Chapter 639 The Choice
There was a kind of strange stone in the Bone Sacred Mountain that contained the essence of heaven and earth.
Li Mu followed the three of them through the zigzagged tunnel in the mine and headed for the depth of the Bone Sacred Mountain.
No one knew how many years the mine had been explored. There were old and new traces of mining. It was unknown for how long people had been mining it. The deeper they went in, the more prominent the new traces were, and the narrower tunnel in the mine became. At last, the tunnel only allowed one person to pass through.
Gradually, the inside of the mine became more and more depressing.
It was evident that the Bone Sacred Mountain had done a good job of protecting this mine. Except for Caicai and the Two Sages, no one in the Bone Sacred Mountain had the right to access the heart of the mine.
To Li Mu’s surprise, he didn’t feel any energy fluctuations down there.
After going down to about 1000 meters deep in the ground, the place ahead suddenly became open and clear.
A huge underground space appeared in front of Li Mu.
In the center of the space, there was a mass of white brilliance that had lit up the surroundings.
It was a silver mountain!
Li Mu saw a silver mountain.
“This is where the strange stone is,” Caicai said, pointing at the silver mountain.
This silver mountain was a jade-colored stone mountain. Its quality was extremely pure and clear. Its surface was glistening with colors. The weapons of the three were all made from the pieces of stones that had been cut off from this silver mountain, which possessed marvelous power.
“This strange stone is quite weird. It doesn’t contain any energy fluctuations. It’s neither gold nor iron, but it’s much harder than any immortal gold or divine iron we’ve ever seen. The weapons of we three were made by polishing some of those strip-shaped of stone pieces. If we know a real weapon-refining method, we can get more perfect weapons,” Dong Xue said with great excitement.
From the perspectives of Caicai, Ning Jing, and Dong Xue, everything they had obtained belonged to Li Mu. To them, Li Mu was not only their benefactor but also their master.
Previously, they had fought hard in the world of the Ghost Rally Star just to return to the world of the living and to see Li Mu again.
But now, their new purpose was quite simple. They would build a force for Li Mu in this world and become the most loyal men of sacrifice serving their king.
Therefore, no matter how precious and rare this strange stone was, they were willing to give it to Li Mu wholeheartedly.
Li Mu came to the strange stone that looked like a silver mountain, carefully observed it, and reached out to touch it.
His hand felt slightly cool, but it was not very chilling.
This was undoubtedly a very comfortable feeling.
This stone was a fantastic material for forging weapons.
Li Mu immediately saw the values of this silver-mountain-like strange Stone.
Whether for the ordinary martial arts masters or the cultivators in the universe, weapons was extremely important. The differences between the two kinds of people mainly lay in the grades of their weapons.
Therefore, when it came to forging weapons, they would put in a lot of effort whether they were forging ordinary weapons, Taoist instruments, or precious instruments.
When making common weapons, people would wrap threads of materials that could absorb sweat around the handles. This way, in a fierce battle, they would not find the weapons too slippery to hold because their palms were sweating due to the surging internal qi.
Although real martial arts experts and strong cultivators could fully control their own Qi and blood temperature and so this kind of situation basically wouldn’t happen to them, in the face of a real deadly enemy, any carelessness would lead to a fatal result.
Therefore, when forging weapons and magic treasures, the requirements for materials were extremely high. Not only did the material need to have great natural qi conduction and enhancement of talismans, but there were also requirements for the suitability of the materials.
Li Mu had already witnessed the enhancement of talismans and the natural qi conduction of the silver-mountain-like strange stone, but this was the first time he clearly sensed its suitability.
In the field of forging weapons, Li Mu had a certain degree of achievement. Although he was later surpassed by Qing Feng, his attendant, he could still be regarded as a master in this field.
So, Li Mu learned at a glance that this silver-mountain-like strange stone was definitely a rare material for forging weapons.
Li Mu grabbed a protruding stone piece in his hand and suddenly exerted force.
“Huh? It’s this hard?”
He was surprised to find that with his current physical strength, it was still impossible for him to pull off a piece from the silver-mountain-like strange stone. Its hardness was beyond his imagination.
It was no wonder that even though the silver-mountain-like strange stone was just sitting in the Bone Sacred Mountain, Caicai and the Two Sages were the only people who had possessed weapons made of the silver-mountain-like strange stone, while no one else had ever obtained any.
Indeed, with the strength of those other ghost cultivators, it was difficult for them to refine this material into a weapon.
Caicai and the Two Sages merely picked up some broken stone strips and polished them into their weapons. It probably had taken them several years to carve the Taoist magic talismans on the weapons bit by bit.
Li Mu observed the stone carefully for moments. The more he looked at it, the more he was fond of it.
But later, as his observation proceeded, he became more and more astounded.
When he examined it with his Third Eye, he found that the uniqueness of this silver-mountain-like strange stone was probably far beyond his imagination.
That was because even his Eye of Flaws couldn’t spot any defects or flaws in this silver-mountain-like strange stone.
The Eye of Flaws could see through the flaws of all things in the world. Strong as that huge face was, Li Mu had detected his weak points and eventually killed him with Taoist magic arts.
However, the silver-mountain-like strange stone was still perfect like jade under the scan of the Eye of Flaws. Li Mu couldn’t see through it, nor could he see any impurities.
Its quality was even higher than that divine-level Primordial Stone.
“If this material is used to forge weapons, the weapons will definitely be finest Taoist Treasures, and there is still room for the grade to go up in the future.”
Li Mu looked at Caicai and the Two Sages.
“This time, you’ve really found something extraordinary.”
Caicai jumped up happily. “Big brother, is it really of great use? That’s fantastic. I was afraid that you wouldn’t like it.”
Ning Jing and his wife were also very excited.
They had finally done something to help Li Mu.
This was the happiest thing for them.
After contemplating for a while, Li Mu finally decided to spend more time in the world of the Ghost Rally Star to forge weapons.
Because this strange stone was incredibly rare.
This was the supreme treasure one could find between heaven and earth.
Li Mu also found that his storage space could not accommodate the stone.
Moreover, there was definitely something that had a restraining effect on the stone in the place where this kind of supreme treasure of heaven and earth was formed.
Soon, Li Mu made a new discovery.
At the bottom of this silver-mountain-like strange stone, there were bizarre Underground Ghost Flames blazing. As the hot air flowed, the bottom of the silver-mountain-like strange stone that was several hundred meters high had been directly lifted up. And its bottom seemed to have softened after being roasted like this.
The softened silver-mountain-like strange stone could be cut into pieces.
The Underground Ghost Flames was the nemesis of the silver-mountain-like strange stone.
If it weren’t for the Underground Ghost Flames, it would be almost impossible to break down such a large piece of silver-mountain-like strange stone and make it into weapons.
Moreover, the pivotal reason was that Li Mu now felt that he was in urgent need of new weapons.
This trip to the Ghost Rally Star had unexpectedly made Li Mu’s strength soar.
He had broken the bottleneck in his Xiantian Skill cultivation and ascended to the higher level. That meant that very soon, Li Mu’s primitive natural qi cultivation would also rise sharply.
Because the Xiantian Skill was originally designed to improve the realm of one’s natural qi.
With the rapid growth of his strength, the goose-feather-shaped broadsword and the 24 matte willow-shaped broadswords that he had purchased on the Immortal Net could no longer bear his current strength, nor could they pose any more threats to the opponents at his level.
“Gotta change my weapons again.”
Li Mu’s heart ached a little.
Had he known this, he would not have spent so many fairy crystals on the goose-feather-shaped broadsword and the willow-shaped flying broadswords. It felt like he had just topped up his digital wallet and bought a set of clothes in an online game, but that soon went out of fashion.
Nevertheless, if Li Mu resold the goose-feather-shaped broadsword and the willow-shaped flying broadsword on the Immortal Net, he could probably get most of his money back.
Li Mu began to hatch the weapon-forging plan in his mind.
“Sorry, I can’t tell you.”
Shan Tian lowered his head. There was a hint of obstinacy in the bitter smile on his face that others could not understand.
“You won’t tell?” Shan Zhengfeng slammed the table and rose to his feet, saying, “Do you know what this means? Young Master Wei can turn our family into ashes and completely wipe us off from this world with a word of his. Even so, you still won’t tell for the sake of an outsider?”
In the hall, the uncles and other high-level relatives of the Shan family were also in hot discussion. They darted hard looks at Shan Tian and pointed at him, extremely furious and disapproving of his choice.
“Are you going to forsake your entire family for an outsider you don’t know about?”
“Li Mu is indeed a rare chivalrous man, but our family can’t all die with him, right?”
“Tian, I’ve watched you grow up. I know you’re ambitious and chivalrous. As your third uncle, I’m not surprised by your choice. But you’ve caused so much trouble outside these years. Hasn’t the Shan family sorted things out for you every time? You could be capricious doing what you did in the past, for your father could handle the issues for you. But this time, you can’t. You have to think about your family.”
“Brother Tian, all we’re asking you to do is to tell us the whereabouts of Li Mu. It’s not like we’re asking you to assassin him.”
“That’s right…”
The surrounding people continued to point at him. Their voices of angry accusation and earnest admonition had surrounded him like a medium storm.
Shan Jian, who was cladding a suit of scarlet armor and a scarlet cloak, stood quietly beside Shan Tian, void of expression. No one knew what he was thinking.
Shan Tian still kept his head lowered.
As the saying went, loyalty and filial piety were hard to attain at the same time ever since ancient times.
It was not until that truly happened to Shan Tian that he learned just how terrifying it was to make such a choice.
One was the interstellar hero he had worshipped, the perfect chivalrous representative in his eyes, while the other was his family, whose veins were bounded with his.
“Which side should I pick?”
He was kind of at a loss and didn’t want to say a word.
The discussions around him gradually became inaudible.
Looking at his son and the stubborn and embarrassed expression on his face, Shan Zhengfeng felt like he had traveled back in time and saw the scene before his wife died 10 years ago. The silent estrangement between father and son that had lasted for so many years had something to do with exactly that scene.
“Young Master Wei didn’t go too far on this, nor did he ask for too much from you. In fact, he has already found out that Li Mu has entered the area of the Ghost Rally Star, only that area is full of gloomy Ghost Qi and ordinary people will certainly die once they go in. You just need to send him to the place where you dropped Li Mu off. You don’t even have to meet Li Mu. He wouldn’t know you betray him, not to mention that this is not a betrayal in any sense.”
Shan Zhengfeng tried to persuade his son with rare patience.
Shan Tian still stood there with his head bowed.
This burly and straightforward man now looked like a child who had done something wrong. He hadn’t uttered a word, but his fists were tightly clenched, and his nails had pierced into the flesh.
A fierce battle was going on in his head.
Shan Zhengfeng added, “Li Mu will find a way to deal with his own problems. Anyway, he will come out of the area of the Ghost Rally Star sooner or later. Then, when he run into Young Master Wei, he will die anyway. His death is just a matter of time. If you trust Li Mu, you should let him sort out the trouble he has stirred up by himself, instead of you taking responsibility for him.”
Shan Tian still remained silent.
Shan Jian, who was standing on his side, frowned.
The atmosphere in the hall was rather heavy. It was as if the air had frozen.
Many people’s mouths went dry after all the persuasion. But it didn’t seem to work at all.
Shan Tian had been silent the whole time.
At last, Shan Zhengfeng sighed and said, “Young Master Wei is not an unreasonable person. He doesn’t force you into anything. You should really think this through. By the way, your sister came back half a month ago. You can go visit her.”
A glint of light suddenly flashed across Shan Tian’s eyes.