Chapter 52: Flowing Water Hairpin, Azure Wave Gauze

After each defensive Formation was successfully inscribed, the soul consumption was enormous, and Chen Chuyang felt the strain.

Compared to Pill Refining, it was even more strenuous; Qi output was negligible, but the soul consumption was truly huge, the cost of inscribing a Formation was more than three times that of Pill Refining, and since it was the first time forging a weapon, extra caution was required, so Chen Chuyang dared not be careless, fearing failure.

After the defensive Formation comes the Gathering Spirit Formation; this Spiritual Artifact needs to self‑concentrate spiritual energy, thereby… replenishing its own consumption. This is also a function of Spiritual Artifacts; ordinary artifacts cannot gather spiritual energy, nor can they… self‑repair or self‑grow.

The Spiritual Artifact compensates this well, accumulating spiritual energy by itself, so it will not need to consume the owner's Qi. This is why Spiritual Artifacts are so scarce, and Chen Chuyang also had this idea: to save some spiritual energy and Qi, so that in battle he would not have to worry about excessive Qi consumption.

Next comes the offensive Formation, which is quite significant; various types of offensive Formations are needed. This is a bell‑type weapon, so sturdiness is essential, as is sonic attack; this cannot be lacking.

At the same time, the weapon's power must be enhanced according to the bell's attack method; this is Chen Chuyang's preliminary design.

The offensive Formation is temporarily a Sonic Formation: it vibrates the bell's body, generating sound waves to attack the soul.

This kind of Formation is quite notable and strong; soul attacks have always been something cultivators cannot resist, after all, most people lack soul techniques or secret methods for hammering the soul.

Inscribing the Sonic Formation is more difficult than other Formations; the consumption rate again increased threefold.

Chen Chuyang gritted his teeth to inscribe; the Hunyuan Dao Scripture activated, rapidly restoring Qi and soul. Simultaneously, Chen Chuyang's both hands continuously inscribed the Formation, multitasking; at this moment, it played a huge role.

"Sonic Formation, complete."

Another Formation is complete.

Combining the previous defensive Formation, the Gathering Spirit Formation, and the Sonic Formation, the three great Formations cause the entire bell to emit a heavy aura; this is not yet finished.

The weapon Chen Chuyang forged for himself naturally needs to be formidable; he was generous, pouring most of the ore into it.

All kinds of rare materials were invested as if they were free.

"Large and Small Ruyi Formation."

"Killing Formation."

"Earth Wind Water Fire Formation."

These are all preliminary ideas; Chen Chuyang still inscribes based on the Formations he knows.

Whatever Formation he thinks of, he inscribes that Formation.

All those Formations were inscribed onto the bell's body, leaving many spots for inscription, forming a massive Formation that covers the entire bell. By doing so, the bell becomes a unified whole; a bell that fuses numerous Formations will become even more terrifying.

Three days had passed after Chen Chuyang finished inscribing the Formations.

The high‑intensity, highly concentrated inscribed Formation finally completed.

All Formations were fully inscribed.

At that moment, Chen Chuyang let out a sigh of relief.

The bell inside the Alchemy Furnace flew out, hovering midair, rotating.

The heaven‑and‑earth spiritual energy on Longshe Shan was swiftly absorbed, entering the bell's body and becoming part of it.

On the bell's body, various patterns flickered; the Earth Wind Water Fire Formation rotated, still only a preliminary Formation, to be reinforced later as needed.

Currently, Chen Chuyang controls only this many Formations; this already comprises all of the Chen Clan's treasured Formations, the rest are his own insights and deductions.

In terms of Formations, in Longshe Cheng, Chen Chuyang can be said to be the foremost.

"It's done."

"Hahaha, it's really done."

The bell absorbed half an hour's worth of energy, taking in one‑fifth of the heaven‑and‑earth spiritual energy.

The dense spiritual energy of Longshe Shan will not be easily devoured.

The reinforced Gathering Spirit Formation received many spirit stones as supplement, doubling its concentration compared to before.

After rotating, the bell shrank and landed in Chen Chuyang's palm.

The bell, about the size of a small bell, resonated with Chen Chuyang's spirit.

It has already recognized its master.

The soul imprint had long been inscribed inside; bloodletting to recognize the master, but it isn't… as quick as a soul inscription.

"From now on, you shall be called Hunyuan Bell."

"Buzz."

The characters 'Hunyuan' flickered on the bell's body; this Spiritual Artifact was completely finished.

Hunyuan Bell, a mid‑rank Spiritual Artifact.

It broke through the shackles of a low‑rank Spiritual Artifact in one go, reaching mid‑rank, far exceeding Chen Chuyang's expectations.

He thought it was a low‑rank Spiritual Artifact, but it turned out to be mid‑rank.

"Mid‑rank Spiritual Artifact, hahaha, I didn't expect such success on my first artifact forging; indeed, I am an artifact‑forging genius."

In Pill Refining, I'm not as talented as in artifact forging.

At least, Chen Chuyang thinks so.

The hard study of Formations back then was not in vain; a year ago, he had already researched artifact forging. He had read all the Chen Clan's books on artifact forging; those books are also treasured on Longshe Shan, quite a number, and some were bought for him by his third uncle.

Some were brought by his father; these books are all collector's editions.

Some Formations Chen Chuyang has comprehended are also contained within; one could say his collection is many times larger than the Chen Clan's.

"My first Spiritual Artifact, also my life‑bound Spiritual Artifact, the Hunyuan Bell."

Chen Chuyang had an idea: this bell was also forged according to the bell in his memory.

He thought it would fail, but it succeeded.

"If it truly evolves into the legendary bell, I would be invincible."

My defense is invincible; in this world, who can break my defense?

On the cultivation path, staying alive is paramount; thus, defense is of utmost importance.

The emergence of the Hunyuan Bell compensated for Chen Chuyang's lack of Spiritual Artifacts and gave him self‑preservation ability.

If strength is insufficient, weapons make up for it.

"The Hunyuan Bell is complete; then, why not forge two more Spiritual Artifacts at once?"

Anyway, since they were already refining, taking advantage of the current hot hand feel and having found the feeling, Chen Chuyang began refining other spiritual artifacts.

He also had plenty of materials; these materials could allow him to refine two more weapons.

After closing his eyes and regulating his spirit for half an hour, Chen Chuyang's soul had largely recovered, and he began refining the second weapon.

In his mind, there were no other thoughts; he went with the flow.

He took out some ore, the color was relatively vivid, and he began refining.

The motions were the same.

He poured in the ore, then various materials.

This step didn't require much ceremony.

There was also an order; they were smelted separately.

The function of the Alchemy Furnace is just that; without an Alchemy Furnace, refining might not be so easy.

Chen Chuyang's soul could not support him directly refining; the required soul was too strong.

"Refining."

The second weapon wasn't that difficult; refining it wasn't too hard.

But it wasn't as complex or difficult as the Primordial Bell.

With the second attempt's experience, the second refining was very successful.

Half a day later.

Chen Chuyang had an extra hairpin in his hand, a light blue hairpin like flowing water.

"Like flowing water, I'll call you the Flowing Water Hairpin."

Flowing Water Hairpin, a low-grade spiritual artifact.

Chen Chuyang pressed on with vigor.

He continued refining the remaining materials.

Having formulated the idea in his mind, he continued refining.

Soon, another weapon appeared in his hand.

Like light gauze, thin and single.

"Azure Wave Gauze, a low-grade spiritual artifact."

Only then did Chen Chuyang stop refining; looking at the little ore left, he could not refine another spiritual artifact.

He was also tired.

He lay down and fell into a deep sleep.