Chapter 186: Ten Thousand Years of Treasure Refining

The strength or weakness of a Supreme Treasure's power generally depends on two aspects.

First, the material used to refine the Supreme Treasure; the higher the material quality, the stronger the explosive force the Treasure can endure, and thus the less likely it is to be damaged.

Second, the strength of the secret pattern engraved in the Treasure; the stronger the Secret Pattern Combination and the more it matches the user's attributes, the more powerful the unleashed power naturally becomes.

According to the Mountain Hermit's view, the Universe's law power is almost limitless, but a living body has a limit of endurance, so sometimes one's own Law Perception becomes powerful to a certain degree, yet because of bodily limits, one cannot fully unleash the perceived law power.

The so‑called Treasure Refining Art instead forges a series of 'perfect carriers'—far surpassing a living body's bearing capacity—using powerful metals, rare items, spirit materials, etc., then imprints one's own insight onto them. With the aid of these 'perfect carriers', one can unleash all the power of one's perception! The forging of the 'perfect carrier' and the imprinting of the 'Law Perception' are the two most crucial steps in refining a Supreme Treasure. The Treasure Refining Inheritance passed from the Mountain Hermit to Zhou Yang devotes half its content to explaining how to forge a 'perfect carrier', detailing material selection and listing the properties of various world materials and the effects of their combinations.

The Mountain Hermit's existence spans an extremely long age; the recorded content essentially covers over 99% of material types in the entire Universe, making it exceedingly comprehensive!

In the remaining half, more than 90% discusses the adaptability, conductivity, and pairing methods of various materials with the Ten Great Laws; only the tiny leftover portion truly details concrete refining techniques and the method of 'Law Imprint'.

This is easy to understand: only by thoroughly mastering each material's characteristics and its compatibility with various laws can one calmly choose suitable materials when refining a Supreme Treasure and forge the most fitting 'perfect carrier'.

As for the final 'Law Imprint' step, it depends on the refiner's own perception strength; once one has perceived it, one can naturally imprint a sufficiently powerful secret pattern!

In the New Universe, on the New Earth, a pleasant‑looking beautiful Dao Yu lies within the boundless Eastern Sea.

At this moment, Zhou Yang, seated on the seaside cliff of the Dao Yu, slowly opened his eyes.

"No wonder they say that a true weapon‑refining master must himself be a peak‑level strongman."

Zhou Yang thought inwardly, "If the perception is insufficient, one naturally cannot imprint a strong enough, compatible secret pattern, and the power of the refined Supreme Treasure will be limited. This step, though the simplest, is also the hardest."

Simple—simple lies in the procedure.

Hard—hard lies in mastering the laws and secret patterns!

"I have comprehended the Chaos Fusion Law; this itself involves continuously familiarizing with and deducing the combinations and transformations of various laws and secret patterns, which conveniently corroborates and promotes the Treasure Refining Art."

Zhou Yang gave a faint smile.

Having the Chaos Secret Pattern Diagram and the New Universe's evolution as references, Zhou Yang has an innate advantage in law‑combination evolution; what he now lacks is control over the 'perfect carrier' forging step. "Let's start by mastering material characteristics!"

As Zhou Yang's intention shifted, the time flow around the seaside cliff began to accelerate, reaching nearly 2,700 times speed in the blink of an eye.

The New Universe is still incomplete, so the manipulable Time‑Acceleration Force is limited; about 2,700 times is roughly the current sustainable limit.

He then sat down in this Time Acceleration Zone and began swiftly perusing the Mountain Hermit's Treasure Refining Inheritance for the material‑selection section.

Time passed slowly; aside from Luo Feng still undergoing the recognition trial in the Star Tower, nothing noteworthy occurred in the Original Universe.

After more than a thousand years passed in the Original Universe, the seated Zhou Yang finally rose.

As the New Universe grew, the time‑acceleration effect gradually intensified.

While a thousand‑plus years elapsed in the Original Universe, Zhou Yang had already been seated on this seaside cliff for over three million years, the longest period of cultivation since his birth! After spending three million years, he finally mastered the entire vast portion of the Mountain Hermit's Treasure Refining Inheritance concerning the forging of the 'perfect carrier'.

Of course, this 'all' refers only to the theoretical part.

How each material should be proportioned, each material's compatibility with different laws, the exact conductivity standards for law power, which types of Supreme Treasure they suit, and what secret patterns should be assigned—all these still require practical testing.

There is no shortcut for this step; one must start from zero and accumulate experience through repeated trials.

Zhou Yang raised his hand and waved; instantly a massive amount of ore, metal, and treasure materials appeared on the island.

Most of these were harvested from killing the Seal King Immortal on the Extraterritorial Battlefield; a few came from exploring the Temporal‑Spatial Abyss 'Gu Natu' cave residence and later from slaying the Doppelganger of the Lord of Rotating Destruction.

Aside from the portion obtained by killing the Lord of Rotating Destruction, the rest are not especially precious—basically basic materials for forging Immortal Level or Esteemed‑level weapons and armor, with only a few meeting the standards for forging a heavy treasure.

But they are sufficient for Zhou Yang's practice.

The forging of a 'perfect carrier' is divided into three steps: material selection, material fusion, and forging.

Selection naturally means picking suitable materials.

For example, to forge a metal weapon, one must choose a metal with strong conductivity and sufficient hardness—something as rigid and strong as possible.

To forge a water‑type battle armor, besides law conductivity and hardness, one must consider deformation defense and force‑absorption, so the chosen material must also possess toughness and impact‑reduction traits.

The refiner must select the most suitable material according to the item's requirements.

As for material fusion and forging, they can actually be regarded as a single step.

Material fusion means finding a way to melt the required materials—either directly casting them into an 'Artifact Prototype', or melting several materials and fusing them into a brand‑new substance before casting the 'Artifact Prototype'. Forging then follows the prototype's formation, involving further hammering, tempering, and the like to enhance toughness, sharpen edges, and carve aesthetics.

When all this is complete, the 'perfect carrier' takes shape.

At that point, simply imprint the required Law Secret Pattern, and a 'treasure' is formed.

It sounds simple, but whether it's material pairing, fusion timing, or forging technique, each demands extensive experience.

Take material fusion, for instance: in principle it's melting the material, but the specifics—whether to use flame scorching or spirit‑liquid dissolution, to what degree to melt, how to control the timing—cannot be mastered without personal trial; no matter how much others speak, they remain 'all talk and no skill'.

A slip in timing can completely ruin a material.

"In the Virtual Universe there are abundant Weapon Forging Methods for Immortal Level and Esteemed‑level weapons; I can first replicate them, and once my experience is refined, gradually attempt forging heavy treasures and Supreme Treasures."

Zhou Yang's mind shifted, and he quickly made up his mind.

"Let's start with this 'Xuan Yuan Divine Armor', a wood‑type battle armor, using these few materials."

He raised his hand in a gesture, and among the massive piles of material on the island, six or seven types instantly flew to his front.

"The next step is 'material fusion'."

Then clusters of red flame materialized in the void, each engulfing one of the materials.

As the flames rose in temperature, the various materials began to melt.

Within the New Universe, Zhou Yang is the master of all things; the Endless Space‑Time Power is an extension of his tendrils, allowing him to finely control each material's subtle changes.

He holds a tremendous advantage in this material‑fusion step.

Gradually, all the materials fully melted, impurities were removed, ultimately reaching the extreme state described in the Treasure Refining Inheritance.

Then Zhou Yang began guiding the various metallic 'liquids' to fuse proportionally, gradually forming an 'Artifact Prototype'; aided by the New Universe Space‑Time Power, everything proceeded smoothly. In the end, a somewhat 'plain' battle‑armor prototype finally took shape.

In fact, at this stage the forging of the 'Xuan Yuan Divine Armor' is already more than half complete, possessing its basic framework.

The remaining 'forging' and 'secret technique imprint' involve further refinement and empowerment of this 'framework'.

Zhou Yang repeatedly heated and calcined the prototype of the Xuan Yuan Divine Armor, hammering and striking, and used a spirit water especially suited for refining—'Xuan Yi Spirit Water'—to temper it, enhancing the prototype's toughness.

Finally, after he carved onto it a secret pattern derived from a wood law that leans toward 'absorption' and 'force‑release', the Immortal Level battle armor 'Xuan Yuan Divine Armor' was completed! Zhou Yang infused a strand of Divine Power, silently sensed it, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"It can reduce all attacks by roughly thirty‑five percent, already very close to the official Xuan Yuan Divine Armor's power."

He couldn't help but nod, "It seems that with the mastery of New Universe Space-Time Power, forging some Immortal-level equipment is now extremely easy for me; let's keep trying."

In the following days, Zhou Yang devoted himself wholeheartedly to the study of the art of forging.

He first familiarized himself with the properties of various materials and the timing of 'melting materials' and 'forging' by imitating some Immortal-level equipment commonly found in the Universe.

Gradually, as he became more familiar, his grasp of different material properties and the timing of forging became increasingly adept; he then began to 'design' various equipment himself, selecting different materials, inscribing different secret patterns, giving them different characteristics.

Various materials, various new secret pattern combination forms, Zhou Yang continuously experimented; these methods gave him different experiences and insights, causing his understanding of forging to advance by leaps and bounds.

Zhou Yang devoted himself wholeheartedly, gradually beginning to attempt 'Venerable-level' equipment, but soon a practical problem arose before him.

Under his numerous attempts, except for a small portion of precious materials capable of forging heavy treasures and supreme treasures, the ordinary materials he had previously gathered were completely exhausted! With no other choice, he could only batch-release the 'Immortal-level' and 'Venerable-level' equipment he had forged over the years of experimentation into the Business Department of the Virtual Universe Company, and draw a large amount of ordinary materials from the Virtual Universe Company, thus ensuring his experiments could continue.

As a lineage holder of the Virtual Universe Company and the Universe Master, drawing some Venerable-level materials is naturally no problem.

On the stone cliffs of the East Sea.

Zhou Yang began again, with ample materials, allowing him to experiment without restraint.

In the midst of this massive experimentation, combining the inheritance of the Mountain Hermit and the methods and experiences of many forging masters from the Virtual Universe Company, Zhou Yang rapidly accumulated experience in forging artifacts.

Furthermore, in continuously trying the application of various Law Secret Pattern combinations, his understanding of Fusion Law also deepened.

Time flowed on, Zhou Yang immersed himself in the understanding of the art of facial devices, while in the Original Universe a scene of genius rising once again unfolded with stirring winds and clouds.

More than four thousand years later, Luo Feng finally succeeded in passing the 'Life-and-Death Trial' of the Star Tower, becoming another direct disciple of the Mountain Hermit.

And then came his path of rising brilliance! Fighting the 'Black Shave King', storming the 'Wu Hua Secret Realm', creating the 'Peerless Absolute Learning', gaining fame in the Ancestor God Sect, nurturing a third doppelganger, breaking through Immortality, slaying the 'Insect Chasing King', waging war against the Universal Overlord—one glorious feat after another continually shook the starry sky, letting the myriad races of the universe sigh at the flourishing of the human race's fortune! And amidst the veil of these countless exploits, in the Original Universe, ninety thousand years have already swiftly pass. (End of chapter)