[I’m… speechless. You’re mass-producing Earth-grade artifacts like a factory. Doesn’t your mind ache from the repetitive forging?]
Shen Yuan, hair slightly disheveled, offered a tired but triumphant grin. “It’s repetitive in one sense, but each forging also hones my Intents further. I’m refining my blacksmithing Intent, testing different Qi fusions, and building a mental library of these things.”
His forging workshop gradually filled with racks of newly created weapons—enough to arm a small elite sect. Each piece hummed with vibrant Qi, waiting for suitable wielders.
“Alright… that should do for now. I don’t think I can handle forging an entire armory bigger than this just yet.”
[Under normal circumstances, you’d have made an unthinkable fortune. Even one Earth-grade artifact can shift the balance of smaller sects.]
He laughed, stashing a few particularly fine swords and sabers into his personal storage. “I guess I’ll keep some as gifts or bartering tokens. My plan to become a walking economy is in motion.”
[They can be helpful when you go for the Aurora Zone Competition. After all, there will be a lot of important figures gathering from all over this zone.]
“That’s the plan. I want to see whether I can bag a treasure like those xianxia protagonists who take away a Chaos-grade treasure from a pile of shit outside an auction house,” he smirked while saying.
[Haha, I highly doubt you can find a Chaos-grade treasure in this Realm, much less this world.]
Shen Yuan chuckled. “Anyways, enough playing around. Now I should try to make a Heaven-grade weapon with the Heavenly Tempering Method.”
[Oh? Why not the Auric Forge Technique?]
Shen Yuan got to work while replying, “Because I want to upgrade my Crimson Devourer to Heaven Grade with the Heavenly Tempering Method.”
He flicked a few stray sparks from his fingers as he prepared his forging station for the next major challenge: creating a Mid-Tier Heaven-grade sword using the Heavenly Tempering Method.
His gaze settled on a fresh stack of rare ores, each suffused with dense spiritual Qi. Unlike his prior Earth-grade forging spree, this time he’d need to carefully combine materials that could withstand Heaven-level energies.
From his inventory, he withdrew several choice items:
-Moonfang Steel Essence
Harvested from an old meteorite said to have absorbed moonlight for centuries.
Known for its uncanny resilience and adaptability, crucial in forging Heaven-level weapon frames.
-Starlight Mythril Powder
An ultra-rare alloy ground into fine dust.
Amplifies spiritual resonance in the blade, allowing for advanced Qi conduction and synergy with the advanced blacksmithing runes.
-Heavenroot Flame Crystal
A nugget of condensed flame energy from deep volcanic caverns.
Enhances the weapon’s internal heat tolerance and helps regulate high-intensity forging temperatures.
The combination of these three, in the right proportions, would form the backbone of the sword’s Heaven-level structure. Read latest chapters at empire
[Quite the lineup. Each of those materials alone could bankrupt a lesser sect. Though you will still need a few secondary ores to forge a Heaven-rank treasure.]
Shen Yuan smirked, carefully arranging the ores on the anvil-like platform. “I didn’t rummage through both of those treasuries for nothing. Time to push beyond Earth-grade.”
He reactivated the forging cauldron’s advanced blacksmithing runes, specifically designed to handle Heaven-level forging.
The Crimson Lotus Flame roared beneath it, its third-level Petals of Precision fully at the ready from his alchemy breakthroughs.
A shimmering lattice of Heavenly Tempering symbols lit up around the cauldron, each inscription glowing with faint golden light.
He channeled a steady flow of Fire Intent to maintain the extreme heat required.
“Let’s start. Once these metals melt together, there’s no turning back.”
He placed the Moonfang Steel Essence into the cauldron first. As the chunk slowly began to liquefy under the intense flame, it gave off a moonglow sheen.
Next, he threw in the Starlight Mythril Powder, sprinkling it meticulously so the mixture absorbed it evenly. Finally, he dropped in the Heavenroot Flame Crystal, letting it release potent flame essence into the alloy.
As the metals fused, the cauldron’s interior emitted a fierce brilliance—an almost celestial glow. The forging runes resonated with the merging Qi, and the temperature soared to a level that might melt lesser forging arrays.
He guided threads of Qi into the molten mass, carefully aligning each swirl of metal to the forging array’s inscriptions.
The technique pressed spiritual resonance into the alloy, forging an intrinsic bond between weapon and cultivator potential.
The Petals of Precision effect, borrowed from his flame mastery, peeled away micro-impurities. Even the highest-grade metals carried slight flaws, and at Heaven Grade, every tiny flaw mattered.
Flickers of black or gray dross sizzled away, leaving the molten alloy pristine.
Gradually, the swirling crucible calmed, the glow intensifying but steadier.
He carefully poured the molten alloy into a specialized sword mold carved with advanced blacksmithing runes. Unlike simpler molds, this one had channels for distributing spiritual arrays along the blade’s length.
Once partially solidified, Shen Yuan retrieved the nascent sword blank with tongs.
Using a King-grade forging hammer (borrowed from the pagoda’s stash), he hammered the blank relentlessly. Sparks flew in bursts of gold and silver, a testimony to the precious components inside.
As the blade neared final shape, he infused a swirl of his Sword Intent.
The intangible essence of “sharpness” and “perfection of form” sank into the metal’s structure, binding with the forging Qi.
A faint, haunting ring accompanied each strike, as though the sword itself was singing.
After countless strikes, quench cycles, and micro-adjustments, he set the blade to cool within a shimmering spiritual basin. A hush fell over the forging room.
“Now for the final quench… any major defect here means it fails.”
He immersed the sword into a purified, Qi-rich solution derived from a combination of radiant water essences and a drop of phoenix tear extract, which he had from before. The mixture hissed, steam rolling up in thick clouds.
The forging runes flared one last time, sealing the blade’s Qi channels. As he lifted the sword, it gleamed with an almost ethereal luminescence.
The blade’s surface was silver-white with subtle gold veins tracing the edges—evidence of Starlight Mythril’s perfect integration.
A single slash through the air carved a faint streak of radiance that lingered a half-second before dissolving.
[That… that’s definitely Heaven Grade, Yuan’er. Mid-Tier at that.]
A pleased smile stretched across his face. “Finally. A genuine Heaven-grade sword. The synergy is incredible—I can sense it responding to my Qi as though it’s alive.”
He gave the sword an experimental flourish, feeling zero lag as it cleaved the air. The forging workshop practically buzzed in excitement.
With one success in forging a Mid-Tier Heaven-grade sword, he turned his sights to his personal treasured blade: Crimson Devourer.
Previously a Peak Earth-grade weapon, it now deserved an upgrade that matched his new forging prowess.
He retrieved the Crimson Devourer from his storage ring. Its dull red sheen flickered with a hungry aura, reminiscent of the tribulation it had devoured that time.
He looked at the blade for a second before mumbling, “All right, old friend, time for a rebirth.”
He gently removed all external arrays from Crimson Devourer, leaving only its core essence.
A swirl of malevolent red Qi emanated from it, like a beast’s growl at being laid bare.
Shen Yuan utilized the Crimson Lotus Flame again, carefully melting down outer portions of the blade.