While inscribing the runes, Zhou Changqing also tossed the Nine Tribulations Astral Jade into the cauldron. The jade was a lustrous white, its interior filled with silver-blue patterns that resembled crackling lightning. From time to time, filaments of incandescent electricity would dance across its surface.
Compared to the other two materials, the Nine Tribulations Astral Jade was far easier to refine. Tempered by the lightning within the great cauldron, it took only a short while for the jade to melt into a pool of milky, opalescent liquid. Zhou Changqing then divided his focus, continuing to inscribe the runes with one part of his mind while guiding the milky liquid to merge with the nascent greatsword. The fluid seeped into the raw form of the blade, enveloping every single groove of the runes he carved.
In the blink of an eye, the sun and moon had cycled.
Standing before the great cauldron, which still flickered with golden light and arcs of electricity, Zhou Changqing's face was somewhat pale. A full day and night of high-intensity rune inscription was taxing even for someone of his soul strength. The consumption of his Dou Qi, by comparison, was minimal.
At a certain moment, within the view of Zhou Changqing's spiritual perception, the countless complex runes inside the nascent greatsword finally connected into a single, unified whole. A brilliant light erupted from within the blade!
"Success!"
A wave of relief washed over Zhou Changqing, and an excited smile touched his lips. Fortunately, he wasn't so overcome with joy that he lost control, and he steadily maintained the processes within the great cauldron. He carefully began to lower the temperature inside.
As the raw form of the sword cooled bit by bit, Zhou Changqing made minute adjustments to the blade's shape.
Half an hour later, the molten greatsword was gone. In its place rested a finished blade, its body a dark, blackish-gray.
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the great cauldron and beckoned to the greatsword. The massive weapon, approximately five feet long, a foot wide, and two inches thick, flew into his waiting hand.
He ran his hand along the blade, which still radiated a heat intense enough to sear the flesh of an ordinary person. The body of the sword was primarily blackish-gray, but it was crisscrossed with patterns of bright silver. These patterns flowed together, creating the impression of a raging thunderstorm, giving the weapon a wild, ferocious beauty. Most peculiar of all, there were no indentations or sockets anywhere on the greatsword for inserting a Monster Core.
Grasping the greatsword, Zhou Changqing's figure flickered, and he reappeared in the empty courtyard outside his room.
The next moment, he poured his own Dou Qi into the greatsword. The silver patterns on its body began to glow faintly. At the same time, a strange suction force emanated from deep within the blade!
The instant this force appeared, the surrounding world energy fell into disarray. Streams of golden and silver energy converged on the greatsword from all directions, continuously merging with the blade. It was as if the greatsword itself could cultivate!
Seeing this, Zhou Changqing extended his spiritual perception, probing past the surface of the sword and into its depths. He discovered that the absorbed world energy first entered one of several inscriptions. After circulating through the pathways of that particular rune, the energy was then distributed and stored in every inch of the sword's body.
"The Spirit-Gathering Inscription really works!" Zhou Changqing was ecstatic.
The so-called Spirit-Gathering Inscription did exactly as its name implied: it gathered the spirit of the world, which was to say, world energy. This was an inscription he had created himself during a state of enlightenment when he broke through to the Dou King realm. His inspiration had come from a Dou King's ability to command world energy and the way their Dou Core could store Dou Qi.
To put it simply, the main function of this inscription was to absorb and command world energy, storing it within the weapon for the wielder to use at any time. This way, the weapon could fully unleash the effects of its other inscriptions without needing a Monster Core.
Furthermore, it solved the tedious problem of Monster Core weapons, which required replacing the core once its energy was depleted. A weapon equipped with a Spirit-Gathering Inscription needed only a period of rest to replenish its energy reserves. It was far more convenient and drastically reduced the cost of use. In essence, the weapon could recharge itself.
Of course, the differences didn't end there. With the Spirit-Gathering Inscription, a weapon was no longer restricted by elemental attributes. The wielder simply needed to infuse a trace of their own attributed Dou Qi before the weapon began absorbing energy. The Spirit-Gathering Inscription would then continuously draw in the same type of attributed energy from the world, storing it until the weapon reached its maximum capacity.
Theoretically, this meant that anyone could wield a weapon with this inscription to its fullest potential. There were, however, some special cases. If the materials used to forge the weapon were not compatible with the user's attribute, its power would still be somewhat limited, though to a much lesser degree than with a traditional Monster Core weapon.
After testing the Spirit-Gathering Inscription, Zhou Changqing began to experiment with another. The Spirit-Gathering Inscription wasn't the only one he had created during that flash of insight!
"By wondrous rune and profound art, condense the Qi to an astral heart. Retract to a point of peerless might, release to a form of boundless light! Astral Dou Inscription!"
Holding the greatsword vertically before his chest, Zhou Changqing ignored the pitiful amount of energy the blade had just stored. Instead, he furiously channeled his Golden Lightning Dou Qi into a different inscription within the sword. As his Dou Qi coursed through the rune's pathways, it underwent an incredibly subtle transformation.
Almost instantaneously, a layer of highly condensed, solid-like, blazing golden energy crystal formed over the surface of the greatsword!
Gazing at this golden, lightning-infused astral blade, Zhou Changqing reached out and pressed his finger against its edge, sliding it gently. A faint sting of pain followed. He lifted his hand to see a cut on his finger. Blood, crimson with a hint of brilliance, welled up from the wound.
"This sharpness is terrifying!" Zhou Changqing whispered in awe, his eyes flashing with a bright light.
He knew that even when he was a peak Dou Spirit, his physical body was already comparable to that of a six-star Dou King. When he broke through to the Dou King realm, the comprehensive enhancement from his advancement, combined with the effects of the Heavenly Lightning Body Tempering, had elevated his physical toughness to a level rivaling an eight-star Dou King.
A body that could withstand the full-force blow of an eight-star Dou King was yet so effortlessly sliced by this astral blade. It was a testament to its fearsome sharpness. Of course, terrifying or not, it all depended on the user. If it couldn't hit its target, all the sharpness in the world would be useless.
After testing the astral blade's power, Zhou Changqing reversed the flow of Dou Qi within the Astral Dou Inscription, making it circulate through the pathways in the opposite direction.
As the inscription operated in reverse, the astral blade on the greatsword's surface began to transform, expanding rapidly. In just a few moments, the astral blade had grown to a length of about ten feet. Its width and thickness had expanded in perfect proportion. It now appeared as though Zhou Changqing was wielding a colossal ten-foot greatsword.
This expanded form, like a sheath of energy covering the physical blade, was far more translucent than before. It no longer looked like solid crystal but rather a construct of pure energy.
This was the second function of the Astral Dou Inscription: the Projected Form.
Unlike the extreme sharpness of its Condensed Edge, this function focused on wide-area destruction. The more energy was poured into it, the larger the astral blade would become. As long as the materials of the sword itself could withstand the energy output, there was theoretically no problem in making it thousands, or even tens of thousands of feet long.
He could just imagine it—an equally proportioned astral blade tens of thousands of feet in length. A single swing could level a city. It was the perfect choice for clearing out hordes of lesser foes.
Unfortunately, by his own estimations, even if the weapon's materials could handle such a massive energy output, he could probably only expand the astral blade to about a thousand feet. Ten thousand was out of the question. The Astral Dou Inscription and Spirit-Gathering Inscription were his initial creations and were far from perfect. He would have to slowly refine them in the future if he wanted to improve their effects.
"A weapon like this no longer needs a Monster Core. Calling it a Monster Core Armament doesn't feel right anymore."
"Since its foundation is the Spirit-Gathering Inscription, I think it should be called a Spirit-Gathering Armament."
"And as my personal weapon, it deserves a name. Let's see, it needs to be something霸气 (hegemonic)…"
"I've got it! From this day forward, your name shall be the Blazing Thunder Tyrant Blade!"
Stroking the greatsword that felt like a perfect extension of himself, Zhou Changqing pondered for a moment before bestowing it with a name.