"Ah, my connection with the Hunyuan Cudgel is weakening."
The old man's face was filled with terror, utterly bewildered as to why this was happening.
Meanwhile, Ji Mo had already entered the house. The old man couldn't see what was occurring, but he didn't need to guess; he knew Ji Mo was undoubtedly casting a spell to sever his connection with the Hunyuan Cudgel.
The old man's fate soul was intimately tied to the Hunyuan Cudgel, and he had refined it for years with his heart's blood. The two were almost one, inseparable.
Yet now, the old man clearly felt the Hunyuan Cudgel gradually separating from him.
Had Ji Mo become that terrifying, so easily erasing his mark from the Hunyuan Cudgel?
No, he must have used some underhanded, despicable method. There was no way he possessed such heaven-defying abilities.
"A cudgel unstraightened is not wielded well."
At that moment, Ji Mo was in the kitchen, using a cleaver to hack at the Hunyuan Cudgel, attempting to straighten it for better handling.
The Hunyuan Cudgel, impervious to water and fire and indestructible, could not withstand the cleaver forged from common iron. It was being hacked into a unrecognizable mess.
And within it, the old man's fate soul power was being dissolved by a wisp of peculiar energy emanating from the cleaver, ultimately being completely eliminated.
"Pfft..."
The old man suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood mist. His face turned ashen, and he became listless and weak.
His connection with the Hunyuan Cudgel was completely severed.
Taking out a jade bottle, the old man, with a pang of heartache, swallowed his last Grade Eight pill. His complexion improved slightly.
"Ji Mo, I admit defeat this round. Just you wait, I will never let this go."
The old man, filled with unwillingness and resentment, returned to his cave dwelling to recuperate.
As for Huang Guangcai, who had fled in disarray, his unrestrained act of running naked had made him infamous.
His lifelong dream of gaining renown and being the focus of public attention had come true.
However, Huang Guangcai was devastated. Who would want a reputation like "The Streaking Young Master"? And to be the subject of pointing fingers, with gazes full of contempt and mockery.
His hatred for Ji Mo intensified once more. He also resented the old man who had misled him into seeking revenge against Ji Mo. If not for that old scoundrel's instigation, how could he have ended up like this?
Most infuriating was that the old scoundrel had treated him as a disposable pawn, leaving him to fend for himself. Only now did he realize he had been used.
"Once I become the son-in-law of the Wen family, I will get my revenge."
Huang Guangcai gritted his teeth, his face contorted with ferocity.
The news that Wen Xi, the young lady of the Wen family, would be holding a music gathering in Baishou Town had already spread. Huang Guangcai saw this as an opportunity to soar to success. With his qin skills, winning Wen Xi's favor would be effortless.
Although his character was questionable, Huang Guangcai's qin skills were indeed impressive. Among the younger generation, he ranked quite highly.
...
Tian Xiong, having returned to the Heavenly Wolf Gang, first suppressed the two elders with rebellious intentions through iron-fisted means. Then, he spent some time reasserting his firm control over the Heavenly Wolf Gang.
Having become a Spirit Emperor, he was full of ambition and decided to attack and subdue the Xuan Shui Pavilion and the Brahma Heaven Sect.
Then, a tragic event occurred.
The Heavenly Wolf Gang suffered a complete defeat.
For some unknown reason, the overall strength of the Xuan Shui Pavilion and the Brahma Heaven Sect had surged. Even Lin Zhan and Qiao Surong had advanced to the Spirit Emperor realm.
What made Tian Xiong find it most inconceivable was that the Brahma Heaven Sect and the Xuan Shui Pavilion had actually allied themselves.
Upon hearing this news, Tian Xiong was furious to the point of sputtering blood.
"That slut Qiao Surong, she's actually gotten together with Lin Zhan, shamelessly."
Two factions that had been feuding for hundreds of years, irreconcilably opposed, had somehow reconciled. Besides Qiao Surong being involved with Lin Zhan, Tian Xiong could not think of any other reason.
"You were clearly playing me."
Tian Xiong felt a profound sense of betrayal.
If it weren't for Qiao Surong's instigation, how could he have betrayed his alliance with the Brahma Heaven Sect? If he hadn't been injured while ambushing Lin Zhan, how could he have fallen to become a lackey of the Nine Nether Ancestor?
Now, with Lin Zhan and Qiao Surong entangled, he had become the most miserable.
Such a turn of events filled Tian Xiong with righteous indignation, making him wish he could devour the pair of scoundrels alive.
"I'll fight, I'll fight you."
Tian Xiong, as if driven mad, disregarded all consequences and launched a full-scale war against the Xuan Shui Pavilion and the Brahma Heaven Sect, determined to fight to the bitter end.
The turmoil outside did not affect Ji Mo.
However, the recurring earthquakes were a great source of annoyance.
Not long after the first earthquake, several more occurred.
Although they were not as strong as the first, and the eerie heartbeat sound was no longer heard, it still made Ji Mo feel very uneasy. He wondered if he should move.
Judging by the trend, a major earthquake was likely to occur soon. If he didn't flee, he would probably face certain death.
But strangely, the people around him showed no signs of panic, as if they hadn't sensed the approaching danger.
"Doctor Ji, don't joke. What earthquake?"
When Ji Mo advised some of the mountain folk nearby to be cautious of earthquakes, the replies he received left him utterly perplexed.
It seemed that apart from him, no one else had felt any ground tremors.
He asked many people consecutively, and they all thought Ji Mo was talking nonsense.
If not for his reputation as a doctor, Ji Mo would likely have been mistaken for a lunatic and dragged to be drowned in a pig cage.
"Could it really be my imagination?"
Ji Mo began to doubt himself.
But after feeling the ground shake violently once more, he still felt something was wrong.
"Perhaps I should build a seismograph to detect it."
Ji Mo had a plan in mind. He could only use scientific methods to verify it, otherwise, he couldn't rest easy.
Coincidentally, he had a large amount of iron ore purchased from blacksmith Zhang, enough to build a seismograph.
"My chance to shine has arrived again."
Tian Peng had the potential to be a sycophant. Seeing Ji Mo light the furnace and prepare to forge iron, he rushed forward without a word to help.
He didn't know how to operate the bellows, but he was very good at fanning the flames.
With a flap of his wings, a gust of wind arose, and the flames in the furnace blazed fiercely.
Ji Mo discovered that his chicken had this ability and praised it profusely, making Tian Peng ecstatic and fan the flames even more diligently.
Several pieces of profound iron, along with some iron ore, quickly melted into molten iron. Ji Mo then removed impurities, added some flux, and forged them into an alloy.
"Turning stone into gold, could Master be a divine craftsman?"
This scene opened Tian Peng's eyes. Refining ordinary ore into higher-grade metal was a skill said to be possessed only by legendary divine craftsmen.
Dong...
Ji Mo began to swing his hammer.
This strike was like a great bell.
Tian Peng felt his mind roar and go blank. At the same time, a sense of enlightenment regarding the Great Dao began to grow in his heart.
Ji Mo continued to hammer, forging relentlessly. The sound of the hammer blows seemed to form a rhythmic resonance of the Great Dao, mesmerizing Tian Peng, who was completely engrossed.
"Resonating with the Dao, a divine skill!"
At this moment, Ji Mo, wielding the hammer, appeared incredibly majestic in Tian Peng's eyes, like a deity.
Sparks flew incessantly as the mold gradually took shape, revealing a cauldron-like vessel.
This cauldron resembled a wine vessel, nine feet in diameter. Its exterior was cast with the four divine beasts, corresponding to the four cardinal directions, and it bore patterns of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches within.
As the cauldron was removed from the furnace, resplendent rays of light shot straight into the sky.
"Holy cow, a divine artifact!"