Jewel-Core Weapon

Elder Min taught me in detail how to create a jewel-core weapon through qi forging.

“If you are going to make a jewel-core weapon through qi forging, you will need the highest-grade tools. I will lend you my alchemy furnace and smithing tools.”

“Thank you.”

We decided to make the jewel-core weapon in Elder Min’s workshop.

“First, you will make the jewel core. Try doing it exactly as I taught you.”

I first placed the Thunder Bear’s lightning horn inside Elder Min’s alchemy furnace and channeled qi into it. Incidentally, I had not yet received the alchemy furnace that was my reward for recovering the Vermilion Spirit Sword. Since Elder Min was going to make it, I expected to receive a high-grade alchemy furnace.

I concentrated my awareness on the alchemy furnace. Qi swirled inside it, raising the temperature. Once the interior of the furnace became extremely hot, the component within the lightning horn that converted qi into an electricity-like force called “lightning power” began to be drawn into the vortex of qi.

The parts from which that component had been extracted began crumbling like sand. That process continued for around two hours, and after the entire lightning horn lost its shape, a crystal the size of a single grain formed within the swirling qi.

The grain-like object began to grow. The functional component gathered around it, and it slowly developed into a jewel core. Its growth stopped once it reached roughly eight millimeters in diameter.

“Do not stop there. This is where the real challenge begins. Increase the pressure of the qi.”

Following Elder Min’s instructions, I raised the pressure of the qi inside the alchemy furnace. Then, after about thirty minutes had passed, all the qi inside the furnace was absorbed into the jewel core at once.

“Oh.”

I involuntarily cried out when I felt the sudden flow of qi.

“There, you succeeded. Let us inspect the inside.”

I opened the lid of the alchemy furnace and looked inside. A pearl-like jewel core that shone yellow lay at the bottom of the furnace. I picked it up between my fingers. It looked like a yellow pearl.

“Is this a jewel core?”

“Yes. It is a Lightning Topaz.”

The Lightning Topaz was apparently a type of jewel core that possessed the power to convert qi into lightning power. Embedding this jewel core into a weapon would turn it into a jewel-core weapon. Incidentally, in ordinary society, the term jewel simply referred to a gemstone. However, among Taoist practitioners, a jewel core did not refer to an ordinary gemstone, but to a pearl-like sphere possessing a special power, such as the Lightning Topaz.

Elder Min took the Lightning Topaz and inspected it.

“For something made through the qi-refinement method, this is quite well done.”

There were two methods of creating jewel cores: the qi-refinement method and the spiritual-refinement method. Apparently, the spiritual-refinement method, which used both spiritual power and qi, could produce higher-quality jewel cores than the qi-refinement method, which used only qi.

“Let us stop here for today.”

Elder Min said that. I was about to tell her that I could still continue, but at that moment, I noticed how tired I felt.

“Understood. Please guide me again tomorrow.”

When I left the workshop and began walking, my legs felt heavy, making me realize just how exhausted I was. Therefore, I went to bed early that day.

The next morning, I brought Dumin’s treasured sword to Elder Min’s workshop. Elder Min had already lit the smithing furnace and was waiting.

“Is that Dumin’s treasured sword?”

“Yes. I intend to reforge it into a weapon resembling a double-edged short sword.”

“Oh? Not a broadsword?”

“For this weapon, I will make it so that attaching a long shaft to the short sword turns it into a broadsword.”

I had made the Serpent-Goat Broadsword separable into two sections, but I intended to make this jewel-core weapon separable into three. Since the short-sword section and the shaft would each be divided, the weapon would consist of three assembled parts in total.

The short sword would have a broad base near the blade’s root and gradually narrow toward the tip. There should have been daggers shaped similarly in my previous life. The reason I made the base broad was because I needed to open a hole there to embed the jewel core, and the extra width would preserve the weapon’s strength.

I also planned to make the grip from Supreme Silver, hollow out its interior, and cut screw threads into the end so that a long black-steel shaft could be secured to it. Once everything was prepared, I placed the Supreme Silver treasured sword into the furnace and heated it. After it was sufficiently heated, I struck it with a Supreme Silver hammer while channeling qi into it. The hammer belonged to Elder Min.

Supreme Silver was a difficult metal to work with. I continued hammering while drenched in sweat, and it took around three days to shape it into the form I had envisioned. I embedded the Lightning Topaz into the hole at the base of the short sword’s blade and secured it with a fixture. That fixture also served as protective armor for the Lightning Topaz.

After checking the finished workmanship, I showed it to Elder Min.

“When a long shaft is attached to this, it looks more like a spear than a broadsword. Still, it is well made.”

The blade was around forty centimeters long, but because it was thick, it was also heavy. The reason I had made it usable as a short sword was that Youjun’s Spiritual Cherry-Orchid Sword was a sword art meant for short blades.

The first sword art I had learned, Meisen Swordsmanship, also used a compact one-handed sword, so the weapon should have been usable with that as well. I also made a dedicated long black-steel shaft and a new sheath, so the entire weapon took around twenty days to complete.

I decided to call the new jewel-core weapon the “Lightning Topaz Sword” when used as a short sword and the “Lightning Topaz Spear” when used as a long-shafted weapon. Naturally, I could also use the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique with the Lightning Topaz Spear.

To test its sharpness, I entered the mountain and searched for a suitable tree. I slashed the trunk of a tree roughly twenty centimeters in diameter with the Lightning Topaz Sword. The Supreme Silver blade sank approximately twelve centimeters into the trunk. A black-steel short sword would probably have been able to leave a cut only about two centimeters deep at best.

“Twelve centimeters without using qi. Now I understand why weapons made from Supreme Silver are called treasured swords or treasured spears.”

As another test, I used the principles of Coiling Slash to channel qi into the Lightning Topaz Sword and struck the tree trunk with it. This time, the trunk was completely severed. The upper half of the tree toppled to the ground. Something was strange. The qi had not flowed into the Lightning Topaz. Was it because I had used the principles of Coiling Slash?

When I examined the cut surface of the tree, there were no burn marks at all. This time, I consciously directed qi into the Lightning Topaz. A sharp crack sounded as sparks burst from the Lightning Topaz Sword. It was an electrical discharge.

I swung the Lightning Topaz Sword while continuously channeling qi into it. When the blade bit into the tree trunk, a great shower of sparks scattered from it. I instinctively leaped backward at once.

“Whew, that startled me.”

When I examined the wound left in the tree, the cut surface was scorched. It seemed the lightning power had flowed through the inside of the wood and left burn marks. I imagined what would happen if a yōma received that attack. Would even the Black Wind Tiger have its entire body temporarily paralyzed?