Journey to the West Creation Technique

In the Five Elements theory, fire overcomes metal.

Fueled by a large number of spirit stones, the raging fire rolled endlessly, and the machete, placed in the sea of ​​fire, quickly softened.

"This blade has been through countless battles, and it harbors a fierce and malevolent aura. If it were directly melted down into molten iron and reforged, all its concentrated malevolent energy would dissipate..."

Cai Yiheng, who was standing to the side with his hands behind his back, gave a soft instruction: "You should take advantage of its softening and pound it to shape it."

Lu Chengjun held a red-hot, soft machete in one hand and a heavy black iron hammer in the other, and began to vigorously forge the blade.

Ding ding ding...

The clanging and hammering sounds continued incessantly.

He had already cultivated the Earthly Fiend Body Refining Technique, so his foundation was solid and his strength was formidable. The Xuan Iron Heavy Hammer, which was difficult for ordinary cultivators to control, was easy for him to wield with ease.

Nanmingwei is rich in black iron, and the kitchen knives, cooking utensils, and even the hammers of ordinary craftsmen in this area are all made of black iron.

The main materials for refining weapons, which are considered rare treasures in the Central Plains, are readily available here and are not worth much at all.

The sound of forging echoed continuously...

Cai Yiheng actually detected a rhythm in it.

"Not bad, not bad... I used to work my butt off when I was blacksmithing, but you do it all so easily."

The originally heavy machete was quickly shaped into a longsword after a series of hammer blows.

Cai Yiheng's gaze fell upon the sword. Years of swordsmanship experience allowed him to clearly perceive the killing intent emanating from the sword merging with Lu Chengjun's aura. He couldn't help but ask, "This cleaver, it must be your usual weapon, right?"

Lu Chengjun nodded slightly: "I used this sword to kill many monsters while traveling through the mountains and forests some time ago."

"Very good." Cai Yiheng showed approval: "If you want to walk the path of ultimate sword cultivation, you don't need to obsessively pursue the strongest divine weapon in the world. Only a flying sword that is in harmony with your mind and whose aura is in sync with yours can be controlled with exquisite precision and moved at will. If you can forge this sword, you can easily learn the sword in your palm."

"A sword in the palm? Could it be Senior Brother Lin Che's technique?" Lu Chengjun blurted out.

Cai Yiheng nodded slightly: "The sword in the palm of your hand is neither difficult nor simple. The key lies in the fact that when forging the sword, one must pour one's heart and soul into it in order to achieve harmony between man and sword. Otherwise, it will be difficult to master it no matter what..."

"Your senior brother Lin Che's swordsmanship is profound, in no way inferior to mine. You should learn more from him in the future."

Lu Chengjun quickly asked, "Now that the sword has taken shape, what's the next step?"

"It's just an appearance; keep hammering and refining it."

Lu Chengjun continued to swing his hammer relentlessly, as if he would never tire.

Although he has now switched to cultivating the form of the Dragon Horse, the endurance and physical strength that cultivating the form of Sha Wujing have not disappeared.

Amidst the sparks flying from the hammer blows, the heavy iron hammer was repeatedly swung, gradually thinning the thick sword blank. The originally bulky and clumsy sword body was transformed into a smooth, powerful, and seamless whole.

Cai Yiheng nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this: "Excellent. With such repeated forging and refining, the sword's texture is firm and stable, and it will never rust again after being left for a long time."

Although the sword had become thinner, its weight remained unchanged.

This is the art of fire forging.

"This sword is still just an ordinary weapon. To transform it into a spirit-connected flying sword, it must undergo the tempering process. If the tempering fails, it will have to be reforged, and all the malevolent energy accumulated within the sword will be completely lost."

"I wonder what should be used to temper the spirit?" Lu Chengjun asked immediately.

Cai Yiheng replied with a serious expression, "Of course, it's forged with one's own life essence!"

As he spoke, he took out a large porcelain bowl.

Lu Chengjun stared speechlessly at the large porcelain bowl that could bury his entire face in.

"How much...how much is this going to hold?"

"One bowl," Cai Yiheng replied calmly.

Lu Chengjun gestured with his finger at the rim of the bowl, then gestured at the bottom: "Is this bowl this big, or this bowl?"

As a teacher, Cai Yiheng patiently explained to his students, pointing to the rim of the bowl and saying, "It should be level with the rim."

Lu Chengjun: "..."

"Master, are you planning to drain me of my blood?"

Cai Yiheng glared at him irritably: "This is your natal flying sword that accompanies you in your cultivation and is inseparable from your life. Naturally, the more spiritual essence and blood you use to temper it, the better."

"Ah..." Lu Chengjun pulled out a small knife, hesitating about which part of his body to cut.

"But I've heard that tempering the spirit only requires a few drops of blood..." Lu Chengjun still couldn't bring himself to stab himself.

Although this was the first flying sword he had ever forged, the materials were far too ordinary, yet he had to shed such a large bowl of blood himself.

This doesn't seem like a good deal at all...

"Hmph!" Cai Yiheng sneered, "If you have rare and precious materials to assist you, you only need to take a drop of essence blood, otherwise the spirit tempering will definitely fail."

"You're a body-refining cultivator, after all. What's a bowl of blood compared to your own path?"

"...Do you know that in order to forge a magical flying sword, Gan Jiang and Mo Xie jumped into the furnace together, and only then did they forge a pair of incomparably wondrous Yin-Yang flying swords?"

Cai Yiheng spoke with great enthusiasm, recounting the stories of swordsmanship in the Central Plains.

Lu Chengjun, listening from the side, felt a chill run down his spine and interrupted, "May I ask, Master, what kind of object can be considered a rare and precious treasure?"

"There's no need for rare and precious materials; anything extraordinary can be used for spirit tempering."

Something otherworldly?

Those skull prayer beads definitely qualify; after all, they're a magical artifact.

After a moment's thought, Lu Chengjun reached into his robes and took out a string of skull prayer beads.

The prayer beads varied in size, the largest being no bigger than an infant's fist, and the smallest only as thin as a thumb. They were the "Sha Wujing's magical implements" that he had collected and refined from heads all over the Black Rock Wasteland.

This magical artifact actually only requires nine skulls.

The rest is pure waste...

Lu Chengjun immediately took out nine skulls with a lustrous color, restrained spiritual energy, and the best quality and put them away.

He then pushed those misshapen fruits and vegetables in front of his master: "Can these be used for spirit tempering?"

Cai Yiheng glanced at it and said, "Okay."

At this moment, he also realized that the Southern Underworld Guard lacked everything except black iron.

At worst, this batch will be ruined, it doesn't matter...

Without further hesitation, Lu Chengjun put the somewhat cooled sword blank back into the forging fire to continue burning until the sword was red-hot and scorching hot.

He forced a drop of pure blood from his fingertip, flicked it gently, and the drop of blood disappeared into the sword.

Then...

Lu Chengjun threw all twenty-nine skulls into the sea of ​​fire. The skulls emitted a series of mournful cries upon contact with the fire, and streams of dark, malevolent energy surged and churned, which were quickly absorbed by the crimson sword.

Cai Yiheng's eyes suddenly lit up, his face full of astonishment: "This skeleton you brought can actually be used for spirit tempering?"

Layers of dark, malevolent energy swirled around the sword, igniting the inherent ferocity within it.

It was fierce and menacing, and its malevolent aura was overwhelming.

It was as if they wanted to slaughter everyone in the world.

Lu Chengjun activated the Spirit Tempering Technique, and the fierce energy slowly seeped into the sword body, nourishing the sword embryo.

The malevolent aura condenses into spiritual essence, and the fierce energy nurtures the sword's soul.

Cai Yiheng exclaimed in astonishment, "I truly never imagined that you could successfully temper your spirit with just a drop of your essence blood and a rare magical artifact..."

After the spirit tempering process concludes, the final sacrificial refining stage begins.

"Once an ordinary flying sword has successfully undergone spirit tempering, further refinement is simply a natural progression." Cai Yiheng said solemnly, looking at the flying sword before him, "This sword exudes a terrifying aura, with vengeful spirits lurking within. If you attempt to refine it, you must be extremely careful..."

Before Cai Yiheng could finish speaking, Lu Chengjun had already successfully refined the flying sword. The sword light in his hand flickered and shimmered, clearly indicating that it was actively absorbing magical power.

Cai Yiheng: "..."