33: Chapter 33 Refining Furnace

Inside the cave, Jiang Yan spread out the stack of Three-Eyed Fire Wolf skin Talisman paper on his right side.

Thirty-two palm-sized, fiery red Talisman papers glimmered with a dark red halo in the gloom.

He picked up the topmost one, his fingertips tracing the texture of the skin—the Talisman skin was tanned well, with firm fibers and evenly distributed Spiritual Qi nodes.

To his left sat a jade bottle. The Spiritual Ink flowed slowly within, dark red and viscous like lacquer, with fine Restriction patterns faintly visible on the bottle's surface.

Zhao Xuancheng's essence blood had indeed produced something good; the quality of this Spiritual Ink was better than he had expected.

Jiang Yan picked up the rabbit bone Talisman pen, the spiral patterns on its shaft flickering in the halo. He twirled the pen between his fingers, then took a deep breath.

Drawing Talismans was different from Artifact Refining. Artifact Refining involved hammering, compressing, and carving Restrictions.

Drawing a Talisman meant constructing circuits within a small space; one stroke was a Spiritual Qi channel, and one node was an energy hub—one wrong stroke, and the entire Talisman paper would burn to ash.

In his past life, he was only a High Grade Rank 1 Talisman Master, and his attainments in the Dao of Talismans were far inferior to his Artifact Refining, but drawing some low-level Talismans should be second nature.

The pen tip was soaked in Spiritual Ink.

For the first Fireball Talisman, he could draw its Talisman pattern structure with his eyes closed.

The pen tip landed on the Talisman skin, and the Spiritual Ink seeped along the natural texture of the Three-Eyed Fire Wolf skin, leaving a smooth, dark red trail.

From start to finish, there was no unnecessary tremor in his wrist—too deep and the Spiritual Qi would overload, too shallow and the conduction would be poor; the force of every stroke was precise down to the millimeter.

The moment the final stroke connected, the Talisman pattern suddenly brightened, all Spiritual Qi circuits were activated, and the halo circulated across the surface of the Talisman paper before slowly fading.

It was a success.

He didn't pause, soaking the pen tip again. The second one, the third one.

The circuit structure of the Fireball Talisman was simple, with three main lines and seven nodes; he had drawn plenty of them in his past life.

In the first round of five, four were successful; the failed one burst into flames the moment it was finished, the ashes falling rustlingly at his feet.

The second round was for Explosion Talismans. Compared to the Fireball Talisman, it had one extra detonation branch line and two compression nodes, making the structure slightly more complex.

Jiang Yan adjusted his wrist slightly, the pen tip sketching an arched detonation branch line on the Talisman skin, the turn sharper than that of the Fireball Talisman—the angle of the turn had to be precise enough to allow the Spiritual Qi to complete a compression rebound at the node; if it was off by even a little, the compression ratio would be incorrect.

Two were wasted in this round, the scorched smell of burning Talisman paper permeating the cave, only to be swept away by the mist from the waterfall at the cave entrance.

The third round was for Speed Talismans, an auxiliary type; the Spiritual Qi circuits were streamlined, with all Talisman pattern trends extending in the same direction.

Jiang Yan drew slower than in the previous two rounds; the Talisman pattern trends of the Speed Talisman were longer and smoother, and there could be no interruptions. Four were successful.

Two days and two nights.

His Spiritual Qi was exhausted three times. Each time the dark golden vortex inside his Dantian faded to almost transparent, he would sit cross-legged in meditation, waiting for the sound of the waterfall outside the cave to change from a roar back to a splash, and then from a splash back to a roar.

When his Divine Sense was exhausted to the limit and his temples throbbed, his the back of his head tightening, he would close his eyes to circulate the "Taixu Nourishing Spirit Art," waiting for the needle-like pain to recede before continuing.

In the end, twenty-five Talismans were successfully created. Twenty were Low Grade Rank 1: six Fireball Talismans, four Explosion Talismans, four Speed Talismans, four Earth Escape Talismans, and two Golden Light Talismans.

Five were Medium Grade Rank 1: three Speed Talismans, two Golden Light Talismans. The ashes of the seven failed Talismans piled at his feet had mostly been blown away by the wind blowing in from the cave entrance, mixing into the water mist splashed up by the waterfall.

Jiang Yan sorted the Talismans by grade and type and put them into his Storage Pouch.

The Fireball Talismans and Explosion Talismans were placed on the outermost side—they could be retrieved with a single thought during battle;

The Earth Escape Talismans were placed in the inner pocket, while the Speed Talismans and Golden Light Talismans were kept close to his body.

The habit of categorized storage had been cultivated over two hundred years in his past life; the speed of retrieving Talismans in a life-or-death moment could determine victory or defeat.

After the Talismans were put away, his gaze turned to the head-sized piece of extraterrestrial meteorite iron.

The dark, heavy metal surface was covered with honeycomb-like holes, and it was extremely heavy in his hand, several times heavier than gold of the same volume.

It felt icy cold to the touch, and when pressed against his palm, that chill seeped through his skin and drilled into his bones.

Jiang Yan probed with his Divine Sense—the crystal structure inside the meteorite iron unfolded in his Divine Sense, with Impurities particles mixed between the crystal gaps.

Then his eyebrows moved slightly.

There were also some extremely tiny light purple particles mixed in the crystal gaps, scattered like star points throughout the interior of the meteorite iron.

The distribution was uneven, dense in some places and sparse in others.

He focused his Divine Sense to the limit, carefully sensing the energy attributes of these particles—an extremely subtle but exceptionally clear fluctuation was transmitted back from the end of his Divine Sense, like the low rumble of thunder clouds brewing on the far horizon, coming from a great distance.

The power of thunder.

It was not ordinary meteorite iron. This was meteorite iron that had passed through the dome of a Lightning Tribulation when it fell, and the power of thunder had seeped into the crystal gaps and been sealed inside.

In his past life, he had seen three such Lightning Tribulation Materials—Thunder-Struck Wood, Thunder-Patterned Jade, and Heavenly Thunder Stone—each one was extremely rare.

If his cultivation was still at the Golden Core Stage, he would be confident in refining this piece of meteorite iron into a Rank 2 thunder-attribute Spiritual Artifact.

But with his Qi Refining Stage 2 cultivation, that was wishful thinking.

He could only settle for the next best thing. Extract and concentrate, separate the thunder particles, and refine them into a heavenly thunder bead.

The problem was, there was no Artifact Refining furnace.

Void Realm Artifact Refining was already barely enough to refine a Medium Grade Rank 1 Flying Sword; the heavenly thunder bead required simultaneous control of four processes: extraction, separation, compression, and Sealing; the Void Realm Artifact Refining method simply couldn't support it.

Jiang Yan put down the meteorite iron and took out several pieces of Spiritual Materials from his Storage Pouch.

Secret silver, gold essence, fire copper—these were found in Zhao Xuancheng's Storage Pouch; the quality was average, but they had the advantage of being sufficient in quantity.

Secret silver would be used for the main body of the furnace wall, as it had the best Spiritual Qi conductivity; gold essence would reinforce the furnace structure; fire copper would maintain the high temperature inside the furnace.

The extraction began.

A light cyan Spiritual Fire surged from his palm, enveloping the first piece of secret silver.

His Artifact Refining techniques were much more proficient than two months ago; forging, removing Impurities, and shaping, his wrist movements flowed like clouds and water—it wasn't muscle memory trained by this body, but the instinct of a quasi-Rank 4 Artifact Refiner from his past life awakening bit by bit.

Three days later, an Artifact Refining furnace about a foot high was formed.

The furnace body was cylindrical, dark silver throughout, and four Restrictions were engraved on the furnace wall: Fire Gathering Restriction, Stabilization Restriction, Extraction Restriction, and Cooling Restriction.

The patterns of the four Restrictions intertwined on the furnace wall, forming a fine, detailed painting. It was Medium Grade Rank 1.

He embedded five Spirit Stones into the bottom of the furnace. The moment they were embedded, the four Restrictions were activated simultaneously, the dark silver patterns on the furnace wall emitted a faint light, and a stable cluster of light cyan Spiritual Fire ignited inside the furnace belly.

He tossed the extraterrestrial meteorite iron into the furnace.

The Spiritual Fire burned quietly in the furnace belly. The meteorite iron turned red and softened under the high temperature.

Jiang Yan controlled the heat while using his Divine Sense to precisely guide the smelting process—peeling away the Impurities in the iron layer by layer, while simultaneously separating those light purple thunder particles intact.

It was extremely taxing on his Divine Sense.

Each thunder particle had to be kept intact when moved out, no surrounding iron could remain, and the power of thunder could not be triggered prematurely.