Alchemy Master

Chapter 1151, The Phantom of Master Lu Ban

Translator: Silavin

In the darkness ahead, threads of light interweaved, and a black orb of light floated there in mid-air.

Qin Yichen’s pupils contracted slightly. He walked slowly forward and saw that across the surface of that black orb, countless black threads spread like meridians, covering it. At the deepest point of that black orb, Qin Yichen saw something resembling a black void, hanging there in quiet suspension, like a Divine Dragon in deep slumber.

Gazing upon that black orb, Qin Yichen felt a faint tremor in his heart. In that moment, he sensed that both the arm guards and the knee guards within his body were sending out a peculiar resonance, as though something inside that black orb were calling out to them.

“Is it? Another piece of the Myriad Dao Divine Armour!?” In that instant, a surge of excitement rose within Qin Yichen’s heart.

Every single component of the Myriad Dao Divine Armour possessed its own terrifying special effect. The amplifying power of the arm guards, combined with the Demon Execution Palm Technique, was enough to multiply his offensive might severalfold, while the Array Patterns on the knee guards allowed him to traverse through space at Will.

He wondered which part had come to rest here.

The Silent Forest, having nurtured countless powerful Demonic Beasts, with its Treasured Wonders beyond all counting, clearly indicated that it had once been home to a Spirit Vein of no small strength.

Moreover, the scale of the Silent Forest surpassed even the ruin of the Mo Clan and Prison Dragon Slope, where the knee guards had undergone their purification. If it was the Myriad Dao Divine Armour that had turned Silent Forest into this state, the black energy within this piece likely far exceeded that of the two he had already obtained.

Qin Yichen drew a long, slow breath and walked forward. With his hand wrapped in a ring of light, he extended it towards that black orb.

Yet just as his palm was on the verge of making contact with the black orb, the black light upon its surface exploded outward in all directions without warning, and space before him twisted violently. A phantom gradually materialised, and simultaneously, an aged, hoarse voice, utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation, sounded forth.

“Those not of my Clan are not allowed to approach!”

Upon seeing this expressionless phantom, Qin Yichen’s face nonetheless revealed a look of reverence.

Then, respectfully, he bent at the waist and bowed towards that phantom. In his palm, the Master Craftsman’s Hammer trembled and hummed ceaselessly, and a beam of light shot forth from within it, falling upon that phantom.

Under the illumination of this light, the old man’s phantom began to undergo a change. Those previously vacant eyes filled with the radiance of wisdom, and that face, which had been entirely devoid of emotional fluctuation, shifted as well, as if in this very moment, the phantom had been imbued with a conscious mind.

That aged phantom’s gaze settled upon Qin Yichen, and in that instant, it was as though countless flickers of light and spirit danced through his eyes.

“Disciple Qin Yichen pays his respects to Master!” Qin Yichen dropped to one knee and performed a solemn bow towards that phantom, his voice clear and earnest.

This phantom was none other than the projection of Master Lu Ban himself.

Having obtained the Master Craftsman’s Hammer, Qin Yichen could well be considered a Successor of Master Lu Ban, and to perform this great bow was entirely appropriate.

Moreover, even setting aside that bond of Master and Disciple, regardless of who it might be amongst the Human Race, all ought to bow before Master Lu Ban.

Master Lu Ban’s contributions were without equal.

In that catastrophic great battle, had Master Lu Ban not appeared, the fall of this world would have been unavoidable.

“My Disciple, I had not imagined I would still be able to witness the sight of you arriving here…” The phantom’s voice rang out slowly. Within that voice was a note of consolation, and yet it seemed also to carry a faint trace of guilt.

Towards the Human Race, Master Lu Ban did indeed carry a profound sense of remorse. With his disappearance, the Lu Ban Sect, which had once flourished at its peak, had fallen silent and vanished into obscurity. More than half of its Inheritance lost, forced into hiding from the world.

Had it not been for the necessity of resisting those terrible creatures, Master Lu Ban could have led the Human Race to entirely new heights. Even if it were not enough to grant the Human Race dominion over this continent, it would at the very least have placed the Human Race in a situation incomparably better than the present.

As things stood, the Human Race was still coveted by every clan, liable at any moment to be swallowed whole.

“Master, you have already done everything you could!” Gazing at the guilt upon that phantom’s face, Qin Yichen could not help but sigh.

Had the continent fallen, the Human Race could never have kept itself apart from that fate either. Towards Master Lu Ban, Qin Yichen had never harboured so much as a half-measure of resentment. What he held was nothing but admiration and reverence for a great man.

“Child, stand up. Let me have a proper look at you.” The phantom shook its head slightly, then called out to Qin Yichen in a gentle tone, a voice like one addressing a beloved child.

Under those words, Qin Yichen rose to his feet, standing with his back straight as a weathered pine, resolute and unbending.

“Good, good…” The phantom’s gaze rested upon Qin Yichen for a long while, and from its mouth came those two consecutive words of approval.

With Master Lu Ban’s eyes, it was naturally apparent that Qin Yichen’s physical body far surpassed that of any ordinary member of the Human Race. Even Races renowned for their Physique might fall somewhat short, and his Spiritual Energy was not disappointing either.

It was plain to see, his Disciple cultivated both Martial Arts and Spiritual Energy. And in both, he had achieved no small degree of mastery.

“Oh? You have obtained both the arm guards and the knee guards already?” Master Lu Ban’s phantom let out a mild sound of surprise, then glanced back at the black orb behind him, murmuring with a thoughtful air, “It seems the effect of those Spirit Veins has been decent. They managed to purify them to this degree. This has already exceeded my expectations.”

As his words fell, the Master Craftsman’s Hammer in Qin Yichen’s hand actually floated up into the air of its own accord, and a gentle radiance spread out from within it.

Under that radiance, the terrible black energy dissolved away like winter snow before a scorching Sun, layer by layer.

As the final layer of the black orb melted away, an ancient, unadorned piece of armour appeared before Qin Yichen without any concealment whatsoever.

“The chest plate!?” Gazing upon that chest plate, even Qin Yichen could not suppress a tremor in his heart.

In those visions of ancient times, he had witnessed Master Lu Ban wearing the Myriad Dao Divine Armour and cutting down all before him, making no effort whatsoever to adopt a defensive posture. What he had witnessed was nothing short of a slaughter.

All of this was owed to the peerless defence of the Myriad Dao Divine Armour.

Not a single offensive strike had been capable of stopping Master Lu Ban as he moved through the battlefield in the Myriad Dao Divine Armour, and no attack had managed to leave so much as a scratch upon the chest plate.

The knee guards and arm guards he had obtained previously granted tremendous enhancements to Movement Technique and physical strength, but this chest plate was of an entirely different nature. It embodied something that drove opponents to despair, a defence approaching the absolute.