Chapter 137: with translation of chapter title

Zhou Shuo refined the Heaven Pillar Divine Stone into an Immortal Stone Spirit Pill, intending it as a later receptacle for his second primordial spirit; though its finest essence had been extracted, the remaining stone fragments did not revert to rock or ash but retained jade quality, preserving part of the Immortal Stone Spirit's essence and having undergone yin-yang qi refinement, making them superb forging material.

Facing the remaining divine stone fragments, Zhou Shuo began to ponder forging; forging is not simply casual practice—every magic treasure that appears has its own function, beyond mere defense and attack there are binding treasures and spatial treasures to assist and amplify spellcasting, etc. Thus, to forge a magical implement, one must first understand where it will be used, then design its model according to that function.

Refining a magic treasure is a very rigorous process; Zhou Shuo thought carefully, did not immediately start refining, but took out his narrow sword and, using the alchemy method he had just employed to refine the Immortal Stone Spirit Pill, began to refine—or upgrade—the long sword.

Zhou Shuo manipulated the innate primordial qi within his narrow sword, refining it like fine carving, opening in the blade something akin to an orifice; this method was also how he had long ago forged the narrow sword.

The narrow sword itself already possesses a cluster of orifices resembling the corporeal and hunpo of a human, enabling it to sense malice; Zhou Shuo's current manipulation, besides opening the other six hunpo, also requires opening the spirits, souls, and will represented by the five viscera and six bowels, thereby making the sword 'alive'.

Refining equipment essentially means infusing qi and spirit into matter to give it a special ability; Zhou Shuo's upgrade of the long sword proceeded smoothly, and once the sword's body had its 'five viscera' complete, he began using the sword body as a crucible and the internal sword qi as the medicinal ingredient.

Just as before when refining the Heaven Pillar Divine Stone, the long sword, after undergoing internal elixir technique reversal, quickly began to contract, finally condensing into an iron pill the size of a fingertip, which could also be called a sword pellet.

"Piling clouds to reach the heavens, firm qi sustains, treading soft as cotton, able to bear ten thousand jun, silver gauze—I have already achieved this first!" Zhou Shuo pinched the sword pellet formed from his narrow sword, lightly flicked his finger, and the fingertip-sized sword pellet instantly left his hand, responding to the thought and turning into a cold-light spirit serpent.

The cold-light spirit serpent danced in the spacious secret chamber, its cold light sometimes thin as silk, then suddenly unfurling into a bending dragon, coiling and rotating up and down; these wish-fulfilling formed sword lights are not illusions but real threads drawn out, and extremely sharp— a slight graze can cleave any substance into two.

Zhou Shuo retrieved the sword pellet and swallowed it into his abdomen; however, this item is not as extraordinarily material as the Immortal Stone Spirit Pill— after becoming a pill it directly enters a non-material state, yet still requires further tempering and nurturing to attain that state; certainly it cannot be transformed into a second primordial spirit, but in a crisis it can serve as a vessel for the primordial spirit.

After refining the sword pellet, Zhou Shuo's interest soared; he had plans for refining the remnants of the Heaven Pillar Divine Stone, intending to craft a set of jade talismans for both amplifying the Heavenly Thread Scripture and Golden Light Spell, etc., and for use in mechanism‑assembled weapons in actual combat, with comprehensive functions; as for the sword pellet, kept in his belly, it is best suited for a sneak‑attack killing strike.

Having made his plans, Zhou Shuo at once took paper and brush, also producing the notebook of Divine Machine Hundred Reflections and the secret manual of the Heavenly Thread Scripture, drawing on the content of these two of the Eight Extraordinary Skills to draft the initial magic‑treasure model.

From the shape of each jade talisman to the sigils to be engraved on them, then the mechanisms between the talismans, and referencing some refinement methods on the talismans themselves, Zhou Shuo sketched his ideas on paper, then carefully revised and calculated them before finally confirming the design.

Because it is a set of magic treasures and also serves as a mechanism‑assembled weapon, Zhou Shuo set the jade talismans' shape as cylindrical, and then, to make the treasures less prone to destruction, he also borrowed from the design of the Three Treasures Pearls, obtaining their temporal characteristic.

Initially, Ma Xianhong could withstand Zhou Shuo's tremendous fist force in Azure Tour Village relying solely on the string of Three Treasures Pearls around his neck; though the beads appear only three, they are actually matched with another protective magic treasure.

Besides their own temporal characteristic allowing mutual repair, the Three Treasures Pearls together with their equipped protective magic treasure form a temporal field that shields the treasure's owner in a specific time‑space; within this shield, any attack on the owner is reflected unchanged back onto the attacker.

To attack someone inside the Three Treasures Pearls, one must either seize a time‑space rift or directly jump into the opponent's time‑space, using a force beyond human endurance to destroy the treasure and pull its protected person out of that time‑space.

Zhou Shuo, borrowing the temporal characteristic of the Three Treasures Pearls, designed a set of thirteen jade talismans: one mother and twelve children, each talisman engraved with one each of the Purifying Mouth Spell, Purifying Heart Spell, Purifying Heaven‑Earth Spell, Nectar Spell, and Golden Light Spell, with the mother talisman additionally engraved with the Falling Banner Spell.

The thirteen mother‑child jade talismans, refined as a set, are made to mutually attract and cling, and to self‑repair between them; each talisman can be used singly for protection, spellcasting, or healing, and can also be joined together into a bamboo‑joint steel whip for melee combat.

Before refining the jade talismans, spring was gradually approaching, with low thunder rumbling in the sky; Zhou Shuo first borrowed the principle of the Immortal Capital Jade Pendant, refining a piece of Heaven‑Emitting Jade, drawing a great amount of spring thunder from the air, then using it to temper his Clever Twin Orifices.

The human body possesses countless orifices, totaling 129,600, the number of a yuan; however, the orifices actually present in the body are only 1,296, while the others are hidden within these 1,296 major orifices—hence the saying 'an orifice within an orifice, when one orifice opens, a hundred open'.

Zhou Shuo drew thunder from the air, then, using the method of divine light reflection, he illuminated and opened each of the two hundred minor orifices within his Clever Twin Orifices, drew the thunder into them to temper, thereby advancing his vision and hearing beyond their former base.

Vision and hearing—seeing far and hearing wide—are merely superficial; when facing a wall, vision fails, and when facing a language barrier, no matter how keen the hearing, it is useless; the ultimate of sight and sound is to abolish such obstacles as walls and language, and once these obstacles are removed, a person is truly intelligent.

After opening all the minor orifices within his Clever Twin Orifices, Zhou Shuo turned and began refining the mother‑child jade talismans, aided by his transcendent vision‑hearing and steady true‑qi control, swiftly inscribing the required sigils, then collectively cultivating and refining them; over twenty‑one days he succeeded in grasping the thirteen‑joint jade bamboo in his hand.

"From today on, you shall be called the Divine Power Whip." Zhou Shuo gripped the bamboo‑joint whip in his hand, lightly swung his right hand, and the thirteen jade bamboo talismans instantly detached segment by segment; except the mother talisman remaining in his hand, the child talismans were linked together by liquid‑state golden light, which he lashed hard against the floor of the secret chamber, then with a crack‑crack they shrank back into the form of jade bamboo.

"Next, it seems I ought to find someone to test this whip." Zhou Shuo observed the whip's ability to be soft or hard, lightly waved his hand, scattering a sheet of golden rosy light from the bamboo‑joint whip, wore a satisfied smile, took the golden light back into the whip with his other hand, and began to think.

In order to refine this Divine Power Whip, Zhou Shuo entered intermittent closed‑door cultivation for nearly four months; upon emerging, Hong Yi, Yang Zheng, and others happened to be present in the prince's manor, besides them were You Lulai Te and the Stone Flute Prince.

You Lulai Te and the Stone Flute Prince had come to discuss matters with Hong Yi and Yang Zheng; they were envoys of the Golden Spider Dharma King, hoping to obtain a drop of evil‑god blood from Hong Yi in order to survive the heavenly tribulation.

During the period Zhou Shuo was refining treasures, Hong Yi scored a major haul: not only did he survive one heavenly tribulation, he also captured the hidden Western Regions Huoluo Sacrificial Priest Saint Dao Fu lurking in Jade Capital City, gaining many good things from him—aside from the Dharma Blood Divine Blanket and evil‑god blood, there is also a volume of the Dark God Soul‑Refining Record, which is a part of the Huoluo God Temple's supreme canon, the Essence‑Blood Yuan‑Qi Collection.

"The last time I met the Dharma King in the Wastelands, it's been quite a few days since we last saw each other, Princess You Lulai Te—take this back to give to the Dharma King; I will teach you a method, you tell it to the Dharma King when you return, and by relying on this method he can smoothly survive one to four heavenly tribulations." Zhou Shuo looked at You Lulai Te, handed over the Heaven‑Emitting Talisman, and said with a smile.

"……?" You Lulai Te stared at the jade talisman handed to her, her big blue eyes showing surprise and doubt; the surprise came from Zhou Shuo's confident guarantee that he could survive one to four heavenly tribulations, while the doubt was why, if he had such a method, he would give it to her, and whether there was some ulterior motive.

"This is out of respect for your face." Zhou Shuo looked at the foreign princess full of doubt, couldn't help but chuckle, then leaned to her ear and explained the critical points for surviving one to four heavenly tribulations, as well as the method of deriving heavenly tribulation from yin and yang qi; of course, those nearby such as Hong Yi and the others could absolutely not hear it.

"If the Dharma King worries that I designed this to harm him, he can simply discard the talisman; however, I hope the princess will remember me." Having finished explaining the tribulation‑survival method, Zhou Shuo fixed his gaze on You Lulai Te's eyes, the corners of his mouth curling with a natural smile.

"Your words, I will bring to my master; as for you, that depends on whether I am pleased or not." You Lulai Te gripped the jade talisman, watched Zhou Shuo intently observing her, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"I hope the pure silk always maintains a cheerful and optimistic mood." Zhou Shuo looked at the laughing, carefree foreign princess and responded with a laugh.

"Then I shall take my leave, Prince Jade, Master Hong; I have troubled you with this back‑and‑forth, though the deal fell through, I personally hold high hopes for you, Prince Jade." You Lulai Te looked at Zhou Shuo's laughing words, her face flushed slightly, then she sprang up; although she did not obtain evil‑god blood from Hong Yi, she also gained an unexpected harvest, though she did not know its exact value.

"Princess You Lulai Te, thanks for your kind words." Yang Zheng watched Zhou Shuo, who as soon as he came out seized the conversation and won You Lulai Te's favor, feeling a mix of laughter and exasperation, yet equally not remiss.