What would Shi Di think if he knew his priceless Primordial Stone was used just to make an embellishment? Qingtong touched the glittering and translucent flame mark. At least it was better than asking him to kill his whole family to get their heart’s blood just to use it to paint a flower decoration like it had happened with Elder Kugu.
“Baby, get out of the way. I’m going to refine the Primordial Stone.” Mo Tianliao pulled Qingtong back and threw all the remaining Primordial Stone into the furnace. With a roar, the flames inside it jumped high and even its walls burst into flames.
Primordial Stone, from the beginnings of heaven and earth, the origin of qi; it could absorb qi continuously. The smelting furnace was also a kind of magical tool. The one Shi Di had provided for him was even a special tool grade furnace. It would naturally burn very brightly with such a large piece of Primordial Stone supplying it with qi.
The flames shone on Mo Tianliao’s face, flickering, they reminded him of before, something had happened before he could throw the Primordial Stone into his Sky Burning Furnace the last time. At the time, the divine weapon had just been crafted and was still in the fire, he could have added the Primordial Stone by just throwing it in, but now it would take some work.
“What did you call me just now?” A clear and melodious voice sounded in his ear.
Mo Tianliao stiffened for a moment, then looked back with a smile and said, “Get used to it, baby.”
“You…” Qingtong raised a hand to hit him but it was seized by Mo Tianliao.
“It means treasure, something one holds carefully, so it’s not like I misspoke. Xiaozhao is my baby, so is Master.” Mo Tianliao looked at him, his eyes closing in a smile.
One of Qingtong’s hands held the fox, the other was trapped. Since he was in human form he could not reach out and scratch him with his hind legs. He could only glare at him and pull back his hand. “You have a glib tongue. Disrespect your Master like this again, and I will…”
“Bite me?” Mo Tianliao leaned closer to the white jade-like ear and whispered.
Hot breath blew on the ear and dyed it a faint pink. Qingtong pushed him away, dropped the fox, turned himself into a cat and jumped to the corner, ignoring him.
The fox was momentarily stunned by the fall, he slowly got up, looked around and headed for the cat bed in the corner. The cat bed was very soft, the fox, whose injuries were not yet recovered, climbed on and lay down listlessly. The kitten sat in his bed glaring at Mo Tianliao, when the fox came, he nonchalantly rested his chin on him then continued to glare at Mo Tianliao.
Mo Tianliao’s mouth twitched. His cat was so unbelievably lazy that he didn’t even want to prop up his own chin when glaring at someone.
Primordial Stone was easy to refine, because it absorbed qi by itself, the fire in the furnace blazed vigorously, it was refined in less than a day. The divine weapon, that is, the pig-killing knife which was still frozen into an ice lump, was thrown in. When it was first crafted, Mo Tianliao had used some special materials that would automatically fuse with the Primordial Stone.
His fingers flew, quickly going into the furnace and forming a seal, the Primordial Stone, which had become liquid, was swiftly scattered and turned into mist. He formed another hand seal and made the pig-killing knife rotate by itself in order for it to be evenly coated with the vaporized Primordial Stone. Soon the Primordial Stone stuck to the knife and fused into it. After refining it for a few more hours, Mo Tianliao took out the divine weapon.
The divine weapon which was now fused with the Primordial Stone did not look very different from before, only the tortoiseshell colour had become darker, appearing almost pitch black.
“That’s it?” The cat, who had gotten a good sleep, had turned back into a human and leaned in to take a look.
“It still needs to be nurtured in Tiandi Spiritual Fire for 49 days,” Mo Tianliao said, pig-killing knife in hand. “But for now, it can change shape.” This said, the chi-long blade instantly shrank into the size of a willow leaf.
“Where will you get Tiandi Spiritual Fire?” Qingtong frowned slightly. It was difficult to find, even Lord Shi Di probably did not have some here.
“I already have some.” Mo Tianliao smiled and snapped his fingers, cyan flames instantly erupting at his fingertips. His woodfire was a kind of Tiandi Spiritual Fire.
The reason why a divine weapon was a divine weapon was that it went beyond a “tool“, it had a “spirit” and it had a mind of its own. Before, when Mo Tianliao had seen this theory written in ancient books, he had suddenly come up with an idea. Since it was very difficult to create objects that were also living creatures, why not do the opposite and refine a little of the Tiandi Wisdom into an object.
He hadn’t expected that such a whimsical approach could really produce a divine weapon.
Tiandi Wisdom, was like an object’s spirit, all heavenly materials and earthly treasures would develop it after enough years. This wisdom had begun emerging since the beginning of time and it took at least tens of thousands of years for it to mature. This was also why there had been no divine weapons in modern times. People usually ascended within 5000 years and high-level spiritual treasures would ascend to heaven with their masters. How could there be enough time for sapience to be developed?
To craft an object with Tiandi Wisdom one could only use Tiandi Spiritual Fire, of course. That way, it could be integrated with the object itself and be easy to control.
The willow-leaf-sized pig-killing knife, was taken into his dantian and the woodfire there immediately wrapped it up. The tortoiseshell pig-killing knife lay quietly in his abdomen, flashing excitedly and incessantly all around. Spiritual Fire, Spiritual Fire, the kind that would help it gain control of its own body, that Spiritual Fire! Just let it roast for a few more days and it would be able to talk!
“Let’s go.” Mo Tianliao reached for Qingtong and motioned him to come over.
“Bark!” The white fox ran over and hugged Qingtong’s legs, reminding him not to forget him.
Qingtong reached for the fox and stuffed it into his bracelet. When Duantian had first crafted the bracelet, considering that his cat’s toys also included live mice, butterflies, small birds and such, he had sectioned off a small area and filled it with enough qi to hold living creatures. However, this space was very tiny, he supposed that the fox would have to nestle there without moving.
Mo Tianliao had consulted numerous ancient books and after a lot of trial and error and wasting countless crafting materials, he had been able to figure out how to produce this bracelet, the only one in the entire Taixuan continent capable of holding living creatures.
With the fox in place, Qingtong took one look at Mo Tianliao, who had been holding out his hand all this time. He went over and grabbed his neck. There was a flash of light and the beauty that had been leaning on his chest turned into a furball hanging from his lapels. He quickly climbed onto Mo Tianliao’s shoulder.
By the time Mo Tianliao tried to return the embrace, his arms closed on empty air. While savouring the memory of the beauty in his arms, he packed up the materials on the floor, picked up the fake pig-killing knife with Primordial Stone inlay, and pushed open the door of the crafting room.
After two months of not seeing sunlight, Mo Tianliao couldn’t help squinting the moment the door opened. He dazedly looked around and saw a black mass coming towards him, he immediately raised his hand to block. The pig-killing knife in his hand was stimulated by this movement, it lit up in a glittering flash. The other person got a fright and quickly drew out his ultimate weapon, a dark sledgehammer, to match the pig-killing knife.
There was a loud bang and the huge spiritual collision between the two top-grade spiritual weapons flattened the forge room behind Mo Tianliao.
Mo Tianliao was repeatedly beaten back by the sledgehammer, he put his hands behind his back and thrusted the huge blade into the ground, only then was he able to stop that brute force attack. Fortunately, Shi Di hadn’t used much spiritual strength, he had just hit him with the sledgehammer. The two spiritual weapons were equally matched so he didn’t get hurt.
“Dear nephew, you’ve worked hard!” Shi Di laughed loudly and grabbed the pig-killing knife, looking it all over. Seeing the flame design made of Primordial Stone on the hilt, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but widen, “Divine weapon…”
“This worthless nephew has no talent, and he could only refine the divine weapon into a top-grade spiritual weapon,” said Mo Tianliao with a sigh. “If you want to improve it further, this worthless nephew’s power needs to get stronger.”
“Top-grade spiritual weapon?” Shi Di frowned, waved the pig-killing knife in his hand and touched his sledgehammer with it, the two spiritual weapons hummed combatively.
“I-it’s this worthless nephew’s fault,” Mo Tianliao said with an ashamed face. “I thought only lingshi would be needed to supplement my insufficient spiritual power. I didn’t expect that refining this divine weapon would require not only spiritual force but also a certain mental fortitude. This worthless nephew is only at the beginning of the Golden Core stage, my mental state is far from worthy of a divine weapon.”
Shi Di’s stared, his eyes wide. “You need mental fortitude for refining?” This was the first time he had heard about such a thing.
“All things have a spirit. I believe Milord has heard that the divine weapon has its own Wisdom. Only those who are Half-Immortals or above will be able to influence that Wisdom.” Mo Tianliao smiled. “Like Milord.”
“Eh?” Shi Di, who was about to lose his temper, brightened. “Are you saying that I can finish refining it myself?”
Mo Tianliao smiled without confirming it or denying it. “Milord can nurture it in his dantian and talk to it in his spare time.”
“How long will that take, huh?” Shi Di scratched his head. Why was this like raising a kid? Even having to tell it a bedtime story.
“With enough faith, anything is possible.” Mo Tianliao smiled enigmatically, raised his hand and bowed. “Milord, many thanks for your help. This worthless nephew will now lay low in the righteous path, but if there’s anything you require, I’ll be at your service.”
Shi Di, who was about to ask Mo Tianliao to stay, had to choke down the words before he could speak when the big lion came jumping out of the woods and grabbed his hand to look at the divine weapon.
“Ah, good nephew, wait.” Shi Di raised his hand to stop Mo Tianliao, who was about to sneak away.
Mo Tianliao stopped, for now he couldn’t win against a Half-Immortal, if Shi Di wanted to keep him, he could only stay and try to leave again after the 49 days had passed.
“You haven’t told me the name of this divine weapon,” Shi Di said with a serious face.
Mo Tianliao suppressed a smile and looked at Shi Di’s sledgehammer on his shoulder. He said slowly, “Since it is owned by Milord, it is only natural that along with the Taiji Sky Splitting Axe and the Taiji Earth Tearing Hammer, this would be called the Taiji Sow Annihilation Knife.”
A maidservant accompanied Mo Tianliao out. Shi Di was blissfully happy while holding his pig-killing knife and grabbing the lion by the mane. The Taiji Sow Annihilation Knife, hmm, it does sound very domineering… Wait, no!
“Roaaar” When the hand suddenly tightened on his fur, the lion could not help but yell.
“Fuck, doesn’t Sow Annihilation just mean pig killing?!”
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
Thank you so much for the ko-fi, Nate!
This was going to be the last chapter today but I just received another ko-fi so there’s one more left