Taking the Stars and Moon, Forging Heaven and Earth into Artifacts! Please Keep Reading! Please Vote!

How could artifact forging be such an inconvenient thing?

Pei Suo's Artifact Forger's Notes recorded that every major city had an Artifact Forger Guild, one on the same level as the Alchemist Guild. Within the Artifact Forger Guild, the ranks of Artifact Forgers had also been standardized to match those of Alchemists. Alchemists were ranked from first to ninth grade, while Artifact Forgers were ranked from first to ninth rank. Of course, different regions had different names, with some using star ratings or grade rankings.

However, the highest-ranked Artifact Forgers currently on the Dou Qi Continent were only peak Sixth-rank Artifact Forgers. Earth-grade Artifact Forgers corresponding to Dou Zongs and Dou Zuns—that was, Seventh-rank and Eighth-rank Artifact Forgers—did not exist.

At the same time, Jiang Lin finally understood how mainstream Artifact Forgers on the Dou Qi Continent classified the realms of artifact forging.

Although Artifact Forgers of the present could not achieve it, that ranking system passed down since the Ancient Era had always remained within the Artifact Forging Legacy. Low Earth-grade corresponded to Dou Zongs and Seventh-rank Artifact Forgers, also known as Artifact Forging Grandmasters. Mid Earth-grade corresponded to ordinary Dou Zuns, while high Earth-grade corresponded to Dou Zuns of the first transformation and above. All of them fell under Eighth-rank Artifact Forgers, also known as Vessel Venerables. Dou Artifacts of this realm were also called Venerable Artifacts in some places and could serve as Ancestral Inheritance Artifacts.

Above that came Ninth-rank Artifact Forgers. The gap between Dou Saints of this realm was immense, so Heaven-grade Dou Artifacts directly corresponded to the entire range from one-star to nine-star Dou Saints. Ninth-rank Dou Artifacts were also known as Heaven Artifacts or Saint Artifacts, while Ninth-rank Artifact Forgers were also known as Holy Artifact Masters. Saint Artifacts could also serve as Inheritance Saint Artifacts, and their lifespans were simply beyond comparison with those of Dou Saints.

"So the Artifact Forger rankings had always been there. It was just that there were no records of inheritances above the sixth rank." The Artifact Forger Medal undoubtedly piqued Jiang Lin's interest. He temporarily suppressed the excitement in his heart and reread Pei Suo's Artifact Forger's Notes from beginning to end. Pei Suo's notes certainly contained no information on Seventh-rank, Eighth-rank, or Ninth-rank Artifact Forgers. They merely mentioned matters below the sixth rank, but Jiang Lin could infer some information about Artifact Forging Grandmasters, Vessel Venerables, and Holy Artifact Masters through that logic.

"The transparent square in the center of this Artifact Forger Medal feels rather like a cauldron. Could the stars inside represent the sun, moon, and stars? The flame relief around it represents smelting... All right, taking the stars and moon, forging heaven and earth into artifacts. Even if everyone can only reach Sixth-rank Artifact Forger at most right now, we can't lose in ambition, can we?"

Jiang Lin wore a strange expression as he played with Pei Suo's Artifact Forger Medal. The Jia Ma Empire's Imperial Capital housed the Jia Ma Empire's only Artifact Forger Guild. According to the Artifact Forger Guild's ranking system, Jiang Lin was currently a late Second-rank Artifact Forger, on the same level as Big Brother Pei Suo.

"Once I'm stronger and have upgraded my equipment, I can visit the Artifact Forger Guild in the Jia Ma Imperial Capital to get an Artifact Forger Medal. I can also look into all kinds of knowledge about Artifact Forgers within the guild."

The Artifact Forger Guild surely possessed much knowledge Jiang Lin needed. This was evident from the Azure Feather Bow and Azure Feather Archery on Big Brother Pei Suo—a remarkably rare matched set of Dou Artifact and Dou Technique. Artifact Forgers in this world had a deep foundation; their upper limit had simply been locked away.

"Big Brother Pei Suo has been too good to me. I should hurry up and revive him." Jiang Lin put everything into his precious Storage Ring, glanced at Pei Suo's corpse in the Alchemy Pool, and continued following the procedures of the Mystic Armor Puppet Technique to carry out the first step of Corpse-Body Weaponization on Pei Suo's body.

The Mystic Armor Puppet Technique was broadly divided into four stages. The first was Corpse-Body Weaponization: special medicinal liquids and powders were used to remove the corpse's signs of life while preserving its living form, meaning things like the human body's meridians had to remain intact. Living organisms decayed, but materials did not. At most, they would slowly corrode, and that would take an extremely long time.

The second step was Artifact Corpse Meridian Conversion: first repair the artifact corpse's meridians, then concoct a special mercury-like liquid metal to replace the blood and supply energy to the artifact corpse's entire body. Jiang Lin had happened to conduct similar research before, so this was very simple for him.

The third step was Artifact Corpse Soul Imbuement: this had originally been the most difficult part, but the artifact forging predecessors had long understood that, so they had left behind the Soul-Containing Parchment in advance. Hurry up, thank the artifact forging predecessors!

The fourth step was Refining Corpse Igniting Heart: under high temperatures, the various materials within the Mystic Armor Puppet fused together. At the same time, the Mystic Armor Puppet's liquid-metal bloodline was ignited, allowing it to move directly without a heart. The price was that Mystic Armor Puppets had durability. Once their blood burned out, they shut down. However, so long as it was not injured or engaged in intense combat, the liquid-metal blood of one Mystic Armor Puppet could keep it running for at least three years.

So Jiang Lin finally understood why this puppet secret technique had the words Mystic Armor in its name. It was actually reminding you to armor your puppet properly and not let it get slashed and bleed.

Two days later, while Jiang Lin was still preparing the Mystic Armor Puppet, he suddenly looked at Blue Eagle. He had suddenly remembered that it was time to let Blue Eagle go.

"Leaving?"

Outside the valley, Jiang Lin watched Blue Eagle stretch its wings.

"Coo?" Blue Eagle looked at Jiang Lin in confusion.

"Can you not leave?"

"Coo coo coo coo coo?"

"..." Jiang Lin watched Blue Eagle rise into the air and pondered for a long time.

"I'll raise you!"

Blue Eagle: "..."

"Coo!" Blue Eagle cursed at him, then immediately flew away without looking back, showing not the slightest attachment.

But thinking about it, Jiang Lin was a food-wasting demon in its eyes, and a crazy one at that. As a Magical Beast, it felt afraid deep down whenever it stayed near him.

Jiang Lin scratched his head and watched Blue Eagle fly away with an embarrassed look. He sighed inwardly, turned around, returned to the valley, changed into another set of clothes, then relied on his Superman Spiritual Sense to avoid the Magical Beasts of the Monster Mountain Range and quietly returned to the place where the battle had taken place. He discovered that those battlefields had already been cleaned up by fearless mercenaries. The only relatively intact Golden Feather Bow and Mystic Underworld Shield had both vanished without a trace.

"They were pretty quick at picking things up. Still, it's fine. I've got better ones." From the shadows of the forest, Jiang Lin glanced at the charred mountainside, then quietly made his way down a small path toward Qingshan Town at the foot of the mountain.

Normally, Jiang Lin gave people the impression that he had great stamina and immense strength, causing them to overlook the fact that he was also fast. Having lost his heavy armor and greatsword, Jiang Lin wore Dou Artifact War Boots. With their Lightness trait activated and Explosive Step in use, ordinary Dou Masters and Second-Order Magical Beasts could forget about catching him.

"Good thing I had these war boots, or this really would have been troublesome." Jiang Lin climbed over the wall into the rear courtyard of Myriad Medicine Hall, only to be caught red-handed by Mr. Yao, who was drinking tea and basking in the sun in his little courtyard.

"Have you eaten?" Mr. Yao did not seem surprised by Jiang Lin's appearance. The moment he saw him, he asked whether he had eaten.

"Uh, yes, I have." Jiang Lin nodded, then briefly explained what had happened over the past few days to Mr. Yao.