Ye Liuyun handed over the three Unity Nine-Heaven cultivators he had captured to Qiong Qi, along with three Unity Eight-Heaven and three Unity Seven-Heaven experts. He even helped Qiong Qi bind them all with master-servant contracts so they could serve as bodyguards. These were the strongest fighters he had at his disposal.

He also loaded Qiong Qi down with a mountain of cultivation resources and a fire-powered war chariot, just in case. Qiong Qi was deeply moved by Ye Liuyun’s care.

During this period of weapon-refining and equipment-upgrading, Ye Liuyun stayed inside his spatial world, burning through the resources he had recently acquired. His soul, bloodline, and physique all improved again. Most notably, when he unleashed his power of bloodline now, even Unity Nine-Heaven cultivators would find their strength suppressed by ten percent.

For sparring partners he no longer bothered with Unity Seven-Heaven experts; Unity Eight-Heaven cultivators were his new standard. Without drawing his saber, he could trade blows with them safely—his Heaven-and-Earth energy wasn’t strong enough to accidentally kill them, and his body was tough enough that they didn’t fear killing him either.

Yet the Heaven-and-Earth energy he had once tasted through the pill spirit was still vivid in his mind, and he kept striving toward that goal.

His spatial power now required caution; careless use could grievously injure a sparring partner. In ordinary combat he stuck to defensive space stacking or harmless techniques like spatial lock and spatial shift. Lethal moves such as spatial dislocation or compression he practiced against his spatial puppet, learning and refining them there.

The quality of his divine essence continued to rise, reaching the peak of Unity Four-Heaven. The beasts and others training in his clone’s spatial world had only reached late Unity Four-Heaven. They had broken through earlier than he had, yet he had already caught up; some were now slower than him.

His divine essence was far purer than theirs, making him acutely aware of the advantage granted by his cultivation art.

“Pity this technique can’t be passed on. Otherwise everyone could advance faster,” he mused with regret.

He temporarily halted cultivation; the top-tier resources he had plundered were exhausted. Thanks to Jiang Yunhan and those major powers’ deep pockets, he had lasted this long.

“Time to deal with Chen Huoyang, then head to Void Pill Sect to grab some pill masters. From now on, advancing will probably depend on pills—there aren’t enough high-end resources left to burn.”

With that thought, he shifted into Jin Chengshan’s appearance again. He filled thirty drops of life spring water into a vial and set off for the Chen estate to retrieve his weapons and treasures.

The agreed-upon time had arrived. Though the Chen family had been busy hunting for pill masters, their inner-sect weapon-refining master hadn’t been affected; forging continued as usual.

Nearly a month had passed; the Myriad Transformation Sect search party, unable to find Yao Feng, had withdrawn. The Chen family had stayed quiet, and their vigilance had slackened.

Ye Liuyun saw they had added manpower, but none seemed especially alert. Still, this identity couldn’t be exposed—he still needed to visit Void Pill Sect—so regardless of their defenses, he wouldn’t act today.

He sought out the inner-se elder first. The moment they met, the elder produced the three artifacts.

“All ready for you. See how they suit you,” the elder said with a smile.

A single glance told Ye Liuyun all three had reached True Grade Nine.

He picked up the Demon Thunder Bomb first, stashing it in his spatial world for Lei Ming to test. Next came the Nine Dragon River Landscape Cauldron; he summoned the dragon spirits. All nine were intact and jubilantly informed him that the cauldron’s upgrade had boosted their power as well.

Finally he lifted the Great Desolation Bow, drew it toward the sky, and pulled it to full draw. The same green arrow, the same tracking and locking ability—yet this time the draw cost only the divine essence of a single prime core. The weapon-refining master had clearly refined it to reduce energy expenditure.

Though he couldn’t aim at anyone here, the ancient desolate pressure within the bow remained; once locked onto a target, that pressure would still be formidable.

Lei Ming reported back: the Demon Thunder Bomb’s might had soared; with it, she could now fight Unity Eight-Heaven cultivators without trouble.

“Incredible—absolutely perfect!” Ye Liuyun couldn’t help praising aloud.

He promptly produced the promised thirty drops of life spring water and handed them to the Chen elder.

“Haha, Brother Jin flatters us. We’re a forging clan—if we couldn’t manage this, we’d be out of business!” the elder replied with a broad grin, pocketing the life water.

Ye Liuyun immediately passed the Nine Dragon River Landscape Cauldron and the Great Desolation Bow to his second clone. The clone summoned Leng Yuan and the Snow Wolf for a test. Under the bow’s ancient desolate pressure, neither dared move; had the arrow been loosed, both would have died on the spot.

“Devastating power!” Even the second avatar couldn’t help but praise.

Ye Liuyun thanked the Chen family elder again and again; he hadn’t expected them to cut no corners at all. Every weapon had been forged to his complete satisfaction, their might fully worthy of true-grade-nine rank.

That only made him more eager to see the improvements Grandmaster Huoyang had made to the Demon-Hunting Bow and Demon-Hunting Armor.

After taking his leave of the elder, Ye Liuyun went straight to Chen Huoyang.

The moment Chen Huoyang saw him, he produced the Demon-Hunting Bow and Demon-Hunting Armor.

The sensation was the same as when Ye Liuyun had first laid eyes on them—a heart-stopping pressure.

“Such savage ferocity!” Ye Liuyun couldn’t help exclaiming. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He fed in a wisp of divine sense to bind them, then prepared to don the armor and test it. But the War God Armor fused to his skin immediately protested, informing him that the Demon-Hunting Armor was inferior.

Ye Liuyun was speechless—who knew a suit of armor could be jealous? He sent a mental message: “I’m only testing its power; afterward I’ll give it to someone else. I won’t use it myself.”

Only then did the War God Armor relent.

The War God Armor was one with Ye Liuyun’s body, linked to his soul, bloodline, flesh, and divine energy; worn on him, its autonomy grew even stronger.

After placating it, he finally slipped on the Demon-Hunting Armor. He even asked Chen Huoyang to punch him once. He barely felt a thing—the armor absorbed the blow entirely.