Chapter 290: Second Reforging of the Treasure
Soon after, a massive interplanar teleportation array at the plaza’s center flared with dazzling light.
Anita, along with other graduates sharing her fate, stepped onto the array with heavy steps and complex emotions.
The light engulfed their figures, taking with it all they had known at the academy—glory or regret alike.
Jie Ming watched expressionlessly as the array’s glow dimmed and faded entirely.
He offered no sigh, no comment, only turning calmly, transforming into a streak of light, and returning straight to his core laboratory in the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
Some paths, once chosen, must be walked alone.
Some costs must be borne alone.
Back in the laboratory, he first inspected the large-scale alchemical array that had been running for years.
At its center, the once-dark-red crimson gold, after multiple rounds of refining and purification, had transformed into a pure, flowing mass of radiant scarlet light—an embodiment of the immaculate immortality concept.Drawing closer, Jie Ming could feel the profound, warm aura emanating from the radiant mass.
“Progress is solid. Two more years, and it will be complete,” he nodded with satisfaction, brimming with anticipation for the final result.
Two years passed swiftly in focused waiting and research.
When the array finally ceased, the scarlet radiance at its core stabilized, exuding a flawless, harmonious charm. Jie Ming knew the time had come.
With utmost care, he enveloped the mass with his spiritual force, closely examining the pure immortality concept forged from vast quantities of gold and countless hours of effort.
Confirming its flawless quality, he siphoned off about two-thirds of it, storing it cautiously in his internal space for future use.
With a thought, various prepared materials flew out from his internal space, hovering around him, each glowing with vibrant, prismatic light.
Jie Ming sat cross-legged, focusing his mind.
Moments later, he exhaled, and a gentle, harmonious five-colored brilliance rose slowly from his dantian, solidifying above his palm into a seemingly plain yet infinitely profound small mirror—his natal treasure, the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror.
“Today, I’ll help you ascend further!”
Jie Ming’s eyes sharpened as he followed steps rehearsed countless times, his hands dancing like butterflies through intricate hand seals.
Under the combined influence of seals and the array, the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror swiftly dissolved its physical form, reverting to a dazzling mass of light.
The suspended materials were sequentially drawn into the scarlet immortality concept, gradually merging into the mirror’s radiant essence under its guidance.
The process proceeded remarkably smoothly.
Jie Ming had already simulated every step, every material’s properties, and every potential energy conflict countless times.
The immortality concept within the crimson gold perfectly complemented the mirror’s nature of refining myriad lights and its ethereal essence, as if injecting it with the fundamental cornerstone of “existence.”
Runes flowed, radiance converged.
After an indeterminate time, when the final wisp of material essence was absorbed, the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror trembled lightly, emitting a faint, almost inaudible chime.
Its brilliance then subsided, resuming its unassuming appearance, floating quietly in Jie Ming’s palm.
Yet Jie Ming could keenly sense a deeper bond with it. The mirror’s internal structure had grown more stable and brimming with potential, its spirituality markedly enhanced.
The treasure was complete!
In the terms of the cultivation world, his Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror had achieved its second reforging.
Eagerly, Jie Ming began testing its enhanced capabilities.
First, he tested its spirituality.
He fed a complex data stream—millions of variables for a novel energy circuit’s derivation—into the mirror.
With a flicker of light, countless minute runes within seemed to flicker and compute, delivering an optimal solution in mere breaths!
“Though it hasn’t birthed true sentience to think autonomously like an artificial intelligence, as a super-high-speed computational core, it’s more than sufficient!” Jie Ming rejoiced inwardly.
This would be an immense boon for his future complex research.
It also offered significant advantages in combat.
Next, he swiftly left the laboratory for the Infernal Sulfur Plane to test its core ability—light transformation!
With a thought, his Golden Core churned, channeling vast spiritual power into the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror.
In an instant, Jie Ming’s form blurred, dissolving entirely into a formless, intangible beam of pure light containing all his vital information!
Whoosh…
The light flashed, piercing through the heavy restrictions near the teleportation array and the dense atmosphere of the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
At a speed pushing the limits of conventional physics, it shot into the distance!
As the light transformation neared its limit, Jie Ming rematerialized in a barren region.
Estimating the distance, a look of awe crossed his face.
“Duration… doubled!”
When he first formed his Golden Core, he could only sustain light transformation for a tenth of a second. Now, it lasted a fifth of a second!
In that fleeting moment, his light form could traverse a hundred thousand miles!
Moreover, he distinctly felt that the second reforging made the light transformation more “pure.”
He no longer merely mimicked light—in that brief instant, he became light itself!
This meant that unless an enemy’s defenses could fundamentally block, deflect, or absorb “light,” no energy shield or barrier, no matter how robust, could impede him in light form as long as it permitted light to pass!
As his thoughts turned, the light dissipated, and his form fully coalesced.
A wave of intense weakness hit him, though far milder than his first light transformation, causing him to sway and plummet involuntarily.
Splash!
Jie Ming landed in a slow-flowing river of molten lava below.
Lying in magma hot enough to melt steel, feeling the warmth and restoration from his body-forging technique’s automatic activation, he felt no dismay—only a fiercer glint in his eyes.
“The weakness has lessened… due to a stabilized Golden Core and the treasure’s feedback?” He carefully assessed his condition. “It’s time to prioritize adaptability training.”
He had considered this before but lacked the proper space for training.
Jie Ming resolved to dedicate time daily to a single light transformation.
He would acclimate his body and soul to the strain of this life-form shift.
Through the adaptive evolution of his body-forging technique, he aimed to minimize the post-transformation weakness period to its limit—or even eliminate it entirely!