"Qian was the horse, Kun the ox, Zhen the dragon, Xun the chicken, Kan the swine, Li the pheasant, Gen the dog, Dui the sheep..."
"Eight souls, eight trigrams, yin and yang united..."
"Refine!"
Meng Fuyun personally presided over the Central Array Platform, his gaze fixed on the Ritual Dial. From time to time, he formed hand seals and sent streams of spiritual essence and magic power into designated positions.
Guided by the array, the power within flowed through the restrictions established beforehand, transforming into the force that controlled the Grand Formation.
Outside, thick smoke billowed above the volcanic crater, as though the mighty forces of nature were gathering within, ready to erupt.
With a roar like a dragon's cry, the souls of countless living creatures suddenly surged forth together, turning into rolling clouds of smoke that poured inside.
These were the essence souls Meng Fuyun had prepared beforehand, but they were not the principal ingredients for this artifact refining, merely auxiliary materials.
As Li Chen had said, modern cultivators were far more lavish than the ancient cultivators of old when refining magical treasures and Mechanism Puppets.
Although the Ancient Cultivation World had possessed abundant spiritual essence, with all manner of heavenly treasures growing between heaven and earth for anyone to gather, those treasures would not fly into someone's pockets of their own accord for no reason.
Even picking them up required walking over, reaching out, and bending down.
This was the cultivation world's primitive economy.
Later, sects began to emerge. Their disciples traveled far and wide, slaying demons and vanquishing monsters, largely to gather those heavenly treasures.
But the sects of that time were merely lineages of three or five disciples, meant to keep the incense burning and pass down cultivation arts. The entire cultivation world maintained a conservative