Engraving spell inscriptions upon the soul was the most difficult step. It could only be done after reaching the Golden Core Realm; before that, there was only the fleeting instant of Soul Departure. The later stages had far fewer requirements. As long as the soul could bear it, one could cultivate and add talismanic characters.
Shi Xuan visualized the first seal character of the second stage of Minor Clear Wind Escape. Slowly, a cloud-shaped talismanic character began to emerge within his soul.
This talismanic character possessed only some of the traits of Ancient Cloud Seal Script, yet it was still complex. The slightest lapse in Shi Xuan's control caused it to vanish.
Visualizing talismanic characters was not as simple as it sounded. Their formation sequence had to follow certain rules: which part was visualized first and which came after was crucial to learning a spell. Furthermore, the spacing between every stroke had to be visualized exactly the same. This was unlike visualizing a True Method, where grasping its essence was enough.
Shi Xuan tried seven or eight times before finally visualizing the talismanic character within his soul. Then, with utmost care, he slowly brought it close to the inscription of Minor Clear Wind Escape. At last, it remained at a mysterious distance above the first-stage inscription, almost touching yet not quite.
Once it was in place, Shi Xuan activated the inscription within the essence of his soul. A sudden heat flared up, and the talismanic character formed a strange connection with the inscription, though they had not yet become a true whole.
Shi Xuan pressed on, visualizing one seal character after another. After five or six, he stopped when that part of his soul began to burn. He had exceeded its limit for the day, but half an Ancient Cloud Seal Script had already formed above the first-stage inscription.
Although half an Ancient Cloud Seal Script had been added, it did not affect the use of the first-stage Minor Clear Wind Escape. When activating the divine ability, that half-script did not need to function. Only once the second stage was truly complete would it fully merge and become a second-stage inscription.
Shi Xuan then slowly cultivated each of his other six minor divine abilities once. By the time he finished, he was utterly exhausted. He hastily performed the Clear Wind Bright Moon Illuminating Spirit True Method and recovered somewhat. Afterward came the nurturing of the seal characters, allowing them to fully merge with the essence of his soul.
Over the next few days, Shi Xuan instructed Yan Jujian to search the mountains for fine timber. At the same time, he had Ding Mingde enter the city to buy several high-quality cauldrons, preferably furnace cauldrons used by Daoist temples. He also had him purchase the materials Shi Xuan had specified, to prepare formations that would raise and stabilize the temperature of the flames.
Second-stage spells were indeed much simpler. On the night of the third day, Shi Xuan successfully visualized the final seal character and moved it to the layer of inscription above Minor Clear Wind Escape. The instant it settled into place, that entire layer of talismanic characters formed a complete Ancient Cloud Seal Script mixed with several ordinary seal characters. Golden light flashed across it, and this layer of inscription became a connected whole with the first-stage inscription. Shi Xuan had finally cultivated a second-stage spell.
With the first success behind him, everything afterward was much easier. That very night, Shi Xuan cultivated Golden Blade Divine Wind Slash, Golden Dragon Armor Charm, Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique, Yin Yang Eye, and Qi Gazing Technique to the second stage. Only Shangqing Hand Pivot Thunder, which was already at the second stage by nature, was still far from breaking through.
After comparing them, Shi Xuan confirmed that the second-stage minor divine abilities were at least twice as effective as the first stage.
Shi Xuan did not idle away his daytime hours either. Through careful study of the artifact-refining manuals and the method for refining the Life and Death Disk Dharma Artifact in the Treasure Record, he preliminarily devised three plans for reforging the Dharma Artifact. Two of them were purely backups, however, as they would greatly damage the materials of the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner itself. He hoped he would not need to use them.
The White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's materials and refining methods were both excellent. The fact that it had been refined to the completion of the Seventh Heaven already proved that it was a high-grade Magic Tool capable of bearing most restrictions. Thus, Shi Xuan racked his brains over which restrictions to choose after restoring and refining it.
The restrictions provided in the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's refining manual were undoubtedly the most suitable, but Shi Xuan did not like them. First, the thousand-year skulls at both ends had been completely pulverized, and no small part of those restrictions was tied to them. If he abandoned those portions and extracted unrelated restrictions to form a new one, Shi Xuan did not yet possess that ability. Second, its refinement method required living human sacrifices, something Shi Xuan still could not accept.
But one day, inspiration struck Shi Xuan. He took out the restrictions of the several Dharma Artifacts recorded in the Treasure Record for study and unexpectedly discovered that the first-Heaven restriction of the Life and Death Disk Dharma Artifact had a great deal in common with the first two-Heaven restrictions of the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner. The later restrictions differed more and more with each successive Heaven.
Shi Xuan began to consider whether he should use the Life and Death Disk's restrictions to refine the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner. The fact that most of the earlier restrictions were the same, along with the description of the Life and Death Disk's effects, showed that the banner's materials were broadly compatible with the attributes of those restrictions. Though the materials required by the Life and Death Disk seemed extremely high-grade, the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner was also a high-grade Magic Tool, so its materials could not be too inferior.
Still, if he began refining it with so little understanding, might the materials fail to withstand the later restrictions? Would the banner be ruined then? It was difficult to say, and Shi Xuan hesitated greatly.
However, on the day after Shi Xuan cultivated his second-stage spells, he made up his mind. He would use the Life and Death Disk's restrictions to refine the Dharma Artifact. After all, his Great Unity Sky Thunder talisman had already been used up. Having one more Dharma Artifact in hand would provide one more measure of security. Who knew whether he might encounter an enemy stronger than the Two-Headed Tiger in the future? Refining it with the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's restrictions would not do: first, he had no idea when he would finish gathering the required materials, which did not fit his need for something immediately available; second, he could not accept the method.
After making all the preparations, Shi Xuan directed Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde to arrange the purchased materials into a formation. Then they placed blocks of fine timber, split from the wood, at the center of the formation, and finally set a furnace cauldron bought from a Daoist temple atop the wood.
Shi Xuan ignited the wood with a spell and preheated the furnace cauldron. At the same time, he had Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde stand by. Artifact refining was not something the current Shi Xuan could handle alone; having them carry wood and fan the flames would be useful enough.
Once the bottom of the furnace cauldron heated up, Shi Xuan placed the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's banner cloth and the short section of flagpole attached to it into the cauldron. He then added several materials that would help melt the banner cloth later, making it easier for him to cut.
Circling the furnace cauldron, Shi Xuan used the fire-control formula from the artifact-refining manual to concentrate the flames upon the torn opening in the banner cloth. Although the restrictions were gone, and the lightning strike had shattered the stability binding that portion of material together, the temperature of the wood fire still appeared far from sufficient to melt the unstable mixed materials at the break.
While controlling the fire, he lifted the materials he had just put in through the air like puppets on strings, bringing them to the torn opening in the banner cloth. These rather low-grade materials greatly assisted the melting when they came into contact with the original material.
Shi Xuan barely managed to spare a thread of attention to signal Ding Mingde and Yan Jujian to prepare the wood and add it at any moment. Then his eyes widened, his fingers formed a seal, and he used the fiercest method in the fire-control formula. At the same time, he used another third of his focus to push the fire-control formation to its limit.
The orange flames suddenly surged, swallowing the furnace cauldron whole. Their color turned yellow with white hidden within it. This was the moment Shi Xuan had sought. Through the formation and the spell formula, he controlled the heat produced in that instant and directed it at the hole in the banner cloth. As expected, the broken section faintly softened.
Shi Xuan opened his mouth, and a pale white Wind Slash shot toward the break. One slash after another—after three strikes, the broken section was finally torn open crosswise. The small half of the banner cloth containing the tear separated from the lower portion.
Yet at that moment, Shi Xuan discovered that the furnace cauldron had actually burned through. This had been an earlier oversight; how could an ordinary furnace cauldron withstand such heat? Shi Xuan had no time for regret. His soul concentrated, and a black seal character appeared before him. With a point of his finger, the seal character struck the banner cloth. The banner cloth sank halfway into the flames, then finally stopped in midair.
"You two, quickly use the formation to control the flames!" Shi Xuan had no choice but to send the two of them in. Fortunately, they had rehearsed this during the preparations. Shi Xuan had mainly worried that he might be unable to divide his attention at the final crucial moment, but he had not expected to need them now.
After several months of cultivation, especially the teachings from the Immortal techniques manuals over the past few days, Yan Jujian had gained a comprehensive understanding. Controlling the formation was not a problem for him, while Ding Mingde was also passable at assisting and adding wood.
Following the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's refining formula, Shi Xuan made specific motions with his hands. One black seal character after another appeared in the air and entered the torn opening of the banner cloth, faintly merging with the intact cloth. At last, a border line with peculiar patterns formed along the upper edge of the banner cloth.
Shi Xuan's Daoist robe was soaked through with sweat, then dried again by the fire, but it was not yet time for success. Black seal characters struck the end of the flagpole and the place where it joined the upper edge of the banner cloth. The black seal characters burrowed into the pole and into the banner cloth, while Shi Xuan controlled the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner to flip back and forth, making it easier for the seal characters to enter.
With a loud shout, the final seal character condensed and Shi Xuan pointed it toward the Black Banner. When it entered the Black Banner, the surrounding chaotic Baleful Intent surged toward it, and part of it successfully seeped into the Black Banner.
Though Shi Xuan was exhausted beyond measure, the joy in his heart at seeing the Dharma Artifact successfully reforged suppressed the discomfort in both body and mind. He barely used a spell to protect himself, took the Black Banner from the flames into his hand, and signaled to Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde that the great task was complete and they no longer needed to control the fire.
The entire Black Banner was more than a third smaller than before, only roughly as tall as a person. Its black banner cloth bore strange patterns, looking bewitching and dazzling, but the evil ghost's head from before did not reappear. That was presumably a result of the White Bone Soul-Driving Banner's restrictions. To the touch, it was like both metal and cloth.
Shi Xuan did not shortchange Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde either. Though he put away that small half of the banner cloth, he still divided the other fragments of banner cloth they had collected earlier between them. He also took out a section of shattered flagpole and told them that each could use half of it when refining artifacts in the future. As for now, Yan Jujian would keep it. In a few days, Shi Xuan would teach them the introductory knowledge of artifact refining—though he certainly would not teach the evil portions that required blood sacrifices.
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