Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 408: Chapter 376: Original Sin

Chang Er hurried over. Seeing the courtyard crowded with a group of mortals, he was surprised, but he didn’t dare to stare. He lowered his head, walked quickly to Chu Mu, and bowed.

"Senior."

"I brought them from Beast City. I need to run some experiments on them. Get them settled."

Chu Mu gave the order, put down his teacup, and stretched his back before finally looking at Chang Er.

Chang Er was stunned for a moment. Though confused, he still answered instinctively.

"As you command."

Chu Mu nodded, glancing at the hundreds of mortals standing crowded in the courtyard.

Even with the Demon Beasts right beside them, the mortals showed little fear.

After years of being pacified by illusions, negative emotions like fear seemed to have faded away for these people.

Chu Mu frowned, but his expression quickly smoothed over. ’No matter what their lives were like, now that they’re here, their predetermined fates have at least gained a new possibility.’

’The bloodline fusion experiment means death upon failure, but if successful, it’s tantamount to defying the heavens and changing their fate.’

’I’m not a bloodthirsty or cruel person. Once the experiments are over, I won’t mind giving them a way out.’

The thought passed in a flash. Chu Mu didn’t linger and walked out from the backyard.

The appointed hour had arrived. His three bargain disciples were already waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Chu Mu emerge, they hurried forward to greet him.

"Master."

The disciples bowed and presented the Spiritual Materials they had refined.

Chu Mu flicked his sleeve, sweeping the Spiritual Materials into his hand. With a single step, he arrived at the stone pavilion in the bamboo forest and sat down.

Seeing this, the three disciples quickly followed, standing respectfully outside the stone pavilion.

Chu Mu carefully examined the Spiritual Materials the three had refined. ’On the path of Artifact Refining, identifying and understanding Spiritual Materials is the most fundamental requirement.’

’One’s ability to identify and understand Spiritual Materials directly impacts the quality of their refinement.’

’Identifying and understanding Spiritual Materials is mostly a matter of rote memorization; it has little to do with talent.’

’But the refinement step is where talent and comprehension are truly tested.’

’For any given Spiritual Material, the amount of its spiritual nature preserved during refinement will directly determine the quality of the final Artifact, as well as the success or failure of the Artifact Refining itself.’

’Every type of Spiritual Material has different properties.’

’Different Spiritual Materials naturally require different refinement methods and attention to different details during the process.’

’As for these three clumps of Spiritual Materials before me, which resulted from a random test I gave... judging by the outcome of the refinement...’

’It’s not much of a surprise, really.’

’Their aptitude isn’t mediocre, but I can only say it’s "not bad."’

’The path of Artifact Refining, while heavily reliant on comprehension and talent, also emphasizes experience and accumulation.’

’Even with mediocre talent, as long as they have a master to guide them by word and deed and they persevere, it’s not difficult to become a decent Artifact Refiner in several decades or even a century.’

’Of course, the prerequisite is that this person of mediocre talent must have backing.’

’After all, every attempt at Artifact Refining, every refinement of a Spiritual Material, every experiment—it all costs a huge amount of Spirit Stones.’

’Without sufficient financial resources, someone with mediocre talent has almost no chance of succeeding in the Artifact Refining Skill.’

Seeing Chu Mu’s long silence, the three were clearly anxious. As they exchanged glances, this anxiety grew more apparent.

Although they had the relationship of martial brothers, they were all just Named Disciples. They knew full well what being a Named Disciple entailed.

Strictly speaking, they were true competitors.

After a long moment, Chu Mu finally put down the three clumps of Spiritual Materials. He pondered for a bit, then stood up.

"You all, follow me."

He walked into the Artifact Room and, with a wave of his hand, a wisp of Great Sun True Flame hovered before him.

"Watch carefully. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask immediately."

Chu Mu looked at his three bargain disciples, his voice flat.

"Yes, Master."

The three replied in unison, unable to hide the joy on their faces. In this situation, how could they not know? He was about to demonstrate the Artifact Refining Skill for them right here and now!

Chu Mu paid no mind to the inner thoughts of his three bargain disciples. Amidst the roaring True Flame, he refined one Low Tier Spiritual Material after another. In a nearly dazzling display, the Spiritual Materials were perfectly refined and fused.

In just a quarter of an hour, a palm-sized Jade Talisman hovered before him.

The three stared blankly at the hovering Jade Talisman, seemingly unable to process what had just happened.

Seeing Chu Mu’s gaze upon them, the three snapped out of their daze as if waking from a dream. They asked a series of questions one after another. After answering them all, Chu Mu made a sweeping motion with one hand, and a simple, ancient-looking disc embedded in the ceiling fell into his palm.

He sent his Divine Sense into it, and the scene of his Artifact Refining just now was clearly engraved within the disc.

"This is a Memory Disc. I have recorded the process for you to observe."

"One month from now, you will refine this Illusion Dream Order."

Chu Mu held out the disc. The three instinctively moved forward to take it, but in the end, it was Changfang who stepped up and accepted it.

The three respectfully withdrew. Only then did Chu Mu turn his gaze to the Jade Talisman hovering before him.

The Lower Grade Magical Artifact, the Illusion Dream Order, was an idea he had conceived in his spare time. The Magical Artifact’s design was both simple and ingenious.

’It’s extremely suitable for beginner Artifact Refiners to use for practice.’

The Magical Artifact was named Illusion Dream; its effect, naturally, was creating illusions.

However, as it was only a Lower Grade Magical Artifact, its illusionary effect obviously couldn’t be too strong.

Even so, to a mortal, this Illusion Dream Order was undoubtedly a crushing blow from a higher plane of existence.

’After all, whether the people raised in Beast City can still be called human is truly a matter for debate.’

As far as he knew, Beast City on Chixia Island had existed for nearly ten thousand years.

Although Beast City had changed masters many times, its internal order was unlikely to have changed much.

A city, a Grand Array—it was a true isolation from the outside world.

To the mortals living within, that city was their entire world.

After nearly ten thousand years of procreation, Beast City had become their civilization.

’Whether they are still human is debatable, but their mindset is definitely completely different from that of outsiders.’

The illusionary effect of this Illusion Dream Order would undoubtedly complement the bloodline experiments perfectly.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Chu Mu left the Artifact Room and walked directly into the backyard. He circulated his Magical Power and activated the Illusion Dream Order. Amidst flashes of radiant light, the several hundred mortals all fell deep into the illusion woven by the artifact.

"Gather!"

With his low shout, the hundreds of mortals who had been waiting in the temporary shelters in the yard, under the influence of the illusion, gathered in the little remaining open space as if they were ordinary people.

Amidst cheerful laughter and chatter, Chu Mu was effectively invisible to these mortals, who were completely immersed in their illusion.

Watching this scene, Chu Mu’s gaze couldn’t help but dim slightly.

’In this Cultivation Immortal Realm, weakness truly is the ultimate original sin!’

’Just like the scene before me, a tiny Illusion Dream Order, a mere Lower Grade Magical Artifact, is enough to completely manipulate hundreds of mortals without their knowledge.’

’Any method from the Cultivation Immortal Realm is an utterly irresistible, higher-dimensional attack against mortals who have not yet stepped onto the Path to Immortality.’

"Haaa..."

Chu Mu let out a long, heavy breath, forcefully suppressing the flicker of empathy he felt as a fellow human being.

’Immortal and mortal. I am an immortal. But the Immortal Dao is long, and compared to those at higher levels, I am just an ant.’

’Facing beings of a higher level, I would be just as powerless to resist.’

His expression turned resolute. His Divine Sense, as meticulous as reeling silk from a cocoon, delved into the body of one of the mortal men, searching for the fundamental reason for the tragic fate of the Vast Sea mortals... the Demon Beast Bloodline...

「Time flew by...」

...

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