Mortal: Reborn in Yellow Maple Valley, Awakening the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts

Four fire-breathing Qilin sculptures continuously spewed out earth fire from the fire vents, while the Creation Cauldron, suspended in mid-air, continuously absorbed the heat energy of the earth fire.

A moment later, a lifelike phoenix phantom appeared on the lid of the cauldron, its clear and melodious cry echoing through the air. Accompanied by the phoenix's cry, the flames on the small cauldron swirled, and it suddenly expanded while trembling, growing from the size of a palm to over ten feet in size.

Upon seeing this change, Chu Zifei knew that the Creation Cauldron had already completed its preheating and energy storage.

He raised his hand and picked up the Kunwu wood. His fingers surged with spiritual energy, and he deftly peeled off the rough and hard outer bark, revealing the raw wood inside that shimmered with a faint silver luster. Then he placed it in the cauldron and activated the fire of the earth's core to turn it into a gentle flame to slowly scorch and temper it.

After being roasted over a gentle fire for half an hour, the Kunwu wood has completely lost its woody impurities, retaining its inherent hardness while being stimulated by the earth fire to develop extreme toughness, making it far more flexible than refined iron.

Chu Zifei immediately took out the Kunwu wood that had been tempered, and then put the snake tendon into the cauldron to continue softening and purifying it with a gentle fire.

Then he used his spiritual energy to envelop his palms, and his hands flew rapidly, using his exquisite control to repeatedly shape and bend the Kunwu wood until he sculpted a smooth bow that fit his hand perfectly.

Then he used his spiritual power to cut off the excess wood, leaving a three-inch bow shaft. He then quickly carved grooves and neatly shaved out the bow awl and bow shank. A moment later, a delicate slingshot was sculpted.

At the same time, the impurities in the snake tendons inside the cauldron have been completely removed, and the quenching process is complete.

Chu Zifei took out the snake tendon and repeatedly kneaded and forged it, kneading the originally tight and stiff tendon until it became loose and flexible. Then, following the natural texture, he peeled it apart layer by layer, finally breaking down a complete main tendon into several tendons of uniform thickness and length.

He selected two suitable strands of tendon, first twisted them in the same direction, then twisted them together in opposite directions, making them tighter and tighter. In no time, a specially made bowstring with excellent elasticity and great toughness was made.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chu Zifei firmly tied both ends of the string to the double bow supports of the slingshot blank, and then gently pulled and released it.

The vibration of the string produced a "humming" sound as it broke through the air.

Looking at the slingshot he had finished crafting, Chu Zifei took out a rune carving knife, focused his divine sense on the three-inch bow, and then, following the rune diagrams in the method of crafting gold bows and silver bullets, cut grooves at a steady speed, making the grooves uniform in depth and regular in shape.

In the blink of an eye, he had engraved power-gathering and tracking patterns on the small slingshot, and even the flexible string was engraved with two runes: toughness and speed.

The toughening runes protect the string, preventing it from breaking under immense force; while the wind-speed runes greatly increase the projectile's range and speed. With these dual rune enhancements, the slingshot's combat power is significantly improved.

After the runes were engraved, Chu Zifei bit his fingertip and dripped his blood into the grooves of the runes.

Then he poured his own spiritual power into the bow, using spiritual power as a medium and his blood essence as a guide to completely fuse the flesh and blood essence, runes, and slingshot artifact. After the runes had dried and solidified, he used his spiritual power to firmly wrap and nurture the bow, so that the runes and the artifact's spiritual veins could be completely connected.

After being nurtured for several hours, the runes on the bow and the spiritual veins were finally unobstructed. Chu Zifei put the slingshot back into the Creation Cauldron and activated a gentle fire to slowly roast it, removing any remaining impurities from the gaps in the bow's patterns and firmly locking the runes in place.

After several rounds of refinement, the slingshot was finally completed.

The three-inch bow is small and exquisite, with smooth curves. It is covered with a light frost color, and the runes on the spine are faintly visible. It looks simple, but it actually hides a mystery.

Chu Zifei gripped the bow, gently pulled the string, and a sharp, domineering sound suddenly rang out, even more powerful than before.

"Since it's made from the sinews of a serpent demon beast, I'll call it the Serpent Slingshot."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Zifei put the slingshot into his storage bag, then turned his gaze and began to refine the matching gold bullets and silver pellets.

He placed the gold into the Creation Cauldron, then turned the heat, transforming the earth's fire from a gentle flame to a raging torrent. He used the intense heat to repeatedly melt and purify the gold in the cauldron, removing impurities and turning it into a liquid. Then, using the heat in the cauldron, he kneaded and shaped it into hundreds of perfectly round and firm golden pellets.

Then he took out all the gold bullets and engraved runes on them one by one.

The golden bullet is primarily for killing and breaking spells, so explosive and spell-breaking runes are engraved on its surface. After each rune is engraved, a wisp of pure spiritual energy is sealed deep within it. Only then is the golden bullet, possessing its full power, considered complete.

Chu Zifei used the same method to refine silver in the Creation Cauldron. However, since the power of the silver pill was mainly to seal and confuse, he specially changed the armor-piercing and spell-breaking runes to slowing and bewitching runes when engraving the runes.

Including the time spent crafting the serpent slingshot, Chu Zifei had spent three full days in the Earth Fire Chamber after finishing crafting the gold and silver bullets.

He activated the jade tablet, and with a flash of white light, the heavy stone door of the Earth Fire Chamber slowly opened. Chu Zifei stepped out, retraced his steps, and walked out of the refining hall, filled with anticipation for the Serpent Slingshot, intending to test its power in the back mountain.

  

The ugly man watched Chu Zifei's departing figure, glanced down at the seven spirit stones remaining in his hand, and thought to himself that this junior brother was truly generous, saying that he didn't need to return them and that was it. He couldn't help but show a happy expression on his face.

At this moment, Chu Zifei was completely unaware of the ugly man's sentiments. He was completely immersed in the joy of successfully forging the magic weapon and his mind was full of thoughts about testing its power.

He went to the back of the mountain, found a thick ancient tree that would take three people to encircle as a target, and stepped back ten paces.

He raised his hand and steadily set up the serpent slingshot, cocked a golden bullet, and loosened his two fingers.

"call out!"

The golden bullet, accompanied by a whooshing sound, shot out as a streak of light, striking the tree trunk precisely. The next instant, it exploded with a deafening roar, shattering the hard trunk and sending wood chips flying everywhere. The robust ancient tree was utterly destroyed by this single blow.

With the added strength of Chu Zifei's Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, which enhanced his physical body, the explosive power of this golden bullet was comparable to the full-force attack of a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator.

Looking at the mess before him, Chu Zifei was very satisfied with the power of the golden bullet, but then felt a little regretful.

"Unfortunately, the golden bullet will explode after one shot and cannot be reused."

Currently, Chu Zifei is unable to test the effects of the silver pills because there are no suitable living creatures available. However, the power of the golden bullets alone is enough to satisfy him.

"The rest of the days are spent waiting for the Blood Forbidden Trial to begin."

Chu Zifei had already made his own plans. He would definitely go to the Blood Forbidden Trial, but he would not follow the main group. He would not compete for the treasures in the stone hall. What he sought was different from what the others had.