Chapter 1481: Forging System

Upon seeing this, Wu Liang desperately flapped the small wings on his back. Simultaneously, a strand of white silk shot from his hand, its end seemingly piercing into the spatial vortex. The silk then rapidly contracted, pulling his entire body into the vortex, and his plump figure quickly vanished.

Zu An and the others sighed inwardly, marveling at how many magic artifacts this fat rogue possessed, wondering how many grand tombs he had plundered.

The artifact looked somewhat like spider silk, leading them to speculate that it might have been stolen from the tomb of a powerful expert from the Spider clan.

Despite his musings, Zu An didn't dare to delay. He immediately cast "Great Wind," teleporting into the spatial vortex while holding the three women.

No sooner had they entered than the vortex rapidly shrunk to a size too small for anyone to pass through.

The next second, they tumbled out of the spatial vortex. They quickly looked around and saw the familiar tall statue of the Demon Ancestor. It was clear they had returned to the Demon Imperial Tomb, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're finally back," they thought. "We were worried we'd be trapped in that world forever."

Yan Xuehen subtly moved away from Zu An's embrace, glanced around, and remarked, "I thought we'd reappear in the pool we entered from, but it turns out to be here. Fortunately, there are no demon guards nearby, or it would have been quite troublesome."

At that moment, a muffled, booming voice spoke, "This is a forbidden area for the demon race; only the Emperor and Crown Prince are usually allowed in. Naturally, no soldiers would be stationed here."

They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a plump figure splattered against the wall like a blob of mud. He struggled to peel himself off, his face bruised and swollen, with two streams of blood trickling from his nose. Clearly, the spider silk had stuck there, pulling him into a collision with the wall.

Zu An couldn't help but chuckle. "Fatty, you truly have endless tricks up your sleeve, and an inexhaustible supply of artifacts."

"Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all," Wu Liang said modestly, though his face was beaming with pride, as if silently urging, "Praise me more, praise me more." He added, "It pales in comparison to how easily you managed to escape danger while bringing three women along."

Zu An completely ignored his hint and asked, "Fatty, what are your plans now?"

Hearing him get serious, Wu Liang's expression also turned solemn. "I was just about to ask you that. You all possess extraordinary talents, truly one in ten thousand. Why not pledge allegiance to the Second Prince? I'm sure you'd be highly valued. Besides, you've already made an enemy of the Crown Prince, and currently, the Second Prince is the only one in the demon race who can stand against him."

After all, given what had happened earlier, his companions already knew he was sent by the Second Prince to assassinate the Golden Crow Crown Prince, so there was no need to hide it.

Zu An smiled faintly. "Thank you for your kind offer, Fatty. But I'm used to being free and easygoing, and I'm not really accustomed to pledging allegiance to anyone. Instead, I'm more curious: with your personality, how did you come to serve someone?"

Wu Liang was not surprised by the refusal. "Serve someone? I didn't want to bother with him originally, but he just offered too much... If you ever find me a divine weapon, I'd even call you 'Dad'."

Zu An and his companions were speechless.

This fat rogue truly had no moral integrity.

At this point, Wu Liang cupped his hands. "I got quite a scare in that secret realm this time; my little heart is still pounding. I need to raid a few more tombs in the Imperial Tomb to calm my nerves. So, I won't chat with you any longer. We'll meet again!"

With that, he transformed into a rapidly spinning ball, burrowed a hole directly into the ground beside them, and vanished without a trace.

Yun Jianyue couldn't help but exclaim, "The Earth Evasion Art of the Pangolin Clan is truly unparalleled."

Yan Xuehen also nodded, a peculiar smile appearing on her face. "I wonder what expression the Second Prince would have if he found out his ancestors' tombs had been completely ransacked by him."

Imagining such a scenario, everyone shared an understanding smile.

Zu An said, "There's a large army guarding outside the Imperial Tomb right now. You all should recover and adjust your breath here first, while we figure out a way to get out."

He had just extended his divine sense; although the Imperial Tomb itself was empty, it was heavily guarded outside.

It would likely be difficult to slip out unnoticed, and a conflict would probably be unavoidable.

The three women nodded slightly. Each took out a Qi-nourishing pill, consumed it, and sat cross-legged to regulate their breathing and recover.

Zu An stood guard nearby for them. It had to be said that even with their eyes closed, lacking the sparkle of their beautiful gazes, their exquisite beauty remained undiminished.

Yu Yanluo was as radiant as a rose, and even more remarkably, she possessed a gentle and serene aura that instantly made people feel close to her. It was no wonder she had captivated men across the world back then.

Without her usual murderous aura, Yun Jianyue exuded an air of graceful nobility, like a blooming peony... and yes, her chest was quite ample.

Yan Xuehen's pure and flawless face was like a freshly boiled egg, making him want to take a bite. Hmm, why was it a bit red again? The rosy blush made her look even more delectable.

Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, suggesting her thoughts were not at peace.

Zu An thought to himself that she claimed to practice the Supreme Forgetfulness of Emotion and valued inner peace the most, yet among the three women, she was currently the least tranquil.

Just then, Yan Xuehen's star-like eyes opened. She shot him an annoyed glare and transmitted her voice with vital energy, "Stop staring at me!"

Zu An smiled faintly. "Who told you to be so beautiful?"

Yan Xuehen bit her lip, seemingly helpless against his mischievous demeanor, and simply closed her eyes again, adopting an "out of sight, out of mind" approach.

"Alright, alright, I won't look then. You focus on your recovery," Zu An said. He knew that the White Jade Capital's cultivation method was unique, and it would be troublesome if he caused her to have violent emotional fluctuations, like spitting blood, similar to Little Dragon Maiden.

Hearing the concern in his voice, Yan Xuehen's heart warmed, but she quickly composed herself and dared not dwell on it.

Zu An retracted his gaze, taking the opportunity to examine the newly unlocked forging system he had gained after acquiring the "Divine Rune Armament Chart."

In his sea of consciousness, a phantom image of a furnace appeared, covered in intricate runes. Zu An was not skilled in runes and couldn't make sense of them. He thought about sketching them out one evening to study with Yan Xuehen another day.

He read the accompanying description: this phantom furnace was the place for forging magic artifacts and weapons.

To activate the furnace, ordinary fire wouldn't suffice; true fire was required.

Zu An thought, "Indeed, anything from the keyboard system is extraordinary. If artifacts could be forged with ordinary fire, they wouldn't be very powerful."

Fortunately, he had recently acquired the White Lotus True Flame. Previously, it had been stored in the Nine Cauldrons, but after Yu the Great took the Cauldrons, Zu An temporarily kept it in his Manipura chakra. This location was also where he practiced the 'Clumsy Fire Meditation', making the attributes perfectly compatible. However, this also increased the risk of qi deviation, which would be extremely dangerous if it went out of control.

When the White Lotus True Flame approached the furnace, the runes on it suddenly lit up. The entire furnace seemed to come alive, emanating a dazzling divine glow.

Activation successful!

Zu An then noticed the White Lotus True Flame transformed into a small wisp of flame, settling permanently beneath the furnace, as if making itself at home.

He thought, "This is excellent. It saves me the effort of protecting this unruly true flame."

At this moment, a new piece of information appeared in his mind, and Zu An quickly examined it.

The forging system had three main functions. The first was the ability to forge any weapon or magic artifact, provided one possessed the forging blueprints and corresponding materials.

Zu An's gaze fixed on the term "forging blueprints." He thought, "Materials are easy to understand, but what are these blueprints?"

Standard weapons issued to military personnel and members of large clans often came with forging blueprints. However, Heaven-grade, Immortal-grade, and even Divine-grade items were typically born from the essence of heaven and earth. Did they also have forging blueprints?

He then looked at the second function: the ability to repair, enhance, and even upgrade weapons to a higher grade.

Zu An's heart brightened. His Taia Sword had been damaged earlier, and this function would be perfect for repairing it.

Enhancement was akin to leveling up in his previous life's games. Even within the same grade, weapons varied in power, and this function could significantly increase a weapon's power within its current grade.

As for upgrading, with sufficient materials, a weapon or magic artifact could be raised by one grade. For example, a Heaven-grade weapon could be upgraded to Immortal-grade, and an Immortal-grade weapon could even be upgraded to Divine-grade.

Seeing this function, Zu An's breathing quickened. "Does this mean I'll be able to mass-produce divine weapons in the future?" he wondered.

"Plant a batch of Mortal-grade weapons in spring, harvest a batch of Divine-grade weapons in autumn!"

However, he quickly calmed down after seeing the required conditions. Upgrading grades demanded vast amounts of resources, along with special, rare items whose scarcity was comparable to weapons of the same grade.

For example, the Primordial Tribulation Gold he had obtained from the Biyuan stone gambling was one such item. These materials were often priceless and extremely difficult to find, even if one had the money to buy them.

Besides the resources consumed, a weapon's ability to upgrade to a higher grade also depended on its inherent potential for growth.

Weapons with immense growth potential could even be upgraded all the way to Divine-grade.

However, most weapons were fortunate to be upgraded by one grade and could absolutely not be enhanced to higher grades beyond that.

An ordinary weapon, no matter how many precious resources were invested, could not be upgraded to Divine-grade, or even necessarily to Earth-grade.

The third function was reforging. One could choose to put several weapons, along with corresponding resources and materials, back into the furnace for forging. This would create a new weapon, which would be at least of the same grade, but its attributes or abilities would be completely random and unrelated to the original weapons.

The reforged weapon might be inferior to the old weapons thrown in, or its new attributes and abilities might be superior.

The key was that this process wasn't replicable; each outcome was random.

For instance, if you used the exact same weapons and materials as before, the resulting weapon would not be identical to the previous one; in fact, there would likely be no relation at all.

Additionally, the reforging function had an extremely small probability of yielding a weapon of a higher grade than those put in. For example, by inputting several Immortal-grade weapons, one might exceptionally receive a Divine-grade weapon. However, the system's instructions sternly warned that this probability was minuscule, and careful consideration was advised.

Zu An thought, "Who would dare to gamble precious Immortal-grade weapons on such a minuscule probability!"

"It's another gambling mechanic! I hate gambling!"