"Refining a soul weapon is done by immersing your soul in it, nourishing it with your psyche day and night and establishing links of connection between the soul weapon with your psyche and soul."
Zhong Yue sat down crossed-leg, the Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard was planted in front of him while Xin Huo guided him in his psyche ocean, instructing him on the ways of refining the Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard and Dragon Scale Sword.
"The longer you refine your soul weapon with your soul, the stronger the link between you and the soul weapon, even if you lose your soul weapon, with a single thought it will come back to you, no one can ever take it away from you. But there is already a link of connection between your sword scabbard and the Dragon Scale Sword, that is the connection between the scabbard and sword. If the sword is lost, you will still be able to retrieve it back with the scabbard. Now, you need not refine the sword scabbard, just start with the sword, refine it with your psyche and soul!"
Zhong Yue immersed his soul into the Dragon Scale Sword, along with a burst of his psyche, he started refining the Dragon Scale Sword.
"When ordinary cultivators refine their soul weapons, they mostly do it purely with their psyche and soul. The process would normally take a dozen days. This is the most idiotic way ever."
Xin Huo continued guiding him, "Visualizing the [Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art] at the same time can help you refine your soul weapon faster. At most, in a few hours and you can achieve what the others would have done in a dozen days."
Upon listening to the words, Zhong Yue immediately visualized the [Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art], a few hours later, Zhong Yue opened his eyes widely.
"Move!"
Ka!
From within the Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard, the Dragon Scale Sword lightly quivered with a shrill resonance as it jumped out from its scabbard. Along with its appearance came flashes of cold rays, the temperature of the surrounding air rapidly plummeted as it turned frigid!
Zhong Yue could see vicariously through the Dragon Scale Sword as if it were his own eyes. His purview grew wider as the Dragon Scale Sword flew higher.
Ka-cha!
Sparkles of lightning flashed in the skies. He cast the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] while controlling the Dragon Scale Sword, the thunder and lightning danced around in the skies along with the thunderous Dragon Scale Sword as if the sword was an incarnation of the lightning itself!
Zhong Yue was elated and surprised, and he fully unleashed the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. The sword rays flickered in the air, the true strength of the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] was finally able to be fully unleashed.
Before this, every time he cast the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill], he could feel an inexplicable shackle restraining him from fully unleashing the true power of the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. But now with the Dragon Scale Sword, the potential that had hitherto been suppressed before could now be fully unleashed through the sword!
No wonder the upper house disciples all said that a good soul weapon could double one's strength, with the Dragon Scale Sword, the power of my [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] has increased by even more than that!, Zhong Yue thought to himself.
"You are only controlling the sword, it's more than enough to kill ordinary beasts, but it's still far from sufficient if you are using it on the little brats like Shui Qinghe. His psyche is stronger than yours. His soul weapon will not be worse either. Fight with him, and the odds are that you will lose more often than win."
Xin Huo turned into a little flame spark, he landed on the Dragon Scale Sword and seeped into it. He stood on top of Zhong Yue's soul and said, "This is not an inferior sword at all, it can shield your soul so that your soul doesn't fragment into pieces when the Dragon Scale Sword is broken. This sword has reached the acme of toughness and durability. As long as it's not a Qi Practitioner, it will be impossible for others to break it, there is no need to worry about having your soul scattered when the sword clashes with the other soul weapons."
"When the soul weapon breaks, the owner dies too?" Zhong Yue was shocked. He blurted out involuntarily.
"Of course, when the soul controls the soul weapon in combat, the most terrifying thing that can happen is its destruction. Because the soul is in the soul weapon, the soul weapon's destruction would mean the dissipating of the soul inside it. I trust that you understand that the owner's death will also invariably accompany that."
Xin Huo sat down on his shoulder, "That's why, when using a soul weapon, either you use the best, or you don't use anything. Otherwise, if the soul weapon gets destroyed, then your soul will be scattered into pieces! Look at the country bumpkin of the upper house, they all know jack shit, their soul weapons are inferior and a product of equally inferior craftsmanship. It might just be cleaved in half on the first clash, but they still dare to use it in live combat. They are just holding up a silver platter with their head on it for others to partake in as they please!"
Zhong Yue's heart shuddered, there were indeed a lot of upper house disciples that resorted to their soul weapons in combat. It was clear that many heavily relied on them, but who knew their actions in Xin Huo eyes were tantamount to voluntarily seeking suicide.
"You sword is not bad, as long as it's not an attack from Qi Practitioners, it'll be hard to break your Dragon Scale Sword. You can use it freely when in combat with the upper house disciples."
Xin Huo said solemnly, "Well of course, if you are facing a Qi Practitioner, it is better for you just to run as far as you can, or once the Qi Practitioner destroys your Dragon Scale Sword, your soul will also disperse! Soul weapon… it is merely a feeble substitute for Sword Qi. It is only an option for the weak. Sword Qi is not only stronger than soul weapons, but it is also safer… Alright, keep on flying up, you will train in the high altitudes!"
The Dragon Scale Sword shot up, in mid-air the sword caused provoked rumbles of thunderclaps. Not long later it reached the upper layer of the skies millions of feet high!
Zhong Yue glanced downward, the mountains looked small and tiny, but Swords Gate was as lofty as usual!
Zhong Yue tried maneuvering the Dragon Scale Sword. He could tell that it was getting hard for his psyche to sustain his control. It was not that his psyche reserves were insufficient, but rather, it was the lack of strength of his psyche that hindered him from sustaining long-distance telekinesis.
After flying for so far, the golden summit of the Swords Gate was still glimmering far up in the high sky as if it was nigh unreachable.
"Just right here, this place should be fine."
Xin Huo looked out and said, "This is the atmospheric zone where the lightning and thunder appear in the sky. Right here, there are the blazing sun, strong gales, and lightning ready and waiting for action. The blazing sun burns like an inferno, and the strong gales cut like blades. The soul will either be burned to death by the sun or slashed into pieces by the winds. But the blazing sun and the strong gales are not as dreadful as the lightning. The lightning is a predator of the firmament… it will sense the presence of your soul. Once you are in the sky, you enter the lightning's hunting ground!"
"The lightning will come and shock me?"
Zhong Yue was stunned, "Even if I don't provoke it, it will still come and get me?"
"Before the soul fuses with the spirit, it is of the Yin element, while the lightning is of the Yang element. When Yin and Yang approach each other, they will gravitate toward the other hence, when the soul reaches the high sky, it will be torn asunder by the wrath of lightning."
Xin Huo continued, "Just like a man and woman, when a man sees a woman he will have the desire to get close to her. You practice the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill], but the lightning you form with your psyche is only an imitation of the Yin attribute, not the Yang lightning of mother nature. The Yang lightning is much stronger, way beyond the power of the Yin lightning! This height is perfect, the lightning on this level isn't too strong. It is just right for you to use it to train the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill], refine your soul, psyche, and soul weapon … Careful, the lightning is coming, quickly visualize the Sui Sovereign!"
Thunderous lightning shone around the Dragon Scale Sword, Zilaa Zilaa—the thunderous lightning grew numerous, and they congregated together. All of a sudden, the air was inundated with lightning snakes swimming around the clouds – it was undoubtedly a horrific scene!
More and more lightning gathered together, the lightning snakes cannibalized each other as they continued to increase in size, and the sounds of thunder soon become overwhelming!
Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat. He felt like his soul was targeted by something as it started trembling in fear, he quickly visualized the [Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art].
His psyche constructed a Flame Order Palace in the Dragon Scale Sword, while he turned into the dragon-headed human Sui Sovereign, immediately banishing the fear within.
Krong!
The volume of the rumbling thunder suddenly spiked. A loud deafening noise rang out, and a bolt of lightning struck down before the Dragon Scale Sword could even react to it. A surge of incredible massive glutted the Dragon Scale Sword!
Inside of the Dragon Scale Sword, Zhong Yue's soul was struck black by the lightning, even the Flame Order Palace and the Sui Sovereign were also charred; his soul was on the verge of dispersing!
His psyche was almost struck into pieces, and he could feel an immense agony. The rumbling sound of the thunder left tremors on his soul that threatened to disintegrate him to pieces!
"Concentrate on your visualization, do not lose your focus!"
Xin Huo stood on his shoulder unscathed by the thunder. He said anxiously, "You will die if you lose your focus, your soul will perish into thin air!
Zhong Yue gritted his teeth, and he endured the pain that felt like it was about to tear him into pieces and tried his best to focus his psyche on visualizing the [Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art]. As he visualized, the wounds on his soul started to heal, regenerating itself like an old tree regaining its life force.
Krong!
Came another flash of lightning, the recently regenerated soul was struck to the verge of dissipation. The immense pain once again surged through his nerves!
Xin Huo was all relaxed, he smiled and said, "Have no worry, you can grit your teeth all you want, this is your soul, if you ever grit your teeth like this with your physical body then you will surely break all your teeth. You endured through the first time without dying, then the second time you won't die too, continue your training, there is no room for relaxation!"
"It hurts…" Zhong Yue said while he tightly gritted his teeth.
"Does it?"
The little flame was a little diffident as he spoke, "The pure-blood Fuxi brats I have thought never complained before…"
Zhong Yue continued gritting his teeth and persisted in the visualization, within this short period of an hour, there were more than twenty strikes of lightning that landed on the Dragon Scale Sword. Even Xin Huo was shocked, he thought to himself in his heart, Those pure-blood Fuxi I have taught before, none of them had ever persisted for so long on their first try. All of them were already shouting and whining all about it, but this brat is still holding on…
Ka-cha, ka-cha!
Zhong Yue felt that as though his soul was already getting numb from the immense pain, but the lightning still insisted on unrelentingly striking at him.
Slowly and gradually, the pain receded as his psyche was getting baptized by the wrath of lightning, his soul was also getting more robust and stronger, he was now able to withstand the lightning strike of this level!
Not only that, but there also lurked vestigial surges of lightning in his soul and psyche.
Suddenly, Zhong Yue 'saw' a young maiden sitting in mid-air a few thousand feet away from him. There were also bolts of lightning falling onto the young maiden, but what was different was that she did not have the protection of a soul weapon, but instead, the electricity landed right on her unmoving soul body!
"This girl doesn't look old, but she is strong!"
With a slight change of his thoughts, the Dragon Scale Sword flew over to the young maiden, the young maiden opened her eyes and looked at the sword with a pair of curious eyes, she smiled and asked, "This senior martial bother, are you refining your soul too? Does it hurt?"
"It was before, but I'm numb to it now."
Zhong Yue's soul came out of the sword and returned the smile, "Senior martial sister, what's your name?"
"I am from the Qiu Tan Clan. My name is Qiu Jin'er. I almost fainted away when the lightning before struck me."
The young maiden endured the pain and asked, "Senior martial brother, what's your name then?"
Zhong Yue saw the lightning striking toward him, he quickly returned to the sword and then answered her question, "Zhong Yue of the Zhong Shan Clan. Senior Martial Sister Qiu is really strong, at least I don't dare to withstand the lightning with just my soul body."
Qiu Jin'er smirked and said, "Senior Martial Brother Zhong, you look older than me, it is better if you call me junior martial sister."
The conversation between the two continued for a few moments until they were all a little tired and Zhong Yue said, "Junior Martial Sister Qiu, we will see each other again tomorrow."
Qiu Jin'er nodded before her soul turned and flew away. Zhong Yue watched as she left, his mind went blank when he saw that Qiu Jin'er was heading back to one of the palaces on the Swords Gate mountain!
"This is where the Qi Practitioners live, why did she…" Zhong Yue exclaimed out involuntarily.
Xin Huo was perplexed as he answered, "She is a Qi Practitioner, don't you realize?"
Cold sweat burst out of Zhong Yue's forehead as he fretted, "She just called me senior martial brother while I called her junior martial sister… A Qi Practitioner was calling me senior martial brother ... my shoulders are suddenly feeling heavy…"
"Just become a Qi Practitioner then, when your strength surpasses hers, then you can rightfully claim yourself as the senior martial brother, can't you?"
Xin Huo smirked and said, "But you still need to work harder, this little heifer Qiu Jin'er is not as simple as she looks, she has an innate spirit body, her talent is comparable to that of Fang Jiange. When people like this cultivate, their cultivation progress will be like a mad cow!"