Chapter 88: The Boundless Sword

The exchange fair was over before long, and Lin Yang returned to his cave dwelling.

He was in an excellent mood today. After gathering several of the main materials, he began buying the lesser ones from other places.

Those auxiliary materials were easy enough to collect, and after just entering Core Formation he would already be able to forge his own magic treasure, moving far faster than the other Core Formation experts.

Consider his senior sister: even after becoming a Core Formation cultivator, it had taken her five full years to gather the materials. And that was with help from others; without it, she would likely have needed even more time.

It seemed that having a craft of one’s own was indeed highly advantageous.

When he entered the cave dwelling, the place had already changed beyond recognition. He no longer lived in the old wooden hut. Instead, he had chosen a cave at Yellow Maple Valley, opened in the area closest to the spiritual vein.

Only he lived here. Not even the Old Ancestor had taken up residence here for cultivation. In truth, he was the only one cultivating in this place.

At first, many people had muttered against his coming here, but once they learned he would bring profit to the sect, everyone shut their mouths.

By now, Lin Yang’s standing in the sect could be said to be second only to the Old Ancestor. Aside from the Old Ancestor, no one could command him. His treatment was excellent: not only did he have Foundation Establishment cultivators at his beck and call at any time, but he also received an annual stipend of fifty mid-grade spirit stones. Even the Old Ancestor did not receive that much each year; most of the Old Ancestor’s daily resources were earned from other sources or obtained by sheltering others.

One could say he was now the highest-paid person in the entire sect. Though that amount of money was not much to him, it still showed the sect’s attitude.

From now on, the sect would be his home. Whatever he wanted, he could take. By relying on the sect, he could amass wealth on a grand scale. Not only would his personal safety be guaranteed, but he would also not need to drift with the tide like other lone wanderers.

He took out the main materials. There was the plank of wood, a piece of iron essence no larger than a fingernail, and a crystal of stone gold, shaped like a lump of ore.

These things were truly expensive. Altogether, they had cost him at least twenty thousand spirit stones. Among them, the most precious was that wooden plank.

He stepped outside and set up a formation about a meter across.

Once activated, the formation erupted with a vast blaze of fire.

Those flames shot straight up like pillars of fire, and the whirling tongues of flame made it plain that the temperature was extraordinarily high.

When the flames changed from yellow to purple, he knew the temperature was about right, and it was time to begin adding the main materials.

The most important part of refining a magic treasure was the blade body, and the blade body would be formed from that piece of stone gold.

Using his magic power, he guided the stone to float into the very center of the fire pillar, then continuously rotated it and drove the flames to melt it.

But the temperature was clearly still insufficient. After several hours, there was still no movement.

So he took out a white powder from the auxiliary materials. Like a catalyst, it could lower the melting point required for the stone gold to liquefy.

After he sprinkled the white powder on it, it instantly burned into a pool of liquid under the intense heat, then merged into the stone gold.

Only then did the stone gold begin to melt.

After relentless roasting at high temperatures and repeated hammering, two hours later he finally melted a basketball-sized stone into a mass of molten metal the size of a fist.

The molten metal was pure gold in color, like liquid gold, beautiful and noble.

But this was no time for admiration. He needed to add the iron essence immediately.

He took the iron essence from his storage pouch and placed it at the hottest point at the center of the fire pillar.

Then he took out several fire talismans he had prepared long ago, and at intervals he activated them to roast the iron essence.

The iron essence truly lived up to its reputation as material that only Nascent Soul cultivators could condense. Even with dozens of fire talismans and the formation working together, it took him a full day and night to melt it into a pool of silver liquid.

That silver liquid emitted a gleaming radiance, like mercury drifting through the air.

He controlled the silver liquid and fused it with the golden molten metal, merging the two together.

And yet when the silver liquid, only the size of a bead, fused with the fist-sized golden liquid, the entire pool of molten metal actually turned silver.

Not a trace of gold remained. But it was still not finished. He threw in two more materials.

Both were ores: one was purple gold crystal from a purple gold vein, and the other was some kind of memory steel from the cultivation world, used to improve flexibility.

After three days and three nights of roasting, all the metals had fully merged into a single pool of silver liquid.

Now came the most important step. He constantly controlled the silver liquid to move, letting it spin in his imagination as it flowed into a long, narrow shape.

At the right moment, he hurriedly threw in the wooden plank.

The instant it entered, it turned into a green radiance that enveloped the entire pool of silver liquid.

He then began to control the flames to burn the plank away, shaping it through refinement into the form he had imagined.

Another day and night passed, and by then the long sword had already begun to take shape. It had transformed into a fairly ordinary-looking sword.

Now he would carve the patterns he liked onto it.

So he set the sword down and took out a small knife that spat flames, using it to engrave the scabbard.

Perhaps the sword’s melting point was too high, because merely engraving it took him another two days and nights.

At last, all that effort paid off. A lotus flower was carved on the hilt, giving it an air of purity and cool elegance.

On the blade itself coiled a mighty golden dragon, a golden pearl clenched in its jaws. At the same time, strange lines were etched along the blade edge, patterns resembling formation script; these were the motifs Lin Yang had chosen.

This pattern was a new kind of enchantment inscription, one he had forced onto the sword despite the risk of ruining it.

But the effect was strikingly obvious. The attack power of this sword had practically doubled. At the same time, with a single swing of the formation, it could unleash a powerful sword aura.

Lin Yang took it outside to test it, drawing the sword.

A hard silver gleam flashed beneath the sunlight. He held it level with his face and examined it closely.

The smooth blade reflected his handsome features, and as he drew it fully, a crisp, metallic note rang out from the edge.

He took it in hand and swung once. The sword tip seemed to tear through space itself, soundlessly cutting down the giant tree ahead.

"Damn, this thing is way too powerful. Let’s see how the formation works."

Lin Yang activated the formation on the blade, and white mist suddenly rose from it. Though mistlike in appearance, it gave off a sharp and dangerous feeling.

With a single sweeping motion, all the mist gathered and fused into a streak of sword light, dozens of zhang long, and ripped the earth apart.

Looking at the fissure in the ground, a full meter wide and dozens of zhang long, he could feel the sword’s terrifying sharpness.

"If this thing came at me with a single strike, I wouldn’t be able to take it. All right, time to give it a name."

Lin Yang toyed with the sword in his hand as he thought.

"Since this sword is so sharp, I’ll call it the Boundless Sword."

Having said that, he swung it a few more times for fun, and the sensation of slicing through space made him feel wonderfully refreshed.