After analyzing the Dark Phoenix Nine Daos technique, Heifeng Jiansui was quite surprised. It had three great layers: Grand, Supreme & Chaos, which contained three Daos each for him to comprehend. Breaking through a small layer would purify and refine his bloodline while a breakthrough into a great layer would grant him a bloodline ability of the Dark Phoenix! Mastery of the technique would mean that he would be pureblooded Dark Phoenix wearing the shape of a human!

This technique was not something a cultivator below the Immortal Realm could devise. In reality, it had some parts, which would intrigue even Perpetual Emperors, and the final Dao stage had mysteries that would interest even Chaos Sovereigns! In addition, a Dark Phoenix held the power of chaos within its bloodline, rendering it a Divine Beast not inferior to the Desolate Dragon!

Heifeng Jiansui speculated that the bird created the further layers of the technique after he reached the apex and disseminated it to his bloodline, but did not insert memories of the Immortal World, as it might be harmful to his descendants.

There was only a small conundrum for the reincarnator. The Dark Phoenix Nine Daos technique cultivated the disordered power of Chaos while the Five Sacred Beasts Cycle cultivated the balanced power of the Five Elements. Both of them were absolute opposites, nearly impossible to reconcile. If he had not broken through to Chaos Sovereign and comprehended the true nature of Chaos, it would be impossible for him to harmonize the two opposites.

However, he DID breakthrough to a Chaos Sovereign and he did know a path of harmonizing Balance and Disorder. With a single breath, he circulated the energy of the Five Phases within his body and into his heart. The energy passed through the seven apertures and entered the core of the heart, where a drop of chaotic energy from the Dark Phoenix bloodline awaited it!

The two energies fused together to form a small seed filled with condensed energy. However, this seed was not stable yet. To stabilize it, Heifeng Jiansui drew in more and more energy from his surroundings and relentlessly fused it into the seed. Finally, the stabilization completed and a small seed of pure energy rotated by itself within the core of his heart like a planet, disseminating Chaotic and Five Phase energy throughout his body which circulated and returned to the seed. It was a self-perpetuating cycle.

Yes, this was the technique of balancing Chaos and the Five Phases together: forming a chaoseed! While it was incomparable to a true chaoseed that could eventually transform into a chaosworld, it was enough. It would continuously transform his body and bloodline with every breath he took in, allowing him to reach a level where even if he went into a coma for 6 years, he could easily defeat his sister in their duel!

Forming an imitation chaoseed before even entering the first realm of cultivation was something unprecedented through the eras! However, Heifeng Jiansui did not plan to begin his true cultivation before he reached the age of 13 and matured his bloodline. Both the manuals instructed that beginning cultivation before 13 was inadvisable and he planned to heed that advice.

However, there were other avenues like refining his body, purifying his bloodlines, cultivating his battle spirit and training in auxiliary techniques. Since the chaoseed would continuously temper his body and bloodline, he decided that it was time devote himself to auxiliary techniques!

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“My son, why do you want to request for such a ridiculously large amount of Common-grade materials? Even if they are free, the Emperor dislikes wasteful spending. Refining masters can breakthroughs ranks and forge low-grade Mortal items from them but you are far from that level... Are you planning to use them to create a gift for the Emperor? If you wish, I can exchange some of your Elemental Jades for Mortal-rank materials. The Emperor will certainly reward you well for a Mortal-rank weapon, so it would be a worthy investment…” There was less than a week left for Heifeng Jiansui’s birthday ceremony, so mother and son were brainstorming the gifts for the Emperor.

“Mother, is it possible for you to tell me the entirety of the guest list and their preferred weapons?” Heifeng Jiansui had an utterly audacious idea, and before implementing it, he began discussing his guest list with his mother.

“The ceremony will be quite private, with only the Emperor, his concubines, his closest advisors and your sister being invited. Oh, there will be some servants as well. Since you can summon your battle spirit, you have the ability to send out spirit sense as well. I’ll bind my memories of the guest list to a jade slip for you.” Summoning a jade slip from her spatial ring, she immediately began binding her memories to it.

“What, are you planning to gift everyone a top-grade Common-rank item? It would certainly be a good way to rack up your favorability with the court. Seeing your sincerity, they certainly won’t mess around and give you children’s toys as gifts.” For better or worse, this was still Heifeng Jiansui’s 1st birthday. It was common knowledge that his sister had a 6-year headstart on him and would have already awakened her bloodline during their duel. Nobody would bother courting favor with him and would only send toys as a fitting gift for the child fated to die young.

“Also mother, when is the earliest time that you can send me my birthday gifts? I will concentrate on increasing my forging proficiency by refining equipment until my birthday, when I will use all my skill to refine the best weapon for my father.” After Heifeng Jiansui spoke, his mother handed him a jade slip.

“I can send you your birthday gifts at the moment of daybreak. The item price is restricted to 100 Elemental Jades. Carefully observe the jade slip and tell me your demands.” Chanlong Yue waited for her son to scan the jade slip.

A strand of divine sense entered the jade slip, experiencing the various memories of the birthday attendants and their preferred weapons. A memory of Heifeng Xingmei being taught spear arts by her mother flashed in his mind for a moment before being replaced by the Emperor swinging his fiery greatsword around. Heifeng Jiansui dutifully memorized the various weapons and analyzed the materials used in forging them.

After a moment’s breath, a list of various Mortal-grade materials was written down for Chanlong Yue. After a quick read, she gently smiled, “Easy enough to obtain. You must try to refine the best weapon you can to gain the Emperor’s favor. Do not hold back; let your potential burst to its limits!”

+++

For days since that day, Heifeng Jiansui did not come out of his refining room. Even breakfast, lunch and dinner were delivered to his room. Without holding back, he entered a refining frenzy! Hundreds of Common-Rank materials were refined every day. Finally, the day of his birthday ceremony came.

On daybreak that day, Chanlong Yue delivered her birthday gifts to her son. “Today, you can finally show your brilliance to the Emperor! Without holding back, forge the best weapons and unveil yourself like a Flood Dragon bursting from a deep pool!”

In reply to his mother’s encouragement, he only gave a calm smile, unpacked the materials and began forging. So that her son’s concentration may remain uninfluenced, she quietly left.

“It seems that I need to refine 9 mid-grade Mortal Rank weapons and 2 high-grade Mortal Rank weapons. As for the rest of the Mortal materials, I’ll need them to cast my sword spirit’s body.” The 9 mid-grade weapons were intended to be gifted to the 8 concubines and his elder sister. After all, the family’s position should be higher in a prince’s heart. As for the two high-grade weapons, they were for his parents!

The sound of forging increased in intensity. No longer daring to split his attention, Heifeng Jiansui combined strength and skill, fusing it into his hammer. The sounds of the furnace bellows rang out as unceasing pounding flattened the Mortal-rank metal ingot. After being purified of all impurities, they were fused into the ingot. The sounds of pounding rose as the shape of a sword became visible. After a few final strokes, the sword was completed.

“This sword is for Shang Wenxue, the Emperor’s first concubine.” Carefully handling it, Heifeng Jiansui used his battle spirit to check the sword’s sharpness, durability and weight. After being satisfied on all counts, he put away the blade to cool.

“This sword took me 15 minutes to create. Eight mid-grade and 2 high-grade swords left… Let’s get this done quick!” Engrossed into forging, with his momentum increasing step-by-step, the casting speed and quality of the every successive blade gradually rose. Finally, all the mid-grade blades were completed. It was time to forge the high-grade blades…

Instead of taking a breath to adjust his condition, Heifeng Jiansui immediately removed all the required ingredients for the two swords, grasped a hammer in each hand, jumped on the furnace bellows and started pounding! He automatically entered into Body-Mind Unison and completely controlled every hammer strike to forge the strongest swords he could refine!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

All the momentum built up while forging the 9 mid-grade blades was completely poured into forging the two swords. The Emperor’s sword was a Fire-Element greatsword while his mother’s sword was an Earth-Element light sword. Pouring out all the creativity within his heart, the two swords came into being side by side. Finally, just before the swords cooled down and became set, he controlled an engraving knife with spirit sense, using it to carve an array formation in the style of an engraving on the blades.

On the Fire elemental greatsword, there was a mighty phoenix engraving. While on the Earth elemental light sword, the carving was of a coiling dragon.

Heavy and light, yet perfectly complementing each other. The set of paired swords was finally forged.

With trepidation, Heifeng Jianliu checked his masterpiece. It was a fine work, containing all his understanding of forging and arrays. All the potential of the materials was brought out to the fullest, and they were peerless high-grade Mortal Rank swords.

Now that all the gift swords were forged, it seemed as if a boulder had been removed off his back. Exhaustion, thirst and hunger suddenly struck, and a feeling of numbness went through his body. These were the trademark symptoms of overexertion.

Using the Dark Phoenix breathing technique to recover, Heifeng Jiansui controlled his breath. Putting away the paired swords away in his spatial ring, he called out for a maid to fetch him food. Recovering from overexertion at the earliest was vital; he certainly could not show an exhausted appearance on his own birthday celebration!