17: Chapter 17 A Masterful Hand Creates Mysterious Weapons

The two perfectly purified streams of spiritual liquid floated separately within the Artifact Refining furnace, emitting a pure luster.

Next was the most crucial step, Fusion.

The century-old black iron ore had a violent nature, while the star-patterned copper was gentle. Their melting points differed, and their spiritual natures clashed; the consequence of forced Fusion had only one outcome — an explosion.

However, Zhao Ruoan's subsequent actions once again refreshed the two men's understanding.

He did not rush to mix the two streams of spiritual liquid.

Instead, he controlled the spiritual power wrapping around the star-patterned copper liquid, slowly injecting it into the black iron spiritual liquid below in a strange spiral trajectory.

It was not pouring; it was an injection.

"Zhi——"

The moment the two streams of spiritual liquid made contact, the expected violent reaction did not occur.

The dark golden copper liquid was like a nimble swimming Dragon, drilling into the crimson-red molten iron. Far from being repelled, it instead began to merge with it at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Crimson-red and dark gold, the two distinct streams of spiritual liquid began to permeate, rotate, and stretch into each other.

Formed an incomparably magnificent Taiji circulating diagram.

Elder Fu Gao's Adam's apple rolled up and down.

He understood.

Zhao Ruoan was not forcibly carrying out Fusion, but rather "guiding".

With his extreme spiritual power control, he forcibly smoothed out the spiritual conflicts between the two Materials, and found a perfect equilibrium point, making them actively accept each other.

This was no longer an Artifact Refining technique.

This was art.

Duan He had already given up thinking.

Everything happening before his eyes completely exceeded his pitiful reserve of Artifact Refining knowledge.

Half a quarter of an hour later.

The rotation within the furnace slowly stopped.

The two streams of spiritual liquid, which were originally distinct, had now completely fused into one.

Forming a pool of mixed spiritual liquid with a peculiar luster.

Overall, it presented a deep dark red, but when flowing under the light, it would cast brilliant, colorful golden patterns.

"Open the furnace, retrieve the liquid, shape it."

Elder Fu Gao silently recited the next steps in his heart, wanting to see how Zhao Ruoan would handle this final step.

But Zhao Ruoan didn't play by the rules at all.

His left hand still pressed against the furnace wall to maintain the temperature, while his right hand lightly guided towards the furnace opening.

"Hum!"

That pool of perfectly mixed spiritual liquid was actually lifted up by an invisible giant hand, transforming into a Fire Dragon that flew out from the furnace opening and steadily hovered in mid-air.

Elder Fu Gao: "..."

Duan He: "..."

Directly manipulating objects with spiritual power to shape them?!

He didn't even need a shaping platform or a hammer?

But this method was way too out of bounds!

Under Zhao Ruoan's spiritual power control, the spiritual liquid hovering in mid-air began to slowly stretch and deform.

Sword tip, sword edge, sword ridge, sword guard...

The prototype of a short sword was outlined bit by bit in the air.

Zhao Ruoan's expression was focused to the extreme, and fine beads of sweat seeped out from his forehead.

For him, this was also an extreme challenge.

He deliberately slowed down the cooling speed of the spiritual liquid, using spiritual power to meticulously polish every detail of the sword body.

Even at the position of the sword hilt, he "drew" dense anti-slip patterns.

The entire process was frighteningly quiet.

In the room, there was only the crackling sound of the furnace fire gradually extinguishing and three breaths of varying weight.

Elder Fu Gao and Duan He did not move at all.

They were afraid that if their breathing was too loud, it would disturb this miraculous scene before their eyes.

Finally, when the last wisps of firelight faded from the sword body.

"Clang."

A crisp, soft sound rang out.

A short sword with an archaic design fell from mid-air, precisely embedding itself into the slot of the forging platform.

The sword body was deep red, covered with natural flowing gold patterns, and an introverted aura of sharpness rushed towards them.

It succeeded.

Zhao Ruoan let out a long breath, his face somewhat pale; obviously, his spiritual power consumption was not small.

Looking at his very first creation, he was quite satisfied.

Elder Fu Gao rushed over in a single stride.

He got close and stared fixedly at that short sword.

The sword body was smooth and naturally formed.

Those flowing golden patterns were not decorations at all, but natural spiritual patterns formed after the spiritual nature of the star-patterned copper and the century-old black iron ore perfectly fused!

"Medium Grade... Profound Weapon!"

Elder Fu Gao's voice trembled.

"This fucking thing is a Medium Grade Profound Weapon!"

Duan He shivered upon hearing this.

Medium Grade Profound Weapon?

Using a bunch of the most common, garbage century-old black iron ore and star-patterned copper?

Is this reasonable?

This is unreasonable!

But the facts were right before their eyes.

That sharp Spiritual Qi fluctuation could not be fake.

Elder Fu Gao extended his finger and gently flicked the sword body.

"Hum——"

A clear and resonant sword cry echoed endlessly in the room, lingering for three days.

A good sword!

"Hoo..." Elder Fu Gao withdrew his hand, his expression when looking at Zhao Ruoan extremely complex.

"It's my first time doing Artifact Refining, and my technique is a bit rusty. I've made the Elder look foolish." Zhao Ruoan wiped his sweat and said modestly.

He was reviewing it in his heart.

Actually, at the very last moment when the sword body was cooling and solidifying, he completely had the opportunity to engrave a "Sharp Gold" rune on the sword ridge.

It's just that the success rate wasn't high, and he was afraid of messing up, so he chose the safest way to wrap it up.

If that rune had been added, it might not have been impossible for this sword to challenge High Grade Profound Weapon status.

What a pity.

Hearing these words, Elder Fu Gao almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Rusty?

You call this rusty?

"Cough cough!"

His old face flushed red, and he forcibly squeezed out a smile.

"Uncle-Master Zhao... you, you are... too modest."

"To not be afraid of you laughing at me, even if this old man personally took action with this batch of Materials, being able to refine this quality would already be an extraordinary performance."

Duan He at the side rolled his eyes inwardly upon hearing this.

Give it a rest, Elder.

Extraordinary performance?

If your old self could refine a Low Grade Profound Weapon out of this pile of junk without blowing up the furnace, it would mean the Ancestral Master's spirit has manifested.

This slap to the face was resounding.

Zhao Ruoan didn't catch the subtext in Elder Fu Gao's words, thinking the other party was encouraging him.

He seriously cupped his hands: "Elder flatters me too much. This Disciple feels that there are still many deficiencies in spiritual power utilization, and quite a bit was wasted."

"That's right, Elder."

Zhao Ruoan seemed to remember something and continued to ask.

"Next time, this Disciple wants to try simultaneously engraving runes while condensing the artifact. I wonder what tips need attention during control?"

"..."

"..."

The air was dead silent.

Elder Fu Gao's smile completely froze.

Duan He felt his knees go soft, almost kneeling down.

To kill and then condemn the heart?

Elder Fu Gao opened his mouth, unable to say a single word.

He looked at the youth before him who was asking for guidance with a sincere face.

His mind was left with a complete blank.

Prodigy.

This fucking guy is simply not human!

Not waiting for an answer, Zhao Ruoan instead felt a sense of emptiness coming from within his body.

Just now, that extreme operation looked smooth and flowing, but in reality, it had squeezed his spiritual power to the limit.

He checked internally; the spiritual power in his Dantian had already bottomed out, with less than one-fifth remaining.

"This Disciple's spiritual power is lacking, and I'm afraid I cannot continue." Zhao Ruoan spoke with some regret.