Xiao Realm.
Early the next morning, Xiao Tian Ce took Xiao Tian Ming and the remaining Dou Zun to the Heaven Beyond space on the outskirts of the Heavenly Eye Mountain Range.
Since Xiao Qing had returned, Xiao Tian Ce handed everything over to her, then went into seclusion to study how to make a device that converted Dou Qi into spiritual energy.
Inside the secluded chamber.
Xiao Tian Ce sat cross-legged on a cushion. On the floor before him lay the forging instructions he had copied down, along with all the materials he had gathered.
They formed a densely packed heap. Aside from the mithril, there were even three ninth-rank magical beast magic cores. Had he not acquired all the wealth left behind by the Heavenly Huang Clan during his trip to the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix Secret Realm, those three cores alone would probably have cost him a great deal of time.
After all, once magical beasts reached the sixth rank, equivalent to the Dou Emperor level, they already possessed a certain degree of intelligence, often not far behind humans. Some clever magical beasts were even smarter than humans.
Obtaining their magic cores was easier said than done. Unless one could overwhelm them and subdue them in an instant, even defeating them was not enough. Once a magical beast felt it had no chance of escape, it would choose to self-destruct without hesitation.
That was even more true of high-level magical beasts of the ninth rank. Obtaining three ninth-rank magical beast magic cores was extraordinarily difficult.
Aside from magic cores, high-grade materials such as metals were also hard to obtain. On the Dou Qi Continent, weapons might not be an expert's first choice, but generally speaking, a weapon that suited its wielder could still improve their combat strength.
Still, however difficult the required materials were to obtain, he could gather the vast majority from the resources he had acquired from the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix Clan.
Looking at the densely packed materials before him, Xiao Tian Ce felt a headache coming on. Apart from mithril, which was relatively soft and highly malleable, none of the other materials would be easy for him to refine.
"Whew!"
After letting out a long breath, Xiao Tian Ce quickly adjusted his mindset. He thought to himself, No matter how much time or effort it takes, as long as it helps me study Spiritual Arrays and become a Spiritual Array Master, it will all be worth it.
After all, the Dou Qi Continent was a lower plane of the Great Thousand World. According to Tudou's mapping of lower-plane cultivation realms to those of the Great Thousand World, the Dou Di Realm was roughly equivalent to the Earth Sovereign level.
In terms of Spiritual Array Master ranks, that corresponded to the level of a Spiritual Array Grandmaster.
Xiao Tian Ce did not expect to reach the higher grandmaster tier of Spiritual Arrays quickly. As long as he reached the Spiritual Array Grandmaster level, he could summon a Spiritual Array with a thought and thrash every so-called expert on the entire Dou Qi Continent.
If he became a Spiritual Array Grandmaster, the Hun Clan and Hun Tiandi would be nothing more than slightly larger ants in his eyes.
Even taking a step back, as long as he could create ninth-grade Spiritual Arrays and become an upper Heaven-grade Spiritual Array Master, he would have enough confidence to face the Hun Clan and Hun Tiandi.
Then the Xiao Clan would no longer need to hide. They could openly establish their external forces, just like the Soul Hall that the Hun Clan controlled from behind the scenes. Who would dare bare their teeth at them?
It was precisely because he had thought all this through that he had rushed back to the Xiao Realm to secure the mithril, fearing that a long night would breed too many dreams.
After steadying his mind, Xiao Tian Ce began meditating to concentrate his spiritual strength. Suddenly, however, he opened his eyes and took a scroll from his Storage Ring.
The three large characters for "Heaven Soul Art" were written on the scroll's surface. What it contained was neither a Dou Technique nor a cultivation method, but a soul technique-a combat skill created specifically for soul power, something exceedingly precious even on the Dou Qi Continent.
In the original story, even Xiao Yan, the child of destiny, only encountered soul techniques later on, after reaching the Pill Tower. That alone showed just how precious this Heaven Soul Art scroll was.
Since Xiao Tian Ce's soul had already reached spirit realm grand perfection, he met the requirements to cultivate the Heaven Soul Art. He swept his soul power over the scroll's contents, then simply began cultivating according to its instructions.
Three months passed like this before Xiao Tian Ce's soul power suddenly erupted. Had he not specially built this chamber and sealed it with spatial power, the shock waves from that soul power might have destroyed the entire building.
"The Heaven Soul Art truly lives up to its name. Just cultivating the soul-strengthening section brought my soul to the mid-level Heaven Realm in three short months. If I practice its soul techniques as well, I should at least be able to rival high-level Heaven Realm soul power."
After withdrawing his soul power, Xiao Tian Ce sensed the destructive force his soul had unleashed when he briefly lost control and could not help marveling.
"Whew!"
After exhaling a long breath of stale air, he put away the Heaven Soul Art, then turned his gaze to the densely packed materials on the floor.
"With mid-level Heaven Realm soul power, I have a much better chance of refining these materials now."
With that thought, he hesitated no longer. A golden flame suddenly appeared in his hand, and the temperature throughout the chamber rose rapidly. The Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame was terrifyingly powerful. Fortunately, he had already absorbed it. Otherwise, if it were still untamed, even with his strength as a Late Six-Star Dou Saint, he would have had to exercise extreme caution.
"No time to lose. Let's begin!"
Steadying his mind once more, Xiao Tian Ce fed the materials on the floor into the flames. Even though the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame's temperature had already reached tens of thousands of degrees, these materials could not be melted into liquid in a short time.
Thus, one day passed, then two, then three.
In the blink of an eye, another month had passed. The materials on the floor gradually dwindled, while more and more refined and reshaped materials accumulated beside Xiao Tian Ce.
Another month passed, and Xiao Tian Ce's face had grown deathly pale. This was a sign of excessive depletion of both Dou Qi and soul power. If it continued, he risked losing his life.
Refining materials for two months without sleep or rest, maintaining his concentration at every moment, was an extremely demanding undertaking.
Although it was difficult, Heaven did not let down those who labored with all their hearts. Once the final material-mithril-had been refined, Xiao Tian Ce immediately controlled the other refined materials, slowly merging them into it.
Following the design drawings, he incorporated the reshaped materials into the mithril one by one. This process required extreme care, or it could fail at any moment.
"Whew, the final step: embedding the magic cores. This has to succeed!"
As the three ninth-rank magic cores were embedded in the mithril one after another without any adverse reaction, Xiao Tian Ce's eyes filled with excitement. He wished he could speed up immediately.
But he also understood that haste made waste. A traveler on a hundred-mile journey was only halfway there at ninety miles. The closer he came to the end, the less he could afford even the slightest lapse.
"Hummm..."
Once the magic cores were successfully embedded, the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame slowly withdrew. Soon, a special palm-sized plaque appeared before him.
Looking at the somewhat bulky plaque, Xiao Tian Ce could not help laughing heartily. "The Converter is finally complete! Two whole months. That was far from easy."
He beckoned, and the plaque landed in his hand. Driven by curiosity, Xiao Tian Ce fed what little Dou Qi remained in his body into it, bit by bit.
However, the scene he had imagined, of Dou Qi transforming into brilliantly multicolored spiritual energy, did not appear. Had he not been able to sense the plaque absorbing his Dou Qi, Xiao Tian Ce would have thought he had failed.
"Whew!"
Once not a trace of Dou Qi remained in his body, he had no choice but to stop feeding it in. Only when he saw the lowest of the three magic cores on the plaque flickering with a faint light did he feel certain that the plaque had indeed absorbed the Dou Qi he had supplied.
"This is a bit like a storage device!"
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