by <unknown>
“Well, that varies a lot. At least, ten years? At most, over hundreds I suppose!”
Zhong Yue sighed and shook his head, even ten years was far too long, let alone a hundred. The moon god said that the Ancestral Star will be sealed soon, he didn’t have hundreds of years to waste!
“Swords Gate, sword. The Swords Gate disciples and cultivation system are mainly based on the Sword Qi and sword arts. The sword is the weapon of a king, a symbol of righteousness.”
“It is compatible with my cultivation technique. My【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】carries the changes of Yin and Yang; the celestial and demon. The sword has two sharp edges that can correspond to the Yin and Yang — one celestial and the other demon. But… the sword, in its immutable righteousness, lacks changes.”
Zhong Yue thought back to the Fuxi Art imparted to him by the Haoyi Monarch. Fuxi resembled the word ‘Yi’, and the word ‘Yi’ meant changes.
Thus, the sword was out of the question.
“What best fits with my 【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】 will of course be a scroll. The scroll can contain everything in it, including my cultivation techniques, skills and various other more. It has greater potential for changes and transformations, but the scroll is more aligned to defense rather than offense.”
“An umbrella?”
“It might work, open it and it can turn into a defensive stance; close it and I can wield it like a weapon. Feng Wuji chose the umbrella as his soul weapon. The umbrella is indeed rather cool, but it doesn’t have much use.”
“Altars…”
“... I can forge a godly altar and carve the【Celestial Demon Tai Chi Art】on it, greatly enhancing my【Worshipping of Gods】 while also boosting my power. But to cast an altar out in the battle means another anchor for me as I would have to stay close to it. I can only fight around it as well as protect it from damage. Maybe it’s also not too good a choice to make.”
“Lord Bai the Glacial Frost Palace, he used it to kill the Mother Queen and seal the dimensional tunnel for thousands of years. It is truly strong and marvelous, but its main use is to suppress, seal and refine, rather than attacks.”
“Cauldron, a good tool for refinement. The three-legged cauldrons are mostly used to hold food, only the four-legged ones are suitable for battle. The cauldron can help in bolstering one’s fortune in the one’s territory. But humans are weak and do not have much land that needs to be guarded over, it is useless for now.”
“A bell, silent when unprovoked, but capable to shaking the heavens when it rings. It is a musical instrument, and it resembles the time. Only those who wish to live for eternity like to wield bell, but I don’t need an eternity of monotony, I prefer some excitement. Even if that means I can only live a limited amount of time.”
…
Zhong Yue listed out every possibility and considered them one after another. But he was still indecisive. When deciding to forge a soul weapon of his own, he wanted one to ensure that he was willing to wield it for the rest of his life!
This soul weapon would follow him in every battle and be by his side no matter the circumstances. It has to be able to reflect his indomitable will and hold his unyielding spirit. It needs to be able to attack like a ferocious beast, defend like an impenetrable phalanx, and exhibit myriad transformations like a kaleidoscope.
But a soul weapon like this was nearly impossible.
……
Zhong Yue stared at his hands and mumbled, “The Sui Sovereign had left behind the heritage of fire, Shaohao left a bell; what can I leave behind? What sort of weapon should this pair of hands wield? I want to leave behind a glorious era built from my hands, a weapon that I can use to breakthrough all of the obstacles in front of me!”
“That’s why, I will choose twin sabers, twin sabers that can cleave through all that stand in my way!”
“When the two sabers come together, the Yin and Yang will coalesce as one power; when the twin saber is wielded separately, one can be the celestial and the other the demon!”
“The demon saber will rend all evil, and the celestial saber will suppress all immortals! When the two come together, I shall dominate everything!”
“I don’t need justice or righteousness, I don’t care for benevolence or virtues. All I need is power, the power to conquer and crush all my enemies with an indomitable force!”
He had finally made his decision. He could feel something rising within him all of a sudden, “Xin Huo, I want to forge a pair of sabers, the Celestial Demon Tai Chi Twin Saber!”
“Sabers?”
Xin Huo hopped up from the ground and started scratching his head, “Sabers… I can’t help you with this. The inheritors I taught in the past had forged many kinds of weapons, but the saber was an exception. I can guide or even teach you if you had chosen anything else, but not the saber. From the ancient days until now, there weren’t any experts that were known for wielding sabers. One of the inheritors even went so far as to say saber wielders are all dull idiots.”
Zhong Yue laughed, “They couldn’t do it, but it doesn’t mean I can’t as well. How do I forge it with this Golden Origin Water?”
“The Golden Origin Water is very pure. Its form is between light and liquid. It is hard to shape, and even harder to carve totem patterns or infuse one’s psyche into it. First, you need to create a mold, then slowly drip the Golden Origin Water into it.” Xin Huo mulled and said, “With your current prowess, it is impossible to carve the totem patterns and infuse your psyche into the Golden Origin Water; without the mold, there is no other way. However, this mold can’t be ordinary divine gold either, even your Luminant Sun Gold and moon core won’t work as well. They will also be assimilated and waste the invaluable Golden Origin Water. Not only that, but you still have to extract them out from the Golden Origin Water after the molding, further lowering the quality of the weapon forged. So, it is best to use something that is originally shapeless!”
“Something with no shape?" Zhong Yue’s eyes brightened up, he took out the copper lamp and said while smiling, “The last time we were in the sun, I collected a Solar Cosmic Ray and a Metamagnet Divine Ray, can these two rays be forged into two sabers?”
“A Solar Saber and Metamagnetic Saber?" Xin Huo was shocked, he nodded blankly and said a few moments later, “The Solar Cosmic Ray and Metamagnet Divine Ray are shapeless objects, they would be perfect molds for your twin sabers. But these two rays are strong and incredibly fast, they aren’t easy to capture and be made into molds. It is even dangerous to try and do so.”
Zhong Yue was shocked, his heart tightened up and asked, “How dangerous?”
Xin Huo winked his eyes and said diffidently, “Not really that dangerous, the risks are more or less the same as the usual ones.”
Zhong Yue grew even more vigilant. Every time Xin Huo said it wasn’t dangerous or it was only a little dangerous, it could only mean that it was extremely dangerous. No matter what, he would have to be extremely cautious so as to not die.
He opened the lamp lid and before he released the Solar Cosmic Ray, he stopped and closed it tight. Then, he took out Patriarch Nature’s Six Paths Reincarnations and entered the Yin Yang Reincarnation.
Xin Huo watched and praised, “You are really cautious, like way Swords Gate won’t be perforated with thousands of holes by the Solar Cosmic Ray.”
“Thousands of holes…?" Zhong Yue shuddered before heaving a breath of relief immediately after. He was about to open the lamp lid but abruptly stopped again. He walked out of the Yin Yang Reincarnation and left his mortal body on the outside.
Xin Huo sighed and lamented, “You are really smart, I was just hoping I can take a look at your perforated mortal body…”
“Now it should be safe, right?" Zhong Yue’s Yuan Shen entered the Yin Yang Reincarnation and inhaled deeply. He released the Solar Cosmic Ray and prepared himself to capture it.
Chapter 573: Evildoer |
The Solar Cosmic Ray blasted out from the copper lamp, it
was brightly colored and yet deadly at the same time, strong enough to burn the Yuan Shen and vaporize one’s body in a matter of seconds!
Zhong Yue transformed into the three-taloned Golden Crow Yuan Shen and shrunk to the size of a bean right before the Solar Cosmic Ray reached him.
The Golden Crow Yuan Shen had an immunity to Solar Cosmic Rays. Moreover, it could even absorb them to strengthen itself, just like what Zhong Yue did during the solar storm previously.
Moreover, his three-taloned Golden Crow Yuan Shen had been nurtured inside of the crow’s nest on the Sui Tree. It was now more durable against the Solar Cosmic Ray than before.
But despite all of that, Zhong Yue remained vigilant, not daring to let his guard down for even a second.
The Solar Cosmic Ray burst out from the copper lamp. Zhong Yue was only able to withstand it for a few seconds before he had to leave. His Yuan Shen was perforated with holes as it became heavily damaged.
Eventually, the Solar Cosmic Ray scattered into many thin and narrow light rays that flashed about chaotically, adding another few more holes to his Yuan Shen that had already been made a sieve.
Moments later, Shui Zian, Zuo Xiangsheng and the other Swords Gate experts saw Zhong Yue walking out of Yu Wenju’s Yuan Shen secret realm. He quietly moved to the front of the scale mirror with a dark and gloomy face.
For the first time ever, the other disciples were not greeted with his usual smile and amicable greetings. Instead, Zhong Yue had only nodded without even looking at them in the eyes.
“What’s wrong with Elder Zhong? Why is he so furious?”
The crowd was curious, and Zhong Yue abruptly brought out his Yuan Shen in front of the scale mirror. It was a pitiful sight. Zhong Yue’s Yuan Shen was filled with holes from top to bottom, back to front!
No one could really imagine what kind of incident could damage his Yuan Shen to this extent!
The pain of such wounds on the Yuan Shen would not convey to the mortal body’s senses, but instead, it would occur within one’s soul!
For Zhong Yue’s Yuan Shen to suffer such damage, the pain that he endured could only be enormous. This was the only reasonable explanation for his frosty mood. After all, no one would be able to remain friendly while suffering against such pain, most would already be rolling on the ground crying for help.
And yet, Zhong Yue was still able to hold his temperament and walk steadily all the way to the scale mirror without even so much as a groan. Such willpower had earned the respect of many.
Zhong Yue cast the Sui Tree out in front of the scale mirror. The tree branches automatically reached for the Golden Crow and tucked it into the nest, while the Golden Crow Yuan Shen been slowly recuperated in the nest.
After some time, the Golden Crow Yuan Shen had fully recovered. But only moments later, Zhong Yue walked back and cast out his Golden Crow Yuan Shen again.
His Golden Crow Yuan Shen was soon returned to its sorry state again as tiny holes bore through its body.
He cast the Sui Tree to heal the Golden Crow Yuan Shen while looking into the mirror to tend to the tiny flaws and injuries within it. After his Yuan Shen had completely healed, the young elder walked away again.
This process continued to repeat itself….
The Swords Gate disciples were shocked. In just a day’s time, Zhong Yue had been coming back and forth over a dozen times. Every time he would leave in his Golden Crow Yuan Shen in perfect condition only to return moments later with a Yuan Shen perforated with holes. His Yuan Shen would be on the brink of dispersing when he returned, but he was always able to heal it before returning to abuse it.
“What is Elder Zhong doing? Why is he always coming back in such a shabby state?" Tian Yanzhong asked curiously, but no one had any answers.
Over time, the frequency at which Zhong Yue came back reduced. Each time he was wounded and healed himself after, his Golden Crow Yuan Shen would grow a little stronger and formidable than before.
He could clearly feel it, the improvements for better in his Golden Crow Yuan Shen and also its gradual changes in turning into the innate True Spirit.
At this rate, I don’t need tens or hundred years to cultivate the Innate Golden Crow True Spirit already! Zhong Yue was shocked and overjoyed.
All these days, his Yuan Shen was constantly vacillating between life and death. Every time he recovered from the injuries, parts of the Golden Crow Yuan Shen would be refined and changed. Eventually, these changes cumulated to make the Golden Crow Yuan Shen completely different to what it was before.
Furthermore, the fact that his Yuan Shen was approaching the Innate Golden Crow True Spirit was truly an unexpected benefit.
In his estimation, he would be able to shorten the time by a full fifty years to cultivate his Golden Crow Yuan Shen into the innate true spirit!
Another month flew by, he was now finally able to withstand the Solar Cosmic Ray. When inside of the Solar Cosmic Ray, his body grew larger so as to capture more of the light particles to refine them.
As he could now endure and withstand the Solar Cosmic Ray, it wouldn’t be as difficult to refine the Solar Cosmic Ray anymore.
If only I can cultivate the Star Toad Yuan Shen together as well. I have the Innate Tai Yin Qi, which is to the Star Toad Yuan Shen what the Sui Tree is to the Golden Crow. Sadly, there is no way that the Star Toad Yuan Shen can survive in the Solar Cosmic Ray. Zhong Yue sighed in his heart.
This was because the Solar Cosmic Ray was Yang-aligned in nature was far more destructive to the Star Toad Yuan Shen. His Star Toad Yuan Shen wouldn’t be able to withstand even a single second before burning away in the Solar Cosmic Ray.
After over a dozen days, the Solar Cosmic Ray in the Yin Yang Reincarnation grew smaller and dimmer. Another half a day, the Solar Cosmic Ray was completely captured and refined by Zhong Yue, he infused his psyche into it and formed it into various totem patterns.
“Finally…" Zhong Yue heaved a breath. His mortal body walked into the Yin Yang Reincarnation and his Yuan Shen returned to his body. With a thought, godly rays flowed out of his hand in the form of totem patterns and turned into a saber —- the Solar Divine Saber.
The saber was over ten thousand feet long, formed purely from the Solar Cosmic Ray. It had a radiant luster, but the saber body could not be seen.
After all, the Solar Cosmic Ray was shapeless; it was just a ray of light.
The light ray was changing shapes incessantly. Sometimes, it was a long saber, sometimes a swimming fish, and sometimes it was spherical like the sun.
Suddenly, the light saber surged into his body and flowed out on his back. It gathered behind him and hovered like a golden sun.
He raised his hand and like the golden sun flowed down into his grip as a long saber before disappearing away right after.
He was still too weak to refine the Solar Divine Saber into anything smaller, ten thousand feet long was the shortest he could do. If he could refine and shrink it smaller, it would be even stronger.
But he just captured and coarsely refined it. When his cultivation grew stronger and the refinements in it grew deeper, he would be able to wield it according to his own will.
However, there was a huge advantage in using the Solar Cosmic Ray to form the Solar Divine Saber—the Solar Cosmic Ray was shapeless and incorporeal in nature.
In order to cultivate a soul weapon into the shapeless and incorporeal state, one would need to pour in a great amount of effort and hard work in cultivating and refining the soul weapon, especially those that were forged from the divine golds.
Fang Jiange was one who been cultivating the art of sword right from the start. He started with gradually cultivating the Sword Qi into a flash of sword ray, melt the divine golds and infuse into the sword ray to form a divine ray, which was then eventually turned into a divine sword.
This divine sword of his had taken a great toll on his time and energy.
Whereas Zhong Yue’s Solar Divine Saber was already shapeless and incor
poreal already when it was forged, it was way better than Fang Jiange’s divine sword.
This divine saber was incredibly strong, capable of slashing through ordinary soul weapons like tofu. Moreover, it could even inflict great damage to the opponent's Yuan Shen at the same time —- it was truly astonishing.
However, there was still one weakness — it was too light-weight.
The Solar Cosmic Ray was shapeless and incorporeal, it was just a ray of light that barely carried any weight in it, even lighter than a feather.
But weight was one of the defining characteristics of the saber. A sufficiently heavy weight was a prerequisite of a good saber, as when it would be swung, it would be strong and impactful. And sadly, this was one of the few flaws in the Solar Divine Saber.
However, Zhong Yue didn’t worry much. He thought, Now then, it’s time for the Metamagnet Divine Ray.
The Metamagnet Divine Ray was different from the Solar Cosmic Ray. Although both were rays, the Solar Cosmic Ray was colorful like the aurora.
But the Metamagnet Divine Ray was more watery, like a stream of flowing water.
The Metamagnet Divine Ray Zhong Yue in the copper lamp gathered into a clump like a ball of light. In the middle, colorful lights shimmered like a pool of water.
The Metamagnet Divine Ray was incredibly heavy, even heavier than the Luminant Sun Gold!
After he was blessed with the experience of refining the Solar Cosmic Ray, it was much easier this time for him to retrieve the Metamagnet Divine Ray.
In just less than a month, the Metamagnet Divine Saber was successfully forged!
With a change of thought, the Metamagnet Divine Ray flowed out from his body and turned into a ten thousand feet long saber ray without an actual body.
It was flowing like water, light glimmered and rippled across the surface of the totem patterns that formed it.
In stark contrast to the nearly unweighted Solar Divine Saber, the Metamagnet Divine Saber was incredibly heavy, resonating with a powerful gravity.
The Solar Divine Saber would be designated striking the mortal body and Yuan Shen, while the Metamagnet Divine Saber would be for use against soul weapons and divine weapons!
