After returning to his residence Liu Bai met Li Qing who had just come back from cultivating in the Thunder Domain.
At this moment Li Qing gave off an even colder feeling than before yet Liu Bai noticed that her figure had become even more alluring. With such an icy countenance paired with that stunning figure she was the perfect blend of seduction and cool elegance.
"I heard your name has been quite loud these past few days. Even in the Thunder Domain I heard quite a bit of talk about you." Although her expression was cold when facing Liu Bai, Li Qing was far more casual and the chill in her tone lessened greatly after she spoke.
"Just some boring people not worth caring about." Liu Bai waved his hand clearly exasperated by the gossip-loving nature of those in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy.
"Boring? I do not think so. You always seem to stir up something new making it hard for even your friends to see through you at times..." Li Qing's jet-black eyes gazed at Liu Bai as she spoke lightly.
"Do you truly know how to refine artifacts?"
It seemed that not only outsiders were curious about this but even those close to him were the same.
"Fairly well. I am planning to refine a bow for myself later. If you have nothing else to do you can watch from the side."
Upon hearing this Li Qing's eyes lit up immediately and even her ample chest rose and fell slightly.
"You really can? You truly are... I feel like I understand you less and less."
After agreeing to refine artifacts in the afternoon Li Qing returned to her own residence to settle herself after coming back from cultivation.
Liu Bai also took the opportunity to check his own attributes preparing to begin upgrading the Ghost Soul Arrow Art.
Liu Bai already had two Spirit-grade high-level offensive spiritual arts and the experience required for upgrading them was roughly the same. This time he still had thirty thousand experience points so he planned to raise the remaining Great Sun Burning Sea Palm and Mountain Shaking Divine Fist to their highest level.
"Ding. Congratulations to the player for spending 7800 experience points to upgrade the Ghost Soul Arrow Art to Perfect Level."
"Ding. Congratulations to the player for the Ghost Soul Arrow Art reaching Perfect Level gaining the special ability Soul Seize."
Liu Bai's eyes brightened. As expected when a Spirit-grade high-level offensive spiritual art reached its peak level it would also awaken a special ability and compared to the Star Shattering Fist and Blaze Step the special ability Soul Seize from the Ghost Soul Arrow Art was clearly far more frightening.
Soul Seize: Arrows fired using the Ghost Soul Arrow Art have a fifty percent chance of directly attacking the enemy's spiritual soul resulting in instant death.
The spiritual soul was different from the spiritual body. The former was the root of a living being while the latter was the fusion of the spiritual soul and spiritual energy. Thus the spiritual soul was far more fragile.
It was precisely for this reason that cultivators strove to protect their spiritual soul and even developed the spiritual body to guard it. Of course many times the spiritual body could also substitute for part of the spiritual soul's functions which was why phenomena such as possession existed in the Great Thousand World.
However the stronger one's cultivation the greater the importance of the spiritual soul. In fact when breaking through to the Earth Sovereign Realm one needed to recast the physical body. At such a time the significance of the spiritual soul became especially prominent.
If the spiritual soul was weak or injured during that process it could easily result in its destruction causing the breakthrough to fail and death to follow immediately.
This was why in the Great Thousand World there were countless individuals at the ninth-grade peak Sovereign Realm but only one in a million could truly break through.
"Very good very powerful."
From now on if anyone provoked him he could simply send them an arrow. Even if it could not kill instantly as long as it injured their spiritual soul it would almost certainly sever their path to the peak. Sometimes that was even more cruel than killing them.
Soon after Liu Bai spent another six thousand experience points each to raise the Great Sun Burning Sea Palm and Mountain Shaking Divine Fist to Perfect Level and both also gained their own unique special abilities.
"Ding. Congratulations to the player for the Great Sun Burning Sea Palm reaching Perfect Level gaining the special ability Sea Burn."
"Ding. Congratulations to the player for the Mountain Shaking Divine Fist reaching Perfect Level gaining the special ability Mountain Shake."
Compared to Soul Seize these two were slightly inferior yet whether it was Sea Burn or Mountain Shake both were extremely powerful. Coupled with Liu Bai's abundant spiritual energy allowing him to unleash these arts at will his combat power had once again increased substantially.
After completing his final enhancements Liu Bai took out the blueprints he had received from Elder Chi Huo and began examining them.
"Ding. Obtained Low-grade Spiritual Artifact Blueprint Collection (twenty-six sheets). Record?"
"Record."
"Ding. Obtained Mid-grade Spiritual Artifact Blueprint Collection (three sheets). Record?"
"Record."
Since the Purple Gold Crow had already been refined by Liu Bai it could be used directly so he began processing the horn and tendons from the Earth Spirit Stone Python.
After being tempered by spiritual fire the python tendon became fine and even gradually transparent eventually turning into a thread of pure spiritual energy light.
"Not bad. Although this python tendon is not as good as dragon tendon it is still among the top hundred materials for bowstrings."
The tendons of spiritual beasts were a simple and practical choice for bowstrings though some artifact refiners preferred to use other materials. There were no strict rules for this and it simply depended on personal preference.
Once the materials were prepared Liu Bai began forming the bow body with the aid of spiritual fire then melted the Purple Gold Crow into it before stringing it. The simple prototype of the Swiftwind Bow was thus completed.
Next came the most important step which was imbuing the Swiftwind Bow with spiritual essence.
Liu Bai took out the essence of a high-rank wind-attributed spiritual beast and placed it directly into the artifact refining cauldron.
Spiritual Infusion referred to inscribing spirit patterns into the bow using spiritual essence containing the corresponding attribute. This could be done with a spiritual beast's essence or with certain special spirit stones.
These spirit patterns were quite similar in principle to the spiritual seals used in arranging Spiritual Arrays. However, unlike spiritual seals, spirit patterns not only served as a source of spiritual energy but also had to be etched into extremely tiny diagrams following special techniques. This was a technical craft in its own right and only those who could accomplish this step could truly advance from a forging apprentice to an actual Forging Master.
For a low grade spiritual artifact, only a single basic spirit pattern was needed. A middle grade spiritual artifact required compound spirit patterns and a high grade spiritual artifact involved a small scale specialized Spiritual Array.
Each grade increase raised the difficulty by a hundredfold or even a thousandfold. It was even said that to forge a mighty Divine Artifact, the Spiritual Array engraved upon it alone could require a Divine Artifact Master to spend several years inscribing.
Every time Liu Bai thought about this, he immediately lost much interest in forging Divine Artifacts.
As for artifacts above the Divine Artifact level, they were beyond what Liu Bai could currently comprehend.
Liu Bai had already fully grasped the basics of forging so engraving a single basic wind pattern was not overly difficult for him. Even so, since it was his first attempt, he proceeded with utmost caution.
An entire hour later, Liu Bai finally completed engraving the basic wind pattern. This consumed a great deal of his spiritual soul power and even left his face showing signs of fatigue.
The next step was simpler. After completing the Spirit Infusion came the tempering process.
Liu Bai directly operated the Two Extreme Cauldron and then quickly alternated between heat and cold.
This Two Extreme Cauldron was not an ordinary forging cauldron. It was personally chosen by Liu Bai and possessed the rare trait of containing both heat and cold.
The flame within was called Stonefire. Among the myriad spiritual flames of the Great Thousand World, it was not particularly powerful but was more than sufficient for forging a low grade spiritual artifact.
The spiritual water used for tempering was merely Profound Yin Water, equally ordinary. Yet its wonder lay in the fact that the cauldron allowed water and fire to coexist so all processes could be completed within it. This was the reason Liu Bai had chosen it.
Otherwise, how could he have casually forged a spiritual artifact right outside his own residence?
The Profound Yin Water poured out in a rush, splashing directly onto the bow. The high temperature of the bow rapidly dropped and in that instant the spirit within it was awakened. A gust of fierce wind burst from the cauldron.
"It is done."
Liu Bai's expression lit up with joy and with a wave of his hand a longbow flew out of the cauldron into his grasp.
From afar, the bow appeared quite plain. Its color was an earthy gray brown and only at the middle of the bow was there a piece of azure jade set in place. The bowstring was not even visible, making it look more like a curved stick.
However, despite the ordinary appearance of the Swiftwind Bow, a slight activation of spiritual energy would cause circles of swift wind to coil around the bowstring. If an arrow was nocked, that wind would also wrap around the arrow, increasing its speed in flight.
With the longbow in hand, Liu Bai could not resist testing it. Holding the bow in his left hand, spiritual energy surged in his right and quickly condensed into a golden arrow. Under Li Qing's astonished gaze, he loosed it toward a rock on the distant heart island of the lake.
Whoosh.
A sharp sound tore through the air and in an instant the rock several hundred meters away exploded into fragments, scattering into the lake and sending ripples across the water's surface.
This arrow had not even employed the Ghost Soul Arrow Art. Its power came purely from the Swiftwind Bow combined with Liu Bai's own metallic attribute energy arrow.
Both the bow and the arrow were of low grade spiritual artifact quality, so the power displayed just now left Liu Bai quite satisfied. At the very least, a high-level spiritual beast would be instantly slain by such a strike.
"Congratulations on forging a spiritual artifact perfectly suited to yourself," Li Qing said as she walked over, her eyes still carrying a trace of shock.
"It is only a low grade spiritual artifact, still some distance from my requirements," Liu Bai said with a shake of his head and a smile.
For the current Liu Bai, only a middle grade spiritual artifact could provide him with greater assistance. As for a high grade spiritual artifact, if he possessed one, it might even allow him to directly challenge the top twenty of the Heavenly Ranking.
"In three days it will be the Freshman Assembly. Any improvement is worth having. When the time comes, you may well become the target of all the freshmen," Li Qing said with a faint smile, her tone carrying a trace of schadenfreude.
Seeing this, Liu Bai deliberately sighed and said helplessly, "There is nothing I can do. Among the freshmen, my reputation is the greatest. As the saying goes, if one is not envied, one is mediocre. It seems I am somewhat capable after all."
Li Qing immediately rolled her eyes. This fellow's face was growing thicker by the day.
As the Freshman Assembly drew near, the entire freshman area began to grow lively.
Countless people were secretly sharpening their skills, preparing to showcase themselves during the Assembly, proving that among this year's freshmen of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, there was more than just one Liu Bai.
As for Li Xuantong, He Yao, or second tier figures like Zhou Fan, they too could barely contain their excitement.
The Northern Heaven Realm had been but a trial for them. The Freshman Assembly was the true stage to prove themselves.
Only by standing out here could they begin to shine with their own radiance in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy.
Clearly, the competition at this Freshman Assembly would be exceptionally fierce. This was the first true contest for the freshmen since arriving at the Academy.
"Freshman Assembly… This time I will seize the final victory. I will let everyone know that I am the true number one among the freshmen."
The strange green haired He Yao narrowed his long eyes, his heart roaring with determination.
Originally, in his view, the only ones qualified to be his opponents were Li Xuantong and Shen Cangsheng. Who would have thought that after entering the Spiritual Academy, a Liu Bai would suddenly appear…
A bumpkin from a small family in some remote place, and such a person actually stood ahead of him He Yao?
This time, in front of everyone's eyes, he would ruthlessly trample that fellow beneath his feet and make the world understand who was the true genius and the real number one among the freshmen.
....
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