Chapter 772 – Magic Treasures
Advancing to the Golden Core! Life-bound Magic Treasure!
Mo Hua took a deep breath.
In the sinister and eerie forging chamber, Ouyang Mu also looked shocked. He shook his head and said,
"I'm only at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. I can't forge the sword bone for a life-bound magic treasure yet."
The old demon craftsman said flatly:
"That's why I said, I'll teach. You just watch and learn carefully."
Ouyang Mu hesitated, unsure of what to do— When suddenly, Mo Hua sent him a transmission: "Let him teach!"
This was a great opportunity.
Not only could Little Wood learn weapon forging and how to craft a sword bone, Mo Hua could also eavesdrop on insights into Golden Core breakthroughs and refining life-bound treasures.
That old demon… clearly knew some serious stuff.
Naturally, Ouyang Mu obeyed Mo Hua's instructions.
With Mo Hua's earlier coaching, his acting had improved quite a bit. He put on a conflicted expression, hesitated for a long while, and finally sighed deeply:
"Fine… I'll learn."
The old demon wasn't surprised.
For a swordsmith, a chance to learn how to forge a life-bound sword bone was impossible to pass up.
The process of nurturing and refining a life-bound magic treasure was something every sect in Qianxue Prefecture would teach.
But how to forge the sword bone, the very core of the treasure—to create the embryonic weapon from nothing…
That was one of the deepest secrets of sword-forging.
Even weapon-crafting sects in the second- and third-tier leagues would never teach that to outer disciples.
"You know the origin of life-bound magic treasures, don't you?" the old demon rasped.
Of course Ouyang Mu knew.
He was a direct descendant of the Ouyang family, a disciple of the renowned Tai'e Sect, famous for its sword-forging heritage. Since childhood, he'd been immersed in all things related to swordsmithing, Golden Core cultivation, and magic treasures.
He was about to nod when he caught a glimpse of a message scrawled across his sleeve—Mo Hua had sent him a new transmission:
"Say you don't know!"
Ouyang Mu blinked in surprise.
He came from a swordsmithing family—of course he knew this stuff inside and out.
But Mo Hua didn't.
Occasionally, in sect classes, they'd touch on the subject of magic treasures—but either it was brushed off as "too early to go into detail," or assumed that everyone (as noble family disciples) already understood, so it was glossed over.
Even when Mo Hua wanted to ask, he didn't always know what to ask or how to begin.
Now this old demon clearly knew a lot—and might teach things that differed from the sect's version.
A perfect opportunity to have him explain.
Ouyang Mu froze briefly, not understanding.
Wasn't this common knowledge?
Why was his "wise and powerful" Senior Brother Mo pretending not to know?
Still, Mo Hua always had his reasons. He did as told.
Ouyang Mu hesitated, just about to say "I don't know much about life-bound treasures," when the old demon grunted coldly:
"Hesitating like that? Clearly ignorant and unskilled…"
His tone grew colder:
"Can't even grasp basic forging knowledge. That Tai'e Sect really is getting worse with each generation…"
Ouyang Mu wanted to retort, but didn't.
If the old demon thought he was clueless—it actually saved him some explanation.
The demon glanced at him again, snorted, and said with a disappointed tone:
"Since you know nothing, I'll teach you from the beginning…"
"You must remember this well."
Ouyang Mu nodded.
So did Mo Hua, still listening quietly from afar.
The old demon coughed—a tired rasp, his body clearly aging and frail. He hunched over, found a stone chair, sat down, and began rubbing a piece of white bone in his hand.
Then, slowly, he began to speak:
"Any cultivator aiming to reach the Golden Core stage must first forge a life-bound magic treasure…"
"Before breaking through, they prepare the treasure's embryo. When they advance and their spiritual power crystallizes, they fuse the treasure with that crystalline force."
"At the Qi Refining stage, spiritual power is like gas. In Foundation Establishment, it's like mercury. In the Golden Core stage—it crystallizes…"
"Only crystalline spiritual power can fully merge with a solidified magic treasure—so they become one."
"From that point on, the treasure belongs to you alone. It resonates with your spirit, grows when you grow, suffers when you suffer."
"And the embryo of that treasure… requires particular care."
The old demon slowly straightened his back, feeling slightly better, then continued:
"Major family heirs usually use supreme-grade spirit weapons passed down through their clan as the base for their life-bound treasures."
"These spirit weapons have long histories, forged with the finest materials—refined through countless trials. The techniques used to create them are honed to perfection."
"And their methods, laws, and techniques match the family's legacy perfectly. They are the ideal life-bound treasure embryos."
"Mid-tier clans have less refined spirit weapons."
"Lesser families often have no inherited spirit weapons at all—and must substitute with common ones."
"As for rogue cultivators… very few even reach the Golden Core. The idea of having a high-quality life-bound treasure is a fantasy…"
The old demon sighed, his gaze complex:
"This is the true inheritance barrier between aristocratic families and everyone else."
"From cultivation methods to resource monopolies—everything is tightly integrated and completely inaccessible to outsiders."
"Small clans or solo cultivators may reach Golden Core, but with poor foundations and no wealth, it's nearly impossible to craft an impressive life-bound treasure."
"Even if they get lucky and forge a good one—without a matching legacy, compatible techniques, and supporting cultivation methods… they'll still be far behind the heirs of noble clans."
"And if your life-bound treasure falls short, even reaching the Golden Core won't help you keep up—much less compete."
Ouyang Mu nodded vaguely.
He was born into a noble family—this all sounded distant and abstract to him.
But Mo Hua was deeply moved.
"The path of cultivation… really is full of towering walls."
On the surface, things looked fine. But for lowborn and rogue cultivators, every step upward was met with another invisible brick wall—just waiting to break them.
The old demon continued:
"That's the righteous way of cultivating life-bound treasures."
"The demonic, evil, corpse, and heretical paths are similar—using demonic heirlooms or evil artifacts to nourish their magic weapons."
"But beyond that, there are many other… variations."
"The righteous path is neat and orderly, but the demonic path? Full of… creativity."
"Some forge evil artifacts. Some forge demonic weapons. Others forge monster weapons…"
"Some raise their treasures like pets inside their bodies, feeding them with their own blood and flesh…"
"Others fuse the embryo directly with their body—making it a literal part of their flesh…"
"And still others…"
He paused—then said flatly:
"…Let's just say there are many bizarre methods. Too many to list."
Ouyang Mu's face turned a little pale hearing these twisted demonic methods.
The old demon looked at him and rasped:
"The path of evil artifacts is vast and profound. I'll teach you slowly."
"You may not be used to it at first—but eventually, you'll get comfortable…"
"In this world, aside from your soul and flesh—even other people's bones and limbs are just materials. Dead things."
"A slain spirit beast leaves behind useful parts. So why shouldn't humans?"
"Now, watch and learn."
With that, the old demon casually took out a piece of pale white spine, tossed it into a blood pool to soak it in human blood, then placed it into a greenish fire to roast it. Once the blood seeped into the marrow, he took it out and began hammering it…
The process was complex.
Mo Hua could only understand the general outline.
Ouyang Mu, meanwhile, acted as assistant—keeping Mo Hua's advice in mind, observing carefully, memorizing every technique, learning the good, discarding the bad.
When things got too evil, Mo Hua wouldn't let him participate.
Surprisingly, the old demon didn't force him either.
Whatever Ouyang Mu didn't want to do, the old demon did himself.
Only the simplest, cleanest tasks were left for Ouyang Mu.
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
"This old geezer… there's something strange about him…"
Even as the session ended, the old demon craftsman had spent the whole time "instructing" Ouyang Mu on forging evil artifacts, but he'd never truly made things difficult for him.
After he finished tempering that piece of spine in blood, Ouyang Mu was sent back to his cell.
Mo Hua also returned to his secluded chamber.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, brows furrowed in thought—
Because he suddenly realized he'd been neglecting a crucial matter all this time: his magic treasure.
Ever since joining the Great Void Sect, he'd been constantly busy:
Catching criminal cultivators, earning contribution points, studying formation arts, hunting monsters, figuring out how to consume evil beings… and so on and so forth. He was overwhelmed with tasks.
Now, with a moment to reflect, he realized—
He had no idea what to use for his life-bound magic treasure.
If he wanted to form his Golden Core…
What would he use as his core treasure?
Other sect disciples had everything planned in advance by their elders:
Their cultivation methods, their superior techniques, their family heirloom spirit weapons, even the magic treasures they'd eventually refine—
All seamlessly passed down in an unbroken lineage.
They didn't have to think.
They just followed the tradition or took the advice of their elders.
But he…
Mo Hua sighed.
He had no family heritage.
When he left home, his parents were still at Qi Refining stage.
He was the first in the family of three to reach Foundation Establishment. Where would they get Golden Core knowledge from?
As for a master's guidance…
Mo Hua's expression darkened.
His master had suffered a terrible calamity, and now his fate was unknown.
He'd never once mentioned anything about what came after Golden Core.
"Storage Ring?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up and he flipped over the storage ring on his thumb.
Unfortunately, it did not magically produce a secret spirit weapon or hidden treasure.
"Master didn't leave me anything…"
Well, it made sense. His master wasn't some omnipotent immortal, and the storage ring wasn't a treasure chest that could conjure whatever you needed.
Mo Hua thought for a while.
"If Master didn't leave me anything, and didn't teach me about this either, then that must mean…"
"He's testing me?"
"He didn't want to limit my choices—so I could find my own path?"
"So I could choose for myself what truly suits me best?"
Mo Hua slowly nodded.
And then hesitated again.
"But I'm broke… So what do I use as a life-bound treasure?"
An heirloom spirit weapon?
Way too expensive—and even if he had one, it probably wouldn't suit his cultivation method anyway.
Not to mention, he'd never be able to match the other geniuses in the sect.
Ordinary spirit weapons? Forget it.
They were born subpar.
And besides, he was already mid-Foundation Establishment.
Even if he managed to get a top-grade spirit weapon embryo, there wouldn't be much time to properly nurture it.
According to the old demon, the longer you nurture your treasure, the more compatible it becomes with your spiritual power—and the stronger it'll be once refined.
"This is a pain…"
Mo Hua frowned deeply—then suddenly had an idea.
He closed his eyes and sank his spiritual sense into his consciousness sea.
In front of the Dao Tablet, he reached out and tapped it lightly:
"Would you like to become my life-bound magic treasure?"
The Dao Tablet remained unmoved.
Silent as a mountain. Didn't even acknowledge him.
Mo Hua curled his lip:
"Stingy… You think you're too good for me…"
Though honestly, it made sense.
The Dao Tablet was way too mysterious—intangible and profound, seemingly containing the rhythm of the Great Dao itself. Even evil gods were afraid of it. Its origins were likely incomprehensible.
With something of that caliber…
Even if it did offer to be his magic treasure, he wouldn't dare say yes.
He simply wasn't qualified.
Realizing that, Mo Hua calmed down a little and sincerely apologized:
"Sorry, that was presumptuous of me."
The Dao Tablet remained silent…
But there was the faintest hum—
As if it was pleased with Mo Hua's self-awareness.
"So that's a no, huh…"
Mo Hua sighed.
"Forget it. I'll think about it later. I'm already way behind—no need to panic about it right now."
Besides, his foundation in spiritual power and blood vitality was already far weaker than the sect's top prodigies—
What was one more shortcoming at this point?
Thinking that way, Mo Hua felt much better.
"If I'm going to slack off, might as well embrace it. Feels great."
Besides, he was walking the Divine Sense Path.
He didn't need to compete with sect geniuses over things like blood vitality or fancy magic weapons.
If he could make do and break through to Golden Core, that was enough.
Mo Hua nodded.
Then he took out his Great Void Token.
It contained a long message from Elder Xun.
Due to weak Primordial Magnetic signal inside the Ten Thousand Demon Valley, the full transmission had taken quite a while to arrive.
Mo Hua read through it once—and was stunned.
"Illusory power… Fusion of the real world and divine sense…"
"That bloody, bone-ridden land wasn't the real place where the evil spirits were raised—the true secret is hidden deeper inside."
"The entire Ten Thousand Demon Valley is a divine-architecture structure powered by a massive formation…"
"There's an entire ancient inheritance of divine path formation arts buried within!"
…
This Formation Elder was a true expert!
Mo Hua had indeed noticed some clues about the formation in Ten Thousand Demon Valley, but his understanding lacked depth.
There were also certain subtle details he hadn't picked up on at all.
That was the difference in formation vision and perspective that came from disparity in cultivation realm.
And more importantly…
An entire lineage of extremely profound Divine Path formation inheritance!
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
The Divine Path formation techniques hidden here might be far more powerful than he had imagined.
This was a rare opportunity.
So, without delay, Mo Hua sent a message to Xun Ziyou, casually inquiring about topics like:
"power of illusion and reality," "integration of the present world and divine sense," "formation architecture," and "secrets of Divine Path formations."
When Xun Ziyou read the message, his scalp tingled.
"How the heck is a Foundation Establishment disciple asking these kinds of questions…"
He grumbled inwardly, but since he couldn't answer, he turned to ask Xun Zixian.
When Xun Zixian heard the questions, his eyes lit up, and he answered them one by one.
Xun Ziyou relayed the answers back to Mo Hua.
Mo Hua kept asking. Xun Ziyou had no choice but to keep bothering Xun Zixian—
Until eventually, Xun Zixian lost his patience, held out his hand, and said:
"Give me your Great Void Token."
Grumbling, Xun Ziyou reluctantly handed over his elder's token.
From then on, Xun Zixian started chatting directly with Mo Hua.
The two exchanged insights on formation theory and had a lively, enjoyable conversation—completely forgetting about poor Xun Ziyou, who stood off to the side like a discarded rag.
Xun Zixian was no longer putting on that annoying "I'm too good to talk to you peasants" attitude.
Instead, he seemed genuinely interested, enthusiastically joining the discussion.
Xun Ziyou could only sigh helplessly.
Eventually, the discussion came to an end.
Xun Zixian returned the elder token to Xun Ziyou and commented:
"This kid has incredible potential. His future in formations is limitless…"
Then he looked seriously toward the Ten Thousand Demon Valley and said solemnly:
"This child absolutely cannot be lost in that place."
Xun Ziyou rolled his eyes.
Duh. Did that really need to be said?
He sighed again.
This stalemate had already lasted several days…
When a breakthrough would come, no one knew.
Inside the Ten Thousand Demon Prison, Mo Hua had just finished his discussion with Elder Xun Zixian, having gained a lot of insight.
Though Elder Xun Zixian's formation attainments weren't as deep as Old Mister Xun's, his comprehension and personal experiences still had their own unique strengths.
Mo Hua felt deeply:
"As the saying goes—'Out of three people walking, one can be my teacher.'"
He reminded himself not to underestimate any formation master—always stay humble, inquisitive, and eager to learn.
More importantly, Elder Xun Zixian had shared several conjectures about the Divine Path formation hidden inside the valley.
After their exchange, Mo Hua had a vague idea forming in his mind, though he couldn't confirm anything just yet…
The next day, inside the Evil Artifact Workshop of the Ten Thousand Demon Prison.
The old demon, acting as the Evil Artifact Master, was still teaching Ouyang Mu how to refine sword bones and forge evil swords.
Ouyang Mu stood dutifully between the blood pool and bone furnace, diligently working on his sword.
Outside the workshop, Jin Gui observed silently, his gaze cold and venomous like a snake. After watching for a bit and seeing that Ouyang Mu was genuinely forging and not slacking off, his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
"Once Ouyang Mu embraces the demonic path and becomes an evil swordsmith, everything will fall into place…"
Jin Gui turned and left without a word.
But what he didn't know was:
Though Ouyang Mu appeared to be fully involved, he had never once actually touched any of the truly demonic refining steps.
That was thanks both to Mo Hua's guidance on how to "politely dodge" such tasks—
And the old demon master's own tendency to turn a blind eye and let things slide.
Mo Hua found it a bit strange and quietly sent a voice message to Ouyang Mu:
"Ask that old thing what connection he has with the Ouyang family."
Ouyang Mu blinked in surprise, then gave a small nod.
He turned and said to the old demon:
"Old—"
Under Mo Hua's influence, he nearly blurted out "old geezer."
Ouyang Mu coughed awkwardly, changed his tone, and respectfully said:
"Senior… do you… perhaps have some connection to the Ouyang family?"
The old demon froze. His hands stopped moving, and a wave of resentment and unwillingness radiated from him.
The air in the room suddenly turned heavy.
Only the eerie green furnace flames continued crackling, hissing softly in the silence.
Ouyang Mu gulped and lowered his gaze slightly, peeking at the writing on his sleeve. Then he muttered:
"If you don't want to say… that's fine…"
The old demon turned his head abruptly. His cloudy eyes looked at Ouyang Mu—
His expression filled with melancholy, and mixed with countless complicated emotions.
In the end, he sighed deeply.
"Forget it. I'll tell you… It doesn't matter anymore."
Ouyang Mu let out a breath of relief and was just about to set down the bone in his hands—
But the old demon barked:
"Don't stop working."
"Oh… okay…"
Ouyang Mu blinked, then turned back to the forge and resumed refining.
The old demon remained seated, let out another deep sigh, and finally said:
"It's a long story…"
"You're right. I do have ties to the Ouyang family. In fact… I used to be…"
He paused, clearly finding the words difficult—
But finally gritted his teeth and forced them out:
"I… was once a disciple of the Ouyang family!"
Ouyang Mu's expression changed drastically.
A disciple of the Ouyang family?!
So it was true!
Then came a mix of shock and anger.
The proud and noble Ouyang family of Tai'e Sect— As far back as hundreds of years ago, one of their own had been captured by demonic cultivators, imprisoned in this lightless dungeon, and forced to aid evil by forging bloody demonic swords for these vicious monsters…
(End of Chapter)