The tightly shut doors made it impossible for Xue Jin to know what Lin Xun was busy with. However, Xue Jin could tell that crafting this blade was very important to Lin Xun.
Days ago, Lin Xun had already mentioned it and had even specially consulted Xue Jin about the design and peculiarities of the blade.
As a seasoned expert with a wealth of combat experience, Xue Jin had naturally seen countless blades in his life. However, he did not understand why Lin Xun would ask him about such trivial things.
What kind of blade is he trying to craft?
As he observed the beautifully colored ingredients boiling in the nine cauldrons and Jiujiu fully focused on controlling the temperatures, Xue Jin grew increasingly curious.
He had a feeling that the blade Lin Xun was crafting would be completely different from any he had seen before!
In other words, Lin Xun was creating a new type of blade that had never been seen before in the empire!
Rumble~~
The nine cauldrons continued to boil and rumble like mighty waves were crashing within them. Bright plumes of fire would burst out from time to time, creating a dazzling light show.
The various ingredients were gradually beginning to melt, turning into red, indigo, dark-green, white, light-green, purple, and various differently colored translucent liquids. It was a beautiful sight that would stir anyone’s soul.This was the first time Xue Jin witnessed the material preparation process and he could not help but be dazed by the magical and dreamy scene.
This was the ability of a rune master!
They could turn trash to treasure like a legendary alchemist, seize the secrets of the world, and cause originally ordinary-looking materials to suddenly give off mystical auras.
Woo~Woo~~
Every so often, Jiujiu would breathe out a stream of Golden Star Fragment Fire at the nine refining cauldrons. Although it was the first time the little guy had been given this task, it could already expertly control the fire. Under its control, the temperatures of the nine cauldrons were maintained at the most perfect conditions.
This observation made the originally worried Xue Jin relax. It was exactly as he had claimed. Jiujiu and its Golden Star Fragment Fire was a natural-born grandmaster of refining materials!
Other refining grandmasters required complex rune arrays to control the fire’s temperature. Moreover, the higher the rank of the fire the more difficult it was to control. This was often a huge burden on the refining grandmasters.
Several refining grandmasters usually needed to work together to control a heaven-grade aeth flame and utilize its full capabilities.
However, Jiujiu didn’t need to go through such troubles. The rare heaven-grade Golden Star Fragment Fire was essentially a part of its body and moved according to its will.
When compared, it was easy to see Jiujiu’s superiority.
Xue Jin could even envision how envious the old fogeys from the Divine Workshop would be if they knew about Jiujiu’s ability.
Time quickly passed and night arrived.
The various ingredients in the nine cauldrons had been fully completely melted and refined of all impurities, leaving only the pure essence of each material behind.
By this time, Jiujiu was clearly tired after spitting out so many mouthfuls of Golden Star Fragment Fire. Its round body panted heavily as if it would collapse at any moment.
However, the little guy displayed a stubborn tenacity, its round black eyes still filled with concentration.
This surprised Xue Jin and made him feel sorry for Jiujiu. He never imagined that such an adorable little fellow could show such resolve. It was almost like that brat Lin Xun.
If Jiujiu wasn’t a rune beast, Xue Jin would have suspected that it was Lin Xun’s son.
Rumble~
A strange noise suddenly spread from the nine cauldrons. The liquid inside was rapidly enveloped by a rune array and an astonishing transformation began to occur.
Xue Jin immediately widened his eyes to make sure he didn’t miss anything. A blade gradually took shape as fire and runes swirled around it, creating a dazzling and mystical sight.
The doors that had been tightly shut since day one opened at this moment and Lin Xun walked out. His eyes gleamed when he saw what was happening.
“Jiujiu, it’s enough,” said Lin Xun as Jiujiu breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It quickly sucked all of the Golden Star Fragment Fire back into its stomach.
Meanwhile, Lin Xun made a hand-sign. Light sprinkled from him and the nine cauldrons immediately fell silent.
Xue Jin could not stop himself from approaching and saw Lin Xun lift out a pitch-black blade that was two-feet-seven-inches long and four fingers wide.
The body of the blade was rather unique: its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing and curved at a perfect angle. A blood groove spanned from the middle of the blade to its tip as if it couldn’t wait to feed on blood!
Xue Jin’s eyelids jumped. The shape alone told him that it was a deadly murder weapon. Its perfect curve and blood groove were designed for the sole purpose of more effectively killing enemies.
Overall, it looked more sinister than the usual battle blade. Besides this, there was nothing in particular that stood out on the blade, making it appear rather normal.
At closer inspection, however, one would discover that although no rune arrays had been carved on the blade and it was not a true aeth weapon, it already gave off a threatening and ferocious aura!
It was like a ferocious beast in deep slumber. Once it awakened, it would be hungry for blood!
What kind of blade is this?
Xue Jin was extremely curious. When he tried to ask, however, Lin Xun hurriedly returned to the room with the newly forged blade.
Bang!
The door was tightly shut again, blocking Xue Jin’s gaze and stunning him.
Are all rune masters like this when they’re working?
“Jiujiu~” JiuJiu was deflated on the ground like a soft bun as it cycled between heavy panting and weak chirps. It was clearly exhausted.
Xue Jin inwardly scolded Lin Xun for being heartless. He took the blade away without saying anything and did not show any concern to Jiujiu, who had done the bulk of the work.
If not for Jiujiu’s help, how could he have melted the materials and forged the blade so quickly?
“Come come come, have some liquor.”
Xue Jin awkwardly scratched his head and offered Jiujiu a jar of Ghostburn Wine.
Jiujiu shook its head and pitifully stared at Xue Jin with its black eyes.
Xue Jin was taken aback. He hastily patted down his body for a Qingyi aeth crystal and shoved it into Jiujiu’s moth.
The little guy immediately made a happy noise and swallowed the high-grade aeth crystal that was worth a hundred gold coins into its little stomach.
It soon began to hop around again as fiery light rose around it, chirping loudly like a happy kid.
Xue Jin could not help but grin. However, his expression immediately turned somewhat ugly when he realized that this was Lin Xun’s responsibility and yet he had paid an entire piece of Qingyu aeth crystal despite being an observer.
He looked at Jiujiu and muttered inwardly, “He can’t have already calculated that this would happen, right? Why did he look so composed when he saw how weak Jiujiu was earlier…”
……
Xue Jin had wrongly blamed Lin Xun this time. Like other rune masters, Lin Xun was fully focused on his work once he began. Not a single distracting thought would be found in his head and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was not even thinking of himself.
At this moment, he was seated before the workbench. He dipped the rune brush in the already prepared rune rink and began to attentively carve on the blade.
Lin Xun was making a weapon specially for himself and it was something he had never done before. The materials, rune ink, and rune arrays had all been meticulously chosen by him.
Every small step had been reviewed and repeated countless times in his head for the sake of ensuring that no mistakes would occur during the process.
After all, he had no experience to tap on for this project and he had to do everything by himself. If anything went wrong, all his effort and preparation would be wasted.
Lin Xun was a rune master that was very strict with himself, a quality he had inherited from Mister Lu. As such, Lin Xun made sure he was fully prepared before embarking on this project.
It was well known in the world that every rune master sought perfection.
Swish swish swish~~
The rune brush moved naturally like drifting clouds and flowing water as mystical symbols blossomed like fireworks on the surface of the blade.
Lin Xun’s brush style was steady and austere like a majestic mountain. His movements were free and easy like the waves and wind.
It was a style he had honed from countless practices and self-correction, a style tempered by countless criticisms and guidance from Mister Lu. Although there was nothing spectacular about it, it was the technique that most suited Lin Xun.
All of this allowed Lin Xun to maintain a high level of precision and conciseness and display a high level of synchronization between his spirit sense and the ink. Together, this enabled him to bring out the greatest effectiveness from the runes.
However, the rune arrays he had to carve were different from before. Lin Xun had prepared forty-nine rune arrays. As the saying went, of the fifty great daos, only forty-nine could be born from the world and the final dao of reincarnation could only be walked by humans. Forty-nine represented the imperfect cycle where there was always chance and opportunity.
To make the forty-nine rune arrays resonate with each other was undoubtedly a tall task for Lin Xun and it was far more difficult than anything he had attempted before.
However, everything was still within Lin Xun’s control for the time being.
Time swiftly flowed as the sun rose and the moon fell. Three days passed.
Lin Xun did not eat nor rest but still maintained the same level of focus. He had finished forty-eight rune arrays and was currently working on the final rune array.
However, his complexion had become pale and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Although his eyes remained focused and calm, he was clearly on the verge of collapsing.
The vigorous aeth power in his body had long dried up and his spirit sense was greatly exhausted.
The situation was very grave!
Although Lin Xun had envisioned the entire process countless times, reality turned out to be far more complicated and difficult than he had anticipated.
The moment he fell, however, everything he had done would be wasted!