Chapter 229: Cultivating a Spirit Weapon
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The weapons inside the Sword Cleansing River were not at the level of Spirit Weapons but were more powerful than high-grade magical weapons. These weapons were all failed attempts by the manor owners across generations at cultivating spirit weapons. Once they failed, they were thrown into the Sword Cleansing River.
“Look out, the both of you. There are five chains in front of you, leading all the way to the other end. If you step on a random chain and run to the other side, you will activate the magical formation of the Million Ancestral Swords.”
Wen Cangtian opened a pair of golden True Energy Wings on his back, charging towards the middle chain. The flying swords in the sword pool erupted again, threatening to unleash their attack any time.
Standing on his tiptoes, he quickly moved to the chain on the right, with the flying swords stabilizing and calming down again.
Following that, Wen Cangtian stepped on the five chains in a random sequence, stepping on every chain thrice, a total of fifteen times, before reaching the other end of the river.
Ye Mo understood what he saw: had Wen Cangtian made a wrong step, the Million Ancestral Swords would have turned him into a porcupine.
If one wanted to pa.s.s through the Sword Cleansing River, firstly, they had to remember the chain-stepping sequence. Then, they had to know how to fly. Not knowing how to fly meant that one would not be able to keep their balance upon stepping on the chain and would fall straight into the Sword Cleansing River.
Wen Cangtian stepped on the chains again as he returned, saying to the two of them, “Have you two memorized the sequence? Any mistake will immediately trigger the Million Ancestral Swords. If you want to watch me cultivate the sword, you will have to pa.s.s through here to the sword pool on the other side.”
The minds of fighters are strengthened by energy, and the same applied their reaction times. Memorizing the sequence was not a difficult task.
“Ye Mo, this is fun! I want to try too!”
Yun Chuchu released a pair of Firecloud Wings on her back and stepped on the chains, her movements extremely light as she reached the other end of the Sword Cleansing River in a breath of time.
“Chuchu is indeed gifted and smart. If it was any normal fighter, stepping on the chain for the first time and detecting the strange movements of the sword formation would have caused them to panic and die in the hands of the formation.” As Wen Cangtian finished speaking, he could not help but turn his gaze to Ye Mo as he said, “I advise you to not try it. There are plenty of fighters who wish to see me cultivate magical weapons, but majority of them have backed down upon seeing this sword formation.”
“No worries, this sword formation is nothing to me.”
Ye Mo smiled slightly as he directly stepped on the chain, his body light as the wind. Having learned the Windward Dash and the techniques of stepping on air, his control over his own body has reached an extremely high level.
Ye Mo finally understood why learning how to step on air was helpful towards his own training!
This act required perfect control of one’s body. Using Energy Wings enabled one to fly but not achieve perfection in body control.
Ye Mo’s moves were clean, efficient, and flawless as he made it to the other end, which left Wen Cangtian completely stunned.
This time, Wen Cangtian finally understood that this Energy Shaping Second Realm man in front of him was more than meets the eye in terms of his true strength. Otherwise, why would Elder Feng feel safe allowing him to accompany Yun Chuchu on this trip?
Coming back to his senses, Wen Cangtian also stepped on the chains across to the other side.
The opposite sh.o.r.e was a giant sword pool, with countless number of knives and swords stabbed into the sh.o.r.es surrounding the pool in a circle. Within the sword pool was an ice-blue flame burning and a giant ice-blue sword floating in the pool, giving off a flas.h.i.+ng glow.
At the four corners of the sword pool were four fighters who were constantly channeling metal elemental energy towards the center of the pool.
“Uncle Cangtian, is that giant sword the Spirit Weapon that you are cultivating?” Yun Chuchu asked. While Elder Feng may have been a master in weapon refinery, she had never seen the process of making a spirit weapon before.
“What you are seeing is only the weapon spirit. I found a rare blue flame at the extreme Northern regions of the Tianwu Kingdom. Placing the flame in the Spirit Plucking Tool, followed by three years of nurturing and refining, this blue flame weapon spirit has started to take shape. When the spirit completely takes shape, it will be able to be completely incorporated into the weapon, and I will be able to successfully cultivate a Spirit Weapon – the Blue Flame Sword.”
The thing floating above the sword pool was a weapon spirit which displayed the exterior shape of a giant sword. A spirit weapon could only be truly cultivated by combining the weapon spirit with the weapon body.
However, nurturing the weapon spirit using the Spirit Plucking Tool was an extremely long process which required the use of sacred treasures to act as an energy supply to feed and nurture the spirit.
Once the weapon spirit was completely nurtured, it would be combined with the weapon body, the most difficult part of the process. Failure meant that the weapon spirit and the weapon body would be completely destroyed.
Hence, Spirit Weapons were truly rare treasures in the Tianwu Kingdom. Everyone was willing to fight tooth and nail to acquire a treasured Spirit Weapon.
“Four sword protectors, what is the situation currently?” Wen Cangtian asked the four of them.
“Master, the weapon spirit is very gentle and has yet to show any strange emotions. It can be combined with the weapon body within three days,” said one of the protectors.
“This is the weapon spirit? Does it mean that the weapon spirit of the Sky Blood Spearhead is also shaped like a spearhead?”
Looking at the blue flame weapon spirit floating in mid-air, Ye Mo was rather shocked.
“This is the lowest tier of weapon spirit. Even if it successfully combines with the weapon body, it will only be a low-grade Spirit Weapon,” said Ling’er.
“You know about cultivating weapons too?” Ye Mo was somewhat surprised.
“I may not have eaten pork, does that mean I’ve never seen a pig run?” Ling’er had a scorned look on her face as she said, “Spirit weapons are indeed rare in a small place like the Tianwu Kingdom. However, outside of the Tianwu Kingdom, anyone without a Spirit Weapon in their hand won’t even dare to call themselves a fighter.”
Ye Mo broke into a huge sweat. The true journey of a strong fighter started outside the Tianwu Kingdom. However, there was no point mulling over it now. He should focus on waiting for Wen Cangtian to finish cultivating the Spirit Weapon and bringing back the Spirit Plucking Tool to the Qingyun League.
After three days, Wen Cangtian brought Ye Mo and Chuchu back to the sword pool again.
“Master, it is time to combine the weapon spirit and revitalise the Sword Whisper Manor,” said one of the sword protectors solemnly.
The decline of the Sword Whisper Manor was due to the inability of previous generations of manor owners to cultivate a Spirit Weapon. With the next generation worse than the previous one, even the Sword Whisper City had nearly turned into a ghost town.
If he was able to cultivate a Spirit Weapon, he would be able to restore the Sword Whisper Manor back to its glory days again.
Thinking about this, Wen Cangtian secretly became somewhat emotional.
Success or failure was decided by this moment!
A huge sword already flashed in Wen Cangtian’s hand. The sword displayed an ice-blue color. It was evidently the Blue Flame Sword, created using thousand-year frost metal. All it was lacking was being combined with the weapon spirit.
“Combine!”
The giant sword in Wen Cangtian’s hand swung towards the middle of the sword pool as the blue flame sword spirit floating above the sword pool started to tremble, giving off a seemingly insecure emotion.
Wen Cangtian continuously waved both of his hands as two rays of metal elemental energy flooded the sword pool like waves. The two giant swords were also completely buried within his metal elemental energy.
His face was solemn as he poured out all the energy inside his body with no reservation and attempted to combine the giant sword with the weapon spirit together.
However, the blue flame weapon spirit repeatedly rejected the giant sword. The weapon spirit was unable to be incorporated into the giant sword no matter what.
At that moment, Ye Mo and Yun Chuchu clutched at their hearts, both extremely nervous, as if they were waiting for a baby to be born.
“Combine!”
With a roar, Wen Cangtian waved both his arms repeatedly, pouring all of the metal elemental energy he had. The sword pool had a flas.h.i.+ng glow that was unusually blinding.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud noise was heard from the sword pool, with everyone around the pool sent flying backwards and falling onto the ground. An ice-blue giant sword directly flew out, stabbing into the ground on one side.
Above the sword pool was a half-cultivated weapon spirit. This meant that the combination between the weapon spirit and the weapon body was only half completed and could not be considered a Spirit Weapon.
“How is it possible? How did it fail?”
Wen Cangtian fell onto the ground, clutching at his heart, his face as pale as snow while he was in complete disbelief. Following that, he looked at one of the sword protectors and said, “Sword slave, you are the one sabotaging the process!”
One of the sword protectors looked up and laughed wildly as he slowly walked towards Wen Cangtian. He said mockingly, “Wen Cangtian, the Sword Whisper Manor should have perished long ago. Since you are unable to cultivate a Spirit Weapon, the Spirit Plucking Tool now belongs to the Yin Poison Society!”