Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

Qi Changchun agreed to let Liu Xing watch from the sidelines, and Liu Xing was very happy. Without further ado, the two decided to start immediately.

"Friend Mei, please wait a moment. I'll go to the front hall to make some arrangements." Qi Changchun said as he walked towards the front hall.

A moment later, he walked back into the backyard, rubbing his hands in anticipation of his next move. With a wave of his hand, he lifted another barrier to prevent outside interference, and hung a wooden sign at the door reading, "Do Not Disturb While Refining." With everything ready, Qi Changchun sat down and began meditating, regulating his breathing to achieve optimal concentration. Seeing this, Liu Xing also sat down nearby, closing his eyes and practicing Qi Qi. An hour later, Qi Changchun opened his eyes, stood up, and walked toward the spider's corpse to prepare the materials. Liu Xing also woke up, watching Qi Changchun's every move.

Qi Changchun pulled out a machete and detached the spider's six legs, placing them alongside the two already broken ones. He then carefully removed the venom glands and two chelicerae from its head. These were highly toxic, and without an antidote, contact could be fatal. He then took out a jade bottle, pierced the spider's chest, and began to bleed it. The spider's blood, green and foul-smelling, filled the entire bottle. It was unknown what the spider's blood was used for.

Then, the silk glands and transmitters were carefully removed from the spider's abdomen and placed in a jade box. Spider silk begins as a liquid. Within a second, after being ejected from the transmitter, this viscous liquid undergoes a protein transformation. Upon leaving the spider's body, substances called spider silk proteins fold and intertwine, forming a highly organized structure without any external forces, thus forming spider silk.

The remaining flesh and internal organs were useless, so Qi Changchun cast a fire talisman, reducing them to ash. With a wave of his hand, he swept away the turbid air, and the fresh air finally made him feel much more comfortable.

Qi Changchun prepared to begin with the easy tasks before moving on to the more difficult ones. He dropped his two chelicerae into the refining furnace and began to channel the earth's fire, slowly melting them into a liquid. This step consumed the better part of the day, requiring the use of spiritual consciousness to control the flames and remove impurities and bubbles from the solution. While the principle appeared simple, the execution proved to be challenging. Controlling temperature, speed, and angle required meticulous practice, requiring long hours of practice and experimentation to achieve perfect mastery. This step, in essence, involved the purification of the materials, something Liu Xing had seen in books about the market. Qi Changchun's technique was incredibly deft, wasting not a single ounce of spiritual energy or the essence of the materials, demonstrating the painstaking effort required to achieve such mastery.

After the chelicerae were completely purified, Qi Changchun added a black, unidentified mineral to the solution, stirring rapidly and gradually increasing the amount until the color turned dark brown. He then slowly shaped the solution into two conical containers, a step that solidified the shape. Liu Xing observed that the conical containers were pointed at the front, thick at the back, hollow at the center, and smooth on the outside, the size of a thumb. They looked remarkably beautiful and delicate, like two exquisite works of art. It was surprising to see that Qi Changchun, despite his rugged appearance, possessed such a strong artistic appreciation – truly, appearances are not to be judged.

"Fellow Daoist Qi, I wonder what the black powder just added is? What is its function?" Liu Xing couldn't help but ask.

"That is a commonly used auxiliary material called ethylene ink powder. It can enhance the conduction of spiritual power and at the same time make the main material brittle without affecting its hardness. It can detonate magic tools at the right time. It is often an indispensable auxiliary material when refining disposable magic tools." Qi Changchun did not hide his shortcomings and answered casually.

"Oh, I see." Liu Xing understood instantly.

Qi Changchun then carefully extracted the venom from the venom gland, divided it equally into two, and injected each into the conical magical instrument made from the claws. He then sealed the opening and polished it with a carving knife. He then placed the two poison claws into the refining furnace, simmering them gently over a low heat until the magical instruments became fully integrated, becoming increasingly round and translucent. This step, the assembly and spiritual fusion, required a great deal of control over temperature and spiritual power; if not handled correctly, the furnace would explode.

Finally, after an hour, the fusion was complete. Qi Changchun used pliers to remove the poison claw diamonds and quickly placed them in a nearby sink. An unknown liquid filled the water, but a puff of green smoke rose. With a "chi" sound, the final quenching step was complete. Qi Changchun produced a jade box, placed the two poison claw diamonds inside, and tossed it to Liu Xing. Liu Xing hurriedly caught it, opened it, and examined it closely. The two poison claw diamonds, glossy black, looked like two works of art. He took one out, held it in his hand, and slowly infused it with spiritual energy. He felt the poison claw diamonds' rapid activation and swift attack on the enemy, striking them with such unexpected force that even a veteran in the early stages of foundation building would be left with a broken skin. Satisfied, he put the poison claw diamonds away and continued to observe Qi Changchun's refinement.

From then on, the four steps of purification, shaping, spiritual fusion, and quenching completed the entire refining process. Liu Xing watched with great interest, benefiting greatly from it, and was eager to try it himself.

Qi Changchun closed his eyes and meditated again to recover his spiritual energy. Once he reached peak condition, he began to refine the Eight-Blade Disk. The first step was purification, which was nothing special. The purified liquid was reserved for later use. Then he took out a piece of unknown ore and refined it into a semi-arc-shaped magical instrument with eight grooves on the outer circle and a handle inside.

Next, he took out his array-setting equipment and set up a spirit-gathering array on the refining furnace. Because this was a complete set of magical instruments, it had to be controlled by the array to achieve the power of sending and receiving with the mind, and flying blades forming a formation. This required a high level of proficiency in the refining technique and a meticulous control of the forbidden array. Qi Changchun was confident in his proficiency, but he lacked confidence in the delicate control of the forbidden array, which was why he was not completely sure about refining a top-grade magical instrument.

Qi Changchun was so nervous at this point that sweat formed on the tip of his nose. He carefully controlled the spider leg solution, evenly dividing it into eight portions beneath the magic circle. These portions then condensed into flying blades, which tumbled and danced beneath the circle, chasing each other. Qi Changchun, exhausting his consciousness and spiritual power, exerted his utmost control, strengthening the connection between the flying blades and the arc box, and between the flying blades themselves. Only when their minds were connected, and spiritual energy could flow freely between them, would he be considered accomplished.

Liu Xing was also nervous; he could sense how difficult this step was. This phase lasted three hours. Qi Changchun tried countless times, but he could never achieve a level of unimpeded spiritual energy transmission. There was always a slight snag that prevented him from breaking through. Qi Changchun sensed that it wasn't a problem with the materials, but rather that his refining skills were still a tiny step short of the mark. A breakthrough would allow him to become a master refiner, refining supreme magical instruments, but this tiny gap kept him from breaking through.

"Oh no, we're going to fail!" Liu Xing sighed regretfully.