There were still two days left before the Disciple selection. Time was more than enough to forge a weapon for the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Now Lin Xun’s balance had skyrocketed. Amos had contributed one million for the Disciple selection fund, forging fees brought in 2.34 million, plus previous savings of 580,000. After deducting 500,000 spent on purchasing a Reforge Stone, he still had over 3.4 million Spirit Essence in his pocket.

That much Spirit Essence should be enough to forge an exclusive weapon for the Nine-Tailed Fox!

[You step forward and touch the Book of Craftsmen, and your powerful soul resonates with the book.]

[Do you wish to use the forging function of the Book of Craftsmen?]

[Generating a manufacturing blueprint based on the materials you possess…]

[Asura’s Rosary Beads + Seven-Colored Smoke Veil (Not yet owned) + Profound Yin Glazed Pearl (Not yet owned) + Heart of the Witch of Desire (Not yet owned) + Divine Firmament Thunder Essence (Not yet owned) + Legendary Thunder Elemental Core (Not yet owned) + Succubus Queen’s Tail (Not yet owned) + Pure Mana Orb (Not yet owned)]

[Based on the above materials, by spending 695,000 Spirit Essence, you can create a weapon suitable for the Origin-Tracing Nine-Tailed Fox. The weapon produced will be of Legendary quality.]

A whole row of ‘Not yet owned’ made Lin Xun’s scalp tingle.

Only one material dropped by the Extreme Evil Asura was suitable for forging the Nine-Tailed Fox’s exclusive weapon. The rest would all have to be purchased.

But precisely because of that one material, Lin Xun decided that no matter how much Spirit Essence it cost, he had to forge the exclusive weapon.

When the Extreme Evil Asura died, it not only dropped a material, it also dropped a Special Spirit Essence matching the material.

[Asura’s Special Spirit Essence (Special Spirit Essence item): Using this item grants 300,000 Spirit Essence. It can also be added during the forging of Shell equipment, with a certain probability of triggering an Awakening effect to generate related bonus attributes.]

Lin Xun headed straight to the Book of Trade to check how much Spirit Essence would be needed to purchase the materials.

After a quick calculation, the seven materials together cost more than 3.8 million in Spirit Essence!

He still had a shortfall of 400,000 Spirit Essence before he could forge this weapon.

“This is completely outrageous.”

Forging a Legendary weapon would take more than a day. Before the Disciple selection began, he only had one forging opportunity left.

Continuing to take forging commissions to make money would definitely be too late.

“I can only sell equipment…”

He still had two spare weapons in his pocket. One was Tachi – Uzuki-Kir, and the other was the Purifying Evil and Averting Calamity Halo dropped by the Chief Priest of Tenmei Grand Shrine.

Both weapons were Epic+ grade. Their special effects were of little use to him, so it was better to sell them to recoup funds.

He listed the two weapons on the Book of Trade. The hellish game’s suggested prices were on the low side, totaling just over 1.2 million.

Compared to Uzuki-Kir, the Purifying Evil and Averting Calamity Halo had a slightly wider range of application, and its selling price was higher.

For a quick cash turnaround, Lin Xun marked both weapons at a steep discount.

After waiting for more than an hour, the Purifying Evil and Averting Calamity Halo sold successfully. After deducting the hellish game’s handling fee, he pocketed nearly 620,000.

Seeing that funds were sufficient, he reset Uzuki-Kir’s price to normal, then quickly bought the weapon materials he needed.

[…]

[Your Shell Skill Legendary Forging Art is sufficient in grade. You can forge a Legendary weapon according to the current blueprint!]

[This forging will take quite a long time. Estimated time needed: 30 hours 56 minutes 41 seconds…]

[Do you wish to begin forging this weapon?]

Lin Xun opened the Inventory and clicked the Special Spirit Essence that matched the materials.

[If you add Asura’s Special Spirit Essence to the weapon forging, the probability of successful Awakening is 89%.]

[Do you wish to add the Special Spirit Essence to the forging?]

For a luck king, 89% rounded up to 100%.

The only thing that worried Lin Xun was not the extremely small chance of Awakening failure, but the possibility of no Weapon Trait being generated.

[Forging weapon in progress. Please be patient…]

[…]

Waiting a full day and night was sheer torture.

Lin Xun could only pass the time by cooking at home with the Valkyrie, and playing a game of where-did-the-tail-go with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

After he helped the Nine-Tailed Fox take revenge, the little fox seemed to put down its knot of resentment and no longer sat in meditation all day like a closed gourd.

Relying on its status as a great yokai, it would tease the Snow Woman from time to time. Sometimes, it grew bold enough to even flirt with its master, Lin Xun.

With a few summoned creatures for company, time really flew. In a whoosh, it vanished in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, it was time to open the furnace.

[…]

[Weapon successfully forged!]

[Due to the special effect of your forging tool Imperial Swordsmith’s Hammer, the weapon has gained an Equipment Trait!]

[Because you added Asura’s Special Spirit Essence during forging, the weapon has successfully Awakened!]

[You have obtained Purple Lightning Soul-Guard Orb (Legendary Weapon)!]

Lin Xun was overjoyed.

Not only had the weapon Awakened successfully, it had also gained a Weapon Trait.

If the Weapon Trait had not appeared, he might have had to spend another 500,000 on purchasing a Reforge Stone.

[Purple Lightning Soul-Guard Orb (Legendary Weapon): A spherical magic implement forged from many precious materials. Violet thunder flickers within the transparent, pure orb, and it seems as though countless wailing specters are crying and howling inside.]

[Using this weapon will greatly increase the power of lightning-element spells and slightly increase the duration of control skills.]

[This weapon has successfully Awakened. When the holder suffers lethal damage, there is a certain probability of summoning Asura’s soul to grant aid, allowing the holder to avoid this death, restore all bodily external injuries, and recover half of their Health. This Awakening effect can only take effect once and resets upon Shell death or Resting Page refresh.]

[Weapon Trait – Purple Firmament Divine Thunder Tribulation: Using this skill will generate an immovable Divine Thunder Tribulation Cloud above a designated enemy. Within the coverage area of the Tribulation Cloud, the holder can cast all lightning-element spells without any cost, and every lightning spell attack will deal 150% critical damage! This Trait can only be activated once and resets upon Shell death or Resting Page refresh.]

“…This is ridiculously powerful.”

The weapon’s Awakening effect gave the fragile Nine-Tailed Fox a one-time death immunity and half-Health recovery.

Even if it was not guaranteed to trigger, so long as there was at least a fifty percent chance to activate, it could be considered a pretty solid life-saving skill.

Purple Firmament Divine Thunder Tribulation was a Weapon Trait tailor-made for the Nine-Tailed Fox. It not only enabled cost-free lightning spellcasting, it also massively increased lightning damage output.

The only drawback was that the Divine Thunder Tribulation Cloud could not move. But with the Nine-Tailed Fox’s control skill Soul-Seizing and Spirit-Stealing, could the enemy even escape the radius of the Tribulation Cloud?

The enemy would inevitably be locked within the cloud’s range. Lin Xun even felt he did not need to deal damage himself. He only had to possess the Shell of the President of the Direct Vision Association and help the Nine-Tailed Fox control the enemy from the side.

“Once the Nine-Tailed Fox has this weapon, its damage output will be off the charts. It becomes a presence that can completely change the battle.”

“With such a shikigami, I already have my strongest trump card.”

“The Disciple selection… victory is in my grasp.”

Seeing that only half a day remained before the Disciple selection, Lin Xun poured all his remaining time into crafting ofuda talismans.

After clearing the chapter, the Palace Master of Iya Palace’s negative status Extreme Evil Corrosion disappeared, and all Onmyo Arts and ofuda talisman power were fully restored.

The shikigami-enhancing skills United Resolve and Filth Purification Rebirth both required consuming materials to craft ofuda talismans.

But the most expensive was not these two skills, it was the Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions.

A barrier skill activated via ofuda talismans did not defend as well as a large-scale defensive barrier, but its effect would not be too bad either.

The defense of the Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions far surpassed the Knowledge Barrier. Aside from the barrier being immovable and expensive, there really was no other flaw to be found.

It is worth noting that, unlike the Knowledge Barrier, the Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions did not need a mage-type Shell to maintain its continued existence.

After the Palace Master released the barrier skill, even if he switched to other Shells, the barrier would still persist and not disappear, though its defensive effect would decrease somewhat.

This was probably the advantage of initiating a spell using ofuda talismans.

Lin Xun worked overtime crafting ofuda talismans, not only burning through all the ofuda materials he had left on him, but also squandering his only remaining 200,000 in savings.

By the time the Spirit Essence deposit in his pocket had only four digits left, the Disciple selection was about to begin.

His female boss Li Xingyue called and warned him repeatedly to be careful. If things looked wrong, he was to immediately use the Escape Bookmark to end the Easter Egg Chapter…

His male boss Amos also summoned him again into the Disciple Sanctum to brief him on general information he had collected about several powerful contenders.

Lin Xun memorized each one, lest he capsize in the gutter due to some bizarre skill.

[Amos: One of the strong contenders has the ability to probe Soul Imprints. I am lending you this item for now. Do not die easily and make me lose an important item for nothing.]

[You have obtained Despicable Human-Skin Mask (Legendary+ item): A human-skin mask with dark and indistinct facial features, its surface covered densely with unfamiliar characters.]

[While holding this item, you can block all probing skills of Legendary+ and below.]

Lin Xun paused for a moment.

He was one of many candidates. Perhaps the big shot behind Amos had not taken him seriously and was instead placing emphasis on other Apostles.

This item was probably lent by Amos out of his own pocket.

In fact, whether Amos lent it or not did not matter, because Lin Xun had the Camouflage Mask and did not need to worry about other Apostles’ probing.

But Amos did not know this and had always believed that Lin Xun’s Soul Imprint was Lord of Cinders.

Lin Xun unexpectedly felt that his male boss was actually not treating him badly.

He hurriedly shook his head and warned himself that this was a superior from a villainous organization. There was not a single good person in the New World. Stockholm syndrome must be absolutely avoided.

Lin Xun returned to the library and quietly waited for the Easter Egg Chapter to open.

[Easter Egg Chapter, Chapter 326. Time remaining to open: 32 minutes 12 seconds…]

[…]

[…]

[Because you hold the Invitation to the Easter Egg Chapter, you are about to enter Easter Egg Chapter, Chapter 326!]

[…]

[Teleporting…]

[…]

[Teleportation successful!]

[You have entered the Easter Egg Chapter.]

[Chapter 326 – Nightmare of the Golden Blazing Sun!]

[Because you previously obtained an SSS rating in the canonical chapter of this Easter Egg Chapter, relevant story characters and events in this chapter will use your chapter progression as a baseline, and will to a certain extent alter the course of the plot!]

Lin Xun was startled.

Before he had time to savor the specific meaning of the text, the hellish game continued to display…

[A powerful wandering soul awakens beneath the blazing, golden warm sun…]

[In the unseen, your heart senses something…]

[You sense that there are twenty-three wandering souls of varying strength who, like you, have entered different corners of this world at the same time…]

[Please note! This Easter Egg Chapter is in Slaughter Mode! You may attack any Apostle you see!]

[All Apostles who enter this chapter will suffer extremely severe death penalties upon death!]

[Please treat every monster you encounter, or every Apostle with ulterior motives, with caution…]

The text was blood-red, warning of the danger of Slaughter Mode.

The hellish game not only issued a danger warning, it also generated an extra Slaughter option.

Clicking the option allowed viewing the survival status of all Apostles in this chapter.

[Unknown Apostle No. 01 – Alive.]

[Unknown Apostle No. 02 – Alive.]

[Unknown Apostle…]

[…]

There were twenty-four people listed in total. Lin Xun was Apostle No. 18.

His attention was not on the hellish game’s reminder but on the text that said a powerful wandering soul awakened beneath the blazing, golden warm sun.

“Could it be…”

[You look around. A gentle breeze brushes your face, rustling the leaves of the entire forest. The air is filled with the fresh fragrance of grass and soil.]

[You raise your head. Slightly dazzling golden sunlight pours down, casting brilliantly colored halos around your powerful wandering soul…]

[You notice what seems to be a corpse lying under the shade of a tree not far away.]

[Do you wish to go and check it?]

“…Why is the sun golden? Shouldn’t it be the Corrupting Blood Sun?”

While possessing the Shell of the Greedy Wolf Star Lord, Lin Xun recalled intelligence about chapters 0 to 9 of the same major volume in the game.

In the same major volume of the game, chapters 0 to 9 could be plots taking place at the same time on different locations.

Some major volumes contained a series of plots that continued along the timeline.

And some chapters in a major volume were not necessarily arranged in chronological order.

Regardless of the type of major volume, if an Apostle had previously entered chapters in that volume and caused enough plot changes to alter history, then the next time the Apostle entered related chapters, they would be affected by the prior plot, triggering a series of unknown outcomes.

Of course, the probability of randomly entering the same major volume was extremely low. Most Apostles would not run into such a situation.

This time, what Lin Xun encountered was likely a plot that took place before the apocalypse, that is, a chapter world before the Golden Blazing Sun’s fall.

“In that case, if the sun has not yet fallen, it means the Oath faction of the Golden Blazing Sun is not a pushover, but instead the strongest Oath faction within this chapter?”

Previously, Lin Xun worried that only the Earth Giant in his Shell slots was in a Corrupted state and could walk under the Blood Sun without mutating to death, while the other Shells could only operate at night.

Now it was fine. Without the restriction of the Blood Sun, he could completely unleash his combat power!

[You step forward into the tree shade and examine the body that has not been dead long…]

[Wilds Hunter of Radiant Light : An ordinary male hunter Shell who died under a beast’s claws during a routine hunt. Compatibility: 140% (+55%).]

[Do you wish to possess this Shell?]

“Radiant Light… That is a prefix for a follower of either the Golden Blazing Sun or the Radiant Crescent.”

[T/N: Not really a prefix since it appears after, changed it originally into an actual prefix but it was a pain in the ass to change every character with this prefix and would eventually lead to me missing something so I’ll leave it like this for now.]

A Shell bearing a prefix at least indicated that both main gods were still alive and well.

If a Shell had no prefix, it meant either the hunter had no faith, or the god of his faith had fallen.

The Shells gifted at chapter entry were all quite poor. If Apostles wanted to learn the chapter background, they usually would not choose to possess the gifted Shell.

Only some elite Apostles understood the trick. The spawn point usually came with a Resting Page and counted as a safe zone. In a safe zone, one could exhaust the Shell’s stamina until fainting and separating the wandering soul.

After possessing the gifted Shell to obtain its memories, one could abandon that Shell and retrieve one’s original Shell.

However, this maneuver had risks. Sometimes, even safe zones would not be safe…

This Easter Egg Chapter Lin Xun entered was different. The spawn point had no Resting Page, which was unfriendly to other Apostles.

It did not matter to him, but where caution was due, he would still be cautious.

Lin Xun summoned the Valkyrie to patrol and guard nearby, then possessed the frail hunter Shell.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep