Chapter 24: The Umbrella

Just as Wang Liang was feeling troubled, he noticed a line of text below.

[You may deposit three magical treasures first to activate partial effects of your natal magical treasure.]

Seeing this line, Wang Liang finally breathed a sigh of relief. If he only needed to deposit three items first, that was entirely acceptable to him.

Wang Liang picked up his Life-Slaying Blade and placed it in the slot designated for offensive magical treasures.

Next, he picked up the Profound Light Ruler and placed it in the slot designated for defensive magical treasures.

Once these two items were placed into the empty slots of the magical treasure interface, Wang Liang saw the three slots containing the items and treasures lock into place.

Then the interface automatically flipped over, showing its reverse side to Wang Liang.

Wang Liang saw the cards on it spinning incessantly, seemingly waiting for him to choose the style of his magical treasure.

Wang Liang pondered for a moment. The available forms for the magical treasure this time were restricted to a branch, an umbrella, a pagoda, a bridge, a lamp, a guqin, and so on.

The branch would be the exact replica of the Seven-Treasured妙树 (Wonderful Tree of Seven Treasures); the umbrella would look like the Chaos Umbrella of Moli Hong, one of the Four Heavenly Kings; the pagoda would be a seven-storied precious tower; the bridge would be a seven-hole arched bridge; the lamp would have a wick with seven flames; and the guqin would naturally be a seven-stringed ancient zither.

Wang Liang did not have overly strict demands for the appearance of his treasure, but after giving it some thought, holding either a pagoda or a bridge didn't quite suit a person's image.

Carrying a lamp made him feel like a gate-guarding servant boy, and while carrying a guqin was fine, his zither-playing skills were mediocre at best and nowhere near as formidable as the woman in his dreams.

Taking the Seven-Treasured Wonderful Tree was a possibility, but the problem was he didn't dare do so.

Having stayed in this game for a long time, Wang Liang knew that certain individuals possessed immense power within the game. Until he reached a level where he could face those entities directly, it was best not to provoke them.

Therefore, among all these options, Wang Liang actually had very little choice; the Chaos Umbrella was the only viable path.

Fortunately, Wang Liang had heard of this Chaos Umbrella before. The umbrella was adorned with various precious pearls, with pearls spelling out the four characters meaning "containing heaven and earth."

When opened, it would plunge the sky and earth into darkness, blotting out the sun and moon; a single spin would shake the cosmos. A mere wave of it could absorb treasures and weapons, and unleash fires and black mist to harm people.

At its most fierce, it had captured Nezha's Universe Ring, Jinzha's Dragon-Felling Stake, and Jiang Ziya's God-Striking Whip.

Thus, when Wang Liang chose an umbrella, he didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed.

Following his selection, the interface in front of Wang Liang vanished.

Shortly after, he watched as his Life-Slaying Blade, the Profound Light Ruler, and his inner desire popped right back out.

This left Wang Liang quite curious. What was going on? Was the magical treasure not going to be forged after all?

However, the very next instant, the mixture of the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir—which had melted into liquid form—wrapped itself around the Life-Slaying Blade.

Under the influence of the elixir liquid, the blade of the Life-Slaying Blade slowly melted and shrank, while its hilt began to transform, turning into a handle about one meter in length. Judging by its appearance, this should be the umbrella handle.

Yet Wang Liang had an ominous feeling. He remembered that the texts described the Chaos Umbrella as looking entirely different; that umbrella was extraordinarily huge, requiring even a giant like Moli Hong to lift it with both hands.

Before Wang Liang could react, the blade of the Life-Slaying Blade dissolved into numerous iron rods, while the Profound Light Ruler also flew out at that moment, transforming into bronze rods. Accompanied by many rainbow-colored bubbles, it merged together with the iron rods formed from the blade.

Those individual iron rods and bronze rods composed the ribs of the umbrella. The long ribs were formed from the blade, their tips gleaming with a cold light, while the supporting ribs were transformed from the Profound Light Ruler, their bronze-colored supports dotted with colorful bubbles one by one.

Wang Liang carefully counted the number of umbrella ribs; there were a total of twenty-eight ribs here. From a normal person's perspective, this should correspond to the Twenty-Eight Mansions, but Wang Liang always felt something was amiss—there seemed to be a deeper meaning hidden within.

After the umbrella-elixir was successfully crafted, the token representing his inner desire also flew up.

That token likewise melted away, turning into individual nodes along the umbrella ribs. Wang Liang could tell that each node represented the transformation of a magical spell.

But the question was, where was the umbrella canopy?

As the three magical treasures melted into it, Wang Liang discovered that the canopy of this umbrella had yet to appear.

This left Wang Liang somewhat speechless, and he hastily opened the system prompts.

Consequently, Wang Liang received information provided by the system: because this umbrella was not yet a complete piece, we are terribly sorry, but something is still missing from the canopy.

If he wanted an umbrella canopy, he either had to supply the other four purple-grade treasure equipment pieces, or Wang Liang could weave and paint one himself. Of course, a self-woven and self-painted canopy would be called a cosmetic skin—it merely made it look nice to others, but it could not actually change the fact that this umbrella lacked a true canopy.

Faced with this situation, Wang Liang had nothing to say.

Holding the umbrella in his hand, he instantly understood its usage.

He could pull the handle downward to transform the umbrella back into the Life-Slaying Blade for combat, or he could open the umbrella to block enemy attacks using the properties of the Profound Light Ruler, or he could close the umbrella and use it as a peach-wood sword to summon wind and rain.

Most importantly, if Wang Liang did not wish to hold the umbrella, he could simply let go of his grip and allow the umbrella to float beside him autonomously, shielding him from wind and rain.

Oh, right now, without an umbrella canopy, that particular function seemed temporarily unavailable.

However, Wang Liang could confirm that switching between the three functions of this umbrella required zero time.

This point actually left Wang Liang feeling quite satisfied.

At the same time, Wang Liang noticed that all nine properties belonging to the three magical treasures and equipment had not been deleted; instead, they had undergone certain processing and adjustments.

It was evident that when all seven magical treasures and pieces of equipment were finally placed onto it, this umbrella would definitely experience another wave of brand-new transformations.

Of course, until the other four purple-grade equipment pieces fell into place, Wang Liang would simply have to wait for his magical treasure.

Aside from this information, Wang Liang also acquired other details.

He could use gems and small decorative ornaments to adorn his magical treasure.

However, this kind of decoration had quantitative restrictions.

Gem-class ornaments could not exceed twenty-eight in total, and all of them could only be hung on the umbrella ribs.

The umbrella canopy could be decorated on both sides. If Wang Liang were acquainted with someone like a Saint of Painting who could paint landscapes and the like, that would naturally be superior; if not, he could paint formation arrays or ferocious beasts onto the canopy.

In addition, up to nine Dao talismans could be affixed to the umbrella, all of which had to be placed strictly on the umbrella handle.

All of these elements could be swapped out at any time. It was evident that this magical treasure had accounted for most of the necessary considerations.

Yet what concerned Wang Liang right now was not this. Holding the umbrella without a canopy in his hand, he pondered where he could go to scrounge up some purple-grade equipment.

Glancing down at the Demonic Tiger Heaven-Swallowing Armor on his body—which could not be put into the mix—should he perhaps go hunt for a purple-grade tiger bone ornament?

Just as Wang Liang was deep in thought, that plump man came running over once again.

"My ship has arrived. Are you getting on board or not?"