A few days after Sect Master Xia left, a Unity Realm Elder came over with two jade slips. Since this was sort of an under-the-table deal, it was better to have fewer people know. Tianyi entering the seventh level of the Immortal Scripture Repository would be recorded down. Hence, the delivery.
Tianyi inspected both jade slips; one contained the Three Union Lifebound Weapon Manual, while the other held the Heavenly Truth-Seeking Eye Technique. The Three Union Lifebound Weapon Manual was naturally for Daoyi, while what he wanted was the Heavenly Truth-Seeking Eye Technique.
In the legend of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong learned the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformation Art was able to transform himself into a myriad of objects and beings under heaven. He was virtually incapable of being discovered by anyone except the Erlang Shen, the divinity of purity and decency, and legendary demon slayer.
Born Yang Jian, Erlang Shen was the nephew of the Jade Emperor. Aside from being famed as Heaven Equalling Great Sage's equal, Erlang Shen possessed three premier techniques. The first was the Trident Spear Divine Art, named after the Three-Pointed Double-Edge Spear wielded by Erlang Shen. The second premier technique of Erlang Shen was his Nine Revolution Divine Skill. This defensive art allowed the user to possess a divine body impervious to all manner of artifacts and spells.
But perhaps, Erlang Shen's most famed technique was his Heavenly Truth-Seeking Eye. It was this exact skill that allowed Erlang Shen to perceive Sun Wukong's whereabouts and pursue him to the ends of the Earth. The Heavenly Truth-Seeking Eye was supposedly an innate ability that was born to Yang Jian, so Tianyi had been greatly surprised to see the manual for it. Had he not been so desperate for a soul cultivation method, Tianyi would have chosen this art.
Tianyi curbed his desire to immediately train in the Heavenly Truth-Seeking Eye and went to look for his mother and Daoyi. When he found them, he saw them in a clearing with abundant spiritual qi. His mother was helping Daoyi set up a defensive formation to transcend her Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation. Although the grass was verdant and the trees were vibrant, Tianyi couldn't help but get a ghostly feeling that tingle on his skin. But he figured it was his own imagination since neither Daoyi nor his mother seemed to feel differently. However, his mother was strangely standing a fair distance away from Daoyi.
Tianyi didn't think much of it as he walked closer until he felt a chilling sensation, like needles pricking his skin, crawling up his spine, then up his arms. Tianyi rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm up, not thinking of the strangeness until he felt his hand touch a smooth and round object. Looking at his arm, Tianyi's mind blanked as he took in the sight of it.
It had an inorganic crystal ball for an abdomen. Inside the crystal ball were countless silver streams circling around an argent orb, greatly resembling a galaxy. Attached to the crystal ball was the central body, with eight glittering eyes and eight silver legs.
A sound that should have never come from a man was released from Tianyi as he flung his arm up and down, attempting to throw off the creep crawly off his arm.
Seeing the spider still clinging on, Tianyi hardened his heart as his free hand formed a flat blade. Before he could lop off his own arms, he heard Daoyi's voice calling out. Like an obedient dog, the spider dropped off of Tianyi and started to crawl towards Daoyi, and once it was standing in her palm, it began to sway back and forth like a dog wagging its tail.
"Good girl, you're such a good girl~! Aren't you?" Daoyi cooed to the abomination.
"D-Daoyi, what is that?" Tianyi said as he pointed at the spider with shaking fingers.
"You mean Shuijing?" Daoyi said, gesturing towards the spider in her hand. "It's the spiritual beast egg you got me during our time at the Fleeting Mist Sect."
"That's what hatched from that egg? Why is it a spider of all things?" Tianyi said, disbelieving his horrid luck. He hated cockroaches the most, followed by spiders.
"Strictly speaking, the spiritual beast in Daoyi's hand isn't a spider. It simply took the form of the spider because that is what Daoyi wished for." Mengfei said as she appeared behind Tianyi, almost as if she was using his body to shield her from the spider. "Daoyi's spiritual beast's true name should be Dreamsilk Weaver Beast, a rare spiritual beast that rarely appears. Our sect has only notes of its existence."
"I-I see. So Junior Sister wanted a spider as your spiritual beast." Tianyi said.
"Yeah, originally I asked Master if the Tamer Vice Hall had any spider-type spiritual beasts. But a few things happened, and the matter wasn't mentioned again. But at the Fleeting Mist Sect, Senior Brother stole the egg from Second Sister and gave it to me. I originally thought that since Senior Brother already got me a spiritual beast egg, I would accept whatever came out. But who knew I would be so lucky?" Daoyi said with a happy smile.
Tianyi blamed all this on Jiang Chunye. If she hadn't stolen the Dreamsilk Weaving Beast egg, then none of this would have happened.
"Daoyi's luck is indeed quite good. The Dreamsilk Weaving Beast can be considered a spiritual beast that focuses on aspects of the soul. With it, Daoyi's future cultivation will be smoother." Mengfei said, but she still stared warily at the spider in Daoyi's hand. "Yi'er, for you to come here suddenly, is there something wrong?"
Making sure to keep a fair distance away from the Dreamsilk Weaving Beast, or Shuijing as Daoyi called it -seriously, why would she name it crystal- Tianyi explained the reason why he was here. Of course, he included why Sect Master Xia bribed him with two valuable techniques. As expected, Mengfei's face hardened and prepared to confront Sect Master Xia on his actions, but Tianyi stopped her and convinced her not to take any action, for now.
The debt between them and Immortal Redseal would one day be paid.
"Since Daoyi will be able to refine three Lifebound Artifacts, she should have one of each type. I already prepared an attack-type Artifact for Daoyi. I will need to prepare a defensive-type and support-type Artifact now." Mengfei said while holding her chin in her fingers. She broke out of her thoughts to see Tianyi's sparkling eyes.
Mengfei blinked, unsure of what Tianyi wanted. Daoyi looked at Tianyi, then at Mengfei before looking back at Tianyi. Thinking about Tianyi's disappointment a few days before, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Master, how about letting Senior Brother forging one of my Lifebound Artifacts? I wouldn't want to trouble Master too much with my problems. Since Senior Brother is the one who created the problem, why not let him bear some of the burdens?"
"Are you sure?" Mengfei asked as she looked Daoyi in the eye.
Daoyi likely nodded with a benevolent smile. Mengfei relented.
"Alright, Yi'er, I'll forge Daoyi's defensive Artifact while you forge her auxiliary Artifact," Mengfei said. At the very least, this way, Daoyi wouldn't be affected by the disparity between her three Lifebound Artifacts. An auxiliary Artifact wasn't as important as attacking and defensive Artifacts.
"Don't worry, Junior Sister, I will forge the best auxiliary Artifact you've ever seen," Tianyi said, excitement coloring his voice.
"I believe in you, Senior Brother," Daoyi said as she stepped next to Tianyi, highlighting her superior height, much to Tianyi's dismay.
The first thing Tianyi did before starting on forging an Artifact for Daoyi was to ask what Artifact his mother prepared for Daoyi. Mengfei had already prepared an attack-type Artifact in the form of guqin. She planned to refine a dress using numerous treasures and dreamsilk from the Dreamsilk Weaving Beast. This way, the dress would be able to block both physical and soul attacks.
With this information in hand, Tianyi left to design Daoyi's Artifact.
Daoyi will already have a guqin as her primary method of attack. Mom says she will make a defensive Artifact for Daoyi. So what kind of Artifact can I make for Daoyi?
Shoes?
Nah, she already has them, although I might need to make new ones. But shoes just feel... inadequate? Although some people do say, shoes are a women's best friend.
Something unique of Earth make? Too risky, I can't and won't make anything until I test Xi Ri, and I'll test Xi Ri after my clone acquires the information from Dong Chifan.
Now that I think about it, I recall Daoyi was interested in an earring.
Tianyi searched inside his spatial ring and brought out a crystal earring that shone like moonlight. He recalled that Daoyi especially liked the earring but didn't buy it because the price was too high. He had secretly purchased it, intending it to be a gift for her, but it was forgotten after the Daoist Lu's incident. Observing the earring, Tianyi felt inspiration strike him as his face reflected off of the crystal.
Tianyi didn't know how long he spent working on the auxiliary Artifact. As if obsessed, he burnt through countless materials experimenting with making the perfect earring-shaped Artifact, at least the most perfect he could make at his current state. By the time he was done, there was quite literally a small mountain of failed earrings beside him.
"Ah crap, I went overboard again."
Tianyi said. When he got into something, he ignored everything around him and only focused on it, screw the consequences. But at least he made the perfect earring-shaped Artifact. He tried not to think about the cost spent forging it, probably several Immortal Realm Artifacts worth of materials if he wasn't lucky.
But Tianyi smiled with delight as he observed the earring in his hand. The silver-white crystal appeared to be crystallized from pure moonlight, but there was a lotus scent wafting from it. Attached to it was a silver chain connecting to a feather-shaped hairpin. The feather was snow-white and used the Craneswan feather as the base.
Tianyi could sense powerful true qi emanating from it. The feather had the effect of generating its own true qi and supporting the bearer with it. Unlike his own chaos true qi that was too dominating and corrosive to most people, the feather generated clear true qi. Although common, its most significant advantage was its gentleness and its potential to be assimilated by other types of true qi.
The lotus scented earring, on the other hand, nourished the soul. Tianyi could perceive that it was based on the Lotus Soul Ascension Art. If the soul was damaged, it even had the effect of healing it.
There was only one problem.
"How did I make this?"
Tianyi asked. His memories of the past few days or even months were fuzzy. He felt like he would have bags under his eyes if it was possible for his body. And upon closer inspection of his body.
"Huh, I'm a mid-Nascent Soul Grandmaster now."