982 Midnight

Dao of Malleability consisted of a few minor Daos, all of which Alex had gained insights by directly learning the Dao of Malleability.

Alex could also see that the Dao of Malleability and the Dao of Metal were somewhat connected, so the two Daos were definitely part of a greater metal dao.

Alex returned to the solid blob of metallic staff and heated it up until it was melted and very malleable.

He struck the metal a few more times before stopping. Hitting truly wasn't going to work anymore and he needed to do something else.

He needed to use his newly learned dao.

Alex dropped his hammer and instantly used his intent to compress the metal in front of him. The world followed his command to do so and even then Alex felt the Qi being ripped out of hi to compress the metal.

It took almost everything he had to make the metal thinner, and now, it was thinner than what a normal sword would look like by nearly 20%.

"I can't believe you learned a dao just like that," Godslayer said. "A rather important one for metalwork too."

"It happens," Alex said. "I should finish making the sword now."

The only thing that was now left was to make the shape of the sword and add some Qi lines. As for its sharpness, he would have to work with what he had without the Sharpness Dao.

The volume of the metal was smaller than what he would've hoped for, so he decided to make a thinner sword. He made the length of the blade up to about 80 centimeters, which including the hilt and handle would become over a meter easily.

The width was where he had to make a concession and thus it came to be about 3 centimeters wide at best. As for its thickness, it was already at the lowest amount possible.

Then, he sent his Qi to put in Qi lines throughout the artifact. As he did, he heard Godslayer saying something.

"3 Qi lines to the left, 2 in the middle, and 3 to the right. Make 8 of them at the base of the sword that goes upwards."

Alex was a little surprised to hear him speak in this part of the process, but he trusted his judgment when it came to swords, so he followed.

"The first of the left 3 curves to the right after 5 centimeters. The 2nd one curves to the right a centimeter after that. The last one makes a small loop right at the location where the second one would touch it before going straight on."

Godslayer started telling him one by one what to do, and Alex followed every instruction to the best he could.

He didn't even take away his focus to be surprised that Godslayer was giving him instructions on Qi lines. He simply did as told as the Qi lines slowly moved to the top, making countless bends and loops along the way.

By the end, Alex couldn't even make any sense of which Qi line was where, but he knew he had followed it perfectly because Godslayer said nothing else.

When Alex was done making the Qi lines, he was done making the sword as well. He was quickly going to put the sword into the water to cool it rapidly when Godslayer said something.

"Cool it with your blood before using water."

"What?" Alex was surprised.

"Just do it," Godslayer said.

Alex quickly brought out the blood in his body and poured it onto the hot metal that lay on the anvil.

When the blood touched the metal, it sizzled and boiled with extreme heat. However, even with that, Alex could sense something amazing.

The sword was taking in his blood and actually getting stronger. "Wh-what's happening?" he asked. As he asked, Alex felt a slight pain in his mind and heart, as if something had been torn away from him.

"You just blood refined the sword," Godslayer said.

"Oh, it thought that part came afterward when I was done with using my Qi to refine it and then use my blood to make it recognize me as its master," Alex said. "Also, wasn't I supposed to use my Blood Essence?"

"You don't have to with the amount of blood you used," Godslayer said. "Besides, blood refinement is not the same as the normal refinement."

"How is it different?" Alex asked.

"The sword now belongs to you, and you alone. Unless you are dead or your bloodline ceases to exist, the sword will forever only follow your orders," Godslayer said.

"Wait, so if I lost the sword, others won't be able to refine it?" he asked.

"No, not unless you're dead," Godslayer.

"I see," Alex nodded as he thought to himself. "That's... not bad, but you seem to have another reason for this too. What is it?"

"The second and perhaps most important reason for Blood Refinement is that the weapon is very capable of growing a spirit in it, far better than a weapon that is made normally," Godslayer said. "Which is good because if there is a spirit born in a weapon, then it means your weapon can grow along with you."

"Then... you will never have to change to another weapon," Godslayer said.

Alex was stunned to hear that the new sword he had made could now grow a spirit in it. "Wait, so why didn't I do that with the other swords? I could've made so many swords with spirits in them."

"You can't," Godslayer said. "A Blood Refinement requires the refiner to give away part of his Qi, Mind, and Body during the refinement process. You gave it Qi while making Qi lines, the gave it your body in the form of your blood, and you gave it your mind, in the form of part of your soul and spirit that was stripped away from you."

"You can afford to give away your Qi and Blood, but even you do not have a robust Soul or Spirit that won't be hurt from excessive giving away," Godslayer said.

"I see," Alex said. "So that was the pain I felt. It was my spirit being stripped away." Alex released his spiritual sense and realized that it was slightly weaker than it should have been. He had permanently lost that portion of his spirit.

"So one really cannot perform this refinement over and over without fearing of damaging their spirit, huh?" Alex asked.

"That is one of the reasons why Blood Refinement is becoming rarer and rarer, and is almost all gone in the mortal realms."

"Many can only afford to give away Qi and maybe a bit of blood, which is why they perform normal refinement. They cannot afford to give parts of their soul and spirit away. As such, you won't find such treasures here, and only in the higher realms."

"The other reason is that one needs to be present at the creation of the artifact to impart Qi, Blood, and Spirit. The artificer creator cannot pour his own Qi in this process and has to rely on the one he is making the artifact for."

"Since most don't have knowledge of how artifacts should be created or how Qi lines should be made, they end up failing and losing part of their soul. That is a big mishap in a person's cultivation journey, so many don't want to take the risk," Godslayer said.

"You're right," Alex thought. "Qi lines are hard to even for me after all these times."

As he said that, Alex looked at the bloody sword. "Right, what is up with the Qi lines you made me make?" he asked. "You've never done that."

Godslayer's voice suddenly turned menacing as he said softly, "test it."

Alex was a little creeped out, but since this was his sword, he didn't see any reason to be afraid.

The sword had no handle and was bloody, so Alex gave it a quick rinse, before adding a makeshift handle for now.

Then, he poured his Qi into it. Something happened, but Alex wasn't able to tell what. It was as if a door had been half opened, but he still couldn't go through it.

"This Qi line doesn't work," Alex said with a bit of anger in his voice. If he had spent part of his soul on something that didn't work, he was going to make sure Godslayer was thoroughly punished.

"Pour in Yin Qi," Godslayer said with the same menacing voice.

"Okay," Alex said and poured in Yin Qi. As soon as he did, he saw what was happening. The Yin Qi he had sent in suddenly changed its attribute to death and another something, which Alex could guess was darkness.

The dark gray sword with glittering specks of light suddenly turned pitch black while the specks of light still remained like the stars in the night sky.

"What is this?" Alex asked with a confused expression.

"Send me in!" Godslayer said.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Send me into the sword!"

Alex contemplated for a bit but quickly realized that Godslayer was too weak to take away control from him. So, he did as Godslayer told him to and used his intent to force Godslayer into the sword.

Godslayer finally slipped out of Alex and into something that fit him the best.

"Haha! I'm finally back into a sword, and it is just like my own previous body," he said excitedly.

Alex quickly tested his control and sighed in relief that Godslayer hadn't done anything bad.

"This is now your sword," Godslayer said to him. "You should give it a name."

"A name?" Alex thought as he looked at the pitch black sword with specks of light glittering in it.

He thought of a name that he thought described it best..

"Midnight."