Greenmount Courtyard, inside a building wreathed in pill aura.
"Have you memorized everything?"
Ancestor Martin asked Ian Song, who had come forward on his own.
Ian Song nodded. "Master, I've memorized it all!"
Although memory isn't a big deal for Immortals, memorizing nineteen billion types of Immortal Medicine in just five days is rare even among Profound Immortals.
Ancestor Martin continued, "You've already achieved remarkable skill in pill refining—better than some pill-refining masters themselves. So I won't teach you basic techniques; what I want to impart is the Dao of Pills."
"As everyone knows, advancing from Profound Immortal to Ancestral Immortal requires condensing Laws into your own Dao. There are lesser Daos and greater Daos, and pill-dao is one of the great Daos. Your grandmaster's formation-dao is also a great Dao..."
As Ancestor Martin explained, many things that had puzzled Ian suddenly became clear. His words were simple and easy to understand, yet they pointed straight to the truth.
It made sense—although he had never taught disciples before, Ancestor Martin was still an old monster who'd lived for hundreds of thousands of years. With such experience, teaching a Profound Immortal like Ian was hardly difficult for him.
Time flew by as Ancestor Martin lectured on the Dao.
Ian gained tremendously. In fact, just listening to Ancestor Martin's teachings, his soul was on the verge of a second metamorphosis. If he hadn't forcefully suppressed it, he might have undergone the transformation right then and there.
Three months passed in a flash.
That day, Ancestor Martin stopped his lecture and waved Ian over. "Your Martial Uncle, Ancestor Grimm, is here. He must be bringing you the axe!"
"Then I'll take my leave for now, Master!"
Ian stood up and spoke.
Ancestor Martin waved his hand.
Ian walked out and ran right into Ancestor Grimm.
"Kid, take it and give it a try!"
Ancestor Grimm tossed him a massive axe without ceremony.
Ian reached out and grabbed it—the giant axe landed in his hand, and he instantly felt its weight.
Ancestor Grimm said, "This axe weighs 880,000 jin and is forged from a solid block of Chaotic Darksteel. It barely qualifies as a Dao-Ancestral Artifact, and its artifact spirit is an Ancestral-level earth-dragon soul. I've placed restrictions on the earth-dragon soul, suppressing its power to early-stage Profound Immortal for now. As your cultivation grows, those restrictions will gradually be lifted!"
"Thank you, Martial Uncle!"
Ian swung the axe twice. It was heavy and powerful—just a light swipe of the blade could slice open cracks in the void. By this alone, the axe already surpassed the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Satisfied?" Ancestor Grimm asked.
"Satisfied! I'm more than satisfied!" Ian nodded enthusiastically. Chaotic Darksteel is one of the three supreme god-irons in the Immortal World—a single gram costs ten million immortal stones.
A single jin of Chaotic Darksteel is worth five billion immortal stones.
So how much would 880,000 jin be worth?
An absolutely astronomical price!
Of course, only old monsters like Ancestor Grimm, who have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, could be so wealthy—able to forge a Dao-Ancestral Artifact from 880,000 jin of Chaotic Darksteel.
Just thinking about it feels extravagant.
Ancestor Grimm added, "Glad you like it! By the way, this axe still doesn't have a name—why don't you name it yourself?"
"Since it's forged from Chaotic Darksteel, let's call it the Chaos Axe!"
Ian blurted out almost without thinking.
"Chaos Axe—nice! It has presence! All right, I'll be heading back now. If you need anything, come find me at Blackmount Courtyard!"
"Respectfully seeing Martial Uncle off!"
Ancestor Grimm took a single step and vanished from sight.
Stowing away the Chaos Axe, Ian couldn't wait to start cultivating the World-Cleaving Axe art. So, after asking Ancestor Martin for leave, he returned to his own courtyard.
Then he dove straight into the Divine Temple.
With nothing holding him back now, his soul began to metamorphose. As it transformed, the Chaos Aura within him was rapidly consumed.
At the same time, he felt an overwhelming drowsiness.