Chapter 84 Bait <TOC> Chapter 86 Operational Unit
Translator: SumTLMan
A colossal wolf galloped through the wilderness. Standing over three meters tall, it was a true behemoth with a slender build and six legs. Its fur was jet black, almost absorbing the light. A swamp wolf was trampled under its feet, emitting a harrowing howl.
A robed cultist dressed in black, with a swarm of insects swirling around, hastened towards the giant wolf and upon seeing the swamp wolf, broke out in a sweat.
“Bishop Pilate, it’s just another swamp wolf, we’ve made another mistake,” said a man dressed in Xingdu garb with a curved blade in hand.
“It’s not your fault, continue the pursuit,” replied the youthful, handsome man with two tufts of facial hair and slightly curly hair. He was dressed in casual attire rather than the black robes of the Soul Cult. Were it not for the curved blade in his hand, no one would have suspected him to be a highly placed bishop in the cult.
“The enemy we’re facing this time is far more cunning than those before. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, we have countless opportunities to do so, but they only need to make one and they’ll fall into our hands,” said Bishop Pilate with a smirk.
The bishop then turned to the giant wolf and ordered, “Eat it.”
The giant wolf opened its mouth to reveal a cavity filled with writhing tentacles instead of teeth. Gloopy saliva dripped from the tentacles, landing on the ground and releasing a potent acid that corroded the soil and grass, producing a noxious green smoke.
The countless tentacles ensnared the swamp wolf, who was completely devoured amidst piercing screeches, the crunch of bones, and the sound of swallowing.
The cultist who controlled the evil bloodworms shuddered. He knew that Bishop Pilate was not as innocent as he appeared.
“I can intermittently detect the radiation of the curse. Our path is correct. They are also monitoring us with that fierce bird. Let them feel the pressure, my faithful,” said Bishop Pilate as he boarded the hovercraft, took off his shoes, and knelt on a mat to pray devoutly to the deity of souls.
The congregation of evil bloodworms dispersed once more, continuing to follow the trail of blood that may have remained in the air.
……
……
Li Mu is writing on a map of Avonigarda Province, marking their route along the way. He has also estimated the route of the Soul Cult pursuit and marked it on the map as well.
Because he fears that the third level awakeners may pose a threat to the hovercraft in the sky, Li Mu only let it quickly fly past the head of the Soul Cult pursuit and did not linger to observe for a long time like before.
Folding the map and assuming a posture on the hovercraft, Li Mu began practicing the White Steel Broken Stream and the White Bone Hidden Energy.
Both of these energy techniques, once mastered, can unleash a power that is no less than that of the Sacred Oath.
Energy practice actually involves directing the boiling psychic energy to travel through the muscles and bones recorded on the energy techniques, enhancing their affinity for psychic energy.
This method of practice is actually quite dangerous, as boiling psychic energy is highly destructive and can harm oneself if not controlled.
Li Mu could clearly feel that after passing through the bones recorded on the White Bone Hidden Energy, the psychic energy became extremely fierce, as if it had transformed from heavy mercury into blazing iron.
Unfortunately, he still cannot project the psychic energy outside of his body like the psychic energy system, at most he can only transfer it through weapons, and the transfer loss is also great.
Shen Luoyan holds Li Mu’s saber and pulls out a piece, examining the blade carefully.
“The craftsmanship is rough and almost primitive, even the steel is made of mixed steel using the roasting method, but the person who forged this knife must have put all his heart into it. I don’t know how many people’s lives it has taken, and the souls of the dead are intertwined with the knife. I can even hear them crying and cursing.”
She sighed.
She claims to be able to easily forge weapons that are far sharper and tougher than this knife, but she cannot restore the killing intent accumulated by this saber when killing enemies.
In fact, there are many more weapons that have killed more than this saber in the wasteland, and the source essence of the killed will only return to the Source Ocean, and very few weapons will be entangled with so much chaotic source essence.
Li Mu rubbed his head. The Exile Realm in his soul can absorb source essence, and perhaps it is because he killed people with the knife that a small amount of source essence remained on the blade.
“It’s a pity to give up this knife like this, I may be able to use it to make a curio.”
Shen Luoyan was eager to try.
Making curios is the patent of the third level awakeners, because only those above the third level can enter the Source Ocean, hunt source essence aggregates, and extract source essence from the aggregates to carry source essence.
Fourth level awakeners have no way to obtain the source essence required to make miracles.
But with this knife as the base material, it is different, as there is already enough chaotic source essence tangled up on the blade.
Shen Luoyan stared at Li Mu, her seductive phoenix eyes full of desire.
Li Mu had no choice but to stop the flow of the energy technique.
“However, the weight of the sheathed blade is simply too light, and its only advantage, sharpness, proves to be insufficient when facing enemies. It might be worth testing it out with Shen Luoyan.”
“Which holy relic do you want to use?”
He currently holds two holy relics, one is the Soul Whisper, the other is the Great Extinction Flame.
“Implant the Soul Whisper. The weapon forged from it should be able to emit sounds such as profane words and ghostly wails when wielded, thereby disrupting the enemy. As for the Great Extinction Flame, it will cause the weapon to burst into the Great Extinction Flame when swung.” Shen Luoyan spoke while stroking her chin.
“Then I’ll go with the Great Extinction Flame. What’s the use of a knife that curses on the streets?” Li Mu made his decision almost without hesitation.
Li Mei was intrigued by the so-called profane words, but her opinion was suppressed by Li Mu.
Shen Luoyan immediately became excited and asked Li Mu to take out the psychic metals he found in the secret vault of the temple.
She fiddled with a pile of steel ingots. First, she used high-temperature beams and precise cuts to weld the steel ingots into individual precise parts, then assembled them into the lathe required for forging weapons.
Then she took out several pieces of sacred silver and star-sunk iron.
“Sacred silver has excellent psychic conductivity, but its texture is somewhat soft and easily bent in intense collisions. Star-sunk iron is extremely hard and sharp, but its psychic conductivity is poor. If a weapon is forged solely from star-sunk iron, although its mechanical performance is excellent, the power of the holy relic will be weakened.” Shen Luoyan introduced excitedly.
“These two psychic metals are incompatible, and even if they are forged by folding, they may peel off during battle. To refine them into an alloy, they can only be sintered using powder metallurgy, and this is precisely what I excel at.”