Spirit Boat

After putting away the Supreme Goodness Pearl, Lin Yun rested briefly before setting about refining Han Li's Spirit Boat.

Refining the Spirit Boat posed little difficulty. After all, it was only a magical artifact, and Lin Yun finished it in just a day and a half.

Most of the seven days he had told Han Li to wait before collecting his treasure had actually been set aside for refining the Supreme Goodness Pearl.

Refining one magic treasure and one magical artifact had taken Lin Yun less than six days in total.

The appointed day arrived in the blink of an eye. Lin Yun waited in his cave abode, but Han Li still had not come to collect his treasure.

It was not until the afternoon of the ninth day that Han Li finally arrived at Lin Yun's cave abode, travel-worn and weary.

Although Han Li did not look as though anything serious had happened to him, he clearly had not rested well-a sight rarely seen in a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Lin Yun could not help asking curiously, "Junior Brother Han, what happened to you?"

Han Li rubbed his nose and gave a wry laugh. "Don't even mention it. Trouble fell on me out of nowhere. I originally intended to come here on time, but just as I was about to leave, a group of cultivators blocked my cave abode's entrance with a whole bunch of puppets. It was only thanks to Martial Uncle Lei Wanhe passing by that I managed to get away."

Han Li gave a rough account of what he had encountered two days earlier. Although he left some details unclear, Lin Yun still understood what had happened.

People from the Thousand Bamboo Sect. It looks like Han Li has already obtained the Great Evolution Art. By that reckoning, the Demonic Path's invasion shouldn't be far off. Their spies may even have entered the Yue Kingdom already. I need to hurry! Lin Yun thought.

To him, Han Li's experiences were rather like a timeline he could use to estimate when various events would occur.

Lin Yun had little interest in the Great Evolution Art Han Li had obtained. Although it was a fine cultivation art for strengthening spiritual sense, it should still have fallen well short of the Purple Mansion Secret Manual.

Nor did Lin Yun have any interest in studying the Puppet Technique that best complemented the Great Evolution Art. If he needed puppets, could he not simply capture a few Demonic Path cultivators and refine them into Divine Demons or refined corpses? Would those not be stronger than mindless puppets?

Besides, Demonic Path cultivators were everywhere, with all sorts of cultivation levels, whereas refining puppets required all manner of heavenly materials and earthly treasures. No matter how he considered it, it was a poor bargain.

Lin Yun rubbed his chin, silently pondering whether he should refine a few Corpse Puppets to practice his craft if he encountered any Demonic Path cultivators.

After finishing his account, Han Li looked expectantly at Lin Yun.

Lin Yun temporarily put aside his thoughts of refining Divine Demons. Taking out a palm-sized boat, he led Han Li outside the cave abode. "Junior Brother Han, come give it a try and see whether you're satisfied."

With that, he tossed the little boat into the air. It grew as it caught the wind, transforming into a black flying boat nearly twenty feet long, shaped like a speedboat.

Its long, narrow prow occupied more than half its length, while the seating area at the rear took up only a third. It was completely unlike the little boats Han Li usually saw and looked more like an oversized throwing dart.

After Han Li had carefully examined the flying boat before him for a moment,

Lin Yun led him aboard the speedboat-shaped vessel and said with a smile, "Let's test its speed first. Stand firm, Junior Brother Han."

He channeled magical power through his feet, and the flying boat abruptly shot away in a streak of red light. As they flew, he explained, "Although this is a fire-attribute flying boat, it works on the principle of wood feeding fire, so wood-attribute magical power can also fuel it. Its speed is no slower than when controlled directly with fire-attribute magical power."

"Most importantly, controlling it with wood-attribute magical power consumes thirty percent less power than using fire-attribute magical power."

"Junior Brother Han, I know your main cultivation art is wood-attribute. What do you think? Not a bad modification, is it?" Lin Yun asked with a smile.

Han Li was thoroughly delighted. He had originally worried that a flying boat refined from a fire-attribute python horn might be ill-suited to his wood-attribute magical power. He had never expected Lin Yun to solve the problem at its root.

Lin Yun pointed at the blue-green and red barrier glowing around the flying boat. "Oh, right. This outer barrier isn't just a windscreen. It's also a simplified Wind-Fire Shield Formation, which can use the power of wind and fire to neutralize attacks from a Foundation Establishment cultivator's five-element spells."

After taking Han Li on a high-speed circuit, Lin Yun brought him back to the entrance of his cave abode. "Now let's try its Fireball Technique."

He pointed a finger at the prow, sending a streak of blue-green magical power from his fingertip onto it.

Under Han Li's dumbfounded gaze, a ring of runes instantly lit up on the prow, shining red. Then it spat out fist-sized fireballs one after another, bombarding the Five-Element Strange Gate Formation before the cave abode and stirring up ripples of five-colored light.

Only after a quarter of an hour of continuous bombardment did Lin Yun stop. He opened a hidden compartment in the cabin, revealing five low-grade fire-attribute spirit stones whose spiritual energy had been exhausted.

"Junior Brother Han, this Wind-Fire Boat's attacks and defenses are powered entirely by spirit stones, without consuming any of the pilot's own magical power. If you want stronger attacks and defenses, you only need to replace these with mid-grade spirit stones. What do you think? Not bad, right?"

Han Li's eyes shone with delight, and he nodded repeatedly. "Excellent! Excellent! Thank you, Senior Brother Lin! Your artifact-refining skills really are incredible!"

Lin Yun smiled modestly. If you weren't still unable to use magic treasures, adding another two taels of copper essence to this Wind-Fire Boat could even have turned it into one.

Stepping aside from the pilot's position, Lin Yun said with a smile, "Junior Brother Han, give it a try."

Under Lin Yun's guidance, Han Li began trying to control the flying boat.

The instant his spiritual sense and magical power connected with it, Han Li noticed something unexpected and blurted out, "This is a top-grade magical artifact?!"

From the outside, the flying boat looked like a mid-grade magical artifact. Even when Han Li had first scanned it with his spiritual sense, that was all he had detected. Only when he began piloting it did he discover that it was actually a top-grade magical artifact disguised as a mid-grade one!

Lin Yun smiled. "Well? Quite a surprise, isn't it?"

With his artifact-refining skills, how could he possibly produce a mere mid-grade magical artifact? Even though the python horn used as its raw material had come from an early Foundation Establishment python, he could still refine it into a top-grade magical artifact.

Delighted, Han Li began piloting the Wind-Fire Boat. Sure enough, it flew even faster than it had under Lin Yun's control!

After the test flight, the two returned to Lin Yun's cave abode. Han Li thanked him again, then asked him to help separate the green liquid. Only after receiving a drop of Cosmic Light True Water and a drop of Three Lights Divine Water did he happily take his leave aboard the Wind-Fire Boat.

Looking at the two drops of Three Lights Divine Water he had received, Lin Yun felt thoroughly satisfied. Han Li certainly knew how to show proper appreciation.

After Han Li left, Lin Yun rested in his cave abode for a night, then set off to find Senior Brother Ma.

As a veteran Foundation Establishment cultivator of Yellow Maple Valley and an alchemist, Senior Brother Ma enjoyed great respect in Yellow Maple

Valley and knew many of its secrets. Lin Yun therefore wanted to ask him about the locations of spirit stone mines.

Naturally, there was no need to go to the Hundred Herb Garden to find Senior Brother Ma. As a Foundation-Building Stage cultivator, he had of course established a cave abode in the Taiyue Mountain Range as well.

Following the address Senior Brother Ma had given him, Lin Yun rode the Taiyi Five-Smoke Gauze to the entrance of his cave abode and sent in a streak of voice-transmitting sword qi.

A moment later, Senior Brother Ma opened his cave abode's formation and welcomed Lin Yun inside.

Half a day later, Lin Yun left the Taiyue Mountain Range aboard the Taiyi Five-Smoke Gauze, his expression calm.

Although he had learned the locations of several spirit stone mines by sounding Senior Brother Ma out indirectly, they were all small mines and entirely unsuitable for his purposes.

With no other choice, he could only descend the mountain once again and resume searching for a needle in the ocean.