Chapter 68

After collecting all five light concept materials, Jie Ming returned to his private laboratory at Nuolun Academy quite decisively.

After such a long period of study, he understood the next steps in his heart.

To summarize the subsequent process, it is to refine these spirit dews and crystal sands containing pure concepts into the vessel embryo of the magic treasure.

And before that, he needs to first condense the foundation of this magic treasure—the vessel embryo.

The vessel embryo is not a physical entity that exists from the beginning.

It is an illusory light and shadow condensed by the cultivator in their own spiritual sea using their own pure true essence and a wisp of soul origin as a guide.

It is the prototype of the magic treasure, the carrier point of concepts, closely connected to the cultivator's mind, and is the key to the transformation from "intangible and formless" to "tangible and substantial."

According to the records about artifact refining in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, under normal circumstances, wanting to condense this illusory spiritual body into a sufficiently stable semi-solid vessel embryo capable of carrying concepts in the upper dantian—that is, the spiritual sea as wizards call it—is quite difficult for a cultivator at the late Qi Condensation Stage.

A mere late Qi Condensation Stage cultivator, if they want to condense the vessel embryo alone, generally needs to use special magic arrays to gather mental power, or take expensive secret medicine to assist in calming the mind.

Otherwise, they would have to spend several or even more than ten years, observing specific cultivation technique diagrams day and night, in order to finally transform the illusory thoughts in the spiritual sea from virtual to real, from false to true, after long-term tempering.

This is a long process that extremely tests talent, patience, and resources.

Jie Ming also prepared for a protracted war; his initial goal was to complete this magic treasure before heading to the front line.

... That was the original plan.

He sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, withdrew his consciousness for introspection, and entered the spiritual sea.

A vast and familiar chaotic space came into view; his soul body sat in the center, like an existence anchoring this world, and nine huge truth runes surrounded the soul.

These truth runes absorbed elemental power from the outside world continuously like a whale, and the excessively high energy concentration even formed one colorful energy vortex after another around the runes.

Ignoring these magnificent images he had become accustomed to, Jie Ming projected his own will into the soul.

Following the method described in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, he began to guide the power in the spiritual sea, attempting to condense an illusory projection of a "Heart Mirror."

This process involves precise control and shaping of his own soul power, requiring extremely high mental concentration.

However, when he began to try, he unexpectedly discovered that this process... was not as difficult as he had imagined.

... It could even be said to be a bit too familiar.

The soul in the center of the spiritual sea opened its eyes, revealing a look of confusion.

After pondering for a moment, Jie Ming waved his hand, and the two groups of golden light that had been floating "above" the spiritual sea quickly fell before his eyes.

He discovered that the principle of condensing a vessel embryo in the spiritual sea has a startling similarity to the process of constructing "truth runes" or "wizardry models" in the wizard system.

Whether it is truth runes or wizardry models, they are essentially building stable mental structures with specific functions in the spiritual sea from abstract theories, concepts, and rules.

Truth runes are the most exquisite existence among them; they require wizards to use powerful mental power as a foundation to condense their understanding of world rules into rune structures possessing power, which coincides with the "conceptual bearing" required for cultivators to condense magic treasure vessel embryos.

Although truth runes in the Wizarding World have their own unique rule blessings, making them easier to condense under the wizard system, Jie Ming has had countless experiences in constructing and analyzing complex mental structures after all.

His understanding of how to manipulate, shape, and stabilize abstract concepts in the spiritual sea far exceeds that of cultivators at the same stage.

With this valuable experience as a foundation, Jie Ming's speed in condensing the Heart Mirror vessel embryo can be described as lightning fast.

Those stability problems and shaping difficulties that plague ordinary cultivators became easily solved for him.

Most importantly, he can "cheat."

Jie Ming did not hesitate at all and immediately turned to start practicing wizard meditation.

Accompanied by his meditation, part of the structure of the truth runes slowly emerged in his spiritual sea.

Under normal circumstances, wizards can indeed depict other truth runes during the apprentice stage, but more than nine truth runes will not only have no effect but will also hinder them when advancing to a Tier 1 wizard, so normal wizard apprentices should not do such stupid things.

However, Jie Ming does not want to create complete truth runes either.

What he wants are the "parts" generated during the process of constructing truth runes.

Each truth rune is composed of multiple different structures, and these structures are composed of various complex geometric patterns.

What Jie Ming needs to do is very simple: find the parts he needs from these geometric patterns, and then select them separately to combine them.

Having spent less than a month, Jie Ming successfully condensed a palm-sized, slightly translucent small mirror in his spiritual sea.

This is the vessel embryo of the Five-Element Rainbow-Transforming Mirror; it is condensed from pure mental power, emits a faint light, is closely connected to himself, and is an extension of his soul.

The vessel embryo was condensed successfully; the next step is the most critical and highest-risk step in the refining process—integrating the five types of "Light-Essence Spirit Dew" or "Light-Condensed Crystal Sand" into the vessel embryo for conceptual fusion and calcination.

Jie Ming took out the five precious conceptual materials from his storage ring: morning glow, rainbow, moonlight, stars, and thunder light, each emitting unique light and aura.

Adjusting his state, Jie Ming sat cross-legged again, sank his mind, and guided the Heart Mirror vessel embryo in the spiritual sea to the position where his consciousness was most concentrated.

Then, he carefully guided the first material—the Light-Condensed Crystal Sand containing the concept of morning glow—with his spiritual sense, slowly sent it into the spiritual sea, and introduced it into the Heart Mirror vessel embryo.

Hum...

As soon as the morning glow crystal sand touched the illusory vessel embryo, it immediately emitted a dazzling golden-red light, carrying power that was almost impossible to suppress, wanting to break through the shackles.

The vessel embryo also vibrated violently, and fine cracks appeared on the surface, as if it could not withstand the impact of this concept.

Jie Ming's expression was calm; he had long since understood the process of making magic treasures in his heart.

Seeing this, he was not panicked at all; he knew very well that this represented the vessel embryo and the concept were merging with each other, and only through constant shattering and reshaping could the two completely become one.

Of course, during this period, the cultivator also needs to provide a little bit of assistance.

Jie Ming drove the true fire in his body.

A wisp of pale golden flame rose from his dantian, guided by his spiritual sense, carefully probed into the spiritual sea, and lingered around the Heart Mirror vessel embryo.

The role of true fire is not simple heating, but playing the role of refining and fusion.

When condensing concepts, the cultivator themselves also paid true essence and mental power, so in a sense, these concepts are of the same source as the cultivator and the vessel embryo.

The role of true fire is to activate the two and act as a bridge for connection.

At the same time, Jie Ming's powerful mental power, like invisible hands, carefully guided the morning glow concept to wander, merge, and settle in the Heart Mirror with the assistance of true fire.

The consumption of true essence and mental power in this process is abnormally astonishing.

True fire requires massive true essence to maintain, and the fine guidance of conceptual fusion is an extreme test of mental power strength and control.

(Extra update, there is one more chapter)