Experiment (part two)

Unable to work out the crux of the problem, Chen Lin simply began his second attempt.

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

After casting a Vajra Cover, he widened his eyes and watched closely as he completed the formation.

Bang!

Another failure.

The blast was just as powerful as before.

This time, however, Chen Lin had seen what happened. Once he finished connecting the magic array, part of the refining process had actually been completed.

The magic arrays on the two Thunderbolt Beads and the one on the dark silver had changed, merging into a single whole.

At that point, the two Thunderbolt Beads were no longer separate objects. They had become a new, half-finished product, which was why the explosion had been so weak.

The same principle applied when refining ordinary Thunderbolt Beads: the power of an explosion from a failed attempt could not be mentioned in the same breath as that of a finished product.

This discovery filled him with delight.

That meant he no longer had to worry about blowing himself up. It also solved the problem of the explosions attracting attention. Given the cellar's depth, even whether such a faint noise could reach the surface was uncertain.

With those worries behind him, Chen Lin began refining faster.

By evening, he had brought his attempt count up to nine.

The tenth attempt.

The process was the same as ever. Once he reached the last step, Chen Lin sharpened his focus.

With a gentle stroke of the Inscription Tool, he connected the beginning and end of the magic array.

As expected, the moment mana began circulating through the array patterns, it activated the Thunderbolt Beads, and the attempt failed.

The miraculous scene appeared again.

Before the explosion could sound, an invisible hand pressed the erupting energy back into place. A bead one size larger than an ordinary Thunderbolt Bead appeared on the wooden board.

"Haha! It worked!"

Chen Lin burst into excited laughter.

Although his earlier reasoning had suggested there would be no problem, this was something he had created himself. It was his first attempt at such a thing, and he had felt far from confident.

He had never expected to complete it in one smooth run.

He picked up the bead and examined it closely. Besides being a size larger, its array patterns were somewhat more intricate, while the fluctuations of the energy contained within were much more subtle.

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

As things stood, whenever he went out, Ye Jingyun might be watching him from the shadows-or protecting him, depending on how one looked at it.

He did not want anyone to know about this thing, however, so he could only place unconditional trust in his own talent ability and refrain from testing it.

After refining for so long without a break, Chen Lin felt a little numb. He climbed the ladder to the surface.

First, he went into the courtyard to stretch his limbs, both to check the situation and to show that he had been there all along and had not left.

After moving around for a while, he returned to his room and made something simple to eat. Once he finished, he squeezed in two attempts at refining Chuyuan Pills, making some noise from the failures before returning to the cellar.

He did not come out all night.

Early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Chen Lin returned to the surface.

Although his face looked haggard, his eyes held an irrepressible joy.

He walked to the table and touched his Storage Bag. Four beads appeared on the tabletop, one large and three small.

Even the three smaller ones were a full size larger than ordinary Thunderbolt Beads, about the size of goose eggs. They were the products of combining two Thunderbolt Beads.

The large one was as big as an ostrich egg. It was the result of a second round of combining, made from two of the "goose-egg" Thunderbolt Beads.

Just sitting there, that enormous thing gave off an oppressive feeling.

Its power could hardly be weak.

He called the beads produced by a single round of combining Thunderbolt No. 2, and those produced by two rounds Thunderbolt No. 3. He also decided that after resting for a while, he would make a Thunderbolt No. 4!

Anything beyond that was out of reach for now.

For one thing, he did not have enough materials to refine more Thunderbolt Beads. For another, the explosions from failed attempts were growing increasingly powerful. Most importantly, the number of attempts needed to combine and refine a Thunderbolt No. 3 was already frightening. Fortunately, he had some Thunderbolt Beads in stock, and not every batch required ten attempts for one success. His success rate had improved with practice; otherwise, he could never have made one in a single night.

Who knew how many attempts it would take to produce a Thunderbolt No. 4? Unless his success rate improved again, there was little hope.

Moreover, while refining Thunderbolt No. 3, the blast from a failure had shattered one layer of Vajra Cover. With No. 4, it would probably reach the defensive barrier's limit.

As for No. 5, even setting aside the number of attempts required, he had no way to solve the defensive problem. He could not even be sure that a Liuding Xuanjia Talisman would withstand it, so there was no point indulging in fantasies.

After cleaning himself with a Cleansing Spell and eating a little, Chen Lin still went out for a circuit of the courtyard.

Yu Yuehai's room was completely silent. He had no idea whether anyone was inside.

That suited him perfectly. He hung a sign on his door announcing that he was in secluded cultivation, installed a Warning Device inside the door, then entered the cellar.

Time hurried by.

Chen Lin grew quiet, barely leaving his room. On the rare occasions when he went out, he always returned in a hurry.

Another morning came.

He opened the door wide and drew a breath of fresh air.

He suddenly noticed that the spring scenery had grown even more beautiful, and even the air carried a fragrance.

He cooked all his remaining spirit rice and took out a piece of stored monster beast meat, making a dish of stir-fried shredded meat.

Finally, he brought out a bottle of strong liquor, pouring and drinking by himself.

Since transmigrating, Chen Lin had never felt so at ease.

But that ease lasted only a little while. Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, he got busy again.

First, he used up his remaining Chuyuan Pill ingredients. Although there were not enough for ten attempts and he would not obtain a pill, he could build up the count first, making his future refining faster.

To Chen Lin's regret, including his previous attempts, he had brought the total all the way up to nine-just one attempt short of producing a pill.

Unfortunately, after Yu Yuehai's round of plundering, the city was bound to grow increasingly chaotic. Gathering enough ingredients for Chuyuan Pills was out of the question for now.

Besides, after he broke through to the mid Qi Refinement realm, the Chuyuan Pills had begun losing their effectiveness. They no longer worked as well as they had in the early Qi Refinement realm. If he could leave safely, he would do best to find a new pill formula for improving his cultivation.

Just then, the scene of obtaining the Enlightenment Pill formula surfaced in his mind. Yu Yuehai had kept quite a few pill formulas in his robes. He wondered whether they were all genuine.

If they were genuine...

Chen Lin immediately shook his head.

Yu Yuehai was nowhere near as amenable as Ye Jingyun. He had better not go looking for trouble.

Casting aside that impractical idea, he took out the Sword Formula Jade Slip he had obtained in his trade with Xu Ruolan and immersed himself in it.

This was not a sword formula in the conventional sense. It was quite unusual.

The sword formula had no name, either. Once mastered, it would form a strand of exceptionally sharp "sword qi" in his dantian.

Though called sword qi, it was actually a special kind of energy. Attaching it to a flying sword would increase the sword's offensive power.

It could also be released directly to attack an enemy.

Its peculiarity lay in the fact that this strand of sword qi had little power at first. It required constant nurturing through a special method, and the longer it was nurtured, the more powerful it became.

Such a cultivation method meant it could never be used as a routine ability, only as a hidden weapon. Even so, it would make a fine trump card, capable of producing unexpected results at a critical moment.

Another discovery delighted Chen Lin as well: this sword qi was a body of energy that could move around inside him.

It gave him a bold idea.