Raise a sword!

At the summit of Azure Mist Peak, in the alchemy chamber.

Jiang Peng sat upright in front of the earth fire, while the original alchemy furnace had been moved to a corner and replaced by a long sword that kept turning in the scorching earth fire.

"After more than two months of work, this magic sword based on Tianchen Steel is finally taking shape," Jiang Peng thought to himself, his divine sense constantly monitoring the sword embryo in the fire.

Refining weapons is truly no easy task.

Although Jiang Peng had acquired weapon-forging experience from the Heavenly Crippled Daoist, he had previously tried to forge a mediocre puppet himself.

However, when Jiang Peng actually started crafting magical artifacts, he realized that it was fraught with difficulties and far more complicated than he had imagined.

The crafting of magical artifacts is quite similar to alchemy.

Elixirs have formulas, and magical implements have blueprints.

Just as there are furnaces for refining elixirs, there are also furnaces for crafting magical artifacts.

The ritual implements made according to this method are called standard ritual implements.

The most famous of them is probably the Soul Sound Bell of the Illusionary Sound Sect, which Jiang Peng had seen.

The biggest advantage of this type of magical artifact is that it can be produced reliably, making it the most popular type of magical artifact among major powers.

The magical swords issued by the Jade Pavilion to its disciples are probably of this type.

However, the magic swords of Jade Pavilion are slightly different.

Because of the Jade Pavilion Sword Nurturing Technique, the disciples of the Jade Pavilion Sword Pavilion study weapon patterns and, after starting to nurture their swords, inscribe their own weapon patterns on their magical swords in order to achieve the so-called unity of man and sword.

"But if it's not a magic sword that you forged yourself, but merely has weapon patterns engraved on it, then the so-called unity of man and sword is nothing but self-deception."

Jiang Peng pondered the differences between the Jade Pavilion Sword Nurturing Technique and the Heavenly Chen Sword Nurturing Technique, while simultaneously raising his hand to strike the fire.

The next moment, a long sword made entirely of black flew to a stop in front of Jiang Peng.

The jet-black sword radiated a scorching heat, and due to the temperature, the space around the sword seemed to distort at first glance.

After spending two months together, going through the process from forging the sword blank to several rounds of smelting, Jiang Peng keenly sensed that there seemed to be some inexplicable connection between himself and the black sword in front of him.

Jiang Peng reached out and gently grasped the sword hilt.

A burning sensation arose from his palms, but Jiang Peng endured it with his copper-skinned, iron-boned body.

Grasp the sword, swing the sword.

He then released his grip and used his divine sense to control the sword.

A moment later, Jiang Peng gripped the black sword in his hand again.

[Unknown Magical Artifact: Tier 1 High-Grade, Sharp, Magic-Breaking]

Golden characters flashed before my eyes, describing the sword.

"A first-grade high-quality sword?" Jiang Peng was somewhat surprised. He had thought that the sword he had forged would be a low-grade or mid-grade magic sword.

After all, his own cultivation level was not even at the late stage of the first rank.

"Is it because of the Heavenly Steel? This is a rare treasure; using it to forge a first-tier magic weapon is somewhat of a waste."

If it weren't for the fact that the magic sword in front of us has unlimited potential in the future, no one would use Heavenly Steel to forge such a low-level magic weapon.

After playing with it for a while, Jiang Peng threw the black sword back into the fire in front of him, and then took out several refining materials from his storage bag.

Among them were the Hundred-Refined Black Iron and Phoenix Cry Jade obtained from dismantling the magical artifacts of the Li family cultivators.

But the most unusual one was a palm-sized, crystal-clear stone.

【Exquisite Jade: Rare Treasure, Refining Material, Variable Size】

This exquisite jade stone was the material Jiang Peng obtained after painfully refining and dismantling the original top-grade first-tier exquisite sword.

The Linglong Sword is his most relied-upon magical weapon, but he is going all out to forge this sword, which is crucial to his cultivation path.

To Jiang Peng's surprise, the materials obtained from disassembling the magic sword she had obtained from Dan Laomo included not only common black iron, but also a so-called rare treasure.

However, the perceptions between different magical treasures are also vastly different.

Jiang Peng had already investigated and confirmed that the exquisite jade stone in front of him was indeed a rare treasure. Once integrated into a magical artifact, it would give the artifact the ability to change size.

But that's all there is to it.

The largest magical artifact is no bigger than the original artifact blank, and the smallest is about the size of a palm.

Aside from making the ritual implements portable, they have no other use.

But every cultivator carries a storage bag; who doesn't carry a magical artifact with them at all times?

"Integrating new refining materials into an already forged magical artifact is risky; one wrong move and you could lose everything... No wonder this item isn't highly valued."

Few people would risk damaging their magical artifacts by incorporating them into exquisite jade just so that their artifacts could change size.

A fleeting thought crossed her mind, and after a moment's hesitation, Jiang Peng still threw the exquisite jade stone into the ground fire in front of her.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, Tianchen Steel can accommodate everything."

Jiang Peng patiently began to manipulate the various refining materials in the fire, slowly integrating them into the black sword.

Without a forging furnace, Jiang Peng could only slowly complete his magic sword using this inefficient method.

"I can't expect to endure another two months, can I?" Jiang Peng thought to herself.

......

In the blink of an eye, another month has passed.

Finally, accompanied by a sword's cry, a black afterimage flew out from the ground fire, circled the alchemy room a few times, and then slowly stopped in front of Jiang Peng.

Jiang Peng raised her hand and grasped the sword hilt.

[Unknown Magic Sword: Tier 1 Top Grade, Sharp, Magic-Breaking, Size-Changing]

Looking at the black sword in her hand, Jiang Peng couldn't help but feel a hint of joy in her eyes.

He could sense a mysterious connection between himself and the magic sword before him.

"It's not exactly a meeting of minds, but it's much easier to use than the Linglong Sword from before."

Now that I have this sword, I can finally begin practicing the sword-nurturing technique.

The art of sword nurturing can be said to have been a constant throughout Jiang Peng's nearly ten-year cultivation career.

Ever since he obtained the Jade Pavilion Sword Nourishing Technique from Dan Laomo, he has used it as his trump card, and it is also Jiang Peng's most powerful method.

But even with this trump card, which Jiang Peng seemed to use skillfully, he hadn't even scratched the surface.

"As for the so-called sword nurturing technique, I've only learned the sword control part; the true key to this method lies in 'nurturing'!"

The method of nurturing swords in the Jade Pavilion Sword Pavilion was not recorded in the fragmentary text obtained by Jiang Peng.

However, in the "Heavenly Chen Sword Nurturing Technique", there are two methods for nurturing a sword.

True refinement, concealing one's edge.

True forging requires utilizing the properties of Heavenly Steel to continuously infuse the sword with the mysteries of heaven and earth.

The so-called mystery is shrouded in mystery, but Jiang Peng summarized it as the various wonders of the world.

The underground fire before our eyes is one of the mysteries.

Yin energy also counts.

The true refinement is to collect the secrets that suit you and continuously integrate them into the magic sword to enhance its power.

Jiang Peng had long ago planned for this method.

He shrunk the magic sword to the size of a palm and put it into his sleeve, at the same time a purple flame appeared on his palm hidden in the sleeve.

Following the method in "Tianchen Sword Nourishing Technique", Jiang Peng attempted to fuse the purple fire with the magic sword.

He carefully examined the changes, and after a moment, his eyes lit up slightly.

"The progress is slow, but the purple flames in the cauldron have indeed fused with the magic sword."