Zhou Changqing's face was slightly pale and his body felt weak, a clear sign of significant Dou Qi exhaustion.
A Dou Zhe was only at the initial stage of Dou Qi cultivation, so their reserves were naturally limited, especially for a mere one-star Dou Zhe like himself.
Furthermore, he had been infusing Dou Qi at his maximum output. To have lasted for a full thirty minutes was a testament to his endurance.
If it were any other one-star Dou Zhe practicing a technique of the same level, they would have likely been spent after just fifteen minutes of such an output.
Although Zhou Changqing had been stuck at the initial Dou Zhe stage for six years with no advancement in his realm, he had not been idle.
During those six years, even though he couldn't break through, he had persisted in his cultivation.
Lingering in one realm for so long, constantly polishing his foundation, had made it exceptionally profound.
As a result, whether it was the quality or quantity of his Dou Qi, or the strength of his physical body and the resilience of his meridians, he far surpassed that of an ordinary one-star Dou Zhe.
However, Zhou Changqing had no mind to spare for such things. His entire focus was on the blade embryo.
This attempt was undoubtedly a failure.
"Where did it go wrong?"
Running his hand over the cracks on the blade embryo, Zhou Changqing did not feel discouraged. Instead, he began to ponder the problem.
On the Dou Qi Continent, the path of artifact refining existed, it just wasn't as dazzling as the path of alchemy.
Of course, this kind of refining was not the same as a blacksmith forging iron.
That wasn't true refining.
The weapons produced by a blacksmith were nothing more than ordinary mortal blades.
True artifact refining was when a powerful expert used their profound Dou Qi, combined with exceptional techniques, to forge items that could amplify Dou Qi or serve other extraordinary purposes.
Examples included Monster Core weapons or medicinal cauldrons.
But in Zhou Changqing's view, even this kind of refining was extremely crude.
Take Monster Core weapons, for instance. They were little more than special metals melted down and forged into a weapon, with a Monster Core crudely embedded to provide a Dou Qi amplification effect.
Moreover, the amplification from such weapons was minimal and not enough to play a decisive role in a fight.
This was why it was rare to see experts at the Dou Zong level or above using weapons.
They mostly fought by condensing their own Dou Qi into weaponry.
For experts of their caliber, the slight boost from a Monster Core weapon was completely negligible. They were better off spending their time practicing a Dou Technique.
If the weapons of this world were like the Dharma treasures and spirit artifacts of a cultivation world, they would never have been overshadowed by medicinal pills.
Then there were medicinal cauldrons.
The forging techniques for these special items were considerably more advanced, but their development was only driven by the populace's fanatical pursuit of alchemy.
Of course, crude as it was, Zhou Changqing still needed to draw upon this world's knowledge if he wanted to delve deep into the art of refining.
And he didn't just borrow from refining; he also drew inspiration from alchemy.
The path of alchemy was mature and well-developed in this world, offering a wealth of valuable principles and directions to learn from.
For example, alchemy required fire-attribute Dou Qi to extract the essence from medicinal ingredients, while wood-attribute Dou Qi was needed to temper the fire's ferocity and assist in fusing the essences.
So, couldn't the same logic be applied to artifact refining?
Then, in a flash of inspiration, Zhou Changqing thought of the Sky Demon Puppet from the original story.
In the novel, the Sky Demon Puppet wasn't made of metal, but it was still a type of humanoid weapon.
And what's more, the puppet could evolve by being tempered with lightning.
If a puppet could be strengthened through lightning tempering, why not a metal weapon?
In his past life on Earth, there was a technology called electric arc furnace steelmaking. The principle was to use the heat from an electric arc to temper steel and remove its impurities.
If the mortal world could achieve that, why couldn't this world, which possessed lightning-attribute Dou Qi?
Xuanhuan worlds often defied logic. Refining with lightning seemed entirely possible.
Besides, lightning and fire had something in common: when a flame reached a high enough temperature, it would turn into plasma, just like lightning.
This was the idea Zhou Changqing had been pursuing. He had tried to channel lightning-attribute Dou Qi into the blade embryo to purge its impurities more thoroughly.
Unfortunately, it had failed.
"Perhaps the Dou Qi output was too great, and the blade embryo couldn't withstand the impact, which caused the cracks. If I reduce the output, maybe it won't happen again."
After a moment of thought, Zhou Changqing rallied his spirits.
Although this blade embryo was cracked, it wasn't completely ruined, so he didn't need to forge a new one.
After recovering his lightning-attribute Dou Qi, he once again began infusing it into the blade.
...
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
In a small courtyard in the southern part of the city.
A young man sat at a stone table in the courtyard, writing furiously.
On the table lay a stack of papers and a blade that looked brand new.
The papers were filled with densely packed writing.
A cursory glance revealed them to be some kind of record.
"The maximum Dou Qi output for a weapon made of ordinary iron cannot exceed seventy-five percent of a one-star Dou Zhe's limit..."
"To make a weapon tougher and sharper, first infuse it with metal-attribute Dou Qi, then temper it with lightning-attribute Dou Qi..."
"Principle: Metal-attribute Dou Qi has an extremely high affinity with metal weapons. When residual metal-attribute Dou Qi remains in the weapon, infusing it with lightning-attribute Dou Qi causes the metal-attribute Dou Qi to become highly active, triggering a fusion reaction with the weapon. This nourishes the weapon's material. Further tempering with lightning-attribute Dou Qi can then induce a qualitative transformation."
"..."
After a while, the young man seemed to have finished writing. He put down his pen and stretched lazily.
"Ah, finally done with the notes."
As the young man looked up, a handsome, striking face was revealed in the sunlight.
It was Zhou Changqing.
Gazing at the thick stack of filled papers on the stone table, Zhou Changqing couldn't help but smile.
For the past two months, he had been a complete shut-in. Other than going out to buy supplies, he had barely stepped outside his home.
His days were spent either cultivating, eating, sleeping, or dedicating all remaining time to his research on artifact refining.
In the beginning, Zhou Changqing had failed time and time again, ruining countless weapons in the process.
At one point, inspired by the dual-attribute requirement for alchemists, he had tried adding metal-attribute Dou Qi to his lightning-tempering process.
Unfortunately, the results did not improve.
But he never considered giving up. Instead, he continued to experiment, meticulously recording the details of every attempt.
This cycle of failure continued for over a month before things began to change.
His hard work finally paid off. Half a month ago, during one of his refining attempts, Zhou Changqing discovered the optimal output limits for both attributes of Dou Qi.
After that attempt, the weapon had undergone a slight change.
Though the transformation was not obvious, Zhou Changqing's formidable Spiritual Perception had detected it: the weapon had become tougher and sharper.