The mold is cast using molten iron to determine the shape, size, and... capacity of spiritual energy that the magical artifact can store.
One by one, the failed molds were thrown back into the forging pot to be remade. By the time Gu Yuan's satisfactory mold was made, there was hardly any molten iron left in the forging pot.
An ordinary vajra is only about half the size of an adult's forearm and is made of metal.
Gu Yuan, however, took an unconventional approach, using all the molten iron as a pad, and would use various materials to make it throughout the entire process!
This is also a necessary step in the recipe for the magical artifact, "Breaking the Root and Subduing the Spirit Pestle"!
How could ordinary mortal objects possibly create magical artifacts that reach the second tier?
The Spirit-Slaying Pestle, as its name suggests, possesses a special power that can destroy any type of spiritual energy. No matter how obscure the spiritual energy is, it will be destroyed by the Spirit-Slaying Pestle.
However, each spirit-summoning pestle must be bound to a user. Once bound, the pestle will attach itself to the user's dantian.
Each time it is used, it requires the consumption of spiritual roots in the dantian as a price, in exchange for unparalleled power!
This item was created several hundred years later by a master craftsman from one of the three upper sects. It has methods for upgrading items from the first to the sixth rank.
However, due to the high cost, these magical artifacts are usually given to cultivators in sects who have exhausted their potential and have no further possibility of improvement!
In his previous life, when Gu Yuan attacked the three upper sects, he plundered their treasure troves, and this recipe naturally fell into Gu Yuan's collection.
Unfortunately, Gu Yuan did not establish any power in his previous life, so the Spirit-Subduing Pestle had no value in being used.
In order to ensure the success of the weapon forging, Gu Yuan specifically chose the weapon forging method he often used in his previous life!
This method is called the "Five Elements Mutual Generation Refining Method"!
It is a weapon-refining method based on the Five Elements and Five Paths, which can only be successfully executed when all five methods are combined.
The art of weapon crafting differs from ordinary methods; it has no requirements regarding realm or level. It only requires reaching a certain level of mental state for weapon crafting.
This is also one of the advantages that Gu Yuan brought from his previous life. In his previous life, Gu Yuan was a master of several schools of thought, and in this life, he can use them without having to cultivate his mental state.
But at this very moment.
This object was surprisingly suitable when faced with a black clay statue without a physical form and an iron-man-like evil creature with a solid outer layer!
In addition, Gu Yuan has materials with various properties. If he doesn't refine this Spirit-Subduing Pestle, wouldn't that be a waste?
Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Yuan mixed the ingredients in the refining pot faster and faster.
Relying on his experience in weapon crafting accumulated in his previous life, and with his increasingly skillful techniques, Gu Yuan continuously modified and estimated the success rate of the formula.
If you sense that a certain operation will cause the entire process to fail, then discard it immediately and quickly deduce a new technique...
Even though his palms were scorched black by the blazing flames, Gu Yuan did not stop channeling his spiritual energy.
Because at this moment, Gu Yuan had no way out.
The spiritual energy within me is only enough for this final refinement...
First, add the five elements, following the order of their mutual generation.
Using the Green Wood Flame Transformation Technique, the rattan wood was used to draw the fire elemental power from the pot, and then a first-tier peak material, the Blazing Flame, was added.
Once the flames had fully integrated into the pot, Gu Yuan made a hand gesture and used the Fire Forging Method to refine the fire elemental energy. Surprisingly, a rootless earth elemental energy rose slowly from the pot. Following this energy, Gu Yuan added the remaining five elements ingredients.
"The Xuanhuang Condensed Gold Record".
"Taibai Qu Yuan Jing".
"Mysterious waters nurture clusters."
After all the five elements of spiritual power have been invested, there are only two final steps left, which are also the two most difficult steps.
The first step is to neutralize the remaining three materials with different attributes, and to fuse these materials into a single magical artifact.
Suddenly, an evil aura swept in.
It was the black earth statue on the side. It seemed that seeing Gu Yuan gradually stabilize the violent energy in the refining pot, it immediately tried to do something bad, just like before, to make Gu Yuan's refining die in the womb!
If there is too much interference from evil energy, the magical artifacts in the refining pot will turn into scrap metal again.
Just as the Black Earth Statue was playing dirty tricks, the entity in its abdomen also began to stir again.
This forced the Black Earth Statue to stop interfering with Gu Yuan and instead suppress the entity within its body.
At this moment, Gu Yuan had no time to worry about anything else. Seeing that the resistance had decreased, he quickly increased his efforts and accelerated the refining process.
Such haste means that even if the crafting is successful, the quality will be low, resulting in a very poorly crafted magical artifact.
But since things have come to this point, we shouldn't get bogged down in the details.
Moreover, those evil energies just now actually helped Gu Yuan a lot!
This malevolent energy suppressed the spiritual power within many of the materials, significantly increasing Gu Yuan's speed, but inevitably lowering the quality even further...
"Awoooooo!"
Hearing the eerie screams emanating from the black earth statue, it was likely that the being inside had reached its limit.
On the other side, Uemura Ki was also deathly pale.
All that could be seen was Shang Gongji tightly clutching the last half of the spirit stone in his hand.
In less than a minute, Shanggong Ji will no longer be able to maintain his spiritual energy. Not only will the fire spiritual energy barrier fail, but even the pseudo-fire core will soon be extinguished...
Ultimately, this pseudo-fire heart is nothing more than a first-tier magic weapon.
To be able to stimulate the fire elemental power within a three-colored mixed spiritual root to such an extent is something countless people wouldn't even dare to dream of.
And now, even this last hope is about to be extinguished.
Shang Gongji was unwilling to accept this, wondering why the two evil beings he ultimately encountered were both so troublesome.
Why is it that I can only melt the surface of this iron lump, but can never completely destroy it...?
This is what makes second-tier evil creatures so unique!
Unlike cultivators, evil beings rely heavily on their innate bloodline.
Unfortunately for this iron-man monster, upon advancing to the second tier, it awakened the "fire-resistant iron" ability.
But that makes sense, since this iron monster was probably originally created to fight against the magma tiger.
Both the Iron Man and the Black Soil Statue can be upgraded from the first-tier earthen brick and stone statues; they simply choose different paths.
This black soil creature seems to be even more skilled in earthen tunnels and secret passages.
Iron Man, on the other hand, is the type who goes all the way down the path of gold.
Now, with an additional layer of fire resistance, the Iron Man Evil is a nightmare for all low-level fire-path cultivators.
"Damn it, Gu Yuan! Didn't I say it would be a quarter of an hour? Are you done yet?!"
"I can't breathe," Shang Gongji roared in despair, "I've already used up the last half of my spirit stone..."
At this moment, the flame patterns on Shanggong Ji's body also turned orange-yellow, and the temperature was constantly decreasing.
Without the supply of spiritual energy, the fake fire core is ultimately a fake; without spiritual energy, it will soon be extinguished.
At this moment, Gu Yuan's face was like a still pool of water, calm and without the slightest ripple, his deep eyes like a bottomless abyss, so calm that it was chilling.
The stark contrast between the refining pot and the spiritual energy within Gu Yuan's body created a striking contrast. One was like a volcano about to erupt, expanding to the brink of collapse, while the other resembled a dried-up riverbed, already depleted!
At this critical moment, Gu Yuan's booming voice rang out.
"The demonic path of a thousand years is unperturbed, and the sea of blood is filled with laughter as the nine celestial beings are laughed at."
"Abandoning the gate of life to seek the path of death, I look around and find no familiar faces."
"Kindness can be abandoned and affection can be severed, but humanity is not extinguished and the path is boundless."
"Though the refinement of Qi is but a glimpse into the Great Dao, the forging of the pestle in the deepest abyss will determine the fate of the world."
The next moment, the area that was originally filled with the aura of the earthen path was suddenly submerged by a large amount of different spiritual energy, just like the sea surface swept by a gale!
And just as Shang Gongji and the two second-tier evil creatures were watching in utter terror, the refining pot... reached its critical point and exploded completely!
Gu Yuan, who was at the very center of the explosion, was laughing loudly like a madman, completely different from his calm demeanor earlier.
His laughter was so arrogant, so unrestrained.
As smoke and dust billowed up, no one could see what actually happened in the end.
As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, a figure stepped out like a ghost!
Before the black earth statue could complete its transformation, it was struck like lightning by a small, exquisite vajra that was surrounded by colorful luster but whose body was as black as ink!
In an instant, Heitu let out a hoarse cry like a night owl, and its once solid body trembled violently like a candle flickering in the wind, collapsing and disintegrating like a sand sculpture!
"this...."
Shang Gongji couldn't believe his eyes. As the black soil collapsed, countless clumps of black soil surged toward the remaining body.
And that figure rushing out could only be Gu Yuan!