CHAPTER 674: CHAPTER 56: DISPELLING COLD AND BREAKING ICE

"Is this a fragment of a spirit blade?" Zhou Ziang indeed knew something about spirit blades.

For cultivators, there are those who cultivate their bodies, and there are also those who specialize in cultivating weapons. Cultivators generally don’t favor firearms, preferring the greater control offered by cold weapons.

Among cold weapons, based on the degree of spiritual control and the weapon’s own properties, they are divided into ordinary weapons, spiritual artifacts, and immortal artifacts.

From the name, one can tell that an ordinary weapon is just an inanimate object, while a spiritual artifact is connected to its owner’s mind. As for reaching the level of an immortal artifact, it not only connects with the owner’s mind but also possesses life.

Generally speaking, a person’s weapon cultivation progresses in sync with the cultivator; that is, an ordinary cultivator corresponds to an ordinary weapon. When their cultivation reaches the middle level or above, the ordinary weapon transforms into a spiritual artifact that begins to possess a hint of sentience. For most ordinary weapons, this initial sentience is their final stage.

Xiao Xian’s Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors, for instance, were forged from the sentient Outer Heaven Meteor Crystal, having absorbed a copious amount of space spiritual energy and were tempered by millennia-old lava, emerging as a high-grade spiritual artifact with significant sentient properties. As long as Xiao Xian one day breaks through to the Gold Grade, the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors can ascend further, turning into an immortal artifact.

"There must be a reason why Mei Nian left behind this ice blade fragment," Zhou Ziang was not idle while waiting for Xiao Xian just now; he wandered around next to Meijia Village. Along the way, passing by the entrance of the ice cellar that had been sealed by the Vincetoxicum fern, he noticed a peculiar phenomenon.

"The entrance to the ice cellar?" Xiao Xian had also been to the ice cellar, but aside from the Vincetoxicum fern, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

Zhou Ziang took Xiao Xian to the ice cellar again. Since Xiao Xian had cleared the Vincetoxicum fern, the diligent villagers had repainted and reconstructed the ice cellar. Now it’s used to store the villagers’ winter vegetables and fruits, filled with a large amount of radishes, Chinese cabbages, winter melons, and jars of freshly pickled vegetables.

"Right at this spot," Zhou Ziang snapped off a branch and moved aside the snow to reveal the mud-colored ground.

His fingers gently slid across, and strands of golden spiritual energy infused into the branch. As the branch moved, a glowing, uneven circular shape appeared on the ground.

It was about a meter in diameter, with three pentagrams inside the circle. Zhou Ziang’s spiritual energy entered both the circle and the pentagrams, the stars moved slowly, emitting a faint and feeble light.

"This is a residual array, probably left behind many years ago. The array does not follow the traditional Eastern order of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, but is written in a bizarre ancient script. The array itself is incomplete; it is estimated that the Mei sisters activated the array with their own spiritual power, allowing it to operate smoothly. Among the sisters, Mei Xiang has more prominent abilities in this area. She could roughly rotate the second layer of the pentagrams, and by rotating this layer, the entire valley would experience good weather, and the people living there would enjoy prosperity and health. Mei Nian’s spiritual power was slightly weaker; she should be able to move the first layer. With the first layer of pentagrams, she could at least ensure that the valley enjoyed spring-like conditions all year round, with crops growing well. If I’m not mistaken, based on the pattern of vegetation growth in this valley, it used to have spring-like conditions throughout the year," Zhou Ziang was also surprised by this unexpected discovery.

When he was at the Yunteng Sect, he had occasionally seen some arrays, but he had never seen arrays that could reverse natural phenomena and change people’s fortunes.

"What about the third layer of the pentagrams?" Xiao Xian pointed to the dim and motionless pentagram.

"I’m afraid no one has accessed this array since it became damaged. Even if I retained my full spiritual power from before and poured it all into the array, I’d only be able to move the second layer. If it’s now, I can only move the first layer of pentagrams like Mei Xiang. As for the third layer, I’m afraid even Mei Xiang would be very curious to know what miracles the third layer of pentagrams could bring when moved," Zhou Ziang noticed the unusual sight of the rose flowers and cherry trees upon first entering Cherry Valley.

During dinner, listening to Sister-in-law Hua and the village chief discussing alongside, he roughly guessed that Cherry Valley was not like this in the past. So, intentionally, after dinner, he took a stroll in the valley and searched around, then he discovered this ancient array. The peculiar thing about the array is that once activated, it can continuously draw in the surrounding Spiritual Energy, ensuring that Cherry Valley is rich in Spiritual Energy.