Chapter 1522: Sword Energy Soars

The Forging System really simplified many, many things. If Zu An had to make a weapon from scratch, he would have to pay attention to a lot of things, and he would need all kinds of skills and techniques. Such things were usually secrets that weren’t given to outsiders, so there wouldn’t even be any chances for him to learn them. After all, which master blacksmith didn’t pass down their knowledge one generation after another to a single disciple?

However, Zu An’s forging process had been reduced to only requiring a true flame and controlling the temperature. Even the goods needed were listed by the Forging System.

Most of the real masters of the world all relied on an ocean of experience in order to slowly grasp the effectiveness of various materials. There were so many different materials in the world, so finding out the correct formula was like finding a needle in a haystack. And yet, Zu An was able to see the correct answer just like that! If any master blacksmiths were to find out, they would definitely scream that he was cheating!

Zu An wasn’t really thinking about the ingenuity of the system, though. What he was worried about was where he was going to get the materials needed for the breakthrough.

True Dragon Bones, True Dragon Blood?

His first reaction was to grab Chi Wen and see if it would work. After all, he was the son of the Dragon King and would probably meet the requirements.

However, he quickly gave up on that thought. That guy was a mixed-blood born of the Dragon King and merfolk, so he wouldn’t necessarily be considered a true dragon. Furthermore, out of consideration for Shang Liuyu, there was no way Zu An would do anything to him.

Zu An suddenly thought of something. He seemed to still have a dragon corpse in the Brilliant Glass Bead, which was the red dragon he had killed outside Brightmoon City in the past. Thinking back, that dragon had been completely schemed against. Its true strength had been pretty high. Still, he didn’t know whether it could be considered a true dragon.

Also, what was going on with the Breath of Rulers from the Lion race or Tiger race? Even though the Lion King and Tiger King were always at odds with each other, both had to admit the other’s strength. Both had the power to be king of the beasts. But the Breath of Rulers…

When he recalled how Hu Qianxiao had acted as tame as a tabby cat, Zu An really found it hard to associate him with such a term. He wanted to drag Hu Qianxiao over and ask about it, but there wasn’t any time to do that. Furthermore, he could make a mistake with the fire if he got even a bit distracted.

“You should give that golden glove you got from the Lion Race Prince a try,” Mi Li said, her red lips opening subtly.

She was sitting on the bed, her hand once again loosening her clothes some more. She was actually a soul body, so it didn’t make that much of a difference whether she removed her clothes or not, but it was still a sort of human instinct.

The true fire’s ferocious power was both smelting the Tai’e Sword and affecting her soul body. If it weren’t because her cultivation was profound and she had tremendous knowledge that let her remain clear-headed, she would have already been burned to ashes a long time ago.

Zu An felt as if Mi Li sounded a bit strange, but his eyes lit up when he heard her suggestion. He took out a golden glove from inside the Brilliant Glass Bead. There was a faint power swirling along the surface that was very similar to Shi Zhentian’s when he was alive. It was the spoil of war he had obtained from the Lion race’s prince in the past. It was probably a weapon that Shi Zhentian had carried with him for many years before giving it to his precious son.

“I wonder if this will work…” Zu An muttered as he threw the glove into the cauldron, as if what he threw in weren’t a heaven-grade weapon.

He had already made up his mind that if this didn’t work, there was no point in wasting the True Dragon blood and bones. Instead, he would stop the breakthrough for the time being and find out what the Breath of Rulers was from Hu Qianxiao first.

However, when the golden glove entered the large cauldron, it erupted with golden radiance. The glove also trembled a bit, clearly sensing a threat.

Unfortunately, not even the Calamity Gold used to refine deity-grade weapons could withstand the Meteor Spark Pill-boosted White Lotus True Flames, let alone a mere heaven-grade glove. Soon afterward, the golden glove couldn't take it anymore and began to gradually melt.

A ‘Ding!’ went off in Zu An’s mind. He noticed that the Breath of Rulers requirement had been satisfied. He shouted joyfully, “Master, it really worked!”

“Don’t turn around!” Mi Li immediately warned him.

Only then did Zu An remember what Mi Li had said before. He quickly stopped and said, “Sorry, I almost forgot.”

Still, he couldn't help but remember the previous sight. He suddenly felt that it was really hot today.

“Continue. I remember that you have a dragon corpse on you too,” Mi Li said, once again loosening the clothes she had briefly tightened.

Zu An nodded. He took out a big pot from the Brilliant Glass Bead. It was where he had stored the dragon blood in the past. Even though the Brilliant Glass Bead did prevent things from spoiling, if he left the blood in the red dragon’s corpse, it would likely have long since congealed. That was why he had used a large pot to store the dragon blood, along with some special medicine to prevent it from solidifying.

He had been planning to find a good chance to sell it before, but life was unpredictable. Eventually, he had completely forgotten about it. He hadn’t expected it to be of use today.

Dragon blood was really precious. Zu An initially wanted to leave some behind to use it later, but the Forging System didn’t say anything even after he poured most of it in. Helpless to do anything else, he could only add the rest.

Ding!

The Forging System released a confirmation noise.

Zu An initially felt a bit of heartache. But after thinking about it, he realized it was precisely because the requirements were high that he could make a legendary divine weapon!

Then, he began throwing in the True Dragon Bones in as well. Even though the large cauldron was much smaller than the dragon bones, there were no issues with putting them in at all. It was as if the contents were entering a pocket space.

Zu An had initially planned to throw the entire red dragon corpse inside, but Mi Li stopped him. Dragon flesh was a good ingredient that could be useful in the future. As such, he did his best as a butcher. Fortunately, he could now condense sword energy around his hand, so separating flesh from bone wasn’t too difficult.

When all of the material entered the large cauldron, it began being refined at a visible rate. Eventually, white, red, and gold energies entered the Tai’e Sword, which then released a dragon’s cry. Then, streaks of ancient symbols and chains appeared on the sword’s surface.

“That’s the Tai’e Sword’s seal!” Mi Li cried out in alarm.

The Tai’e Sword swirled with a streak of divine brilliance. The faintly visible chains all broke apart.

Congratulations! The forged weapon has successfully broken through into the immortal grade!

The Forging System released a notification.

Zu An noticed that even though there were raging flames separating them, the Tai’e Sword gave off a cold glint. Compared to before, it looked countless times sharper. Fierce sword intent filled the room. He was overjoyed, having never expected the upgrade process to have undone its seal.

“Don’t lose focus. Continue carefully, and bring it back to its true former glory in this final push,” Mi Li reminded him; the happiness in her voice was audible.

Zu An nodded. The cauldron only seemed to have used up a small amount of the Calamity Gold, and yet it was already enough to upgrade the Tai’e Sword to immortal-grade. Soon after, however, his expression became serious. That meant breaking through into deity-grade would be much harder than immortal-grade.

Sure enough, when he began to approach deity-grade, the meter began changing far more quickly than before. Under Mi Li’s guidance, Zu An threw in the remaining Meteor Spark Pills one after another. He didn’t dare to show even the slightest bit of carelessness and did his best to control the power of every wisp of fire.

Time seemed to pass extremely slowly. Even with Zu An’s willpower, he felt as if he couldn't really hold on. Keeping the raging flames under control within the indicated region felt like dancing on a steel wire. He was drenched in sweat, and even his vision was becoming blurry.

Fortunately, he had the Primordial Origin Sutra and had shocking regenerative strength. As such, he was able to grit his teeth and continue. If it had been another cultivator, even if their cultivation was higher than his, they wouldn’t necessarily have been able to continue for so long.

He could feel the heat getting to him more and more. His clothes were completely drenched, which felt very sticky and uncomfortable, to the point that it was starting to affect his control of the needle. As such, he released a blast of ki, blowing all his clothes away.

The heat inside the cauldron had left Mi Li very uncomfortable too. She had already removed her outer garments and only left behind her most intimate wear. The fine skin of her elbows and legs was completely exposed.

The sudden removal of Zu An’s clothing shocked her. When she saw his muscles dripping with sweat, she immediately felt a bit strange. The memory of when she had been inside Chu Chuyan’s body appeared in her mind again.

However, she quickly dispelled those thoughts. With a wave of her hand, a screen appeared, blocking the line of sight between the two of them. She finally calmed down a bit then.

“What’s wrong, master?” Zu An asked, surprised to hear the activity behind him.

“It’s nothing. You should just focus on what you’re doing,” Mi Li said, doing her best to calm down.

Zu An nodded. He focused all of his attention on controlling the White Lotus True Flame. The ki within him was already at maximum output. Sweat poured down like a waterfall. He felt as if he really was losing too much water from his body today.

…

Just like that, the process continued for a long time. The Calamity Gold became smaller and smaller over time. A while later, a notification appeared in Zu An’s mind. 

The system has detected that this weapon can be upgraded to deity-grade. Materials required: High-grade Taotie Horn, High-grade Queen Scaled Deathworm Scales, Feather Mountain Spring Water. Do you wish to proceed with the upgrade?

Zu An was a bit alarmed. These were all really precious things. Even someone as powerful as Zhao Han wouldn’t necessarily even be able to gather a single item, and yet he had all of them. This really felt as if it were something the will of heaven desired.

One after another, he took the materials out from within the Brilliant Glass Bead and placed them inside the cauldron. Soon afterward, a blinding light shot out from the cauldron. Then, a terrifying sword intent rushed into the heavens. Even though there were defensive formations in the Second Empress’ palace, the roof was instantly blown off, unable to stop the sword energy from leaving.

Sword energy soars over thirty thousand miles! One sword will inspire awe throughout nineteen provinces!