"Elder Li, the safety of young miss will be your responsibility on your way to the Imperial capital. Myself and the other elders will meet you later." At the foot of Blackwind Mountain, Zhuo Fan patted Li Jingtian's shoulder.
Li Jingtian nodded.
Zhuo Fan let out a relaxed chuckle and left a few instructions for the rest before sending them off.
He was letting Li Jingtian go on this trip to the imperial capital out of fear that the other houses might harbor evil plans.
In that regard, the tough and loyal Li Jingtian was the best choice.
When they were gone from his sight, Zhuo Fan took Xue Qingjian, Yan Song and the Four Scheming Demons back to Blackwind Mountain. They soon arrived before the familiar Misty Forest.
Zhuo Fan said, "I will enter seclusion for a few days and you must protect me. No one is allowed entry into Blackwind Mountain's surroundings. Is that clear?"
"Crystal!" They all cupped their hands.
Zhuo Fan relaxed and vanished among the fog. The rest assumed their role and guarded Blackwind Mountain from all directions.
After arriving at a wide clearing, Zhuo Fan found it adequate and began to carve a familiar body refining array. The only difference was that this array was a great deal larger.
When finished, Zhuo Fan's hand flashed and he inserted tens of thousands of spirit stones into the array core with a wave.
With a boom, a pillar suddenly shot for the clouds.
This was the same Qilin leg he obtained from the Lightning Canyon, the one he was planning to make his new right arm from.
But the effort to convert a sacred beast's leg into a human's arm was far too difficult. The scale of the Qilin leg alone posed a huge problem.
Luckily, he had come prepared. With the Shaping Spring he got from Beast King Mountain, this problem was solved by itself. Shaping Spring's mystical ability would turn the Qilin leg into a human's arm and safely replace his lost limb.
He had had this idea since the first time he heard of Shaping Spring. But because of the dangers involved, he had vetoed it.
Yet the fight with Huangpu Qingtian had taught him to steel himself and throw away any hesitation. [It's just a hand, how hard can it be?]
Grinning, Zhuo Fan sighed. [When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.]
Zhuo Fan flew atop the Qilin leg and poured the Shaping Spring all over it. He then slowly floated back down, stepped out of the array and made a hand sign.
A tremendous boom echoed and the array exploded with light. Even the thick fog found it hard to conceal it.
The elders outside were stunned, in the dark about Zhuo Fan's plan.
Then the Qilin leg released a bloody glow echoing the array's own light. It trembled and crackled with lightning. At the same time, the white liquid on its surface slowly seeped in.
It wasn't long before all of it was absorbed.
Squinting, Zhuo Fan capitalized on the timing and changed his hand sign, "Heaven and Earth's sacred power shifts ying and yang, the Qilin leg will turn into an arm. All shall be fused as one and the sacred arm will break the heavens!"
It started off with a buzz. The array released a ripple from its center and the Qilin leg never stopped shaking.
It reached the magnitude of an earthquake as even the surrounding mountains started rumbling, including Blackwind Mountain. Not even the four 5th grade arrays could take the strain when rocks fell everywhere.
Qiu Yanhai, Xue Qingjian and the rest of the elder contingency were overwhelmed. [What is Steward Zhuo doing? Is he going to wreck his own clan's foundation?]
The Four Scheming Demons wailed as they panicked all over the place, "The sky is falling…"
Only Zhuo Fan was stirred, seeing the Qilin leg shrink by half in a blink.
The body refining array from the Nine Serenities Secret Records was truly something to be able to refine even a sacred beast.
The next part was crucial, fusing the sacred arm. Success would be achieved only when the Qilin leg would calmly rest below his right shoulder.
[Or all of this effort would go to waste.]
[I hope there won't be a rejection. This is, after all, the sacred leg from the mighty Qilin…]
Squinting, Zhuo Fan took a deep breath and focused on the shrinking red pillar. Once it was the size of an arm, he shouted and jumped inside the array.
Ah!
A wail of agony similar to the one in the Allbeast Mountain Range echoed. Zhuo Fan felt his body disintegrate under the onslaught of the thunderstorm within the array.
What made it worse was that this pain was a hundred times more excruciating than last time.
Last time the array size was much smaller, and he had only used Diamond Sand and a 6th level spiritual beast's wings. But this time, he thirsted to make the mighty Qilin's leg his arm.
Weighting the price and the benefits of having it rest below his shoulder, he found it more than worth it.
But not for the life of him did Zhuo Fan expect to endure such agony. Watching his body chipping away, his flesh splashing onto the array, Zhuo Fan's eyes widened with pain, ready to explode.
This pain went beyond the conceivable realm. The last refining was but a bug bite by comparison.
But Zhuo Fan held fast.
The last time he had done it for Ning'er, while this time he was doing it for everyone, so that Ning'er' misfortune would never repeat itself.
Ah!
Howling at the sky, the elders outside freaked out. They watched the Misty Forest with concern.
[Steward Zhuo, just what cultivation method are you practicing to make even a tenacious demon like you scream at the top of his lungs…]
In the array, Zhuo Fan's flesh floated about and even his organs were gone. All that was left was his skeleton and his trembling eyes.
Zhuo Fan would've been long dead by now in these circumstances, but within the array, his life force didn't scatter.
Hum~
The Qilin leg released a bloody glow and Zhuo Fan's pieces of flesh flew around it and bathed in the red glow before shooting for his body and reforging it.
With a long sigh, Zhuo Fan's heart eased. [It's finally combining.] This meant that the refining was nearing its end, bringing him one step closer to success.
His thinking was quite logical. When the body was reformed, the refining would end.
Although, he didn't take into account the fact that the target of his refining was a sacred beast.
Whoosh~
The flying flesh reformed on Zhuo Fan's skeleton and released a pale red glow, with only the right arm missing from its place.
And then the Qilin leg floated over, slowly approaching his shoulder to fuse.
He didn't get to rejoice though as a heaven shaking howl announced the trembling of the Qilin leg.
A red glow flashed from the leg and pierced his brain.
Zhuo Fan blanked out for a second and felt his head splitting, about to explode. A bellow like that of a savage beast tore through the deepest corners of his mind and knocked him out.
[I failed…]
Sighing in his heart, this was his last thought before he passed out cold.
A blood red Qilin was roaring in his soul, wanting to tear the place apart.
[A mere human dares to covet my sacred body? You are judged unworthy!]
Roar!
While the Qilin was having a literal blast in the depths of his soul, a dragon roar came from within Zhuo Fan's body. The Dragon Vein Soul charged at the Qilin.
Zhuo Fan was now its master and its duty was to protect him. It was aware that it was no match for the Qilin, but it was going to try and protect Zhuo Fan with its life.
The Qilin only had disdain for the dragon soul, "Humph, if you were a celestial dragon, I would've graced you with a strike. But a tiny earth dragon dares to bar my path?"
The Qilin lifted its leg and stomped on the dragon soul.
Bam!
The dragon soul was kicked out of Zhuo Fan's soul and back into his Dantian with the face of a kicked puppy.
[Master! I did my best, but it just wasn't enough!]
"Ha-ha-ha, a snail dares contend with me? Die!" The Qilin cackled and raved at the surrounding darkness, "Ha-ha-ha, this human brat has some nerve. See how I'll tear your soul to smithereens!"
It didn't get the chance though as a sharp cry announced the pain in his back. A huge bird made of azure flame clawed at the tough Qilin's back.
Qilin looked back in shock, "You!"
"Yes, old partner, I've chosen this kid and one day he will return our help many fold. You have long since died and removing this grief from your soul will be for the best."
The huge azure fire bird exploded into flames and swallowed the Qilin. With a tightening of its claws, the Qilin vanished in a red glow.
Then, the huge azure fire bird vanished as well. Only then did Zhuo Fan's ever throbbing right arm, the Qilin leg, finally became still as it began to fuse with his body…