Chapter 67: Option one, two or three

"Well, off top of my head I can only think of three ways. There may be others who may have more to add on or they may more or less match up to what I'm thinking," Yi Jie said with his eyes still trained on the saber.

Wen Yingjie's eyes lit up in excitement once he heard there was a chance and it wasn't just one but three.

"The first option would be to trade the weapon with someone for another weapon that has already shown signs that it may awaken its spirit. Since you are not a blacksmith and not a palace stage cultivator who can use their monarch sense to detect budding spirits, I'd suggest you conduct the trade with a reputable organization. I hope you'd choose the Order as first in your considerations.

Should you decide to go with us I'd be more than willing to do the trade with you and Judge Yang Qing or a different judge and an additional party of your choosing can act as witnesses to the deal," Yi Jie patiently explained as he raised his eyes and caught Wen Yingjie's budding smile freeze over midway.

"And the other two options?" Wen Yingjie stiffly asked. Option 1 would have worked for him had he not known his saber had awakened its spirit partially. With option 1 he would have to wait for a long time for the new saber to awaken its spirit completely or worse if his streak of luck continued and he ended up stumbling in areas with cultivators breaking through wouldn't the new saber end up in the same spot as the old saber?

But fundamentally the real reason was he was averse to the very idea of swapping out his saber. The saber was made literally from his blood and sweat when he sourced for those materials. He felt like he was a part of its creation. Even if the new saber had better craftsmanship it just wouldn't feel the same to him kind of like how kids never liked sharing the wooden sword they started cultivating with no matter how beat up it gets. Wen Yingjie felt exactly the same way. If the saber didn't invoke lightning he would have never considered trading it even for another better-crafted weapon.

Yi Jie as if reading up on his thoughts swiftly continued,

"The second option is to seal your saber in dark lunar ice preferably one that is atleast 10,000 years old. Your saber will need to be sealed into it for atleast 10 years however the older the dark lunar ice the less time you will need to seal it. The ice will force the pseudo spirit of your saber into deep slumber thus calming down its current excited and agitated state that will eventually draw a real tribulation to itself.

Sealing it will calm it down and quiet that temptation by making it forget the sensation the tribulation lightning caused. However, using this method comes with its downsides. For one there will be no qualitative change to your saber's spirit in that time. It won't suddenly transform into a full spirit from its pseudo-state. The other downside is for the sealing to work the saber needs to be under for a long or be sealed in a very old block of dark lunar ice. Either will put that saber in a sleep so deep that it may take even years for it to reawaken even after being unsealed from the ice. The effort and time you will need to expend on it will be no different than trying to awaken a new weapon.

Then the last option it's the simplest but also the deadliest. Just risk your life with it," Yi Jie offhandedly said as he even shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant look like the topic of risking lives carried the same weight as talking about the weather or whether you need to pee before you head out for a long journey.

"Risk my life?" Wen Yingjie asked with a blank look. He looked like he was at the end of the rope. From Yi Jie's first option he already had this nagging feeling the rest wouldn't be all that good or simple but part of him couldn't help but have a sliver of hope that in between those gut-wrenching, spirit-breaking, wish I didn't hear options surely there'd be one that would be doable.

But here he was being told that even the simplest option had him risking his life and he was too afraid to ask how. Then as for the other two options the first one was now looking like a bed roses instead of the thorns it was before and option two he didn't know how much a block of dark lunar ice cost but he guessed for something with spirit sealing capabilities it had to cost a hefty sum much beyond the capabilities of a rogue peak core formation expert. Then there was the fact of the spirit not awakening for years. With his 'enormous luck,' he had a feeling for him it may end up taking centuries. If he could wait that long he wouldn't have come to the Order and would have just continued waiting for Tan Ping to come out from his seclusion.

"It seems like my hope of washing away the stain on my honor is now turning into an impossibility with how things are panning out," Wen Yingjie muttered to himself with a forlorn look as his wide broad shoulders seemed narrower and slumped than before.

"Wen Yingjie if it was any other person I would not have suggested the third option but for you, I think it's the best option. I don't know what it is that drove you into such an urgent state and in a desperate need to have a top-grade sky rank weapon when being a peak core formation expert should serve as protection enough but it must be something dangerous and also important that you want to increase your odds of success as much as possible?" Yi Jie asked

"Yes, it is. If my life were enough to ensure success I'd give it a hundred times over," Wen Yingjie firmly said as he clenched his fists with a battling fire in his eyes. The fire seemed pure not one borne out of a need for vengeance but one out of being duty bound to fulfill no matter what come may the task must be done. Yi Jie recognized that look all too well and any other inquisitor and judge with experience on the job would recognize that look too as they develop that sense of obligation the more they work their jobs and Wen Yingjie had that same look.

Yi Jie, Yang Qing, and the rest could already tell that the matter had something to do with the kingdom Wen Yingjie belonged to and the reason behind why he was exiled and the death of the prince of that kingdom. Yi Jie didn't want to pry and neither did Yang Qing those were the internal matters of their kingdom but if Wen Yingjie decided to divulge they wouldn't mind hearing the story either and offering their two cents.

But from Wen Yingjie's cues both verbal and nonverbal he didn't seem like the type to say more than what was needed especially on matters concerning the royal family. He may not be a general anymore but being a descendant of a military family, silence and fealty must have been ingrained in him from childhood. He'd rather die than mention things he shouldn't be mentioning. Someone like that wouldn't spill any juicy details and would be tight-lipped mincing their words.

Mao Yunru was fidgety as she stared at Wen Yingjie with a calculative look. Her lips parted and closed repetitively almost as if in debate whether to ask something or not. Yang Qing saw all this as he shook his head.

"It seems Mao Mao's nosey nature is eating at her again. With such a juicy story in front of her it's a wonder she has held out for so long. Sometimes I can't help but wonder about her real motivations for being a judge," Yang Qing silently wondered to himself as he brought his gaze back to Wen Yingjie.

Mao Yunru as if feeling something off quickly turned her head back missing Yang Qing's stare by seconds.

"Then if you have already resolved to risk your life for whatever it is then the third option is definitely for you.

You may have heard of natal-bound artifacts but just in case you haven't these are artifacts bound to someone from birth. A part of the child's soul is nourished by the artifact and vice versa. Most of the powerful noble families and clans use this method as a measure of protecting their most gifted seeds. For great effects, the artifact needs to atleast be in the ascendant state which as you well know is able to exert the might of a domain-level expert.

From the moment the binding is complete that artifact is inseparable from the child it is bound to and any attempt to separate the two would be met with its swift retaliation and upon the owner's death, the artifact becomes destroyed too. The life of the artifact and the person become tied together literally. Anything that happens to one affects the other not only in terms of danger but also in other regards too like their cultivation realms. From the moment the child's soul is bound to the ascendant level artifact or treasure they already have an insight into the doors of the domain realm. They only need sufficient time and resources to reach that level experiencing little to no bottleneck on that journey as all the detours they would have taken have been removed.

However, it also comes with some risks though to some those risks maybe gains. The child bound to the artifact will be heavily influenced by the dao of the artifact. They will never get the chance to figure out what dao suits them as that choice would have already been made for them the moment their soul is bound by the artifact. If they are not gifted in the artifact's dao they usually cap at the same level the artifact is in and their only chance of them growing past that limit is if the artifact improves itself. But there are those who have the talent and are gifted enough to be highly compatible with the dao of the artifact they are bound to so they can elevate themselves past the limit of their artifact and push their artifact to grow with them.

Cui Liang the clan leader of the rank 1 family the Cui family in charge of the west pine breeze valley is one such example who went past the limits of the rank of his life-bound artifact.

The reason I mention all this is that the third option involves doing something similar. You will bind half of your soul and spiritual essence to the saber's pseudo-spirit. In addition, I can tell you have already touched saber intent. You will keep feeding your intent to the pseudo spirit nurturing it and tempering it until it can learn to release a sliver of that intent by itself. Since your saber's pseudo spirit is immature and incomplete the intent and your spiritual essence will be used to fill that gap and strengthen its foundations so it can hasten its development.

Losing half your soul and spiritual essence will be one of the most painful things you will have to endure and it will leave your body in a weakened state and your potential hollowed out not to mention it will be next to impossible for you to recover it. If it was just a tiny amount, after a few years of cultivating soul-nurturing techniques it would be easily mended but losing half for a core formation expert to boot will be impossible not without using some treasures and soul-mending techniques that are atleast at the gold grade. Feeding your saber intent in this state will be even more demanding than usual and you'll have to be careful not to accidentally damage the pseudo spirit with your intent. It's a delicate balance that will require a certain level of finesse to maintain.

The goal will be to let the pseudo spirit learn from you as much as it can to prepare it for when the tribulation hits. Its path from that moment forth will be based off of you and all you know.

However, it's not all bad because if you successfully nurture your saber's pseudo spirit to completion it will automatically mend your incomplete soul and spiritual essence and since it will have been nurtured by your essence there will be no issues with incompatibility when it becomes your life-bound weapon. Your life and the saber will be inextricably linked from that moment forth. If it gets destroyed facing the tribulation you will die too however if it survives and its spirit evolves from that baptism your path to the palace realm will open up as you will harvest the boost from the spiritual growth too. Whatever the saber gains you gain and whatever you gain so will it. The good and the bad.

So Wen Yingjie are you willing to risk it all with this saber to the very end even if it means there's a chance you may not make it out alive to do what it is that you want to do or do you want to reconsider the other options," Yi Jie solemnly asked.