Trial by Fire: Forging with Laws, Chaos Small Sword Advances

Within the golden barrier, Lin Yue arranged the Space Crystal and Mysterious Iron Essence in proportion. On the stone platform before him lay the Ice-Fire Poison scraped from the Red Prison Scorpion's tail stinger—he planned to use the Space Fire Cauldron's properties to fuse these three materials with the Chaos Small Sword.

"Step one: refine the impurities." Lin Yue took a deep breath, channeling the fire-attribute energy within him. A reddish-gold flame danced in his palm. Instead of burning the materials directly, he injected the flame into the Space Fire Cauldron, using the cauldron's patterns to make the fire gentler and more precise. The Space Crystal and Mysterious Iron Essence were thrown into the cauldron. The flame, like a dexterous hand, carefully stripped away the impurities from the ores. The Mysterious Iron Essence's original gray-black color gradually faded, revealing pure silver-white; the Space Crystal grew more translucent in the flame, its internal cyan veins flowing slowly as if alive.

"Step two: Law Fusion." Lin Yue picked up the Chaos Small Sword, its blade still bearing scratches from the battle with the Red Prison Scorpion. He suspended the small sword above the cauldron, attempting to guide the Space Crystal's energy into the blade. Yet, the moment the cyan energy was about to touch the small sword, the blade suddenly trembled violently. The Space Crystal's energy crashed against an invisible barrier and was repelled!

"What's going on?" Lin Yue frowned and tried again. This time, he deliberately slowed the energy injection and mixed in a thread of fire-attribute energy, trying to neutralize the repulsion between space and metal. But the result was the same—the moment the energy touched the blade, it triggered an even stronger rebound, even causing a tiny crack to appear on the small sword's edge.

"Law attribute conflict?" Lin Yue picked up the small sword, staring at the crack with a sense of frustration. When he refined before, he only needed to consider the fusion of fire and metal; he never imagined the Law of Space would be so "stubborn." He sat on the stone platform, flipping through the Basic Fire Control Art repeatedly, trying to find a solution in the scroll. But the scroll mostly recorded methods for fusing fire and metal, with not a word about merging laws.

"Maybe... I can try using a third energy as a bridge?" A thought flashed through Lin Yue's mind, and his gaze unconsciously fell on his brow—where the Chaos Spirit Pearl was emitting a faint golden light. The pearl contained the Origin Energy from the dawn of chaos, theoretically compatible with any law. But he didn't dare act rashly, fearing that the powerful Origin Energy would directly destroy the small sword's artifact spirit.

Just as he hesitated, Pangu's voice suddenly came from behind: "An artifact spirit is like an infant; it needs gentle guidance, not forceful feeding." Lin Yue spun around to see Pangu standing not far away, his gaze fixed on the Space Fire Cauldron. "Senior, why are you here?"

"Just passing by." Pangu walked to the stone platform, his fingertip lightly tapping the Space Crystal in the cauldron. "The Law of Space is supremely spiritual, metal supremely rigid. When the two meet, it's like water crashing against a hard rock—naturally repulsive." He then pointed at Lin Yue's brow. "Don't you have 'Water of Harmony' within you?"

Lin Yue's heart stirred. "You mean... the Chaos Spirit Pearl?"

"Exactly." Pangu nodded. "The pearl's energy originates from the Chaos Origin and can transform all things. Use it as a bridge to connect the Space Crystal and the artifact spirit, letting them gradually become familiar with each other. Only then can they merge." Lin Yue suddenly understood. He had been trying to force a fusion, ignoring the principle of "step by step." Just like people meeting, there always needs to be a process of getting acquainted, let alone laws and artifact spirits with vastly different attributes.

"Thank you for the guidance, Senior!"

Pangu waved his hand, his gaze sweeping over the Chaos Small Sword in Lin Yue's palm, then looking at his own hand—where a golden axe-shaped light flashed and vanished so quickly it could be mistaken for an illusion. "I just happened to think of this while refining a 'little toy for World Creation.'"

Lin Yue didn't pay much attention to Pangu's words, his focus entirely back on the refining. Following Pangu's advice, he first drew a thread of Chaos Spirit Pearl energy into the Space Fire Cauldron, mixing it with the energies of the Space Crystal and Mysterious Iron Essence. A wondrous thing happened—the originally repelling cyan space energy and silver-white metal energy, under the mediation of the golden Origin Energy, began to slowly merge, forming a new cyan-gold interwoven energy!

"It worked!" Joy surged in Lin Yue's heart as he quickly guided this new energy, slowly injecting it into the Chaos Small Sword. This time, the small sword didn't tremble or reject it. The cyan-gold energy, like a gentle stream, seeped along the blade's patterns. Where it passed, the previous scratches and cracks were gradually repaired and healed.

Lin Yue concentrated fully, controlling the injection speed while using Spatial Perception to "observe" the changes inside the blade—he could "see" that the small sword's artifact spirit, originally a blurry red glow, was now greedily absorbing the cyan-gold energy, gradually taking on a cyan hue and becoming more solid.

"Step three: shape and solidify the spirit." Lin Yue picked up the Space Fire Cauldron and poured all the cyan-gold energy inside into the small sword. In an instant, the Chaos Small Sword burst into dazzling cyan light. The blade expanded from three inches to five inches, and cyan veins similar to those on the Space Crystal appeared on the spine, interspersed with faint golden Origin Energy, giving it an air of mystery and majesty.

When the light faded, a brand-new small sword hovered in Lin Yue's palm—the blade was pure silver-white but shimmered with a cyan-gold luster; the edge was razor-sharp, as if it could cut through space. Most remarkably, the moment he gripped the hilt, Lin Yue could clearly feel that the artifact spirit was perfectly synchronized with his Spatial Perception, even able to anticipate his attack intent.

"From now on, you shall be called 'Space Spirit Sword.'" Lin Yue gently stroked the blade, his eyes full of delight. This sword was no longer a mere spiritual treasure but a lifebound artifact connected to his consciousness.

Pangu looked at the Space Spirit Sword, a glint of approval in his eyes. "Law Fusion Refining hinges on 'connecting the heart.' To reach this step, you've already entered the gate." With that, he turned and walked deeper into the barrier, his figure gradually merging into the faint light of chaos.

Lin Yue gripped the Space Spirit Sword and tried a swing. A cyan Blade of Space automatically shot out along the trajectory of his perception, precisely cleaving a distant Chaos Rock. The rock split silently in two, the cut smooth as a mirror.

"The power has increased by at least thirty percent, and it can automatically correct its trajectory..." Lin Yue's heart raced with excitement. He knew that with this Space Spirit Sword, his strength had reached a new level.

As night deepened, the chaos outside the barrier remained still. Lin Yue sat cross-legged, placing the Space Spirit Sword on his lap. The cyan-gold veins on the blade pulsed in sync with his breathing, as if cultivating alongside him. He recalled the fleeting golden axe-shaped light in Pangu's palm, feeling a flicker of doubt but not dwelling on it—in his view, it was perfectly normal for a Senior like Pangu to possess a few powerful artifacts.

At this moment, he had no idea what waves that "little toy for World Creation" would stir in the future. Nor did he know that the Space Spirit Sword in his hand would play a crucial role in those coming storms.