Chapter 1919 - Solar Rune and Lunar Rune

Fear now flickered in every gaze that settled upon Liu Wuxie. Even the Divine Immortals seated among the spectators could no longer preserve their earlier composure.

Slaying a Profound Immortal was one matter, but killing an Origin Immortal was completely unfathomable. Everyone immediately began reevaluating Liu Wuxie and the danger he represented.

Throughout the region surrounding Eastern Emperor City, Origin Immortals unquestionably ranked among its first-rate experts. Many patriarchs from second-tier clans had only reached the Origin Immortal Realm themselves.

Liu Wuxie's response robbed Zhu Gaoyang of every word, while regret surged through him over his earlier recklessness. Given another chance, he would never have dared provoke Liu Wuxie and would have conducted the competition strictly according to its rules. But there was no turning back now. With nothing left to say, Zhu Gaoyang could only clench his teeth and follow his chosen path to its end.

Descending from the soul art arena, Liu Wuxie walked into the blacksmithing arena. The cauldrons and materials required by both participants had already been arranged.

Every gaze shifted toward Zhu Gaoyang. The competition had continued for several days, and he had spent that entire time provoking one conflict after another. Countless mentors had already died because he had continually stirred up trouble.

Now Zhu Gaoyang finally had to enter the arena himself, and everyone wanted to see whether he would reverse the collapsing situation.

"Mentor Zhu, you're the finest blacksmith in the Celestial Moon Dao Hall. Whether we can defeat him rests entirely on this match," Li Baoshu said respectfully. The spiritual array category was after the blacksmithing match, and Li Baoshu would compete in it personally.

If Zhu Gaoyang suffered defeat, Li Baoshu might become the next person to die at Liu Wuxie's hands. For that reason, he had placed every hope upon Zhu Gaoyang eliminating Liu Wuxie here.

Surrounded by praise and flattery, Zhu Gaoyang stepped into the blacksmithing arena. He and Liu Wuxie faced each other, while Gongye Zhang remained within fifty meters of Liu Wuxie to guard against another sneak attack from Zhu Gaoyang.

The other Divine Immortals and Origin Immortals also gathered closer, unwilling to miss any detail of the coming contest.

Every student trained by Liu Wuxie had demonstrated monstrous talent, but almost no one understood the depths of his personal attainment in blacksmithing.

"Begin," Qian Yao announced.

The instant Qian Yao gave the signal, Zhu Gaoyang shut out every distraction and threw one material after another into his cauldron.

Liu Wuxie remained unhurried and composed. He examined every material carefully for hidden problems before beginning. Then, he swept his finger and drew a meteorite from the ground, casting it into the cauldron.

His blacksmithing technique bore no resemblance to Zhang Dashan's. Liu Wuxie might have personally taught Zhang Dashan his forging method, but that particular technique did not suit Liu Wuxie himself.

Liu Wuxie unfurled his palm, and countless runes blossomed around him like flowers. Within an instant, an entire sea of blossoms surrounded him.

"What an exquisite Celestial Maiden Flowerfall Technique," the surrounding cultivators exclaimed, astonishment flooding their faces.

A single gesture from Liu Wuxie had already drawn countless cries of wonder from every direction.

By comparison, Zhu Gaoyang's side of the arena appeared bleak and deserted, with scarcely more than a handful of people still watching him forge.

The flowers surrounding Liu Wuxie drifted gracefully through the air before descending into his cauldron. Flames erupted the moment they entered, producing the dazzling spectacle of flaming trees and silver blossoms.

When Zhu Gaoyang witnessed the phenomenon surrounding Liu Wuxie, an immense weight of pressure immediately settled upon him.

Countless runes streamed in from the surroundings and wound themselves around Liu Wuxie. As more gathered near him, the number available around Zhu Gaoyang dwindled sharply, driving the latter to curse in growing frustration.

Liu Wuxie's hands moved without pause, inscribing one pattern after another. His method belonged to neither ancient nor modern blacksmithing. Every motion looked deceptively ordinary, yet unfathomable profundity lay concealed within each one.

"Why can't I make sense of anything he's doing?" the Kang Clan's patriarch asked, frowning deeply. Never in all his years had he witnessed a blacksmithing technique so exquisite.

"I can't understand it either," the Yue Clan's patriarch admitted with a rueful smile.

Eastern Emperor City occupied a remote corner of the celestial realm, so its inhabitants naturally failed to recognize Liu Wuxie's method. He was displaying the Azure Filament Tempering Art, a technique he had personally created and had never revealed before today.

Every rune took the shape of a delicate silk filament, winding around the meteorite and weaving through the flames as it slowly stripped away the impurities trapped within.

"Liu Wuxie's blacksmithing technique has already eclipsed Zhu Gaoyang's. His name is destined to enter history. Since ancient times, every person capable of creating an original blacksmithing technique has been a monstrous prodigy," spectators said.

As long as Liu Wuxie avoided an early death, everyone understood that his name would eventually resound across the entire world.

The many blacksmiths in attendance began dissecting Liu Wuxie's method. The farther his forging advanced, however, the more clearly they understood that the Azure Filament Tempering Art possessed intricacy and profundity far beyond their initial estimates.

"Brilliant! This is utterly brilliant! Liu Wuxie has merged the runes directly with the flames. That not only reduces the purification time, but also removes impurities more completely while saving an enormous amount of immortal energy," a grandmaster blacksmith praised, wholly captivated by the technique before him.

Blacksmithing techniques had existed in countless forms and could never be restricted to a single style. Many blacksmiths developed methods unique to themselves, but no one present had ever seen anything resembling Liu Wuxie's technique.

At first, the crowd merely regarded Liu Wuxie's method as something novel. As time passed, however, he finished purifying every meteorite, and only then did they realize that his purification speed had become twice as fast as Zhu Gaoyang's.

"What unbelievable speed!" people exclaimed.

Those who had initially harbored jealousy could no longer summon the slightest trace of envy. Boundless shock and admiration had replaced every other emotion in their hearts.

Standing nearby, Li Baoshu quietly slipped a silver needle between his fingers and fired it toward Liu Wuxie. Even if he had to resort to sabotage, he knew he could not allow Liu Wuxie to continue.

The silver needle tore through space and materialized before Liu Wuxie in an instant.

Liu Wuxie had just completed the purification process and had reached a critical stage where he could not allow even the smallest error. Forging permitted only one attempt, and failure would cost him the entire match.

Everyone's gaze remained fixed on Liu Wuxie. No one suspected that someone would dare launch a sneak attack at such a crucial moment.

When the silver needle entered within ten meters of Liu Wuxie, a rune suddenly flared to life and struck it aside, scattering sparks through the air.

Gongye Zhang had erected a barrier around Liu Wuxie long ago, specifically to prevent anyone from ambushing him again.

"You're courting death," Gongye Zhang thundered as he charged toward Li Baoshu and brought his palm crashing down.

"His life belongs to me. I'll tear his head from his shoulders myself in the next match," Liu Wuxie said, razor-sharp murderous intent flashing through his eyes.

Gongye Zhang could only stop when he heard Liu Wuxie's words.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall had repeatedly violated the rules, provoking widespread resentment among the audience. Ridicule and contempt echoed from every direction, leaving its members deeply humiliated.

Liu Wuxie continued forging while the runes around him rearranged themselves into strange patterns. One moment, they resembled longswords; the next, they transformed into spears, blades, and shields. Their endless changes left the watching cultivators numb with astonishment.

"Liu Wuxie hasn't simply incorporated Myriad Currents Converge and Astral Reversal Tempering. He has fused ancient purification methods with modern blacksmithing techniques, gathering the strengths of countless arts into one. How could he possibly have achieved this?" the owner of the Skyhalberd Auction House asked, his face filled with admiration as he identified the techniques hidden within Liu Wuxie's blacksmithing art.

Liu Wuxie cast a glance toward the owner of the Skyhalberd Auction House. He had not expected anyone to recognize several long-lost blacksmithing techniques, immediately revealing that the man was no ordinary figure.

In all likelihood, the owner of the Skyhalberd Auction House was not from Fourfold City but had traveled there from one of the celestial realm's prosperous core regions.

Within those core regions, Divine Immortals were considered ordinary cultivators. In Eastern Emperor City, however, people revered them as supreme experts. Even so, many cultivators preferred traveling into remote territories where they could establish themselves as overlords.

The crude outline of a blade had already emerged. Rather than refining a longsword, Liu Wuxie had shaped the weapon after the Heretic Blade.

"What a strange-looking blade," many spectators murmured, frowning at its unusual shape.

The weapon Liu Wuxie forged possessed an exceedingly peculiar appearance. It resembled both a longsword and a short blade, yet somehow belonged entirely to neither.

Liu Wuxie beckoned with his right hand, drawing the blade from the arena and suspending it silently in midair. A wisp of demonic flame then appeared and slowly wrapped around the weapon, extracting every remaining impurity.

The moment the demonic flame appeared, nearby cultivators recoiled, unable to withstand its searing heat. "What kind of flame is that? How can its heat be so terrifying?!"

The demonic flame continued to spread, releasing an increasingly intense heatwave that left everyone nearby deeply uncomfortable.

Liu Wuxie began inscribing with both hands. Three artifact runes slowly manifested in the sky and arranged themselves into a peculiar formation.

"Impossible..." the surrounding cultivators murmured, staring in utter disbelief.

"Those are the Solar Rune, Lunar Rune, and Form Rune," Xiang Zicheng exclaimed in shock as fear gradually entered his eyes. He could not believe that Liu Wuxie had truly inscribed the three runes.

"Are my eyes deceiving me? Are those really the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune?!" astonished cries erupted from the crowd. Some cultivators became so convinced they were dreaming that they slapped themselves across the face to wake up.

By now, everyone from the Celestial Moon Dao Hall understood that Zhu Gaoyang had lost all hope of winning this category. Since they had no means left to sabotage Liu Wuxie, they could only watch helplessly as his forging continued.

Standing beside the Heavenly Divination Gate's sect master, Elder Meng stroked his beard as a broad smile spread across his face. "What magnificent runes! The Solar Rune carries extreme yang energy, while the Lunar Rune holds extreme yin energy. The Form Rune can stabilize the blade and refine its structure even further, allowing the weapon to harmonize more perfectly with heaven and earth," he said.

No one could adequately describe the emotions surging through them. Liu Wuxie had dealt a devastating blow to their confidence, leaving many to feel like worthless trash beside him.

"Could Wuxie really be planning to fuse the Solar Rune, Lunar Rune, and Form Rune into that blade?" Ye Guhai asked. His complicated relationship with Liu Wuxie had kept him largely silent throughout the competition.

"That's probably his intention," the Mu Clan's patriarch replied with a nod.

Following the Wen Clan's destruction, the Mu Clan had taken the initiative to build an excellent relationship with the City Lord Mansion.

"That's nearly impossible. The Solar Rune and Lunar Rune naturally repel each other and can barely exist side by side. The slightest error will cause them to explode," many cultivators warned, shaking their heads.

Fusing only the Form Rune into the blade would already grant Liu Wuxie enough power to overwhelm Zhu Gaoyang. He had no reason to expose himself to the additional danger of incorporating the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune.

Liu Wuxie paid no attention to the surrounding discussion and continued guiding the three artifact runes slowly toward the blade.

The weapon suspended in the air immediately resisted their approach. At the same time, the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune began colliding with each other. A true collision between them could instantly flatten everything within a hundred meters.

Scores of cultivators ran far away to avoid getting trapped in the resulting explosion.

Concern even appeared on Gongye Zhang's face. He could not understand what Liu Wuxie hoped to accomplish. Victory already rested securely within his grasp, leaving no apparent reason to take such a dangerous gamble.