Upon returning, Shi Yu immediately perused 《No Thought of Return》.
The technique was depicted in the form of a musical score across just a few pages, but she read it with great relish.
Rhythm-type techniques were mostly auxiliary, such as applying buffing states or disturbing the enemy's mind, but ferocious and powerful offensive compositions were also plentiful, capable of taking lives invisibly without question.
The 《No Thought of Return》 in her hands was a relatively common auxiliary type. When played, its melody could sneak into the enemy's divine soul, touching their deepest fears and regrets, shaking their minds and sapping their will.
In terms of her past life's video games, it applied debuffs to enemies, with the specific effectiveness determined by the caster's level of divine sense.
Shi Yu previously lacked a deep understanding of rhythm-type techniques, but now, immersed in it, she unexpectedly found it quite interesting and remarkably compatible with her.
After reading through it a few times to memorize the technique, she immersed her divine sense into the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell to inspect the spiritual materials stored inside.
If she wanted to perform 《No Thought of Return》, she still needed to refine a suitable and handy musical instrument artifact.
“A harp? A zither? A flute?” As she pondered the artifact's form, she weighed spiritual materials with matching attributes.
“Reverse-Backed Bear-Rhino horn—its attribute is steady and heavy, so it's usable, if slightly mediocre. The remaining Soul Frost Jade from before is rich in spiritual charm and augments the divine soul, making it a much better match. The Half-Moon Pearls I just bought at Tongyi Pavilion are great for calming and soothing the mind, so they're quite decent too...”
Shi Yu checked them one by one. Rhythm-type techniques were closely linked to the soul and divine sense, and the Fate-Tapping Bell currently lacked materials that fully satisfied her preferences.
Ultimately, she was only in the Qi Refining Realm for now. Once her cultivation grew higher and she encountered better materials in the future, she would replace her artifact anyway. For now, refining a handy one to use would suffice.
As for the artifact's form... an idea gradually took shape while she pondered.
Drawing the scimitar tucked against the side of her boot, Shi Yu pulled off the sheath and lightly traced her hand above the edge of the blade.
This scimitar was ancient and simple, appearing unimpressive at a glance. Yet upon closer inspection, a vast, chilling aura of slaughter radiated from within. The spiritual materials used in its forging were quite extraordinary, though the refiner lacked sufficient mastery, failing to bring out the materials' full potential.
“Second Senior Brother...” Shi Yu stared at the slender blade, a cold light slowly surfacing in her eyes.
During her three months cultivating under Xuanqing Immortal Venerable, she had not been close to her quiet, stern Second Senior Brother, having barely exchanged a few words with him.
Yet she never expected that after being framed by Eldest Senior Sister Yan Xiao and silenced with the Bound to Silence restriction—leaving her unable to defend herself—the entire sect would come to despise her.
Only Second Senior Brother took advantage of their master bringing Yan Xiao into secluded cultivation to integrate the extracted Supreme-grade Fire-attribute Spiritual Meridian from her body, carrying her breath of life back to the mortal realm.
This spared her from being found and silenced by Yan Xiao, while providing invaluable time and opportunity to grow and gather strength today.
This scimitar was now her sole remaining link to her former sect.
Hatred could not be forgotten, nor could gratitude be cast aside.
Shi Yu intended to refine a flute, using the body of the flute as a sheath to house the scimitar inside its tube.
No sooner said than done. Prompting her spiritual energy with divine sense, she extracted a drop of Slaughter Spring water, dropping it into a bucket. Watching the ink-like blackness rapidly diffuse across the water's surface, Shi Yu submerged the scimitar into it and left it alone.
She extracted another drop, put it into a second bucket, and began processing the other spiritual materials.
Soul Frost Jade, Half-Moon Pearls, Earth Fiend Stone... Shi Yu already had a clear blueprint design in mind, and the materials she selected had been carefully considered.
Soul Frost Jade possessed an extremely tough texture and the effect of soothing and stabilizing the soul, making it ideal for the flute's body. Earth Fiend Stone could lay an exceptionally solid foundation for the flute's framework. Supplemented by the Half-Moon Pearls to guide spiritual power and transmit sound, the music would form without spilling over, concealing its lethal intent within.
While the Slaughter Spring water tempered the materials, Shi Yu did not sit idly by. She sat quietly to meditate and regulate her breathing, bringing her state to full spiritual energy and brimming divine sense.
Once the materials finished tempering in the Slaughter Spring water, Shi Yu stretched her limbs, pulled out Gansong Charcoal to kindle a fire, and began channeling spiritual energy to continuously refine and polish them.
With a flick of her mind, the flames sometimes turned into fine threads and sometimes wrapped into clusters, precisely refining the various spiritual materials.
After stepping into the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm, her spiritual energy was far more abundant, sparing her from needing to pause constantly to meditate and recover like before.
...
It took Shi Yu three whole days to refine the artifact prototype.
Present before her was a flute roughly a foot long. Made primarily of Soul Frost Jade—which harmonized spiritual energy and augmented the soul—its color was pure white as snow and its texture fine as lard, emitting a faint glow.
The surface of the flute featured a layer of Earth Fiend Stone inlays, forming dark gold borders of varying depth that radiated outward in ring-like patterns resembling tree growth rings.
There were twelve finger holes staggered along the flute's body, each embedded with a smooth, translucent Half-Moon Pearl, making it look exquisite.
By then, the scimitar had long finished tempering in the Slaughter Spring water. Its shape remained unchanged, but its size shrank by a full margin. Unsurprisingly, its quality rose significantly, its blade so sharp and frigid that a faint mist seemed to swirl around it.
Not satisfied with just this, Shi Yu refined it once more, engraving two sets of restrictions upon it: Sharpness and Shape-Shifting.
As a result, the sharpness reflecting from the scimitar's glint felt almost enough to tear through flesh. Furthermore, its form could expand or shrink at a thought, making it effortless to hide within the flute.
After refining the scimitar together with the flute prototype for another full day to fuse them into a single whole, the artifact was complete.
It was a weapon combining both rhythm and slaughter—capable of playing melodious tunes while also severing an enemy's throat at close range.
Its quality had firmly reached Tier 2. Upon its completion, a surge of treasure Qi—far surpassing any prior occasion—emerged and burrowed into Shi Yu's body.
Instantly, several new spiritual energy Qi cyclones sprouted around the yellow sprout inside her dantian; the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm was right within reach.
“I'll name you the Hidden Hatred Flute.”
Intent on testing the new artifact, Shi Yu channeled her divine sense. A sharp gleam instantly shot out from the flute tube, letting out a crisp ring like a sword drawn from its scabbard.
The gleam floated swiftly in midair, expanding upon contact with the wind, restoring its original size in an instant.
Gripping the scimitar with a reverse hold, Shi Yu slashed through the air. The sound of cutting air condensed without scattering, as if the air itself were sliced open like silk.
The corners of her lips curled up. With a nudge of her palm, she sent the scimitar back into its "sheath."
Now that the artifact was complete, she could officially begin cultivating the rhythm-type technique, 《No Thought of Return》.
Wanting to give it a try, Shi Yu brought the flute to her lips and executed 《Lesser Swallow Steps》, playing 《No Thought of Return》 as her figure fluttered lightfootedly.
《No Thought of Return》 was likewise an introductory, low-grade technique. Having perused it frequently in between artifact refining over the past few days, she had already learned it by heart.
At present, the aura emanating from the flute was serene and gentle, like a slow, winding stream encircling her ears, feeling as though she were in an ethereal pure land brimming with infinite mystery.
Yet deep within the melody lay hidden intent to kill, luring listeners to plunge into fear and regret.
"..."
After familiarizing herself with it and achieving resonance with her new artifact, Shi Yu stopped to meditate and rest for a while.
She let out a soft breath. “At last, I have another offensive resort.”
That meant an extra layer of self-preservation.
“There are still several days before meeting up with Xie Cheng and the others. I should take advantage of these few days to refine more pills and spirit talismans just in case.” Stretching, Shi Yu felt she could not relax for even a moment—there were simply too many things to do.
“Besides...” Shi Yu glanced at the White Jade Rice planted in the courtyard. “It should ripen in a couple of days. I need to tell Chen Er that there's no need to replant after harvesting this batch. Once I return from the volcano, I'll be leaving this market.”
She took a short nap and then resumed refining pills and crafting talismans.
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