He curled his five fingers around the dark red section of tailbone, holding it in his palm.
At once, a stream of pure, searing fire-attribute energy surged into the meridians in his arm.
Like a warm stream, it eventually flowed into his Bitter Sea, making even the eye of his Life Spring ripple faintly.
The fire lizard was indeed a strange beast that fed on earthfire. The source fire essence remaining in its bones was also a boon to him, who cultivated the Sun True Scripture.
A white figure swept past, bringing with it a trace of icy chill.
It was Xiaobai.
Xiaobai's slender body wound around his wrist, the cool, delicate touch of its scales dispersing some of the heat that filled the mouth of the Earthfire Abyss.
Raising its head, it looked at him with jade-green eyes and sent him a clear pulse of thought.
[Qingshan, you're amazing! Much stronger than that big brute last time who could only breathe fire!]
Li Qingshan merely smiled calmly at that and gave no reply.
Then Xiaobai turned its gaze to the crystals embedded in the rock wall, as though flames had congealed there.
Li Qingshan had already begun gathering them.
These fire marrow crystals had been tempered by earthfire for ten thousand years and were incredibly hard. Even when he circulated divine power to his fingertips,
he could only pry off a few fragments with each attempt, making slow progress.
Xiaobai tilted its head and watched for a moment, then suddenly slithered forward, approaching a fist-sized fire marrow crystal.
It aimed the jade horn on its head, which looked smooth and fragile, at the base where the crystal joined the rock wall and touched it lightly.
"Crack."
With a crisp little sound, the fire marrow crystal came loose and separated cleanly from the rock wall, its broken surface smooth as a mirror.
[That should do it.]
Xiaobai's thought reached him, carrying a trace of barely perceptible pride. Its tail curled around the whole fire marrow crystal and offered it to him.
A flicker of surprise crossed Li Qingshan's eyes.
"You can also break through protective force and shatter metal. That makes you just right for dealing with these fire marrow crystals."
He took the crystal and put it away.
[It's my duty.]
Xiaobai's thought was brief, and it had already slithered toward the next fire marrow crystal.
With that, the man and snake divided the work between them.
Li Qingshan used his divine sense to determine the crystals' locations and quality, while Xiaobai deftly pried them loose with its jade horn.
Their efficiency soared. In less than an hour, they had gathered more than twenty high-quality fire marrow crystals with flowing fire contained within them.
It was enough for the initial forging of the artifact embryo.
"The materials are ready. It's time to go back."
Li Qingshan brushed the scorching dust from his clothes and swept his gaze over the deep fissure as he spoke calmly.
Xiaobai flashed onto his shoulder, its tail hanging naturally and hooking around a corner of his robe.
[Let us return.]
As soon as they leaped out of the fissure in the Earthfire Abyss, the previously fairly clear sky abruptly changed.
Heavy leaden clouds gathered from all directions, rolling like ink, and the sky darkened in an instant.
Immediately afterward, bean-sized raindrops poured down without warning, striking the scorched black rocks with a tremendous patter and raising a vast expanse of white steam.
With a slight thought from Li Qingshan, crimson-gold divine power surged from his body, forming an invisible barrier within a foot or so around him.
Raindrops struck it, splashing into fine droplets before sliding away, unable to wet him in the slightest.
He glanced at Xiaobai on his shoulder and saw that the little creature had instinctively curled up at the moment the downpour struck, its head tilted slightly as though looking for shelter.
But after realizing that the rain was completely blocked, it returned to normal, its green eyes gazing quietly at the hazy curtain of rain beyond the shield.
[The might of heaven and earth is overwhelming and hard to resist.]
Its thought reached him, calm but bearing the imprint of a distant memory.
[In the past, when I encountered such driving rain and startling thunder, I would hide in cracks between rocks and hollows in caves.]
Hearing this, Li Qingshan felt a slight stir in his heart.
He said little, merely expanding the shield slightly to ensure that Xiaobai on his shoulder was entirely sheltered in dryness and warmth.
At the same time, he extended a finger and gently stroked its cool scales.
"The past is behind you. From now on, you have me."
His voice was not loud, yet it rang out with perfect clarity amid the clamor of the rain, carrying a steady strength that brooked no doubt.
[Mm.]
Xiaobai answered and said no more, but its body quietly relaxed, pressing a little closer to him.
Li Qingshan quickened his pace, making his way through the boundless curtain of rain toward the cave where he was staying.
In the rain, clouds and mist wreathed the Mount Kunlun Range, the shapes of its mountains appearing and vanishing. The essence Qi of heaven and earth, stirred by the rain, grew ever more active.
Just then, Xiaobai's body stiffened on his shoulder, and it suddenly raised its head!
The pair of jade horns on its head erupted without warning in a dazzling white light, so brilliant that it briefly overwhelmed the surrounding gloom.
Its little body trembled slightly, as though it were enduring some invisible pressure.
[Receive this!]
An incomparably solemn thought, even tinged with a sense of resolve, struck directly into Li Qingshan's sea of consciousness.
Before he could react, Xiaobai opened its mouth and spat something out. It was a scale no larger than a fingernail, translucent throughout like green jade, with what looked like flowing clouds and rosy light within.
It was its lifebound reverse scale!
The lifebound scale seemed to possess a spirit of its own. It transformed into a concentrated streak of green light and flew into Li Qingshan's palm.
"Boom!
It was as though thunder had exploded in his soul. An utterly clear, unbreakable bond between their souls formed in an instant between him and Xiaobai.
Without words, without even the transmission of thought, a wondrous connection naturally arose between them, as though their bloodlines were joined and they shared life and death.
"Xiaobai, you-"
Li Qingshan stopped in his tracks, shaken. This was no mere trust; Xiaobai had entrusted him with the very foundation of its life.
Xiaobai's thought reached him, carrying a faint weariness from using the secret art, yet firm as a rock.
[Now that I have entrusted you with my reverse scale, we shall follow each other through life and death.]
It raised its head to look at him. The usual dependence and liveliness were gone from its green eyes, leaving only pure will.
Li Qingshan stood still for a moment in the pouring rain. At last, he slowly raised his hand and lifted Xiaobai from his shoulder into his palm.
He looked at its scales, slightly dimmed from giving up its lifebound scale.
The Sun True Scripture circulated within him, and a wisp of the most refined and pure life source Qi passed from his fingertip into Xiaobai's body.
"This gift is heavier than a divine mountain."
His voice was low, every word weighing as much as ten thousand pounds.
"I, Li Qingshan, accept it.
From this day forth, we travel together, sharing fortune and misfortune. We will never let each other down."
[Never let each other down!]
Xiaobai's thought instantly grew bright and joyful. The infusion of life essence Qi also quickly restored its vigor, and it coiled gently in his palm.
Li Qingshan let out a long laugh. Carrying Xiaobai, he transformed into a streak of crimson-gold light, broke through the curtain of rain, and returned in an instant to the temporary cave abode he had carved out.
Outside the cave, thunder rumbled and the rain fell harder, as though the heavens had sprung a leak.
Inside, he did not rush to regulate his breathing. Instead, he first used his divine sense to examine Xiaobai's condition carefully.
Only after confirming that its source was unharmed and that it merely needed quiet rest after exhausting itself did he feel at ease.
The next day, the rain stopped and the clouds dispersed, leaving heaven and earth washed clean.
Standing beside the Earthfire Abyss once more, Li Qingshan felt very different.
He took out the fire marrow crystals he had obtained the previous day, then summoned the bag of sun sand with golden light flowing over it from his Bitter Sea.
Finally, his gaze fell on the piece of broken sword, the Great Luo Silver Essence. It was one of the legendary supreme divine materials for refining an "artifact." Though there was very little of it, it was still a priceless treasure.
"The earthfire deep within the Earthfire Abyss is the essence of the earth's innards, pure and vigorous in its yang. It is just right for tempering divine materials like these."
His thoughts joined with the earth veins, and he roused his divine power.
"Earthfire, rise!"
Rumble!
Deep within the Earthfire Abyss, lava churned as a concentrated stream of earthfire essence, like a fine crimson-jade elixir, was forcibly drawn out.
It broke through the rock layers like an awakening fire dragon, then finally floated docilely above Li Qingshan's outstretched palm.
The extreme heat was tightly confined to that tiny space, scorching even the air until it warped and twisted.
"First, melt the sun sand."
Solemn-faced, Li Qingshan cast the handful of golden sand into the flames in his palm.
The sun sand, supremely yang and unyielding, melted as soon as it met the fire. In an instant, it became a pool of searing, flowing golden liquid, dazzling as a liquid sun.
Once the golden liquid had stabilized, he added the fragments of the fire lizard's bones.
The bones, harder than refined iron, gradually softened and melted under the combined scorching of earthfire and divine power.
The wisp of source fire essence within them merged into the golden liquid, making its color deeper and heavier, as though it bore the weight of mountains.
"Next comes the most crucial part of all: smelting the Great Luo Silver Essence!"
He carefully dropped in the fragment, shining with silvery radiance.
The Great Luo Silver Essence lived up to its name as a divine material rarely seen in the world. Under the constant scorching of the earthfire, it merely turned faintly red, softening at an extremely slow pace.
"If earthfire cannot melt you, then I'll help you with Sun True Fire!"
Li Qingshan's gaze sharpened. His Bitter Sea churned and his Life Spring surged as his vast divine power raced along the profound pathways of the Sun True Scripture.
A wisp of golden true fire tinged with white and containing supreme yang emerged from his fingertip and merged with the earthfire in his palm.
"Hiss!"
The temperature abruptly soared to a terrifying level, and the surrounding space gave a faint, strained whine.
The broken sword fragment finally began to react violently. Beads of bright silver liquid formed at its edges and slowly dripped down, beginning to blend with the molten golden sun sand below.
Gold and silver flowed and seeped into each other, gradually forming a more mysterious liquid alloy with its brilliance contained within, as though it held a world of its own.
"Add the fire marrow crystal to balance hardness and softness and nurture the artifact's nature."
He took out a fire marrow crystal as red as fire jade and cast it in.
The crystal did not melt. Under the extreme heat, it sublimated directly into wisps of hazy orange-red vapor.
Like spirit snakes, they slipped into the mass of gold and silver liquid.
Neutralized by this wisp of the earth's source fire baleful Qi, the liquid mass's radiance grew somewhat more subdued, while its texture became increasingly mellow and fine.
Amid its fierce strength, a barely perceptible trace of resilience took shape.
Li Qingshan could not afford a moment's distraction. He concentrated all his attention on the final and most crucial step: inscribing the Lightning-Attracting Mark!
He took a deep breath. The power of his divine sense condensed intensely within his sea of consciousness, forming an invisible carving knife that drew upon a barely perceptible trace of the Dao resonance of thunder between heaven and earth, slowly tracing it in midair.
An incomparably intricate, profound rune made up of countless tiny electric arcs gradually appeared.
The moment the rune took shape, a violent suction force arose within it, and it began devouring the essence Qi of heaven and earth around it on its own.
From the sky outside the cave, which had only just cleared, came the faint rumble of thunder once more.
"The artifact is not yet complete. How dare you draw lightning! Be still!"
Li Qingshan shouted, veins standing out faintly on his forehead as his divine power surged out without reserve.
He forcibly suppressed the restless Lightning-Attracting Mark and drove it steadily, inch by inch, into the core of the slowly rotating mass of liquid metal!
"Hum!"
A bell suddenly rang out, clear and lingering, piercing straight into the soul!
The mass of liquid metal trembled violently, and precious light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire cave.
Guided and suppressed by Li Qingshan's powerful divine sense, it began to shrink and condense rapidly, its form gradually becoming fixed.
In the end, it became a simple little bell about three inches high, dark gold throughout, with a silver lightning pattern coiled around its surface like a dragon!
The newly formed bell embryo floated in the air, chiming softly of its own accord. It naturally resonated with the Qi of heaven and earth around it, drawing a breeze to circle it.
"The artifact embryo is complete!"
Li Qingshan let out a long breath of turbid Qi, his face slightly pale as the earthfire in his palm slowly dispersed.
He reached out and grasped the little bell. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, yet he could sense the immense power it contained and the imprint of the law that drew lightning.
Though it still had a long road to travel before becoming a true "artifact," the most difficult first step had been taken. The foundation of the Great Dao had been forged here.
At this bell's first chime, Dao resonance already accompanied it.
With a thought, Li Qingshan stored the dark-gold lightning-attracting bell embryo in his Bitter Sea.
The bell embryo rose and sank above the Life Spring, nourished and washed day and night by the source of his divine power as it underwent its initial nurturing and refinement.
Xiaobai wound itself around his wrist again, its jade horns flowing with a warm, lustrous sheen in Kunlun's morning light.
Li Qingshan laughed aloud and stepped out.
In his Bitter Sea, the newborn artifact embryo mingled with his divine power, growing silently.