Forging Artifacts

[You spoke with Guo Zhao, asking him for advice on controlling the heat when shaping artifacts. Guo Zhao answered in detail. His pointers opened your eyes, deepening your understanding of artifact forging. Artifact Forging experience +34.]

[You asked Guo Zhao how to judge when it was time to open the forge. He answered in detail. His pointers opened your eyes, deepening your understanding of artifact forging. Artifact Forging experience +22.]

The two of them talked until late into the night before parting.

Shen Mo bid farewell to Guo Zhao. When he returned to his room, he opened his Destiny attribute panel and looked at the Artifact Forging experience bar.

[Artifact Forging: Unranked (288/500)]

"The experience bar is more than halfway full. I've made good progress lately."

Although he had yet to formally make a weapon, he had already gained 288 experience points.

He owed those points to the many lessons in the Basic Weapon-Forging Canon, as well as Guo Zhao's generous, firsthand guidance.

"But studying behind closed doors can only get me this far."

"I'll begin forging for real tonight."

Shen Mo let out a breath, thinking.

Knowledge gained from books always felt shallow; only by going through things yourself could you understand how difficult they were.

Simply studying books and seeking Guo Zhao's advice had brought his Artifact Forging experience close to its limit.

If he wanted to keep improving, he had to forge weapons with his own hands.

"Click! Click!"

He took off his outer robe and removed the armor he wore beneath it. "I'll start with this cuirass!"

His palm rubbed over the Heart-Protecting armor. Looking at the cracks running across it, he decided to practice by repairing them first.

He had bought the armor from an Inner Sect senior brother at the market for thirty Spirit Stones.

In terms of grade, it was low-grade Mystic.

But it had already been badly damaged when he bought it. Later, when he hunted the Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python in the Zhao Family Spirit Field, the Two-Headed Python struck it hard again.

Now the Heart-Protecting armor was in tatters.

Its once-impressive defensive power had fallen by seventy percent, leaving it close to being ruined.

He flipped his hand and took several pale-yellow, translucent ores from his Qiankun Pouch.

Mystic Crystal Essence!

He had obtained it after killing a Stone Spirit he and Chen Mengze encountered while out on night patrol.

It was an excellent all-purpose material for artifact forging, making it perfect for repairing the Heart-Protecting armor.

"First I need to melt it down before I can make repairs."

He took out a furnace used for artifact forging.

The furnace belonged to Guo Zhao.

For some master artifact smiths, a forging furnace was optional.

They could use their palms as furnaces and burn through metal weapons and Mystic iron.

But for a beginner, such a freewheeling technique was far too subtle.

It was impossible to master, so a forging furnace was essential.

Shen Mo had never bought any forging equipment, so he had no furnace of his own.

That was why he had borrowed one from Guo Zhao. He had borrowed not just the furnace, but also many of the tools and materials needed for artifact forging.

Since Guo Zhao needed Shen Mo's help, he had been very generous with him.

After setting the furnace in place, Shen Mo piled firewood beneath it and tapped the wood with a fingertip.

"Whoosh!"

A blue flame burst to life among the dry sticks.

At first, the fire was weak, but it quickly spread into a blaze. The furnace walls gradually heated up, turning a deep red.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

He put the four pieces of Mystic Crystal Essence he had prepared into the furnace one by one.

Then he waited nearby for the Mystic Crystal Essence to melt into molten Mystic Crystal iron.

The process took a long time.

As an artifact smith, all he could do now was wait patiently.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

Shen Mo stood by the furnace, adding fresh firewood from time to time. He rose onto his toes, staring eagerly into the furnace.

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

After three hours of roasting, the Mystic Crystal Essence finally showed signs of melting.

But this was only the very beginning. He would have to wait longer for it to fully turn into molten Mystic Crystal iron.

"This is painfully slow."

After waiting so long, Shen Mo could not help growing impatient. He thought to himself, Once I make progress in artifact forging, I'll have to find some special flame. Otherwise, forging with ordinary mortal fire will be far too inefficient.

Artifact forging and alchemy both depended heavily on fire.

In the cultivation world, flames were divided into different grades and levels.

The better the flame, the greater its benefits for artifact forging and alchemy.

Based on what Shen Mo had seen so far in the River-Facing Sect, flames in the cultivation world were divided into three grades.

The first was Earth Fire.

The second was spirit fire.

The third was heavenly fire.

As the name suggested, Earth Fire grew from the earth. Some Alchemy Masters and accomplished artifact smiths would spend a fortune at auction houses to find an Earth Fire they liked. Some would even cross mountains and rivers to subdue one.

Aside from Earth Fire that grew naturally in strange places, sects and other powers that employed and trained large numbers of alchemists and artifact smiths would also set up Spirit Gathering Arrays, using special diagrams to nurture Earth Fire.

This gave the sect a dedicated fire source for alchemy and artifact forging.

As one of the Five Great Immortal Sects of the Red Flame Kingdom, the River-Facing Sect had the wealth to do so.

Shen Mo had heard that the sect's Weapon-Forging Hall and Alchemy Pavilion each had a vein of Earth Fire. The flames deep underground were nurtured by spiritual energy and burned without end, day and night.

But both the Weapon-Forging Hall and the Alchemy Pavilion were in the Inner Sect, and outer disciples were not qualified to enter.

So Shen Mo had never seen them with his own eyes. He had only heard Cao Ren talk about them often in the past.

Spirit fire ranked above Earth Fire.

It, too, usually emerged in strange places.

Or it could be formed within a cultivator's dantian after years of painstaking cultivation of a particular divine ability.

The legendary Samadhi True Fire, for instance, was among the highest-grade spirit fires.

As for heavenly fire, it was far too rare. There were no records of it ever existing in the Red Flame Kingdom.

Unusual flames could do more than aid cultivators in alchemy and artifact forging; they could also boost their combat strength.

Their benefits were endless.

But getting one was no easy task.

Even the lowest-grade Earth Fire was precious and rare.

If Shen Mo wanted to obtain one in the future, he would need to work hard and hope for plenty of good fortune.

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

Another hour and a half passed. At last, the four pieces of Mystic Crystal Essence in the furnace melted into molten Mystic Crystal iron.

Pale-yellow liquid metal lay quietly in the furnace.

"The heat is just right!"

As soon as Shen Mo saw that the ore had melted, he quickly cut off the fire and reached out with his palm.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The molten metal, still spitting sparks, floated above his palm.

"Next, I'll use this molten Mystic Crystal iron to repair the Heart-Protecting armor!"

Thinking this, Shen Mo laid the armor on the wooden table and took out a fine brush used for carving inscriptions.

"Sizzle!"

The brush dipped in molten Mystic Crystal iron moved in Shen Mo's hand, tracing a faintly glowing inscription that circled through the air.