Lord of the Rending Stars

Qingyang felt that he was still one crucial leap away from independently refining a powerful treasure—a leap in his understanding.

In the 2200th year, Qingyang put down the precious artifact and began to forge his first G9-level King-level peak battle armor.

It took forty-nine days for the armor to take shape, its entire body a deep purple-gold color. The surface runes had been completely internalized and fused with the armor material. When Qingyang activated it with the power of the God of Thunder, countless fine, hair-like purple-gold lightning patterns would appear on the surface of the armor, like a living neural network.

The Forging Star Pavilion's Refining Hall system detected that "the armor is a G9-level King-level Immortal Battle Armor, with performance exceeding the standard value by 60%. It is only one step away from becoming an ordinary heavy treasure: 'Law Solidification'."

The following day, the Forging Star Pavilion system sent a notification, copied to Qingyang, stating, "King Liefeng can undertake collaborative forging tasks for ordinary-grade heavy treasure components."

Qingyang looked at the notice and let out a soft breath. Two thousand two hundred years later, he had finally reached the threshold of a great treasure.

After being promoted to a Class B weapon refiner, Qingyang's first task was to collaborate on the crafting of the core energy hub component for the ordinary treasure "Thunder God Halberd" for a Cosmic Venerable-level weapon refiner, "Burning Star Venerable".

However, the final piece of that treasure was completed by Master Ranxing, while Qingyang was only responsible for engraving the secret runes on one of the modules. When the finished Thunder God Halberd rose from the divine furnace, emitting complete law fluctuations, Qingyang stood in the observation seat and witnessed the entire process of "the birth of a treasure" for the first time.

He studied the test records of that precious treasure three hundred times, noting the flow of every secret rune, the frequency of every law resonance, and the microscopic changes of every inch of material under the infusion of laws.

Then Qingyang returned to the workshop and retrieved the G9-1034 fragment. In the third millennium, the restoration rate reached 67%. He was now able to fully restore the main rune structure of this ancient battle sword and deduce its complete energy cycle model in the virtual universe.

It was an ingenious design, completely different from the current human weapon-forging system. It did not require the user to continuously infuse it with divine power; only a trace of catalyst was needed when it was first created, and it could operate on its own for millions of years.

Qingyang compiled this deduction model into "A Preliminary Exploration of the Ancient Thunder Pattern System" and uploaded it to the Forging Star Pavilion Knowledge Base.

This time, Venerable Master Peng Gong of the Forging Star Pavilion personally annotated "An Initial Exploration of the System," stating that it is "transmittable, sustainable, and applicable; it can be studied, appreciated, and used."

The six "yes" comments shook the entire Star Forging Pavilion. This was the first time in hundreds of epochs that the Pavilion Master had given such an evaluation to a junior.

In the three thousand two hundred years, Qingyang submitted an application for the "Star Forging Trial" to the Star Forging Pavilion. According to the pavilion's rules, three conditions must be met to apply for the trial: First, complete at least three different types of G9-level superior-quality custom-made tasks; second, participate in at least one collaborative forging of a common-level treasure; and third, submit a complete forging plan for the Star Forging Trial for preliminary review within the pavilion.

Qingyang's conditions were met. His trial crafting plan was to forge a battle sword with both lightning and time attributes.

Materials List: One piece of Void Thunder Gold, a G-grade material containing natural patterns of time and lightning, and one Spacetime Crystal. A total of thirty-seven auxiliary materials, ranging from E-grade to F-grade.

The Spacetime Crystal is a crystallization of the innate abilities that the Time Shadow Beast itself condensed during its eight hundred years of leisure time. It can stabilize a spacetime, and Qingyang plans to use it to prevent conflicts of laws during the refining process.

When Venerable Peng reviewed the proposal, his gaze lingered for a long time on the "Secret Pattern Architecture" section. There, Qingyang wrote: "Based on the ancient thunder pattern system, and incorporating the insights of the human race's thunder and time laws, I have created my own secret pattern architecture."

"Original creation?"

Venerable Peng raised his head and looked at Qingyang. "Qingyang, do you know how many weapon refiners spend their entire lives simply repeating the experiences of their predecessors?"

Qingyang nodded. "Qingyang understands."

"Then why did you create your own?" Venerable Peng asked, puzzled.

Qingyang was silent for a moment before replying, "Because the path I'm taking is one that no one has walked before, I'm confident that I can succeed in creating my own secret pattern framework."

"allow!"

Master Peng did not ask any further questions and signed the plan at the end.

At the beginning of the year in the four thousand nine hundredth year, Qingyang shut down all external communications, including notifications from the virtual universe, leaving only an emergency message directly to Venerable Peng Gong.

Qingyang stood in front of the Crimson Flame Furnace, reaching out to stroke its surface. This furnace had been with him for four thousand eight hundred years, its walls densely covered with the numbers of his failures—the road signs he left for those who came after him.

Qingyang said softly, "Old friend, please help me one last time."

The furnace blazed, a unique flame that blended Qingyang's own divine power of thunder with the original fire of the Crimson Flame Furnace, its purple-gold and silver-white colors intertwined, as beautiful as a nebula.

The Void Thunder Gold was first put into the furnace for forging. After ten years of shaping, the blade blank was formed. It was about three meters long, purplish-black in color, and the surface had faint natural spatial folds.

Qingyang stabilized the internal spatial structure of the blade blank using spacetime crystallization to prevent it from collapsing during subsequent high-temperature refining.

In the twentieth year, the core secret rune was initiated. Qingyang held the law engraving needle, used the primordial thunder marrow as ink and his will as a guide, and engraved the first secret rune inside the blade blank.

That was the "Eternal Thunder Pattern" structure that he restored from ancient fragments and refined over three hundred years. It not only pursued explosive power but also added a touch of eternal cycle. As soon as the brush touched the paper, the secret pattern was formed, and the blade trembled slightly.

In the thirtieth year, the spacetime crystal was embedded—the most crucial step. The fusion of lightning and time has been a high-level threshold for the path of the Beast God since ancient times.

Qingyang chose not to embed the blade into the core energy hub, but rather to use the back of the blade as a "stable anchor point." This choice stemmed from his understanding of the laws of time over the past four thousand eight hundred years. The laws of time are not simply used to drive energy; they can be used to encompass the energy flow within the blade, transforming "conflict" into "complementarity."

In the fortieth year, the first resonance of the laws occurred. Guided by ancient runes, the Law of Lightning and the Law of Time achieved stable coexistence for the first time.

The first wisp of purple-gold electric arc appeared on the surface of the blade, and subtle ripples spread through the space around the edge of the arc.

Qingyang looked at the prototype of the treasure with some excitement, "This is a good start. Successfully refining the treasure is just around the corner."

In the fiftieth year, the primordial thunder marrow was infused. In that instant, the blade trembled violently, and the secret patterns extended, intertwined, and evolved on their own, weaving an unprecedented network of laws within the blade embryo.

A purple-gold light emanated from the inside of the blade, illuminating the entire workshop as if a sea of ​​thunder had descended.

Qingyang's divine power, like a thin thread, guided this violent primal force, causing it to flow slowly through the network of secret patterns.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

As the primordial power completed its seventh cycle, a clear, resonant sound suddenly emanated from within the blade. The sound was not the vibration of metal, but the resonance of the laws themselves.

"The laws have been solidified, it's done," Qingyang breathed a sigh of relief.

From the sixtieth to the seventieth year, nurturing and strengthening. This was the final step Qingyang had comprehended from the ancient fragments. The treasure was newly formed, and its laws were initially solidified, but it still needed a long period of nurturing and strengthening to "take root." Qingyang poured his own divine power into it every day, as if caring for a newborn baby.

In the eightieth year, Qingyang opened his eyes and looked towards the furnace opening. The battle blade slowly rose, its blade about three meters long, entirely purple-gold, with no secret patterns on its surface. But when Qingyang touched it with his will, countless fine, hair-like law veins would appear on the surface of the blade.

The swiftness of the Law of Lightning and the profound mystery of the Law of Time coexist in a perfect balance. At the blade's edge, faint arcs of purplish-gold electricity flickered. Each flicker tore a tiny spatial rift open at the blade's edge, only to close it again in an instant.

That is the mark of a great treasure, the solidification of laws.

Qingyang reached out, and the hilt of the sword fell into his palm. "After nearly five thousand years of forging, thunder is finally heard in silence."

"This sword shall be named... 'Thunderclap'," Qingyang said in a deep voice.

The blade of "Thunderclap" trembled slightly, emitting a clear and melodious sound, as if in response.