Fusing the Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron
After returning to the inn in Gengxin City, Nan Feng shut himself in his room and didn't come out for three days.
Every evening, Ye Lingling left food outside his door, knocked twice, and walked away. The next morning, Dugu Yan left a note under something on the counter, saying she was returning to Heaven Dou City first. At the end, she wrote: I'll treat you to a drink next time we meet.
Nan Feng didn't go out. Lying in his room, he could hear Ye Lingling pause after setting down the dishes.
The Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron had rested against his chest for three days. The thumb-sized piece of ore was a darker purplish-black than when he had first obtained it, but the silver patterns inside were brighter.
Every time he sank his consciousness deep into his soul, the patterns on the third level at the base of the tower lit up for an instant. He had never heard that frequency before. It was like a resonance, but also like it was calling to him.
On the first night, Old Huai had explained how to use it.
"The door to 'Creation' on the third level needs this key. Your Soul Power isn't enough to push it open." Old Huai's voice came from the crack. "You can't just throw the meteoric iron into the tower. That would be a waste. Draw its Spiritual Power into the tower little by little, and let the foundation absorb it completely first."
"The Power of the Stars will rise from the base of the tower and activate that half-finished Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light as it passes through the second level."
"Can't I already use the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light?" Nan Feng asked.
"All yours can do is find the rough location of things with Spiritual Power. Their forms are still blurry. It's about as reliable as a blind cat stumbling on a dead mouse." Old Huai drew out his words, his voice tinged with impatience.
"The true Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light can see the attributes, age, and quality of every object with Spiritual Power, and even make clear how the Spiritual Power circulates inside it. It's an ability attached to the Power of Devouring on the second level. It needs a strong enough surge of the Power of the Stars to awaken, and the Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron has just enough power."
Nan Feng drew his consciousness back to his chest and used the method Old Huai had taught him to draw out the meteoric iron's Spiritual Power.
The Spiritual Power sank from his chest, seeped through his meridians into his dantian, and then headed for the base of the tower. The first time he drew it out, he nearly failed to withstand it. The Spiritual Power of the Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron was more unruly than that of the Cold Iron Core and Meteoric Iron Core combined. The instant it rushed into his meridians, it charged about like a herd of wild horses released after a long confinement.
He gritted his teeth and used the tower's Power of Mountain Suppression to hold the Spiritual Power down, dividing it into small streams and sending them to the base of the tower one by one.
Each time a stream arrived, the tower shuddered, the vibration shooting straight from its base to his chest. The ring of verdigris at the tower's base changed with it: blue-green turned dark teal, dark teal turned nearly black, and a dim golden glow showed through the black.
On the evening of the second day, the first complete stream of the Power of the Stars rose from the base of the tower to the second level.
The tower jolted violently, and the whole structure swayed deep within his soul. The door to the second level, which had remained shut all this time, gave a dull thud, as though something had struck it from the inside.
Nan Feng's perception expanded dramatically in that instant. It was as if someone had lit a lamp in the darkness, bringing the once-blurred world into focus all at once.
Within a hundred paces of the inn, everything with Spiritual Power lit up in his perception. Every point of light bore its attributes and age.
A copper button lay beneath the bed, dropped by a guest the year before last. Its Spiritual Power was as weak as a candle flame in the wind. Fireproof stones were set into the stove at the end of the corridor. After being heated by fire for more than a decade, they held a small amount of fire-attribute Spiritual Power.
An ancient coin lay beneath the stone rim of the well in the back courtyard. It was badly rusted, made of an unusual material, weak in Spiritual Power, and carried the air of great age.
Early on the third morning, the tower absorbed the last of the meteoric iron's Spiritual Power.
The piece of ore slipped from his chest, rolled twice across the bed, and stopped beside his pillow. The once purplish-black meteoric iron had turned gray-white, all its silver patterns gone, like a piece of thoroughly burned slag.
At the same time, the door on the tower's second level opened halfway. The Spiritual Power pouring through the gap joined the Power of Mountain Suppression on the first level at the base of the tower, forming a new perceptive ability.
The Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light was complete.
Nan Feng opened his eyes. Morning light shone through the window and fell into his palm.
He raised his right hand and looked. The underlying glow of the Soul Ring deep within his palm lines was twice as bright as it had been three days ago, its color deeper and darker. The purple within the deep yellow had grown richer.
From level sixteen to level eighteen, he had crossed two thresholds at once while fusing with the meteoric iron. His level-eighteen Soul Power circulated through his meridians, thirty percent denser than at level sixteen. The meteoric iron's Spiritual Power had rushed through the meridian walls, widening them a little more.
He stood and loosened his body, stiff from three days of inactivity. His joints cracked a few times. The fracture in his left rib had mostly healed, nourished by his Soul Power. It still ached dully when he breathed deeply, but it wouldn't hinder him in a fight.
He put away the gray-white meteoric iron remnants, opened the door, and went out.
Ye Lingling was just coming down the corridor with breakfast. When she saw him, she stopped in her tracks.
"You haven't come out for three days." She handed him breakfast, her tone even, her eyes sweeping over his face. "Are you hurt?"
"I've finished fusing it." Nan Feng took the bowl and chopsticks. There was plain congee in the bowl, along with two steamed buns and a dish of pickles.
Ye Lingling stayed in the corridor instead of leaving at once. She watched him drink the congee, then spoke after a while. "The fluctuations of your Soul Power have changed."
"Mm. I went up two levels."
Ye Lingling nodded without pressing him. Her gaze rested on his palm for a moment. "Has that tower of yours grown stronger?"
"You could tell?"
"The way your Spiritual Power spills out has changed." Ye Lingling folded her arms across her chest. "Before, when you activated the tower, I felt a force pressing outward, thick and heavy. That force is still there, but now there's another layer outside it, like feelers extending to sense things. I was standing at the other end of the corridor just now, and that layer of yours had already swept over me."
Nan Feng said nothing. She was right. Once the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light had taken shape, its web of perception circulated on its own, spreading out a hundred paces around him even without being activated. When it swept over a support-type Soul Master with pure Soul Power like Ye Lingling, it could clearly sense the fluctuations of her healing-type Spiritual Power. It was ten times stronger than before.
"Does it affect you?"
Ye Lingling shook her head. "It just feels like someone took a look at me. It's not uncomfortable."
She paused. "When your perception swept over me, I could sense its texture. It's different from Soul Power and different from spiritual power, too. Very heavy, very old, like spring water seeping up from underground. It's denser than every perception-type Soul Skill I've ever seen."
Nan Feng finished his congee and handed back the empty bowl. "Thank you for bringing me food these past few days."
Ye Lingling took the bowl, and the corners of her lips curved up ever so slightly. "Let me know before you enter seclusion next time. I won't always have time to bring you food."
That afternoon, Nan Feng left the inn and made another circuit of Gengxin City.
After the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light's upgrade, the whole city looked different to his senses. Things that had once been hazy now gave him definite information. He could tell the age and Spiritual Power attributes of every piece of ore, and knew which blacksmith shops had materials more than a thousand years old burning in their furnaces, and which shops had century-old cold iron lying under dust in a corner.
There was an especially strong Spiritual Power response to the north of the city, denser than everything around it, as though something lay buried deep underground. It was too far away for his perception to reach.
In an inconspicuous general store, he found a piece of Star-Patterned Copper.
It lay among the scrap metal under the counter, covered in a layer of oxidation and looking no different from scrap copper. When the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light swept over it, its point of light was dark teal, several times brighter than the century-old cold iron around it.
Nan Feng bought it for twenty copper coins, tucked it into his clothes, and took it back to the inn.
The Spiritual Power of Star-Patterned Copper was gentler than that of the Cold Iron Core, making it suitable for stabilizing the second level's foundation. Nan Feng was in no hurry to absorb it. Old Huai had said that the Power of Devouring on the second level could only be fully opened at level thirty. With the door halfway open, he had unlocked the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light early. The rest could wait until level thirty.
That night, Nan Feng sat on the bed and examined the underlying glow of the Soul Ring in his palm several times, turning his hand this way and that.
Deep yellow tinged with purple, its purple glow richer than three days ago. He was at level eighteen, two levels away from level twenty. At level twenty, the door to the tower's first level would open completely, and the tower would undergo its first evolution. Only then could the Power of Mountain Suppression truly be released outward.
Only then could he help Xiao Wu deal with that seal.
He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the tower. Old Huai poked his head out of the crack, a teal light flashing in his murky eyes.
"Is the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light complete?"
"It is."
"The door to the second level is halfway open, so you can use part of the Power of Devouring now. From now on, when you hunt Soul Beasts, you'll absorb their Soul Rings a little more efficiently." Old Huai stared at him. "The door to Creation on the third level is still locked. The Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron's power is used up, and the key is spent. You'll need to find another opportunity for the third level."
Nan Feng nodded.
Every level of the tower required an opportunity. The Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron had been used up, so he needed to find something new for the third level. He wasn't in a hurry; the road ahead was long. He was at level eighteen, two levels short of twenty. After two more levels, the door to the first level would open completely, and the tower would undergo its first evolution.
He put the Star-Patterned Copper away, closed his eyes, and began circulating the Primordial World Qi Refining Art.
The Soul Power in his dantian traveled through his meridians in cycle after cycle, warm and steady. The deep yellow glow tinged with purple beneath the Soul Ring in his palm pulsed against his skin, answering the teal light in the crack at the tower's base as the two rose and fell.
Moonlight slipped through the gap in the window, casting a small patch of gray-white light on the floor. Nan Feng pulled the blanket up to his chin and sank into cultivation.