Chapter 224 - 225: Ten Thousand Years of Fei Yu
In the Dragon Girl Palace, there were indeed many high-quality Azure Dragon Scales.
Zhu Minglang arrived at their collection attic and exchanged some Soul Beads and Dragon Balls on hand for a few.
But the Azure Dragon Scales were only the basic materials; he also needed flexible Dragon Feathers, unbreakable Dragon Silkworm Silk, and some Mysterious Pattern Skin that could enhance Profound Arts.
As Zhu Minglang walked through the collection attic, he suddenly saw a gorgeous tail, spread out on the wall like a peacock’s tail fan.
At first, Zhu Minglang thought a beautiful dragon was standing by the wall, but upon closer inspection, he realized that those tails, which swayed gently like reeds, were actually woven together from Dragon Feathers.
“What is this?” Zhu Minglang asked, pointing at the feathers.
The one accompanying Zhu Minglang here was none other than the attractive Sister Ding Yan, who gave a slight smile and said, “Mr. Zhu has good eyesight. This is a treasure of our Dragon Girl Palace. Please take a close look.”
With those words, Sister Ding Yan walked up to it, pouting her full, seductive lips, and then gently blew a fragrant breath onto the peacock-shaped feather display.
The breath, carrying a hint of warmth, seemed to bear a special kind of disenchantment magic power as the breath floated over the peacock tail feathers. The originally rigid feathers slowly began to soften, slowly transforming into something akin to coral tendrils…
Quickly, they all drooped down, turning into long strands of fluff, like the neatly combed hair of a woman, soft, noble, and beautiful.
Zhu Minglang felt a sense of incredulity.
How could a breath change these feathers?
From hard to soft!
It was very much like the Ice Fluff of the Ice Morning White Dragon, and even more magical.
“This is the Millennia Feather, a rare feather from the body of a Transforming Spirit, a pity we couldn’t preserve its transforming effect in its entirety when we plucked it, or it would be even more valuable,” explained Sister Ding Yan.
Originally, these feathers could freely change their flexibility and also their colors, shifting into flame, lightning, scorching light, ice marks…
It could be said that with these feathers, a Dragon Beast’s attributes could be freely altered.
Unfortunately, the Azure Dragon Palace wasn’t very adept in gathering materials, and there was some damage done when they were removed from the Holy Spirits, so now only the property that allowed the feathers to change their flexibility was preserved.
This was far from the Millennia Feather’s original effect.
“Can I buy this from you?” Zhu Minglang naturally liked this feather material.
The Ice Morning White Dragon’s feathers already had some variability in their transformation, although it was due to the spreading of cold air that frosted the soft feathers with a layer of solid ice, yet it matched well with this kind of flexible, changeable feather.
Most importantly, the Ice Morning White Dragon was not only good at ranged attacks but also powerful in close combat. An overly heavy Dragon Armor was definitely not suitable for it, yet too soft a Dragon Armor wouldn’t offer much protection.
For the Dragon Armor being made for Bai Qi, feathers were certainly core.
“Depends on what you can offer.” Sister Ding Yan gave Zhu Minglang a suggestive wink as a small hint.
Zhu Minglang pretended not to see it and immediately took out the remaining Cloud Platform Holy Fruit.
Little Bai Qi had already eaten two, and an extra one wouldn’t have much effect; consuming it would be no different from eating the common fruit from the Cloud Platform Mother Tree. Indeed, it would be better to exchange it for these special Millennia Feathers.
If he could successfully make this Dragon Armor, Little Bai Qi’s strength could be elevated a level, even allowing him to face higher-ranked Dragon Kings without having to turn and flee!
“Sister Ding, what do you think of this?” Zhu Minglang asked.
“A Holy Fruit? Such a potent spiritual energy!” Ding Yan took it over, examining it closely.
The Cloud Platform Holy Fruit emitted a cold spiritual aura, slowly spreading throughout the hall; as the temperature dropped, one could see the millennia-old Fei Feathers on the wall standing erect, transforming back into the previous splendor and toughness of a peacock’s opened tail.
The Cloud Platform Holy Fruit was exclusive to the Dragon Country of Clouds and, naturally, a rare treasure for the Azure Dragon Palace. Ding Yan, who seemed to hold significant sway within the Dragon Girl Palace, agreed to this exchange.
Securing the millennia-old Fei Feathers greatly lifted Zhu Minglang’s spirits; next, he just needed to find Ice Attribute Pattern Skin to begin forging Monarch Level Dragon Armor!
In his days at the Zhu Gate, Zhu Minglang was anything but lazy, spending any available time in the Armor Casting Hall, practicing the art of armor crafting.
Given the extravagant cost of the materials this time, Zhu Minglang felt a bit apprehensive; if something went wrong, the loss would be tremendous!
Of course, if it were successful, the strength of the Ice Morning White Dragon could rise a whole level. This was key to his safety while navigating out of the Miao Kingdom, considering he had two crucial tasks: to hold the princess hostage and to steal the Ancient Lantern Jade from the Miao Mountain Sword Sect.
Armor crafting was not a process that took exceedingly long; it was primarily the skill of the hand that required extensive practice. Once he had all the materials and an accurate armor blueprint, he could get straight to work, and it would only take a couple of days to complete.
The blueprint had long ago been requested from Nan Lingsha to draw up for him.
Zhu Minglang could draw as well, but his skills were far from as precise as Nan Lingsha’s.
Nan Lingsha found drawing dragons quite interesting, especially creatures that embodied both beauty and strength like the Ice Morning White Dragon.
Zhu Minglang also acquired other forging materials from the markets of various countries, cities, and city-states he passed through; now, only Dragon Silkworm Silk and Ice Pattern Skin remained, dependent on whether the Little Food Manager, Fang Niannian, had any results!
Back at the garden-like little inn, Zhu Minglang began pondering the blueprint.
Before starting work, every detail on the blueprint had to be visualized in his mind. The truly great casting masters of the Zhu Gate could even memorize things at a single glance and perfectly forge armor to fit the Dragon Beast without the need for blueprints.
Zhu Minglang had not yet reached that realm and had to commit everything to memory, allowing no room for error, as there was only one batch of materials.
“Meow~”
Bai Qi stood on Zhu Minglang’s shoulder, its little head nearly touching the large blueprint, seeming like a think tank helping Zhu Minglang strategize.
Zhu Minglang’s eyebrows furrowed, as he tapped his own cheek with one finger.
“Should we just start forging?” Zhu Minglang inquired.
“Meow~” Bai Qi nodded its head, feeling there was no issue!
“Do we need any rituals? I’ve heard from the elders in my clan that when making something big, it’s best to sacrifice some other materials first,” Zhu Minglang said.
The so-called sacrifice of materials was a kind of profound art.
When creating a significant item, one would first make smaller items with a lower chance of failure. If these small items successfully overcame the pitfall of failure, then one could immediately start on the real project, under the notion of “cushioning the failure rate.”
After all, even the most skilled forging had a chance of failure, and if it failed, the materials would be partly damaged!
“Meow” Bai Qi shook its head, not fond of those flashy tricks; it believed in Zhu Minglang.