Those were just failed works; this one, however, is my true debut.
Fortunately, it was him who possessed the miraculous ability to create something from nothing. If it were another cultivator from Earth, where would he get so many materials to squander? He would probably have been labeled a complete idiot after his first failure.
Looking at the exquisite little round shield in his hand, Xiao Wenbing felt an indescribable sense of pride.
This was the first qualified finished product he had painstakingly crafted, and it held great commemorative significance for him.
"Huff... huff..."
A strange sound came from behind him. Xiao Wenbing turned around in surprise and saw that Diexian was panting heavily, her whole body flushed. She was probably exhausted.
Xiao Wenbing was very grateful to this big guy. If it weren't for it, it would have been impossible for him to train the small round shield hundreds of times in ten days.
Now that it has succeeded, it is exhausted.
Hmm, no, I'm a good master who rewards and punishes fairly. Since the Butterfly Fairy has done such a great service, I can't not reward her...
With a chuckle, Xiao Wenbing flashed a white light in his hand and casually grabbed a handful of Foundation Establishment Pills and Lesser Rejuvenation Pills. Without even counting how many there were, he stuffed them all into the Butterfly Fairy's large wings.
Butterfly Fairy trembled, her eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light, her body was no longer red, and she was no longer panting.
Tears welled in its eyes. What a kind master he was! A hundred times more generous than Zhang Daoren, no… a full eight hundred times more generous. Considering that it had followed Zhang Daoren for over eight hundred years, the number of pills it had received in total was probably only this much.
For demons, especially those that have not yet formed a nascent soul, the only way to obtain elixirs and miraculous medicines is to acquire them from cultivators.
However, with the deterioration of the Earth's environment, cultivators are too busy taking care of themselves to even think about giving it away to monsters for free.
Eight hundred years! A full eight hundred years! It relinquished its dignity, it relinquished its freedom, but the rewards it received were utterly disproportionate. Only today has it finally met its true master. Faced with so many elixirs, a few small vortexes appeared in its eyes; all the hard work it had just endured was long forgotten.
Volume 4, Chapter 110: The Art of Hundred Layers
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"Remember this, this is the reward you received for helping me. If you do things to my satisfaction in the future, you will receive many, many pills..." Xiao Wenbing made a large circle with his hands and said in an extremely tempting tone, "Do you understand?"
The butterfly fairy's large head immediately began to nod up and down. Although it was a demon, it was still a demon that had lived for over a thousand years...
If you still don't understand such a simple truth, then haven't you been living like a pig for the past thousand years?
Xiao Wenbing smiled with satisfaction and casually let it slip into the Heavenly Void Ring to enjoy the pills.
Unbeknownst to him, as soon as Butterfly Fairy entered the Heavenly Void Ring, she swallowed a Foundation Establishment Pill and then focused all her efforts on dissolving the heat energy of the Earth Vein Fire within her body.
Although its golden core energy far surpassed that bit of earth vein fire, after absorbing it continuously for ten days, it was truly at its limit. If Xiao Wenbing failed again, then after a month, his dream of tasting roasted butterfly meat would likely come true unexpectedly…
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"La la la... la la la..." Xiao Wenbing hummed a strange, nonsensical tune while admiring the small round shield in his hand.
While it was true that the successful forging was due to a wealth of practical experience, Xiao Wenbing understood even more clearly that luck also played a significant role in the successful creation of this small round shield.
That time, he did almost nothing special; it was as if it came from instinct, or perhaps it was a stroke of genius. The whole process was completed in one go. If he were to practice again, he would most likely not be able to do it so perfectly.
Seeing this precious item that only succeeds once every ten days, Xiao Wenbing was extremely satisfied.
So what are we doing now? Have we gone out yet? Anyway, no matter how much we refine, we can't expect to refine anything better. Xiao Wenbing was absolutely certain about this.
If fate were to grant him another chance, and he were to inexplicably forge an even better piece of equipment...
Even he himself didn't have any expectations of such a good thing.
Reaching the boulder, he gave it a push, but it wouldn't budge. Frustrated, Xiao Wenbing considered using an attack talisman to smash it open, but then abandoned that rude plan.
He is a civilized man, not a barbarian, so he will not do certain things that are too outrageous.
So how was he going to get through the remaining twenty days? He had no mind to refine anything now. After ten days of continuous struggle, he was now dizzy at the sight of firelight, had a headache at the sight of the jade cauldron, and felt nauseous at the sight of materials.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, bored and unkempt, holding a small round shield in his hand, Xiao Wenbing grew to love it more and more as he looked at it. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
I recall that a very peculiar refining method was recorded in a high-level book.
That method is called the "Hundred-Layer Technique," and its biggest feature is layering. According to the ancient texts, the power increases by about 70% with each layer added. If a magical artifact can be successfully layered a hundred times, then no matter what the original form of the artifact is, it will become a top-tier super artifact in the cultivation world.
However, this Hundred-Fold Technique is not so easy to refine. If you want to achieve the full effect, you first need to refine one hundred identical magical artifacts, and then use Samadhi Fire to gradually fuse them together.
The entire process was incredibly difficult, so there's no need to go into details. Just the fact that there were one hundred identical magical artifacts alone was something that not just anyone could accomplish.
Through his own practice, Xiao Wenbing naturally understood that the so-called art of weapon forging was not as simple as putting in the prescribed raw materials, setting a fire, and then producing a finished product.
To forge two identical magical artifacts, the quality and quantity of each raw material, the temperature of the fire, the state of the shape, the inlay of the array, and so on, must be exactly the same.
If any one of the steps goes wrong, even by the slightest mistake, all the previous efforts will be in vain.
Not only that, even if someone painstakingly acquires hundreds of magical artifacts of the same standard, regardless of the losses, the success rate decreases with each layer added. It is simply impossible to succeed a hundred times in a row.
Especially after stacking more than seventy times, if it fails, the power of the magic weapon will decrease instead of increase, or even the magic array inside will be completely destroyed, turning it into a piece of junk, and everything will have to start all over again.
Therefore, although this method is good, it is undoubtedly a double-edged sword for weapon refiners, and a double-edged sword that exudes a fatal temptation.
However, for Xiao Wenbing, a cultivator with the superpower of creating something from nothing, this method seemed tailor-made for him.
Therefore, when he first saw the Hundredfold Technique, his eyes involuntarily lit up. Xiao Wenbing saw this peculiar method and remembered it.
Moreover, this was the moment for him to test his ideas.
A mysterious energy fluctuation swept across the small round shield. Xiao Wenbing chuckled, and as the energy passed, an identical small round shield appeared out of thin air on his right hand, with no difference whatsoever.
However, after using his superpower, Xiao Wenbing became certain of one thing.
To replicate a finished magical artifact, the amount of supernatural energy required increases exponentially. He actually had to use nearly half of the energy from his natal golden talisman to successfully replicate the small round shield.
It seems this method is good, but it's too time-consuming and laborious. He swallowed two Lesser Rejuvenation Pills in succession and meditated for a long time before he could replenish the lost spiritual energy and supernatural abilities.
Holding the two identical small round shields, Xiao Wenbing calmed himself down, and the little bit of Samadhi True Fire within his body slowly spewed out. He was, after all, a Core Formation stage expert. Although he couldn't absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the space to replenish his own consumption as quickly as a Golden Core stage cultivator, he could still slowly use the Samadhi True Fire.
The two small round shields gradually fused together under his unique training method. The process was long and tedious, and it consumed a lot of spiritual energy. Fortunately, Xiao Wenbing was not very skilled, but he had a terrifying stockpile of thousands of Lesser Rejuvenation Pills.
Despite his carelessness in consuming them like candy, his spiritual energy was continuously replenished.
If Lu Jun and Zhang Jie were here, seeing him use the Samadhi Fire for such a long time, they would definitely be in awe of his endurance.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye; Xiao Wenbing had been sitting there for three hours.
After exhaling the last breath of Samadhi Fire, he raised the small round shield above his head, his eyes filled with joy and satisfaction.
He succeeded. Yes, perhaps it was God compensating him for those hundreds of failures. In any case, this time, he truly succeeded on his first and only attempt.
Looking at the seamless little round shield in his hand, Xiao Wenbing suddenly burst into laughter.
Its shape and the array within remained unchanged, seemingly identical to the original. However, Xiao Wenbing could clearly sense that the spiritual energy contained within had undergone a complete transformation.
Seventy percent, yes, its power has increased by at least seventy percent compared to before.
If each stack increases the power by 70%, what will happen after a hundred stacks? Xiao Wenbing's heart pounded.
After being folded a hundred times, wouldn't the power of this small round shield become unimaginably great?
It seems that the ancient text was indeed true; the Hundredfold Technique is indeed a unique skill among Taoist training methods.
“Bai Die, Bai Die.” Xiao Wenbing held up the small round shield and murmured, “My future wealth and fame will all depend on you.”
With a thought, Xiao Wenbing created another small round shield. Just as he was about to continue, a sudden realization struck him. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; he had completely forgotten to copy the small round shield that had already been folded once.
The success rate of the Hundredfold Technique is not high, and the chance of succeeding on the first try is rare. The last time you succeeded by luck, but you may not be so lucky next time.
He composed himself, immediately copied the small round shield that had been folded once, and then calmly began the second fold of the hundred folds.
In fact, Xiao Wenbing really wanted to directly forge the two stacked small round shields, so that forging them once would be equivalent to stacking their power four times. However, the Hundred Stacks Technique has very high requirements for the magical artifacts themselves. If the artifacts used for stacking were both stacked once, then there would be no chance of success under any circumstances.
Therefore, Xiao Wenbing had no choice but to honestly and diligently begin his second round of refining.
An hour later, Xiao Wenbing suddenly stood up.
The first time he stacked the shield, it took him three hours; the second time, it only took him an hour. However, the consequence was that the small round shield was gloriously destroyed.
"Sigh..." He sighed deeply. No wonder most of those weapon-refining masters were old monsters in the Tribulation Transcending stage. It was not only because they were knowledgeable, but more importantly because they had enough strength to support their refining.
Although Xiao Wenbing was chewing on the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill from time to time, due to a moment of carelessness, his spiritual power was running out because of the excessive use of it. Even his natal golden talisman was somewhat exhausted, and the final result was that he could not replenish it for a while.
In just a brief moment, a mere breath, the forging of the small round shield was abruptly halted and irretrievably destroyed.
Volume 4, The Divine Artifacts, Chapter 111: Emerging from the Cave
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Looking at the two pieces in his hand, one side tightly joined together and the other wide open, resembling two strangely shaped small round shields like a huge round clam with its mouth wide open, Xiao Wenbing felt a mix of laughter and tears for the first time.
The basic requirement of the Hundredfold Technique is to complete it in one go. No matter what reason it is interrupted in the middle, the only result is that all previous efforts will be wasted.
To be honest, he was so anxious when he was about to succeed that he ended up ruining everything...
Xiao Wenbing sighed for a long time. To say that he had no regrets would be a lie.
However, although he felt deep regret, he was not resigned to it.
After resting for a while, Xiao Wenbing used his supernatural ability to create a stacked small round shield and a prototype of a small round shield out of thin air.
This time, Xiao Wenbing dared not be negligent in the slightest. He first sat down and meditated, and after his internal energy and spiritual power were fully restored, he put about ten small rejuvenating pills into his mouth.
With everything prepared, he resumed the refining process.
Little by little, with utmost care and focus, Xiao Wenbing's efforts finally paid off.
Three hours later, the small round shield, which had been stacked twice, finally appeared brand new in his hand.
Xiao Wenbing burst into laughter, feeling an indescribable sense of exhilaration. He threw himself heavily onto the cold ground, but his heart was burning with passion.
He succeeded, and his heart was filled with joy.
Of course, his goal did not end there. So, after resting for a sufficient amount of time, Xiao Wenbing sat cross-legged again and continued his efforts.
Failure, failure, failure—success.