Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 166 - Forging Artifact

After a couple of hours, Liu Wuxie reached the Forging Pavilion. His current weapon was no longer adequate, and he needed to upgrade it to a profound artifact before leaving the academy. If he were to unleash his true essence, his existing blade would shatter.

There were two ways to forge artifacts. One was similar to renting a cultivation chamber, where he would spend credits to use the facility and forge his own weapon. The other was to hire a blacksmith from the academy to do the forging, which would cost more credits.

“I require a Profound Forging Chamber!” Liu Wuxie announced, presenting his token to the elder in charge. The rental fee was ten credits, a price he found acceptable.

“What kind of weapon are you planning to forge, young man? I’m a blacksmith, and my rates are reasonable,” a muscular man inquired, approaching Liu Wuxie after he had completed the necessary formalities. Despite the winter chill, the man wore a short shirt, sweat beads trickling down his forehead. It was common for blacksmiths to seek out potential clients during their free time.

“Thank you, but I’ll forge my own weapon,” Liu Wuxie declined, shaking his head at the burly man. Judging by the man’s skill level, he could only create low-grade spiritual artifacts. However, Liu Wuxie had his sights set on high-grade profound artifacts.

“Brat, who doesn’t know how to brag? The forging chamber has a high temperature, which ordinary people cannot withstand. If you go in, you’ll only end up getting roasted with your small frame.” The burly man looked displeased. He had been waiting for an entire day without any business.

Most students typically sought the assistance of blacksmiths and seldom forged their own weapons. The reason being, if they failed to control the temperature accurately, it could result in the destruction of their weapons and a waste of their credits. Hence, the majority of students preferred to hire a blacksmith, which saved them both trouble and risk. Even if the weapons were destroyed in the process, the teachers would provide appropriate compensation.

“Appreciate the offer, but I’ll pass.” Liu Wuxie responded, heading towards the forging chamber without further delay.

A hint of anger surfaced on the burly man’s face. He had been anticipating some business, and it was hard for him to let it slip away. Unlike the cultivation chambers, which were bustling daily, the forging chambers were rarely visited by students these days. Not many students possessed the knowledge to forge weapons.

“Is there anything else, Sir?” Liu Wuxie asked, irritation evident on his face. He was questioning the burly man who was obstructing his path to the forging chamber.

“If you insist on forging it yourself, you’ll need to pay ten credits to enter the chamber,” the burly man retorted, extending his hand, expecting Liu Wuxie to hand over the credits if he wished to proceed.

“Why should I?” Liu Wuxie asked furiously. He had already completed the formalities and paid ten credits.

“Because I’m in charge of this place. Every student has to pay a certain amount of credit to enter. Don't even consider entering if you don’t pay the credits!” The burly man had an overbearing attitude. He was often seen bullying ordinary students here, forcing them to hand over credits as a tribute to him if they wanted to use the forging chambers.

Typically, individuals would forge their weapons only once every few years and often tolerated the burly man’s intimidation. At most, they would avoid visiting this place in the future, which only seemed to embolden the man further.

The commotion drew the attention of several students passing by, who turned their heads towards the scene.

“It’s Guo Zhong. He’s likely trying to exploit new students again.” No one got close because they didn’t want to get involved and had already seen this multiple times.

Guo Zhong could hardly be considered a teacher as he bore no responsibility for educating students. His status in the Forging Pavilion was solely due to his role as a Master Blacksmith. He assisted students in forging low-grade spiritual artifacts, earning a substantial income annually.

In the past month, the number of students forging weapons had dwindled, leading to a decline in Guo Zhong’s earnings. As a result, he resorted to exploiting weaker students to compensate for his loss. Liu Wuxie, who appeared unfamiliar and lacked high cultivation, became an easy target for Guo Zhong.

“What if I refuse?” Liu Wuxie asked, a smirk playing on his lips. He remained calm and composed. The Imperial Academy was fraught with dangers, and only those without a strong background or power were susceptible to bullying.

“Nobody dares to defy me, Guo Zhong!” Guo Zhong retorted. It was likely that he had a significant influence within the Imperial Academy. After all, it was improbable for a mere blacksmith to exhibit such arrogance without substantial backing.

As he finished speaking, Guo Zhong reached out to grab Liu Wuxie’s shoulder. He was not a weakling, having cultivated to the seventh level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm. His frequent weapon forging had endowed him with formidable wrist strength, making it difficult for Liu Wuxie to evade if caught.

“How dare you!” Liu Wuxie roared. With a swift movement, he vanished, performing the Nine Heavenly Crane Dance and leaving an afterimage in his wake.

Guo Zhong’s right hand swiped through empty air. A ripple spread in the atmosphere as his hand morphed into a claw, launching an attack to the right. The speed of his move was astonishingly quick.

“Brat, let me see how long you can keep running!” Guo Zhong’s assault generated a potent wave, blocking Liu Wuxie’s escape route. The confined space was advantageous for Guo Zhong, a strength-type cultivator. In contrast, a spacious area would hinder him from exerting his full power, so he cornered Liu Wuxie.

“Who said I was running?” A chilling aura radiated from behind Guo Zhong, causing him to break out in a cold sweat. He wanted to react, but it was already too late.

A loud thud echoed as a stump hit Guo Zhong’s back, causing him to stumble forward and fall into a muddy pond. The sight of Liu Wuxie daring to attack a blacksmith was unexpected, prompting the nearby students to scatter in fear.

“Insolent boy, I’ll make you pay!” Guo Zhong roared as he emerged from the pond, his body covered in mud, presenting a rather comical sight.

However, Liu Wuxie ignored Guo Zhong’s roar and entered the forging chamber, leaving Guo Zhong yelling by himself in the main hall.

Upon entering the forging chamber, Liu Wuxie was greeted by a wave of intense heat. Guo Zhong hadn’t been lying about the high temperature within the chamber. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to withstand the temperature unless they comprehended fire attributes.

The forging chamber was massive, roughly about a hundred square meters. Aside from a cauldron, there was also a pond of water. At the center of the chamber was an anvil meant for shaping weapons.

Liu Wuxie brought out the materials he had purchased in the Imperial Capital. There were hundreds of items, including rare demonic beast bones, precious ores, and various other materials. These materials had cost Liu Wuxie millions of gold coins.

Liu Wuxie began the process by placing his blade into the cauldron, which quickly turned red due to the intense heat. This wasn’t a simple refining process that involved mere hammering; it required the engraving of runes onto the weapon.

He then threw the demonic beast’s bone into the cauldron and started forming seals with his hands, creating a unique seal that penetrated the bone, purifying it.

As Liu Wuxie continued to add more materials into the cauldron, the speed at which he formed the seals increased, filling the air with numerous spiritual runes. These runes were categorized into various types, including those used for refining pills, forging weapons, spiritual arrays, and talismans.

Liu Wuxie was specifically engraving spiritual runes designed for forging artifacts, which emitted a profound aura that permeated the entire forging chamber.

After six hours, he managed to purify the hundreds of materials. Once the materials were purified, the next step involved fusing them with his blade.

Using a tong to pick up the blade, Liu Wuxie drenched it in the water, producing a sizzling sound as the blade swiftly cooled down.

With a swing of his right hand, a deep groove appeared on the blade as the demonic beast’s bone flew over. The bone was soon enveloped in a ball of fire and melted instantly.

The molten liquid seeped into the blade's groove, merging with it. As more materials flew over, they melted and fused into the blade.

Liu Wuxie’s forging technique was indeed exceptional. Any blacksmith witnessing this scene might deem him reckless, given the high risk of failure associated with this method. Without substantial soul energy and true essence as support, the forging process could lead to the depletion of true essence and the weapon’s eventual destruction.

But these weren’t issues for Liu Wuxie. Ever since he reached the Spirit Cleansing Realm, the quantity of his true essence couldn’t be gauged with ordinary scale. Not to mention that Liu Wuxie also practiced Ghost Eye and consumed Bone Refining Pills, which meant that his soul energy even surpassed those in the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

As the materials began to decrease, the blade finally began to change as it grew longer, becoming even more slender than before. There were strange runes on the blade's surface as it crossed the grade of a spiritual artifact, heading towards a profound artifact.

Once the materials merged into the blade, it was uncertain if they would completely fuse. This required Liu Wuxie to continue to carve and temper.

Half a day later, all the materials on the ground disappeared. When Liu Wuxie pointed with his finger, the blade was enveloped in flames, producing sizzling and crackling sounds as the blade showed signs of melting.

Liu Wuxie’s true essence flowed out from his dantian, manifesting into a giant hand that grasped the blade, keeping it suspended in the air.

“The real forging process begins now!” Liu Wuxie declared. The creation of an ordinary weapon involved pouring molten iron into a mold and repeatedly hammering it. However, refining a profound artifact was a different process altogether. It required the blacksmith to use spiritual runes to shape the weapon and enhance its quality.

Liu Wuxie’s hands began to form seals as the airflow slowed down, and spiritual runes faintly appeared in the surroundings. These runes moved through the air, enveloping the blade and engraving themselves onto it.

Each spiritual rune represented a law of heaven and earth. Liu Wuxie grasped countless techniques but couldn’t execute them with his current cultivation.

As the blade began to stretch, it looked nothing like a blade or a sword. It was a single-edged blade with a streamlined body, looking more like a piece of art instead.

Spiritual runes flowed on the blade's surface like mercury, with terrifying cold air released from the blade's tip, decreasing the temperature in the entire chamber.

Liu Wuxie’s hands stopped forming seals, allowing the blade to hover in the air. But that wasn’t the end, as he took out a few spirit stones, extracted their spiritual energy, and injected them into the blade.

This was a method to increase the spirituality of the blade, and ordinary blacksmith wouldn’t try this. If the spirituality of the weapon was forcibly increased, there was a high chance that it might shatter. This was because the greater the spirituality, the higher the quality required of the artifact.

After the blade had absorbed three spirit stones, it emitted a humming sound, and a small vortex formed within it. Every weapon evolved from ordinary ones. Upon reaching a certain level, it could cultivate an artifact spirit. The weapon Liu Wuxie wielded in his previous life, known as the Blood Blade, was even capable of assuming a human form.

Liu Wuxie continued to engrave spiritual runes without resting, and a profound aura filled the entire chamber.

“Time to engrave the spiritual array now!” Spiritual runes hovered in the air before Liu Wuxie injected them into the blade.

Cracking sounds emanated from the blade the moment the spiritual runes were injected. This was a sign that the structure of the blade was unstable, and it could explode at any moment.

Liu Wuxie’s method was too risky, but he continued to inject spiritual runes into the blade. This increased the cracks on the blade, which made the blade look as though it would blow apart in the next moment.

“Success or failure hinges on this moment!” Liu Wuxie didn’t give up. He accelerated the speed of his rune engraving, and formidable spiritual energy flowed into the blade like a liquid, mending the cracks.

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