Once a gap appears between a Primordial Weapon Embryo and its Spirit Array Runes, the difficulty of achieving a perfect fusion increases several, even dozens of tis over.
The situation at hand was extrely difficult to redy.
Even with the powerful theoretical backing of the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts* and his mastery of nurous secret techniques, if Hong Yu tried to salvage this using conventional thods, he could at best restore it to about sixty percent of its original potential.
A Primordial Weapon of this quality clearly had no chance of contending for the top three.
It might not even make it into the top ten.
Hong Yu finally made his decision. He would have to take an unconventional path...
This thod was recorded in the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts*, but it wasn't a mature technique and had significant flaws.
But the situation was urgent, and Hong Yu had no other choice.
'Huo Yan, you bastard! After this competition is over, I'm going to beat the hell out of you.' Hong Yu spat on the ground.
He focused his mind and took a deep breath.
'Using my spirit as a guide, my consciousness as a weapon, I shall forge the inscriptions—Spirit God Hamring Skill!'
The Spirit God Hamring Skill!
In the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts*, this was a refining technique that surpassed even the Sacrificial Refining Technique of the Six Harmonies Demon General. It was highly praised by the Great Power who forged the Profound Celestial Tower. He had comnted that if its flaws could be perfected, it was a secret technique for forging Primordial Weapons with infinite potential.
Compared to the Six Harmonies Demon General technique, the Spirit God Hamring Skill placed more emphasis on the final forging of the inscriptions.
Conventional inscription carving uses Elental Power as the primary force, with Spiritual Power rely assisting in branding the inscriptions.
The Spirit God Hamring Skill, however, did the opposite. It used Spiritual Power as the driving force, with consciousness as a supplent, to forge the inscriptions.
If a Primordial Weapon could be refined with the Spirit God Hamring Skill, the resulting weapon would be far stronger than one forged through conventional ans. After all, the introduction of Elental Power was bound to include so impurities, which could easily affect the fusion of the Artifact Embryo and the Spirit Array Runes. Spiritual Power, however, could completely eliminate this flaw.
Allowing the fusion to achieve true perfection!
As he unleashed the Spirit God Hamring Skill, the Spiritual Power within Hong Yu's body condensed at a frenzied pace, transforming into waves of ntal shocks that surged into the Heavy Hamr Artifact Embryo and the Black Hole Rune.
While the powerful contestants on the stage were in the heat of fusing their artifact embryos and inscriptions, a group of three people slowly walked into the water-curtain viewing platform where the Third Princess was.
Seeing the three arrive, the Third Princess slowly rose and said respectfully, "Qin'Er greets you, Elders!"
"Mm."
The man in the lead wore a black robe, but on his chest was a three-gold-striped emblem, displaying his status as a Tier Three Spiritual Craftsman.
This man's na was Wang Ba, Patriarch of the Qin Kingdom's Wang Family. At the sa ti, he was also the Chief Elder of the Guiyuan Sect!
Wang Ba looked the Third Princess up and down, nodded faintly, and a mocking expression appeared on his face. "This little girl is getting prettier and prettier. No wonder my disappointing disciple, Zheng Tian, thinks about you day and night. Little girl, after this competition is over, you will marry my disciple!"
"Elder Wang, I have no feelings of affection for Senior Brother Zheng. This…" The Third Princess's expression changed slightly as she spoke in a low voice.
But Wang Ba lived up to his na; he was domineering and tyrannical.
He simply waved his hand and said flatly, "Feelings of affection are irrelevant. It's your good fortune that my disciple has taken an interest in you; you shouldn't even think of refusing. Besides, your father agreed to this years ago. If you hadn't run off to the Fengyue Kingdom to hide for a few years, the two of you would have been married long ago."
"Elder Wang…"
The Third Princess took a deep breath, trying to argue, but Wang Ba just snorted coldly, sat down, and didn't even spare her a glance.
Seeing that the Third Princess still wanted to argue, Aunt Leng quickly stepped forward to stop her, shaking her head gently.
The Third Princess sighed in despair, forced a strained smile, and turned to the two elders behind him.
The second person was, of course, Tang Long of the Spiritual Craftsman Guild.
Tang Long chuckled and patted the Third Princess's head. "Little Qin, I've heard about what you've been doing recently. You've done very well; I am most satisfied. I believe that with your talent, you are more than capable of continuing to help rule this kingdom. As for marriage and such, those are just shackles. We can discuss that later!"
"Thank you, Grandpa Tang!"
The Third Princess felt a wave of relief and said quickly.
'Since Tang Long has spoken, he's clearly supporting .'
Wang Ba naturally noticed this and snorted. "Old Tang, are you trying to oppose ?"
Tang Long snorted back. "Aren't you a little old to be ddling in the younger generation's marriages? Are you that bored?"
"Hmph!"
Wang Ba glared at him but said no more.
Wang Ba could certainly put on airs in front of the Third Princess, but he had nothing to be smug about in front of Tang Long. Although he had won their competition years ago by a narrow margin, the circumstances had been special. Back then, Tang Long had been qualified to contend for the championship.
But during the refining process, Wang Ba exploited a loophole in the arena's layout to attack Tang Long with his Spiritual Power.
As a result, Tang Long's spirit was damaged, and he had never fully recovered, even to this day.
Even so, Tang Long's current realm was still higher than Wang Ba's, suppressing him completely.
This made Wang Ba feel a trace of fear toward Tang Long, or perhaps it was a deep-seated venomous hatred, like a wounded viper hiding in the darkness, waiting for the right opportunity to strike a fatal blow!
"Grandpa Tang, please, have a seat!" the Third Princess said.
Tang Long smiled, nodded, and sat on the other side, putting so distance between himself and Wang Ba.
The last person was Master Fan.
He was a contemporary of Wang Ba and Tang Long. Although he was stuck at the Tier Two High-level, he was still quite famous in the Qin Kingdom!
After the three were seated, Tang Long asked, "Young lady, has anything interesting happened in the competition so far?"
Before the Third Princess could speak, Wang Ba, who was sitting to the side, cut in, "With my disciple Huo Yan competing, first place is already a foregone conclusion. Add to that your granddaughter and that Qin Mutian kid—those three are guaranteed to take the top three spots. Everyone else is just going through the motions. What could possibly be interesting?"
Wang Ba's words were extrely arrogant and delivered with absolute certainty, as if he were an emperor holding court.
Master Fan smiled and nodded.
Tang Long glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but couldn't be bothered to respond.
It was Aunt Leng who spoke up. "Elder Tang, the general situation in the competition is more or less as Elder Wang described… However, there is a rather interesting young man among the contestants. His performance in the first two rounds was unremarkable, but his performance in this third round has been quite praiseworthy!"
"Oh?"
Tang Long's interest was piqued, and he looked at Aunt Leng.
Aunt Leng smiled and pointed to Hong Yu. "Look at that young man!"
"Hm?"
Tang Long glanced over casually, but his expression quickly changed.
"This… this… how is this possible? His Primordial Weapon and inscriptions are clearly starting to separate, so how can he still be holding on?" Tang Long exclaid in shock. "This is simply not sothing soone at his level should be able to do!"
"Hmph. He allowed a separation to occur while fusing the artifact embryo and inscriptions. This kid is nothing special," Wang Ba said with contempt.
Aunt Leng glanced at him and said coolly, "Elder Tang, the Third Princess and I both have high hopes for this young man. He wasn't having any problems with his fusion at the beginning. However, Huo Yan was on the stage directly opposite him just a mont ago. Only after this young man's embryo and inscriptions separated did Huo Yan move to his current position."
Although Aunt Leng didn't say it outright, everyone present was astute enough to understand her implication.
Tang Long shot a contemptuous look at Wang Ba. "Hmph. Like master, like disciple."
"Tang Long, don't take it too far."
Wang Ba glared furiously.
Tang Long snorted angrily. "What? You dare to do it but not admit it?"
"I… you…"
Wang Ba opened his mouth, unsure how to retort.
Master Fan's eyes darted back and forth as he put on the smile of a peacemaker. "You two… you've been bickering for so many years, and still you never stop."
The two of them snorted and said no more.
Seeing this, the corners of Master Fan's mouth lifted slightly, forming a subtle, mocking arc.
'Huo Yan is truly worthy of his master; he's completely inherited his skill for dirty tricks. Heh heh heh, this way, Hong Yu most likely won't be able to finish!' Gazing at Hong Yu struggling on the stage, he was secretly blooming with joy.
...
BUZZ!
The void trembled as a crimson light shot into the sky.
Qin Mutian leaped high into the air. Before him, a slender, purple longsword hanging in the void let out a heart-stopping ring.
A sharp Sword Aura erupted directly from the longsword.
"A Spirit-Level, High-Grade Primordial Weapon! The Crown Prince was truly hiding his strength! He's a full-fledged Tier Two Advanced Spiritual Craftsman!"
"To reach such a level at his age, the Crown Prince's future is truly limitless!"
Qin Mutian grabbed the longsword with one hand, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. A triumphant smirk touched his lips as he glanced toward Huo Yan and Tang Muxue. "Huo Yan, oh, Huo Yan. So what if you're strong? I'm also a Tier Two Advanced Craftsman. You…"
Before he could finish, Tang Muxue suddenly shot into the sky.
Her body was wreathed in flowers made of fla. As they danced around her, a pair of Peach Blossom Dual Swords appeared in her hands.
Her figure moved like a dancing butterfly, unleashing waves of snowflake-like Sword Auras that were both sharp and uncanny.
Upon their appearance, the ethereal aura of these Soft Swords faintly surpassed that of the Primordial Weapon forged by Qin Mutian.
"Impossible…"
Qin Mutian's expression changed instantly.
He never would have imagined that Tang Muxue had surpassed him. The face of the kingdom's Crown Prince turned incredibly grim as he looked toward Huo Yan.
「At the sa ti.」
Huo Yan had also completed his Primordial Weapon. The weapon he forged was extrely heavy—a Crescent Great Saber. A cyan dragon coiled around its body, and the blade glinted with a cold, terrifying light. It seed that even a distant glance could make one's heart spirit tremble and shatter their very soul.
"HAHAHAHA! A Tier Two Extre Primordial Weapon! I, Huo Yan, have studied the Dao of Artifact Refining since I was a child, and I've finally forged a Tier Two Extre Primordial Weapon before the age of thirty! In just half a year, I am absolutely confident I can advance to beco a Tier Three Spiritual Craftsman!"
Huo Yan gripped the long saber with both hands. With a single swing, a chilling blade aura swept across half the sky.
His arrogant voice was filled with triumph and madness. "In the entire Qin Kingdom, who under the age of thirty can contend with ? Who? HAHAHA! In the entire Qin Kingdom—no, in all of the Southern Ten Nations, who under thirty can forge a Primordial Weapon more powerful than the Cyan Dragon Long Blade in my hands? Who can?"
"Who can?!"
"Who can?"
His mighty voice echoed above the Artifact Arena like rolling thunder.
Both Tang Muxue and Qin Mutian stared at him with dazed eyes. At that mont, the confidence of these Celestial Pride Sons was nearly shattered by his overwhelming presence.
However… just at this critical mont, when Huo Yan was at the peak of his arrogance, an aura even more powerful than that of the Crescent Great Saber rose from an inconspicuous corner of the arena.
It rose from the hands of the young man who had been looked down upon by everyone, the one they believed was dood to fail…
Under the impact of this sudden surge of power, the Crescent Great Saber in Huo Yan's hands suddenly let out a mournful cry, its previous domineering and wild aura shattering in an instant.
Huo Yan's expression changed drastically. He stared in disbelief at the young man who should have been eliminated, completely dumbfounded…
"Impossible… Absolutely impossible…"
[Author's Note: I was busy with things outside today and just got back. Two more chapters will be out later!]
User Comments
0 comments from readers