Chapter 99 - Divine artifact!

'Wood symbolizes growth, vitality, and expansion….' Hengsheng thought.

'Wood creating Fire.'

Hengsheng's wooden prosthetic left arm suddenly ignited, blazing flames appearing from the cracks of the wooden arm. The flames burned the wood as smoke and heat rose.

Eventually, the wood was entirely consumed by the fire, turning into a burning hot coal.

'Fire creates Earth.'

The burning hot coal arm cooled down. At one point, the temperature of the burned arm reached the thermal comfort zone — no longer radiating intense heat it became a soft dirt arm.

'Earth creates Metal.'

Pressure began to build up within the soft dirt arm, causing it to harden gradually until it was compressed into the most solid state and transformed into an iron arm.

'Metal creates Water.'

The iron arm, strong and seemingly unbreakable, underwent a subtle change. As it cooled, droplets of water began to form on its surface. The moisture in the air condensed, and the iron arm became covered in rust.

Gradually, the iron crumbled, breaking down into small minerals. Only the formless water on the left arm remains.

'Water creates Wood.'

The formless water arm nourished the surviving fragments of wood that had endured through the creation cycle.

The pieces of wood absorbed the water and other remaining elements within the water rapidly, growing larger and stronger until all the water was gone, replaced by a vigorous wooden arm once more.

Hengsheng's wooden prosthetic left arm had once again undergone the creation cycle of the Five Phases.

This cycle had already repeated eight times, each time his prosthetic arm became stronger, nourished by the Dao Essence from Hengsheng's understanding of the Dao of the Five Phases.

Hengsheng was currently refining his wooden prosthetic arm to turn it into a Divine Artifact, the artifact that aligned with the Dao.

In the state of Enlightenment, he did not dare to exit the state to create a system that could help him contain the Dao Essence within him, as it would mean wasting the opportunity to comprehend the Dao. His only available option was to proceed traditionally.

If his body could not contain the Dao Essence, then he chose to craft an artifact that could hold it for him.

Hengsheng had a basic knowledge of artifact crafting. Although it did not teach him how to refine a Divine artifact, it gave him a general idea of the process.

It was fortunate for him that the material he chose to use to refine the artifact was his own creation — the wood produced by his Timbergrasp Genetic Trait. He had full control over it, making the refining process smooth.

He carved Qi Runes on the wood prosthetic arm, refining it with his Spiritual Qi and Dao Heart, While he continued to nourish it with the Dao Essence from his understanding of the Dao of the Five Phases.

Finally, when the nine cycles of the Five Phases creation cycle ended, Hengsheng sensed that the refinement of the Divine artifact was completed. In fact, it was not entirely complete since he still needed to do one thing to finish the creation: naming it.

From his Divine Sense, he sensed that the wooden prosthetic arm was filled with his aura. especially the genetic trait that seemed to influence the artifact's power.

Since he did not specify its function when crafting it, due to both the lack of method and the fact that he only needed it to contain the Dao Essence, he had not considered letting his Dao comprehension go to waste.

He thought about the name deeply. In this supernatural world, names were significant, and he could not take it lightly. After some time, he named it the Timbergrasp Cycle, after his genetic trait.

When it was named, it began to transform. The wooden surface, covered by the complex Qi Runes glows as it resonates with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, slightly changes in shape becomes more sacred, and finally, its Spirit is formed.

The Timbergrasp Cycle began to radiate with the aura of the Dao of its own, and he immediately formed a bond with it.

The Divine-rank artifact was usually wielded by Dao-level Powerhouses, those in the Dao Threshold realm and higher. It was not something that a low-rank cultivator could wield to its full potential.

In truth, low-rank cultivators may not have a chance to wield them in the first place, since the Divine artifact has its own spirit. They can choose who can wield them to a certain degree, and it instinctively does not let those without Dao Essence wield them.

Due to this reason, the chance of low-rank cultivators successfully bonding with a Divine-rank artifact was low. If they succeeded, it meant they had a very high compatibility rate with the artifact.

However, Hengsheng did not have that problem since he was the one who crafted it. Even if he did not have any compatibility with the artifact, he would still be able to form a bond with it as the Creator.

When the bond between him and the artifact was formed, he immediately understood the artifact's power and how to use it.

The Timbergrasp Cycle possessed the powers of the cycle of the Five Phases and a small part of his Timbergrasp genetic trait's power.

The artifact power from the genetic trait part was simple — the artifact could create wood by consuming the user's Spiritual Qi, It could only create the wood from Spiritual Qi, unlike his genetic trait that could turn anything to wood as long as it was within his grasp.

The cycle aspect allowed him to control the cyclical nature of the Dao of Five Phases, whether it be the creation cycle, control cycle, or other variations. He believed this should be the main part of the artifact's power.

From the information he received through the bond, he found that the artifact seemed to be more powerful than he had expected.

However, he doubted that he could fully utilize the artifact since he didn't possess even a slight understanding of the Dao of Five Phases, as the Dao Essence had already left his very being.

Hengsheng thought about the events from his birth to this day. His chosen Dao was not the Dao of Five Phases, but many things happening around him seemed to lead him toward this Dao.

First was the realm itself — the Five Pillar Realm, the place of his birth, which was clearly a realm based on the Five Elements Dao. Then followed countless other events, with the most recent being Yunsu's Divine Bloodline.

He didn't have a problem with accepting it as an addition. In fact, he might even use it as a component to complete his Dao of System later.

Hengsheng continued to comprehend the Dao. Even though he had already crafted the artifact, it didn't mean he had to stop nourishing it with Dao Essence. The more Dao Essence the artifact contained, the more powerful it would become.

Time has passed…..

Hengsheng sensed that his enlightenment state was about to end. His willpower was nearly exhausted, and the strain of comprehending the Dao had pushed him to his limit.

Lan Hengsheng opened his eyes for the first time in a week.

The first thing he saw with his naked eyes was the mess.

He was puzzled as he looked around the place. There were countless scraps of wood scattered all over. The once serene environment of the Dao Field now resembled a garbage dump.

He didn't see anyone else around — the other cultivators who had stayed to comprehend the Dao were gone. Only he remained.

However, he could still sense Yunsu's aura not far from him.

He also sensed that the Dao Field's Dao Manifestation and Dao Rhythm seemed sparse, as though their presence had weakened significantly. Then, his eyes landed on the Control Formation at the edge of the Dao Field — it was inactive.

"What… happened here? Was there an attack?" he murmured.

Judging by the scene, he must've missed something important while he was in his state of enlightenment.

'Master.' Blue's voice echoed in his mind.

'Blue? What did I miss?' Hengsheng asked, his thoughts uneasy.

'Master… look up.'

Frowning, Hengsheng hesitated, then slowly lifted his gaze.

Hengsheng's eyes widened, and what he saw was that the Golden Pagoda's upper half was gone.

'Blue, hurry — tell me what happened!'

Blue quickly reported to him what had happened while he was unavailable. Upon hearing that the battle had already been ongoing for a long time, Hengsheng quickly dashed outside the Pagoda.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You completed the quest.]

[Rewards]: 25,000 SP, 25,000 AP, Significant increase in Lan Clan's QI Luck.

[Accepte]

[Yes/No]

"What?"

It seemed that all the members of the Thunderclap Blade Sect had died in the battle without him taking any action. He felt shame that he couldn't rip Senior Brother Wei's head off by himself, but he was glad that the mission was completed.

"Accepted." A surge of energy flows through him.

Ding!

System Points: 26,000 SP.

"I'm rich again!" Hengsheng satisfies.

Little did Hengsheng know, that a sudden increase in the Lan Clan's Qi Luck caused Lan Wantian's Dao Attainment progress to accelerate at an absurd rate.

When Hengsheng stepped out of the Pagoda, he found the battlefield.

Garrrrrrrrrr!

Clang!

BOOM!

MEOWW!

DOOM!

Hengsheng looked at the chaotic battlefield. The swarm army of the God Spawns surrounded the Pagoda area, and their number was much larger than Hengsheng expected.

The Dao Field's area was spread across the battlefield, and the thin Dao Essence of the Dao Field seemed to significantly decrease the power and regenerative abilities of the God Spawns.

Hengsheng spotted Yunsu immediately. She had expanded her body to the size of a Kaiju, slapping her massive paws down at the God Spawns.

When she turned her massive body Hengsheng noticed a large, deep-cut scar marred her back.

Hengsheng's eyes were red with wrath, and then he unleashed a massive amount of Spiritual Qi across the battlefield.