This Stamping Art truly has its merits

Grain-like spirit-conducting copper flowed in through Lu Li's nostrils, entered the gray-silver-forged trachea, and finally poured wholesale into the Qi-Combining Cauldron.

The ticklish sensation made Lu Li sneeze several times in a row.

Reddish-brown spirit-conducting copper sprayed from Lu Li's nose, splattering the entire boat canopy like gushing blood slurry.

Lu Li rubbed his nose and circulated the Qi-Combining Cauldron again, gathering the scattered spirit-conducting copper. To his surprise, he discovered that its purity had actually increased.

"Fine, you found out after all. The Qi-Combining Cauldron itself can filter impurities. When the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is drawn inside, it can be refined and made one's own. It works on the same principle."

"Then where did all those impurities go?"

"Obviously, they're inside the Qi-Combining Cauldron. Yours is only a basic version that guarantees only the most basic functions, so remember to clean out the dust regularly."

"Ah, this..."

Cleaning out dust...

What a strange yet familiar phrase. Lu Li had only ever heard of cleaning dust out of computers. He had never imagined that one day, he would have to clean dust out of his own lungs.

"Doesn't that mean I'll have to cut open my chest and belly on a regular basis?"

"Mhm. You could install a zipper on your chest."

"Hiss..."

"What are you so surprised about? You don't even have boobs now. Your chest is just a thin layer of skin over bones—wouldn't cutting a hole be easy?"

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

Lu Li was a little bewildered. Could it be that cutting open one's chest and belly was actually commonplace for cultivators in this world?

Even after the conversation had reached this point, Elder Duan still did not forget to promote her loan business.

"Of course, later on you can take out a loan with me for a piece of [Azure Underworld Painted Skin], then get yourself a layer of [Ice Flesh]. With these two mechanical artifacts working together, you'll be hard as iron in battle, impervious to blades and spears. On ordinary days, you can even open holes wherever you please. Very convenient."

"Azure Underworld Painted Skin?"

"That's right. Replace your skin with Azure Underworld Painted Skin."

"Then would I turn into a gobli—ah, no, I mean, would my skin turn green?"

"What are you thinking? It's called Azure Underworld Painted Skin because its primary material comes from an Azure Underworld Demon Fox. Once you wear it, your skin will be like congealed cream and your face like richly tinted cinnabar. Plant a layer of Ice Flesh beneath it, and it'll be so delicate it could break with a breath or a touch. Tsk, tsk, tsk, absolutely beautiful."

Lu Li imagined it and immediately broke out in goosebumps.

He was a dignified man, standing tall beneath the heavens. If he ended up with the face of some pretty boy and a body softer and more tender than a woman's, it would be a serious loss of bearing and majesty, utterly lacking in masculine vigor.

"Is there, say... um, some kind of skin that's a little tougher? More masculine?"

"No. What I mentioned is a complete set. Tug one hair and the whole body moves; you can't just swap things around whenever you please. Don't underestimate this. Crafting artifacts and using artifacts are equally important, and the combination and matching of mechanical artifacts is the most crucial part of using them."

"Oh. Then I've truly learned something."

Even while they spoke, Lu Li's hands did not idle. This time, rather than using the differential centrifugation method to speed things up, he directly used the Qi-Combining Cauldron to filter them.

Unlike before, when he inhaled far too much in one go, Lu Li now took in the spirit ore mouthful by mouthful. The Qi-Combining Cauldron's suction in Liberation by Violence state was too strong, so he simply adjusted it into Heavenly Cycle state.

Unlike the violent storm-like inhalation of Liberation by Violence state, Heavenly Cycle state flowed like a gentle stream, its suction far softer—just like a tender cat demon, making one feel comfortable the moment it opened its mouth.

In this manner, Lu Li gradually grasped the trick to inhaling and exhaling spirit ore. Aside from the occasional hoarse snuffling from his nose, there was no other sound.

Whether gray silver or spirit-conducting copper, anything that passed through Lu Li's lungs immediately gained another half measure of purity, eventually reaching Lu Li's requirements.

The only fly in the ointment was that, to keep himself from choking, Lu Li could only swallow the spirit ore in tiny mouthfuls each time.

Lu Li focused his mind and calmed his breath, his eyes tightly shut. As time passed, his vision underwent subtle changes. He could actually vaguely sense the condition inside his body.

It had been tested before: his divine sense was low-grade Ding rank. Though he did not know precisely what that meant, ordinary people were presumably at about this level.

Lu Li could vaguely see grains of spirit ore circling and whirling within that lung-lobe-shaped cavity.

At first, Lu Li thought his divine sense had improved, allowing him to look inward at his own body. But he quickly realized that this was not divine sense at all, but the effect of aura itself.

This aura was like an extension of his senses. He could use it to detect the spirit ore at the bottom of the water, and naturally, he could now use it to sense the spirit ore inside his own body.

Under the effect of the Qi-Combining Cauldron, the grit within the spirit ore was separated out. The reddish-brown grains gradually melted into liquid, gathering into larger spherical particles.

These particles seemed exceptionally soft, their forms shifting and wavering.

Lu Li manipulated his aura, applying pressure from above and below to a particle of spirit-conducting copper. The round particle was pressed flat into a disc.

It was as though a pair of invisible iron hammers had forcibly pounded it flat.

Only Earth-rank clamp masters were qualified to operate mechanisms that stamped spirit swords. Lu Li did not possess an Earth-rank clamp master's certification, but he had visited a stamping workshop as a child and watched his father operate the mechanisms.

What he saw now was exactly the same as the stamping mechanisms in that workshop.

With a single thought from Lu Li, this spirit-conducting copper could be kneaded into any form he wished.

"Hm?"

The next moment, Lu Li recalled the two lines of incantation recorded in the Stamping Art—

[Iron pivot becomes the mold; a hundred refinements forge the blank.]

[The true form is fixed by a thousand jun; with one thought, ten thousand forms are crushed.]

"Though I have neither stamping molds nor the strength of a thousand jun, I do possess a breath of aura, which is even better than a stamping mold. In that case, I've achieved what is meant by becoming the mold and forging the blank.

"Though my fleshly body is frail, I possess the Qi-Combining Cauldron, turning external things to my own use. Only thus could I achieve what the Stamping Art spoke of—'When the true form of a thousand jun is set, a single thought drives ten thousand forms.'"

If the Stamping Art truly contained a cultivation method, then it absolutely was not something that could make one's body into a saint merely by chanting the mnemonic aloud. It was nowhere near as mystical as the novels from his previous life made it sound.

The essence of the Stamping Art was to borrow external force and turn it into one's own.

With this realization, Lu Li's mind suddenly opened up. The spirit-guiding copper completely crumbled into powder and merged into his astral qi. The astral qi fused with the spirit-guiding copper turned scarlet, coursing over and through his body before finally gathering in his palm.

The next moment, Lu Li abruptly rose to his feet. He slowly walked to the bow and gently threw a punch.

Bang!

The force of his fist surged forth, transforming into a scarlet giant hammer that blasted across the air toward the river, throwing up waves three zhang high more than ten meters away.

Its power left Lu Li utterly dumbfounded.

If that punch landed on someone, they would die or be crippled. Its might was far beyond what he had displayed when controlling iron filings that day. If he encountered those two disciples again, perhaps he could blow their heads apart in a single exchange.

The old Clamp Master had not deceived him. The Stamping Art truly contained a cultivation method!