Qian Duoduo snorted coldly.
His Spiritual Awareness had never been withdrawn, so how could he be ambushed by it?
His Golden Rooster Sword thrust out, hitting the Spiritual Azure Fish directly on its lower jaw.
The Spiritual Azure Fish instantly revealed its true form: a five-foot-long Heaven-Stirring Rod, a high-grade Mortal Weapon.
After careful examination, Qian Duoduo discovered that although the materials of this Heaven-Stirring Rod were excellent, made of highly pure Ming Iron and nearly thousand-year-old Fufeng Wood, the center of gravity of the rod was off by a hair's breadth.
With the center of gravity off, the power of the Heaven-Stirring Rod was reduced by more than thirty percent.
Noticing the problem with the Heaven-Stirring Rod, Qian Duoduo's hands began to itch.
He happened to have a cauldron nearby, and there was still Ming Iron in the Golden Toad, so he decided to see if he could repair it.
Qian Duoduo thought for a moment and placed the Heaven-Stirring Rod into the cauldron.
Spiritual Qi entered the furnace, first meticulously extracting the Fufeng Wood from the rod, placing it aside.
A large fire rose within the furnace, and slowly, the Ming Iron on the Heaven-Stirring Rod melted into a puddle of molten iron.
He added two pieces of pure Ming Iron to the molten iron, then melted and purified it again, not stopping until it surpassed its original purity.
After a short rest, Qian Duoduo began to cast the Heaven-Stirring Rod according to its original structure.
This process was the most crucial; if there was any deviation, either the gap would be too small for the Fufeng Wood to fit, rendering the Magic Treasure useless, or the gap would be too large, causing the Magic Treasure's power to drop by more than half.
About half an hour later, he had cast the Heaven-Stirring Rod into shape, the furnace fire slowly diminished and extinguished, and the Ming Iron gradually cooled.
Qian Duoduo let out a long breath and began to re-embed the Fufeng Wood into the rod, fitting perfectly.
Qian Duoduo took the Heaven-Stirring Rod in his hand, swung it a few times, and struck forward with force.
The rod's wind was fierce, its power three to four tenths greater than before.
Perfect!
Qian Duoduo was delighted and placed the Heaven-Stirring Rod into the river.
The Heaven-Stirring Rod transformed back into the Spiritual Azure Fish, but it no longer looked violent.
It wagged its tail at Qian Duoduo, dove into the water, and disappeared.
Qian Duoduo took out a Jade Slip, recorded the manufacturing diagram of the Heaven-Stirring Rod, and obtained an Magic Treasure for a high-grade Mortal Weapon.
The Burial Instrument is a treasure trove!
Qian Duoduo's eyes lit up; there were thousands of types of fish and shrimp in the river, and each one was an Magic Treasure.
Lighting the furnace fire, he made the cauldron glow, half-closed his eyes, and pretended to meditate and rest.
After a while, two bean-sized eyes slowly approached.
Seeing that Qian Duoduo showed no movement, a large golden-yellow soft-shelled turtle stretched out its long neck and bit at his foot like lightning.
It was fast, but Qian Duoduo was even faster.
His right hand shot out, firmly grasping its arm-thick neck.
The large soft-shelled turtle still tried to struggle back into the water, but Qian Duoduo had already flipped it over and lifted it out of the water.
This large soft-shelled turtle was truly massive, the size of a door panel, with claws half a foot long.
Qian Duoduo exerted more force with his hand, and the large soft-shelled turtle revealed its true form.
It turned out to be a Nine-Layered Imperial Armor, a defensive artifact, also a high-grade Mortal Weapon.
In terms of the number of layers of armor alone, the Nine-Layered Imperial Armor surpassed the Golden Claw Armor on Qian Duoduo.
The Golden Claw Armor only had five layers, while this one had nine.
Qian Duoduo unraveled it layer by layer and discovered that the core of this Nine-Layered Imperial Armor was a layer of liquid.
This layer of liquid would automatically turn into a solid when impacted.
After turning into a solid, if it was impacted again, it would turn back into a liquid.
By relying on the conversion between solid and liquid, it dissipated more than half of the impact.
He had never seen the formula for this liquid, nor had he even heard Liu Boli mention it.
Qian Duoduo became excited and dedicated all his efforts to deciphering the secret of this liquid.
After a full hour, Qian Duoduo finally understood.
This liquid came from a mixture of powders from the front and back layers of materials, with syrup added.
Having deciphered the formula, he looked at the Nine-Layered Imperial Armor again and found its problem.
There was no partition in the center of the Imperial Armor, causing the protective liquid to frequently settle downwards.
Qian Duoduo performed an integrated refining of the fourth, Fifth Layer, and sixth layers, making the three layers equivalent to one, which solved the problem of the liquid moving around.
He placed the Nine-Layered Imperial Armor into the river, and it transformed back into the large soft-shelled turtle.
On its back, a layer of golden light shimmered.
The large soft-shelled turtle playfully blew two bubbles and dived to the riverbed.
Because of the attacking fish and shrimp, the other participating Disciples on the island stayed away from the river, sitting cross-legged in meditation.
Only Qian Duoduo sat by the river, occasionally scooping out a fish, catching a shrimp, or netting a crab from the river, tinkering with them for a while, and then releasing them back into the river.
Dugu Yunshan noticed his behavior, watched for a while, then lost interest and withdrew his gaze.
Cao Yueying and Deng Feihong only glanced at Qian Duoduo before closing their eyes.
Their attention was solely on each other.
As the light slowly brightened, a bell rang, and all the participating Disciples on the island stood up.
That night, Qian Duoduo repaired Magic Treasures by the river and obtained ten Magic Treasures.
“Dong,” the second bell rang.
The participating Disciples stood in mid-air, ready to depart.
“Dong,” at the same time as the third bell rang, the light screen disappeared, and streaks of long rainbows rushed forward.
Dugu Yunshan still led the charge, rushing to the very front.
Qian Duoduo, Cao Yueying, and Deng Feihong followed closely behind him.
Suddenly, directly in front of the river, a group of fish and shrimp as large as Golden Ox emerged, blocking their way.
The fish among the fish and shrimp were covered in long, sharp spines.
The shrimp among the fish and shrimp had feelers like whips and antennae sharper than spears.
There were also some crabs and turtles hiding beneath the water, preparing to ambush them.
Exclamations of surprise rose from the participating Disciples.
These were all artisan artifacts!
Each one posed a fatal danger!
Dugu Yunshan's speed did not decrease; he threw a punch at a large black fish that blocked his flight path.
That large black fish glowed with a dark light, originally glaring with giant eyes and a mouth full of foot-long sharp teeth ready to bite.
But the moment his fist struck its head, the large black fish instantly froze, a large hole appeared on its head, and its belly flipped over, transforming into a round-bladed giant halberd, floating on the water.
Cao Yueying's red long sword emitted a flash of light, splitting a large green Dragon shrimp in half; one half smashed towards Deng Feihong, and the other half blocked Qian Duoduo's front.
Deng Feihong chuckled, but suddenly appeared in front of Cao Yueying, stepping on the head of a giant crocodile, and pushing off with force, sending the giant crocodile towards Cao Yueying.
A giant yellow carp jumped from beneath Qian Duoduo, using the sharp spines on its back to stab Qian Duoduo.
According to the Spiritual Beast Scroll, the spines of this type of fish are poisonous, and being pricked by them causes the whole body to swell.
Qian Duoduo dodged to the left, letting the half of the large Dragon shrimp smash onto the yellow carp's spines, and with his right hand, he cast the Golden Light Technique, placing a copper coin around the yellow carp's neck.
Qian Duoduo pulled hard, and the yellow carp revealed its true form; it was a Lightning-Chasing Staff, a mid-grade artisan artifact.
Only a few dared to slay the fish and shrimp transformed from artisan artifacts like them.
Most participating Disciples chose to avoid them.
However, the fish and shrimp transformed from artisan artifacts not only had power equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator but also possessed a certain degree of intelligence, making avoidance not so easy.
Except for a few swift-moving ones, most participating Disciples ultimately had no choice but to fight fiercely.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a layer of fresh blood floated on the river, some from the participating Disciples, and some from the fish and shrimp in the river.
After breaking through the first layer of obstruction, Qian Duoduo looked back with his Spiritual Awareness and saw that only about two hundred Orange Robe Disciple remained, more than half had been lost!
Everyone activated their Spiritual Qi, stepping on Magic Treasures to accelerate forward.
Beneath the river, dark fish and shrimp were still gathering, chasing after them amidst the churning water.
Some had already swum ahead.
“Splash!” a sound of breaking water erupted.
In front of them, a group of ferocious-looking fish and shrimp floated in the air, their giant mouths wide open, waiting for them to rush in.