BXBX NOVEL Chapter 151: Refining Artifacts (8)
On receiving the spear from Miao Yi, he invoked his arts, causing the spear to float before him. He then pointed at it and asked, “Take a close look once again from the tail end to the spear tip. What does it look like?”
There was no need for him to look carefully again as Miao Yi had already examined it many times beforehand. Looking at it from the dragon head at the base of the spear upwards, the fish scale pattern was indeed not reversed.
The base was the dragon head and the fish scales resembled dragon scales, whilst the spear tip was akin to a sweeping dragon tail. When the spear struck out, it was similar to a divine dragon lashing out with its tail.
The entire spear resembled an exquisitely carved divine dragon, beautiful and dominating.
His face still taut, Miao Yi said, “Is it just for the sake of making it look like a dragon? Having the inverted scales was all for the sake making it look good?”
“Yo! You’re still not satisfied?” Yao Ruoxian sneered with a face filled with ridicule. He casually grabbed the levitating spear and thrust it at Miao Yi head-on.
Miao Yi was shocked, thinking that the other party wanted to deliver a murderous blow, but it didn’t seem like he any intention of killing him. The speed at which the spear struck out didn’t look like it was intended to take his life, completely allowing him room to recover as he moved back to dodge the attack.
But what amazed him was when he faced it up front, only then did he realize that the sounds of three dragon roars were actually coming from three different directions. If he hadn’t paid close attention to it, he would have been mislead and wouldn’t have known from which direction the spear was being thrusted.
Brandishing the spear as he directed it at him, Yao Ruoxian asked, “Do you now understand what the advantage is?”
Miao Yi’s eyes were already gleaming when he replied, “I can mislead and confuse the opponent?”
“The three dragon roars are transmitted precisely via the triple-edged blades through the inverse scales on this spear when it pierces through the wind. The ability to mislead and confuse the enemy is just one of its features.” Yao Ruoxian gently caressed the fish scales on the spear as he explained. “When fighting against your opponent, the distributed structure of the layer upon layer of inversed scales can weaken the transmission of power and reduce the strength of the force transmitted. From spear tip to spear end, it’s possible that it can defuse half of the force. Of course when you use the spear, it’s impossible for you to always clutch onto the end of the spear to face the opponent. Still, when the enemy’s full force is being brought to bear upon you, defusing twenty percent of it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. ”
Miao Yi cried out in surprise. “It can defuse twenty percent of the force?”
Yao Ruoxian narrowed his eyes and said, “Why? Still think it’s not enough? When facing the opponent in battle, it can reduced the opponent’s strength by twenty percent. Don’t tell me you still don’t know what this means?”
“No! No! No!” Miao Yi’s eyes were almost green with anticipation.
Yao Ruoxian snorted. “There is still one more advantage. Upon receiving the force, the inverse scales can defuse it. That means when the scales release the force, it possesses a different kind of tension. Once that force rushes to the spear tip, it will diffuse explosively. Should the opponent be struck by the spear, even if he didn’t die, superficial injuries can end up becoming severe!”
Overjoyed, Miao Yi nodded repeatedly. He had already experienced it when he was trying out the spear on the reefs. There was definitely an explosive power released from the spear tip, granting a large boost to his formidable power. It was just that he didn’t understand what was going on before, but now he understood.
“This spear in hand has the effect of confusing the enemy’s hearings, has explosive power to add to the might, and has the ability to defuse force to reinforce defences. With these three effects merged into one entity, the entire cultivation world will not be able to find another transcendent artifact with such mystical effects. Yet a little rascal like you would resent me for refining it into ‘trash’?”
“It’s my fault! It’s my fault! Senior is the bigger person so please don’t bother arguing with the likes of me.”
“But back to the topic. This spear is not very useful when facing foes with strength and transcendent artifacts that outclass you. But for you, a cultivator that can only traverse freely on land and simply fight there, it still has some good use.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Miao Yi’s face was too overwhelmed with joy. He cupped his hands and said, “Junior is the one who’s blind as a bat, unaware of Senior’s painstaking effort in refining the inverse scales.”
Abruptly, Yao Ruoxian began exclaiming with pride, “Don’t underestimate the inversed scales. It can’t be copied by simply anyone. Not to mention, the process of refining it focuses on carefully grasping the minute differences in the dimensions of the spear. If the distribution of the inverse scales on the spear is even slightly out of alignment or if there’s even the slightest deviation, then it will not be able to achieve the effects of being able to confuse hearing, have explosive power and defuse force. These techniques are thus, my self-discovered refining methods. In the entire world, there is no one who knows how to do this apart from me. Brat, consider yourself lucky to run into me!”
With a cold scoff, he casually threw the spear back.
“Yes, yes, yes...” Taking the spear, Miao Yi was gleeful to the point that he was grinning from ear to ear, and immediately showered him with flattery.
Miao Yi could then be seen flinging about and handling the treasured spear in his hand admiringly. He didn’t feel like the inverse scales were an eyesore anymore. On the contrary, he saw them as obtaining a most precious asset.
“Huh...” While flinging it around and taking a closer look, Miao Yi suddenly let out an odd cry. He discovered that on the dragon head at the end of the spear, there were two small inconspicuous characters.
The words were hidden inside the opening. If he hadn’t examined it closely by chance, it would have been difficult for him to notice it.
After a careful inspection, he was surprised to find that it read ‘Zi Yang’. Miao Yi was unable to stop himself from raising his head to ask, “Is Zi Yang a name that Senior Yao has given to this spear?”
‘Cough! Cough!’ Yao Ruoxian clenched his fist as he coughed dryly, thinking that the two words concealed in such a hidden place had already been discovered by this brat. It seemed like this kid had the potential to be a thief.
He shook his head in denial and said, “It should have been formed unintentionally during the production process. This spear has yet to have a name. If you want a name, then come up with one yourself.”
“Name...” With a gleeful expression that was difficult to erase, Miao Yi scrutinized the spear he wielded for a while, before suddenly sweeping it across, and saying with force and substance, “Then it should be called ‘Inversed-Scales’! Dragons have an inverse scale. Those who touch it will be faced with death[1]!”
Yao Ruoxian was slightly awestruck by his inspiring words, realizing that this rascal had a bit of a dominating air about him.
Who would have expected that once Miao Yi turned around, his aura would weakened abruptly. Looking embarrassed, he meekly consulted, “Senior, Junior has never used a transcendent artifact before. Can you teach me how to handle it?”
“With your cultivation level, forcibly handling it will be a bit difficult. What’s more, if you’re forcibly handling it, once you face a foe who is stronger than you, it will be easy for them to seize your artifact. So the safest method will be to plant a strand of your art source in the artifact.”
“This... Junior has no knowledge on that. How do you do it?”
“You’re really clueless and yet you obtained so many treasures. Where’s the justice in that? Fuck!”
Yao Ruoxian cursed.
Drawing back his hand, he placed a Yao Core onto it. He pointed at the Yao Core and explained, “When it was alive, it had a body and could bleed. It also had its own sentience and was able to control itself. After it died, obviously when it was refined into a transcendent artifact, the spear you wield for instance has became its flesh, but it is still lacking its own sentience. No matter how good an artifact is, it is still a soulless dead object. The method to overcome this is to make your own mind a part of it by planting a strand of your art source into its body. That will then become its soul; both you and the artifact will share the same art source between each other. It will acknowledge you as the master, and accept your transcendence energy to control it. The moment you erase the art source within its body, it will immediately turn back into a dead object, an object without a master...”
After receiving this careful explanation, Miao Yi finally understood how it worked.
After imbuing a thread of his art source into the empty vessel of the Inversed-Scales Spear, Miao Yi bound it, and immediately sensed that the spear had awakened. It was instantly brimming with energy and completely linked their minds together.
Propping the spear upright, he moved his art with his mind. The Inversed-Scales Spear instantly exploded into a cloud of silver mist, transforming into the enormous figure of a rhinoceros.
Miao Yi quickly leaped out of the pit and made a grab at the heavens with one arm. The rhinoceros within the pit leaped out into the sky, instantly transforming into the Inversed-Scales Spear and falling into his grasp...
Footnotes:
According to myths, dragons have one scale growing in the opposite direction (reverse scale) at their throat. The dragons do not like people touching the scale and would harm anyone who dares to do so, so touching the reverse scale has become a figurative expression of ‘offending a man in power’.