I'm determined to become an immortal!

He Sheng sat cross-legged beside the spiritual spring, a sheet of golden paper spread out in front of him, on which was a weapon-refining diagram drawn with his magical power.

It was the crafting diagram of the mid-grade magic weapon, the Bright Water Spirit Pearl, that he copied from the "Secret Manual of Refining Weapons in Tianyue Mountain".

"This is a mid-grade auxiliary magic artifact. It has the effects of calming the mind and resisting external evils. The crafting process is clear and simple, and the incantations involved are not complicated. It is just right for me to practice with."

In the art of weapon crafting, the properties of materials are paramount. Skilled weapon crafters are all well-versed in the properties of materials and can combine spiritual materials to craft weapons on their own.

Since He Sheng is just starting out, he naturally chose the easier option of following the instructions in the diagrams and crafting the weapon according to the diagrams.

However, he still carefully considered the combination of physical properties of the Bright Water Spirit Pearl before refining it.

"The main material of this Ming Shui Spirit Pearl is the Jiao Tu Spirit Pearl, which is named for its tranquil nature and ability to embrace all things."

As for the auxiliary materials, they are mostly spiritual materials that combine the properties of water, earth, and wood, used to stabilize the structure and nourish its spirituality.

After some deliberation, He Sheng did not choose those complicated auxiliary materials, but instead selected the three most readily available materials according to the most basic scheme of the diagram: bone glue, jade paste and water essence.

He first prepared the three auxiliary ingredients, and after they were cooked, he took out the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl, which was the size of a walnut and covered with natural water patterns.

"rise!"

He Sheng threw the Jiao Tu Spirit Pearl into the Spirit Spring, and then cast a spell, causing ripples to spread across the surface of the Spirit Spring.

The spirit pearl spun steadily in the water, and impurities were gradually separated out with the ripples.

This is the first step in the water refining method: using the purity of water and applying a special spiritual technique to remove impurities and achieve purification.

However, this first step alone will take about ten days.

This is also the reason why the water refining method has always been criticized. It is too inefficient. After all, in ten days or so, the fire refining method could have already produced a complete mid-grade magic weapon.

However, the water refining method does not take much time.

During the 'purification' period, I only need to cast one incantation each morning, noon and evening, which takes less than an hour in total.

The rest of the time, I can do other things.

In other words, the process of refining weapons can be completely combined with other cultivation methods!

He Sheng's heart stirred, and he immediately began to circulate the "Clear Ripples Water Element Technique". With the blessing of the gentle ripples, he circulated the technique for several full cycles before reaching the next point of incorporating the spiritual technique.

"By refining with water while simultaneously practicing breathing exercises, am I essentially cultivating at a rate close to four times faster?!"

He Sheng was overjoyed. He hadn't expected water refining to have such benefits; it was practically cheating.

"However, we'll have to wait and see the final results of the cultivation to determine if it will turn out as expected."

More than ten days later,

The Jiaotu Spirit Pearl in the Spirit Spring has been completely renewed. Its originally dull and gray surface is now shining brightly with spiritual light, just like a pearl from the deep sea, with all impurities removed.

The first step is complete.

He Sheng opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them. He then took out bone glue and jade ointment, preparing to proceed to the next step: engraving forbidden patterns.

The art of forbidden runes is profound and extensive, divided into four main categories: spiritual forbidden runes, blood forbidden runes, void forbidden runes, and secret forbidden runes.

In ordinary weapon crafting, most only spiritual restrictions are used.

Most of the forbidden runes mentioned in "The Secret Manual of Refining Weapons at Tianyue Mountain" are only spiritual restrictions.

Only during the forging of the prototype of the natal magic weapon were a few blood restrictions and one air restriction involved.

As for the secrecy surrounding it, it was only mentioned briefly, with no further information provided.

There's no way to cut corners on this step of engraving the forbidden runes.

Engraving forbidden patterns requires a high level of spiritual awareness, as it requires completing the engraving of the entire artifact's forbidden patterns in one breath, a process known as "achieving divine connection in one breath"!

It is said that only in this way can the forbidden runes take effect and the magical artifact be refined to possess spirituality.

Therefore, even with a mid-grade magic artifact like the Bright Water Spirit Pearl, which only has twelve overlapping spiritual restriction structures, He Sheng still had to focus all his attention on it.

After all, if there is even the slightest mistake during the engraving of the forbidden patterns, the magical artifact will be rendered unusable.

"Let's begin."

He Sheng took a deep breath, and his late-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense surged out like a tide, instantly enveloping the suspended Jiao Tu Spirit Pearl.

However, he did not immediately begin engraving the forbidden runes. Instead, he visualized the subtle ripples and imbued them into his divine sense.

hum...

His divine sense instantly became incredibly refined, as if it had transformed into countless eyes, reflecting every inch of the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl with exquisite detail.

follow closely,

He Sheng used his divine sense as a weapon to replicate the forbidden patterns in the weapon-refining diagrams in a 1:1 ratio, leaving no detail overlooked.

This undoubtedly led to a significant increase in the consumption of spiritual energy, but for He Sheng, who was doing it for the first time, it ensured a high success rate.

Five days later, when the last forbidden rune was finished, He Sheng felt that nearly half of his divine sense had been consumed.

After all, in the past five days, he not only had to continuously inscribe the forbidden patterns with his divine sense, but also had to add bone glue and jade ointment from time to time to stabilize the structure of the forbidden patterns, which consumed a lot of energy.

"But at least it's done, and it looks pretty good."

He Sheng was quite satisfied.

The next step became easier.

He placed the spirit pearl, engraved with forbidden patterns, back into the spirit spring and, with the aid of special spiritual techniques, began to cultivate its spirituality.

This step can take anywhere from half a month to one or two months, depending entirely on the skill of the weapon refiner in inscribing the forbidden runes.

The forbidden pattern structure has a high degree of fit and excellent completion, and its spiritual energy is cultivated quickly;

Conversely, it will take longer.

Although it was He Sheng's first time trying it out, he managed to carve the forbidden patterns quite well by utilizing the subtle artistic conception.

In less than twenty days, the spirit pearl began to tremble slightly in the water, as if it were breathing.

During this period, he continued to use the spiritual incantation every morning and evening, and devoted the rest of his time to cultivating the "Qinglan Water Element Technique".

"Although the process of water refining is complicated and inefficient, it allows for a lot of independent time."

If the final determined training time reaches the expected level, that will be incredibly satisfying.

After the spirit pearl developed its spiritual nature, the refining process had reached its final stage.

Combine and cast!

This step requires continuous input of mana to shape the water using its power, and the addition of a final auxiliary material, Water Essence, to help set the shape.

Since the shape is sculpted using the power of flowing water, why not also utilize the imagery of gentle ripples?

A sudden inspiration struck He Sheng. He used the Mind Ripple technique to enhance his magic power, and unexpectedly, this action gave him a feeling of reversing the flow of "Gathering Water to Break".

He felt countless tiny water droplets springing up from the spiritual spring, continuously impacting the object and causing it to quickly take the shape he desired.

The shaping process, which would normally take three to five days, was completed in just one day thanks to this high-precision water-jet polishing.

A spiritual pearl, the size of a longan, entirely azure blue, with what appeared to be flowing water inside, floated quietly in He Sheng's palm.

"It's done!"

He Sheng looked at the finished product in his hand and was very satisfied.

After calculating the time again, it was found that this weapon forging process took a total of thirty-six days.

Keep in mind that this is only a mid-grade magic weapon. If it were a fire-refining weapon refiner like Wu Feng, he could refine a mid-grade magic weapon in about ten days.

"Water refining is indeed a slow process, but its advantage lies in the ability to refine weapons and cultivate simultaneously, making the combined time efficiency unpredictable."

With this thought in mind, He Sheng looked expectantly at the water clock in his palm.

After thirty-seven days, the water droplets from the "Qinglan Water Element Technique" showed that the cultivation time had increased by twenty-nine days.

"Regarding the progress of cultivating the 'Clear Wave Water Element Technique' alone, the time-to-resume ratio has reached around 1.6, while the progress in weapon crafting is less than satisfactory."

[Tier 1 High-Grade Refiner: 31/3000]

(Total cultivation time: six years, ten months and five days)

The weapon refiner's proficiency increased by 30 points, but the total training time only increased by twenty-three days.

"Based on 23 days, the time rate is only about 1.2."

Therefore, the overall cultivation efficiency over the past thirty-seven days was only 2.8 times the time efficiency.

Although the cultivation efficiency was not as good as expected, it was still better than simply practicing the "Qinglan Water Element Technique".

The reason why the crafting time rate is relatively low is mainly because the crafted magical artifacts are of mid-grade quality.

He Sheng discovered that the improvement in weapon crafting proficiency was not given over time, but was given all at once the moment the weapon crafting was completed.

The settlement method is different from both the [law] and [technique].

"Once I have mastered the art of weapon crafting, I will naturally improve my crafting skills and begin to attempt to craft high-grade magical artifacts."

Besides this, the potential of water refining should not be limited to this...

A new idea flashed into He Sheng's mind.