Establishing an acquisition point in the Underworld caused Tiande’s backer to spend a lot of resources. However, they still had to do it. This was because the Underworld had plenty of treasures that the Cultivation Realm needed.
Normally, lower realms wouldn’t have much treasures that Cultivators would fancy. This was because the environment of the Cultivation Realm and lower realms were fundamentally different. Therefore, treasures normally wouldn’t appear in the lower realms.
However, the Underworld was different. This was a plane that was bordering pure yin. Such a place could give birth to valuable yin attribute treasures. These treasures hashuge uses in the Cultivation Realm.
Tiande’s identity in the Cultivation Realm was a mere battle corpse. However, his backer painstakingly made him go to the Underworld. He was selected because he was fairly weak. And after he was refined to strengthen him a bit, he was sent to the Underworld in order to obtain the plane’s treasures.
Tiande’s actions in the Underworld were controlled by the person behind him. It was precisely because of this that Tiande was able to direct the Neutral Alliance to do business as well as keep the plane’s power balance. His backers were good at this aspect.
However, everything changed with Zhao Hai’s arrival. Zhao Hai’s strength and the number of his Undead was beyond their imagination. He was able to become a supreme power in the Underworld in a short time. Within that short time, Zhao Hai completely destroyed the calculations that Tiande made. The situation that they had maintained for many years have been completely destroyed.
It was for this reason that they wanted to have a discussion with Zhao Hai, hoping that Zhao Hai would give them autonomy. They thought that Zhao Hai wouldn’t have any connections with the Cultivation Realm.
But to their dismay, not only was Zhao Hai connected to the Cultivation Realm, he was also unafraid of gaining more enemies. They didn’t think that Zhao Hai would actually dare to be so bold against people from the Cultivation Realm. He was even planning to go against them and contend for the ownership of the Underworld.
Before long, the transmission formation flashed with brilliant lights. A rolled beast skin appeared in the middle of the formation. Tiande immediately took the beast skin and read its contents: “You must protect our position in the Underworld. In a while we would be passing a few weapons to you. Use these weapons to defend against Zhao Hai. It would be best if you could kill him and completely control the Underworld.”
At this moment, the formation flashed once more. This time, a pile of weapons appeared. The weapons numbered several hundred. They weren’t big, there were swords that were at the size of a hairpin.
However, Tiande knew that these were weapons from an upper realm, and they were very strong. The weapons of the Underworld wouldn’t be able to contend against these.
Tiande immediately took the weapons from the formation. After that, the formation flashed once more, another pile of weapons was seen. Before long, Tiande had taken out about 3000 weapons from the formation.
When the transmission formation stopped shining, Tiande took another beast skin and wrote, “My Lord can feel relieved. This subordinate will surely kill Zhao Hai and protect the Underworld.”
After sending the beast skin, Tiande took the weapons to the hall below. Then he called over his subordinates and told them about the uses of the weapons. After that, Tiande had the stronger Undead pick the weapons for themselves
Naturally, the Undead wouldn’t be polite and picked the weapons they most liked. Although these weapons looked small, they would enlarge as soon as energy was injected to them. Moreover, the Undead didn’t need to use their hands to wield the weapons. The weapons could fly in the air and attack enemies from several li(0.5km) away
It can be said that if one’s spiritual force was strong enough, then they would be able to send their weapons hundreds of li to kill their enemy. Naturally, the spiritual force needed to control these weapons was quite huge, and the requirements to make it fly was even bigger. Even if these Undead had great weapons, the most they could control the weapons would be several li ahead. Also, they can launch their weapons no more than five times. If they attacked more than that, then the weapon might not be able to return.
But despite these limitations, the weapons still improved their strengths by at least threefold. This was enough to tip the scales of a war.
However, what they didn’t know was the fact that everything that just happened had fallen into Zhao Hai’s eyes. After vanishing and returning to the Space, Zhao Hai opened the monitor to see what Tiande and the others would do. Zhao Hai believed that after Guli said those words, Tiande would immediately ask for instructions from his backers. And it seems like he guessed correctly. After asking for guidance, Tiande was able to gain a lot of weapons from the Cultivation Realm.
When Zhao Hai saw these weapons, his expression turned dark as he coldly snorted and said, “You want to kill me using those weapons? Continue dreaming.”
Laura and the others weren’t by Zhao Hai’s side, they were still busy with the Processing Machine. However, Zhao Hai didn’t care about it. He waved his hand, then a map appeared on the monitor. On this map were small points. These dots were places that Zhao Hai wanted to scour, the places under the Dark Temple where the Heart Defending Clan buried their treasure rooms.
From the inheritance he gained from the giant heart, there were many treasures hidden in the Dark Temple’s territory. Some of these treasures were ores while some were plant essences. These things were prepared by the Heart Defending Clan, therefore they wouldn’t expire after a long time.
And besides these things, there were five treasure rooms that had magic artifacts inside. However, even if the artifacts were refined to an advanced level, they had yet to undergo the last step, so they were still incomplete.
Zhao Hai also learned the Heart Defending Clan’s refinement process. From the clan’s records, refining treasures was divided into four stages. These stages were: Smelting, Tempering, Forming, and Spirit Attachment.
Smelting and Tempering were the simplest steps. As long as one had the material, then one could smelt it with the appropriate flame. The length of smelting affected the quality of the weapon.
As for tempering, there were plenty of methods to do so. The simplest way was to use a hammer to temper the metal. But generally, this method could only be applied when making low-level equipment. As for high-level items, one generally used the spiritual force in addition to their own strength in order to temper the materials. Materials hammered using this method would become stronger.
The third step wasn’t so simple. If one wanted to make a personalized weapon, then Forming was very important. The weapons used by each person were different. Even if two identical blades were handed to two people, the way they use it would be different. In the end, after numerous uses, the blades would wear in accordance to their user’s habits.
If one wanted to make a weapon for himself, then they would need to be careful in the forming process. One must make a weapon that one was accustomed to. This way, one would not need to take a long time to use the weapon to their full potential.
The last step, Spirit Attachment, was the most difficult part in refining weapons. The spirit attached to the weapon would determine its level. Low-level items, categorized as 1st – 3rd level artifacts, couldn’t be attached with spirits. These weapons were limited by their materials. Because of this, artifacts up to the 3rd level were called low-level magic artifacts. The Heart Defending Clan deemed these artifacts as Inferior-grade artifacts.
But starting from the 4th-6th level, artifacts would be able to hold spirits. As for these weapons, only low level spirit souls could be attached. These souls would act just like puppets, listening to any instructions but couldn’t think for themselves. Such artifacts were called Intermediate-grade artifacts.
Artifacts on the 7th-9th level were called Advanced-grade artifacts. These artifacts can be attached with high-ranked souls. After Spirit Attachment, these artifacts would have autonomy and would be able to absorb energy from the surroundings. Aside from helping their masters attack, they could also aid their masters in their cultivation. These weapons were very formidable.
Above 7th-9th artifacts were items that were called Great Treasures. These treasures also had spirits inside them. Moreover, the wisdom of these spirits was very high. Great treasures were items that choose their masters instead of the other way around. They were leagues better than 9th-level artifacts. After being made, these treasures would then be able to freely choose their masters. Naturally, creating these Great Treasures needed world-shaking materials as well as difficult manufacturing methods. After years upon years of effort, the Heart Defending Clan managed to make five of these treasures. However, of these five, four of them were destroyed in the great war while the last treasure received great damage. That treasure was the cauldron that was now in Zhao Hai’s hands. And since the artifact’s spirit was seriously damaged, it can be said that it was an incomplete Great Treasure.
The magic artifacts that the Heart Defending Clan had in their treasure rooms were 7th-9th level artifacts. However, these artifacts didn’t have spirits. But once these items undergoes Spirit Attachment, they would then be able to demonstrate the strength of Advanced-grade Artifacts.
From what Tiande told his subordinates, Zhao Hai was able to tell that the weapons sent through transmission formations didn’t have spirits inside. In other words, Intermediate-grade and Advanced-grade weapons couldn’t be transported. This means that Tiande only had Inferior-grade artifacts in his hands.