The combination of the Sun-Blaze Wood and Yaya was currently Qi Ping's surest way to reach the combat power of the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection at the fastest possible speed. After Yaya awakened the Sun Body, its speed of absorbing and refining solar power had increased drastically, and it had currently reached a relative limit. As long as resources kept up, its strength would enter a period of explosive growth!
Among all resources, what could be more suitable for Yaya than the Solar Essence produced by a Rank 3 Sun-Blaze Wood? This was even better than Rank 3 spirit herbs! Qi Ping felt that with this help, there was a high possibility that Yaya's bloodline would transform once more.
As for what spell to etch into the Ghost-Iron Tree, Qi Ping had spent a long time thinking. The tree could be etched with a spell to refine high-quality minerals for the Stone Spirit's growth or to produce high-quality spirit iron for sale. But after much consideration, none of these satisfied him. Finally, a flash of inspiration hit him.
'Can I etch a forging and tempering method into the Ghost-Iron Tree so that it can temper itself?'
'That way, it can continuously forge its own trunk, giving it a better chance of breaking through bloodline limitations to reach Rank 4 or higher. I can also set part of the spell to continuously refine a set of spirit armor for me.'
He had considered this many times. After researching various spells and consulting Meng Yan on forging techniques, he made his decision: he would use the Ghost-Iron Tree to forge a set of spirit armor!
This forging method did not need to be overly complex. Qi Ping only needed to forge the basic shape of the armor, and the Ghost-Iron Tree would handle the continuous tempering and nurturing. The tree itself produced Ghost-Iron, a high-quality spirit iron. Once it began absorbing the Stone Spirit's companion ores and underwent years of forging and nurturing, the quality of the armor would undoubtedly reach a terrifying level.
Qi Ping's requirements for the armor were simple: it had to be strong and highly spiritual! High strength was for defense—this was what he valued most. With the combination of Ghost-Iron and the companion ores, plus daily tempering, Qi Ping was confident the material's strength would exceed most weapons of the same rank.
High spirituality was so that he could engrave a powerful slaughter-array and defensive array upon the scales! For his vision, he wanted the armor to be like dragon scales. Utilizing his Golden Stone Physique's ability to manipulate metal, it could form a suit of armor for defense or disperse into a killing formation!
Once he finalized the idea, he got to work. But this time, he wasn't just working from pure imagination. The forging and nurturing of spirit tools were much harder than the Star-Dust Refinement Method. Having never tried it, he couldn't guarantee he could create the perfect manual without firsthand experience.
Therefore, after gaining a sufficient understanding of forging and consulting Meng Yan, Qi Ping took out some common minerals and began forging.
"I'll start with the Eighteen Spiritual Fire Refinements!"
This was a type of spiritual forging that used spiritual power and spirit fire to slowly temper and nurture the iron. The advantage of this method was its high success rate and the high quality of the finished product, but the disadvantage was that it was extremely time-consuming. Generally, only Natal Spirit Tools were made this way. Spiritual forging was categorized by the type of energy used: fire, water, lightning, or even non-attributed spiritual power.
'These Eighteen Spiritual Fire Refinements are quite simple!'
Qi Ping looked at a cold, gleaming scale in his hand, a smile appearing on his face. It had only taken him three days to use the technique to forge a scale about the size of a fingernail. If Meng Yan knew what Qi Ping was thinking, he would probably want to punch him. Even with Meng Yan's high talent, it had taken him over a month to produce his first finished piece with that method, yet Qi Ping had done it in three days!
But this was because their starting points were different. With Qi Ping's current soul comprehension and his control over spiritual power and the Beast King's Flame, performing such foundational tempering was not difficult.
With the experience of his first success, he quickly produced a third and a fourth piece. Once he confirmed his understanding was correct, he began practicing the second type of spiritual forging. After about half a month, he had become thoroughly familiar with five different forging methods.
'These forging methods are simple. They seem varied, but they all involve using different powers to temper and nurture the spirit iron. As Brother Meng said, there isn't much difficulty; with enough practice, one will always understand.'
'However, the power the Ghost-Iron Tree uses isn't any of these five. I only need to create a fundamental forging method based on non-attributed spiritual power, and the tree can handle the rest.'
Over the next week, he perfected a forging method that was close to the essence of the craft. Its overall effect seemed plain, but it could be adapted to almost any type of power to produce unique results. This was perfect for the Ghost-Iron Tree!
"I'll call it the Ghost-Stone Forging Art."
Next, Qi Ping spent over half a month using this art and the iron produced by the tree to forge a set of spirit armor that was perfectly tailored to him. With a thought, and under the control of his Golden Stone Physique, dozens of pitch-black scales on the ground instantly wrapped around him, transforming into a suit of armor with a powerful visual impact!
'This armor looks quite domineering!'
'It looks a bit like the scales of a Sea-Riling Flood Dragon; it's quite handsome!'
Observing himself with his divine sense, Qi Ping was quite satisfied. With another thought, the scales shifted, transforming into layers of shields protecting his vital spots. Then they scattered into countless individual scales across the area. At this point, he only needed to engrave the array runes, and he could instantly activate the formation to seal off the space.
"Excellent!"
"This armor shall be called the Ghost-Stone Scale Armor!"
After the initial tests, he was very pleased. With the task complete, he brought the armor to a large tree that possessed the texture of black iron. When he controlled the armor to cover the tree, the entire set slowly merged into the trunk!