"Sabin, get over here." As he looked at Sabin standing before him, Lin Tian's emotions could only be described as profoundly conflicted. Once a spiritual artifact acknowledged a master, the bond could not be severed unless the master perished. In other words, if Lin Tian wished for the Mortal Cannon to recognize him anew, he would have to kill Sabin.
Such a thing was something Lin Tian could never bring himself to do. Yet even if he could not bear to lay a hand on Sabin, a few harsh words were still unavoidable.
Grabbing Sabin by the ears, Lin Tian, clearly irritated, carried him back. Sabin, well aware that he had made a grave mistake this time, did not dare make a sound.
"Well done, little fellow. To think you could actually make a spiritual artifact acknowledge you as its master." After returning to his residence, a strange glint slowly crept into Lin Tian's eyes. What had happened today had genuinely taken him by surprise. After all, a spiritual artifact recognizing a spirit beast as its master was absolutely unprecedented in the entire history of the Xuanwu Sect.
As for feeling distressed, Lin Tian felt none at all. There were simply too many people within the sect who already disliked him. If he acted indifferent about this matter, it would only make those who resented him even more uncomfortable. But if he put on a heartbroken and anguished display, those same disciples would feel much more satisfied.
"Still, this really won't do." Looking at the Mortal Cannon and the Three-Tailed Spirit Cat before him, Lin Tian could not help but feel troubled. The Mortal Cannon was far too massive, while although the Three-Tailed Spirit Cat possessed enough strength to move it, its size was utterly mismatched. Even now that the Mortal Cannon had acknowledged a master, it was far from convenient to operate.
After careful consideration, Lin Tian ultimately decided to thoroughly modify the Mortal Cannon. But before that, he needed to use the remaining Spirit-Enchantment Talisman. He wanted to verify whether its success rate was truly as high as rumored.
Taking out a talisman, Lin Tian directly affixed it to the spiritual energy gun before him. The moment the talisman made contact, a faint ripple of spirituality slowly emerged. However, this phenomenon lasted only briefly before the spiritual fluctuation vanished completely.
Staring at the now tranquil spiritual energy gun, a peculiar look flashed through Lin Tian's eyes. Its earlier reaction had already proven that the talisman had indeed taken effect, and that the enchantment was on the verge of success. It had simply failed to cross the final threshold, resulting in the weapon's inability to develop true spirituality.
According to his memory, while Spirit-Enchantment Talismans could grant spirituality to artifacts, their success rate was far from high. Since the talisman itself was not at fault, the problem had to lie with the artifact.
At this realization, Lin Tian suddenly thought of something. He immediately examined the spiritual liquid within the energy gun, only to discover—much to his shock—that the liquid, which had once filled it completely, was now entirely gone. In other words, during the enchantment process, the talisman had absorbed the spiritual liquid, drastically increasing its chance of success.
When he checked the spiritual liquid within the Mortal Cannon again, Lin Tian became even more convinced of his conclusion. Unlike the energy gun, the Mortal Cannon contained vastly more spiritual liquid.
This meant that the Mortal Cannon's successful enchantment had been entirely due to the massive amount of spiritual liquid it possessed. Which, in turn, implied that as long as he had enough spiritual liquid, he could significantly boost the success rate of his Spirit-Enchantment Talismans.
At this thought, an unusual light appeared in Lin Tian's eyes.
However, he was also keenly aware that he now had only one Spirit-Enchantment Talisman left. If he used it, he would have none remaining. Obtaining another would require either completing sect missions or exchanging points—and as an outer disciple, accomplishing high-level missions and accumulating enough points was nearly impossible.
Therefore, he had to make the most of this final talisman. At the very least, he needed to fully understand how it actually granted spirituality to artifacts.
With this in mind, Lin Tian gently infused a strand of spiritual energy into the talisman. When the energy of the Divine Spirit Body entered it, the talisman initially resisted slightly. But soon, sensing the astonishing purity of Lin Tian's spiritual power, it opened itself fully and began greedily absorbing it.
As Lin Tian carefully controlled the flow of his energy, he also probed the talisman in detail. Before long, he detected an extremely faint spiritual entity within it. It was precisely this fragile entity that continuously absorbed the spiritual liquid he provided. In other words, the talisman's success in enchantment relied entirely on the existence of this spiritual entity.
Yet what exactly this entity was, Lin Tian had no idea.
"It seems it's time to visit the Artifact Peak's library." Stopping his actions, Lin Tian stood up and headed straight for the library on Artifact Peak.
The library of Artifact Peak was open at all hours. As long as one possessed a disciple token, entry was permitted. However, as an outer disciple, Lin Tian was restricted to the first floor.
Within Artifact Peak, there were two ways to access the second floor of the library. One was to become an inner disciple of Artifact Peak, which required the corresponding token. The other was to demonstrate sufficient talent in artifact refinement. As long as one earned the recognition of the Artifact Refining Tower, entry to the second floor would be granted.
To obtain the tower's recognition, a disciple merely needed to refine a first-layer Foundation Establishment spiritual artifact. Such a trial posed virtually no challenge for Lin Tian.
Without hesitation, he inserted his disciple token into the Artifact Refining Tower. Soon, a small door appeared within the tower. Upon stepping through it, Lin Tian found himself isolated in an independent space. Inside were the materials required to refine a third-layer Qi Refinement Black Iron Sword, along with a furnace.
Clearly, to pass the Artifact Refining Tower's assessment, one had to begin from the very fundamentals.