Chapter 38: Experiment (Part II)

Unable to figure out the crux of the matter, Chen Lin simply began his second attempt at refining.

Soon, he reached the final stage of connecting the array patterns.

After casting a Vajra Shield, he widened his eyes to observe closely before completing the connection of the formation.

"Bang!"

It was a failure once again.

The resulting power was exactly the same as before.

However, this time Chen Lin saw it clearly: once he had completed the connection of the formation, the refining process had actually been partially successful.

The formations on the two Thunderbolt Beads and the formation on the Black Silver had undergone a transformation, becoming a single entity.

At this moment, the two Thunderbolt Beads were no longer individual items, but had formed a new semi-finished product, which was why the explosion was so weak.

This followed the same logic as his previous attempts at refining Thunderbolt Beads; the explosive power of a failed attempt mid-process was incomparable to that of a finished product.

This discovery filled him with immense joy.

In this way, he no longer had to worry about being blown up himself, and it also solved the problem of the explosion's noise attracting attention. Given the depth of the cellar, it was uncertain whether such a commotion could even be heard outside.

With his worries gone, Chen Lin's refining speed began to accelerate.

By evening, he had already pushed his attempts to nine.

The tenth time.

It was the same monotonous process, but upon reaching the final step, Chen Lin braced himself.

With a light flick of his inscription tool, the beginning and end of the formation were connected.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as the spiritual power began to circulate within the array patterns, it triggered the Thunderbolt Bead, and the refining failed.

The miraculous scene recurred.

Before the explosion could even sound, an invisible giant hand pressed the bursting energy back in, and a bead one size larger than a normal Thunderbolt Bead appeared on the wooden board.

"Haha, it worked!"

Chen Lin let out an excited laugh.

Although his previous reasoning suggested it would work, this was his own creation and his first attempt, so he had been feeling quite uncertain.

He hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.

Holding the bead in his hand for careful observation, he found that besides being larger, the array patterns on it were more complex, and the energy fluctuations contained within were much more subtle.

Chen Lin desperately wanted to go out and test its power, but he forcibly suppressed his curiosity.

As it stood, if he went out, Ye Jingyun might be monitoring him in secret—or one could say, protecting him.

He didn't want anyone to know about this item, so he could only choose to place unconditional trust in his own innate abilities and refrain from testing it.

After refining for so long, Chen Lin felt somewhat numb. He climbed up the ladder to the surface.

First, he went into the courtyard to stretch his body, partly to check on the situation and partly to show that he had been present and had not left.

After moving around for a while, he returned to his room to make some simple food. After eating, he took some time to refine two Primordial Pills; after creating a bit of noise from failed attempts, he returned to the cellar.

He did not come out for the rest of the night.

Early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Chen Lin's figure reappeared on the surface.

At this moment, although his face was haggard, his eyes held an irrepressible joy.

Coming to the table, he touched his storage bag, and four beads—one large and three small—appeared on the table.

The three small ones were a size larger than ordinary Thunderbolt Beads, roughly the size of a goose egg; these were the products of two Thunderbolt Beads being superimposed.

As for the large one, it was as big as an ostrich egg, a product of a double superposition, formed by combining two "goose egg" Thunderbolt Beads.

Just placing this big fellow there gave off a sense of oppression.

One could imagine its power would be immense.

He called the single-superposition bead "Thunderbolt No. 2" and the double-superposition one "Thunderbolt No. 3." He also decided that after a period of rest, he would create a "Thunderbolt No. 4"!

As for anything higher, it was temporarily impossible.

Firstly, he lacked sufficient materials for refining Thunderbolt Beads, and secondly, the power of failures was becoming increasingly intense. Most importantly, the number of attempts required to refine Thunderbolt No. 3 was already quite terrifying. Fortunately, he had some stock of Thunderbolt Beads, and success didn't require a one-in-ten chance every single time; his success rate had improved with practice, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to refine them in a single night.

He didn't know how many attempts it would take to refine a Thunderbolt No. 4, and if his success rate couldn't improve again, there was little hope.

Furthermore, while refining Thunderbolt No. 3, a failed attempt had shattered a layer of his Vajra Shield. If he reached No. 4, it might reach the absolute limit of his defensive shield.

As for No. 5, setting aside the number of attempts, the issue of defense alone was unsolvable; it was uncertain whether a Six-Ding Mysterious Armor Talisman could even withstand it, so there was no point in fantasizing.

After cleaning himself with a Cleansing Spell and eating something, Chen Lin still took a stroll around the courtyard.

Yu Yuehai's room was silent; it was unknown if anyone was inside.

This suited him perfectly. He hung a sign on the door indicating he was in seclusion, placed a warning device inside the door, and then entered the cellar.

Time passed quickly.

Chen Lin became quiet, basically never leaving his room. On the rare occasions he did go out, he returned in a hurry.

Another early morning arrived.

He pushed open his door wide and breathed in the fresh air.

He suddenly noticed that the spring scenery was even more vibrant, and even the air seemed to carry a fragrance.

He turned all his remaining spiritual rice into spiritual rice dishes and even brought out a stored piece of demon beast meat to make a dish of stir-fried shredded meat.

Finally, he took out a bottle of strong liquor and drank to himself.

In all the time since his transmigration, this was the first time Chen Lin had lived so comfortably.

But the comfort lasted only a short while. After his meal and drink, he began to grow busy again.

First, he used up the remaining materials for the Primordial Pills. Although he couldn't obtain the pill without ten successful attempts, he wanted to rack up the attempts first so that future refining would be faster.

To Chen Lin's regret, including his previous attempts, he had reached a total of nine attempts, just one short of forming a pill.

Unfortunately, with Yu Yuehai's recent predatory actions, the city would surely become increasingly chaotic, making it impossible to gather enough materials for Primordial Pills for the time being.

Moreover, after breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement, the effects of the Primordial Pill had begun to weaken, becoming less effective than when he was in the early stage. If he could leave safely, it would be best to seek out a new pill recipe to increase his cultivation.

At that moment, a scene from when he had obtained the Enlightenment Pill recipe suddenly surfaced in his mind. Yu Yuehai's robes had contained quite a few pill recipes; he didn't know if they were real.

If they were real...

Immediately, Chen Lin shook his head.

Yu Yuehai was not as easy to deal with as Ye Jingyun; it was better not to go looking for trouble.

Shaking off this unrealistic thought, he took out the sword technique jade slip he had traded for from Xu Ruolan and immersed himself in it.

This sword technique was not a sword technique in the traditional sense; it was quite peculiar.

The technique had no name. Upon successful cultivation, a "Sword Qi" would form within the dantian, which was extremely sharp.

Though called Sword Qi, it was actually a special type of energy. If attached to a flying sword, it could increase the sword's attack power.

It could also be discharged directly to strike enemies.

The peculiarity lay in the fact that this Sword Qi had no initial power; it required constant nurturing through a special method. The longer the nurturing period, the greater the power.

Such a cultivation method meant it could not be used as a conventional ability, but only as a hidden trump card. Even so, it was a good backup; using it at a critical moment could yield unexpected results.

Another discovery that greatly surprised Chen Lin was that this Sword Qi belonged to an energy body and could be moved within the body.

This gave him a bold idea.

(End of Chapter)