On-the-Spot Artifact Refining

There was no blood.

Not a single drop of blood spilled out.

This realization made them feel even more terrified than the hand from before.

"Was that... Chinese just now?" the Luzon officer's Adam's apple bobbed as he asked in a dry voice.

The people next to him hadn't heard it clearly either and could only nod subconsciously.

However, before they could get confirmation, another anomaly occurred!

Crack... crunch.

Spiderweb-like cracks began to appear from top to bottom on the massive piece of charred coal.

An angry curse exploded from the cracks:

"Fuck you! You woke me up!"

Hearing the voice, the group of people pulled their triggers again.

Flames erupted from the muzzles, everyone's target being that piece of charred coal.

The next second, the entire charred shell exploded!

Countless charred fragments of varying sizes shot out in all directions like deadly darts with eyes, at a speed difficult for the naked eye to catch.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Screams echoed one after another as the soldiers' bodies were sent flying by the fragments. The massive impact threw them backward, pinning them firmly to tree trunks a hundred meters away!

Even the leading officer was not spared.

A palm-sized piece of shell accurately pierced his chest, pinning him to an ancient tree that took two people to embrace.

His eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to roar something, but only large mouthfuls of blood gushed out frantically.

The smoke and dust cleared. Lin Mo stood there naked and completely unharmed. He didn't even bother to glance at the pinned, dead soldiers; his gaze directly locked onto the officer who wasn't quite dead yet.

He raised his hand, aiming at the officer from a distance.

Why bother asking questions?

Soul searching directly saves time and effort.

After the soul search ended, Lin Mo turned his head to look in another direction.

"So that's how it is. This is the country of Luzon. Sorry, but from now on, this place will be called Lin Mo's Golden Core Formation Island!"

After coming out, Lin Mo clenched his fists. Right now, his physical body could probably withstand a missile head-on, and that was without even adding the effects of spiritual energy.

But only an idiot would go head-to-head with a missile.

He simply sat down cross-legged on the spot and quickly gathered his focus.

With his Golden Core newly formed, his surging power was like a wild, untamed horse; he had to completely tame it in the shortest time possible.

Looking inward, a spinning, golden pill with restrained radiance was quietly suspended in the center of his dantian's sea of qi. Every rotation drew majestic spiritual energy to wash through his limbs and bones.

Since he had entered the Golden Core stage, he could begin refining his natal spiritual weapon.

With a thought, the Way of Weapon Fusion he had previously acquired flowed through his mind, and a glowing Five Skandhas Marvel Stone appeared in his palm.

Everything was ready; it was time to refine the weapon.

As for the bunch of American GIs down below, they could wait. He would give them a new surprise later.

Lin Mo raised his finger and gently tapped the ground beneath him.

"Illusion Formation, activate."

In an instant, the entire island seemed to come alive.

Dense white fog surged from nowhere. Like a milky white tide, it started from the foot of the mountain and spread upward at a visible rate, completely swallowing the entire area in the blink of an eye.

Having done all this, Lin Mo opened his mouth and spat out a wisp of pure golden flame.

Core Fire!

This was the signature of a Golden Core cultivator.

As soon as the flame appeared, the surrounding temperature skyrocketed, and even the air began to distort. The flame accurately enveloped the Five Skandhas Marvel Stone, beginning to burn and peel away its impure substances.

Meanwhile, in the jungle at the foot of the mountain.

"Oh, shit! What the hell is this!"

"It's poison gas! Hurry! Put on your gas masks!"

Looking at the bizarre thick fog that seemed to pour out of hell, this well-trained squad instantly fell into a brief panic, but quickly restored order.

Everyone moved swiftly, pulling masks out of their tactical backpacks and putting them on.

They immediately gathered together, slowed their pace, and went back to back. With their muzzles pointing outward, they braved the thick fog and continued to inch step by step toward the top of the mountain.

"Watch out for enemy attacks!" Everyone began to huddle together, their pace slowing down considerably, but they still headed toward the mountain peak.

They turned on their walkie-talkies, brought them to their lips, and yelled, Calling! Calling! Please respond if you hear! We have encountered an unknown situation!

The only response was a burst of ear-piercing white noise, as if an invisible force had completely isolated this place from the outside world.

"Damn it! There's definitely something wrong with this fog!"

Over here, Jack looked at the unresponsive walkie-talkie in his hand and casually tossed it aside.

He wasn't wearing a mask. He just took a deep breath of the fog, then turned his head to look at a hot-bodied woman wearing a tight black leather suit behind him.

The woman had a relaxed posture, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere around her. She even leisurely pulled a women's cigarette out of her pocket and lit it, shielding the flame with her tactical gloves.

She took a drag. As soon as the smoke ring she exhaled entered the white fog, it was immediately shredded and swallowed.

"Relax, it's not poisonous," the woman said, her red lips parting slightly, her voice carrying a hint of amusement. "But there's definitely something wrong with this fog."

Beside her, a muscular black man suddenly stomped his foot and closed his eyes to feel for a moment.

"Boss, it's fine. Although we can't see, I can still feel the vibrations of the ground. The path up the mountain is still there."

Jack's tense face finally relaxed a little, and he nodded.

"Good, then let's keep moving forward."

He looked back at his somewhat agitated team members behind him and grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"I hope we don't die this time."

"Boss, every time you say that, we don't die, so you say it every time, right?"

The mountain path was winding, and the fog in the forest grew thicker.

Amidst the joking, the five people continued upward.

But less than ten minutes into the walk, Jack, who was leading the way, suddenly raised his hand in a tactical gesture. The four people behind him instantly fell silent and stopped in their tracks.

The surrounding chirping of insects and birds had disappeared completely at some point, leaving a dead silence that made people's hearts panic.

"What's wrong, boss?!"

"Something's not right."

Jack didn't explain further. His eyes turned cold, and he turned around to deliver a heavy punch to a bowl-thick tree beside him without any warning.

Crack!

The tree trunk snapped in response, the upper half toppling over, leaving jagged wooden splinters at the break.

"Keep moving," Jack said, shaking his hand, his tone flat.

A shadow was cast over everyone's hearts as they followed silently.

Another ten minutes passed. When that familiar snapped tree trunk with its jagged wooden splinters appeared before everyone's eyes again, all of their footsteps froze.

"What the fu—!" Heipi's already dark face looked so dark now that ink could almost be wrung out of it. "Damn it, what kind of magic trick is this?"

Jack took a deep breath, too lazy to talk any more nonsense, and snatched the sunglasses off his face.

In his left eye socket, a scarlet mechanical prosthetic eye suddenly lit up.

However, the world captured by the prosthetic eye was complete chaos. Intense electromagnetic interference filled his vision with distorted ripples and static noise; the entire space seemed to be melting and tearing apart.

If his right eye hadn't still been normal, he would probably be completely blind right now.

"Activate anti-electromagnetic mode."

Jack muttered in his heart, issuing a command.

Inside the crimson prosthetic eye, microscopic structures rapidly reconfigured, and a stream of spectral blue data flashed across the lens.

The next second, all the static and distortion instantly vanished, restoring perfect clarity to the vision.