Chapter 1948: Chapter 1020: Artifact Refining (2)
Only with so many conditions did the softening process, which should have taken decades, get shortened to half a year.
Maintaining the temperature of the Infinite Immortal Fire, the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material was kept in a softened state inside the Hundred Herbs Furnace, and he began to use Spirit to shape the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material.
His Spirit relentlessly struck the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material; even in a softened state, the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material was not so easily reshaped.
His Spirit transformed into an iron hammer, pounding upon the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material, and gradually, the shape of the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material began to change.
This time, the process did not take long; with his powerful Spirit, it took only one shichen for the outer form of the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer to emerge.
This was only the initial step; what followed would be the crucial operations.
Engraving runes could grant a Spiritual Treasure special effects, and long beforehand Li Shiming had, based on the quality and characteristics of the Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material, had IBMz15 design the optimal plan.
The Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer needed only one type of rune: the Thunder Rule Rune. Arranging the Thunder Rule Runes in a specific manner could produce the effect of enhancing Thunder Skills.
This was also why Li Shiming chose the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer as the first Fifth Grade Spiritual Treasure he would refine—the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer was the simplest to forge.
Of course, this "simple" was only relative. If he were to hand his Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer design over to any other Thunder Cultivation Great Power, that Thunder Cultivation Great Power would surely be dumbfounded, not knowing where to even begin.
On the small Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer, he intended to engrave thirty billion Thunder Rule Runes.
And for each Thunder Rule Rune, he had to completely integrate all of the Thunder Rules he currently comprehended into that Thunder Rule Rune.
This task was even more complex than refining Spiritual Treasures with Fourth-grade materials before; Rule Runes were not ordinary auxiliary law runes, and their level of trouble was countless times that of auxiliary law runes.
Li Shiming mobilized one hundred and seventy brains, controlled by IBMz15, and began the work of engraving the Thunder Rule Runes.
These Thunder Rule Runes not only had to be engraved with a precision of 0.05 nanometers, they also could not contain the slightest error; even the tiniest mistake would render a Thunder Rule Rune ineffective.
If a single Thunder Rule Rune lost effectiveness, it would affect the entire energy balance of the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.
Perhaps because his Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer contained thirty billion Thunder Rule Runes, the failure of one Thunder Rule Rune would not have a large overall impact, yet it was very possible that this single Thunder Rule Rune would, at a critical moment, affect his Thunder Skill and lead to irreparable consequences.
Fortunately, there was IBMz15. IBMz15 could not make mistakes, especially in such highly repetitive work, where it could achieve one hundred percent accuracy.
Another two years passed, and on this day, the final Thunder Rule Rune on the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer was engraved.
The Thunder Prison beside the Ten Thousand Beast Sect had long since received the news and was cleared in advance.
Li Shiming’s figure flickered, and he appeared inside the Thunder Prison.
As long as conditions allowed, he would never waste the energy of a Heavenly Tribulation; the Thunder Prison had been formed precisely through undergoing Heavenly Tribulation again and again.
The Thunder Prison possessed the effect of retaining the might of Heavenly Tribulation. Although the Heavenly Tribulation power that could be preserved was extremely small, the Thunder Rules contained within it could aid Thunder Cultivators in their cultivation.
Furthermore, since Li Shiming had left behind the complete Yuqing Sect cultivation inheritance in the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, the Ten Thousand Beast Sect now had nearly a thousand Thunder Cultivators, making it the sect with the most Thunder Cultivators in the entire Cultivation World.
This was the accumulation of more than a hundred years by the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, fully displaying the advantage of occupying an entire continent.
The Dongqi Continent might not have resources as rich as other continents, but the number of Disciples on Dongqi with thunder-attribute talent was not small, and the Ten Thousand Beast Sect also used its convenient trade with other continents to draw in thunder-attribute talented Disciples from those continents.
Precisely because Li Shiming knew this, he sought to continuously strengthen the Thunder Prison, so that more powerful Thunder Cultivators would arise within the Ten Thousand Beast Sect.
He stood in midair within the Thunder Prison and, with a wave of his hand, summoned out the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer.
The moment the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer left the machine-room space, it was sensed by heaven and earth, and a strong feeling of rejection immediately arose.
Li Shiming smiled faintly, holding the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer as he looked up toward the sky.
With thirty billion Thunder Rule Runes engraved, the moment the last Thunder Rule Rune was completed, he had felt the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer begin to tremble.
And when the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer came into the outside world, upon sensing the rejection of heaven and earth, it trembled even more violently.
Li Shiming’s mind controlled the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer to cast the Thunder Resistance Secret Method. With the blessing of the thirty billion Thunder Rule Runes and the Shenxiao Thunder Pearl, he felt that the Thunder Resistance Secret Method far exceeded the level of effect that someone at his realm should be able to release.
He separately applied the Thunder Resistance Secret Method to himself and to the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer; at this moment, thunderclouds gathered in the sky.
He sensed the power of the Heavenly Tribulation, and IBMz15 performed analysis and judgment.
IBMz15 gave a probability of ninety percent for successfully overcoming the tribulation; the remaining ten percent was not due to normal tribulation crossing, but came from unforeseen accidents.
Li Shiming smiled faintly. The greatest advantage of the Free Cave Heaven was that when he could no longer withstand Heavenly Thunder, he could completely retreat into the Grotto Heaven, rendering the Heavenly Thunder incapable of harming him.
He was extremely experienced when it came to overcoming tribulations.
With a boom, the first Heavenly Thunder fell.
He raised the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer in his hand to meet the first Heavenly Thunder.
The Heavenly Thunder struck the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer, subjecting the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer to the strongest impact.
However, the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer itself had been refined from Fifth Grade Thunder Refining Material, and with the Thunder Resistance Secret Method applied, its resistance to lightning was extremely strong.
Destroying Fifth Grade materials was no easy task; at the very least, it was not something the first Heavenly Thunder could accomplish.
After the Heavenly Thunder struck the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer, less than half of its residual power remained and fell upon Li Shiming’s body.
Li Shiming easily withstood the residual force of the Heavenly Thunder; his Heaven-Man state had been continuously maintained, granting him a bonus dozens of times that of an ordinary Great Power. If even so he could not endure ordinary Great Ability Level Heavenly Thunder, then no Great Power would dare attempt to refine a Fifth Grade Spiritual Treasure.
Of course, there was also no Great Power who could refine a Fifth Grade Spiritual Treasure like the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer before him; the power of this first Heavenly Thunder was already comparable to the fifth Heavenly Thunder when a normal Fifth Grade Spiritual Treasure underwent tribulation.
Several more Heavenly Thunders crashed down, and the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer shone brighter with each strike, the Thunder Rule Runes within it becoming extremely active.
Li Shiming, on the other hand, was scarcely affected; he did not even suffer the slightest injury and had no need to employ his Innate Wood Divine Skills.
When the seventh Heavenly Thunder descended, he frowned slightly. This time, the power already possessed enough might to severely injure him. His calculations were based on the residual force after the Heavenly Strike Thunder Hammer bore most of the Heavenly Thunder’s power, yet even that residual force was enough to inflict serious injury.
"Thunder Body!" he shouted in a deep voice.
Lightning flashed over his body, and his form transformed into pure energy, composed entirely of thunder and lightning.
This was a high-tier Secret Technique from the Yuqing Thunder Scripture, turning the Cultivator’s entire body into thunder and lightning. In this state, one could be immune to the vast majority of physical attacks, reduce the impact of energy attacks, and enhance the power of Thunder Skills.
After reaching the Mahayana Realm, the effect of the Thunder Body Secret Technique became even stronger; in this state, he felt as though he was merging into the lightning, becoming a part of thunder and lightning itself.
He strove to maintain clarity of mind; this was also the drawback of the Thunder Body Secret Technique.
When one’s cultivation was weak, this was not apparent, and the Thunder Body Secret Technique had little impact on the Cultivator. But after using the Thunder Body in the Mahayana Realm, the Great Power would be influenced by the lightning, the Thunder Body of the Great Power tending to completely become a part of thunder and lightning.
If one could not awaken from this influence, then the Great Power would remain in the Thunder Body state forever, losing all sentience and ultimately merging into thunder and lightning, no different from falling and perishing.
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