Chapter 175: Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword, Success!

Chirp—

The little phoenix bird is now like an ordinary beast, lacking much spiritual awareness, but it is especially attached to Yunhe.

Obviously, this is because of the earlier connection between Qingyao and Yunhe, making it feel very close to Yunhe.

After planting the roots of three 'blood crystal wood' trees in another corner of the medicine field and spreading some beast blood as fertilizer, Yunhe returned once again to the phoenix tree.

Chirp!

The little phoenix bird obviously also loves the phoenix tree, flapping its wings onto the branch and preening its feathers.

Yunhe, meanwhile, rubbed his chin and fell into thought.

To be honest.

He truly wasn't quite sure whether this was still a 'fire-wood phoenix tree'.

The original 'fire-wood phoenix tree' grew its roots from his essence and blood, and under the heavenly thunder of the 'heavenly thunder gold essence', its flame was rekindled, growing alongside the phoenix fire.

The quality of this phoenix tree is absolutely not inferior to the previous 'fire-wood phoenix tree'; at the very least it could rank among the top twenty on the 'Divine Wood Ranking'!

"No matter what, the fire-wood attribute will not change."

Furthermore.

Since the flame was rekindled by the heavenly thunder of the 'heavenly thunder gold essence', this wood has inevitably absorbed some of that heavenly thunder aura, making it the most suitable material to forge together with the 'heavenly thunder gold essence'.

"The main material is still the 'heavenly thunder gold essence', so we don't need much—just break off some relatively sturdy branches; the trunk isn't necessary."

After muttering that, Yunhe broke off several branches that looked fairly sturdy, amidst the little phoenix bird's reluctant cries.

This also somewhat harmed the tree; after breaking off the branches, even the hazy fire aura surrounding it looked much more illusory.

A pile of dozens of pieces of 'heavenly thunder gold essence', the largest of which was about the size of two fists.

Several phoenix tree branches, the thickest of which was at least as thick as three or four fingers.

Yunhe rubbed his chin, making a 'shushing' sound.

"I feel the materials are a bit too much."

He then shook his head to himself.

"At worst, I'll just forge a set; after all, the 'Five Elements Sword Array' inherently requires a matched set of magic treasures, and the more pieces there are, the more time-consuming their nurturing and refinement becomes."

He transferred all these things to his Cultivator Body.

Next, he entrusted all the island's big and small affairs to the little fox and the White Ape King; he would enter seclusion to cultivate, and once he had fully refined the demonic power within the three inner elixirs, he would prepare to breakthrough to the third stage.

The world of cultivation.

In Cloud Island where the blood crystal wood grows.

Having obtained the needed 'heavenly thunder gold essence' and phoenix tree, Yunhe did not rush to immediately begin forging his personal magic treasure.

His artifact-forging skill was still somewhat lacking.

Although the time spent in seclusion over the past few years was not short, most of it was devoted to cultivation; his artifact-forging skill hadn't made no progress, but the improvement was indeed not much.

Forging a personal magic treasure cannot afford the slightest mistake, so he simultaneously honed his artifact-forging skill and began studying the forging methods in the 'Great Longevity Great Five Elements True Scripture'.

At the same time, there were also the 'Gold Shadow Pattern' and the 'Dragon Scale Pattern'.

After some consideration, Yunhe decided to try inscribing these two special patterns onto the magic treasure; if successful, the resulting treasure would undoubtedly have stronger functions.

But he couldn't use the 'heavenly thunder gold essence' for trial runs, so he could only first experiment on other spiritual artifacts.

Time slipped by unnoticed.

On Cloud Island, with the disappearance of the 'tree-blood mosquito', various beasts and cloud beasts gradually appeared on the island, but they had no effect on Yunhe, who remained in his cave abode.

And in the blink of an eye, five years passed.

Five years later.

In the cave abode.

"If it weren't for the material quality being insufficient, this spiritual artifact would definitely be a magic treasure."

Holding a pair of curved hooks, Yunhe smacked his lips; this is a top-grade spiritual artifact, which if taken out would likely drive many Foundation Establishment cultivators mad.

Being able to forge a top-grade spiritual artifact from second-stage materials shows his current artifact-forging level; he is not merely a third-stage low-grade artifact refiner, but at least has reached the third-stage mid-grade level.

This level was achieved by piling up vast amounts of material; ordinary artifact refiners simply could not have such resources to squander.

"Fortunately, the spiritual artifacts forged over these years can be sold for a large sum of spirit stones, so there's no loss."

By today, Yunhe finally felt that he was nearly ready to begin forging his personal magic treasure.

However, he still didn't start right away; instead, he lay down and went to sleep.

He slept for a full day and night.

Upon waking again, his spirits were full and his condition was excellent.

Only then did he finally begin preparations.

Carefully taking out dozens of uneven pieces of 'heavenly thunder gold essence' and phoenix wood.

Yunhe gazed solemnly at these materials, took a deep breath, then lightly tapped the metal and stone; instantly, a piece of 'heavenly thunder gold essence' floated up before his chest.

Immediately afterward, Yunhe solemnly formed hand seals; light flowed across his face, and five-colored radiance appeared in his eyes.

"Come forth!"

A low shout.

Yunhe opened his mouth, and a mass of five-colored elixir fire flowed out like water, precisely landing upon that piece of 'heavenly thunder gold essence'.

With a 'sizzle' sound, fine golden arcs jumped across the metal and stone surface, actually deflecting a bit of the elixir fire he had spat out.

However, Yunhe was not surprised; merely a flash of some kind of light, and the elixir fire instantly expanded, five-colored light entwining, enveloping the entire piece of 'heavenly thunder gold essence' as it began to be refined.

Thereafter, he again summoned several pieces of 'heavenly thunder gold essence' stones, spitting out elixir fire in the same manner.

This was destined to be an extremely troublesome and time-consuming process.

Moreover, the elixir fire's consumption of his own mana was not small, but fortunately Yunhe had prepared early; as he raised both hands, a Gathering Spirit Array and a Gathering Spirit Pearl rose up, and the spiritual energy in the area gradually became richer.

At the same time, he took out the middle-grade Spirit Stones and elixirs for restoring spiritual power that he had prepared long ago, making full preparations for a prolonged battle.

To be honest.

Although Yunhe had long known that Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence would not be easy to refine, he really hadn't expected it to be this difficult.

This is elixir fire, and moreover it is the five-element elixir fire that can only be formed by his minor five-element spiritual body, not comparable to the innate spiritual fire of Foundation Establishment stage.

After five days, the lightning arcs on the surface of the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence finally stopped resisting the scorching of the elixir fire.

After more than ten days, the metal stone finally showed signs of liquefaction, slowly turning into a mass of viscous liquid, occasionally emitting a bit of weak black vapor, which was the little impurity it originally had.

After this round of refining to remove impurities, another ten or so days passed before the metal stone completely turned into a pure golden fluid.

Yunhe hastily took out a milky-white stone box, a container made from the white stone that wrapped the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence; only these Jade Pearl Strange Stones can serve as containers for the refined Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence.

After doing these, Yunhe let out a long sigh.

Fortunately, when he initially obtained the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, he did not discard these Jade Pearl Strange Stones.

Otherwise, given the domineering nature of the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, not even mentioning containment, ordinary vessels would likely be completely melted upon contact.

Moreover, through Yunhe's exploration and speculation, when refining vessels from the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, the Jade Pearl Strange Stones must also be incorporated as part of the material.

These Jade Pearl Strange Stones not only do not affect the power of the magical treasure, but because of their trait that accompanies the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, they can better unleash the power of the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence.

Actually speaking, the Jade Pearl Strange Stones that accompany the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence are not ordinary materials; in terms of hardness alone, they far surpass most metals and stones.

After refining several pieces of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, Yunhe temporarily stopped his actions, waiting until his spiritual power fully recovered before continuing to refine the remaining Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence.

Such a tedious refining process lasted for several months.

Yunhe expended tremendous effort before finally succeeding in refining all the metal stone into a special golden liquid.

Then he immediately began to process the phoenix tree wood.

The refining of phoenix tree wood is actually not much easier than that of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, because it inherently possesses a fire attribute and is moreover an extraordinary fire; even elixir fire struggles to scorch its main body.

Fortunately, the spiritual power in the phoenix tree wood is limited and cannot continuously resist the scorching of elixir fire, so it was eventually refined by Yunhe into several masses of reddish-orange liquid.

Just the refining of the materials lasted over a year.

The process of continuously sacrificing with elixir fire day and night was also a cultivation process for Yunhe.

During this period.

To maintain the elixir fire's burning, the middle-grade Spirit Stones used amounted to nearly over a hundred, plus a large quantity of elixirs.

Just this preparatory work consumed a large amount of resources.

But it was all worth it.

This time Yunhe fell asleep and only after three full days and nights did he barely recover.

"No wonder there are so few top-tier artifact refiners; who could endure refining like this?"

The feeling of spiritual power recovery failing to keep up with consumption, leading to exhaustion, constantly squeezing oneself to maintain, is far harder than pure, monotonous cultivation.

"Only the final preparations remain."

Five Elements Forging Array!

To refine a complete set of magical treasures, such a refining array is indispensable.

Fortunately, this array does not require high attainments in array craft; one just needs to follow the pattern.

After setting up the array, placing the Spirit Stones, and testing its viability, Yunhe began to rest.

He repeatedly reviewed and simulated the refining process in his mind.

Only after becoming familiar with it did he finally start the final refining.

That day.

Yunhe's expression turned solemn; sitting cross-legged, he lifted his fingers slightly, and with a cry of 'rise,' several vessels of various sizes before him opened, and masses of golden liquid, reddish-orange liquid, and milky-white liquid flew up.

Immediately afterward, white, green, black, red, and yellow five-colored spiritual energy rose from his body, and faintly behind him appeared the phantasmal forms of the five-element spiritual beasts.

Hum—

The Five Elements Forging Array also activated accordingly.

Afterward, he expertly expelled five mouths of elixir fire.

Accompanied by the sound of 'puff puff puff,' various materials, under his control, entered the elixir fire.

For a moment.

Five-colored light burst forth above the five-element elixir fire, and the liquid within the elixir fire, under the control of his spiritual power, divine sense, and the array, gradually changed shape.

Kneading into rounds, flattening, stretching.

Sizzle—sizzle—

Amidst scattering sparks, the outlines of five flying swords gradually took shape.

Yunhe drew a deep breath, his eyes narrowed, his divine sense as substantial as substance, and intricate, rather mysterious patterns were slowly etched onto the flying swords.

He left enough space in the patterns, so that if he later discovers new findings regarding the Golden Shadow Pattern and the Dragon Scale Pattern, he can at any time supplement and reforge the flying swords.

Theoretically, the number of flying swords in the Five Elements Sword Formation has no upper limit, starting with five flying swords; therefore, if he can in the future gather more Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, he can continue to expand the number of the complete set of magical treasures.

Of course, this is not an easy task.

After finishing engraving the patterns and ensuring the refining process was unaffected, Yunhe let out a great sigh of relief.

He then continued to focus on the refining.

Next, the Meteoric Thunder Essence must be fused into it.

The shape of the flying swords gradually took form, and some patterns also emerged under Yunhe's meticulous carving.

The refining process went very smoothly.

Three months later.

Amidst the vast sea of clouds, suddenly a muffled thunder 'boom' rang out.

The next moment.

The light here grew dim, dark clouds gathered, and within the thick black clouds surged a hidden-and-visible lightning slurry.

Frightened, the cloud beasts that originally dwelled on the island scattered and fled in all directions.

Whoosh—

A somewhat disheveled figure flew out from atop the cloud island, gazing at the thunderclouds overhead, eyes gleaming with sharp light.

It was Yunhe, who had just completed his weapon forging.

"I was worried about not finding a method for the final tempering, but now it's perfect."

Immediately afterwards, he let out a low shout:

"Go!"

Five swords shimmering with golden lightning arcs flew out together.

That was precisely the moment they appeared.

Boom!!

A huge golden thunderbolt crashed down, perfectly enveloping all five swords.

Yet the swords showed no sign of damage; instead, they looked more solid and bright, shedding a hazy glow.

After this thunderbolt fell, the dark clouds above gradually dispersed, as if its appearance had been solely for these five swords.

Seeing this, Yunhe's face lit up with joy.

He opened his mouth, and the swords slipped into it.

"The Five Phases Heavenly Thunder Sword is forged!"

(End of chapter)