Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

”Shit!”

Alex stopped for a moment as he looked at the state of his tools. The hammer and anvil were both made from Starforged Tungsten as well, but never had they ever melted like this. The heat Alex was using was so high that his own Qi inside those two hadn’t been able to stop them from melting.

Alex panicked slightly, wondering what it was that he should do next. He didn’t have another spare, and even if he did, it wouldn’t be that useful anyway. It would most likely melt.

”Don’t stop!” the Artifact God said suddenly.

Before Alex could look at her, an anvil appeared next to him, made of a dense and cold metal that he could not recognize. Instantly, Alex switched the sword onto the new anvil.

”Here,” the Artifact God’s voice came again, and Alex sensed her throwing something at him.

A hammer.

He caught it midair and struck down on the sword.

The ringing returned, sonorous.

At the same time, Alex saw the hammer he held, made of a brilliant crystal that was considered one of the hardest materials in the entire world.

The Celestial Diamond.

This was the Artifact God’s Creation.

Alex let that thought disturb him for just a single moment before he struck the hammer back down, continuing with the forging.

The Artifact God stood to the side, doing her best to keep from reaching for her head. She could feel the heat on the sword from where she was, but more than that, she could feel it with every strike of her hammer, which was her Soul.

She had worked with heat that was stronger than this, but there was a difference to this heat that was beyond regular heat. Considering the yellow flames that Alex forced upon the sword, she could only believe that it was because of the Sunfire being used.

And if this truly was Sunfire, then that could only mean that this truly wasn’t regular heat.

This was Yang heat.

’No wonder it’s so much more potent, despite the temperature itself not being that high.’

Alex continued striking the sword at a continuous rate, slowly changing its shape. The amount of metal he had added onto the sword had long since mixed into it or evaporated away, so the only thing left now was to strike it until its shape changed and the current Qi lines inside the sword were completely gone.

Since he planned on using the same Qi lines, he could’ve kept them, but with what he was doing, the Qi lines were going to get messed with one way or another. So, the proper thing to do here was to destroy them all and remake them. Only that way could he be certain that the Qi lines were working.

Alex wasn’t sure how much longer this was going to take. As much as he wanted to complete it quickly, he was going to have to work for as long as he could. At the rate everything was going, he estimated it would take about half a day before he could place the Qi lines.

However, as time went on, that estimation began growing more and more. Within the next hour, the estimation grew to an entire day. And then, by the third hour, it grew to a week.

The amount of change Alex made with each strike of his hammer was becoming less and less. It was almost as if the sword was growing resistant to his strikes.

’No...’ Alex thought as the realization hit him like a hammer to his skull. ’The Reduction aura is gone.’

The Reduction aura of the Six-Star God Flesh Yielding Technique had vanished, making the sword practically impossible to work with.

”Shit!” he said out loud again, the only word he had said since the start.

The Artifact God could tell what the issue was as well. ”The sword is losing its aura, isn’t it?” she asked.

Alex nodded even as he continued striking with the hammer.

”Give me the bracer,” she said.

Alex looked up. ”Huh?”

”The bracer. Give it to me. I’ll add the aura back again,” she said quickly.

Alex looked down at the sword and shook his head. ”It took years to fully add that aura into the sword. The metal it’s formed from is no different from a Primordial’s flesh. Perhaps even more durable,” he said. ”And worse, because of its attribute, I fear it is directly absorbing the Reduction aura instead of taking it in as a property. And because I’m refining everything out of it, that aura is being stripped away as well.”

The Artifact God frowned upon hearing that. ”Then what do we do?” she asked.

Alex considered his options, but there was truly only one way out.

”Senior, can you use your heat as well?” Alex said. ”Melt it as best as you can.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. ”What about the aura it will take in?”

”We will worry about that later,” Alex said. ”First, let’s worry about making the actual sword.”

Shen Yaojia thought no more and walked next to Alex, using her own fire on the sword. Alex felt the temperature go up almost immediately, recognizing that her fire was not a regular fire either.

He hadn’t sensed it before, but there was far more aura of Heat within this fire than anything else. It was as if it was tailor-made to melt things.

That was going to be incredibly helpful.

Or so Alex thought.

But the longer he kept at it, the more he realized this wasn’t going to work. After all of the Reduction aura was gone, the sword was practically impossible to mold with his hammer strikes, to the point that he could not make any changes to it despite the Artifact God’s help.

”The sword is hotter than before, way hotter, but I do not think I can destroy the Qi lines inside the way it is,” Alex said through gritted teeth. ”I will need more help.”