The First Immortal of Destiny

Meanwhile, near the Sea State.

A fishing boat, abandoned during the Heavenly Demon invasion and sunk in the shallow sea for many years, slowly floated up from the water.

The hull was decayed in many places, thickly covered with seaweed, coral, and shellfish, presenting a thoroughly dilapidated appearance!

Quietly, figures materialized on the deck and inside the cabins... If Shen Mo were here, he would have recognized all of them as the malevolent spirits he had previously ”annihilated.”

GUSH~~~

A great volume of seawater, mixed with fish and shrimp, poured out from all parts of the vessel.

In the next moment, the fishing boat raised its tattered sails and headed away from the Sea State. After sailing only a few miles, it silently vanished without a trace.

Holding the Demon Slaying Sword, Shen Mo soared onto the Heaven Patrolling Tower, extending his sense to scan it meticulously once more.

As expected of the top-grade magic ship crafted by the Heaven Patrolling Temple, harnessing the collective power of an entire domain!

Even after falling from such a height, the keel, bottom planks, and other structural framework, as well as the hull and deck, including the superstructures, remained largely undamaged, requiring only minor repairs.

However, the Formations and Prohibitions in various places, along with the control core, are all damaged. It seems as if a fierce battle occurred within the ship...

If I want to operate it without hindrance, I’ll need to completely reconfigure the arrays!

Shen Mo had boarded the Heaven Patrolling Tower more than once, so he was quite familiar with the past and present condition of this large magic artifact.

The Formations, Prohibitions, control core, and other vital parts had already been damaged when the ship was still an Evil Spirit entity; other damage occurred after it lost the protection of the Evil Spirit’s power and crashed into the sea from mid-air.

Immediately, he swung the Demon Slaying Sword, unleashing several streams of Universe Sword Qi towards various parts of the ship.

BOOM!

CRASH!

The Sword Qi exploded, sending debris flying everywhere.

The frame, deck, side planks, and bulkheads of the Heaven Patrolling Tower were now riddled with sword gashes and holes, unlike before when even True Fire and rampaging Sword Qi had left it unscathed.

Nevertheless, Shen Mo did not lower his guard.

He sent a message via Divine Sense to Zhao Lingyin and the others, instructing them to continue waiting in the distance.

He himself, meanwhile, retrieved a large quantity of materials for Forging and array setup from his Universe Bag, summoned the Nether Fire, and began repairing the great ship on the spot.

Shen Mo managed to restore the damaged sections of the hull to their original state within a single day.

What proved more troublesome was the control core. He had to dismantle all the damaged structures, then re-forge and repair them. This involved engraving various runes onto these components and linking them with the ship’s original runes to form a cohesive, integrated system.

This step alone consumed five days.

Fortunately, his Forging attainments had reached Grade IV, which was quite remarkable.

Even though he had never refined such a large vessel-type magic artifact, with a reference model, he could grasp the principles by analogy and successfully repair it.

Throughout this time, Shen Mo wore the [Chanjue] Destiny to prevent any strange incidents from arising due to any remnants of the Evil Spirit on the ship.

Several days later, in the core area of the Heaven Patrolling Tower.

Shen Mo took out hundreds of middle-grade Spirit Stones and embedded them one by one around the control core.

This control core somewhat resembled an armillary sphere Shen Mo recalled from his previous life, with dragon-shaped rings encircling it. At its center was a spherical object made of jade that could rotate at any angle, thereby controlling the ship’s free movement—up, down, left, right, forward, and backward.

However, its complexity and precision far surpassed that of a mundane armillary sphere.

After setting the Spirit Stones in place, Shen Mo squeezed a drop of crimson blood from his fingertip and let it fall onto the jade sphere. Simultaneously, he formed a series of seals, attempting to refine it and claim ownership!

BUZZ!

HUM!

HUM!

The blood droplet seeped into the jade sphere as if absorbed by a sponge.

A faint, milky-white glow emerged from the control core; the Spirit Stones embedded around it also began to channel a continuous stream of Spiritual Qi into it!

In that instant, Shen Mo felt his spirit stir; a profound connection had inexplicably formed between him and this Heaven Patrolling Tower.

This sensation was very familiar to him—it was the sign of a magic treasure acknowledging its master.

Have I succeeded in refining it?

Shen Mo subconsciously checked the Destiny Panel.

[You have successfully repaired the Profound-level top-grade magic artifact ”Heaven Patrolling Tower.” During the repair process, you gained significant Forging experience and insights, deepening your understanding of the Forging Path. Forging Experience +450.]

[Through the refining method, you have refined the ”Heaven Patrolling Tower” into your destined magic artifact.]

[During this process, you unexpectedly obtained an opportunity. Destiny Point +1.]

Upon seeing the panel’s notifications, the weight on Shen Mo’s mind finally lifted.

This was not merely because he had successfully repaired and refined the Heaven Patrolling Tower; the feedback confirmed that the vessel had truly been restored to a genuine top-grade magic artifact, no longer the Evil Spirit entity it once was!

Instantly, his body flickered with spirit light, and he reappeared on the deck.

With middle-grade Spirit Stones continuously supplying Spiritual Qi, intricate patterns lit up across the ship’s hull, their flowing lines interconnected, forming a seamless, integrated whole.

At a mere thought from Shen Mo, the control core in the heart of the ship activated.

The jade sphere, as if guided by an invisible hand, began to rotate forward and upward. The entire Heaven Patrolling Tower, enveloped in a soft halo of light, slowly lifted from the sea surface, hovered in mid-air, and then began to move forward.

RUMBLE!

Under Shen Mo’s full impetus, the towering ship shuddered, then surged forward, cleaving through wind and waves as it sped towards the Bronze Phoenix Cart.

In just over twenty breaths, the great ship appeared beside the phoenix cart carrying Zhao Lingyin and the others.

At full power, it can cover four miles in a single breath...

That’s comparable to the escape speed of a cultivator at the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm, though still a bit slower than someone in the early stage of the Golden Core Realm!

Shen Mo quickly made his calculations and was quite satisfied with this result.

Consider this: the Bronze Phoenix Cart, also a Profound-level top-grade vehicular magic artifact, could only travel two and four-fifths miles per breath.

While the difference might not seem vast, over a full day and night of travel at maximum speed, the Heaven Patrolling Tower could cover 70,000 miles, whereas the Bronze Phoenix Cart could only manage 50,000 miles!

Moreover, once Shen Mo installed various Formations and Prohibitions on the great ship, its safety and comfort would far surpass those of the Bronze Phoenix Cart. Its only drawback would be its substantial Spirit Stone consumption.

My proficiency in the Array Path is still a long way from Grade III.

I can use these coming days aboard the Heaven Patrolling Tower to practice and experiment extensively, hopefully allowing my skill to reach the Grade III level!

Currently, Shen Mo did not lack spiritual materials for setting up arrays, nor did he lack the relevant Formation Manuals; what he was short on were opportunities for hands-on practice in deploying them.

Although opportunities to profit from array deployment were scarce, Shen Mo wouldn’t let this chance to advance his skills in this Dao slip by.

While he was musing, Zhao Lingyin had already landed the Bronze Phoenix Cart on the deck.

After they all disembarked from the phoenix cart, Shen Mo slapped his Universe Bag and stored the Bronze Phoenix Cart inside it.

After several upgrades, Shen Mo’s Universe Bag was now a top-grade item in the mortal world, boasting a vast space of 30,000 cubic units—ten times that of an ordinary high-grade Universe Bag. Storing the Bronze Phoenix Cart within it was no difficult feat.

The newly acquired Heaven Patrolling Tower, however, with its immense size of three to four million cubic units, could not be directly stored inside.

Fortunately, after repairing and refining it, he had also activated its ”Adjustable Ruyi” rune. This was similar to the mountain peaks within the Mountain Pearl; with a mere thought, Shen Mo could shrink the Heaven Patrolling Tower down to the size of an infant’s palm.