The Transmigrator’s Cultivation

Arc 14: Dayan Empire | Chapter 253: Rong Shuijing Crystal

Translator: Lynn

Sponsored chapter (7/8)

Xu Ziqing frowned upon hearing this. Although he knew Nan Zhengya was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, he was still concerned about the two people conspiring against him. He asked in a low voice, “Since Brother Nan Zhengya knows about this, shouldn’t you take precautions?”

Nan Zhengya’s tone was calm but menacing: “Those old fools don’t even know my true strength and yet dare to plot against me? How audacious!” His words were laced with murderous intent. “Don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Xu Ziqing’s heart trembled, and his initial worries dissipated. It seemed Nan Zhengya already had a plan to turn the tables. The traitorous patriarch, who was willing to betray his own disciple, was far from innocent. After a brief pause, Xu Ziqing pushed the matter out of his mind.

The barter meeting continued, and the initial transactions went smoothly. Everyone knew they had come well-prepared, and the atmosphere grew increasingly enthusiastic.

Soon, two or three more participants took the stage, showcasing items such as millennia-old chalcedony, rare abyssal flowers, sea ice crystals, lava flint, rare treasures condensed from the elements, moonlight essence gathered once every sixty years, and various rare elixirs capable of breaking through multiple realms.

After Xu Ziqing had observed enough, Nan Zhengya finally made his move. He wasn’t interested in the earlier items, but now he wanted to trade for a leaf brimming with lightning power, similar to the Tribulation-breaking Thunder Fruit but of lesser quality. Despite this, the sheer number of leaves, totaling a thousand, made it valuable enough.

As more participants came forward, Nan Zhengya’s bartering frequency increased. Xu Ziqing was impressed by his financial resources. Nan Zhengya produced numerous high-quality items without hesitation, drawing the greedy and unfriendly gazes of some onlookers.

Despite the malevolent thoughts, Xu Ziqing felt a subtle pressure, while Nan Zhengya, in his green-faced guise, responded with an even stronger display of malice, unperturbed.

At this point, Xu Ziqing had to admit the truth of the saying “People are deceived by others,” which he had heard in his previous life.

Before long, a tall and slender woman gracefully took the stage, holding a jade box. Inside was a transparent object the size of a fist, seemingly soft yet with a resilient plasticity. It emitted a soft aura capable of containing the most rigid materials, making it extraordinarily mysterious.

Xu Ziqing, well-read on various materials for weapon refining, immediately recognized its value without Nan Zhengya’s prompting. The woman had revealed an incredibly precious sword-making material:

Rong Shuijing Crystal.

Nan Zhengya laughed softly beside him, “You’re lucky to come across this. If you exchange it, it will greatly benefit your Shixiong.”

Xu Ziqing took a deep breath and nodded solemnly. He realized this material was almost tailor-made for his Shixiong.

The woman quickly stated her requirement: “I want a magic weapon above a mid-grade treasure, with strong protection, preferably a set of arrays, capable of protecting an area with a radius of 500 miles.”

Unfortunately, her request was met with little response from the audience.

It’s no wonder that everyone is hesitant, as the Rong Shuijing Crystal is somewhat impractical.

Although it is a precious material, as rare as the essence of heaven and earth, its usage requirements are extremely stringent. The key characteristic of this material is the word “melting” (融; Rong), indicating that it originates from water and can fuse the hardest materials, adding toughness to them.

In simpler terms, if a material isn’t among the hardest, touching it with the Rong Shuijing Crystal renders it unshapeable, no matter how refined it is. The most rigid material is Heavenly Metal.

While the essence of Heavenly Metal is rare, ordinary Heavenly Metal isn’t uncommon. Many sword cultivators often add some to their natal spirit swords to enhance their swords’ metallic energy and better suit themselves.

Thus, ordinary metal sword cultivators can technically use the Rong Shuijing Crystal. However, the problem lies in using a sufficient amount of Heavenly Metal to make the entire natal spirit sword. That would be too extravagant. Even if someone were willing to be so wasteful, the Rong Shuijing Crystal still has its drawbacks.

After using it to forge a Heavenly Metal sword, the sword won’t break easily and will have increased power, but it won’t be able to advance further. A sword cultivator’s natal spirit sword, which they store in their dantian, typically grows stronger as their cultivation base increases. If the sword can’t advance, what happens when the cultivator reaches a higher realm? Would they need to switch to a new natal spirit sword?

Switching to a new sword would never harmonize as well as the first, and a pure Heavenly Metal sword used for only a few decades or centuries would be a waste. Anyone with a reasonable amount of resources would likely exchange for more rare treasures to enhance their cultivation instead.

Yet, the Rong Shuijing Crystal wouldn’t be considered a treasure if it were entirely impractical. In the natural order, everything has limitations, and there are ways to overcome them.

A sword forged from Rong Shuijing Crystal and Heavenly Metal becomes useful once formed. To upgrade its level, a cultivator with Great Perfection of Sword Intent must infuse it with their condensed sword intent daily. This hones the spirit sword, increasing its spirituality and perfectly matching it with the cultivator, making it as easy to use as a part of their body. Additionally, the lower the cultivator’s level, the higher the chance the spirit sword will recognize them as its master. The natal spirit sword is crucial to a sword cultivator, akin to a heart for a mortal.

Therefore, once a sword cultivator reaches the golden core formation stage, they usually choose their path of swordsmanship and integrate their natal spirit sword into their dantian. Waiting until the Nascent Soul stage to find a spirit sword means missing the critical period from the Golden Core to the Nascent Soul stage, resulting in diminished spirituality.

Hence, the impracticality of the Melting Water Essence Crystal lies in its stringent requirements:

– Enough Heavenly Metal to create a spirit sword.

– Practicing swordsmanship with Heavenly Metal.

– Sword cultivation only at the Golden Core stage.

– Having already comprehended sword intent.

– Sword intent must be at Great Perfection.

It must be noted that for ordinary sword cultivators to comprehend sword intent, they often need the help of their natal spirit sword. Even those exceptional individuals who manage to comprehend it beforehand still find it challenging to achieve great perfection in sword intent during the Golden Core stage.

But if one already has a natal spirit sword, why would they need this material?

The truth is that the conditions are contradictory.

Given these combined conditions, achieving this is exceedingly difficult.

It’s only natural that no one is interested in such a thing.

The woman on stage seemed to have faced disappointment many times and was mentally prepared for it, trying her luck once again. Seeing no offers, she was about to step down when someone called out, “Wait a minute.”

The one who stopped her was Nan Zhengya.

Yun Lie perfectly met the requirements, and despite Xu Ziqing’s usually calm demeanor, he felt a surge of anxiety. If his Shixiong could acquire this material and find the essence of Heavenly Metal in Heavenly Secret Realm, they could forge the sword embryo. Once nurtured in his Shixiong’s dantian, the sword would eventually surpass all others.

Only such a powerful and domineering spirit sword could complement his senior brother’s way of the sword and sword intent.

Determined to secure this opportunity, Xu Ziqing quickly said to Nan Zhengya, “Brother Nan Zhengya, please.”

Nan Zhengya halted in time.

The woman, initially overjoyed, became a bit skeptical. “Do you want to exchange?” she asked. Her hesitation was understandable; Nascent Soul cultivators often used treasures, but mid-grade ones were rare, especially those with strong defensive capabilities. She had faced so much disappointment that she found it hard to believe.

Nan Zhengya stepped forward, revealing a small, jet-black iron flag in his palm. This triangular formation flag emitted a faint protective devilish energy, unlike the usual ghostly and gloomy energy of typical demonic items.

Undoubtedly, this was the defensive formation the female cultivator urgently needed. The strong magical aura and the weight of the flag indicated its high grade when completed.

Nan Zhengya said, “The Phantom Formation in it has defense in all directions, is a mid-grade treasure, belonging to the demonic path, capable of defending an area of eight hundred miles. What do you think?” Eight hundred miles far surpassed the five hundred miles she had asked for.

The female cultivator was overjoyed and quickly handed over the crystal, saying, “If you want to exchange, you can’t go back on it!”

Nan Zhengya sneered, “I won’t go back on it, take it.” He then set down a set of small black iron flag and took the jade box with his other hand.

The female cultivator, holding her new treasure, returned to her seat happily. Nan Zhengya returned to Xu Ziqing’s side at a leisurely pace.

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