Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 695 - 679: Return
When I stumbled upon this Demon Mirror by chance back then, it was already in a dilapidated state, retaining only a hint of Spiritual Power.
Yuan Man sought advice from many renowned Artifact Refiners with the Demon Mirror, but none dared to take on the task. They all said it was a Supreme Divine Artifact, and without the experience of crafting divine artifacts, they dared not attempt to repair or forge it easily.
She even invited numerous Artifact Refiners to "diagnose" it, and they concluded that—— at its peak state, this Supreme Divine Artifact could destroy heavens and earth. However, at this moment, it retained only insignificant Spiritual Power, capable of reflecting images to discern one’s state of mind.
Perhaps due to its scant remaining power, Yuan Man found that absorbing it for personal use required little effort.
When the underground cavern first started operating, she had ample time and energy, personally selecting the staff;
Later, after suffering severe injuries and lacking the energy, she let her trusted aide Ban Jingqi use the Truth-Telling Talisman to verify selections, and the Demon Mirror assisted in discernment;
Eventually, as she could no longer support it, she entrusted numerous city affairs to Ban Jingqi to manage. The busy old man had no time or energy to scrutinize each personally, relying solely on the Demon Mirror.
The result was that its insufficient Spiritual Power rendered it ineffective; Yuan Man and Ban Jingqi were unaware, relying on it, which led to a mix of good and bad in the underground cavern, with countless infiltrators going unnoticed.
"City Lord Yuan wants to restore this artifact, which won’t be easy." Jiang Yuan didn’t answer directly.
Thinking to himself, isn’t it a coincidence? I just received a mission, and the Seventh Level Treasure Refining Workshop can indeed recharge it.
Ban Jingqi, a nimble fat man, first saluted the City Lord, then swiftly moved to stop guards coming to check the situation, instructing them to placate the nearby residents.
By the edge of the pit, only the two of them remained. Jiang Yuan casually sat at the pit’s edge, reaching out only to get his hands covered in rusty grime.
"Oh? You really know about this? That’s great!" Yuan Man laughed, reaching out to touch it, and the enormous broken mirror shrank to the size of a normal mirror, which she held and weighed in her hand, "When I first got this Demon Mirror, it was in this state. I don’t expect a full restoration; a slight revival would suffice for me."
Jiang Yuan took it over for a closer look and said, "Restoration is indeed difficult, but I can help infuse some Spiritual Power into it, at least it can still be used. As for restoration..."
Thinking of the repair project of the Chaotic Heaven Bell, one could deduce that restoring this item would be even more difficult.
After all, that was a Divine Artifact, whereas the Heart Mirror is a Supreme Divine Artifact.
Yuan Man’s almond-shaped eyes stared at him, surprised, asking, "Does Daoist You specialize in artifact refining?"
"I don’t dare claim special expertise. If City Lord Yuan trusts me, I can give it a try." He had nothing to hide, anyway he was on a mission. Helping out would increase favorability, a win-win situation.
Her interest piqued, "I once consulted Artifact Refiners about repairing this artifact, yet none knew its origin. When I first acquired it, it had faint Demonic Energy attached. After eliminating the energy and refining it, I used it, naming it the Demon Mirror.
The Artifact Spirit has long dissipated; one can only infer from its forging style and appearance that it’s a product of the Era of the Divine and Demonic War. If Daoist You knows the origin, please enlighten me."
With just a glance, he was confident in infusing Spiritual Power; Yuan Man had a strong premonition——Daoist You was quite familiar with this artifact!
If that’s true, what on earth is his origin?
Hearing her question, Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly. She had possessed the Treasure Mirror for so long yet didn’t even know its name; such a Supreme Divine Artifact seemed too aggrieved.
Additionally, by explaining the system’s evaluation to her, he might gain more trust, allowing him to take it back to the Seventh Level Treasure Refining Workshop to complete the mission.
Otherwise, entrusting such a huge Supreme Divine Artifact to someone she had only met twice would be hard without sufficient trust.
"This mirror is called the Heart Mirror; it is a Supreme Divine Artifact left from the Era of the Divine and Demonic War..." Jiang Yuan held the mirror, but his gaze was on parts of the details, introducing them one by one to avoid any misstatements.
However, in Yuan Man’s eyes, he appeared to be nostalgically reminiscing holding the Treasure Mirror.
Knowing such secret treasures in detail, could it be possible... her heart skipped a beat, surely he couldn’t have experienced that war?
Further reflection revealed that Daoist You was a Human Race Cultivator, yet the Wilderness World had long had its indigenous humans exterminated by the Demon Race’s occupation. Even among the Human Race Cultivators from the Ancient Ten Great Sects, after countless generations, true indigenous humans hadn’t existed for tens of thousands of years.
Back then, in seeking assistance from the Ten Great Sects, they scoured ancient texts, merely speculating it was from the Era of the Divine and Demonic War. Let alone knowing the Treasure Mirror’s exact name, even its purpose was deduced.
Daoist You was so clear about it, with some information aligning with inferences, and even more that she heard for the first time!
Feeling increasingly unable to see through this "young man" beside her, Yuan Man, with a slightly dry throat, lowered her voice, "Then, I’ll trouble Daoist You to infuse it with Spiritual Power. As for compensation..."
She took out a few top-notch Spirit Medicines, "I doubt those damaged ones, you would even look at. These exceptional quality ones, please keep them first. Once the underground cavern resumes production, we’ll settle accounts then."
After all, the Treasure Mirror had completely lost its Spiritual Energy; having it was useless to her too if it just sat as waste.
Consider a dying horse being treated as a lively one; if infusing Spiritual Power restores it, all the better, without pests in the underground cavern, a few Spirit Medicines were nothing; if he was bluffing to trick her, the shortest time and least cost to discern someone also wasn’t a loss.
Clicking to check, the Chaotic Heaven Bell under upgrade in the Treasure Forging Workshop still required two more days for completion. Initially to infuse Spiritual Power into the Heart Mirror would take one and a half days, Jiang Yuan thought that using foundation gold to forge uniform swords for the courtyard members could be slightly delayed; completing the mission first was more critical.
"Then I’ll accept it first." He didn’t decline and put the spirit medicine and Heart Mirror into the storage bag. "From today, I will return the Treasure Mirror when the Wilderness descends in four days."
Only four days?
Yuan Man couldn’t quite figure out whether he truly had the skills or was just a good talker. Even a dignified cultivator in the Tribulation Crossing Realm nodded in confusion.
As the sky was about to brighten, with the data refreshing after the Wilderness Ascension, the small courtyard’s farmland and fruit trees needed to be harvested again. Jiang Yuan bid farewell to the City Lord’s Mansion and flew by sword to the city gate, disappearing on the vast prairie.
The courtyard at dawn was very quiet.
"Sir, they’ve all drunk too much." Granny Huang’s spirit floated out from the Ink Jade Space, her voice gentle, "Leng Yutang insisted on picking stars for Qing Niao to craft a magical treasure and then passed out in the courtyard.
I dragged him to rest under the pavilion. Mr. Xie followed Mr. Bai into the Spirit Pool and just slept there. Seeing him sleep so soundly, I didn’t disturb him."
Following the direction she pointed, Jiang Yuan indeed saw Xie Chenyuan floating on the surface of the Spirit Pool, seemingly sleeping soundly.
"Forget it; a dignified Nascent Soul Realm cultivator can’t possibly drown. Just let them be. Thank you for watching over them, Granny. It’s still early; you should rest a bit longer too." He chuckled, looking at the floating Xie Chenyuan; then glanced at Yun Mo, half dangling on the Tree House, thinking that in the future, Flood Dragon meat should be rationed and not given freely again.
Just as he put the Heart Mirror in line at the Treasure Forging Workshop and was about to sit by the river for some quiet time, Jiang Yuan heard a familiar voice.
He was stunned for a while before remembering, "Oh! It’s my phone’s ringtone!"
Spending so much time in the Wilderness World this time, Jiang Yuan almost forgot the music he was most familiar with. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
"Hello?" He rolled out of bed, answering the call while realizing that it seemed like his physique had improved a lot. Previously, lying down for such a long time would make him stiff and sore, but this time he felt nothing, even feeling as light as a swallow.
Chuci’s voice came through the phone, "Brother, get ready. Let’s go see Master Li."
"Who is Master Li?" Jiang Yuan was a bit confused, with memories of the Wilderness World still lingering, mingling with reality, making him a bit muddled.
"Didn’t you say you wanted to meet that ghost-hunting Master Li again?" Chuci was also confused; after receiving his call, he had contacted someone, and in such a short time, Jiang Yuan forgot?
"Oh, the Ghost Hunter! Sure, are we going now?"
"In an hour, I’ll be downstairs with the car. The place is slightly out of the way, so let’s go early and come back early."
After hanging up, Jiang Yuan jumped off the bed and went to wash his face.
The fish from his last catch was still in the bathtub, and as he entered, he heard the fish’s tail slapping the water vigorously.
"I forgot about you. I thought I’d let the sand and mud clear out and cook you, but might as well do it tonight!" Finally clearing his mind, he quickly opened the storage bag to see what he could bring out.
But it was the same old stuff.
Incense sticks and incense offerings of various levels, papermen and paper horses, fruits and vegetables from ordinary farmlands, and oils pressed from corn and peanuts at the mill; powders of various ordinary herbs ground at the mill, etc...
Instead, all his skills could be used normally. Considering the astonishing effect of the Heaven-Burning Flame, which seemed insignificant in the Wilderness World but impressive in the real world, he didn’t dare to easily try other skills.
The bathroom was filled with a fishy smell from the big fish, so Jiang Yuan casually took an incense stick and used the Earth Spirit Flame to light it with a snap of his fingers, placing it in a bottle on the sink. The light fragrance spread along with the curling blue smoke.
Summer was almost over in the Wilderness World, but the real world was still vibrant with spring.
Birds chirped on the branches full of flowers. Sitting in the convertible driven by Chuci, he carefully recalled the last meeting and what he actually wanted to ask.
"Didn’t he get hurt quite seriously and was in the hospital?" Watching the car weaving through a redevelopment area on the outskirts, Chuci searched for a building number on the GPS, and Jiang Yuan found it strange, "Has he been discharged so quickly?"
The other party made a gesture of silence, "Brother, let’s talk privately; once we enter the building, we can’t mention this again. You said you wanted to see that Master Li. Once I inquired, I found out there’s indeed something mysterious about their line of work!"
"Mysterious?"
"Oh no, no, I misspoke, just childlike thought! Childlike thought!" Chuci lightly tapped his lips and lowered his voice further, "There’s a trace of Immortal Aura. We saw it ourselves last time, didn’t we? He fell so badly.
The old saying goes that it takes a hundred days to heal from broken bones, yet in just a few days, he’s well! What can you say to that..."
He didn’t dare to continue, his face showing a complex expression.
Jiang Yuan, however, suddenly got excited—could it be there’s spirit medicine?! Would that mean there is also spiritual energy in the real world, allowing for cultivation? It’s just that I don’t have a spirit root, so I can’t feel anything, just like over there?
Thinking that his doubts were about to be answered, he couldn’t wait to fly up the stairs!
