Chapter 1723: 冥月之水

Wang Changsheng altered his incantation, striking a spell onto the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron. The cauldron lid flew off and landed on the ground.

He approached and saw Underworld Moonwater inside the cauldron, its coldness astonishing. From the outside, there appeared to be nothing unusual.

Wang Changsheng placed a white branch into the cauldron. Upon contact with the Underworld Moonwater, the branch instantly froze, and the ice spread rapidly. Wang Changsheng quickly discarded it.

The Underworld Moonwater retained its properties, but it was uncertain if it could be used for artifact refining.

Since the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron could contain the Underworld Moonwater, there was no need for Wang Changsheng to refine artifacts here. It would be troublesome if he encountered cultivators from the Tianlan Sect.

He put away the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron and returned to the snowy mountain with Wang Ruyan and the others.

Seven days later, Wang Changsheng and his companions were back at the snowy mountain. Wang Ruyan and the others attended to their respective duties, while Wang Changsheng began refining artifacts using the Underworld Moonwater.

In the southeastern part of the Tianlan Realm, within a black mountain range stretching for thousands of miles, lay a hidden underground cave.

Fu Wen was speaking with Fang Mu, and both their expressions were solemn.

Decades ago, Fu Wen was pursued by several Spirit Transformation cultivators. He narrowly escaped, though his fifth-tier talismanic weapon was destroyed, and he had spent the intervening years recovering from his injuries.

Fang Mu had encountered Fu Wen by chance. Though Fu Wen had visited the Yin Corpse Sect, he hadn't met Fang Mu personally, but was aware of his existence.

"With the current strict surveillance, returning to the Dongli Realm will be quite difficult," Fu Wen sighed, his face etched with worry. He was capable of refining the fifth-tier Qianlight Realm-Breaking Talisman, but he lacked the necessary materials – a dilemma akin to a clever cook having no rice. Otherwise, he would have returned to the Dongli Realm long ago.

Only if he could gather the cultivators who came to the Tianlan Realm with him and get them to help collect materials, might Fu Wen have a chance to return to the Dongli Realm.

"The current situation is too tense," Fang Mu said, frowning. "Cultivators are patrolling everywhere. If anyone is killed, they immediately cordon off an area of 100,000 li and search exhaustively." He added that his injuries from the battle with Shangguan Ming had not yet healed.

The Tianlan Sect had made significant efforts to apprehend cultivators from the Dongli Realm; at the slightest disturbance, they would immediately cordon off an area and conduct a search.

He suddenly recalled something. After a brief hesitation, he cautiously asked, "Senior Fu, do you have no way to locate the Green Lotus Immortal Couple?"

As a Spirit Transformation cultivator, Fu Wen couldn't possibly be without contingencies.

"Within a certain range, I can sense their location, but it's useless if they are too far," Fu Wen sighed. "I don't know what has become of them. There were too many Spirit Transformation cultivators that day; it's likely they didn't survive. I've seen too many talented prodigies perish prematurely." Fu Wen sighed again. Had he not intervened, the Green Lotus Immortal Couple would have perished long ago. Being pursued by Spirit Transformation cultivators, their chances of survival were minuscule.

"You should focus on recovering first," Fu Wen instructed. "Once your injuries have healed, we can make further plans!" Fu Wen gave the instruction, as Fang Mu was currently the only Nascent Soul cultivator he could command.

Fang Mu agreed and went to attend to his injuries.

At the Tianlan Sect, a magnificent, golden palace bore a plaque with the large characters "Tianlan Palace." This was Shangguan Tianhong's dwelling and also a forbidden area of the Tianlan Sect.

In a secret chamber, Shangguan Tianhong sat cross-legged on a cushion, surrounded by a large quantity of artifact refining materials. A palm-sized azure jade bottle floated in mid-air, enveloped by a cluster of pale golden flames.

Shangguan Tianhong's gaze was fixed on the azure jade bottle, his expression solemn.

After a moment, Shangguan Tianhong formed a hand seal, and the golden flames dispersed. The azure jade bottle then landed in front of him.

"Success!" Shangguan Tianhong's face lit up with joy, his expression ecstatic.

With a dull "crack," fissures appeared on the surface of the azure jade bottle, rapidly expanding.

Startled, Shangguan Tianhong hastily conjured a small, pale golden cauldron. This cauldron had three legs and two ears, and a golden turtle pattern was carved on its body.

He cast an incantation into it, and the golden cauldron rapidly expanded. It suddenly spewed out a sheet of golden light, enveloping the azure jade bottle and drawing it into the cauldron, where it vanished.

With a "snap," the azure jade bottle shattered, and a large quantity of bone-chilling black liquid, which was indeed Underworld Moonwater, flowed out.

"Failed again!" Shangguan Tianhong's expression turned grim. He had consistently attempted to use Underworld Moonwater for artifact refining but had never succeeded. Only a handful of materials could contain the water, and adding any other refining materials always resulted in failure. His attempts to purify Underworld Moonwater with spirit flames had also proved futile.

"No wonder no one has managed to refine artifacts with Underworld Moonwater all these years," he mused. "I don't even know its origin. Could it truly be something from the demon realm?" Shangguan Tianhong muttered to himself, his face filled with regret. He had tried dozens of times, all to no avail.

He had specially refined a spiritual treasure, the Golden Turtle Cauldron, which could hold Underworld Moonwater and also trap enemies. Since he couldn't use the water for artifact refining, he could only resort to the most basic method: collecting some Underworld Moonwater with the Golden Turtle Cauldron and then scattering it to surprise and injure enemies.

Deep within the Demon Burial Ice Plain stood a snow-capped peak that pierced the clouds.

Inside a cave roughly an *mu* in size, Wang Changsheng sat cross-legged on a cushion. Three pale blue spherical beads floated before him, surrounded by a large quantity of artifact refining materials.

"Haha, I finally succeeded in refining it!" Wang Changsheng laughed heartily, his expression filled with excitement.

He had spent a year and many attempts, successfully refining three Underworld Moon Pearls using the Underworld Moonwater.

The Grand Yin Divine Crystal could contain Underworld Moonwater, but adding other materials would result in refining failure. Only after Wang Changsheng purified the Underworld Moonwater with the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron could he incorporate other artifact refining materials. After numerous attempts, he finally succeeded in refining three Underworld Moon Pearls, which were single-use items.

He had initially intended to refine the Underworld Moonwater into magical treasures like jade bottles or small cauldrons, allowing him to unleash the water to harm enemies. However, all those attempts failed. Wang Changsheng ultimately succeeded in refining them into single-use Underworld Moon Pearls, which could serve as powerful weapons.

In addition to the Grand Yin Divine Crystal, he also incorporated Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Jade and various ice-attribute artifact refining materials to successfully create the three Underworld Moon Pearls.

He still possessed a significant amount of Grand Yin Divine Crystal, and the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Jade was roughly pigeon-egg sized. At most, he could refine two more Underworld Moon Pearls, but he would first need to gather a fresh batch of ice-attribute artifact refining materials.

This experience made Wang Changsheng re-evaluate the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron. It made sense; how could a magical treasure bearing the words "Creation" be ordinary? The artifacts Wang Changsheng himself refined dared not claim such a grand name, as it was pointless to deceive oneself with an empty title.

The Green Lotus Creation Cauldron might hold even greater uses that Wang Changsheng had yet to discover. Its currently known functions include purifying materials and altering their compatibility, which is already incredibly potent. The principles behind artifact refining and alchemy are similar, involving the fusion of various materials. However, some materials are naturally incompatible, so the Green Lotus Creation Cauldron's ability to change material compatibility is truly remarkable.