Flying Sword

At the Zixiao Institute. Once the banquet concluded, Yaoguang received the remuneration provided by the First Seat of the Xianying Institute. Inside the quiet room, he looked at the gold-foil certificate of deposit in his hand. "Five thousand spirit stones." With this certificate, he could withdraw five thousand spirit stones at an Energy Department branch in any domain. Of course, five thousand spirit stones was an unequivocally massive withdrawal, requiring an advance reservation. Still... Yaoguang could not shake the feeling that he had never been this wealthy before. "The Heavenly Being Pills can be retired now. I can go straight to Indestructible Golden Body Pills—one bottle per realm, and they only cost six hundred spirit stones apiece." A smile touched Yaoguang's lips. Yet immediately after, a strange expression crossed his face. Six hundred spirit stones... Only? Since when was six hundred spirit stones mere pocket change? Unless backed by a powerful patron, Great Cultivators who advanced through their own efforts—especially Star Lords of the body-cultivator lineage—might not even save up six hundred spirit stones in two or three years. Shaking his head, Yaoguang pushed the thought aside. "Having invested so much time and effort into the Xianying 60, it's finally time to reap the harvest." He directed his awareness into his spiritual world. There, the branch belonging to [Merchant] was verdant and flourishing, poised to grow vigorously the moment he released his restraint. Yet Yaoguang turned his attention toward the [Artifact Refining] branch instead. Although he had previously remained steadfast on the path of dedicating all his resources to strengthening [Martial Path], securing more spirit stones—especially seizing that massive Nine Cauldrons Sect order worth a million spirit stones—required dedicating effort to [Artifact Refining]. "Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodchopper. Only by raising my artifact refining grade can I do better business and earn more money, acquiring more experience to substantially elevate my realms in both the Martial Path and the Divine Path." With that thought, a massive surge of nutrients poured into the [Artifact Refining] branch. In an instant, the branch reached its peak and smoothly bore fruit. Even after bearing fruit, its growth did not stop. Swaying slightly, it entered another growth spurt, expanding until it stood second only to the [Martial Path] branch. As the [Artifact Refining] branch flourished, endless streams of information flooded Yaoguang's mind. Focusing his mind, he quietly absorbed it all. It took him an entire day to finish cataloging and organizing this knowledge of Artifact Refining. "Compared to body, spell, sword, and spirit cultivators, the development of artifact refining... has lagged behind a bit." His consciousness lingered over the branch. If calculated by progress, his current progress in [Artifact Refining] was roughly thirty-five percent. However... The division of artifact refining stages was intriguing. From one to twenty percent, it primarily contained information regarding low-grade spirit artifacts. Twenty-one to forty percent focused on mid-grade spirit artifacts. By extension, forty-one to sixty percent held the experience for forging high-grade spirit artifacts. Yet the concepts of low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade spirit artifacts involved here differed somewhat from those in the Cangwu Great World. "The essence of the ancient tree stems from higher-dimensional cognition—the understanding of surrounding matters by a higher-dimensional entity capable of effortlessly taking in endless information. Its range of cognition is everything within 'Its' gaze, but... 'Its' gaze clearly is not confined to just the Cangwu Great World." Just as the martial art he practiced, Formless Boundless, originated from a martial faction known as the Formless Sect. Yet no such martial faction seemed to exist in the Cangwu Great World. Furthermore, up to this point, he had never seen any body refining sect whose methods for tempering the first nine layers were more advanced or comprehensive than Formless Boundless. The artifact refining methods he perceived through [Artifact Refining] embraced all things. They encompassed, but were not limited to, every artifact refining sect in the Cangwu Great World. Some of the techniques among them did not exist in the Cangwu Great World at all. Yet no matter how fine the technology, those who refined artifacts were ultimately people. For a faction whose evolutionary path differed completely from his own and that of the Cangwu Realm, even the most advanced techniques would be useless. It was like handing longevity technology to a silicon-based life-form—it would probably be left thoroughly baffled. While higher-dimensional cognition would not make such a crude error, certain refining techniques could still produce similar outcomes through different means. Furthermore... Dwelling within the Cangwu Realm, the information he perceived first and was most deeply impressed by naturally pertained to the Cangwu Realm's own craft. Though some details were extraordinary, they did not stray too far beyond reason. "Therefore... although this refining method is somewhat unorthodox... it has immense potential." Yaoguang digested this secret method... A technique that could be considered a "secret art" or a "clever trick" within the craft of artifact refining: Myriad Spirit Sovereign: Spirit Artifact Chapter. "Plant an artifact spirit in every flying sword so that cultivators can swiftly complete the refinement of the spirit artifact, granting ordinary flying swords the effect of life-bound flying swords. Thereafter, let man nourish the artifact, using the spirituality radiated by the sword cultivator to nurture the spirit-artifact flying swords as sword-spirit life-forms, yielding a large quantity of spirit-artifact flying swords endowed with autonomous traits. In the future, once these artifacts are recalled, the cultivator needs only a minuscule amount of divine mind to manipulate them..." Yaoguang lingered on this secret art. The style of this technique... smacked somewhat of the Moon Demon Empire. Yet he had to admit, it was exceedingly powerful. These flying swords were best used in conjunction with a spirit cultivator system, and several spirit cultivation manuals were recommended. Yaoguang happened to possess the most suitable one. It was a technique he had obtained from sorting out the information gained upon breaking through to the Origin Spirit Realm: the Taiyuan Spirit Refining Art. It was divided into four tiers. Depending on the practitioner's divine mind strength, it could ultimately divide into 108, 1,024, 10,800, and 129,600 thought strands. In other words, mastered to its pinnacle, this spirit refining method could track and lock onto 129,600 targets simultaneously. "At its limit, the Myriad Spirit Sovereign can control tens of thousands of flying swords with a single thought... If combined with the Taiyuan Spirit Refining Art..." Yaoguang inhaled a deep breath. 1,296,000,000! Manipulating 1.296 billion spirit-artifact flying swords simultaneously?! Even if the spirit-artifact flying swords suffered reduced lethal power without sword cultivators powering them... Once such an astronomical swarm surged across the battlefield, what kind of force could possibly withstand it?! This was swarm tactics! "Dual cultivation systems truly are formidable," Yaoguang mused inwardly. Dual cultivation in spirit refining and artifact refining. Currently, top sects were all pursuing dual cultivation paths, even developing various interconnected branches to complement one another. However, these methodologies were classified at the highest levels of secrecy, guarded more tightly than methods for breaking through to the Golden Core Realm. Let alone Yaoguang, even the higher-ups of the Nine Cauldrons Sect likely knew very little. "When my Divine Path broke through to the Origin Spirit Realm, it yielded the innate divine ability God King, which aligns exceptionally well with the Myriad Spirit Sovereign and the Taiyuan Spirit Refining Art. Combining them can easily produce a synergy where one plus one is greater than two." Yaoguang's eyes glittered. In particular... The Dao Fruit derived from reaching ninth-tier perfection in Artifact Refining fortified his resolve. "Heavenly Net." This was the innate divine ability granted by the third Dao Fruit of the [Artifact Refining] branch, following Artifact Refining Heart and Artifact Refining Soul. By inscribing divine patterns onto flying swords he forged himself, he could obtain the visual perspective and awareness of any one of them. In essence, every single flying sword served as a network node. Though limited to vision and awareness, as flying swords crafted by him were sold to every corner of the world in the future, the entire world would fall within range of his perception. Of course, realizing that goal was still a long way off. He would need to achieve great mastery of his Origin Spirit at the very least to have any hope of it. For now... He still had to select the right flying sword design to meet the Nine Cauldrons Sect's requirements. "With this secret refining method, as long as the flying sword I produce isn't too lacking in performance, securing the order shouldn't be much of an issue. After all, the difference in performance between an ordinary flying sword and a life-bound flying sword is practically a full tier apart. To make an analogy, it's like the difference between a conductor and a superconductor. When an ordinary flying sword accommodates a sword cultivator's true essence to execute sword arts, energy loss is inevitable; a life-bound flying sword, however, can maximize a sword cultivator's combat strength to the fullest." Be that as it may, Yaoguang still sifted through the information gained from [Artifact Refining] to search for a suitable spirit-artifact flying sword. After a long time, he settled on one design. The flying sword was not high in grade—merely a low-grade spirit artifact—yet it possessed high speed and low energy consumption, as well as a distinct advantage in production speed. Its stability and lethal power, however, were on the lower side. Yet the shortcoming of low lethal power could be resolved through the benefits of a "life-bound flying sword." As for poor stability and vulnerability to disruption and suppression... That would depend on whether their own spirit cultivators pulled their weight. If their own spirit cultivators could suppress the enemy's spirit cultivators first, this drawback would not pose much of a problem. And while the spirit cultivators of the Nine Cauldrons Sect were somewhat lackluster, that depended on who they were being compared against. They certainly fell short against the Great Sun Sword Sect, but bullying the Xuanming Sect was still well within their capabilities. "This is the one. Its speed and energy consumption meet the criteria, and if I pitch the Myriad Spirit Sovereign trait as another selling point of the flying sword, it'll effectively compensate for the lack of offensive power. Factor in the advantage of rapid production, and it should be more than enough." Having chosen his target, Yaoguang began absorbing the forging methodology for this flying sword along with the execution of the Myriad Spirit Sovereign secret art. ... On the ninth day. Having received Yaoguang's notification, Zhao He, Zhang Jianlin, Qin Yi, Yun Lai, and the others arrived at the Zixiao Artifact Refining Institute together. "It's finished already?" A glimmer of anticipation showed in Zhao He's eyes. "Does it meet the criteria set by the higher-ups?" "Yes. If not for forging a sample, I could have submitted the proposal six days ago," Yaoguang said. "You've forged a sample already?" Zhang Jianlin sounded pleasantly surprised. Beside them, Xiang Guangming smiled and said, "Three days ago, the First Seat led us in working around the clock without rest, rallying the entire institute's strength just to produce this sample. "At the start of production, everyone was still rusty and unfamiliar with the process. Once they become proficient, given this flying sword's simple structure and the Zixiao Institute's capacity, we can reach an output of three swords a day. If the Zixiao Institute's scale is expanded, producing ten swords a day won't be difficult at all." "That fast?" Shock showed on Zhao He's face. The reason the higher-ups had given the task force only one year was that the situation in the East Sea Archipelago admitted no delay. Furthermore, after rumors of demotion swirled around the Zixiao Institute, nearly half its personnel had left. If Yaoguang could achieve an output of three swords a day under such conditions, it would be an overwhelmingly competitive advantage. "Let me take a look... Flying sword speed... Huh?! Maximum 2.8 times the speed of sound?! Lethal power can reach grade five?! Spirit consumption per ten thousand kilometers is only 176?! That's almost on par with the consumption of a dharma artifact flying sword?!" Zhao He looked up in astonishment. "Are these numbers for real?"