[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-immortal-path-among-the-stars":3,"chapter-the-immortal-path-among-the-stars-the-immortal-path-among-the-stars-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Immortal Path Among the Stars",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2320030,4537,"Chapter 98","the-immortal-path-among-the-stars-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>The next day at noon, in the Earth Fire Chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu and the other two sat cross-legged beside the giant cauldron, each extending one hand to press against a leg of the cauldron, causing the flames emerging from the three dragon-head handles to grow slightly thicker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above the giant cauldron, the originally white small sword embryo now faintly glowed red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At one side of the giant cauldron, a black-robed elder sat on a yellow cushion, one hand forming a seal, muttering incantations under his breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, he raised one hand and shot a spell toward the ceiling of the Earth Fire Chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was a loud “bang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ceiling suddenly cracked open a large hole, and a mechanical bracket slowly extended downward, its front end embedded with two polished copper mirrors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Sun flicked his sleeve, and two white crystal stones shot out, vanished in a flash, and disappeared into the copper mirrors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next instant, the two copper mirrors trembled slightly, each spewing forth a white beam of light—one perfectly covering the sword embryo above the cauldron, the other striking the opposite stone wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, a magnified image of a giant sword became clearly visible on the stone wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu was slightly startled by this sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None of the metallurgy notebooks mentioned this device—could this be Master Sun’s secret technique?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same moment, the black-robed elder flipped his hand and pulled out a yellow gourd and a purple circular basin from his robes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one knew what material the purple basin was made of; without any spellcasting, the elder simply placed it before him, and it floated silently in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, the elder picked up the gourd and poured a silvery liquid into the basin, tucked the gourd away, and pulled out another object from his robes—a long, jet-black needle-like artifact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stroked the needle with one hand, glanced at the white small sword in the cauldron, and spoke to the three below:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Forging an artifact involves three steps. The first step—material selection—is simplest; what materials you can use for the embryo depends entirely on your experience, your understanding of materials, and what you have at hand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The second step—crafting the embryo—is also straightforward; it tests the metallurgist’s skill, and the embryo’s quality greatly affects the artifact’s power.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the first two steps merely influence the artifact’s quality, the final step—inscribing spirit patterns—decisively determines success or failure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fail the first two, and you merely produce a lower-quality artifact; fail the final step, and the entire artifact is ruined.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s why I can handle material selection and crafting alone, but I must call for help for the final spirit pattern inscription—I must minimize every possible cause of failure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After speaking, the black-robed elder pulled out a talisman from his robes, waved it toward the opposite wall, and it ignited on the spot; seven spirit lights flew out, vanished in a flash, and sank into the stone wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next instant, seven indistinct spirit patterns appeared on the giant sword image on the wall—one green, six red—but all intertwined, flickering constantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu, witnessing this, was even more astonished—this was not recorded in any of the metallurgy notebooks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder Master Sun needed only one assistant—immediately someone came forward. Indeed, some things can only be learned by seeing them firsthand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Spirit patterns on artifacts generally fall into two types. One is called ‘noise patterns,’ which directly enhance the embryo’s properties—making it lighter, faster, stronger, sharper, and so on.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The other is ‘spell patterns,’ which form magical spirit pattern diagrams, granting the embryo magical abilities.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Originally, the Fire Dragon Sword only needed six spirit patterns of the Spark Spell. But now, we must add one more pattern to make it sharper, merging it with the Spark Spell diagram to transform it into a tiered artifact—this greatly increases the inscription difficulty, and is also a challenge for me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Typically, inscribing spirit patterns requires a tool of artifact grade—a spirit needle or spirit knife. You can hold the needle directly and inscribe the patterns point by point, or use your spiritual sense to remotely control the tool.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I do not cultivate fire-affinity cultivation methods, so I cannot withstand the Earth Fire’s heat for long, and I am old and frail—thus, I choose to inscribe the patterns using remote control.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether Master Sun was speaking to Wang Yu and the others—or to himself—he immediately dipped the jet-black needle into the liquid of the basin after finishing these words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, he flicked his wrist—the black needle shot upward toward the white small sword, its tip pointing down, trembling as it began to etch the blade’s surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simultaneously, the opposite stone wall clearly projected the entire process of the needle inscribing the sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Sun watched the magnified image on the wall, carefully manipulating the needle, leaving behind tiny silver marks on the blade’s surface—marks that quickly connected into lines…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The short-haired woman and the outer-disciple man continuously maintained the Earth Fire’s intensity without change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu silently whispered, “Overclock,” and his senses rapidly amplified; everything around him slowed, his eyes gleaming as he fixed them on the spirit needle above the small sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under his enhanced vision, the first spirit pattern the black-robed elder inscribed was the green one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This pattern appeared not overly complex.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elder’s remote-control technique was extremely refined; though the needle could only leave a tiny mark each time, soon he completed more than half of the silver symbol on the blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at that moment, the seven spirit patterns on the wall blurred and changed shape entirely, unlike before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elder paid no attention to the changes on the wall, continuing to inscribe the patterns at his own pace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu silently memorized every movement and rhythm of the spirit needle with his super-vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fifteen minutes passed—the first spirit pattern was successfully completed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Sun began inscribing the second spirit pattern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This one started smoothly, but when one-third was done, the seven spirit patterns on the wall blurred again and changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first completed spirit pattern on the sword responded with a flicker, causing the blade to tremble slightly, and the needle’s landing point shifted slightly off course.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu, witnessing this, wore a thoughtful expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-robed elder’s face darkened like he’d swallowed something foul; he gestured with one hand—the needle flew back—and ordered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Increase the Earth Fire’s power by ten percent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three immediately intensified their spiritual energy input; the flames spewing from the dragon-head handles thickened noticeably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The incomplete, fragmented pattern vanished rapidly under the Earth Fire’s assault, leaving only the first complete spirit pattern glowing on the small sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Sun took a deep breath, dipped the needle again into the basin’s liquid, then activated the artifact once more, beginning to inscribe the second spirit pattern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, when the second pattern was halfway done, for some reason, the needle trembled again and faltered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Sun’s face darkened at the sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yu, however, seemed to have clearly seen what had just happened—a faint, peculiar expression crossed his face.\u003C\u002Fp>",1176,"2026-06-20T15:44:30.991Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","70881f9917bdbf6e65b7e05036d7aefdeef26e7a5334705043e22e1745149079","the-immortal-path-among-the-stars-chapter-99","the-immortal-path-among-the-stars-chapter-97",530,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-immortal-path-among-the-stars-cover.jpg"]