Battle Frenzy

Ever since they entered the equipment refinery room, Lavel hadn’t mentioned anything about Wang Zhong and Phumetheus’s upcoming match in the Life and Death Arena. However, as a young leader of the Fire Demon Race, it was impossible that she didn’t know about this matter. Senior Lavel was clearly on Wang Zhong’s side. She had worked overtime to ensure that the Soul Steel would be nurtured before the start of the life or death battle.

Senior Lavel wasn’t simply helping Wang Zhong nurture the Soul Steel and refine a level-4 equipment. It was also a test for Wang Zhong too. A level-4 equipment was way out of a Void Core’s league as they would not have enough power to control it. However, Wang Zhong was going to have a life or death battle with Phumetheus, which wasn’t something an ordinary Void Core could engage in either.

Brute force was needed to master a level-4 equipment. It was rather unreasonable to ask a Void Core to do this, but so what? It must be known that grasping the Soul Steel required strong willpower and depended on the strength of one’s soul.

According to what Lao Wang knew about Phumetheus, the latter’s strongest attack was the Soul Devouring Technique from the Fire Demon Race. It was a horrifying attack that targeted a soul’s strength and resolution! This piece of Soul Steel’s consciousness was just born. If Wang Zhong couldn’t gain control over the Soul Steel and get past this small obstacle, how could he go to the Life and Death Arena and face a more powerful and terrifying enemy?

Frankly speaking, Lavel didn’t have to do this. If her goal was just to refine the level-4 equipment and achieve an accomplishment, she didn’t need to risk it and let Wang Zhong challenge this task. After all, there was a high chance that he would fail at it. If he failed, all the effort that Lavel put into this piece of equipment would have gone down the drain. However, she let Wang Zhong try anyway. Although she looked aloof, she had a passionate heart.

Using brute force to master the spirit of a level-4 equipment was an impossible task for a Void Core. Even a Solid Core couldn’t do it! This was a personalized level-4 equipment they were talking about, which was considered to be the top tier in the Land. The equipment would only be useful if it could be used at full power and provide enough support. Sometimes, less was more.

Lavel seemed extra calm. As one of the top experts in the Heavenly Gates, there weren’t many things that could shock her. Wang Zhong had been performing well all this while. In her opinion, it was rare to find someone like him, even in a level-8 civilization.

Lao Wang quickly focused on his task at hand. His rapid breathing gradually slowed down. His gaze was filled with doubt at first, but it soon became focused and pure as he stopped doubting himself. He concentrated with his whole might.

Lao Wang took in a deep breath. He knew that this wasn’t the time to hide his true power. He had to know when to trust someone.

Pa!

A huge pair of wings made up of spiritual power suddenly materialized behind him. The entire equipment refinery room was filled with overwhelming spiritual power, but this was still not enough.

As he condensed his thoughts, a wave of dragon’s breath emerged from his soul, and Draconic Spiritual Power was integrated into his divine cells. The dragon’s breath was extracted, condensed, replicated, and then merged with his spiritual power.

Boom!

Although this merely unleashed 80% of the power of the dragon’s breath, this change broke the equilibrium. Rapid pressure enveloped the Soul Steel at once and instantly overpowered its resistance.

Spiritual power surged into the Soul Steel immediately. The surface of the Soul Steel was a silvery-white color initially, yet traces of golden light densely covered it now.

There was finally a change in Lavel’s expression. Frankly speaking, even if Wang Zhong succeeded in this task, she didn’t think that he stood a chance against Phumetheus at all. She had imagined various ways of how the process of mastering the equipment’s spirit would be like. She had visualized the suffering and persistence involved, and how Wang Zhong would use his resilience to fight it out with the Soul Steel’s consciousness. However, she never imagined that Wang Zhong would have the ability to forcefully conquer the Soul Steel in an instant. She had never seen a true form with wings, but she could sense the strong aura that it exuded. It was a high-level lifeform that even managed to instill a sense of awe in her!

Was this Wang Zhong’s trump card? Was this why he dared to engage in a life or death battle with Phumetheus?

If so, the life or death battle would probably not be as one-sided as everyone thought. Things were getting interesting.

Wang Zhong’s powerful attack seemed to have instantly destroyed the Soul Steel’s resistance. It was “stunned” upon impact, allowing Wang Zhong to imprint his spiritual power, aura, and even the mark of life onto the deepest part of the Soul Steel’s consciousness.

Hua…

After this process was complete, Lao Wang suddenly felt closer to this piece of Soul Steel that had its own consciousness. He could sense that the Soul Steel was trembling and showing respect to him, as well as being extremely curious about its “master”.

“Drip a drop of blood on it and repeat the process just now three times,” Lavel finally recovered from the shock and reminded Wang Zhong at the appropriate time.

Lao Wang hurriedly followed her instructions.

This process was similar to taming a beast with bait and a leather whip. Dripping blood was like dangling a piece of meat in front of a beast, while infusing spiritual power resembled that of a beast trainer using a whip to teach the beast to obey the rules. Lao Wang could sense that the resistance of the Soul Steel’s consciousness was gradually reduced as he repeated this process. The consciousness of the Soul Steel became docile and was slowly getting acquainted with Wang Zhong.

After repeating this process three times, the consciousness of the Soul Steel went through a qualitative change. Lavel immediately pushed the Soul Steel into the furnace, and the process of refining the sword equipment commenced.

This involved precise refining techniques, so Lao Wang could only observe from the side. Melting the Soul Steel in the furnace, then smelting, shaping, and forging it… Every step seemed simple but in fact, it required skill. Every movement that Lavel made with her tools demonstrated her extraordinary craftsmanship in refining techniques. The crisp sound of hammering reverberated across the equipment refinery room.

The spherical Soul Steel was gradually forged into the shape of a sword. With Wang Zhong’s blood and spiritual power infused into it, Lavel started to carve layers of runes onto the sword. The rune symbols blended into the sword, resembling the process of nailing a horseshoe. Other than possessing various auxiliary functions, the runes served to strengthen the sword too, both internally and externally.

The young and immature equipment spirit was undergoing a phase of rapid growth. Its appearance was becoming more and more like the blueprint design. The last step was to firmly attach a mulberry tree branch to the sword body as the hilt and to complete merging the hilt to the sword with a rune.

Buzz buzz buzz~

The sound of a sword happily buzzing could be heard. Wang Zhong could clearly see a dash of light coming from the sword and surging towards the sky. Dazzling light instantly filled the entire equipment refinery room, just like a golden sun. It was so radiant that everyone couldn’t help but close their eyes.

There was no need for the sword to recognize an owner or for it to be activated. This piece of custom-made private equipment was completely different from any equipment that Lao Wang had used before. The extra step of recognizing its owner was not needed as this sort of custom-made private equipment could only have one owner. If its owner died, the equipment would cease to exist anymore too.

Lao Wang was just casually holding the sword, yet he felt a connection to it, as if it was a part of its body. The sword technique “Man and Sword Become One” was a joke in this context. This sword was a custom-made equipment, and even idiots at using swords could automatically become one with this sword. It was natural without needing any practice.

Wang Zhong looked at the sword with a surprised and excited expression.

This sword weapon was supposed to be extremely heavy, yet he couldn’t feel any weight at all in his hand now. It wasn’t that the sword was so light that it lacked texture, but rather, it felt like an extension of his hand. It felt like a perfect fit. However, this was only a superficial observation, and its true power remained to be seen.

“Give your sword weapon a name.” Lavel looked extremely tired, but there was glorious joy in her expression too. Not only was she helping Wang Zhong by successfully refining this level-4 weapon, but this experience had greatly helped her too. She had been stuck at a bottleneck in her refining journey, but she managed to conquer it when the sword was completed just now. If she worked on it a little more, she could break through and become an Equipment Refinery Grandmaster soon!

Lao Wang was thrilled. Numerous names flashed by in his mind, but his gaze was still on the light radiating from the sword. He could sense the dragon aura hidden deep inside the sword.

“Hidden Dragon Sword,” Lao Wang blurted out while admiring the sword.

“Nice name.” Lavel smiled. “It’s simple and direct. I hope it can accompany you till the day you reach the peak.”

“Senior Lavel…” Lao Wang was rather touched. Lavel belonged to the Fire Demon Race and was the first one to get to know and help him, yet he entered the Celestial Honors Class with the help of the Heavenly Shell Race and took their side in the process. Frankly speaking, he owed Lavel one. His actions placed both of them on opposing sides. However, Lavel didn’t mind that at all and even chose to continue helping him, even if he was in conflict with the Fire Demon Race.

Evidently, Senior Lavel didn’t focus her vision on the power struggles between the Factions in the Land. Lao Wang wasn’t naive enough to think that an extraordinary figure like Lavel would stand against her own race for him without any principles being involved. However, even if she didn’t care much about the power struggle in the Land, it was undeniable that she chose a stand that was opposite from her own race. This was an extremely great favor to him, and it would be hard for him to return it.

Lavel could see the mixed feelings and gratitude in Wang Zhong’s eyes. She smiled. “You’re a sensible guy. I think you know that in the divine territory, there are no permanent friends or enemies.”

Based on the level and status that Lavel was at, her way of looking at problems was different, and she wouldn’t be easily influenced by others. Of course, her personality also made it such that she didn’t care what others thought at all and had no interest in debating with them.

“Of course, you have to survive the upcoming battle two days later. Phumetheus is hailed as the leader of the new generation of the Fire Demon Race. It would be a tad extreme to say that he is invincible among the Solid Core Realm, but he is definitely among the top tier. He is very experienced and definitely not like the weaklings from the Combat Cultivation Hall that you met before… I hope you can survive this battle. The Hidden Dragon Sword has just been born. If you die so soon, it would really have been a waste of my effort.”

“Senior Lavel”—Wang Zhong took in a deep breath and gave a deep bow—”thank you…”

Lavel waved her hand casually and didn’t continue the conversation. As Wang Zhong turned around, he could see the faint smile on Senior Lavel’s face.

Survive the battle… Even if she had witnessed for herself the process of how he conquered a level-4 equipment spirit, coupled with the knowledge of him possessing a level-4 sword weapon, Lavel’s verdict was merely hoping for Wang Zhong to survive in Phumetheus’s hands…

It would have been fine if it was someone else who said this. However, Lavel’s words held an important place in Lao Wang’s heart. Even though Lao Wang was very confident, he couldn’t help but feel stunned.

The outside world was madly gossiping about the probability of Wang Zhong surviving this life or death match. There was only one way he could survive, which was to drag the time out until Phumetheus was exhausted. If a Void Core could achieve that, it would definitely surpass everyone’s expectations of Wang Zhong. When it came to that, the Heavenly Shell Race and the Heavenly Gates cabinet would not just stand by. They might stop the battle or at least save Wang Zhong at the last moment before he died.

When Lavel said “survive the battle”, she was referring to the above situation.

In fact, she wasn’t the only one who thought so. Everyone in the Heavenly Gates, including various experts from the Heavenly Shell Race and Heavenly Gates cabinet, could only envision this as the only scenario in which Wang Zhong could survive.

The Hidden Dragon Sword was being kept in his fragment world. It floated in mid-air and seemed to be communicating with the Fate Stone. However, this was only a one-sided communication as the Fate Stone was not responsive at all. It was just the Hidden Dragon Sword’s wishful thinking of trying to get close to the Fate Stone.

The amazing thing was that the spiritual power in the fragment world had a nourishing effect on the Hidden Dragon Sword to some extent. It wasn’t a very drastic nourishing effect, to the extent that the sword would be upgraded by a level, but a continuous stream of spiritual power was being absorbed and stored by the Hidden Dragon Sword.

Wang Zhong could sense the joy of the Hidden Dragon Sword when it was absorbing the spiritual power, and his mood was uplifted instantly too. The feeling of becoming one with his sword was very unusual and unique, as if he could travel the world with confidence and not be afraid of anyone with it beside him.

The sun shone above him as he felt a warm breeze caress him. It was perpetually summer in the Creation Star Ring.

Just surviving the battle? Was Phumetheus that invincible? Everyone knew how strong Phumetheus was, yet no one knew his trump card.

It was going to be all or nothing.

Lao Wang raised his head, enjoying the sun and the wind. The pressure he felt previously disappeared the moment the sword was complete. He only felt pride and endless fighting spirit in his heart from the completion of the sword.

Bring it on!

He would do his best too. Until then, it remained to be seen whether this seemingly unconquerable opponent could stop him on his journey!

…

Two days passed quickly, and no one had come to disturb him in the mushroom house. Even Jhonas didn’t come back, as he had seemingly succumbed to the elders of the Illusion Race, maintaining a distance from Wang Zhong on the surface.

Lao Wang understood him. Jhonas was a very timid person to begin with. He was extremely scared of his father, just like a mouse was afraid of a cat. Not to mention that this was a formal order from his Faction, Jhonas would already be scared out of his wits if his old man glared at him in the slightest. For him to struggle over this matter for a few days and send over various information about Phumetheus, Lao Wang already found it quite unexpected.

Lao Wang had spent the two days cooped up in the mushroom house, immersing himself in the fragment world.

Sword One, Sword Two, Sword Three…

He had rehearsed the three sword techniques countless times in his mind. They were very different from the sword techniques that he had used in the Holy City and the Mizobudapi world. The difference in spiritual pressure and environmental conditions in the divine territory had increased the difficulty of executing these techniques. The power and overall effect of these techniques were also different. Of course, this was still just revision.

Other than ensuring that his Draconic Spiritual Power remained hidden, he familiarized himself with the control of the Hidden Dragon Sword.

He didn’t continue cultivating and even stopped practicing the Devouring Heaven Technique that he did on a daily basis. The accumulation of spiritual power over two days would not greatly increase his power in any way. He didn’t need more spiritual power, but he couldn’t afford to lose any either. What he needed was to maintain his current state and have a more thorough grasp of his own power.

His peak form would be when he was most familiar with his power. Last-minute efforts were of no use and were just fantasies that fools would come up with.

His physical body was casually seated on a bed in the mushroom house, while his consciousness was in the fragment world. He closed his eyes and meditated, suppressing the excitement and battle intent in the deepest part of his soul, waiting for the day when it could have an intense outburst.

Time continued to elapse…

His eyes that had been closed for two days suddenly snapped open at a specific time. However, it wasn’t a dazzling moment. There was just a quiet and profound look in his eyes as an expectant smile was hung on his lips.

It was time!

Lao Wang’s consciousness quietly exited the fragment world. In the next moment, his physical body that was sitting on the bed trembled slightly, before disappearing without a trace.

Gold Life and Death Arena, the Combat Cultivation Hall.

The prefix “Gold” represented the level of this Life and Death Arena. Life and Death Arenas were divided into many categories that determined the level of their protective barrier. For battles between Void Cores, low-level protective barriers were sufficient to isolate the battle attacks. However, in the case of battles between Solid Cores or Gold Cores, high-level protective barriers were required. Otherwise, the aftershocks of their attacks could easily affect the surroundings. Other than wrecking the environment of the Heavenly Gates, they would pose a danger to the spectators too.