Chapter 191: Soaring Vermillion

Lu Zheng withdrew his soul consciousness and opened his weary eyes, letting out a breath of turbid air. Drawing spirit veins placed strong burdens on the soul.

A small stream of soul energy flowed from the Soul Absorbing Gem and soon, Lu Zheng returned to his peak mental state.

"He has awoken" Old Fang noticed the change in Lu Zheng.

"Hmm. He must have finished drawing the spirit veins. The other two are already done with theirs" An Jian muttered.

The jade blade of the sword had transformed because of the spirit veins inside it. On its flat side, the depiction of a soaring Vermillion Bird seemed to fly around with brilliant trails of fire behind it. Azure lightning bolts covered the Vermillion Bird. A silvery line marked the sharp edges of the sword, giving it a dangerous lustre.

Feeling energized, Lu Zheng took a tiny pellet the size of a grain of sand that he had already prepared and put it in the eye of the spirit vein. The pellet seemed to phase through the solid sword and appeared in the spirit vein.

Lu Zheng swung the sword as streams of Qi flowed into it.

"Fwoosh!"

The silvery light let out a bright glow as the Vermillion Bird turned a bright red and blue. With a flap of its wings, it swiftly flew to the tip of the blade. Almost at the same time, a sharp white light that was extremely hot appeared before dying out under Lu Zheng's control.

Lu Zheng's eyes glistened as he looked at the jade sword: "I think I'll name you Soaring Vermillion"

Yu Hong Mei and the female hairyman had already turned in their Immortal Swords when Lu Zheng did.

The Immortal Sword Lu Zheng refined was rank four Immortal Grade while Yu Hong Mei's Immortal Sword was rank five Immortal Grade. The female hairyman's Immortal Sword was rank five Immortal Grade.

In the end, Lu Zheng wasn't a refinement path martial practitioner. The efforts it took for him to refine a single artifact was many times greater than the efforts that Yu Hong Mei and the female hairyman put in.

The Four Artificer Elders took the Immortal Swords and passed it amongst themselves to sense its qualities. Only the best artificer could become the Child of Aptitude.

All of a sudden, Old Fang exclaimed as he held his hands against a sword: "Crap! It's a Primordial Spirit Vein!"

Old Fang's words easily garnered the attention of An Jian and the others.

"Is it really true?"

"A Primordial Spirit Vein has appeared in this era?"

"Check it again. It can't be possible"

Old Zu collected the sword and probed it before suddenly trembling: "My old eyes have begun to deceive me! It really is a Primordial Spirit Vein!"

An Jian and Di Wei snatched the sword as if they were unafraid of being cut by it. Soon, both men exclaimed in unison: "A Primordial Spirit Vein!"

"Is that so? Bring it" Burning Ash Demonness suddenly spoke, causing the Four Artificer Elders to shut up. After collecting the Immortal Sword, she sent her soul consciousness into the artifact.

Unlike normal spirit veins, there used to be a form of spirit veins that made even the best spirit veins resemble doodles. Artificers referred to them as Primordial Spirit Veins.

The Primordial Spirit Veins were from the ancient eras, the last appearing during the Primal Antiquity Era. Primordial Spirit Veins were exceedingly complex to draw and resonated with the Heavenly Dao itself.

With a Primordial Spirit Vein, a rank one Immortal Grade artifact could easily rival top tier rank four Immortal Grade artifacts.

Such spirit veins were nearly extinct and other than Blacksteel Ancestor, Burning Ash Demonness could not think of anyone else that could draw one.

Why wouldn't the Four Artificer Elders be ecstatic?

Soon however, a thought crossed her mind: "Who refined this sword?"

The Four Artificer Elders exchanged gazes before replying in unison: "The male"

Hearing their response, Burning Ash Demonness smiled bitterly and returned the sword: "As expected, it is the senior"

"It's only a pity that my Blacksteel Association would miss out on such talent but such a person won't want to remain as an artificer. I can only prepare some vital stones to purchase this Immortal Sword" Burning Ash Demonness thought.

The Four Artificer Elders examined the two other Immortal Swords but no other spirit vein entered their eyes. They already knew who the next Child of Aptitude would be.

Old Zu and the other three elders faced the arena with bright smiles.

"It is with great joy that we, the Four Artificer Elders, bring the Blacksteel Decennial Refinement Competition to a close and announce the next Child of Aptitude for the next decade; Lu Zheng!"