Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior-Chapter 162 - 126: Spirit Awakening, the Blood Transformation Technique (Second Update)

"Cut the nonsense, I'll demonstrate it for you first. Before that, test this short blade."

Lin Ruoshui took out the uninscribed short blade from the iron box and handed it over.

Su Mu felt a sinking weight as soon as he received it. This seemingly xiaoqiao short blade had a fine, heavy texture—it weighed over twenty catties despite its xiaoqiao size.

Immediately, Su Mu fetched a piece of hard ironwood from the room; this sort of ironwood is often used to make knife handles or sheaths.

The short blade was suspended one foot in the air, then released. He naturally understood that Master Lin Ruoshui did not ask him to examine the forging technique, but rather to test the blade's power for later comparison.

Suspended one foot, the short blade with its tip pointing downward descended.

Hiss!

The blade tip pierced the ironwood smoothly, which made Su Mu's eyes light up. As expected of iron essence used for forging grade-entering treasure artifacts.

"About an inch deep."

Su Mu measured the depth with an iron ruler, glanced at the short blade in his hand, and thought, "At present, this short blade still can't break my Vajra Body."

After measuring, Su Mu handed the short blade back with both hands. Lin Ruoshui secretly nodded—the kid was indeed sharp—and said, "Brat, 'Spirit Awakening' sounds mysterious, but it's actually very simple in practice."

"First, immerse the weapon in demon blood, demon beast essence, or heaven and earth treasures." Lin Ruoshui gave Su Mu a look; Su Mu immediately picked up the jade jar filled with demon beast blood and poured it in.

Compared to human or ordinary beast blood, demon beast blood was much more viscous. The demon beast blood used for forging last year still shone with an eerie crimson hue now.

As the demon beast blood poured into the pool, ripples fanned out—it even seemed to flow of its own accord.

"That's enough."

After about a third was poured in, Lin Ruoshui stopped him, then scooped several ladles of cold pool water emanating chill and poured them into the mix.

As the cold pool water blended with the demon beast blood, it seemed about to boil, bubbling frantically.

"Spiritual infusion can use pure demon blood or demon beast essence, but that's far too extravagant; otherwise, the infusion water must be pure—you can collect morning dew, use mountain spring water, or ancient well water."

"This time, both for weapon inscription and spiritual infusion, we're using Ninth-Grade Cold Wolf Blood, which carries a cold aura; so we blend it with well water soaked in cold iron essence for a month."

"I see."

Su Mu's eyes lit up. So there was this much learning in it. It seemed Master Lin Ruoshui wasn't simply shirking last year, but preparing for this teaching moment.

After pouring in five ladles, Lin Ruoshui submerged the short blade completely. At once, tiny blood bubbles rose along the blade's outline.

"Next, what we'll use is the 'Blood Transformation Technique,' a secret of the Forging Workshop on par with the Melting Gold Technique. Cold Wolf Blood contains chilling qi; use bare hands and the cold will seep in, harming yourself easily."

At this, Lin Ruoshui fetched the rod-shaped tool Su Mu had noticed earlier, channeled power from his body into the long rod, and as force poured in, faint glimmering inscriptions lit up on its surface.

"That's the Fortification Inscription."

Su Mu recognized the inscription at once.

Master Lin Ruoshui cleaned the long rod with cold pool water, then inserted it into the blood pool. Instantly, ripples spread out from the rod's end.

"Hu!"

Lin Ruoshui took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly and began stirring the blood pool, the ripples swirling, constantly washing and refining the short blade.

Hmm?

Su Mu's mind stirred—the Hidden Dragon in the Abyss at his brow surged; in a breath, he entered a soul incarnation state, his soul detaching three feet from his body.

He stepped straight into the blood pool, his eyes first landing on the stirring rod.

Soon, Su Mu noticed that the demon beast blood swirling from the rod seemed to come alive.

"Howl!"

A deafening, murderous wolf's howl echoed. In the blood pool, a cold wolf—over a man tall, nearly ten feet long, its fur radiating freezing mist—bared its fangs and lunged at the short blade.

The rod kept stirring; soon, Su Mu noticed something else.

"The closer to the rod... the more the cold wolf's body solidifies."

The cold wolf before Su Mu wasn't a real beast, but a vision formed by the power—more precisely, the vitality—contained in the demon beast blood.

Suddenly, Su Mu understood.

"As the name implies, the Blood Transformation Technique releases the energy in demon beast blood, or raises its vitality, acting as a catalyst."

Having grasped much of the mystery, Su Mu turned his attention to the short blade.

Hmm?

As he looked, whether illusion or not, he could faintly feel the short blade breathing, slowly absorbing the demon beast blood.

The cold wolf bit—the blade drank!

The struggling cold wolf was battling the blade; it refused to merge willingly, but as the Blood Transformation Technique drove on, the demon beast blood's power had nowhere to go but to surge into the blade.

And once the demon beast blood was exposed to air, its power faded with time; barring accident, it was inevitable the cold wolf would lose, be sealed within the blade.

"Spirit Awakening... so that's the truth."

In his incarnate state, a flash of insight burst through Su Mu—suddenly, the nature of weapon spirit, which had eluded him before, became clear as day.

"A weapon's spirit actually comes from the demon beast blood...to be precise, from the infusion medium. The stronger the medium, the stronger the weapon's spirit after forging."

In that instant Su Mu understood: Grand General Huo Wei's 'Po Jun' sword was able to ultimately transform into a Second-Grade Spirit Treasure in large part thanks to the twin-headed demon flood dragon's blood used in forging it.

As inspiration surged, Su Mu looked once more at the short blade, discovering something anew.

The blade truly was "breathing." As the Blood Transformation Technique drove on, the ever-faster bubbling along the blade's surface proved it unmistakably.

"Without the Blood Transformation Technique secret, the efficiency of a weapon absorbing demon beast blood would be far too low. Before much could be absorbed, most of its energy would have already dissipated."

This couldn't help but remind Su Mu of bone forging and yijin—without medicinal and forceful aid, both those processes would be agonizingly slow.

"The Blood Transformation Technique, one of the Forging Workshop's legacies, is like the warming current produced when comprehension rises; it accelerates the slow yijin process—though its efficiency can't match a comprehension-warmed current."

Shortly after, Lin Ruoshui handed Su Mu a nameless booklet. Time passed quietly in this manner.

In a blink, three days had gone by.

"It's almost done!"

Su Mu's eyes sparkled, heart full of expectation. In his vision, the cold wolf was gasping harshly, its nostrils and body already flickering, about to dissipate.

At last, the cold wolf in the blood pool let out one final, tragic wail.

"Ong----------"

At the same time, the short blade in the pool vibrated with a resonant note, a strange energy rolling along its surface—the chill along the edge dramatically intensified.

The originally black blade now faintly shimmered with the cold wolf's blue; its formerly rough surface seemed to be undergoing a transformation at this very moment.

When the ringing ceased—

The blood in the pool had all but vanished, leaving only a muddy soup behind.

By now Lin Ruoshui was pale from power drain, his hands trembling as he retrieved the rod—and only then did he wipe the sweat from his brow, a hint of delight appearing on his face. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He took iron tongs to lift out the short blade. "Brat, try again?"

"All right."

With anticipation, Su Mu prepared to repeat the test from three days ago.

Blade tip down, one foot above, released.

A flash of blue light.

"Whoosh!"

The short blade fell and with a 'whoosh,' its tip disappeared fully into the ironwood. Seeing this, Su Mu's eyes blazed.

"What a sharp short blade!"

Su Mu drew the short blade and measured again with the same iron ruler. "Master Lin Ruoshui, this time it's an inch and three-tenths."

Reporting the result, Su Mu felt a jolt—increased from one inch last time to one and three-tenths now, seemingly a thirty percent rise.

But comparing both trials, it was clear that the blade's performance had leapt by an entire level.

Seeing Su Mu's intense gaze, Lin Ruoshui nodded to himself, eyes showing approval: he could tell Su Mu understood the gap between the two.

"Good, the last step—quenching and grading—is up to you." Lin Ruoshui breathed heavily. "This cold wolf blood-infused blade will be best quenched in cold pool water."

"Master Lin, I will do my best!"

Su Mu responded at once, knowing this quenching was no simple matter. Back with the first master, Chen Yuntian, he'd learned that ordinary furnace fire couldn't reach the heat required to melt grade-entering treasure artifact materials.

So with Lin Ruoshui assigning him the quenching, it was also to test whether Su Mu had slacked off in the Melting Gold Technique over the new year.

In truth, Su Mu had indeed 'slacked' a bit over the holidays.

Melting Gold Technique (Great Success 76%)

During the holiday at the medical hall, Su Mu hadn't practiced martial arts daily as he did in the Yanque Street residence, devoting more effort instead to self-developing Thunder Shock Fist techniques and a round of yijin.

Even so, supported by monstrous comprehension, Su Mu's Melting Gold Technique was now not far from perfection.

He strode up, taking the special forging hammer identical to those in Master Chen Yuntian's own workshop. This iron hammer was used to execute the Melting Gold Technique.

Su Mu stoked the furnace, first placing the short blade within to heat, thus saving some power.

After a quarter hour, Su Mu used iron tongs to transfer the blade to the forging platform; despite the fierce fire from a quarter's burning, the blade was only slightly red-hot.

"Hu!"

Su Mu drew a slow breath. The fifty or sixty-catty iron hammer felt light as a feather as he swung it high, restraining his inner pill force, putting out less than one-tenth his strength, all while activating the Melting Gold Technique.

"Hiss!"

The hammer had yet to strike when a surge of heat swept forth. At the hiss, Lin Ruoshui's eyes widened in shock: "This kid is truly a monster. In just a short time, his Melting Gold Technique has already reached Small Success? Maybe in three more years, he'll reach Great Success."

Little did Lin Ruoshui know Su Mu was holding back deliberately; if he went all out, Lin Ruoshui would be dumbstruck on the spot.

Clang!

A burst of metallic ringing, then one hammer after another; soon the short blade on the forging platform glowed ever redder with each blow, sparks flying everywhere.

The furnace flame cast Su Mu's focused face in sharp relief; he was without distraction, his gaze wholly fixed on the short blade, blow after blow.

Until, at a certain instant, Su Mu's hammer suddenly halted.

"Good lad, well done!"

Lin Ruoshui saw Su Mu suddenly stop and his eyes flashed brilliantly. He had seemingly left the final quenching to Su Mu not just to check his Melting Gold Technique proficiency—

But also to see Su Mu's mastery of "fire timing." If the temperature was too high, it wouldn't be quenching but remelting for another start.

At this moment, the short blade's state atop the forging platform was perfect in Lin Ruoshui's eyes—one more blow and it'd be overheated; one less and it'd be underdone.

Having done this, Su Mu's heart thumped beneath his chest. Next, all that remained was to plunge the blade into the cold pool water—then the task would be complete.

"Grade-Entering Weapon..."

Sizzle——!

The instant the blade touched water, the whole cold pool boiled like hot oil; in the rising steam, the outline of a cold wolf emerged, wolf howls faintly echoing in the mist.

When the mist cleared, the blade was a deep, chilling blue, radiant with cold light, and a mysterious, seamless pattern now streaked across it.

"It's done?... No—something seems half-missing?"