Chapter 112: Blazing Banner (1)

The matter of the Reverse Fire Curse was temporarily set aside by Wang Ping; he now focuses all his attention on refining his first magic treasure.

But before that, he had already re-forged the Red Yang Iron and Black Essence Iron.

If the manager of the Heavenly Craft Pavilion, Zhao Zhili, were to see these two refined metals that Wang Ping had forged, he would probably be so astonished his mouth couldn't close.

One piece is red as jade, the other deep as night; this phenomenon appears only when refined metal is pushed to its limit, indicating these two metals have reached purity.

Wang Ping is also extremely satisfied with these two pieces of metal.

After storing them away, he began attempting to refine his first magic treasure.

He actually wants to start refining the Diamond Pestle right now, but lacking experience in this area, he truly dares not refine the Diamond Pestle.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three pieces of spiritual material he threw out: one is the hind leg bone of a second-rank Crimson Flame Tiger, about half a zhang long; another is a washbasin-sized Gathering Yang Stone; the last is a large bundle of reddish fibrous material, namely the famed Fire Cloud Silk of the cultivation world.

These materials were carefully selected by Wang Ping, all prepared for him to refine the Blazing Banner.

The hind leg bone of the Crimson Flame Tiger is its strongest bone, most suitable for making a flagpole.

Gathering Yang Stone is a peculiar stone that can condense the fire spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and also absorb sunlight.

Fire Cloud Silk is a peculiar fire-attribute spiritual silk, not spun by spiritual silkworms but formed from a unique celestial phenomenon.

Wang Ping selected these materials after careful thought; first, all three are fire-attribute materials, and they do not mutually restrain each other.

Even in the cultivation world, materials of the same attribute may still clash or be incompatible.

Originally, for the flagpole Wang Ping chose a refined metal called Black Flame Steel, but he later discovered its density is too hard and it has a non-metallic, non-fusible property, making it impossible to fuse with Gathering Yang Stone.

After further consideration, he chose the slightly cheaper bone of the Crimson Flame Tiger; although its hardness certainly can't compare to Black Flame Steel, his magic treasure is not a melee-type artifact, so Wang Ping can accept it.

The second reason is that these three form a minor cycle of the Three Powers of heaven, earth, and living beings.

Whether described in the Introduction to Artifact Refining or recorded in Master Chiyanzi's insights, this cycle is emphasized as having a slight effect on condensing the related Heavenly Earth Treasure Patterns.

As for why he wants to refine such a banner, it's still due to the influence of watching Journey to the West in his past life's childhood; he recalls an episode where Sun Wukong battles the Green Bull Spirit, his weapons are taken away by the Supreme Old Lord's Diamond Pestle, he later sneaks into the cave to steal weapons, and Sun Wukong waves the Fire Virtue Star Lord's banner, burning the cave's dwelling in blazing flames.

Wang Ping sometimes thinks, since he has already embarked on the path of cultivation, he might as well refine those divine weapons and treasures he saw as a child.

Of course, this idea is pure fantasy for him now, but if his cultivation deepens, perhaps one day he could actually refine those treasures.

In the Artifact Refining Cavern, Wang Ping has already placed the Crimson Flame Tiger's bone and Gathering Yang Stone into the Artifact Refining Furnace to begin the refinement process.

At the start of refining, Wang Ping noticed a difference from his previous artifact refining experiences.

His control over flame temperature is no longer based on experience, but on an affinity with fire.

He originally wanted to use True Solar Fire for refining, but realizing it currently lacks sufficient replenishment, overuse would damage it, causing him a great loss.

Moreover, the Earth Fire combined with Fire Spirit Liquid already provides sufficient temperature.

The Earth Fire surged and burned; Wang Ping was not idle either, taking a Spirit Loom from his Storage Bag—indeed, he now intends to use this Spirit Loom to weave the Fire Cloud Silk into cloth form before proceeding with refinement.

Unformed Fire Cloud Silk cannot be fired with flame; even as a fire-attribute spiritual object, even ordinary fire can ignite it.

Only by binding them together via the Spirit Loom do they form tough Spiritual Cloth, which even ordinary magic treasures cannot cut.

Additionally, the Fire Cloud Silk that forms the Spiritual Cloth has another function: it can release the fire gathered by the Gathering Yang Stone.

According to Wang Ping's calculations, if Heavenly Earth Treasure Patterns form, he should increase the flame's storage, raise its temperature, and achieve a multiplicative increase.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Fortunately, the Spirit Loom works automatically with spiritual power input; otherwise Wang Ping would have to operate it manually, and though its manual tutorial is simple and he should be able to learn it, he cannot guarantee what the final woven product will look like.

This period is a rare leisure time; Wang Ping constantly mentally deduces possible mistakes that could occur during the artifact refining process.

Time quietly passed in this way; the Fire Cloud Silk was first woven into a red cloth about four chi long and three chi wide.

The cloth now before Wang Ping's eyes shows no trace of Fire Cloud Silk whatsoever.

Wang Ping gently stroked it with his hand; it was soft and smooth, with a faint warm sensation.

Now that the Fire Cloud Cloth has been woven, he next must place it into the fire for repeated calcination, simultaneously adding various materials to completely transform its nature.

In Wang Ping's conception, the Fire Cloud Cloth not only has the function of releasing fire, but also enhances fire's power.

To achieve such an effect, letting the Heavenly Earth Treasure Patterns form as he envisions, his current steps are indispensable; the timing and quantity of each material's addition must be strictly controlled.

Bang!

A piece of fiery red gemstone was shattered by Wang Ping's spiritual power into powder, then tossed onto the Fire Cloud Cloth in the flame to be refined together with it.

The cultivation world possesses various kinds of gemstones, each with extraordinary and unimaginable properties.

The gemstone Wang Ping just shattered is a type that can greatly enhance fire's power.

He plans to invest three of them in succession.

The artifact refining process is not only tedious but also requires caution; in the blink of an eye, seven days have passed.

The Crimson Flame Tiger's bone and Gathering Yang Stone have completely liquefied, and in the continual calcination all impurities have been purged.

The fusion of spiritual and non-spiritual materials differs greatly.

After the fusion begins, Wang Ping must draw down the Mighty Power of Heaven and Earth.

The formation of Heavenly Earth Treasure Patterns is uncontrollable by cultivators, but predecessors of the Artifact Sect once recorded a speculation in the Introduction to Artifact Refining, which later became fact two thousand years ago.

This speculation is that when multiple materials fuse, one spiritual nature will inevitably occupy the dominant position.

Artifact Sect predecessors once explained that this spiritual nature is likely not the kind you need; since a complete magic treasure blueprint cannot be found, a method is required to let the spiritual nature you need dominate the fusion process.

After the Artifact Sect predecessors disappeared a thousand years later—i. e., two thousand years ago—the cultivation world finally found a way to influence the emergence of spiritual nature.

This method is the Soul Guidance Technique, whose principle is that all things possess spirituality; there are many stories of experts granting sentience to stones, plants, and wild beasts, so why cannot cultivators, through their own influence, guide that spirituality to prevail in the fusion process?

Just as a wild beast receiving an expert's enlightenment sees its spirituality overwhelm its beastly nature, giving rise to sentience.

Although this method's success rate is low, it indeed proves the speculation of the Artifact Sect predecessors.

Master Chiyanzi recorded in his insights the Soul Guidance Technique he used: All Things Return to One!