Someone cried out.

Amidst the churning mud lay the charred wreck of the Iron Claw Shrimp King, a gaping hole torn through its chest and abdomen. With a look of delight, Lü Zhong plucked a brown Demon Pill from within and stowed it in his Storage Bag.

The credit for slaying the Iron Claw Shrimp King would be enough to get him the Gilded Fire Jade.

With that done, Lü Zhong looked over the Shrimp King’s corpse.

He made sure to cut off its two iron claws and tail. The larger an Iron Claw Shrimp, the more succulent its meat, and he wasn’t about to let such a fine ingredient go to waste.

Meanwhile, the Honored Guest Elders who had just arrived saw that Lü Zhong had dealt with the Shrimp King and hurried over to congratulate him.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Lü!"

"The feeling’s mutual!"

Joy was written on everyone’s faces.

With the Iron Claw Shrimp King eliminated, the swarm was leaderless. All they had to do was continue harassing the nest as before, luring out the Iron Claw Demon Shrimp one by one to be slain.

For the next half a month, Lü Zhong didn’t rush back. Instead, he remained in the Poisonous Swamp to hunt Iron Claw Shrimp.

Between the Liu Family’s bounty and the value of their salvageable parts, each Iron Claw Shrimp was worth around six to seven hundred Spirit Stones. ’It’s rare to find such a dense population of Demon Beasts; how could I possibly pass up this opportunity?’

After all, hunting Demon Beasts had always been a lucrative business. If there were enough to hunt, it was even more profitable than his Talisman Making and Array Formation.

...

Iron Wall Mountain

At the Liu Clan Land, the area was still a sprawling construction site.

Inside the main assembly hall—its structure complete but its walls still unplastered—Lü Zhong met with Liu Yuhe. The man looked utterly exhausted, clearly worn out from overseeing the clan land’s construction.

He forced himself to rally, pulling a jade box from his sleeve.

He opened it. Inside lay two golden-red jade pendants—Gilded Fire Jade, no less.

"Fellow Daoist Lü, this is the Gilded Fire Jade you wished to trade for. Please, have a look."

Lü Zhong took a look and noticed the size of the Fire Jade was unusual. A normal piece was about the size of Talisman Paper, but the Gilded Fire Jade in the box was clearly a size larger. He reckoned that together, these two pieces were equivalent to three of the standard size.

"This..."

Something was amiss. He looked at Liu Yuhe with hesitation.

The man cupped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute and smiled.

"It’s all thanks to you for eliminating the Shrimp King, Fellow Daoist Lü. Otherwise, our Mountain-Protecting Grand Array wouldn’t have been completed so quickly. We might have even had to spend a fortune hiring a Core Formation Cultivator to handle the problem. So, after I boldly petitioned the clan elders, I took the liberty of getting you these two slightly larger pieces of Gilded Fire Jade as a token of our gratitude!"

As he said this, he gave Lü Zhong a familiar, knowing look.

Lü Zhong instantly understood. ’Now *this* is the Liu Yuhe I know.’

He immediately mentioned that Changle Square had a new song and dance performance and invited Liu Yuhe to go enjoy it with him.

"Hahaha, say no more, say no more!" Liu Yuhe laughed heartily, stroking his beard.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently.

It was followed by a deafening rumble from outside.

"Something’s happened! Let’s go see what’s going on!" Liu Yuhe’s expression grew grim as he rushed outside.

Lü Zhong glanced outside, then, after a moment’s thought, followed him.

Outside, chaos had erupted.

Dark clouds drifted in endlessly from the northwestern mountain range, accompanied by the sound of beating wings as dense and loud as rolling thunder.

With a cultivator’s incredible eyesight, Lü Zhong soon made out the true nature of the dark clouds.

"*Hiss*... It’s the Black Death Insects!"

Ever since the situation at the border had changed, attacks by these insects in the vicinity of Lingyue Immortal City had been incessant.

’But there has never been a swarm of this magnitude. A massive, dark hoard... there must be thousands of them. Even if only one percent are Tier Two Demon Insects, that still means there are dozens of Tier Two Black Death Insects in their midst.’

As the thought crossed his mind, the nature’s spiritual energy in the surroundings began to churn.

Starting from the ground, a canopy of azure light began to coalesce.

Lü Zhong knew the Liu Family was activating their Mountain-Protecting Grand Array to fend off the insect swarm’s assault.

’I can’t get trapped here!’

The Liu Family had their foundation here, but he did not.

He hastily tossed out his Wood Spirit Wind-controlling Ship. It transformed into a streak of cyan light and, with a WHOOSH, shot out just before the azure canopy fully formed.

Just then, a portion of the insect swarm flew near.

Upon seeing the Flying Ship, they immediately beat their wings to close in, spitting out streams of black arrows.

Lü Zhong didn’t bother engaging them, maneuvering the Flying Ship to easily evade their attacks. He then activated his Wind-Manipulating Divine Technique, pushing the ship to its maximum speed. He was far away from Iron Wall Mountain long before the main body of the swarm arrived.

Notably, a streak of light several times faster than his ship’s top speed shot past him along the way.

Lü Zhong got a clear look at it from his Flying Ship; it was a technique known as a Flying Sword Letter.

’The situation must be critical. The Liu Family is calling for aid from the city!’

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but breathe a secret sigh of relief. ’Good thing I got out of there quickly,’ he thought.

On his way back to Lingyue Immortal City, he encountered a large squadron of Flying Shuttles speeding past, leaving a trail of Spiritual Light that stretched far behind them. They were clearly flying at full power, a picture of frantic urgency.

By the time he reached the city gates, he could see squads of cultivators assembling.

’Not only did they dispatch a large squadron of Flying Shuttles, but now they’re gathering this many cultivators... It looks like something truly major is happening out there.’

Lü Zhong thought to himself as he quickly entered the city.

...

When refined with Spirit Fire, Gilded Fire Jade would transform into a glob of Jade Liquid.

With a nervous expression, Lü Zhong dripped the molten Jade Liquid onto the Spirit Ring. The ring immediately began to change. First, a brilliant golden light erupted from it, then began to flash with a steady rhythm. A moment later, the light seemed to collapse inward, contracting toward the center of the ring.

The Spirit Ring began to radiate an astonishing amount of Spiritual Qi.

"It’s working!" Lü Zhong’s face lit up with joy.

The process lasted a full seven days. In the end, a cyan-gold Spirit Ring emerged.

After refining it with a drop of his blood, he learned of the Spirit Ring’s new properties.

He wasn’t sure if it was thanks to the Small Spirit Tempering Array or the extraordinary quality of the two large pieces of Gilded Fire Jade, but the transformed Spirit Ring had actually become a Middle-grade Spiritual Artifact. Moreover, comparing it to the descriptions in ancient texts, he could tell it was a particularly powerful one, even for its grade.

As for its Divine Technique, Lü Zhong examined it closely, a strange expression appearing on his face.

’How did it end up with the Qianfeng Spear Divine Technique?’

’Of course... Wood and Fire generate Wind!’

’The Gilded Fire Jade’s effect must have been so strong that it overwhelmed the Earth Spirit Crystal. In the end, it must have fused with the Wood Spirit Crystal to form the powerful "Qianfeng Spear" Divine Technique. It can condense a Wind Spear with incredible piercing power and launch it to inflict severe damage on an enemy.’

Lü Zhong tried channeling his Magical Power into it, and a Qianfeng Spear quickly condensed on the ring’s surface.

Though called a spear, it actually looked more like a slender, pointed cone.

With a flick of his will, the Wind Spear shot forth.

It bored straight into the ground, leaving behind nothing but a finger-width hole.

"*Hiss*... ’Even my Divine Sense can’t find the bottom of the hole!’" Lü Zhong was inwardly shocked. ’The power of this Qianfeng Spear is even greater than I estimated. No wonder the texts list it as one of the Great Divine Techniques.’

’In that case, the ring needs a new name. I’ll call it the Qianfeng Spirit Ring!’

Slipping the ring onto his finger, Lü Zhong admired it from every angle, unable to tear his eyes away.

With this, he now possessed three Spiritual Artifacts.

’For offense, I have the Qianfeng Spirit Ring. The Qingyang Mirror is mainly for immobilization and breaking illusions. As for the Black Muzhu, its offensive and defensive capabilities are weak—it’s basically just there to make up the numbers. All told, I’m still missing a dedicated defensive Spiritual Artifact.’

Lü Zhong couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

’Spiritual Artifacts are incredibly rare. I’m already incredibly fortunate to have obtained two; how could I dare hope for so many?’