Chapter 371

Chapter 371: No Need for Hand Seals

With all materials selected, it was time to officially begin forging the common weapon. While others couldn’t help but hold their breath, Lou Yun himself felt extremely relaxed.

Without any visible action from him, a massive, radiantly golden cauldron floated ethereally up from his body. It circled slowly in the air before settling gently on the ground.

A resonant "Hum!" echoed from within the cauldron. Though not piercingly loud, it penetrated deeply into the ears of everyone present.

This, naturally, was the Chaos Golden Cauldron!

Although Xiao Huo resided within the Chaos Golden Cauldron, along with that precious drop of Day Spirit Flower nectar Lou Yun had acquired from the heart of a volcano’s lava, the Chaos Golden Cauldron possessed its own internal space. It automatically segregated these two presences, ensuring the forging process wouldn’t disturb them in the slightest.

Of course, if Lou Yun wished to incinerate them, just a thought would make it happen!

Lou Yun deliberately controlled the size at which the Chaos Golden Cauldron manifested. Standing at around one meter tall, it emanated an ancient and profound aura evident to everyone present. No one dared to underestimate this Chaos Golden Cauldron.

Next, Lou Yun casually tossed the selected Water Grain Stone, the two auxiliary materials, the spiritual crystals, and the beast soul (the latter not for melting the Weapon Core but for enhancing the common weapon’s quality) into the golden cauldron. This action immediately drew hushed murmurs from the gathered skilled weapon makers. The placement of forging materials had strict rules and sequences. Lou Yun’s seemingly haphazard toss was unprecedented.

This skepticism stemmed solely from their ignorance of the Chaos Golden Cauldron’s benefits, rendering them unable to comprehend Lou Yun’s actions.

Since Lou Yun’s soul had manifested, an unprecedented synergy had formed between him and the Chaos Golden Cauldron. For minor tasks like this, he didn’t need to worry; the cauldron would effortlessly fulfill his will.

Following this, Lou Yun flicked a finger. A fireball shot towards the base of the Chaos Golden Cauldron. Instantly, the expressions of everyone present shifted simultaneously. The temperature within the vast forging room—capable of holding thousands—rose perceptibly in an instant. This demonstrated the fireball’s intense heat and its potent radiation, a sight even Beichen Ming found hard to believe. Lou Yun, however, paid no mind to their reactions. With the fireball deployed, he had formally commenced the weapon forging.

Yet, the moment Lou Yun launched the fireball, at least half of the nearly five hundred observers thought they glimpsed a menacing giant wolf displaying its fangs and claws within it. When they tried to scrutinize it, though, the fireball appeared perfectly ordinary, devoid of any wolf. They could only dismiss it as a trick of the eye.

In reality, their eyes hadn’t deceived them. If Lou Yun’s current fireball were merely ordinary, then every other fireball under heaven might as well not exist!

This fireball was condensed from three heavenly fires: Heavenly Fire Fusang, the Heavenly Fire Storm, and the Illusory Wolf Heavenly Fire!

Lou Yun could distinctly feel that the temperature of the flames he could produce now had reached an incredible height. This inevitably brought back memories of his participation in the forging conference.

A sixth-tier skilled weapon maker named Fan Ruobing had deliberately challenged Lou Yun, presenting a piece of Nine-section Stone, also called the Nine-temperature Assimilation Stone, a material that required simultaneous exposure to nine distinct temperatures to melt. Back then, expending all effort, Lou Yun had failed. Only because the Fusang Fire experienced a critical evolution did he finally succeed in melting the stone. Had he failed, he might never have become the leader of today’s Divine Weapon Alliance.

Now, if another Nine-section Stone appeared before him, Lou Yun had absolute confidence he could melt it instantly.

Remembering this incident brought a faint smile to Lou Yun’s face. Yet, it simultaneously reminded him of something else: the dark, stone-like object he had won from someone after triumphing in the forging conference’s contest. Chang Xiang had specifically requested it. But after winning it, Lou Yun had placed it in his ring and, until now, forgotten to ask exactly what it was.

As these past events flashed through Lou Yun’s mind, the combined temperature of the three heavenly fires successfully melted the three materials, the spiritual crystals, and the beast soul into liquid, rapidly fusing them into one. Acting autonomously, the Chaos Golden Cauldron then summoned a flow of natural spiritual energy to expel the impurities within the fused liquid. Lou Yun didn’t even need to intervene—another surprising discovery.

Tie Sha’s magical weapon was a two-meter-long greatsword, brimming with domineering aura. The common weapon being forged for him naturally needed to match its type and shape. So, for safety’s sake, Lou Yun didn’t let the Chaos Golden Cauldron handle this step. Instead, he himself, through the cauldron, transferred spiritual energy, shaping the common weapon.

After meticulous control, the common weapon gradually took form. Immediately, another flame burst from Lou Yun’s hand, instantly fusing the spiritual crystals and metal-attribute beast soul into a diamond-shaped Weapon Core.

He tossed the Weapon Core into the center of the formed common weapon, and the lid of the Chaos Golden Cauldron sealed shut!

Though Lou Yun himself felt the forging process had been a tad slow (mainly during the shaping phase), to the onlookers, it appeared lightning fast: Lou Yun had just thrown the materials into the cauldron, released a flame, shaped the item through the cauldron with a few gestures, thrown in the Weapon Core, and finally closed the lid.

This seamless series of motions—fluid, swift, and natural—likely took less time than it takes half an incense stick to burn. The observers exchanged bewildered glances. Was Lou Yun’s forging speed truly so astonishing?

Though filled with questions, no one dared to speak. Everyone knew that sealing the lid marked the crucial phase: the success or failure of the forging now hung entirely on this stage!

This stage tasked not only with solidifying the common weapon material fused from all components but, primarily, with opening its spiritual intelligence!

"Opening the spiritual intelligence"—even those unskilled in weapon forging recognized its paramount importance. Consequently, tension crystallized within the entire forging room. Aside from the crackling of the fire, no other sound could be heard.

Yet, compared to others, Lou Yun remained exceptionally composed. He even closed his eyes!

Others heard silence, but Lou Yun did not. With perfect clarity, he heard the faint contracting sounds as the common weapon gradually solidified within the Chaos Golden Cauldron.

These sounds, echoing back to him, painted a picture in his mind of the interior scene. Further, they heightened his perception of the potent natural spiritual energy saturating the forging room at this very moment.

When the common weapon within the Chaos Golden Cauldron finally hardened into solid form, Lou Yun remained with eyes closed. The fire extinguished itself automatically. He slowly extended a finger, lightly tracing a vertical line in the air, a gesture simple and natural, like writing a single stroke.

As his finger descended from height to rest at its lower point, profound expressions instantly washed over the faces of Beichen Ming, Leng Cangqiong, the Three Brothers of the Lu Family—anyone whose magical weapons had attained a significant realm. This was swiftly followed by shifts in expression from Lei Nu, Xu Yangteng, Dai Rong, and the other skilled weapon makers. Finally, massive changes swept across the faces of everyone present!

Every single person in that room—regardless of cultivation level, whether they forged weapons or not—felt it. The space became abruptly saturated with a tremendous force, a palpable energy. Following its emergence, an invisible pressure enveloped them all.

The spiritual energy within each person’s body instinctively surged against this pressure. Yet, no matter whose energy it was, it proved utterly helpless, unable to mount even the slightest resistance against this immense force. They could only stare, pinned beneath its weight, feeling utterly insignificant before it—like a leaf adrift in an ocean, a pebble beneath a towering mountain, an ant confronting an elephant. Worlds apart!

This suddenly present force was, naturally, the concentrated natural spiritual energy. It existed constantly within the room, but now, guided by Lou Yun, it rushed towards the Chaos Golden Cauldron. Its intense accumulation in one place in such a short time made its presence felt. However, most didn’t recognize it as natural spiritual energy.

Even the few skilled weapon makers who had previously sensed natural spiritual energy found it difficult to acknowledge this was the same force. The oppressive might emanating from it now surpassed any minuscule amount they’d ever felt by countless times!

Conversely, those like Leng Cangqiong who sensed it earliest vaguely guessed it must be the natural spiritual energy their Third Brother was manipulating.

Among them, Beichen Ming shared their sensation but also harbored disbelief. He knew well that the final stage of weapon forging, Opening the Spiritual Intelligence, absolutely required hand seals to guide the natural spiritual energy into the vessel. Lou Yun’s simple flick of his finger drawing a vertical line bore no resemblance to any known hand seal!

The current Lou Yun, however, had no need for temporary seals to manipulate the energy. His casual finger stroke actually used streams of natural spiritual energy emitted from his own body to guide vast amounts of surrounding energy into the common weapon!

Finally, the Chaos Golden Cauldron began to tremble. As the vibrations intensified, it slowly floated into the air. A clear, dragon-like cry resonated from it. Rotating slowly, the cauldron emanated light that grew from weak to intensely strong, yet it never felt harsh or dazzling within the soft radiance.

Within this gentle glow, the lid lifted automatically. A similarly glowing sphere of white light floated out of the cauldron. Enveloped within the luminous sphere was the newly forged common weapon.

Simultaneously, a barely audible sigh reached Lou Yun’s mind. It came from Chang Xiang: "Another one with a Weapon Contract!"