Chapter Ninety-Seven: Forging the Sandstorm Formation

Big Brother, are you hurt?

The faint scent of blood had not gone unnoticed. Li Ying, who had been cultivating nearby, sensed it at once and hurried out.

Li Mu smiled and rubbed her forehead. “It’s nothing, just a little injury. It’ll heal in no time.”

Li Ying pouted, her brows knit, her lips pushed out. “Let me see. Sister Shen taught me a healing method yesterday, so I can heal you.”

“No need. Silly girl, I’ve already taken medicine.”

By now, Li Mu was injured all over; how could he let her see?

“I can do it. I can help Big Brother too.”

Her voice was firm. She held tightly to Li Mu’s hand and would not let go, her eyes already swollen. If he said another word, her tears would likely spill.

“All right.” Li Mu gave in and extended his hand.

A gentle wind brushed over the wound, carrying away the tears that fell.

Li Ying, with her small body, kept stroking Li Mu’s hand. Tears streamed down as she sniffled in distress and complained bitterly, “If you run into danger like this again, Big Brother, you have to call for Ying’er, all right?”

“Of course. As long as you can form your spirit core, that’ll do.”

Li Mu smiled as he spoke.

Several days later, the wounds on his body had mostly recovered.

Li Mu sat by the side of the cave, pondering the sand formation in his hand.

He was extremely fond of this treasure and felt there was much power yet to be dug out of it. Mu Xiaolong had only used it as armor and for close combat, which was truly a waste.

He had studied it for a long time. The restrictions and seals on the sand formation were numerous, but not necessarily complicated. In truth, they were only a simple restriction engraved onto every grain of sand. Its purpose was to use true energy to control the sand’s gathering and dispersing. Yet with sand of this kind, it could bring forth far too many capabilities.

“Should I use the purple flame to refine it again?”

The idea arose in Li Mu’s mind. Though he knew little about artifact refining, having only skimmed a few books and learned the basics, he could see that this sand formation did not seem to require any elaborate refining method. It might only need to be continuously tempered.

Then he would try.

Very quickly, a purple flame appeared before Li Mu.

“What are you doing?” asked Shen Bingxue, who was refining medicine nearby. Feeling the heat, she turned to look.

Li Mu did not pay much attention to her. “Refining an artifact.”

“Just like that?” Shen Bingxue was stunned. She had seen artifact refining before, and it absolutely was not done this way. “Then why not use my furnace?”

Li Mu looked up and laughed. “Leave it be. I’m just trying something. Pharmacist Shen, you go on with your work.”

“Ah, what an ungrateful fellow.” Shen Bingxue turned back in irritation and resumed refining medicine, but her control of true energy wavered for a moment, and the pills were nearly ruined.

Li Mu ignored her. He fully released the sand formation, and in an instant a mound of sand rose from the ground.

He carefully controlled his true energy, causing every grain of sand to float into the air and drift toward the purple flame.

Time passed. This was extremely demanding work: he had to maintain the purple flame while precisely controlling the sand. The tempering of each grain of sand inside the flame was no ordinary matter. It could not be too brief, or the refinement would be incomplete; it could not be too long, or the sand would turn to hot vapor.

After some time, Li Mu’s true energy was nearly exhausted, and only a portion of the sand had been refined.

He slowly sat down and took a pill to restore some of his true energy.

Inside, he was somewhat vexed. At this rate, refining it fully would take who knew how many days. He did not have so much time to waste on artifact refining.

Li Mu kept shaking his head, until he heard a soft laugh.

Looking up, he saw Shen Bingxue sitting on a stool with one leg crossed, smiling at him. Her bright eyes held a trace of amusement.

Li Mu thought to himself, What wisdom does Pharmacist Shen have?

Shen Bingxue had watched for quite some time and had already formed an idea. Curling her lips, she said lightly, “Shopkeeper Li, do you know about fire control formations? Do you know how to change flames? Do you know the art of alchemical transformation?”

Li Mu nodded with utmost seriousness. “I do not.”

“I knew you’d never studied this. Artifact refining and alchemy actually share some similarities, and I know a little about artifact refining too. But let me ask you this: surely your strange alchemy method cannot be used for artifact refining, can it?” Shen Bingxue looked slightly pleased with herself.

Li Mu said nothing, inwardly thinking that his alchemy methods could indeed be used for artifact refining—he simply could not say so.

Thinking she had bested him, Shen Bingxue stepped down from the stool. “The way you’re doing it is too slow, and the results may not even be very good. Watch me demonstrate.”

She crouched slightly and flicked her fingers, and a ring of flame instantly floated before her.

“Watch carefully.”

Li Mu used his spiritual sense to inspect it. The flame was solid and uniform, as though sealed within a ring with not the slightest leak. More than that, if one looked closely, the fire seemed almost alive, revolving ceaselessly within the circle.

“Excellent control over fire energy,” Li Mu praised.

“By controlling true energy so that the flames remain exactly the same from every direction, with no distinction between inside and out, that is the path of uniform fire. Not a single wisp of flame is wasted. Also, the flame must remain connected as one continuous flow, circulating without end. Only then can true energy be conserved. If you can do all this, then you may be considered able to refine medicine and artifacts. Go on and refine it.” When she spoke of medicine and alchemy, Shen Bingxue’s expression became complicated.

“I’ll try.”

Li Mu nodded. His control of true energy and fire energy was certainly no worse than Shen Bingxue’s; he simply had not studied it properly.

“All right.”

A little later, another identical ring of flame appeared before Li Mu, though its color was somewhat paler.

Shen Bingxue looked at him in astonishment. “That fast?”

Seeing Li Mu’s fire ring, the surprise on Shen Bingxue’s face did not fade, but she still nodded. “Fine. It seems your talent is excellent, though still a little lacking compared to mine.”

In terms of control over true energy, Li Mu was stronger than Shen Bingxue. Once he understood the method, he would naturally be faster.

“And then?” Li Mu asked, the flame seeming somewhat unstable.

Shen Bingxue was quite satisfied. “The sand—how long should it be tempered?”

Li Mu thought for a moment. “About the time it takes to burn for one or two breaths.”

Shen Bingxue nodded slightly and lifted her jade hand. A few grains of sand flew out from the sand mound, circled within the ring of fire, and then fell before Li Mu.

“How is it?”

Li Mu examined it very carefully. “Much better. Better than what I had just now.”

“You know what to do, then. With this kind of fire, a few breaths should be enough.” Smiling, Shen Bingxue returned to her stool. It was clear her mood had greatly improved.

“Thank you, Pharmacist Shen, for pointing me in the right direction.”

Li Mu smiled and bowed politely, then immediately immersed himself in artifact refining.

The ring of fire kept spinning, while grains of sand continued to rise from the earth and stream in neat lines toward it. They circled within the ring, then fell away to the side, forming a new sand mound.

A gleam flashed in Li Mu’s eyes. “At this speed, it’s improved by several times over compared to before. And the refining effect is even better.”

As he thought of this, he unconsciously looked toward Shen Bingxue. To his surprise, she was also looking at him, and the two of them ended up staring directly at each other.

“Why are you staring?” Shen Bingxue said in annoyance before turning away.

Sand went in and out in endless succession, and more time passed.

Looking at the sand formation in his hand, Li Mu was quite pleased.

The sand formation now bore a faint purple sheen, its shape becoming smoother and more refined. The grains within were also far more compact. Originally only a middling third-grade item, after this round of re-refinement, the sand formation had become a superior third-grade treasure.

Moreover, the original sand formation possessed no spell technique. Yet now, it actually contained a special art, a technique that only Li Mu himself could use.