A month later, Wu Tian had completely expended the five ironwood rods with the Silk Drawing Curse Technique, transforming them into fifteen six-foot-long strands of Yin Soul Silk.
He could actually have drawn out more, but he had wasted quite a bit practicing at the beginning. Only after he gradually became proficient did he end up with what he had now.
"Still, it was worth it. At the very least, it made my Silk Drawing Curse Technique improve by leaps and bounds!"
It had been unexpected wealth, after all, so Wu Tian did not feel the slightest bit of heartache.
However, if he wanted to refine a Ruyi Whip next, he needed to draw out four of the strands and inscribe the incantations of the Thunder Sound Curse, Fire Pupil Curse, Water Cloud Spell, and Gather Wind Spell onto them respectively.
This kind of inscription required the blood of magical creatures, preferably blood matching the respective attributes.
Once the incantations had been inscribed onto each strand of Yin Soul Silk, he would then weave the four inscribed strands together using the Ruyi Whip secret method. Only then could he refine a Ruyi Rope.
Three Ruyi Ropes could be refined into a low-grade Ruyi Whip.
Nine Ruyi Ropes could be refined into a good-grade Ruyi Whip.
Thirty-six Ruyi Ropes could be refined into a fine-grade Ruyi Whip.
But to refine a superior-grade Ruyi Whip, he needed a full eighty-one Ruyi Ropes.
After reaching the Cauldron Forging Realm, if one had enough time and energy, one could combine and refine three Ruyi Whips using cauldron fire, then nurture and temper them with the corresponding essence of Heaven and Earth to forge a Ruyi Lariat of artifact grade.
This was one of Skull Mountain's artifact inheritances. The Ruyi Lariat could grow or shrink at will, bind enemies, and also possessed a certain degree of offensive power. If one refined a superior-grade Ruyi Lariat, it was more than enough for self-protection.
Although it was inferior to a killing artifact, it was still quite mysterious.
When other Skull Mountain disciples refined Ruyi Whips, they generally chose only two attributes, such as the Wind Fire Whip, Water Fire Whip, or Yin Fire Whip. One very important reason was to save time and energy.
A four-attribute Ruyi Whip like Wu Tian's required twice as many materials as a Ruyi Whip of the same quality. The energy expended on it would only be greater, and that could easily affect one's cultivation.
To all cultivators, climbing to a higher realm was of paramount importance. Even a Guardian Artifact was merely an external possession.
But with the System Panel to rely on, Wu Tian could cultivate the Silk Drawing Curse Technique to the perfected realm in a short time, and might even transform it into a talent.
That was why he was willing to spend so much time on it.
After producing these fifteen strands of Yin Soul Silk, he had no more spiritual materials. Ordinary trees could not be drawn into Yin Soul Silk.
Thinking about how he still needed to hunt demonic beasts to inscribe the incantations with their blood, and would even need to keep drawing and combining the strands, Wu Tian suddenly felt that the whole thing was not so appealing anymore. Even if the Affairs Hall allowed him to exchange Merit points for some beast blood, how many Thunder-attribute magical creatures would that take?
He was beginning to get a headache when, just then, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. What about my own blood?
"I'm a magical creature too. And I absorb the four kinds of essence of Heaven and Earth—water, fire, wind, and thunder. If I use my blood to inscribe them..."
He felt a strong urge to try it.
On the spot, he did something extremely reckless and slashed his foreleg hard with a claw...
Uh, it had not even broken the skin.
He was now bathed externally every day in the four kinds of essence of Heaven and Earth—water, fire, wind, and thunder—while Tongyou Qi nurtured him internally. With the inside and outside complementing each other, he could be considered to have Thick Skin and Tough Flesh.
Wu Tian could only steel his heart, open his mouth, and bite down on his foreleg.
"Woof~"
That hurts!
Wu Tian cried out in pain. At last, a small wound split open on his foreleg, and blood flowed out.
But how was he supposed to inscribe with it? Was he meant to use his claws?
Wu Tian felt that after becoming a dog, his brain might have stopped working properly. A genuine dog's brain, in fact. He had not even thought through the next steps before biting himself first.
Come to think of it, if he bit himself, would he get rabies?
Wu Tian amused himself through the pain, his thoughts a chaotic mess. He spat out a strand of Yin Soul Silk, then tried to inscribe the incantations using the blood on his claw.
At that moment, Zhu Yushuang, who was in harmony with Heaven and Earth, also saw the scene. Even with a heart clear as still water, she could not help laughing.
"What a stupid dog!"
Fortunately, Wu Tian soon found the method. There was actually a trick to it: he needed to circulate the curse technique, then use the corresponding essence of Heaven and Earth to guide the blood and gradually inscribe it onto the Yin Soul Silk.
Wu Tian tried for a full hour. Even though he was inscribing the simplest Gather Wind Spell, he still failed again and again. In the end, he succeeded in inscribing only a single rune.
The Gather Wind Spell had a total of fifty-eight runes.
The Cloud Water Spell had seventy-four runes.
The Fire Pupil Curse had one hundred and eight runes.
The Thunder Sound Curse had even more, with one hundred and twenty-two runes.
Combining just four strands of Yin Soul Silk into a single Ruyi Rope required inscribing three hundred and sixty-two runes. There was no need to mention combining Ruyi Ropes into a Ruyi Whip afterward—that would inevitably consume an ocean of time and energy.
Wu Tian felt his scalp go numb just thinking about it. "I can't keep doing this. If I go on like this, it'll waste far too much time. Even if I bleed myself dry, I won't be able to take it!"
"I wonder if my fur will work?"
He could not be bothered to consider whether he would become a bald dog. He only knew that he could not keep drawing his own blood. Of course, this definitely was not because he was afraid of pain.
"Forget it. I'll try again tomorrow."
"My daily cultivation is still more important."
Wu Tian put away the Yin Soul Silk, stuck out his tongue, and licked his wound. The wound had been very shallow to begin with, and by now it had already stopped bleeding.
He began reciting the incantations, casting them in succession starting with the Thunder Sound Curse.
The turbid qi within his body continuously dissipated...
The next day, when he was tired from cultivating, Wu Tian began trying again. This time, he used his fur in place of blood.
Without a doubt, it failed outright.
He began honestly bleeding a tiny bit each day to inscribe the incantations.
As time passed, not only did he become increasingly proficient at inscribing the incantations onto the Yin Soul Silk, but even the four curse techniques he cultivated seemed to progress faster and faster through the process of inscription.
Before he knew it, Wu Tian had spent a full two months cultivating in the hot spring Forbidden Area.
On this day, after finishing his cultivation, he spat out four strands of Yin Soul Silk.
The four strands were densely covered in blood-red incantations. During this period, Wu Tian had finally inscribed the four curse techniques onto the strands. Next came the process of combining the four strands of Yin Soul Silk into a single Ruyi Rope.
Wu Tian was somewhat excited. From drawing the silk to inscribing the incantations, he had spent an enormous amount of time and energy. Not to mention all the blood he had shed each day.
Using his own blood to refine an artifact—if a dog heard what he had gone through, even it would shed tears.
"To combine and refine a Ruyi Rope, I need the Ruyi Curse. Master Man Xiong said this curse technique is very simple, but I can only successfully attain basic mastery of it while refining a Curse Artifact."
"Let's give it a try..."
The Ruyi Curse had a total of seventy-two runes. It was also a Secret Transmission Curse Technique, but Wu Tian had never cultivated it before. Today, with all the materials ready, it was time.
He recited the incantations as Tongyou Qi circulated within him. The four strands of Yin Soul Silk covered in incantations, which had been placed before him, suddenly rose into the air. The incantations on them flickered and actually began to flow on their own.
The essence of Heaven and Earth gathered as four-colored radiance—water, fire, wind, and thunder—surged.
The four strands of Yin Soul Silk intertwined like spirit snakes, sketching out incomparably intricate patterns.
After more than half an hour, the essence of Heaven and Earth dispersed, and a rope suffused with purple and cyan, its surface woven with water-and-fire patterns, fell before Wu Tian.
The six-foot-long strands of Yin Soul Silk were only four feet eight inches after being combined and refined.
The purple-cyan long rope shimmered with flowing radiance. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary object.
Before you continue