Chapter 4: Jie Bainazhu (Part 2)

That day, the handsome old man said, “Kid, take out your Moon Blade. I’ll help you adjust and refine it.”
Guo Shier was overjoyed and replied, “Great.” He summoned his Moon Blade and asked, “How should I refine it?”
The handsome old man took out Jie Bainazhu and said, “I need to partially disassemble it and then restructure it. Fortunately, after disassembling the fragments of the sacrificial treasure this time, I obtained quite a lot of materials, enough to basically gather everything needed to refine the Moon Blade.”
Xian Ruidai sighed enviously, “What luck to have someone help refine one’s own life sigil blade.” She understood that the handsome old man was now one with Guo Shier, and she had long seen his strength. With his abilities, even if he did nothing, Guo Shier’s strength would improve greatly, let alone with his direct involvement.
The Moon Blade shrank to the size of a palm and hovered above the flames of Jie Bainazhu under Guo Shier’s control. The handsome old man said, “Alright, release your control.”
Guo Shier nodded and let go of control over the Moon Blade. The handsome old man cast a spell, took control of the blade, and tapped it lightly. Instantly, the blade grew to a foot in length. Then he activated the flames of Jie Bainazhu, with tens of thousands of flames wrapping around it.
The handsome old man said, “First, let’s disassemble some unnecessary parts.”
As the flames of Jie Bainazhu burned, black smoke rose, and the Moon Blade rapidly shrank. Guo Shier could sense the changes in the blade—it became more compact, with many ancient runes being disassembled, leaving only basic ones. Then, the handsome old man began adding various materials.
Dozens of white jade boxes floated around the flames. Following the handsome old man’s commands, various materials fell onto the Moon Blade and gradually merged into it. The handsome old man muttered, “It’s a shame… If we were to forge a new Moon Blade from scratch, we wouldn’t waste so many materials… Sigh, such a spendthrift… What a pity…”
With a wave of his hand, he retrieved the jade boxes and then released another batch, adding more materials. After changing the jade boxes four times, he finally stopped and said, “Kid, we need to work together. First, we’ll replenish the basic ancient runes to establish the main framework of the Moon Blade, then add attribute runes. You need to keep up with my rhythm. Hmph, if you can’t keep up, this Moon Blade will be ruined…”

Guo Shier was shocked. With his life talisman blade ruined, his strength would drop by at least half. He repeated, “Don’t worry, I’ll give it my all.” He focused all his energy on the Moon Blade. At this point, the Moon Blade had been purified by the Jienabana Pearl, removing most of its impurities, making it almost transparent with only a faint red glow.

The handsome old man smiled briefly before saying seriously, “Get ready… Start!”

As soon as those words were spoken, the handsome old man cast thousands of hand spells. The virtual talismans rushed at the Moon Blade like a waterfall. Guo Shier immediately followed by casting his own spells. His speed was now very fast, thanks to the techniques he had learned while setting up formations in the Wild Battle Secret Realm, allowing him to keep up with the handsome old man’s pace.

The virtual talismans landed on the Moon Blade and were quickly controlled by the flames below. It was then that one could see the handsome old man’s mastery—he controlled tens of thousands of flames, with almost each flame capable of dealing with several virtual talismans and fixing them to the Moon Blade. The complexity of this was unbelievable.

When Guo Shier’s virtual talismans landed, the handsome old man also used flames to control them. Others might not understand the difficulty, but Guo Shier knew very well. There was another person who also understood and was shouting in astonishment.

Xian Ruidai covered her mouth, her eyes almost popping out. She kept exclaiming in shock, “This is amazing… It’s the most difficult treasure-refining technique… I never thought the handsome old man would know it!” She was aware of a technique called the Hundred-Flame Refining Method and another lost technique, the Thousand-Flame Refining Method. What she saw here was clearly more advanced than those, undoubtedly the Ten-Thousand-Flame Refining Method! How could she stay calm?

Guo Shier steadily followed the handsome old man in casting virtual talismans. He found that casting them wasn’t difficult at this point—over 80% of them were repetitive. For example, the talismans used to stabilize the surface of the Moon Blade were repeated many times, using the same ancient runes. Tens of thousands were needed each time, but he could cast them with just a few spells—no difficulty at all.

The handsome old man’s speed suddenly slowed, accompanied by a ripple in his soul energy. Guo Shier immediately stopped.

Golden ancient runes shot out from the old man’s fingertips and struck the Moon Blade, producing a pleasant clanging sound, like metal colliding.

Virtual talismans being forged!

Xian Ruidai was utterly stunned. She felt numb, with only one thought echoing in her mind: What else can this old man not do? This was yet another lost refining technique.

By now, Guo Shier couldn’t intervene and could only watch quietly.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding…

The crisp sounds of metal colliding grew more frequent, until eventually everyone could only hear a long ringing sound, like that of an electric bell. The handsome old man suddenly stopped, and the sound vanished. As silence settled around them, the old man grinned triumphantly and said, “Very good… It seems my skills are still intact, hehe.”

After about five minutes, the old man said, “Kid, leave your own soul mark first, then continue!”

Leaving a soul mark was a necessary step in creating a life-bound talisman. Guo Shier was secretly shocked. No wonder he had felt unable to control the Moon Blade earlier—those ten thousand flames had erased the mark he had originally left in it. That wasn’t surprising. What surprised him was that the Jiebaina Pearl removed the mark without him even sensing anything, silently.

He separated some of his soul energy to quickly form a soul mark, which assisted in inserting tens of thousands of virtual talismans into the Moon Blade. Soon, Guo Shier regained control of the Moon Blade and felt immense admiration for the old man. The Moon Blade now gave him a completely different feeling from before, but he also clearly sensed that it wasn’t yet complete—half of the process was still missing.

The old man said, “Good, I’ll take over next!”

Guo Shier stopped and waited as the old man began to emit virtual talismans. He was stunned because he realized the old man was also strengthening the soul mark. Another soul mark was added—it was the soul of Guxi Bi. Guo Shier suddenly understood. This wasn’t about crafting a life-bound talisman; it was about creating his first sacrificial treasure.

The final step in the process involved adding a large number of virtual talismans, which was easy for both the old man and Guo Shier. However, the quantity was huge—Guo Shier needed to add over nine million virtual talismans, while the old man needed even more, over thirty million. The old man put away the Jiebaina Pearl, as it was no longer needed at this stage.

After several days of refinement, the old man cast the final spell and said, “That’s it, kid. This isn’t a true sacrificial treasure yet. Once your altar is built, place the Moon Blade on top of it for further refinement. Only then will your Moon Blade complete its final step. Right now, although it has some of the power of a sacrificial treasure, it’s still far from perfect. But it’s good enough for your use.”

Guo Shier understood that it was entirely thanks to the old man that he could create a quasi-sacrificial treasure before his altar was completed. On his own, it would have been impossible—this was the advantage of having a powerful sacrificial spirit. He bowed sincerely and said, “Thank you, old man!”

The handsome old man seemed a bit tired. Though he was a soul entity, even souls could get tired after several days of exertion. He said, “No need to thank me. If you want to show your gratitude, let your soul’s energy fluctuate.”
Guo Shier said, “Okay.” He put away the Ancient Ink Lotus and began to examine the newly refreshed Moon Blade.
The Moon Blade grew slightly larger, reaching about one meter in length. Guo Shier controlled it to fly in front of him, and everyone immediately gathered around to watch.
Like a stream of clear water, the Moon Blade no longer had its previous red glow. It resembled clear water, emitting a faint, cool light that wasn’t very noticeable. Eagle Demon commented, “It seems to have no lethal power.”
Luo Zhan also said, “It’s not impressive enough!”
Xian Ruyi and Zhou Xiaoling, on the other hand, showed envious expressions. Xian Ruyi praised, “Wow, it’s so beautiful…” Zhou Xiaoling nodded vigorously and said, “Really, it’s really pretty!”
Guo Shier looked at the two girls speechlessly. In their eyes, his life talisman was merely beautiful—when it was actually a quasi-sacred treasure.
Zhang Yaojin said, “It is quite beautiful.”
Suddenly, the handsome old man appeared above Guo Shier’s head and snapped, “Idiot, the Moon Blade is a weapon, not an ornament! Why do you need it to be impressive or beautiful?” With that, he withdrew his head.
Xian Ruyi covered her chest and complained playfully, “Brother Shier, can you stop letting that old man pop up to scare people? If he scares us a few more times, we’ll really be scared to death.”
Guo Shier held back his laughter and said, “I… I can’t control that…”
Xian Ruyi had no choice. After witnessing the handsome old man’s tactics, she still admired him deeply. Although she cursed him verbally, it was just lip service. She said, “I’ll stop talking. You get angry if I keep talking! Brother Shier, you can give it a try. It’s best to find a mutated talisman beast… to test its power.”
Guo Shier smiled and said, “It’s impossible to find any powerful mutated talisman beasts here. In this declining continent, there probably won’t be any strong ones. Even if there are entrances to secret realms, no mutated talisman beasts would come here. It’s a remote place; better to wait until we reach the secret realm.”
In truth, Guo Shier was quite satisfied. The shape of the Moon Blade hadn’t changed; only its color had altered. As for any other skills or how to use it, that still needed further exploration.
Eagle Demon said, “Shier, give it a try anyway. I’m really curious about what will happen after the Moon Blade is reforged.”
Luo Zhan also urged him, “Yeah, let’s see what happens. Since it just succeeded, we need to check its power.”

Xianru Dai rested her chin in her hand, blinking her big eyes. She was also very curious and couldn’t help saying, “Even just chopping once would be good. Hehe, there’s a small hill over there—why not give it a try?”
Although Zhang Yaojin didn’t speak, his eyes showed anticipation. He was equally curious about the difference between his life talisman and a sacrificial treasure. Though the Moon Blade wasn’t yet a true sacrificial treasure, it already possessed its qualities.
Guo Shier nodded and said, “Alright, let’s give it a try.”
The handsome old man suddenly appeared again and said, “Come back quickly after trying it! I’m waiting.”
Guo Shier replied and flew toward the nearby hill, with the Moon Blade circling around him. Everyone followed closely behind, eager to see how powerful the re-refined Moon Blade would be.