Chapter 370

Chapter 370: Preparations to Leave the Island

Although Lou Yun had told Chang Xiang he would set out the next day, he did not actually leave. Because once he departed, he truly didn’t know when he might return. Furthermore, with the Nine Clans currently scheming to wipe out the Lou Family, there was no way he could depart with peace of mind without first making all necessary arrangements for the island.

First, Lou Yun worked with the Three Brothers of the Lu Family to thoroughly improve and enhance the Illusionary Sky Formation protecting the entire Divine Weapon Island. Even following his suggestion, they strived to extend the formation to cover an area of seawater. Though the area affected by the formation was small, it was sufficient to blockade any ambushers like Yu Ruoming who might try to infiltrate the island underwater but didn’t understand formation techniques!

This improvement task consumed a full three days, but the results left both Lou Yun and the Three Brothers of the Lu Family extremely satisfied. Not only did Lou Yun sense that the heaven and earth energy within the formation had increased in quantity, but its flow was also remarkably smooth, without the slightest hint of sluggishness. As for the Lu Brothers, they exclaimed repeatedly in astonishment, declaring it the most perfect formation they had ever constructed in their lives.

With protection from an Illusory Heaven Formation of this caliber, while one couldn’t claim the entire Divine Weapon Island was impregnable as a fortress, it was at the very least indestructible!

Second, Lou Yun instructed Mei Yuanmu to alter the patrol methods on the island. The number of patrols on the periphery could be reduced, because the Nine Clans wouldn’t dare openly attack Divine Weapon Island; they could only rely on amphibious pouches to lurk in the sea and seize opportunities to attack individuals caught alone. Therefore, the majority of patrol personnel were concentrated within the island itself, ensuring that at least one person with high spiritual perception was assigned to each patrol group.

If anyone still needed to leave the island, or vessels were coming and going for resupply, then a magical weapons master of the Heaven-level realm or even King Rank must be onboard.

Third, Lou Yun distributed the total of ten captured amphibious pouches to his comrades and taught them how to use them. During peaceful times, magical weapons masters who had reached the Earth level cultivation or above could practice reconnaissance in the seas surrounding Divine Weapon Island.

Finally, before his departure, Lou Yun also planned to forge a batch of common weapons to gift to those who still hadn’t begun cultivating their own magical weapons, such as Xia Zhilan, Tie Sha, Wen Hou, and others!

For this forging session, Lou Yun specifically invited his second brother, Beichen Ming, to assist. Other skilled weapon makers were also welcome to observe if they wished, because he hoped to use this opportunity to let his second brother sense the soul fire, thereby helping him discover his own soul.

This was not Lou Yun showing favoritism. It was because when a skilled weapon maker forges common weapons, they must form the heavenly and earthly marks before the weapon emerges from the furnace, thereby drawing heaven and earth energy to infuse the weapon and awaken its spirit. Consequently, skilled weapon makers must possess a much stronger perception of heaven and earth energy than others.

Lou Yun wanted them to enhance their comprehension of heaven and earth energy by observing his forging process. After all, the difference between cultivating using spiritual energy and cultivating using heaven and earth energy was immense, beyond measurement!

This time, the recipients Lou Yun intended to forge weapons for were individuals with exceptionally high cultivation. For example, Tie Sha and Wen Hou had cultivation levels at least at the Earth level. Thus, the grade of the common weapons forged for them needed to be at least Heavenly level.

True practice in both magical and ordinary skills required starting the common weapon cultivation from the lowest grade, then simultaneously raising both the common weapon realm and the magical weapon realm to achieve genuine advancement in one’s overall cultivation level.

However, if one wished to advance the realm of a common weapon through their own cultivation, the best method was to temper it with one’s soul fire. Without soul fire, one had to temper it using the flame generated by cultivating spiritual energy, which was much more troublesome. After all, besides the Nine Clans, practically no one on Spirit Weapon Star, not even Lou Yun himself, had truly tempered a common weapon. Experience and insights in this area were virtually zero. Therefore, achieving this required a long-term process and a qualified teacher.

A qualified teacher existed in Chang Xiang, but time was something Lou Yun currently lacked. He could only strive to forge common weapons for others that matched the grade of their existing magical weapon realm.

Forging Heavenly level common weapons naturally required good materials, spiritual crystals, and beast souls. With Beichen Ming present, these were not issues. The material reserves accumulated from his many years of forging were immensely rich. Even if he lacked something, the treasures left for Lou Yun by his master, Mr. Commoner, were not short on such items.

Since the Divine Weapon Alliance had been founded single-handedly by Beichen Ming, the Divine Weapon Island naturally had specially constructed forging rooms. The room was enormous, capable of accommodating nearly a thousand people without feeling crowded.

Upon hearing the news that Lou Yun would be forging weapons, almost half the island’s population surged into the forging room. Even Leng Cangqiong and Leng Qianrou came. The crowd raised their heads in anticipation, awaiting Lou Yun’s arrival.

Genuinely skilled weapon makers were few, however. Besides a group of men who always followed Beichen Ming, there was Lou Yun’s apprentice Lei Nu, and his good friend Xu Yangteng. Most of the others simply wanted to seize this chance to see Lou Yun’s prowess in forging!

When Lou Yun entered the forging room, he was visibly stunned. He clearly hadn’t expected so many people. But he quickly grasped their intent. Although a noisy crowd could potentially disturb the forging process, he couldn’t bring himself to shoo everyone away. He could only shake his head with a smile and nod to everyone by way of greeting.

With Lou Yun’s entry, the entire forging room became completely silent. Nearly five hundred people held their breath, focused intently.

Lou walked directly to the very center. Several men immediately followed, carrying piles of forging materials. They were sorted and laid out neatly on the floor for Lou Yun to select.

Beichen Ming, standing nearby, chuckled and said, "Third brother, I didn’t know what kind of common weapon you planned to forge, so I had them bring over as much material as they could."

"Second brother, you went to great trouble!" Lou Yun smiled at Beichen Ming.

"Enough with that!" Beichen Ming laughingly scolded, then lowered his voice. "If you feel there are too many people, I can make them leave so they don’t delay your forging."

"No need, it’s fine!"

"Alright, then pick the suitable materials!"

Although forging Heavenly level common weapons was Lou Yun’s first attempt, he was brimming with confidence.

His gaze swept over the piled materials on the floor. To his surprise, Lou Yun suddenly noticed that heaven and earth energy adhered to each of these materials!

This was something he had never noticed before. Of course, previously, he hadn’t been able to perceive heaven and earth energy!

While profoundly surprised at first, upon careful thought, Lou Yun understood. Materials for forging common weapons consisted of various minerals. The formation of these minerals required tens of thousands of years. Over such prolonged periods, it was only natural for them to absorb some heaven and earth energy.

The amount attached varied, however; it wasn’t identical for every mineral.

A thought struck Lou Yun. Power surged from his hand, and a mineral rich in heaven and earth energy flew directly into his grasp.

It was a ripple stone, commonly found beneath waterfalls. Formed by the ceaseless pounding of falling water over years, it developed special rippling patterns on its surface. Extremely hard and rare, it was an essential mineral for forging high-graded common weapons and was quite valuable.

Although there were three ripple stones here, this particular one bore the most heaven and earth energy. Lou Yun selected it because he wanted to know if materials containing more innate heaven and earth energy were more likely to produce higher-grade common weapons!

High-grade common weapons required more than a single material. Heavenly level weapons generally required the fusion of three materials: the main material and two auxiliary materials. Lou Yun similarly selected two auxiliaries possessing the highest concentrations of heaven and earth energy.

Next came selecting spiritual crystals and a beast soul!

In true practice of both magical and ordinary skills, the cultivated common weapon, tempered through one’s own effort, could possess abilities equivalent to those of a magical weapon at the corresponding grade.

For instance, a high-level common weapon, akin to a high-level magical weapon, could transform into defensive armor. A mystery rank common weapon, like a mystery rank magical weapon, could be ridden to fly.

However, forged common weapons weren’t cultivated step by step; they reached their grade directly. Therefore, an expert skilled weapon maker had to ensure the common weapons they forged possessed the special abilities inherent to magical weapons of the same grade.

The distinctive ability of a Heavenly level magical weapon was physical manifestation.

A magical weapon, being condensed spirit energy, was inherently illusory. While channeling spirit energy could make it incredibly hard, capable of cleaving mountains and shattering stone—even appearing physically solid—it ultimately remained illusory.

Only when the magical weapon reached the Heavenly level, gaining the ability of physical manifestation, could it condense into a true solid form. Then it possessed greater power and self-protection capability, becoming significantly less fragile.

For a forged common weapon, which was itself a physical object from the start, this special ability relative to a magical weapon became somewhat redundant. Lou Yun thought differently, however. He still intended to incorporate a Weapon Core into his forged Heavenly level common weapon, making the weapon incredibly tough—at least matching the hardness of a physically manifested Heavenly level magical weapon.

Prior to this, Lou Yun had consulted his second brother, Beichen Ming. Achieving this was actually not difficult; they needed to integrate specific five-element attributes into the Weapon Core. Among the five elements, gold possessed the greatest hardness, while earth offered the greatest sturdiness. Choosing either attribute would suffice.

Lou Yun had already decided that the first common weapon he forged would be given to Tie Sha. Remembering his nearly terrifying strength, Lou Yun selected a metal-attribute beast soul. After all, for someone like Tie Sha, attack was the best defense.