Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd

Sizzle-!

A loud hissing sound filled the furnace room, accompanied by a cloud of steam that quickly spread out in all directions.

Zhao Yunxiao took a step back, nervously swallowing a mouthful of saliva while waiting for the steam to clear.

It only took a few seconds, yet those few seconds still felt torturously long due to the intense anticipation welling up within him.

And under his eager gaze, the steam eventually dissipated to reveal the final product that was currently resting upon two anvils.

The completed halberd had a core that was black with a metallic sheen from end to end, and that included the beak, blade, and point. It stretched to almost two metres in length, with smaller parts attached at various points along the shaft.

Zhao Yunxiao carefully scrutinised it from top to bottom, and then bottom to top again.

There were no problems, or at least none on the surface.

After ensuring that the halberd had cooled enough, he carefully reached out to grab the halberd.

Tightening his grip around the shaft, Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes and started channelling his essence energy through the weapon. The energy flowed smoothly, encountering no hindrances as it spread into and throughout the entire halberd.

In fact, he could even feel a faint sense of resonance with the halberd, as though his essence energy was being amplified within the halberd.

His heart beating faster, Zhao Yunxiao picked up the halberd and started waving it around, executing a few simple moves.

Each swing was smooth.

Each stance was stable.

Lou Yuan's calculations were perfect. Both the length and weight distribution were ideal.

There were absolutely no signs of awkward incongruence that could usually be seen from someone wielding an unfamiliar weapon, almost like he had already possessed this halberd for years.

Zhao Yunxiao could not help but grin at this point.

It was a success!

He had three possible attempts, but he actually succeeded on the first!

As if that was not enough, from his initial assessment, this could also be a rare quality treasure!

Inferior, common, uncommon, rare, mythical.

Out of the five main categories, rare quality treasures might be a far cry from mythical quality treasures, but they were still extremely valuable in their own right.

Could Nie Hanchang be right? Was he actually quite talented in this field?

Zhao Yunxiao quickly shook off such distracting thoughts. After all, he was not done just yet.

At this point, his attention inevitably fell upon the pentagon-shaped joint located just below the blade.

In his blueprint, Lou Yuan had specifically stated that to bring the halberd to the next level, Zhao Yunxiao could create a five-node array on this pentagon-shaped guard using five precious gemstones.

Had it been the Zhao Yunxiao from a year ago, this would not be something that he needed to worry about until he got his hands on all five gemstones.

Out of the five, Zhao Yunxiao currently had two in his possession – the fire ruby fragments and the water sapphire.

However, arrays needed all their nodes to be established in order to have any effect whatsoever. As long as there was just one array node missing, setting up every other array node in advance would be nothing but a waste of time and effort.

At the very least, that was what most people believed.

Zhao Yunxiao had also believed the same in the past, but not anymore.

He took a deep breath and carefully placed the halberd back onto the anvils. After which, he retrieved both the fire ruby fragments and the water sapphire from his spatial pouch.

Popping another recovery pill, Zhao Yunxiao promptly got to work.

First was the fire ruby fragments.

Unlike most other precious stones, the value of a fire ruby was not in the size of any one piece. Instead, its true value came from the essence within, which made no difference if it was gathered from one big piece or multiple smaller fragments.

With that, he closed his eyes for one final visualisation of what he was about to do.

Back when he was at the Origin Lake Sect, Zhao Yunxiao had witnessed for himself the wonderful usage of archaic characters in the ways of ancient arrays.

Contemporary arrays required array nodes to be carefully set up in relation to one another, having no effect until they finally came together to form a complete overarching array.

However, ancient arrays followed a completely different concept that involved the creation of special runes using archaic characters, each possessing their own individual effect. And when all array nodes were in place, an overarching array would naturally be formed in response, conforming to the existing array nodes.

Contemporary arrays were safer, simpler, and more straightforward. There was little risk of accidentally activating any of the array nodes, and only the effect of the final overarching array would be released.

In comparison, ancient arrays were more flexible, but also far more complex at the same time.

Each had their pros and cons. But in this particular situation, Zhao Yunxiao was intending to put his knowledge of ancient arrays to the test.

Instead of waiting until he had collected all five gemstones before commencing work, he was going to deviate slightly from Lou Yuan's instructions and proceed with two of the five nodes today.

This was not an easy decision.

Zhao Yunxiao might have studied and practised with the archaic characters since his return from the Origin Lake Sect, but this would still be his first time actually using it for something important.

However, he also understood that he would have to start somewhere.

If he continued to only practise it on throwaway items, he would never gain the confidence to use it when truly needed.

And where better to start than here in a controlled and isolated environment, where he did not have any dangers or the pressure of time looming over him?

Even in the worst case of failure, he would just have to go collect more materials again. In a way, he could simply consider that the cost of learning!

Zhao Yunxiao quickly shook that thought out of his head. Just thinking about it was causing his heart to bleed, and he could not afford to be distracted by that right now.

He held up the bowl of fire rubies in his left hand, and an inscription knife in his right. After shrouding the inscription knife with essence energy, he decisively dipped it into the bowl.

Next, he extended his spiritual sense into the fire ruby fragments, acting to extract their essence just like how he would extract energy from spirit stones.

The bright red light from the fire rubies instantly grew in intensity, lighting up the entire furnace room and raising the temperature by a few levels.

A trail of red energy flowed out from the fire ruby fragments, coiling around Zhao Yunxiao's right hand, then slowly descending along the inscription knife until it finally gathered at the tip of the small blade.

Countless archaic characters flashed past Zhao Yunxiao's mind, creating an entire wall of ancient text. Yet this wall only lasted for a mere moment.

It rapidly shrunk in size as the ancient characters quickly disappeared one after another, until only a single word remained.

[Explode]

It was usually ideal for the intended effect of arrays to match the materials. As someone who had always incorporated explosives in his combat style, this was naturally the first thing that came to mind when he thought about the fire ruby fragments.

Zhao Yunxiao raised the inscription knife, and pressed it against one of the five surfaces of the pentagon-shaped joint.

He no longer showed any hesitation from that point.

His hand moved quickly, using the inscription knife to carve into the flat surface like a hot knife through butter.

A thin and shallow trace appeared wherever the knife passed, emitting bright red light from within as though the fire ruby essence had been transferred into the halberd itself.

At the same time, a trail of red energy continued to link the inscription knife to the bowl of fire ruby fragments, providing the material and energy required for the continued creation of the inscription.

The actual inscription process was completed extremely quickly, especially when compared to the entire forging process.

However, the rate of energy consumption was incomparable.

Every stroke of the character threatened to drain a huge portion of Zhao Yunxiao's entire reserve of energy, as though the halberd was a hungry beast that had locked onto its next meal. Had he gotten carried away and lost control of his pacing, there was no doubt that his dantian would have been emptied in an instant.

That would force the inscription process to come to an abrupt end, resulting in failure and the wastage of all the materials that had been used thus far.

But how could Zhao Yunxiao ever make such an amateurish mistake?

Waiting at the end was a muted success that came shrouded in silence, but a success nevertheless.

Despite his pale face that had resulted from expending almost every last bit of his energy, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but smile while letting out a sigh of relief.

This was his first time completing a practical ancient array node using archaic characters!

He looked at the bowl of fire ruby fragments. At this point, most of the fragments had been reduced to grey powder after being completely drained of their essence, with only a couple of smaller fragments remaining.

Considering the meagre amount, it would be difficult even if he wanted to sell them at the Sect Market.

Zhao Yunxiao did not immediately jump into processing the water sapphire.

He knew that his current condition was not the best right now, and forcing himself to do that in this state was just inviting trouble for himself.

Therefore, Zhao Yunxiao sat cross legged while holding a spirit stone, entering a state of light meditation to recover his essence energy.

In fact, he could always return another day to perform the second inscription. However, Zhao Yunxiao had a good feeling about himself today, and did not want to risk losing this state of mind.

If possible, he definitely wanted to complete the entire process without disruptions. That was why he was even willing to use spirit stones and recovery pills to hasten his recovery on the spot!

Having steeled his resolve to make such investments, it did not take long before he recovered.

Once again, Zhao Yunxiao held up his inscription knife with a bowl in his other hand. Only that this time, the bowl contained the water sapphire instead of the fire ruby fragments.

In his head, the wall of archaic characters appeared yet again before quickly reducing down to a single word, though it was a different one from earlier.

[Disperse]

The dampening effect unique to the free-flowing water element was something that could greatly reduce any oncoming attacks. As a person who had been wondering how to drag out a fight by increasing his ability to take hits, this was something that immediately came to mind.

Zhao Yunxiao did not hesitate to repeat the process, drawing upon the essence of the water sapphire to power his inscription knife, carefully carving the ancient character onto another surface of the pentagon-shaped joint.

He already had enough practice, so the one practical experience with the fire ruby fragments was more than enough to give him all the confidence he needed. Zhao Yunxiao was now more than ready for the intense rate of energy expenditure during this process.

He paced himself perfectly, calmly adjusting the speed of inscription according to the rate of energy expenditure.

Not too fast, and not too slow either.

He steadily traced the strokes of the ancient character, forming lines of shimmering blue light on the surface of the pentagon-shaped joint.

And the result served to reward his patience.

It was yet another muted success, but Zhao Yunxiao actually preferred it that way.

Rather than the explosive shockwave that came along with the completion of the Grand Annihilator, at least he did not have to suffer any injuries this way.

Then again, perhaps suffering a few light injuries would have been worth it if it meant receiving a mythical quality treasure...

Nevertheless, Zhao Yunxiao was satisfied with what he had.

Slowly trailing his fingers along the entire length of the completed halberd, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but grin in satisfaction as he recalled the name that Lou Yuan had given to it in the blueprint.

This would be his main weapon from today onwards – the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd.