[You have successfully forged a profound level high-grade magic artifact, the Gold Spirit Banned Shield, and gained a lot of forging experience during the process. Your understanding of the Forging Path has deepened, forging experience +150.]

The feedback information from the panel appeared before Shen Mo. Then, he withdrew the Nether Fire and handed the renewed Spirit Banned Shield to Chen Mengze, who had remained silent by his side.

While Chen Mengze was weighing the shield, he quickly swallowed an elixir to restore his Mana, silently circulating his cultivation method to refine the medicinal properties into Mana. After resting for a short while, he summoned the Nether Fire once more.

He controlled the spirit flame, burning the Golden Melon Hammer magic artifact. Simultaneously, he cast seals, attempting to strip the superfluous spirit gold from the magic artifact and shrink the engraved runes to a mere fraction of their original size.

If the material of a magic artifact constitutes its body, then the complex runes engraved within are its soul! Both are essential in crafting the power and characteristics of the magic artifact, indispensable to one another.

Repairing and enhancing the Spirit Banned Shield was relatively easy; it only required replacing its original materials with higher-grade ones. There was no need to alter the precise and systematic complex runes within the shield!

However, to make the Golden Melon Hammer magic artifact more suitable for Chen Mengze, Shen Mo needed to change its size and form. Aside from re-melting its materials, he also needed to alter many runes, making them more minute and intricate so they could exert their proper power within the thumb-sized Golden Melon Hammer. The difficulty naturally increased considerably!

And transforming the Purple Bamboo Sword into a one-time magic treasure required erasing the existing runes within it. He needed to reconstruct and arrange new runes suitable for the purple bamboo material, enabling it to store Mana and, at a critical moment, explode with astonishing power! The difficulty was, if anything, cumulative!

Fortunately, Shen Mo's forging proficiency was already quite excellent. After a day and night of refining, the two magic artifacts were reborn, like butterflies emerging from their cocoons.

[You have successfully forged a profound level high-grade magic artifact, the Finger Hammer, and gained a lot of forging experience during the process. Your understanding of the Forging Path has deepened, forging experience +220.]

[You have successfully forged a one-time magic artifact, the Purple Bamboo Sword, and gained a lot of forging experience during the process. Your understanding of the Forging Path has deepened, forging experience +235.]

Including the previously mentioned shield-type magic artifact, Shen Mo gave them new names based on their forms and characteristics.

The Finger Hammer, aside from resembling a finger in size and shape, also alluded to the phrase 'an immortal pointing the way'… One hammer strike could send you on your final journey!

Given Chen Mengze's current cultivation level, if she used her martial arts and cultivation method to throw this Finger Hammer, even a cultivator at Layer IX of the Qi Gathering Realm would be severely injured if caught off guard!

Shen Mo had inscribed a complete set of runes unique to one-time magic treasures into the Purple Bamboo Sword. Usually, it was kept fully infused with Mana. In a life-and-death crisis, it only needed to be activated with Mana, much like a talisman. In an instant, it could transform into hundreds of densely packed, sharp bamboo fragments infused with sword Qi, piercing the enemy full of holes.

Shen Mo didn't dare to guarantee it could affect a Spirit Sea Realm expert! But below the Spirit Sea Realm… no one struck by this magic artifact could escape unscathed.

Even Shen Mo himself, despite his numerous defensive measures and exceptionally strong physique, wasn't sure he could block all of the Purple Bamboo Sword's attacks if struck. He wouldn't die, but he might spend an entire day picking out bamboo splinters!

Chen Mengze was very satisfied with the two new magic artifacts. The Spirit Stones she usually accumulated, aside from buying elixirs, were spent on Grade III talismans and one-time magic treasures.

The magic artifacts she possessed, besides a Flying Sword of decent quality, included a nail-shaped magic artifact and a square brocade kerchief. These were all spoils of war from when she and Shen Mo had explored the Ghost Nation Ruins together! Now, with the Finger Hammer, the previous nail-shaped magic artifact could be sold.

Shen Mo was about to ask Chen Mengze if she needed any other magic artifacts. If so, he could refine them for her…

At this moment, however, his Sound Transmission Talisman and Chen Mengze's Sound Transmission Talisman started vibrating simultaneously.

"Dad!"

"Uncle Chen!"

The two exchanged a glance, their faces uncharacteristically paling in unison.

It turned out to be Chen Mengze's father, Shen Mo's Uncle Chen, who had returned from Tianshan City in Zhong State.

"Senior Sister Chen, let's go. You've avenged your great enmity and resolved your obsession; this calls for a grand celebration," Shen Mo said, rising to his feet. Removing the faintly glowing Prohibition Talisman, he walked towards the entrance of his cave mansion. "It's perfect timing that Uncle Chen is back too. Let's throw a victory banquet and celebrate properly!"

Chen Mengze nodded and followed Shen Mo closely as they went out to greet her father, Chen An.

When Chen An saw the two of them walking out of Shen Mo's cave mansion together, his expression was quite a sight! He looked somewhat astonished, somewhat overjoyed, somewhat perplexed, and somewhat dejected…

His demeanor was strikingly similar to that of a mortal father discovering his precious daughter had been spirited away by the young man he esteemed most.

Chen Mengze quickly discerned her father's peculiar thoughts. Embarrassed and slightly annoyed, she took out the Gold Spirit Banned Shield and thrust it into his arms.

Interrupting her father's wild conjectures, Chen Mengze said huffily, "This is a spoil of war from our trip. Shen Mo re-refined it; it's specially for you."

Chen An barely glanced at it before putting the Spirit Banned Shield away. He then stared seriously at the two of them. Only when Chen Mengze nervously lowered her head and Shen Mo also looked rather discomfited did he finally heave a long sigh.

"Never mind, never mind! You've both grown up. You have your own minds now, and you're more capable than I am!" There was a hint of wistfulness in Chen An's voice, and also a touch of gratification. "Your mother should be able to rest in peace in the Nine Springs."

"Dad…"

Seeing the tears glistening in her father's eyes, Chen Mengze took Chen An's arm and began to comfort him softly. The father and daughter spoke in low voices for a while.

Shen Mo had no opportunity to interject and could only listen quietly to their conversation. For the most part, Chen An reminisced about the past, telling Chen Mengze stories about her mother. When Chen Mengze's mother was murdered by the Liu and Wu families, she had been too young to remember. Thus, Chen An worried that if anything were to happen to him, no one in this world would remember Madame An.

"Dad, don't say such things. We cultivators live much longer than ordinary people. You still have plenty of time," Chen Mengze consoled him.

Theoretically, a cultivator at the Qi Gathering Realm could live for over two hundred years! But in reality, very few died of old age. Most perished in conflicts, demonic calamities, or from various accidents, such as an invasion of Heart Demons, an outbreak of pill poison, or mishaps during cultivation…

Afterward, Chen Mengze told Chen An about their trip to Sishui City. She particularly mentioned that she had beheaded the cultivators from the Liu and Wu families and then paid her respects at the Chen Family relic site.

Hearing this, Chen An's eyes filled with tears, yet he burst into hearty laughter!

Seeing the atmosphere gradually lighten, Shen Mo also began to arrange the "victory banquet" to celebrate the Chen father and daughter successfully avenging their family. He bought spiritual meals from the Dining Room, along with spiritual wine and Spirit Fruits, and even personally grilled some demonic beast meat... After a flurry of activity, the small banquet finally began to take shape.

"Mo'er…" Chen An raised his cup of spiritual wine, looking towards Shen Mo. "This cup is for you! On behalf of the fifty-seven members of my Chen Family, I toast you!"

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