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The Heaven and Earth Furnace Method?
This was merely the foundation.
However, the process of nurturing a new essence required more than just the cooperation of heaven and earth's forces.
Zhen Hua had also mentioned that mastering the use of heaven and earth's forces was never the most critical aspect of forging a perfect alloy.
The true key lay in the concept of rebirth after destruction—the essence being obliterated and then reborn anew.
Without personally experiencing it or achieving this through their own forging, blacksmiths theoretically had no way of understanding it.
Even divine craftsmen needed to undergo true celestial forging before attempting to forge a perfect alloy from the fusion of two spirit-infused metals.
Allowing Xu Yuan to try was because he already had the necessary foundation.
Though he hadn't experienced celestial forging, he could maintain that faint trace of spirituality. Using his essence, energy, and spirit, he could influence and promote the birth of a new essence.
This was also an experiment and exploration for Zhen Hua.
On the surface, it appeared to be Xu Yuan's attempt, but in reality, Zhen Hua was also conducting a verification, searching for a new direction in the forging of perfect alloys.
Under Zhen Hua's guidance, Xu Yuan fully immersed himself in the pursuit of forging a perfect alloy.
His essence, energy, and spirit were adjusted to their peak. After one round of fusion forging, only a small portion of his strength was depleted, but to ensure optimal results for the next attempt, he still had to return to his peak state. Fortunately, with minimal depletion, his recovery speed was fast.
Roughly every three hours, Xu Yuan could attempt fusion forging twice.
By the end of each day, he was able to perform ten rounds of fusion forging.
In this manner, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
He hadn't succeeded in forging a perfect alloy, but he had managed to produce over thirty pieces of Jade Silver with a fusion rate of ninety-eight percent.
After a month of relentless attempts, Zhen Hua's guidance, along with the meticulously prepared materials, caused Xu Yuan's success rate in forging Jade Silver with a fusion rate of ninety-eight percent to leap significantly. Of course, this was achieved using the Heaven and Earth Furnace Method.
One in ten—ten percent success rate.
This progress gave Xu Yuan further ideas for upgrading his mech.
His mech still had room for improvement.
He could replace all parts with Jade Silver within the framework of a Yellow-grade mech, striving to incorporate as many godly alloys as possible.
However, although he had this idea, he had no intention of implementing it immediately.
Such replacements would come too late. It was better to wait until the next major upgrade of his mech.
Currently, Xu Yuan's mech was akin to a battle armor master's battle armor—it had begun to cultivate its initial spirituality. Disrupting its integrity at this stage was inappropriate. If he wanted to make changes, he could attempt spiritual grafting technology during the upgrade to a Purple-grade mech.
Moreover, constructing the entire mech solely out of Jade Silver would be overly simplistic. This approach inherently couldn't reach perfection. Pushing to the extreme on such a singular path would instead hinder the mech's performance. Therefore, if Xu Yuan wanted to replace all materials of his mech with godly alloys, he would need to master the forging techniques for multiple types of spirit-infused alloys suitable for his mech.
"Let's try one more time."
Zhen Hua woke Xu Yuan from his seated meditation, instructing him to begin another round of Jade Silver fusion forging.
Throughout this month of attempts, Zhen Hua had never doubted whether Xu Yuan could succeed.
It had only been a month—failing was perfectly normal.
Xu Yuan stood up, took a deep breath, and approached the forge table, dual hammers falling into his hands.
Boom!
With one hammer strike, first-grade thousand-forging was achieved.
Three more strikes, and an eight-foot-tall beam of light erupted skyward.
Increasing the intensity of the flame, the two pieces of first-grade thousand-forged metal melted, undergoing physical fusion.
Boom!
Another hammer blow landed, its force penetrating every aspect of the metals' internal structures, making microscopic adjustments to the arrangement of both metals.
Spirituality radiated brilliance.
Essence, energy, and spirit served as conduits.
Fuse!
Xu Yuan's eyes shone brightly—he had found the feeling. With one hammer strike, he ignited the spirituality of the two metals. Blow after blow fell heavily.
With essence, energy, and spirit as the foundation, the two streams of spirituality began to fuse based on Xu Yuan's essence, energy, and spirit.
After eighty-one consecutive hammer strikes, Xu Yuan finally stopped. The spirit-infused alloy before him could be considered successfully forged.
Jade Silver with a fusion rate of ninety-eight percent!
Of course, while it could be called complete, it couldn't be deemed a success.
There was still the potential for further advancement!
At this point, with a fusion rate of ninety-eight percent and having reached the pinnacle of spiritual fusion, the two metals were nearly indivisible. Destroying their essence at this stage would mean obliterating this rare godly alloy, which was priceless on the continent.
However, Xu Yuan didn't hesitate in the slightest.
With one hammer strike, he extinguished all traces of spirituality within the Jade Silver.
Like a soul-guided lamp losing its power source, it instantly went dark.
The once crystal-clear Jade Silver turned ashen and lifeless, resembling nothing more than a lump of iron.
The star-like shimmer that had previously danced across its surface vanished without a trace, completely fading away.
At this moment, the metal seemed utterly destroyed.
Xu Yuan unleashed his essence, energy, and spirit.
A faint glimmer of light flickered within the metal.
It was a trace of spirituality.
Xu Yuan smiled.
Success!
Finally, he had succeeded in destroying it.
Only now could it be said that Xu Yuan had successfully obliterated the essence of the spirit-infused alloy while preserving a faint trace of spirituality.
Next, on the basis of this faint trace of spirituality, he would induce the birth of a new essence unique to this spirit-infused alloy. At that point, it would become an entirely new variety of rare metal—an alloy born anew!
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
His essence, energy, and spirit had taken control of the surrounding space.
Within the dreamscape, all energy was sealed, and all other research activities were suspended. The entire space was brought under Xu Yuan's control, resonating with the external real-world space.
Combining the virtual and the real, employing the dual-realm Heaven and Earth Furnace Method.
Heaven and earth became the furnace; creation itself the work.
The forces of heaven and earth served as fuel, smelting the silent, seemingly lifeless spirit-infused alloy.
Inspiration struck Xu Yuan, and he summoned Jue.
"Jue!"
Xu Yuan and Jue had long shared a telepathic connection. As soon as Xu Yuan conceived the idea, Jue understood his intent.
An immense burst of vitality erupted.
Jue was unmistakably a spear, yet there was no trace of aggression. Instead, it exuded a profound sense of vitality?
Zhen Hua looked on in astonishment.
If he remembered correctly, wasn't the original body of this Five Elements Gun Spirit forged by him, Zhen Hua?
But why did it possess such a potent vitality?
The dense vitality infused into the spirit-infused alloy, combined with the Heaven and Earth Furnace Method, finally triggered a transformation within the alloy.
That faint trace of spirituality, rooted in Xu Yuan's essence, energy, and spirit, began to grow stronger.
At this moment, the entire spirit-infused alloy came alive, struggling to survive.
The brilliance of its spirituality grew brighter, even radiant.
Carefully wielding his dual hammers, Xu Yuan struck the dormant metal, embedding the spiritual brilliance into every corner of the metal, infusing vitality into the spirituality and channeling the forces of heaven and earth into the alloy.
When the brilliance of the spirituality reached its peak, it suddenly contracted inward, condensing.
The light receded, and the essence coalesced.
Perfect alloy—complete!
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