Everyone had now reached at least six rings in cultivation and possessed at least two-word battle armor, officially stepping into the ranks of high-level soul masters.
Tang Wulin's forging skills had also reached the peak of the eighth-rank Saint Craftsman level. Everything was developing in a flourishing and prosperous direction.
Of course, there were still small disturbances and unstable factors.
For example, the unruly Holy Spirit Cult. The presence of numerous evil soul masters had made Mingdu's supposedly safest Thirteenth District incredibly unsafe, casting a shadow over it.
However, due to gaps in national defense, efforts to eliminate these evil soul masters were far from effective.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit Cult's objective in descending upon the Sun-Moon Federation's Mingdu this time was not to massacre lives.
Another destabilizing factor was Di Tian.
However, his movements were subtle, and due to his immense strength, very few people could detect them.
Using his almost undetectable mastery of space manipulation, Di Tian successfully seized the last scattered artifacts across the continent.
The Life's Tribute Gloves: Forged from the purest Life Stones by the Yu Family, the lineage of the missing Godly Brush Douluo, Yu Guanzhi. The material was used in tonnage quantities, culminating in this divine artifact.The entire glove was emerald green, appearing as if sculpted from jade, with a green glow as vivid as fresh fruit.
The Divination Artifact and the Soul Capturing Token: Both originated from the former ruling family of the Spirit Pagoda, the Qian Gu Family.The Divination Artifact was an heirloom passed down through generations, while the Soul Capturing Token traced its roots back to Medusa, a third-rank deity.
The Ice God Pearl! Once held in a prestigious auction house, it changed hands multiple times before its origins became untraceable, eventually falling into Di Tian's possession.
The Diamond Bracelet! The national treasure of the Star Luo Empire, originally plundered from indigenous tribes during the empire's overseas colonization.
This divine artifact had the ability to instantly absorb weapons below the divine artifact level and had a milky white appearance.
When Di Tian returned to the core of the Star Dou Forest, the Lake of Life, the area had undergone a tremendous transformation.
The central region where the Tree of Life resided was now the most vibrant place in the entire realm, brimming with lush greenery.
Clusters of houses stood tall, built at the behest of Bi Ji, who had sensed Di Tian's fondness for human architecture. Constructed by the Tree of Life, they exuded an aura of opulence.
Of course, Di Tian did not indulge in leisure, nor did he entertain thoughts of "play music and dance on."
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that the time was not yet right.
At the shores of the Lake of Life, Di Tian stood, his golden eyes fixed upon an emerald-green furnace floating above the water's surface.
The Furnace of Life!
This was no ordinary object but a semi-material existence.
Its formation followed the same principle as Golden Life Essence, accumulating immense vitality until it was compressed into a solid form.Di Tian had used his immense power to forcefully accelerate this process.
Beneath the Furnace of Life, above the lake's surface, an unnamed flame suddenly blazed, gradually forming into a seven-colored lotus fire.
This was the Sacred Fire of the Fire Li Tribe, a genuine divine flame—the Seven-Colored Lotus Flame.
Moments later, another dark flame surged forth, roaring like a black dragon.This was none other than Di Tian's own Black Dragon Flame, which had grown to rival the Seven-Colored Lotus Flame in intensity.
Two divine flames, burning together, fueled the Furnace of Life.
More precisely, they were incinerating the forging materials within the Furnace of Life, using the dense vitality as an adhesive. Under Di Tian's control, these flames ignited one Ultimate Douluo after another, pushing them toward their bloodline's origins.
Each Ultimate Douluo, nearly reduced to a vegetative state, had their Life Fire forcefully ignited.
The unleashed power from these burning life flames surged into their respective martial souls.
By nearly draining an entire Ultimate Douluo of their essence, it was possible to refine a single divine artifact.
Having prepared meticulously, Di Tian was pleased to see the Furnace of Life cooperating well. One divine artifact after another was freshly forged.
The first to emerge was Guan Yue's Celestial Spear, which, when paired with the Cloud Immortal's Sky-Piercing Spear—intercepted from Yun Ming when the Holy Spirit Cult bombed Shrek Academy—completed the Twin Celestial Spears.
As a true dragon, Di Tian had a significant hoarding instinct. At this moment, he revealed a satisfied expression, perfectly fitting a dragon's nature.
Following closely behind was Qian Gu Diéting's Coiling Dragon Staff, which also emerged from the Furnace of Life.
However, after several Quasi-Gods had been refined into divine artifacts, the Furnace of Life seemed to suddenly stall, ceasing all movement.
Di Tian raised an eyebrow and extended his divine sense into the burning Furnace of Life, meticulously examining the situation.
The cause was soon revealed.
The problem was simple—Ultimate Douluos of the Half-God level were too weak.
In the past, Ultimate Douluos of the Quasi-God level truly had the qualifications to ascend to godhood in the Divine Realm, while Half-God Ultimate Douluos did not.
Inside the Furnace of Life, these weaker Ultimate Douluos had only reached a semi-divine artifact state.They were all stuck in the process of solidifying into divine artifacts.Without additional power to supplement them, they would likely remain in this half-formed state for a long time before ultimately collapsing.
This unexpected difficulty in divine artifact forging did not trouble Di Tian too much. Even his slightly raised eyebrow soon relaxed.
For others, this might be a major challenge—even for most gods, it would be troublesome.
But for Di Tian, it was easily solvable.
Among dragons, the ability to generate equipment was unmatched.Di Tian estimated that if he were to drop soul bones, each would be of divine artifact level.
And the Dragon God was the ultimate equipment dropper:
His Dragon Horns became the divine artifact Dragon Slayer Blade.
His Dragon Heart transformed into the super divine artifact, the Dragon God Core.
His split personalities, the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King, resulted in the Golden-Silver Dragon Spear.
As Di Tian infused drops of his Dragon God True Blood into the Furnace of Life, one by one, the semi-divine artifacts began their slow transformation into true divine artifacts.
However, this next stage could not be skipped or accelerated.It would have to rely on the Ultimate Douluos gradually evolving into completed artifacts.
While the forging process continued at full steam, elsewhere, Nana Li's long-planned scheme was finally set into motion.
—Mingdu.—Thirteenth District.—The Holy Spirit Cult's new headquarters and main area of operations.
Thanks to Di Tian and the human powerhouses clashing, the Holy Spirit Cult had devoured everything in its path, growing fat with plunder.
Ranked among the Four Kings of the Holy Spirit Cult, Dark Bell Nana Li was the most gifted of the younger generation.Her gains were second only to Ghost Emperor and Nether Emperor, surpassing even the Dark Blood Demon, an Ultimate Douluo.
Not only had she broken through from Super Douluo to Ultimate Douluo, but thanks to her spirit-type martial soul, she had also crossed the chasm from Spirit Domain to Divine Origin, transforming her spirit sense into divine consciousness.
(End of Chapter)