Chapter 1517: Sword Qi Soars Thirty Thousand Miles

It had to be said that this forging system greatly simplified things. If Zu An were to forge a weapon from scratch himself, he would certainly need to pay attention to many details and master numerous techniques and methods. These were often closely guarded secrets, impossible for outsiders to learn.

Indeed, the world's forging masters typically passed their skills down through generations.

Now, Zu An's forging process was simplified to merely providing True Fire and controlling its intensity. The forging system even directly told him what materials were needed.

One must understand that forging masters in the world relied on massive amounts of experimentation to figure out which ingredients were effective. With so many materials in the world, trying to find the right formula was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Yet, Zu An could directly see the correct answers. If other forging masters saw this, they would surely exclaim that he was cheating!

Zu An, however, was unaware of how much of a shortcut this was. Instead, he was currently troubled by the materials required for the breakthrough.

True Dragon Bone, True Dragon Blood?

His first thought was to pull Chi Wen over and try. After all, he was the Dragon King's son, so he should meet the criteria.

However, he immediately dismissed the idea. This fellow was a hybrid of a dragon king and a fish; it was uncertain if he even counted as a true dragon. Moreover, he couldn't possibly harm him out of respect for Shang Liuyu.

A thought suddenly struck him. There seemed to be a dragon's corpse in the Glazed Orb—it was the red dragon he had killed outside Brightmoon City back then.

Recalling it now, that dragon had completely suffered an unexpected defeat. Its strength was actually quite considerable.

He just didn't know if it counted as a true dragon.

Also, what in the world was the "King's Aura" of the Lion or Tiger clans?

Although both the Lion King and the Tiger King had many followers, they likely acknowledged that their strengths were on par. Either of them had the power to become the King of All Beasts.

But this King's Aura...

Thinking of Hu Qianxiao, who had been as docile as an orange cat earlier, it was truly hard to associate him with that term.

He really wanted to pull Hu Qianxiao over and ask him, but there wasn't enough time. Furthermore, if he got even slightly distracted here, he wouldn't be able to control the heat properly.

"Try the golden gauntlet you snatched from the Lion Clan prince last time," Mi Li said softly from behind him, her red lips slightly parted. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and she had loosened her clothes even further.

In truth, as a soul body, loosening her clothes didn't make much difference for cooling down, but it was a human instinct after all.

The True Fire was incredibly powerful, scorching the Tai'e Sword. It also acted upon her soul body. If not for her profound cultivation, vast knowledge, and the special incantations she performed to maintain clarity, she would have long been reduced to ashes.

Zu An found her voice a little strange, but his eyes lit up upon hearing her suggestion.

He retrieved a golden gauntlet from the Glazed Orb. It emitted a faint oppressive aura, very similar to Shi Zhentian's presence when he was alive.

This was the trophy he had obtained from the Lion Clan prince before. He figured Shi Zhentian had given this weapon, which he had carried for years, to his beloved son.

"I wonder if this will work..." Zu An tossed the golden gauntlet into the large cauldron as if it weren't a Heavenly-tier weapon.

He had already decided that if this didn't work, there would be no need to waste True Dragon Blood and Bone.

He would first pause the breakthrough, find Hu Qianxiao, and clarify what this "King's Aura" truly was.

After the golden gauntlet was thrown into the large cauldron, it radiated a golden light. The gauntlet also hummed, clearly sensing danger.

Unfortunately, the power of the White Lotus True Fire, enhanced by the Fiery Meteor Pills, was so immense that even Divine-tier Primordial Calamity Gold couldn't withstand it, let alone a Heavenly-tier golden gauntlet.

Soon, the golden gauntlet couldn't hold on and gradually melted away.

A 'ding' sound rang in Zu An's mind. He noted that the King's Aura of the Lion and Tiger clans, one of the three previously required materials, had been satisfied. He rejoiced, "Master, I didn't expect this to actually work!"

"Don't turn around!" Mi Li's urgent warning came from behind him.

Only then did Zu An remember Mi Li's earlier words. He hastily stopped himself, "Sorry, I almost forgot."

Yet, he couldn't help but imagine certain scenes in his mind. He felt exceptionally hot today.

"Continue, I recall you still have a dragon's corpse," Mi Li said, loosening her tightened clothes.

Zu An nodded and retrieved a large urn from the Glazed Orb. This contained the dragon blood he had collected back then. Although the Glazed Orb had the ability to preserve things indefinitely, if the blood had remained within the red dragon's corpse, it would likely have solidified by now. So, he had specifically used a special urn to store the dragon blood and added a unique agent to prevent it from congealing. He had originally intended to sell it for a good price later.

Who knew that things would turn out so unpredictably? He had forgotten about it for a long time. He never expected it to be useful today.

Dragon blood was very precious, and Zu An had initially intended to save some for future use. Yet, after pouring in more than half an urn, the forging system still didn't indicate success.

Left with no choice, he gritted his teeth and poured in all the remaining dragon blood.

*Ding!*

Only then did the forging system finally emit a satisfied sound.

Zu An still felt a pang of regret. But then he thought, it was precisely because the required materials were so precious that a legendary divine weapon could be forged.

Next, he threw in the True Dragon Bone. Although the large cauldron was immeasurably smaller than the dragon bone, the entire bone fit inside without any difficulty, as if there was a self-contained space within.

Zu An had originally intended to throw in the entire red dragon's corpse, but Mi Li stopped him. Dragon meat was actually good for consumption and might be useful in the future.

So he briefly played the role of a butcher. Fortunately, he could now effortlessly conjure sword qi, making it easy to cut meat and debone.

After all the materials were placed into the large cauldron, they were refined at an almost visible speed, finally transforming into three streams of aura—white, red, and yellow—that entered the Tai'e Sword.

The Tai'e Sword let out a dragon's roar. Immediately afterwards, strange characters and shackles appeared on the sword's body.

"That's the Tai'e Sword's seal!" Mi Li's surprised exclamation came.

At this moment, a divine radiance flowed across the Tai'e Sword's body. All the faint, shimmering shackles on it snapped apart.

"Congratulations, the forged weapon has successfully broken through to the Immortal Tier!"

The forging system's voice resounded.

Zu An noticed that even through the roaring flames, the Tai'e Sword was now radiating a chilling glow throughout its body. It looked many times sharper than before. A powerful sword intent filled the room. Zu An was overjoyed; he hadn't expected this tier breakthrough to also release the sword's own seal.

"Don't be careless. Keep up the effort and restore it to its true peak in one go," Mi Li reminded him. Her voice, however, was also filled with joy.

Zu An nodded. In the large cauldron, only a thin layer of Primordial Calamity Gold had been consumed. Yet, just this was enough to allow the Tai'e Sword to break through to the Immortal Tier.

However, his expression immediately turned solemn. This indicated that the consumption required to break through to the Divine Tier would be far greater than for the Immortal Tier.

As expected, when he began his push towards the Divine Tier, the indicator dial spun many times faster than before.

Under Mi Li's guidance, he successively cast the remaining Fiery Meteor Pills into the cauldron. Zu An dared not get even slightly distracted, meticulously controlling the intensity of every wisp of flame.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly. Even with Zu An's willpower, he felt himself faltering. Forced by the intense flames, and constantly needing to keep the indicator needle within the proper range, it was like dancing on a tightrope. Soon, sweat poured off him, and his vision blurred.

Fortunately, he possessed the Primordial Chaos Scripture, which granted him astonishing recovery abilities. Only then could he grit his teeth and persevere.

Had it been any other cultivator, even one with higher cultivation than him, they likely couldn't have maintained such high intensity for so long.

He felt the heat within him intensify, and his clothes were completely soaked. The sticky discomfort was unbearable and began to affect his control over the dial's pointer.

So, he simply released a burst of vital energy, scattering all his clothes.

The refining process in the large cauldron made the heat unbearable for Mi Li as well. She had already taken off her outer garments, leaving only her closest undergarments. Large expanses of her delicate skin on her arms and thighs were exposed.

Zu An's sudden shedding of clothes startled her. Seeing sweat trickle over his bulging muscles, her expression immediately became unnatural, and scenes from when she was in Chu Chuyan's body resurfaced in her mind.

She quickly shook her head to dispel these thoughts. With a wave of her hand, she pulled a screen between them. Only then did her mind slowly calm down.

"Master, what's wrong?" Hearing the commotion behind him, Zu An was also startled.

"Nothing, just focus on what you're doing," Mi Li said, trying to keep her voice level.

Zu An nodded, then fully activated the White Lotus True Fire. The vital energy within him circulated to its peak, and sweat poured off him like a waterfall. He felt he had lost far too much water in the past day and night.

After an unknown amount of time, the Primordial Calamity Gold steadily diminished. A moment later, a prompt sounded in his mind: "Detecting that the forged weapon can break through to Divine Tier. Breakthrough materials required: high-grade Taotie Horn, high-grade Mimic-Scale Death Motherworm Scale, and Feather Mountain Spirit Spring Water. Do you wish to proceed with the breakthrough?"

Zu An felt a slight daze. These items were extremely rare; even someone as powerful as Zhao Hao might not be able to gather even one of them. This showed how challenging it was to forge a divine weapon.

Yet, he happened to possess them all; it truly seemed to be fate.

He successively placed these materials from the Glazed Orb into the cauldron. Soon after, a blinding divine radiance erupted from the large cauldron. Then, a terrifying sword qi shot skyward. Even though the buildings in the Demon Empress's bedchamber had defensive arrays, their roofs were instantly ripped off, and the sword qi soared straight into the clouds.

Sword qi soared for thirty thousand li, its cold light illuminating the entire land with a single strike!