Chapter 260: Sword Refinement
Han Li gently extended a hand forward, and the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone sitting on the palm of his hand slowly flew into the silver flame, enveloped within a burst of immortal spiritual power.
The silver flame immediately swallowed up the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone and began to burn it.
Time slowly passed by, but the white stone was still maintaining its original form, displaying no changes at all.
Han Li remained unfazed as he made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and rings of crimson light suddenly appeared around the fire pit, following which a series of antiquated-looking runes began to emerge.
Following the emergence of those runes, the silver flames within the fire pit instantly rose up, and it became enveloped by a layer of crimson light. There wasn't much change to its heat, but it was giving off a type of peculiar fluctuations that were finally bringing about a slight change in the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
A sizzling sound rang out as the stone gradually began to melt within the silver flames, producing drops of waxy white liquid that hovered within the fire.
An extremely strong sandalwood aroma instantly filled the entire secret chamber.
Han Li immediately withdrew his outstretched hand upon seeing this, and the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone, which had already completely liquefied at this point, was instantly pulled out of the fire by his immortal spiritual power.
He then reached out with his other hand, which was holding a black stone vial with fiery red patterns all over its surface, and he used the vial to store the liquefied Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
As soon as the white liquid flowed into the vial, a circle of runes instantly lit up on its surface, and the entire vial turned scorching hot, like a red-hot piece of metal.
A layer of azure light appeared over Han Li's hand, and he sealed the opening of the vial before setting it down onto the stone table beside him.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence rose up before landing in the fire pit.
This time, he made no hand seals to manipulate the array in the fire pit. Instead, he made his way over to a stone platform at the center of the cave that was around half a foot tall, and he sat down with his legs crossed, allowing the silver flame to melt the chunk of metal on its own.
All of the patterns on the surface of the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence began to give off a golden glow within the scorching flame, but it displayed no signs of melting.
Han Li only took a brief glance at it before closing his eyes to rest.
Seven days and seven nights later.
The silver flame was still raging within the fire pit, and at this point, the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence had already turned a crimson color. It was like a chunk of melting ice, and drops of molten golden liquid were dripping down from it.
Beneath it was a black stone vial that was twice as large as the one from before, and it was catching all of the drops of molten golden liquid.
Only after another entire day had passed by did the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence completely melt into liquid.
Han Li opened his eyes and strode forward to retrieve the black stone vila, then sent another chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence flying into the fire pit.
Three months later.
Inside the cave, Han Li was standing beside the fire pit, holding a book with a beasthide cover in one hand. He was reading the book with a look of concentration on his face while scribbling something into the air with the index finger of his other hand.
Several thousand yellow pages were strewn across the stone platform beside him, and there was a series of extremely strange-looking patterns inscribed onto every single one of them.
The patterns on the sheets of paper near the bottom were extremely thick and chaotic, but the closer to the top one looked, the more slender and orderly the patterns they would find.
The patterns on the four sheets of paper at the top were already extremely intricate, resembling four large circular flowers.
The only part of the stone platform that wasn't laden with sheets of paper was its upper left corner, and there were around a dozen vials of different sizes placed there, containing all of the spirit liquids required for the upcoming sword refinement.
Aside from the time that he spent on refining those spirit liquids, Han Li had spent all of the rest of his time on studying the smelting sword refinement technique recorded in the book that he was holding, as well as practicing the accompanying array patterns.
Even though he had already made several thousand attempts, he was still not satisfied with the patterns that he was currently able to inscribe. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing, and that was why he had refrained from commencing the refinement process this entire time.
Moments later, Han Li set down the book and closed his eyes, seemingly having fallen into deep thought. He remained standing still on the spot while tracing his right index and middle fingers through the air, as if he were still visualizing the patterns.
After a long while, his eyes suddenly sprang open as if he had been struck by a spark of inspiration, and he quickly made his way over to the fire pit.
A layer of golden scales appeared over his hand amid a flash of golden light, instantly covering his outstretched index and middle fingers.
After that, he crouched down beside the fire pit, plunging his fingers straight down into one of the rocks that had been used to construct the fire pit.
He then closed his eyes and rid himself of all unnecessary thoughts, immersing himself entirely in the vision of the patterns that he wanted to inscribe as his fingers began to carve through the rock.
Initially, his fingers were moving extremely slowly, taking a long time just to move a single inch. However, he then gradually sped up, and in the end, his fingers were virtually flying as he completed a set of patterns in a smooth and flowing manner.
The pattern was completely identical to the ones on the top four sheets of paper, except it was several times larger, extending all the way down from the stone platform, with the majority of it stretching onto the ground below.
After carving out this first set of patterns, Han Li took a moment to rest, then exhaled as he made his way over to the right side and repeated the same process.
Some time later, he rose to his feet as he slowly opened his eyes to find that another set of patterns had been completed. The two sets of patterns were in different positions, but were somehow connected, as if they were a single entity.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and he rubbed his hands together, upon which the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his body before transforming into a silver flame that began burning within the fire pit.
The entire cave was filled with waves of scorching heat, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a string of azure light.
The azure light then faded to reveal his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which were hovering in the air before him while giving off an azure glow.
With another sweep of his sleeve, all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were sent flying into the fire pit.
The silver flame within the fire pit instantly rose up to engulf the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, following which Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to chant an incantation while making a strange hand seal.
As his incantation continued, the array around the fire pit began to buzz audibly, and four pillars of golden light rose diagonally upward to meet at the center of the fire pit, forming a golden light barrier that encompassed both the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Essence Fire Raven.
Moments later, Han Li spread his fingers open, then raised both hands slightly, and the sound of stoppers being pulled out of vials rang out as all of the spirit liquid within the dozen or so vials flowed out before surging into the golden light barrier.
Through the golden light barrier, Han Li could clearly see the molten Dendrobium Gold Essence splitting up on its own before completely enveloping every single one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Immediately thereafter, all of the other types of spirit liquid also split themselves up into 72 parts before fusing into the molten Dendrobium Gold Essence on the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Han Li closed his eyes again upon seeing this, then released his spiritual sense into the golden light barrier.
The light barrier shuddered slightly, and it instantly transformed into a five-colored light barrier.
At the same time, the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began to glow brightly with five-colored light, giving them a dazzling and spectacular appearance.
Two hours passed by before Han Li opened his eyes once again, and he opened his mouth to release a burst of nascent flames. The nascent flames passed through the five-colored light barrier without any impediment before fusing with the silver flames inside.
The two types of flames instantly combined before rising up as a pillar of fire that enveloped all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and all of a sudden, around a dozen of the flying swords suddenly began to struggle with all their might, releasing their sword qi as they frantically darted away in all directions.
Han Li instantly increased his spiritual sense output upon seeing this, establishing close contact with all of the flying swords at once to immediately quell the unrest.
I didn't think there would still be some stubborn sword essence that hasn't been completely refined. They were certainly concealing themselves very well...
Despite this unforeseen turn of events, Han Li felt himself to be quite fortunate.
Thankfully, the sword essence had reared its head now. If he had lost control of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords during a battle instead, then the consequences would've been catastrophic.
The sword essence that was still yet to be refined surged out of the flying swords within the scorching flames, then quickly disintegrated.
However, instead of being lost, the spiritual power that it was converted into was reabsorbed by the flying swords.
Even so, Han Li still didn't let his guard down, continuing to control the combination of the silver flame and his nascent flame to refine the 72 flying swords. Over time, the rainbow coloration of the flying swords gradually began to fade.
49 days later, the flying swords in the fire pit beneath the golden light barrier had turned as white and translucent as ice, looking almost completely transparent.
Compared with before, the blades of all of the flying swords had elongated by about an inch and also become much wider.
Han Li was inspecting these rather unfamiliar Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in an expressionless manner, and he swept a sleeve through the air once again.
The stopper of the final black vial on the stone platform flew out at his behest, and the white spirit liquid inside emerged before surging into the golden light barrier and splitting up into 72 parts, each of which dripped onto one of the flying swords, producing a sound much like that of spring rain falling onto the parched earth.
All of the flying sword shuddered in unison, following which all of the spirit patterns on their surfaces lit up, and countless arcs of golden lightning sprang forth, intertwining to form a miniature forest of lightning that was crackling incessantly.
If it weren't for the presence of the golden light barrier, the arcs of golden lightning would've most likely spilled out and destroyed the entire cave.
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