Chapter 134: Magical Artifacts

This created a peculiar situation: those who followed the path of two different methods felt a love-hate relationship toward the true essence of the magical formula!

The difference was that one, though difficult, could at least be observed and used, while the other could only be watched from afar.

This was the limit of innate talent and the path chosen by oneself. No matter what, it was already decided and there was no need to dwell on it any further.

Because a magical formula had to be nurtured by spatial mana to be swiftly perfected, generally no one would take out a formula still in the nurturing stage for use.

The moment the formula was taken out, it meant all previous efforts were wasted to a large extent—breaking the nurturing process, losing accumulated time, and diminishing mastery. All of these had to be rebuilt from scratch.

Only those who have experienced it can understand the magnitude of this loss.

Therefore, everyone who followed the acupoint growth method, after cultivating a magical formula, would place it into their dantian space for nurturing but would not use it for attack. Essentially, placing a formula into the dantian space, no matter how powerful it was, was almost like rendering it useless.

Yet, if the formula was not nurtured in the dantian space, its advancement would be maddeningly slow.

Since practitioners of the acupoint growth method only had the dantian space containing mana, they could only nurture one formula at a time.

After choosing a formula to nurture, generally no one would attempt to cultivate another, because splitting focus between two formulas would slow down the nurturing speed, which was unacceptable.

So, if a formula was placed in the dantian space for nurturing and another could not be cultivated simultaneously, how could one survive on the Peerless Isle?

The answer was simple: magical artifacts.

Previously mentioned, on the Peerless Isle, killing the abundant monsters would naturally yield corresponding magic crystals, formulas, and artifacts based on their strength.

Among these, magic crystals were used to cultivate mana, formulas for nurturing, and artifacts for attack.

An artifact, in essence, was a magical formula solidified into a weapon or tool.

For example, a Taiyi Flame Shield could release Taiyi flames to attack enemies, with its power depending on the amount of mana infused.

In short, this was akin to a magical formula, except it had a fixed upper limit. No matter how strong one became, its maximum power was capped unless it was remade.

To put it simply, a formula was like building your own water pipe. How large the pipe was and how much water it could deliver depended on your effort—it was not guaranteed.

An artifact, on the other hand, was like a fully installed faucet with a fixed size. No matter how much water you had, the maximum flow it could deliver was constant.

“So, besides choosing one formula to nurture, I also need an artifact for protection?” Zhou Yi pondered this as thoughts of magical artifacts flickered through his mind.

Although his situation was unique and his strength not yet defined, the fundamentals remained unchanged.

He still only had one dantian space containing mana. Even though its size was ten times that of an acupoint, it did not change the fact that he could nurture only one formula.

Similarly, if Zhou Yi did not want to slow his nurturing speed, he should, like others, avoid cultivating multiple formulas simultaneously.

Therefore, under these circumstances, a powerful artifact—essentially a sufficiently strong faucet—was exactly what he urgently needed.

“But what about my Backing Mountain Blade?”

As the thought crossed his mind, Zhou Yi made a swift decision. Just as he relaxed, another idea suddenly sparked in his mind.

The Backing Mountain Blade was the sword technique he cultivated in the Backing Mountain Blade Sect. Ordinarily, it was merely a peak mortal-level sword technique, essentially a mundane sword art compared to magical formulas, completely mismatched with his current level.

Logically, at this stage, he could have discarded the Backing Mountain Blade.

Its maximum limit was fixed, and its peak strength could no longer keep pace with him. Even at its best, it was nothing more than a mosquito bite.

But the issue was that the current situation was special.

More precisely, it was because Zhou Yi possessed the Map of Heaven and Earth.

Normally, the Backing Mountain Blade’s limit was fixed and unchangeable, but with the Map of Heaven and Earth and the mana Zhou Yi now had, it could still be useful.

If the Backing Mountain Blade was a small faucet for drinking water, the amount of water flowing through it at any given time was negligible compared to the water Zhou Yi possessed.

However, the presence of the Map of Heaven and Earth completely changed this situation.

As this thought formed, Zhou Yi suddenly froze. The idea that flashed through his mind made him momentarily stunned, then replaced by uncontrollable excitement, his blood beginning to boil!

“What exactly is this Map of Heaven and Earth? Such a miraculous thing—how did I come to comprehend it?”

The Map of Heaven and Earth was like a worker who came with materials. When engraved onto the Backing Mountain Blade, it could break through its upper limit. With layer upon layer of the Map’s blessing, the limit would be continuously surpassed.

Zhou Yi’s excitement surged as he silently calculated.

“According to my calculations, after the Backing Mountain Blade is enhanced with seventeen copies of the Map of Heaven and Earth, its power should be roughly equivalent to that of those gourd people. According to Dugu Shang, these gourd people, though not strong, are not weak either in the third stage of the Peerless Isle.”

As this thought took hold, joy appeared on Zhou Yi’s face. After being enhanced by seventeen copies of the Map, the Backing Mountain Blade’s strength equaled that of these gourd people.

Yet, his own limit for engraving the Map was not seventeen copies—it was eighteen!

And that was a number he reached before fully breaking through. Now that he had completed his breakthrough, even he was unsure how many Maps he could engrave, or what the true upper limit was.

Though uncertain of the upper limit, one thing was clear: Zhou Yi’s strength now far surpassed the gourd people.

What delighted Zhou Yi even more was that since the Backing Mountain Blade was just a mundane sword technique, it did not require spatial mana for nurturing and did not involve the true essence of magical formulas.

Therefore, Zhou Yi now effectively possessed a magical formula whose power exceeded that of the gourd people, and its power limit remained unknown for the time being.