Calamity of Tomorrow

Upon hearing Zhou Bai's words, Zheng Wentian felt a sense of unease, an instinctive reaction.

At this moment, however, Zheng Wentian didn't know the source of his discomfort.

He looked at Zhou Bai before him, thinking that they had become friends, and that Zhou Bai would no longer ask him for credits like before.

'A misperception?'

'I've become good friends with Zhou Bai, I should be worried about Zhou Bai's enemies, not living in fear every day.'

With these thoughts, Zheng Wentian suddenly felt at ease. He didn't know why, but the thought of not being Zhou Bai's enemy brought him a great sense of security.

So, Zheng Wentian laid down. Unlike Zhou Bai, who had a stronger body, he had to sleep two to three hours a day after persistent cultivation.

Now, without the desire to cultivate or eat, he felt the wave of sleepiness sweeping through every corner of his body.

As he relaxed slightly, his consciousness began to blur and he gradually drifted off to sleep.

Snore, snore, snore!

Zheng Wentian's eyes snapped open and he turned to see Zhou Bai, who had fallen asleep on the ground within two seconds, his body's vibrations almost causing the ground to tremble.

"Sleep my ass!" Zheng Wentian said annoyingly to Zhou Bai, "Hey! Keep it down!"

"Hey!"

He forcefully pushed Zhou Bai, and upon seeing the snoring stop, he breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes again.

After drifting off, a loud 'bang' suddenly woke him up.

Zheng Wentian opened his eyes to find Zhou Bai's foot on his face, waking him up abruptly.

"Damn it! I was just about to fall asleep."

Zheng Wentian helplessly looked at Zhou Bai, who was still deep in sleep, intentionally moved further away, creating distance, and lied down on the ground.

"Not invoking the desire to oversleep?" Zhou Bai frowned at the situation. "To induce the craving to sleep, to provoke excessive sleepiness seems harder than invoking a craving for food and power."

He then looked at the introduction and cultivation methods: '...Greedy desires arise from others having what I lack, from the possibility of possession, from temporary possession, these form the basis of emotional and conscious changes...'

Reading this, Zhou Bai gained a new understanding of this star point: 'Exactly, greed often starts from getting a bit of sweetness and then wanting more of it.'

After thinking, Zhou Bai decided not to continue experimenting on Zheng Wentian, after all, he didn't bully his own people.

"If I experiment on someone else..." Zhou Bai's eyes suddenly lit up. "Right, these days people from the Plague Department have been coming to see me."

With that thought, Zhou Bai stood up and walked towards the main door.

Seeing Zhou Bai about to leave, Nasha immediately asked, "Is it over?" Considering there might be no one to provide meals afterward, she felt a bit reluctant to part with Zhou Bai, doubting the days ahead.

Zhou Bai waved his hand, "I will need to go out several times each day from now on. You continue to cultivate here and wait for me to return at any time."

On the other side, Zheng Wentian was still lying on the ground sleeping, his face showing utter despair, "Ah... as a waste like me, since I will never be able to catch up to Zhou Bai in this lifetime, I might as well just keep sleeping."

It was not until half an hour later that desire began to spring up within Zheng Wentian once again, slowly breaking through his negative state.

Unaware that Zhou Bai's intervention had ignited this desire, from his perspective, it seemed he had merely lost confidence due to Zhou Bai and then gradually recovered on his own.

As Zhou Bai walked out, he simultaneously started to explore the content of the next star point.

Greedy Steel: "Create alloy forged from harvested greed and desire. Can upgrade alloy quality continuously through mutual fusion, to be used later."

Cultivation method: Zhou Bai carefully read through it once.

Laziness (0/2.2 million)

"Greedy Steel? A material made out of greed and desire?" Zhou Bai's gaze sharpened, "Each layer of the divine chart before enhanced a certain aspect of my abilities."

"Could it possibly be about Artifact Refining?"

The more Zhou Bai thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Otherwise, why bother with creating an alloy? He looked in detail at the method of cultivation mentioned.

"...an alloy forged from greed and desire, incorporating void substances within, initially only as durable as ordinary steel, but capable of continuous upgrades..."

"A metal that can be continually upgraded?" Zhou Bai stroked his chin, thinking of the human system of Artifact Refining.

Although he had never truly refined artifacts himself, he had read materials on the subject during classes and through his own studies.

He knew that humans and the Celestial Court divide artifact materials into four grades, the lowest being ordinary alloys which any common person could craft given a venue, equipment, and raw materials.

The next level up was Taibai Essence Gold, which required cultivators to activate an Array with the power of the Primordial Spirit, varying the Array to create different dynamics, producing material of extreme strength. In theory, an armor several tens of meters thick made of sufficient amounts of Taibai Essence Gold could withstand attacks from Ninth Realm experts. However, this method definitely lacked flexibility.

Taibai Essence Gold was among the most commonly used alloy materials by cultivators, suitable for various applications given its different compositions and proportions.

It was also commonly used in crafting magical treasures. When Zhou Bai had crafted his Free Golden Flying Sword in the past, he had incorporated a substantial amount of Taibai Essence Gold.

The third level was Blood Talisman Immortal Steel, made by grinding the bones of farmed exotic beasts into powder, then blending with different proportions of Taibai Essence Gold, extracting the Exotic Beast Essence Blood, and inscribing invisible runes internally with the essence blood.

This Blood Talisman Immortal Steel was the main material for Ninth Realm Magical Treasures, creating treasures incredibly durable, even Ninth Realm cultivators found them difficult to destroy, and they also possessed self-repairing abilities and could consolidate spiritual mechanisms.

However, whether it was the powerful exotic beast bones or the technique of inscribing invisible runes with essence blood, both were rare, limiting the popularity of this refining technique and naturally making Blood Talisman Immortal Steel scarce.

Zhou Bai knew the base material for Abyss Nether Dragon Armor was a type of Blood Talisman Immortal Steel. Made from Nether Dragon bones mixed with Taibai Essence Gold, and inscribed with countless runes using Nether Dragon Essence Blood, it formed the fundamental material for crafting the Nether Dragon Armor.

As for the highest grade, Immortal Pattern Sky Gold, that was the legendary material used by the Celestial Court to craft Immortal Artifacts. Zhou Bai had never seen any information on how it was crafted.

Thinking it over, Zhou Bai decided to experiment with his abilities first and then gather up enough laziness value to unlock this star point.

He checked his panel, finding only 1.1 million laziness value remaining, still needing 1.1 million to reach the 2.2 million required for the second star point.