Chapter 59: Magical Tools

  Sigh~

  Zhao Yang let out a light breath, and after activating the Spirit Gathering Array, the last bit of true energy in his body was almost depleted. However, looking at the Spirit Gathering Array in front of him that had already begun to continuously gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, he nodded his head in satisfaction.

  When the Spirit Gathering Formation is activated, the thirty-six jade plates that serve as the foundation of the formation are firmly fixed to the ground. Unless a great deal of brute force is used to forcibly remove them, those jade plates will not be easily moved by just a few knocks.

  A mat was brought and placed on the ground inside the array, Zhao Yang immediately stepped into it, sat down cross-legged on the mat, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate the "Hunyuan Wuxing Xuanjing".

  The Spirit Gathering Array had just been activated, and the effect was not yet very obvious. However, after Zhao Yang started to operate the "Hunyuan Five Elements Mysterious Classics" qigong method, he still clearly felt that the heavenly spiritual energy pouring into his body from all around him was much more intense than during his usual cultivation. The continuous influx of heavenly spiritual energy into Zhao Yang's body allowed his depleted true energy to rapidly recover.

  Time unknowingly slipped away, and the effect of the Spirit Gathering Array gradually became more pronounced. Zhao Yang's body was already enveloped in a thick layer of heavenly spiritual energy, and with each breath he took, a vast amount of spiritual energy surged into his body. On the surface of his body, a faint five-colored glow even began to appear, which was the manifestation of the colors of the Five Elements' spiritual energies.

  It wasn't until late at night around one o'clock that Zhao Yang naturally stopped practicing. The true energy in his body had long since recovered to its peak state.

  Slowly opening his eyes, Zhao Yang looked around and saw the faintly visible threads of spiritual energy of various colors lingering around the Spirit Gathering Array like thin smoke or mist, and he couldn't help but reveal a satisfied expression.

  The past two hours of cultivation have greatly increased Zhao Yang's true energy. With the help of the Spirit Gathering Array, the effect of his cultivation has at least doubled or tripled! This is extremely important for Zhao Yang. The spiritual energy on Earth is thin, and without other means of assistance, it would be almost impossible to cultivate to the Tribulation stage. He can only rely on some external forces to assist in his practice. And this Spirit Gathering Array is one of them.

  However, the Spirit Gathering Array set up by Zhao Yang is only the lowest and most basic type of Spirit Gathering Array. It only requires thirty-six jade slips as the array base to be sufficient.

  "If only there was some heavenly material or treasure that could help my cultivation quickly reach the later stage of Qi Condensation. As long as I can condense and refine my true energy into True Essence, then I'll be able to set up an even higher-level 'Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array'. The effect of gathering spiritual energy will be more than ten times that of an ordinary spirit gathering array!"

  Zhao Yang muttered to himself. The 'Five Elements Gathering Spirit Array' he mentioned is considered a mid-level gathering spirit array, requiring cultivation to reach the later stage of condensing energy and possessing true yuan to activate it. Moreover, setting up the array requires 108 array bases, and an additional treasure is needed as the core array eye. This is also a significant difference between primary array methods and mid-level or higher array methods. Primary array methods mostly do not require an array eye as the core of the entire array method, while mid-level or higher array methods must have a core array eye to operate.

  Getting up and stepping out of the spiritual gathering array, Zhao Yang looked at the ground where the spiritual energy was still gathering from all directions. The spiritual gathering array, which emitted a faint glow in the darkness, involuntarily walked to the bedside and took out that piece of 'thousand-year-old wood heart' from the headboard cabinet.

  This piece of 'Thousand Year Wood Core' contains a vast amount of wood spiritual energy, if it is refined and used to assist in self-cultivation, it will certainly allow Zhao Yang's cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds, and even entering the later stage of Qi Condensation in a short period of time is not impossible.

  However, Zhao Yang did not plan to do so. At present, apart from his true energy, he was as poor as a church mouse. This piece of 'Thousand Year Wood Heart' could be refined into a magic weapon, its effect far surpassing the direct refinement of the spiritual energy within to increase his cultivation.

  As for equipment refinement, Zhao Yang can be considered a master-level figure. Among the various auxiliary methods of the Cultivators, what Zhao Yang is most skilled at is still equipment refinement and talismans, followed by array techniques and pill concoction.

  If the refining of the instrument is normal, it needs to be tempered with true fire, and then engraved with array methods or talismans in the instrument during the refining process. The more powerful and advanced the instrument is, the more complex and numerous the array methods and talismans engraved inside will be.

  However, not all materials can withstand the powerful arrays and talismans. If the engraved array or talisman exceeds the material's tolerance limit, it will directly cause the artifact to explode and become a pile of scrap.

  Holding that piece of 'Thousand Year Wood Heart', Zhao Yang sat back down onto the cushion in the Spirit Gathering Array.

  He is now at the initial stage of Qi Condensation, and his body has just condensed the true energy. He is still far from being able to ignite the True Fire in the 'Golden Elixir' stage. To refine a magic tool, he can only rely on water grinding work. First, use the true energy to comb the internal meridians of that piece of 'Thousand-Year Wood Heart', and then slowly engrave the array method or talisman in the 'Thousand-Year Wood Heart'. At the same time, borrow the spiritual energy gathered by the Spirit Gathering Array to nourish the 'Thousand-Year Wood Heart'.

  This is the usual method for cultivators below the Golden Core stage to refine their magical tools. Without true fire, they use true energy or true yuan to slowly carve the magical tool over a long period of time, gradually engraving the formation and talismans onto it, then find a place with dense spiritual energy, a 'spirit cave', to nurture the magical tool.

  Now Zhao Yang can't find any spiritual caves, so he can only rely on the Spiritual Gathering Array. Although the effect of this array is far inferior to that of the naturally formed spiritual caves, it's still better than nothing.

  Moreover, he was unable to ignite the true flame and did not have any other materials to refine into 'Thousand Year Wood Heart', so he could only refine the lowest grade of 'Mortal Grade' artifacts.

  At Zhao Yang's current level of cultivation, he can only freely manipulate 'ordinary' artifacts. If he were to switch to a higher-level 'treasured artifact' or even a spiritual artifact, Zhao Yang would be unable to manipulate it. Firstly, his ability is insufficient, and secondly, he doesn't have enough true energy. It's worth noting that the higher the level of the artifact, the more energy it consumes when activated.

  With just the bit of true energy Zhao Yang had after breaking through the Condensation Period, he might not even last three breaths before exhausting himself. Not to mention a spiritual artifact.

  The piece of 'thousand-year-old wood heart' in Zhao Yang's hand was only as thick as a baby's arm, about one foot long, just enough to refine a small and exquisite wooden sword.

  Sitting cross-legged in the Spirit Gathering Array, Zhao Yang took a deep breath and adjusted his state before starting to urge the true energy into the piece of 'Thousand Year Wood Heart' in his hand, beginning the first step of combing through the meridians within the 'Thousand Year Wood Heart'.

  This process is roughly the same as when Zhao Yang combed through the internal veins of those jade stones before. However, as a 'heavenly material and earthly treasure', the internal veins of this thousand-year-old wood heart are far more complicated than ordinary jade, and it's not something that can be completed overnight.

  Fortunately, Zhao Yang is not in a hurry to refine this artifact now. Refining it slowly every day, spending some effort, can eventually be refined.