About half an hour later, Lin Mu saw a red blur approaching from the distance.
"There he is," Lin Mu said after spotting Little Shrubby.
~WHOOSH~
Little Shrubby's claws dug into the ground as he breaker to slow down, creating long claw marks on the rocky ground. Lin Mu had especially picked this area since it was mostly covered with rocks and at its side was a rocky mountain.
It was protected from the fire that would be involved and he wouldn't accidentally set off a wildfire. Additionally, he had some more concerns due to which this place was the better choice.
"What are we doing?" Little Shrubby asked, looking clearly confused.
His eyes wandered over the piles of gold and a cauldron kept near the side.
"I'm cultivating a technique and need you help to do some things." Lin Mu spoke.
"Okay~ What do I do?" Little Shrubby answered without any concerns.
"So, I'll be heating and melting a lot of gold. I'll need to refine it and that part is something only I can do, but after that is done, I'll need to use the gold. And to do that, I need the gold to stay in a liquid state, so I need you to keep on heating it." Lin Mu explained.
Little Shrubby thought it over and didn't find it to be anything difficult.
"So I just use fire on that cauldron?" Little Shrubby asked.
"Yes. That's pretty much it." Lin Mu replied with a nod.
This was the only part that was bugging Lin Mu, since he would probably be in a state where he might not be able to continue heating the gold. If this resulted it in getting solidified or cooled, he would not have enough time to continue the process and will have to be interrupted.
Lin Mu could see how this thing might have turned out to be a big problem for those that practiced this in the past. They would either need a formation array that was specifically used for forging to continually heat the gold, or have someone help them out.
Either of those options were risky. One of the reasons being the gold would be pretty valuable for many people and there was no guarantee if someone would be greedy and covet it for themselves.
If they really felt like that and did something to jeopardies the technique, the person practicing it would probably die. As for using a formation array that was for forging, it was also quite difficult.
On one hand, formation arrays like those were hard and complex to make, often needing vast amount of resources and people to construct. And on the other hand, if someone did not have access to something like that, they would be at square one again.
By now, it was evident to Lin Mu that this technique was made with multiple difficult factors in mind. Not only did its practitioner need to be strong mentally and physically, but they also needed to have a good background and fortune.
One of the ways Lin Mu could think of to reduce the requirements for the True Gold Body Forging Arts was to reduce their own weight. But that was not something possible for many cultivators… at least not without weakening themselves at the same time.
Unless someone was acutely overweight or obese, there wasn't a good enough reason to reduce their weight just so that they would need lesser amount of gold.
Lin Mu explained a few more things to Little Shrubby before starting the refining process. Little Shrubby meanwhile, stayed at the side and observed everything. He could tell that what Lin Mu was doing could help him too.
While Little Shrubby had great control over his fire as it innately came to him, seeing the different methods of control also seemed novel to him. Another benefit there was to Little Shrubby was that, similar to Lin Mu, he too would not be affected by the heat.
Perhaps even if the molten gold spilled on him, his fur would be able to resist it. His fur truly was amazing and able to bear great heat. Perhaps even Jing Luo, who was used to working in hot forges, wouldn't be able to say the same.
~clang~clang~clang~
One by one, Lin Mu tossed the ingots of gold into the cauldron. For the first stage, he needed 251 kilograms of gold and it was still a fraction of what the Cauldron could hold. Lin Mu roughly estimated that the cauldron could easily hold at least two hundred liters of fluid in it.
'This should be enough for me to use until the second stage. But for the third stage… the amount of gold is simply massive, no way it'll fit in this.' Lin Mu thought.
While he had a few options for it ready in the ring, he also informed Jing Luo, just in case. Even if Jing Luo was busy, Lin Mu reckoned the sects would have something that could accommodate something like that.
Lin Mu had seen large pill cauldrons in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect that were used to mass refine pills. If anyone, the Light Harmony sect should probably have a few like those, and they'll be perfect for Lin Mu to use.
Regardless, it was going to take Lin Mu some time before he would reach that stage, thus they had a head start for that.
~HONG~
The cauldron lightly hummed as the gold in it started to heat. Since the quantity was much more than before, the gases released were also higher and the pressure greater. Lin Mu quickly skimmed off the impurities that floated on the top of the now liquid gold before shutting its lid.
~DENG~
The three clasps were tightly fitted and it was now ready for the final refinement, which was to infuse spirit Qi and reduce its volume.
~SHUA~
A massive amount of spirit Qi spiraled out from Lin Mu's body and entered the cauldron, steadily being absorbed by the gold inside.
