The crossbow arrow that pierced Zhang Lihua’s body was already defunct upon entry, and Lu Yu had no way to remove it.
After leaving Luoyan Valley, Lu Yu rushed back to Beifeng City with the fastest speed, transported back to the secret realm, and began his experiment.
All the materials, except for wolf hair and rabbit hair, were easy to buy; only the wolf and rabbit hair had to be collected by Lu Yu from the original hosts.
Utilizing artifact refining technique to process the materials, he inscribed four layers of restrictions on the pen shaft, activated the restrictions with spiritual power, and fused several materials, completing the refining process of the spirit-marked pen.
Looking at the spirit-marked pen emitting black smoke in front of him, Lu Yu knew without trying that he had definitely failed.
The restrictions inside the pen shaft, when activated, directly destroyed the ebony used to make the pen shaft. The ebony Lu Yu selected was cut from a young ordinary ebony tree, and the material quality could not bear the four layers of restrictions required by the spirit-marked pen.
Subsequently, Lu Yu replaced the pen shaft material with nanmu, sandalwood, white bamboo tube, purple bamboo tube, square bamboo tube, and various alternatives like gold, silver, copper, and steel that could be used for refining a pen shaft.
Finally, he found that using a purple bamboo tube with gold patterns inscribed for restrictions, the refined pen shaft could withstand four layers of restrictions.
In fact, other materials combined with gold patterns were also effective; Lu Yu just thought the purple with gold looked better.
He engraved the restriction patterns on the purple bamboo tube, filled the engraved patterns with melted gold, inscribed restrictions on the gold patterns using spiritual qi, then connected the four restrictions to form a circuit, completing the refinement of the pen shaft.
The next step was the most crucial part—attaching the tip.
Lu Yu meticulously selected substitute hairs in place of spiritual materials and connected them to the pen shaft, forming a circuit with the restrictions, enabling the spirit-marked pen tip to guide the pen’s internal spiritual power.
The animal hairs, when activating the restrictions during subsequent refinement, had no reaction at all and could not form a connection with the restrictions.
Lu Yu continuously repeated the process of "attaching the tip," trying to find the difference between using spiritual materials and using ordinary animal hairs.
After persistent repetition, Lu Yu discovered that during the "attaching the tip" process, the first to establish a connection with the restrictions inside the pen shaft was the spiritual qi in the hairs. Ordinary animal hairs without spiritual qi were the reason for the failure.
How to fill ordinary animal hairs with spiritual qi became Lu Yu’s problem.
Researching the data, Lu Yu sifted through the introductory texts on arrays, focusing on sections about natural materials and materials processing, studied Senior Brother Kui’s artifact refining notes, and even spent contributions in the Pavilion of Teaching to exchange for books on artifact refining knowledge.
"All things in heaven and earth have spirits, spirit being the root of all. Humans have spirit, beasts have spirit, mountains, rivers, and plants also have spirit. Gathering spirit is the origin of all things. If humans gather spirit, they succeed in cultivation; if demons gather spirit, they awaken enlightened intelligence; if plants gather spirit, magical entities take shape..."
Finally, Lu Yu found this passage in the Tao Sutra.
The Tao Sutra is an introduction to cultivation, an enlightening book for those who have not yet started cultivating, to understand the way of cultivation.
Among its perspectives was the idea that even people who have not gone through cultivation have spiritual qi in them, though it is very thin, almost nonexistent.
If one stays in an environment rich in spiritual qi for a long time, even without cultivation, ordinary people can have the strength of a martial cultivator, just like plants and magical entities that gather spiritual qi and gain wisdom, all things instinctively absorb spiritual qi from their surroundings.
Lu Yu took out two spirit stones, clamped animal hair between the two stones, and soaked them in water.
To see if the perspective in the Tao Sutra was correct, whether all things would absorb spiritual qi.
When a spirit stone is placed in the air, the spiritual qi inside will seep into the surrounding environment due to the spiritual qi difference. The seepage rate is slow, about one point of spiritual qi per day, and the less spiritual qi inside the stone, the slower the seepage.
If left in the environment without any preservation measures, it takes about six months to a year for a spirit stone to completely disperse its spiritual qi.
The seepage rate increases when placed in water.
In some remote areas, there is a saying that soaking spirit stones in water cures all diseases.
Water containing spiritual qi can indeed temporarily enhance the human body’s immunity, but claiming to cure all diseases is an exaggeration.
Lu Yu placed the bowl containing the spirit stones and hairs on the table, lay on the bed, and logged out of the game.
After logging out, he purchased the corresponding materials online. These materials were relatively expensive, and Lu Yu wanted only the best.
Seeing his account had one less digit, Lu Yu opened the Winter Century Bank’s website to check his account balance. The string of zeros at the end gave Lu Yu a great sense of security.
Checking his balance every day put him in a better mood.
"The vast horizon is my love, beneath the endless green mountains, flowers are blooming..." he muttered while realizing his phone was ringing and answered the call.
"Hello, Mr. Lu? Could you come to the delivery station to pick up your packages? We’re running out of space here."
"I’ll be right there." Lu Yu quickly shut down his computer and rushed out to get his packages.
It was only when he took the call that he saw his phone full of package notification messages, and there were even more as he scrolled down.
He went downstairs and saw Uncle Chen’s tricycle, which he used to take Aunt Li for a ride when buying groceries. He shouted towards the window, "Uncle Chen, can I borrow your tricycle?"
"Go ahead, it’s not locked."
Riding Uncle Chen’s tricycle, Lu Yu reached the delivery station near the community. The route wasn’t far, but there were many items, hence the need for the tricycle.
Seeing Lu Yu arrive, the delivery station manager was delighted. Lu Yu’s packages had been stored there for two days, though in usual circumstances packages could be stored longer, but those addressed to Lu Yu kept arriving every few days, and in large amounts.
Sometimes a whole delivery vehicle would be filled with just Lu Yu’s packages.
As they helped Lu Yu load items onto the tricycle, the delivery station manager even offered him rope to secure the packages.
"What did you buy? This box is so heavy!" He lifted a box with difficulty, feeling the liquid inside sloshing around with every movement.
Lu Yu glanced at that package, spotted the small writing on it, and, seeing his struggle, casually took the package from him.
"Nothing much, just a hundred cans."
Whether because of the hundred cans or Lu Yu’s strength, the manager fell silent.
Securing the packages to the tricycle, Lu Yu noticed that its tires were slightly deflated.
"Anyway, the distance isn’t far; it should be fine." Lu Yu thought to himself as he pedaled away on the tricycle.
Phew~ After taking a shower, Lu Yu lay on the bed, letting out a long breath.
He brought the packages upstairs, returned the rope, and took Uncle Chen’s tricycle for repairs... incidentally replacing its chain, pedal, rubber grips, bent handlebar, brakes...
The pedal was accidentally broken by Lu Yu’s foot; the rubber grips and handlebar were crushed under the weight of the items while controlling the direction downhill; the brakes... in short, he planned to bring a new tricycle for Uncle Chen tomorrow.
Such issues hadn’t occurred before. Lu Yu guessed that perhaps it was due to the rapid increase in his strength recently, and he hadn’t fully grasped it yet, resulting in accidentally damaging the tricycle.