seems that even the Mirror God sometimes makes a mountain out of a molehill.
Bored, he got up. For the past seven days, he had been the only living person idly wandering around the vast inner gate. Quini and the others had indeed done their duty, taking turns guarding the gate and ensuring that no living creature had been allowed to enter.
Arriving before the giant serpent, Xiao Wenbing sighed inwardly at its massive, mountain-like body. The Mirror God had thrown himself into his work with unparalleled enthusiasm, leaving him alone here with the serpent's corpse. It was a truly unpleasant experience.
With a sigh of disappointment, I glared helplessly at the Mirror God. Oh well, this guy rarely shows such high interest throughout the year, so let him have some fun.
However, without the Mirror God in charge, Xiao Wenbing shook his head, immediately abandoning this unrealistic idea of refining the giant serpent on his own.
He took out the modified Earth Vein Jade Cauldron, the immortal fire inside still radiating a scorching temperature. A thought struck him: since the Mirror God didn't care, why not take this opportunity to reforge the few magical artifacts he had?
Thinking it through, he went to the large stone barrel, took a little immortal fire and put it into the cauldron, and then took out the fire-type fortress.
This fire-elemental fortress, though powerful, still couldn't withstand the might of the Fire Spirit Immortal's immortal fire. But after today's training... hehe...
As soon as the fire-type fortress entered the furnace, it immediately emitted a dazzling red light, illuminating the surrounding area in a crimson glow.
When the Mirror God designed these Five Elements Fortresses, he had a secret weapon: each fortress has a common characteristic, namely, self-evolution.
According to the Mirror God, the best weapon is not one that possesses world-destroying power from the moment it is forged.
In the realm of gods, powerful artifacts like these are plentiful and not unusual. However, for the gods, such weapons are essentially useless.
Having already cultivated themselves into gods, their own energy has reached an incredible level, so the power of the weapon itself is no longer the most important thing to them.
In the eyes of the gods, the only thing they value is not the power a weapon possesses at any given moment, but whether the weapon has the potential for growth and development.
Only such weapons are truly sought-after in the realm of gods.
However, it is very regrettable that not all gods are capable of forging such divine artifacts. In the realm of gods, there is only one person who can forge artifacts that can evolve over time, and that is the Creator God, the foremost of the three great gods.
Only this creator god with creative abilities can forge growth-type artifacts, and the final form of growth-type artifacts is a god.
It's not difficult for a divine artifact to become a spirit, but if the spirit of a divine artifact wants to be reborn, then it can only truly evolve into a god by seeking the power of the creator god.
Both the Baby God and the Mirror God originated from the Creator God, which is why they were able to gradually grow and eventually possess divine status and domains, becoming true deities.
As for Xiao Wenbing, although his abilities are vastly different from those of the Creator God and cannot be compared at all, his special power is the Creator God's power, which even the gods envy.
Therefore, when Mirror God designed this set of five-element fortresses, he mainly relied on Xiao Wenbing's special ability to create super attributes with self-evolutionary characteristics for them.
To achieve this, the Mirror God even abandoned many powerful materials.
Some materials do indeed possess immense power, but precisely because their inherent power is so great, they are easily altered and therefore lack the properties of assimilation and being assimilated.
Such materials can only be used as a supplement for future evolution, just like the immortal fire at this moment, which is one of them.
Of course, materials classified as powerful by the Mirror God are probably hard to find in the cultivation world. So, although the power of this five-element fortress may seem insignificant to immortals, sweeping across the cultivation world is not something that can be done with difficulty.