Chapter 930

Li Luo's goal in preparing the "Wu Shen Dan" was to cultivate the second Dragon Tooth Sword of the "Zhong Xiang Long Ya Jian Zhen": the Wood Dragon Tooth Sword!

After all, among the three main affinities, only Wood and Dragon remain that can be combined.

"Once the Wood Dragon Tooth Sword is forged, only auxiliary affinities and Dragon will be left to pair with."

Li Luo's eyes darkened in thought; currently, his three affinities were: Water-Light Affinity at Lower Eighth Rank, Wood-Earth Affinity recently elevated to Upper Seventh Rank through constant refinement by the Spirit Water Miracle Light, and Dragon-Thunder Affinity the lowest, merely Lower Seventh Rank.

If Li Luo later wished to combine auxiliary affinities with Dragon to forge a new Dragon Tooth Sword, the difficulty would be higher than using main affinities, since auxiliary affinities were, after all, auxiliary—in purity and potency of affinity power, they still fell short of main affinities.

According to Li Luo's estimation, an auxiliary affinity below Eighth Rank would likely have an extremely low success rate in forging a Dragon Tooth Sword.

Thus, elevating Wood-Earth Affinity and Dragon-Thunder Affinity to Eighth Rank was the standard Li Luo set for himself upon entering the "Spirit Affinity Cave Heaven."

If these two affinities could ascend to Eighth Rank, Li Luo's three affinities would all enter the Eighth Rank, and possessing three Eighth Rank affinities—main and auxiliary—his affinity power quality might surpass even Middle Ninth Rank.

Ninth Rank affinity is the only one divided into three tiers, though most people don't feel much difference, since encountering a Ninth Rank affinity is already rare; whether it's Lower, Middle, or Upper Ninth, it hardly matters—it's all top-tier anyway.

For example, to many, a rich person is just a rich person, so they don't care how many sub-levels exist among the wealthy.

Even now, in the Inner Shenzhou, where prodigies abound, Li Luo had yet to see anyone with a Middle Ninth Rank affinity.

The highest he'd seen were Qin Yi's Lower Ninth Rank Water Affinity and Li Li Lingjing, who later ascended to Lower Ninth Rank Black Serpent Affinity due to the "Shi Ling Zhen Mo"'s feedback.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's Light Affinity, though—might it be Middle Ninth?

After mulling over these thoughts, Li Luo refocused his attention on the "Wu Shen Dan" in his hand; forging a "Dragon Tooth Sword" was exceedingly difficult. His prior success with the "Water Dragon Tooth Sword" had relied on Li Li Jingzhe's "Tian Bao Qin Lian Zuo" and its "Precious Stamen" burned to fuel the process—such rare treasures were precious even to King-level experts, and he couldn't keep begging for them.

So he settled for the "Wu Shen Dan" instead; though its effect would surely fall far short of the "Tian Bao Qin Lian Zuo," it could still offer Li Luo some assistance.

Moreover, he didn't expect to forge the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword" in one attempt—his goal this time was merely to use "Star River Sword Intent" to shape a prototype of the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword," then slowly refine it until the timing was ripe to fully complete it.

As he thought of this, Li Luo no longer hesitated—he placed the Wu Shen Dan in his mouth. As a stream of cool energy spread through his body, his mind felt markedly clearer, and his perception of the flow of affinity power within became far more distinct.

Then he closed his eyes and sank his spirit inward.

A mysterious, vast sword array appeared beneath Li Luo's spiritual gaze.

Within the array, torrential sword intent swirled—its sharpness reached a terrifying level; even affinity power flowing into it would be annihilated.

At one corner of the array, a brilliant blue Dragon Tooth Sword hung silently. As waves of powerful sword intent washed over it, ripples like water spread across its surface, and its piercing aura grew even sharper.

Li Luo admired the mesmerizing "Water Dragon Tooth Sword" for a while, then, satisfied, summoned the "Star River Sword Intent" he had gathered over this period.

Over the past month, he had not paused a single moment, and the number of "Star River Sword Intent" he collected had reached about a hundred.

After successfully constructing the "Zhong Xiang Long Ya Jian Zhen," Li Luo's efficiency in gathering "Star River Sword Intent" had improved.

With a thought, streams of Star River Sword Intent converged, merging together to forge the prototype of the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword."

About half an hour passed.

Li Luo stared at the spot where over twenty "Star River Sword Intent" had been consumed—yet remained utterly empty—and fell silent.

The twenty "Star River Sword Intent" Li Luo had painstakingly gathered and expended had vanished into thin air.

"Is it really this hard?" Li Luo murmured. Last time, forging the "Water Dragon Tooth Sword," the efficiency hadn't been this low—he'd thought the "Zhong Xiang Long Ya Jian Zhen" was difficult, but not despairingly so. Yet now, he sensed something was off.

"Was it because of the 'Tian Bao Qin Lian Zuo'?"

Li Luo pondered, then understood the key point: without comparison, he'd merely felt training within the "Tian Bao Qin Lian Zuo" was easy. But now, training the "Zhong Xiang Long Ya Jian Zhen" with the "Wu Shen Dan," the difference became glaringly obvious.

The effect was worlds apart.

Li Luo could only silently chuckle—of course, it was no surprise; the "Tian Bao Qin Lian Zuo" was a cultivation treasure prized by King-level experts. How could a mere Wu Shen Dan compare?

And… the "Wu Shuang Chu Shu"—its reputation was well-deserved; it was excruciatingly hard to cultivate.

But there was no choice—he could only proceed slowly.

Li Luo calmed his heart, shed his impatience, and continued guiding the remaining "Star River Sword Intent," shaping the trajectory of the Dragon Tooth Sword through repeated mergers.

Thus, over the next several days, Li Luo devoted all his energy to forging the prototype of the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword." Though progress was slow, as each stream of Star River Sword Intent was consumed, the prototype's development gradually advanced.

By the fifth day, all the Star River Sword Intent stored within Li Luo's body had been exhausted—the prototype of the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword," as expected, had not fully formed.

Li Luo inner-observed the Dragon Tooth Sword Array and saw a faint green sword shadow, barely visible, as if not truly real.

This was the "Wood Dragon Tooth Sword"—though now, it didn't even qualify as a prototype; at best, it was merely a shadowy outline of the sword.

But this was the result Li Luo had wrung from every ounce of his effort.

"A shadowy outline of the sword is better than nothing, right?"

Li Luo comforted himself with this thought, then withdrew his spirit, leapt from the bed, stretched, walked to the window, and gazed at the outside sky.

"Tomorrow, we set out."

A spark of anticipation gleamed in Li Luo's eyes; the famed "Spirit Affinity Cave Heaven" was finally about to open—a grand event among the young generation of Tianyuan Shenzhou. Each opening drew countless prodigies into fierce competition; those who emerged would ascend to the top and be recorded by the Golden Dragon Treasure Bank on the Feng Hua List, making their names resound across Tianyuan.

Li Luo had little interest in the Feng Hua List—he was pragmatic. After all, unless he sealed his marquis title soon, even if he climbed the Feng Hua List, he'd ultimately become nothing more than a footnote.

"This youth has extraordinary talent—pity, he's short-lived."

"Whether my three affinities can all rise to Eighth Rank depends on this one chance."