Chapter 171: Hundred Horse Floating Pagoda Lock, Mouse Mouse Sees the Light Again!

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Artifact: Hundred Horse Phantom Lock!”

“The reward has been sent to the system space. The host can check it anytime.”

The golden light paused at the ‘Artifact’ section.

Immediately, a black chain with countless shadows emerged from the big wheel, accompanied by a system prompt sound.

“Artifact?”

Lu Changsheng looked at the reward he got from the draw, raising an eyebrow.

In the past, he felt pretty good about drawing an Artifact.

But now with the Nine-Treasure Jade Ruyi, Black Dragon Pearl, and an Artifact embryo, his Hundred Refined Body Technique had reached its peak.

He no longer felt anything special about Artifacts.

After all, now at the Foundation Establishment stage, he couldn’t activate Artifacts.

Other than using them to practice the Hundred Refined Body Technique, they were basically useless, quite a waste.

“But you can never have too many Artifacts.”

“When I reach the late Foundation Establishment stage, I should be able to activate Artifacts with the Xuanyuan Pearl.”

“Moreover, Artifacts can be used by the children.”

“If any of my children can master the Hundred Refined Body Technique, I can let them integrate the Artifact into their bodies to aid in cultivation.”

“Not only will this help them improve quickly, but it also benefits me. One Artifact, double the gain.”

Lu Changsheng sighed softly, murmuring to himself.

He planned to give the Artifact to whichever child mastered the Hundred Refined Body Technique in the future.

After all, the children’s cultivation results would enhance his own.

The only problem now was the children were still young, and he was reluctant to pass down an orthodox-level technique.

Besides, an orthodox-level technique wasn’t easy to practice.

Teaching Lu Miaoge the exquisite-levellCelestial Water Star Sword Technique took half a month of hands-on guidance for her to get started.

The orthodox-level Hundred Refined Body Technique was countless times more difficult.

A single mistake during practice could cause problems and harm oneself.

So, it must be handled with care.

“If only I could directly impart the techniques to the children.”

Lu Changsheng sighed, feeling wistful.

His experience with the Scattering Soul Needle from the Red Luan True Scripture made him realize how convenient it was to receive techniques directly from the system.

Otherwise, figuring out and practicing on his own, even if he understood the principles, actual cultivation was another matter.

Without thinking further, Lu Changsheng looked at the system space.

He checked the Artifact he had just drawn.

“Artifact: Hundred Horse Phantom Lock”

“Grade: High-Tier Artifact”

“Description: The Yin Ghost Immortal found hundreds of battle-hardened Demon warhorses and tortured them until their death, filled with resentment, their souls did not disperse. He refined them into Yin Horses. Finally, he combined a hundred Yin Horses into the Phantom Lock chain, creating the ‘Hundred Horse Phantom Lock’. In battle, a hundred horses rampage, causing mountains to collapse and the ground to crack, scattering souls.”

“A High-Tier Artifact!”

“It seems to be a demonic Artifact.”

“Although demonic Artifacts are cruelly refined, their effects are usually impressive.”

“Judging by the description, it indeed is powerful. In battle, releasing the Artifact causes a hundred Yin Horses to rampage, collapsing mountains and scattering souls.”

Lu Changsheng nodded slightly at the Artifact’s description.

But after a couple of glances, he lost interest and didn’t look further.

He left the Artifact in the system space.

Planning to take it out when needed.

“I wonder how much my cultivation speed has improved with my Fourth-Tier spiritual root.”

After the draw, Lu Changsheng felt bored, thinking of his recently advanced Fourth-Tier spiritual root.

He immediately sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual.

“Hoo!”

After an hour of cultivation, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes and exhaled.

Through the recent cultivation, he could clearly sense an improvement in his cultivation speed.

About a thirty percent increase compared to before.

Though only thirty percent, this effect was quite significant.

It could speed up his cultivation considerably.

Moreover, the quality of spiritual roots not only affects cultivation speed but also makes it easier to break through bottlenecks.

“But a Fourth-Tier spiritual root only helps with minor bottlenecks.”

“For my current situation, it won’t significantly help with the future Golden Core bottleneck.”

“If I could upgrade my spiritual root to a heavenly spiritual root before forming the Golden Core, there would be no bottleneck.”

Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

He couldn’t help but hope for extraordinary luck someday, to have a heavenly spiritual root offspring.

That way, his spiritual root would be perfect, without having to slowly improve.

Shaking his head to dispel unrealistic fantasies, Lu Changsheng left the meditation room.

He chatted with Xiao Xiyue for a while, then left the cave to visit the Lu Family’s talisman shop.

“Daddy.”

On the third floor, Lu Qingzhu was quietly reading. Seeing Lu Changsheng, she greeted him sweetly.

“Little Bamboo, where’s your mom?”

Seeing only his daughter, Lu Changsheng smiled gently and asked.

His daughter was six years old, getting more adorable by the day.

Her chubby, doll-like face was irresistibly pinchable.

“Mom is drawing talismans in her room.”

Lu Qingzhu replied in a childish voice.

Hearing this, Lu Changsheng guessed it might be for a custom order or a specific talisman need.

He didn’t disturb Lu Miaoge and sat next to hissdaughter, asking, “What are you reading, Little Bamboo?”

“Daddy, look.”

Lu Qingzhu handed him the picture book she was holding.

It was a photo album.

Inside was a forest with various spirit beasts living and playing.

Since it was for children’s enlightenment, the spirit beasts were gentle and cute.

There were no ferocious and terrifying Demon beasts.

“Do you know what this is, Little Bamboo?”

Lu Changsheng pointed to a purple parrot, asking.

Lu Qingzhu shook her head adorably.

Her big eyes stared at Lu Changsheng, waiting for an explanation.

Lu Changsheng smiled at his daughter’s innocent look.

He rubbed her head, which had two small buns, and said, “This is a Purple Jade Parrot. It understands human language and can speak.”

As he spoke, Lu Changsheng tapped the Purple Jade Parrot in the album.

“Hello.”

The parrot immediately greeted in a clear voice.

“Oh, hello!”

Lu Qingzhu mimicked the parrot adorably.

“If you like it, Daddy will buy you one.”

Lu Changsheng said, seeing his daughter’s cute reaction.

The Purple Jade Parrot was only a low-level Demon beast, kept as a pet by many cultivators. It was sold in the Hongye Valley Marketplace.

“Oh, Daddy, this one.”

Lu Qingzhu turned two pages and pointed to a white hamster in the album.

“You like this one, Little Bamboo?”

Lu Changsheng was surprised.

He didn’t expect his daughter to prefer the white hamster over the talking Purple Jade Parrot.

But the white hamster was indeed cute.

Pure white, fluffy, and very cute. It was normal for children to like it.

“Oh.”

At this moment, he remembered he had a similar-looking golden hamster in his pet bag.

The Earth Spirit Mouse he got from Meng Yibai.

Since it was stolen goods, he kept it in the pet bag.

He just fed it some spirit pills occasionally.

“Little Bamboo, how about this one?”

Lu Changsheng took the Earth Spirit Mouse from his pet bag.

The Earth Spirit Mouse was about the same size as the white hamster in the book, only palm-sized.

Its golden fur was fluffy and cute.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak—”

The Earth Spirit Mouse, having been in the pet bag for over three years, finally saw daylight and squeaked happily.

“Oh, a mouse!”

Lu Qingzhu’s big eyes sparkled, looking at the cute Earth Spirit Mouse.

She leaned forward, gazing at the mouse.

“Behave.”

Lu Changsheng held the mouse, rubbing it a few times, and communicated with it through the beast-taming token.

He remembered clearly that this Earth Spirit Mouse was quite intelligent.

It even recognized someone as its adoptive father.

“Squeak, squeak.”

The Earth Spirit Mouse responded to Lu Changsheng.

It assured him it was the most obedient and well-behaved mouse.

Lu Changsheng believed it.

He dared to let his daughter play with the Earth Spirit Mouse because he knew the mouse’s characteristics.

Despite its Earth-Tier bloodline,

it was timid as a mouse.

Other than escaping, it hardly fought.

Its main use was treasure hunting.

It had a very keen sense of smell for spiritual herbs, Natural Treasures, or spiritual mines and veins.

It could sniff out any spiritual herb or treasure that someone had recently touched.

In short, it was very sensitive to Qi and presence.

“Come here, Xiaozhu.”

Lu Changsheng opened his palm, inviting his daughter to touch the golden hamster.

He stood nearby, unconcerned about any trouble from the Earth Spirit Mouse.

If it acted up, he could stop it immediately.

“Oh.”

Lu Qingzhu cautiously touched the Earth Spirit Mouse with her small, tender hand.

The Earth Spirit Mouse was only as big as an adult’s palm.

But to a six-year-old girl, it seemed quite large.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak.”

The Earth Spirit Mouse played along, understanding that it was meant to entertain the human child.

It even nuzzled Lu Qingzhu’s small hand with its little head.

“Oh, Daddy.”

Lu Qingzhu, a bit braver now, petted the Earth Spirit Mouse and called to Lu Changsheng.

“Here, you take it.”

Lu Changsheng smiled and handed the Earth Spirit Mouse to his daughter.

“Oh.”

Lu Qingzhu held the golden hamster in both hands, cuddling it to her chest with a happy smile.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak.”

The Earth Spirit Mouse cooperated fully.

“Xiaozhu, you can feed it this.”

Lu Changsheng took out a bottle of Spirit Nourishing Pills, poured one out, and handed it to his daughter to feed the mouse.

Feeding pets was also a joy.

“Oh.”

Lu Qingzhu held the Earth Spirit Mouse with one hand and fed it the pill with the other.

The golden hamster showed its two teeth and started nibbling on the pill, happily squeaking.

In the Spirit Pet Bag, whenever Lu Changsheng got busy, he would forget to feed it regularly.

The Earth Spirit Mouse learned to ration its Spirit Nourishing Pills.

Today, it was thrilled to get an extra meal.

“Daddy, look.”

After a while, Lu Qingzhu was amazed to see the Earth Spirit Mouse holding the pill and nibbling on it. She called out to Lu Changsheng with her mouth open in surprise.

“Xiaozhu, do you like this mouse?”

Lu Changsheng asked his daughter.

If she liked it, he would give it to her.

After all, it was just taking up space with him.

His daughter spent most of her time on Qingzhu Mountain and occasionally visited Hongye Valley Marketplace.

There was no risk of Meng Yibai’s elder discovering it.

If that elder could track through an Earth Spirit Mouse, they would have done it by now.

Besides, Earth Spirit Mice were rare but not so valuable that people would covet one at first sight.

“Daddy, I like it.”

Lu Qingzhu looked at the Earth Spirit Mouse in her hand and then at Lu Changsheng with her big, bright eyes, showing her affection.

“Since you like it, Daddy will give it to you.”

Lu Changsheng smiled.

“Oh, thank you, Daddy.”

Lu Qingzhu’s face lit up with joy.

She put down the hamster, stood up, and stretched her arms towards Lu Changsheng.

Seeing this, Lu Changsheng picked her up.

“Mwah!”

Once in his arms, Lu Qingzhu kissed her father’s cheek.

She knew her father loved to kiss her cheeks to show his affection.

So she kissed him back.

“Haha, so sweet, mwah.”

Lu Changsheng laughed and kissed his daughter’s chubby cheeks twice.

“Changsheng, you’re back.”

“What’s making you so happy?”

Just then, the door to the talisman room opened.

Lu Miaoge, in a snow-white drrss, with a gentle and beautiful face, walked out.

Seeing the father and daughter so happy, she smiled and spoke.

“Haha, seeing my precious daughter and dear wife naturally makes me happy.”

Lu Changsheng laughed.

“You’re a father now, still so glib.”

Lu Miaoge rolled her eyes at im, smiling sweetly.

“Oh, Mommy, the mouse.”

Lu Qingzhu pointed at the Earth Spirit Mouse, calling to her mother.

“Mouse?”

Lu Miaoge looked over and sawwthe Earth Spirit Mouse.

She examined it and looked at Lu Changsheng in surprise. “Is this a treasure-hunting mouse?”

In the cultivation world, many spirit beasts had treasure-hunting abilities.

Mice were especially common in this role.

Their similar appearance made them hard to distinguish in detail.

Many people called any treasure-hunting mouse a “treasure-hunting mouse.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I saw this treasure-hunting mouse at a stall and bought it, thinking it would help me find treasures. But I don’t go out much.”

“Seeing Xiaozhu like it, I decided to give it to her as a companion.”

Lu Changsheng nodded, not hiding anything.

Treasure-hunting mice were easy to recognize with their golden fur and small size.

“It’s such a waste to give a treasure-hunting mouse to your daughter as a pet.”

Lu Miaoge scolded him lightlyy

Treasure-hunting mice had no combat ability.

But their treasure-hunting skill made them highly sought after.

Such spirit beasts were usually very valuable.

She didn’t know how many Spirit Stones Lu Changsheng had spent, but it seemed wasteful.

“As long as Xiaozhu likes it.”

“When she grows up and starts cultivating, she might find some treasures with it.”

Lu Changsheng smiled.

Qingzhu Mountain held an annual Spirit Root testing ceremony.

This year, Lu Qingzhu was found to have a Seventh-Tier Spirit Root.

Lu Yuanshan Ding and Lu Miaoge were relieved..

They had feared this child might not have a Spirit Root and would have to live as a mortal.

Lu Qingshan was also tested for Spirit Root aptitude.

But the testing crystal at Qingzhu Mountain was too poor to detect his Metal Yang Body.

Lu Changsheng suspected that besides the crystal’s quality, it was because Lu Qingshan’s Metal Yang Body was still developing.

“You just spoil her.”

Lu Miaoge smiled, shaking herrhead, but said no more.

Since her husband gave their daughter a treasure-hunting mouse, she wouldn’t object.

And when Lu Qingzhu grew up, she might indeed find treasures with it.

“Mommy.”

Lu Qingzhu pointed at the Earth Spirit Mouse again, calling her mother.

“Oh, what a cute mouse. Do you like it, Xiaozhu?”

Lu Miaoge smiled warmly, pickkng up the Earth Spirit Mouse to inspect it.

She wanted to see if it was a Mid-Tier Golden Seeking Mouse or a High-Tier Spirit Seeking Mouse.

“Yes.”

Lu Qingzhu replied in her baby voice.

“If you like it, take good care of it.”

Lu Miaoge told her daughter..

“Oh.”

Lu Qingzhu nodded vigorously.

Lu Miaoge chatted with her daaghter for a while, then let Lu Changsheng watch her.

She went to deliver the talismans she had just drawn.

Lu Changsheng watched his daughter playing with the hamster, giving her a bottle of Spirit Nourishing Pills to feed it.

Soon, Lu Miaoge returned..

She saw her well-behaved daughter and chatted with Lu Changsheng.

“Changsheng, how’s your familiarity with the Thunder Fire Talisman?”

Lu Miaoge asked..

“I’ve got about a forty to fifty percent success rate.”

Lu Changsheng replied.

“So fast!”

Lu Miaoge was surprised and ddlighted.

Such a success rate was impressive.

A Second-Tier low-tier talisman had about twenty times the profit margin.

Even a ten to twenty percent success rate was profitable.

Of course, that didn’t include the cost of practice.

Lu Miaoge practiced Second-Tiir talismans only once a day when she was at her best.

The cost of over twenty Spirit Stones per practice was painful.

Even though the Lu Family’s talisman paper was made from their own Jade Spirit Bamboo at cost price, it was still costly.

“It’s okay, just a bit of progress each month.”

Lu Changsheng smiled.

“Not everyone can improve every month.”

Lu Miaoge felt a bit discouraaed by her husband’s words.

Making talismans was much like cultivating.

Often, it feels like hitting a bottleneck, making it hard to progress even an inch in a lifetime.

Sometimes, a mindset issue can cause regression in the talisman path.

Talismans that were once drawable become increasingly poor.

“Haha, isn’t that exactly my situation?”

Lu Changsheng chuckled.

“Yes, yes, my husband is the best.”

Lu Miaoge’s face showed a sommwhat doting smile.

Then, she asked, “By the way, Changsheng, when are you planning to hold your Second-Rank Talisman Master Ceremony?”

“In a few months. I’ll notify the family head once my talisman success rate improves and I get familiar with a few other types of talismans.”

Lu Changsheng pondered slightly.

In his view, hosting this ceremony would certainly keep him busy for a while.

Xiao Xiyue was about four months away from giving birth.

If they notified the Lu Family, it would take one or two months for preparation and invitation. The timing might overlap.

So, he planned to hold the ceremony after Xiao Xiyue gave birth.

Lu Miaoge nodded..

She knew that mastering one type of talisman would make it easier to grasp the others.

She thought to herself that her husband was very thorough in his work.

Even for hosting a ceremony, he made full preparations.

It was fortunate that her husband had extraordinary talent and rapid progress in the talisman path.

Otherwise, someone else might need three to five years, or even longer, of hard work to achieve the same.