Setting the paper with his notes aside, Zhou Changqing picked up the blade from the table, its surface as bright as silver snow.
As he ran a hand over the mirror-smooth body of the blade, a faint, dark-gold light suddenly flared from his hands, which were gripping its spine. In the next moment, a tough and sharp Gold-attribute Dou Qi surged from his palms and into the blade!
As the Dou Qi flowed in, the entire blade began to radiate a dark-golden brilliance. After channeling the energy for several minutes, Zhou Changqing withdrew the Gold-attribute Dou Qi. He then immediately summoned his silver Lightning-attribute Dou Qi, rapidly infusing it into the blade at an optimal rate.
For a moment, the blade was shrouded in a glow of dark-gold and faint-silver light.
The Gold-attribute Dou Qi still lingering within the blade had no time to dissipate before it encountered the Lightning-attribute Dou Qi. The two energies were like long-lost lovers, instantly and passionately intertwining! The two sheens of light on the blade's surface began to merge, becoming indistinguishable from one another.
Stimulated by the Lightning Dou Qi, the originally stable and solid Gold Dou Qi became incredibly active, boiling as it fused with every metal atom in the blade's material. Countless atomic nuclei were strengthened by the Gold Dou Qi, while the Lightning Dou Qi simultaneously seeped into the atoms, merging with the free electrons. This created a state of relative balance and stability between the atomic nuclei and the free electrons.
The atoms themselves began to transform, their metallic bonds growing tighter, which in turn made the material far tougher. Even more remarkably, the heat generated by the Lightning Dou Qi coursing through the blade was continuously purging impurities from the material, making it purer.
About ten minutes later!
Clang~
"Hiss! Damn, it's fucking hot!"
Suddenly, Zhou Changqing yanked his hands back, and the blade crashed onto the stone table. The body of the blade now glowed a faint crimson, with a hint of dazzling gold visible within the red.
Ignoring the blade, Zhou Changqing frantically shook his bright red, scalded hands to cool them down. Only when the stinging pain in his hands subsided did Zhou Changqing's gaze return to the blade.
He grabbed a pair of tongs, picked up the blade, and hurried over to a barrel of quenching oil, plunging it inside. With a series of hisses, the blade's temperature rapidly dropped until it was cool.
After wiping the blade clean, Zhou Changqing went to his usual furnace and began to assemble the saber.
About an hour later.
A brand new, gleaming silver Ghost Head Saber was now in his hands. Impatient to test it, Zhou Changqing found a block of iron and placed it on the ground.
Gripping the Ghost Head Saber, Zhou Changqing swung it at the iron block without using much force.
Swish!
The blade sliced through the air with a whistle before striking the iron block squarely. The next second, something incredible happened. The Ghost Head Saber's edge cut through the iron block as smoothly as if it were tofu, splitting it cleanly in two!
"Incredible!"
Witnessing this, Zhou Changqing couldn't help but widen his eyes in amazement. Lowering the saber, Zhou Changqing gazed at the weapon in his hands as if admiring a work of art.
Stroking the blade's body, Zhou Changqing sighed in satisfaction. "It was worth the half-month I spent refining you. A fine blade indeed!"
The iron block he'd used for the test, while not some hundred-forged steel, was still strong enough to meet the material requirements for weapons used by a Dou Zhe. Its toughness was sufficient to withstand the rigors of daily combat for a practitioner at that level.
Yet now, such an iron block had been effortlessly destroyed by the Ghost Head Saber, a testament to the blade's incredible sharpness. And that was without Zhou Changqing even using much of his strength!
Zhou Changqing was confident that even the Dou Qi Gauze of a Dou Shi wouldn't be able to defend against this saber. As for the Dou Qi Armor of a Da Dou Shi, he couldn't say for certain.
A short while later.
His excitement began to fade. Zhou Changqing looked at the blade and sighed. "It's a pity. Forging a weapon like this just takes too much time."
"If I could mass-produce these mortal blades that slice iron, even if they aren't as valuable as medicinal pills, I could still make a fortune!"
It was no wonder Zhou Changqing felt this way. The truth was, there were still many limitations to forging a mortal blade like the Ghost Head Saber. First was the issue of channeling Dou Qi.
Because the cultivation methods Zhou Changqing practiced weren't dual-attribute Gold-Lightning methods, but two separate, single-attribute ones. This meant that he couldn't use his Lightning-attribute Dou Qi at the same time as his Gold-attribute Dou Qi. The two separate methods used incompatible meridian pathways to circulate Dou Qi. If he tried to run them both at once, he risked his meridians rupturing.
Therefore, when refining a weapon, he had to first channel the Gold-attribute Dou Qi, then, before it dissipated, quickly infuse the Lightning-attribute Dou Qi to activate it. Being unable to channel both types of Dou Qi simultaneously drastically reduced the efficiency of the refining process.
This wasn't just a limitation in his forging, but also a flaw in his cultivation. Although he had a dual-attribute physique and could practice two cultivation methods, the incompatibility issue meant he couldn't circulate both at the same time while cultivating, or he'd face the same risk of his meridians exploding.
This meant that when he cultivated his Gold-attribute Dou Qi, he couldn't cultivate his Lightning-attribute Dou Qi, and vice versa. As a result, it took him twice as long as others to cultivate his Dou Qi. He had to train one attribute, then the other, just to keep the two in balance.
Of course, he could choose to cultivate only a single attribute, but that would mean crippling his other one. Zhou Changqing would never do that. So, to maintain the balance between the two types of Dou Qi in his Qi Cyclone, he had no choice but to endure this flaw.
In the future, if he ever got the chance, he was determined to find a dual Gold-Lightning cultivation method to switch to.
Aside from this drawback, there was another limitation to his forging. He couldn't release his Dou Qi externally. This meant that every time he refined a weapon, he had to be in direct physical contact with it to infuse his Dou Qi. Which was why he had ended up scalding his hands earlier.
This was a problem that could only be solved once he reached the rank of a Da Dou Shi; there was no other way around it for now.
"If only I had a special refining furnace, like an alchemist's cauldron... but that's just wishful thinking."
This made Zhou Changqing incredibly envious of alchemists. After all, those guys had medicinal cauldrons to use right from the early stages, so they never had to worry about releasing their Dou Qi externally. They could just place their palm on the cauldron's fire vent, channel their Dou Qi to create flames, and not get burned.
Zhou Changqing wanted a refining furnace too. Unfortunately, such a thing didn't exist on the Dou Qi Continent. Even if it did, it would be incompatible with his Golden Thunder Forging Art. And at his current stage, he didn't have the time to research and develop a suitable furnace for himself. The undertaking was simply too massive.
So, he could only make do with his current situation.