Sacrificial Artifact Refinement

You've disappointed me so much!

With his escaping spirit returning to his body, Zhang Xuezhou could be considered to have returned in triumph.

But experiencing something like this was undoubtedly terrible, especially since Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly called out to Wei Shao'er, but Wei Shao'er didn't seem to notice at all.

He had no choice but to call Wei Shao'er out and give him a scolding.

"Is someone really coming to kill you?"

Wei Shao'er was startled.

Within a few days, the mansion was embroiled in a sword theft incident, and Zhang Xuezhou was attacked at night, but Wei Shao'er either left or did not participate.

These things cannot be entirely blamed on Wei Shao'er, but she did indeed fail in her duty.

"Where are they?" Wei Shao'er exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you make a sound when you were fighting?"

"Wasn't there a 'plop plop' sound?"

"I thought someone was using the toilet to relieve themselves!"

Zhang Xuezhou said something, while Wei Shao'er said that such a sound was too difficult to distinguish.

For Wei Shao'er, the sound of clashing swords would immediately alert her, but she had never heard the sound of normal combat.

"Your teamwork is terrible," Zhang Xuezhou complained.

"This isn't my fault. You didn't even take me with you to run around and see who your opponent was and what their characteristics were. How was I supposed to know this would happen?" Wei Shao'er argued, her face flushed.

"You're too slow. I can't get anything done while you're running, and I can't take you anywhere," Zhang Xuezhou said, waving his hand.

"How fast do you need it?" Wei Shao'er asked cautiously.

"You'd need at least the leg strength of Commander Cheng, or you could find a top-grade flying magic Law Treasure!"

While Technique Method- based cultivators have many drawbacks, some of their advantages are gaps that martial arts practitioners can never close in their entire lives.

Among the martial artists Zhang Xuezhou had seen, very few could make long-distance raids. Even Cheng Bushi, who was skilled in raids, could only travel a thousand miles a day, a world of difference from Zhang Xuezhou.

Among the top fifty cultivators in the Three Realms Flying Technique, only a few dozen could keep up with Zhang Xuezhou.

If the Holy Mother of Wudang can't give Wei Shao'er any top-tier treasures, it will be very difficult for Wei Shao'er to travel around with Zhang Xuezhou for the rest of his life.

Even though Rong Tianding improved his physique with the help of the Spirit Silk Jade Lotus, he was only suitable to follow Zhang Xuezhou within a certain area at the moment. If they were to travel to places like Kunlun or Lingshan, the distance would be far beyond Rong Tianding, let alone Wei Shao'er's.

However, Zhang Xuezhou also encouraged Wei Shao'er to improve his skills in this area, since his opponents would most likely be good at flying or running, which would make it possible for Donghua to send them from the distant Kunlun. When dealing with them, long-distance running might be unavoidable.

"Are you trying to send me to heaven?!"

Wei Shao'er murmured something.

The court's most skilled generals, adept at raids, were deemed the minimum acceptable standard, and Wei Shao'er could already foresee his own inadequacy.

If Wei Shao'er hadn't used Zhang Xuezhou as a test subject, or hadn't been so captivated by Zhang Xuezhou's two simple coughs that he couldn't extricate himself, he would have just taken Zhang Xuezhou's boasting as mere bragging.

She obviously didn't need to verify how strong Zhang Xuezhou's running ability was at the moment, but Wei Shao'er really couldn't understand why Zhang Xuezhou had reached such an unattainable level during these years of simply recuperating from illness.

This is like how other singers can't imagine why Wei Shao'er can release new songs from time to time, why every song can become a hit, and why the songs can spread far and wide.

This is something difficult to understand, yet it is a reality.

" In the Great Han Dynasty, only a few hundred cultivators could achieve the Only Me,' and only a few dozen could achieve the 'True Self, '" Zhang Xuezhou said earnestly. "If you want to advance, you can't follow the rules. This kind of cultivation isn't something you can improve by just practicing swordsmanship and beating children every day!"

"Don't even mention hitting your child. You'll be hitting him too when he's a few years older," Wei Shao'er said sullenly. "He's so cute when he's little, but he'll be so annoying when he grows up. Even a dog would run away if it saw him!"

"Are you exaggerating?"

"You have no idea that the sick kid has become the most popular kid at the Imperial Academy. He fights much more diligently than he studies!"

Wei Shao'er muttered in a low voice.

Zhang Xuezhou not only criticized her for not cooperating properly, but also brought up her family education to prevent chaos in the mansion. Wei Shao'er agreed with the former, but she found it difficult to agree with the latter.

After several rounds of rebuttal, Zhang Xuezhou finally conceded defeat, then stopped mentioning education and tolerated the minor commotion.

"By the way, if you have nothing to do while I'm away, keep an eye on Marquis of Weiqi Dou Ying, and see what he's up to!"

"Dou Ying?"

Before parting ways, Zhang Xuezhou entrusted Wei Shao'er with a matter.

Although he had planted a spy among Dou Ying, allowing Dou Ying to focus on investigating the framing of Guan Fu, Zhang Xuezhou still had to be wary of Dou Ying causing trouble again.

Furthermore, Zhang Xuezhou was also very interested in the whereabouts of the fake Red Empyrean Sword, wanting to see who the real thief was.

Wei Shao'er doesn't have any special investigative abilities, but as long as he follows Dou Ying, he might be able to come into contact with the truth.

"Alright, I'm not capable of running away with you. Dou Ying is a martial arts practitioner; he can't just fly to the heavens. I can keep an eye on him without any problem," Wei Shao'er assured him.

"Dou Ying... he really can fly!"

Zhang Xuezhou muttered something under his breath, shook his head, and went straight back to his room to continue nurturing the spirit wood staff.

He didn't understand the details of Huo Qubing's fusion Realm Technique, but Badun's cultivation method had been analyzed sentence by sentence, and his ability to learn it by following the instructions had never been bad.

Given the right conditions, Zhang Xuezhou can complete the cultivation process as instructed.

Having dismantled Dou Ying's Yang Soul incarnation with the help of the Spirit Wood Staff, Zhang Xuezhou was quite optimistic about this treasure he considered his path to enlightenment.

"Does this thing really require killing and sacrifice?"

Zhang Xuezhou, who stayed up all night, eventually became busy with the cultivation method.

Compared to its state during the nurturing process a few days ago, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the green light was no longer lifeless and was now full of vitality.

The awkwardness of the green light's fear of being extinguished, which forced it to cooperate, seemed to have greatly diminished, and it even felt somewhat intimate with Zhang Xuezhou, making his nurturing process much easier.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that the probability of successfully using the staff again would be very high.

However, maintaining skillful use of the staff would likely require him to defeat his opponent; if Zhang Xuezhou were to be defeated and flee in panic, that would be a different story altogether.

"Dou Ying wasn't killed by me. Did you gain something when you defeated his Yang Soul Incarnation?"

Zhang Xuezhou thought about Dou Ying's outburst of emotions, smashing and throwing things around, and belatedly realized something was amiss.

Zhang Xuezhou's spirit incarnation was killed by Mao, a first-class guest minister of the King of Huainan's Household, with an axe. After returning to his body, he did not show any such emotional outburst.

Zhang Xuezhou initially thought this was Dou Ying's instinctive reaction as a general losing control of his body to protect himself. However, he felt that Dou Ying's injuries might be much greater than when he destroyed his Yang Soul incarnation, and might even involve damage to his soul.

Even though Dou Ying took the Qi and Blood Pill treasured in the mansion, the other party still needed to drink alcohol to alleviate the pain or numb the mind.

"Could this be considered a way to counter the Yang Soul Transformation Technique?"

Zhang Xuezhou picked up the wooden cane.

He was also quite pleased to see a way to counterbalance the Yang Soul Transformation Technique. This method was not fatal, but it had a high probability of affecting the original body and prevented the opponent from using heavenly materials and earthly treasures to quickly repair the Yang Soul Transformation and launch a comeback.

More importantly, Zhang Xuezhou discovered a good method for refining the magic staff, a method that could be better combined with the nurturing method to continuously propel it upwards.

It would be difficult for him to use human lives to forge weapons. Zhang Xuezhou wasn't the type to kill indiscriminately for personal gain, nor did he want to make enemies or cause trouble.

If he could complete the sacrificial refining by ambushing the Yang Soul incarnation, Zhang Xuezhou would be very willing to do such a thing. As long as he got involved and secretly made a move, the difficulty of completing this task was not too high.

This might enhance the auxiliary power of the Spiritwood Staff, or push the nurturing technique to a higher limit, thus allowing him to better restrain Donghua.