57: Chapter 57 Progress

The heatwaves in the laboratory were blocked outside by heavy heat-insulation Formation, but the temperature inside was climbing steadily due to that specially crafted Artifact Refining furnace.

Ye Duan was bare-chested, his originally bronze skin glowing red from the furnace fire, and bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down his muscle contours, evaporating into a puff of white Qi before they could even hit the ground.

He pressed both hands tightly against the fire-control runes on the furnace wall, pouring his metallic Spiritual Qi in as if it were worthless, maintaining the extremely delicate balance inside the furnace.

"Temperature critical value: 3600 degrees. Any higher, and the gaseous structure of the gengjin mother will disintegrate; any lower, and it will solidify instantly."

Zhang Mingxuan's voice was as cold as a machine, ringing out through the amplification Formation amidst the roaring sound, "Steady. Give me three breaths of time."

"Hurry up! The backlash from this thing is too strong, my Meridians can barely hold on!" Ye Duan roared through gritted teeth, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, but his hands pressed against the furnace wall remained as steady as a rock.

On the workbench, the fist-sized gengjin mother was suspended in mid-air, in a strange, gelatinous state that was half-liquid and half-solid.

Its surface sharpness was forcibly suppressed by the high temperature, exposing its most fragile core.

"DeepEye, take over the thousand-machine micro-carving table. Overclock mode."

Hum!

The thirty-six micro-carving blades suspended above the gengjin mother accelerated instantly, turning into a silver mist of light.

This was not carving; this was walking a tightrope within a storm at the microscopic level.

Every time the blade descended, it had to precisely cut into the weakest connection point of the gengjin molecular chain, utilizing the split-second shaping window before it solidified to force the complex Spiritual Qi circuit inside.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

The piercing screech seemed to want to puncture the eardrums.

That was the gengjin Qi making its final struggle.

"There is one last main circuit. Shift left by 0.03 microns, increase carving depth by 5%."

Zhang Mingxuan's eyes were bloodshot, and DeepEye's computational load had hit the red line.

His Divine Sense turned into countless tentacles, firmly pinning down that restless piece of metal.

"Success!"

Following a low shout, the final blade descended.

Ye Duan withdrew his Spiritual Qi almost simultaneously, collapsing to the ground as if completely drained.

The furnace fire extinguished.

The moment the gengjin mother lost the suppression of the high temperature, it did not shatter, but instead emitted a crisp sword hum.

Countless dense, golden patterns that looked naturally generated appeared on its originally chaotic surface.

Those were the artificial Spiritual Root circuits, now perfectly fused with the Materials, cooled and solidified.

"Is this the rough embryo of the Heavenly Gold Spirit Root?"

Ye Duan didn't bother to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth; he scrambled up and leaned in close, staring at the crystal pillar emitting a sharp, cold light, his eyes full of obsession, "With this structural strength, it would be more than enough to refine a life-bound Flying Sword."

"It's still far from enough."

Zhang Mingxuan rubbed his throbbing temples and glanced at the test report provided by DeepEye.

[ Heavenly Gold Spirit Root · Prototype No. 1 ]

[ Circuit integrity: 92% (Although not perfect, it can already operate normally). ]

[ Rejection risk: Extremely high. The Sharp Metal Qi has become even more volatile due to the high pressure during the carving process. If no subsequent softening treatment is performed, it will sever all of the host's nerves the moment it is implanted. ]

"Although it has been created, this thing is currently a double-edged sword."

Zhang Mingxuan sealed the rough embryo into a specially made magnetic levitation box, "It seems a second process is needed: Spirit Nourishing. Incubate it with earth-attribute Spiritual liquid for forty-nine days, and according to the principle of Earth generating Metal, grind away its fiery temper."

He turned and looked towards the other corner of the laboratory.

Over there, You Sha was fretting over a pot of withered purple vines, with the corpses of dead poisonous insects scattered all over the floor.

"What's wrong? Has the ratio for the Wither-Flourish toxin not been adjusted yet?" Zhang Mingxuan asked as he walked over.

"Difficult. Too difficult."

You Sha raised his head, and for the first time, a sense of frustration appeared on his usually gloomy, pale face, "The vitality of the Ten-Thousand-Year Wood Heart is too strong. Ordinary toxins are absorbed as nutrients the moment they are injected, and it even stimulates it to grow faster. I just tried to use Bone-Eroding Corpse Poison to suppress it, but the piece of wood just self-disintegrated."

"That's because the poison you used was too rigid."

Zhang Mingxuan glanced at the pot of vines, and DeepEye quickly analyzed the residual medicinal properties, "The characteristic of the Wood Spiritual Root is endless vitality; you cannot think about using Death Qi to kill it, that is just adding fuel to the fire. You need to use... hypnosis."

"Hypnosis?" You Sha was taken aback.

"Find a neurotoxin that can force plants into a state of suspended animation or hibernation. Although plants don't have nerves, they have Spiritual Qi transmission channels. Block those channels, and it will think winter has arrived and automatically stop growing."

Zhang Mingxuan patted You Sha on the shoulder, as if instructing an apprentice who hadn't yet entered the gate, "Don't always think about using violence. Sometimes, deception is more useful than violence."

After speaking, he looked towards Shen Weilan, not far away, who was calculating while facing a constantly deforming water sphere, sitting as still as an old monk in meditation.

Although the progress over there was slow, as long as Shen Weilan was still calculating, it meant the direction was not off.

"Take it slow."

Zhang Mingxuan walked out of the core area and came to the outside lounge, pouring himself a cup of Spiritual tea that had long since gone cold.

Each of these Five Elements Heavenly Spiritual Roots was a puzzle that no one had ever solved before.

Now, the Gold Spiritual Root had stumbled through its first step, but there was still a long way to go before it could truly be implanted into a body.

However, he had plenty of time.

For the eight-hundred-year Lifespan of a Golden Core Cultivator, this year or two of time was nothing more than a slightly longer nap.