Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725

by Heaven's White Crane

  Chapter 591 - Innate Skills

  Mount Liang Wolf King swung its neck and answered seriously, “1,300 spirit ores. What do you think?”

  Ou Yangming was deep in his thoughts. He still remembered well the competition for the equipment on the crystal wall before this.

  In the end, the successful bid made by the spirit elephant was 1,800 spirit ores. It seemed like a much higher offer than that made by Mount Liang Wolf King, but the armor was smithed according to the size of gigantic spirit beasts. Apart from using a Tremendous Power Treasure Ore, Ou Yangming’s consumption was far less than that armor in terms of materials or the energy needed to carve a rune.

  Therefore, the price offered by the spirit wolf was relatively fair.

  This was also evident from how resentful the other similar-sized high-rank spirit beasts looked.

  Ou Yangming nodded and looked deeply at the spirit wolf. “Wolf King, you’re very considerate.”

  Mount Liang Wolf King flashed a big smile and laughed cheerfully.

  After putting on the equipment earlier, it did not want to remove it anymore. Nonetheless, unless it was really tired of leaving, it would not act so abominably.

  Ou Yangming signaled Big Yellow with his eyes. The big yellow dog was reluctant, but it still moved its leg aside and kicked the armor to Mount Liang Wolf King.

  The wolf king’s eyes lit up. It carefully picked up the equipment and wore it right away. As compared to Big Yellow, which casually kicked the armor, it regarded the equipment as a precious treasure.

  Mount Liang Wolf King turned several rounds then retrieved an interspatial bag when it was content. “Master Ou, I’ll give you your spirit ores.”

  Ou Yangming retrieved an interspatial bag too and transferred the agreed number of spirit ores over.

  He had seen a spirit ore in the lower realm, and he was rather envious and curious about the enormous power that it contained. Even so, spirit ores were scarce in the lower realm and could basically be ignored. It was only when he entered the Spiritual Realm he realized that there were so many spirit ores that they could be used as a currency.

  Having said that, those that could use this currency were not ordinary people but real elites.

  After counting the spirit ores, Ou Yangming wondered and uttered, “Wolf King.”

  Mount Liang Wolf King responded immediately, “Master Ou, what do you need?”

  When Ou Yangming first entered this place, the spirit wolf had simply addressed him as a young human fellow, but its attitude now changed drastically.

  Ou Yangming grinned and asked, “Wolf King, do you want an exclusive piece of equipment?”

  “Exclusive?” Mount Liang Wolf King’s eyes lit up right away. “You can smith customized pieces of equipment?”

  “Why not?” Seeing how surprised it was, Ou Yangming could not help but ask. He was moved when he thought about the odd auction mode held by the blacksmiths beyond the crystal wall, and he was secretly wary. ‘Are there taboos when one smiths personalized pieces of equipment for spirit beasts?’

  Mount Liang Wolf King blinked its glimmering eyes and replied to him, “Master Ou, to us, exclusive pieces of equipment need to have more than just ordinary attributes.” It waved its sharp claws and added, “We need booster skills that can increase our combat powers.”

  Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows and came to a sudden realization.

  It would be brilliant if low-rank spirit beasts acquire magic tools, but when spirit beasts upgraded to the high rank, they no longer yearned for ordinary magic tools; they needed at least mini top-grade tools.

  As for dedicated pieces of equipment, the spirit beasts had higher requests—even for the skills.

  Even though there were plenty of human blacksmiths, other than Ou Yangming, who was a freak that possessed the Military Fire, it would be difficult to grasp runes.

  A smithing master might have smithing art attainments for a century but certainly did not master many runes. Since high-rank spirit beasts also required all sorts of weird skills, none of the blacksmiths dared to guarantee that they could carve suitable Skill Runes.

  This was why powerful blacksmiths would rather smith quietly and do their best to carve popular Skill Runes on pieces of equipment, which would then be competed for by the high-rank spirit beasts.

  Ou Yangming could tell from Mount Liang Wolf King’s highly-spirited eyes that the high-rank spirit beasts hoped for tailored pieces of equipment, but they were left with no choice as they were powerless in this. As such, they could only quietly wait for the displays on the crystal wall and bid for pieces of equipment that would fit them.

  However, the difficulties were not an issue for Ou Yangming at all.

  “Wolf King, are you willing to try?” Ou Yangming asked while he smiled with his eyes narrowed.

  Mount Liang Wolf King answered without any hesitation, “As long as you’re willing to, what else can I say, Master Ou?”

  The other high-rank spirit beasts cast envious looks at the spirit wolf. After all, blacksmiths that were willing to customize pieces of equipment for high-rank spirit beasts were getting lesser and lesser. If they could meet one, they would be willing to pay any price.

  Ou Yangming nodded and said, “Come with me.”

  He turned around and walked down the mountain. Although he could not climb to the top yet, he was not stopped if he wanted to walk downwards.

  Mount Liang Wolf King turned around and looked proudly at the spirit beasts around it before it followed the young fellow happily. As for Big Yellow, it shook its body and followed them in high spirits.

  Many high-rank spirit beasts exchanged glances. They naturally knew Ou Yangming left because he did not want to be disturbed, hence none of them were ignorant to want to follow him. Despite that, they quickly made some calculations in their heads. If the smithing process for Mount Liang Wolf King failed, nothing more could be said, but if it was a success, the young fellow would be admired but all of them.

  Ou Yangming brought Mount Liang Wolf King to a secluded area.

  All of the high-rank spirit beasts on this peak were gathered together, thus it was easy to find a quiet place instead.

  The young fellow turned around and asked the wolf king, “What’s the innate ability that you’re adept in?”

  Mount Liang Wolf King widened its mouth and answered with a bitter smile after a moment of hesitation, “I have 2 greatest natural gifts; one’s the Illusion Body Technique, one’s the Waterfall Attack.”

  If someone else had asked, the spirit wolf would definitely be alert or would find an opportunity to get rid of that person. Since Ou Yangming had asked, it could only answer honestly.

  Ou Yangming nodded and reached out his arm and placed it on Wolf King’s body. “Perform them and let me take a look at them.

  Mount Liang Wolf King blinked. He could not help but make guesses when he recalled Ou Yangming’s actions earlier but even so, it did not object to the request at all.

  This was because it valued the equipment more than Ou Yangming did, so it did not mind displaying its unique innate abilities for the equipment.

  With that, Mount Liang Wolf King’s body quivered, and it instantly became illusory.

  Ou Yangming’s face changed a little. He was touching Wolf King, but he felt like he was touching air at the moment. Quickly after, the spirit wolf’s body split into 2, 4, 8…

  When Ou Yangming looked, he felt like 8 wolf kings were surrounding him.

  He released his mental conception to an extremity but could not distinguish the real wolf king.

  The Illusion Body Technique—it turned out that this was the legitimate Illusion Body Technique. Other than the one using the technique, nobody could tell the real and the fakes apart.

  Ou Yangming closed his eyes. The Military Fire in his sea of consciousness burned and began to absorb and probe the changes in the aura around him. Soon enough, an empty room surfaced in the deepest part of his sea of consciousness.

&n
bsp; Perhaps because Mount Liang Wolf King was a high-rank spirit beast, or perhaps the rune was related to interspatial power, the Illusion Body Technique’s rune seemed to be much more potent than that of Fat Antelope’s Gravitational Force suppression.

  When Ou Yangming first experienced it, he did not get a handle on it at all.

  Nevertheless, he did not give up. He focused and became highly-spirited and full of energy instead.

  This was similar to when a climbing expert faced a tall mountain. It would be full of difficulties, but the climber would become more thrilled and eager to conquer it.

  After a brief moment, Mount Liang Wolf King’s 8 illusions became one. It was as though it was quite tiring for it to perform the gifted skill, but Ou Yangming would not sympathize with it at all at this moment.

  “One more time!” Ou Yangming uttered coldly, and he was somewhat ordering the spirit wolf.

  Mount Liang Wolf King was stupefied. ‘How dare someone speak to me in this tone? What more, a human whose cultivation base is lower than mine.

  ‘Even Master Gao wasn’t this impolite when he charged out from behind the crystal wall.’

  That said, Mount Liang Wolf King was not angry but delighted. ‘Did Master Ou really attain the Skill Rune for the Illusion Clone?’

  It shook its body without any hesitation and did not hesitate to perform its unique innate ability again.

  8 illusions appeared again. Though there were no other movements, the ability was quite astounding.

  “Again!”

  “One more time!”

  “Again…”

  Ou Yangming’s voice was repeatedly heard. In the beginning, Mount Liang Wolf King was still excited but after performing the ability 10 times in a row, the luster on its fur became much dimmer, and its limbs began to shiver.

  In spite of that, Ou Yangming’s eyes became brighter, and he looked fiercer. At the same time, a joyful smile could be seen on his face.

  “Woosh…”

  The 8 figures suddenly became one. Mount Liang Wolf King stood firmly and panted heavily while it gazed at Ou Yangming resentfully. At this point, it had gone all-out and was depleted of all energy.

  It had made up its mind. If Ou Yangming asked it to perform its gifted skill once more, it would lay on the floor first.

  Who knew, Ou Yangming did not say a word this time. He closed his eyes while his lips moved quietly. After a long time, the young fellow finally smiled gladly.

  Upon seeing his smile, Mount Liang Wolf King was 100 times happier than him.

  Ou Yangming opened his eyes and asked, “Your Illusion Body Technique is pretty good indeed. What about the Waterfall Attack?”

  “What?”

  “Your Waterfall Attack. Release it 10 to 20 times first!”

  Mount Liang Wolf King was struck dumb. After some time, its body stiffened and fell backward, where it collapsed to the ground hard and caused dust and soil to fill the air.

  Ou Yangming frowned and commented, “How useless! Aren’t you a high-rank spirit beast? You’re a fake one, aren’t you?”

  Mount Liang Wolf King. “…”

  Chapter 592 - The Results Of The Forecasts

  After consuming a spiritual pill and resting for an hour while holding a spirit ore, Mount Liang Wolf King somewhat regained its vigor.

  It looked resentfully at Ou Yangming and cursed, ‘If it isn’t because you promised to customize a piece of equipment for me, I wouldn’t work myself to the bone. I hope the equipment smithing will be successful this time, or…’

  Mount Liang Wolf King’s claws and teeth trembled.

  Nonetheless, it was hesitant for a brief moment when it looked at the new armor on its body.

  Since Ou Yangming could smith pieces of equipment of such a level at a young age, what would he achieve when he grew up? No matter what, it would not be a wise choice for the spirit wolf to offend him at this time.

  Mount Liang Wolf King sighed and got rid of the inappropriate idea. It released its other innate ability according to Ou Yangming’s request.

  The Waterfall Attack!

  It was a unique method of gathering waterfall-like waves for an attack.

  In terms of power only, the Waterfall Attack was not on par with ice arrows and water blades at all. Even so, a waterfall was an attacking method that was not known for its mightiness, after all; it was a special skill that if released, could trap an enemy tightly.

  In particular, if the attack was applied with Mount Liang Wolf King’s Illusion Body Technique and its forceful physical attack, any opponent would suffer a huge loss.

  After sensing the Waterfall Attack’s real function, Ou Yangming could not help but lament. Sure enough, high-rank spirit beasts were unordinary and could not be compared by Fat Antelope, Big Yellow, and the others.

  The young fellow could not help but have a sudden thought. ‘Since high-rank spirit beasts are so powerful, why didn’t the Insects send these powerhouses to the lower realm? If there were 3 high-rank spirit insects, I couldn’t have resisted them as potent as I am.’

  He shook his head and buried the question deep inside his mind.

  Although the Waterfall Attack was a remarkable method to assist an attack, it was inferior to the Illusion Body Technique.

  Only when Mount Liang Wolf King was exhausted and stuck out its tongue to play dead, Ou Yangming managed to form the Skill Rune in his sea of consciousness.

  In actuality, he was not able to do this fortuitously. He had customized pieces of equipment for different Supreme Great Ancestors in the lower realm but before he smithed, he had learned many secret techniques from them.

  Some were inherited skills from the great ancestors’ families while some were their gifted abilities.

  There were countless runes, which were also in dissimilar categories, but they shared a similarity; they were all Rudimentary Runes.

  Having plenty of Rudimentary Runes as a foundation, Ou Yangming had the courage to gather Intermediate Runes in short periods.

  Even though the Illusion Body Technique was notable, so much so that it was slightly related to the rule of how space changed, there was more than one body technique in the lower realm that had similar effects. As for the Waterfall Attack, it was a kind of Water-mastery Rune, and there were also many similar Rudimentary Runes in the lower realm.

  If that was not the case, Ou Yangming could not have perceived the 2 Intermediate Runes that Mount Liang Wolf King was adept in so quickly.

  At this moment, Ou Yangming could not be bothered about his weariness. He continued to make demonstrations in his sea of consciousness.

  Every Rudimentary Rune that was matched with the 2 Intermediate Runes would produce different effects. Whenever an effect was shown, his Military Fire would flicker. The more intensely it flickered, the more effective the pairing.

  After half an hour, Ou Yangming suddenly realized that his mental power was almost depleted.

  He retrieved a pill to consume it, causing hints of energy to gush into his sea of consciousness, and it made him feel extremely pleased. The young fellow missed the little red bird very much because the fellow had once told him about a certain pill, which could quickly recover one’s mental power if it was successfully refined.

  Ou Yangming initially planned to find an opportunity to refine the pill after he entered the Spiritual Realm, but he was powerless because there was no news about the little red bird.

  While precious pills from the lower realm could compensate for some of his mental power, the effects were not evident for him.

  Following that, Ou Yangming retrieved a spirit ore from his interspatial bag and imitated Mount Liang Wolf King by absorbing the ore’s power. Despite that, he soon realized that it was not too effective to merely draw power through this method.

  Having said that, having a part of his power replenished was better than nothing.

  As Ou Yangming’s mental power slowly recovered, he began to make forecasts in his sea of consciousness again.<
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  Numerous changes took place in his sea of consciousness. Throughout the process, he kept revising the evolutions of the runes, allowing him to have better control over them.

  His mental power was consumed, changed, and recovered. The same cycle was repeated for an unknown period.

  Eventually, Ou Yangming vaguely felt that something was off. When he opened his eyes, he instantly noticed that Mount Liang Wolf King was guarding him sternly from a distance away. Seeing how serious and eager it was, the young fellow was rather curious.

  Mount Liang Wolf King’s eyes lit up when it saw Ou Yangming relax. It made its way back to the young fellow and asked as it was surprised yet overjoyed, “Master Ou, are you done designing it?”

  Ou Yangming was stunned. He chuckled and answered, “I’m almost done indeed but…” He continued after some thought, “I have 2 plans, and you can choose one of them.”

  The spirit wolf immediately responded, “Please go ahead.”

  Ou Yangming raised a finger and explained, “The first plan is simpler—I’ll attach a Skill Rune for the Illusion Body Technique or the Waterfall Attack on the new equipment that I’ll be smithing for you. In that case, there’ll be an overlay effect each time you release them.”

  Mount Liang Wolf King’s eyes gleamed, but it later questioned with a frown, “Master Ou, how mighty will the skills be after the overlay effect?”

  The young fellow could not help but laugh. “You asked the right person. Heh, in terms of mightiness, none of your innate skills are offensive skills, so they won’t be mighty at all. That said, their durations can be prolonged to twice their original durations.”

  “Master Ou, if that’s the case, there’ll be a limited increase to my combat power, am I right?” Mount Liang Wolf King smiled bitterly.

  Ou Yangming spread out his hands. “If your gifted abilities are offensive skills, your combat power will naturally increase if they’re overlayed. Who can you blame if this is how your natural gifts are?”

  The spirit wolf looked helpless. It scratched its head and asked, “Master Ou, in your opinion…”