Chapter 62: "Dragon Saliva Needle"
The Ghost Sect's Thirteen Needle was Lady Jade Poison Hand's signature skill. Altogether this technique had thirteen moves meant for various lethal points on a person's body, each with their own powers according to the (Five Poison Manual).
Back when Lady Jade Poison Hand first mastered all thirteen moves of this technique, the destructive power she wielded can instantly wipe out hundreds of martialists at will. This wasn't just because she had enormous powers on her own, this needle technique also played a huge role in her ability to kill.
But great things always came at a catch. In order to bring out the full power of this Thirteen Needle of the Ghost Sect, one must utilize a needle of exceptional quality, otherwise the effects will be greatly diminished.
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Back in Autumn Maple Town and after coming to Glass City, Ling Yue had visited the weapons store in both locations. Not only that, she also asked around while she was at the Profit House. But whenever she brought up the question of a needle-shaped weapon, the workers would always show a puzzled expression, saying they only heard of sewing needles and acupuncturing needles, never weapon needles.
Frustrated by the lack of results, Ling Yue can only rely on herself to craft one.
Holding the Dragon Saliva Ore in her right hand and the Withered Wooden Vine on her left, Ling Yue controls her spirit smoke to first enter the herb to remove the impurities.
From what used to be a withered looking branch, the spirit smoke turns it into a coral like crystal twig that showed how pure it was.
Taking it even further after the first step, the spirit smoke continues to process the branch vine until it melts into a liquid form.
With that completed, Ling Yue sucks it into her cauldron to begin working on the ore.
Under the effect of the spirit smoke, the stones covering the ore suddenly fossilized and began to shed at rapid speed, exposing the true appearance of the minerals inside. Dozens of droplet looking ores were suspended in the air.
The next step was to fuse the two liquids together. Controlling her spirit smoke and cauldron, Ling Yue begins melding the two substances together at great difficulty, way harder than what she expected.
The Withered Wood Vine belongs to the Wood element while the Dragon Saliva Metal falls in the Metal element, two opposing attributes would of course cause a repelling reaction. Like two contradictory kids, no matter what happens they just won't mix together.
(Note: the elements in china is different from western ones. We have Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.)
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Following the passage of time, Ling Yue's endurance was starting to wane following the massive consumption of her Yuan energy. Sweat continuously drips down her forehead with no end in sight.
Compared to concocting Dan pills, forging artifacts was far harder. It's no wonder only three cauldron alchemists and up can forge artifacts.
She may be tired, but she cannot fail no matter what. If she does, the Dragon Saliva Ore and the previous herb she used today will all become scrap. If that happens, how will she go about finding more of these materials?
Gritting her teeth, Ling Yue shouts with all her strength.
"FUSE!" Shaking tremendously at her command, the spirit smoke reacted like it just got a dose of adrenaline. From its already snake like appearance, it expanded and took on the appearance of a raging cobra, devouring both liquids in one gulp.
Exploding into a golden brilliance, both the Dragon Saliva Metal and Withered Wood Vine finally merged, reforming and transforming into a golden liquid the size of a musket ball.
Seeing the new substance that came in existence, Ling Yue's unease so far has settled down.
Gently controlling her spirit smoke, she begins to kneed and forge the golden ball until the impurities were all extracted, leaving only a nail sized droplet in the air.
Seeing it's about time, that's when she embarks on the final step: shaping.
A total of half a day later, Ling Yue slumped down onto her couch in total exhaustion.
Alchemists aren't as easy to be as I took it for.
If any of the alchemists in the association were to learn of Ling Yue's feelings, it's a certainty they would vomit blood from being too angry.
Who doesn't know it's harder to forge artifacts than to create pills? Even the most gifted must wait until they are of a three cauldron level before even attempting to craft a artifact, and its well-known most would fail over a dozen times before their first success. Therefore, it's easy to imagine how vexing Ling Yue's little rant must be to an average alchemist.
It's really damning to compare one to another, yet there's someone here that's not satisfied over her amazing results.
Consuming a blue patterned Xuan Yin Dan Pill, Ling Yue spent another whole hour meditating inside her dimensional space to restore her energy.
Under normal circumstances, it would take a five cauldron alchemist half a month of rest before they can even attempt another crafting session, but because Ling Yue had her pills and Red Mist Sky to support her, the recovery rate on her body was vastly increased. But none of these things concerned Ling Yue for she has already taken this fact for granted.
Invoking her will, the Dragon Saliva Needle became suspended in the air. Because this thing was forged entirely by using her cauldron and spirit force, the flexibility of this weapon was far stronger than the flying dagger by large margins.
Wanting to test her newfound toy immediately, Ling Yue came outside and entered the courtyard.
Compared to the huge complex of the Ye family's home in Autumn Maple Town, Ye Huang Xuan's home in Glass City comprised of one main quarter with six smaller quarters.
Therefore, after the Ye family members arrived at Glass City, each of them were able to pick out a space for themselves without a need to share. In order to make it convenient for her to cultivate and train, Ling Yue chose the most secluded location in the manor, the Sophora Quarter where the name comes from the big Sophora tree in the courtyard.
Testing her needle out on the Sophora tree was out of the question, but she could try it on the other stuff in her quarter. Next to the courtyard was a corridor with a small artificial pond, two rolls of Locust trees, and stacks of manmade mountain ornaments. This place was like a picture out of a story book, gorgeous. But that's not the best part. Due to the shade created by the Locust trees, this area remains relatively cool despite the sun's poisonous rays in mid-day.
Sending the servants away, Ling Yue dived right in to test the power of her Dragon Saliva Needle.
One thought only, the needle silently suspended itself into the air.
Different from the flying dagger, the Dragon Saliva Needle was only a hair width in size. Unless one carefully looked for the needle, it's very difficult to see it clearly even when still.
Fixing her sight on one of the fake mountains, the needle shot right out following Ling Yue's gaze.
In a blurry flash, the entire mountain exploded into dozens of pieces like smashed tofu, leaving the ground littered with pieces of gravel and rock. If the target was human instead, the poor person would've definitely had a hole run through its body.
What's more, compared to the flying dagger, the needle was far easier to control and consumed less Yuan energy. If she had to face a master, then this would be a great boon for her because an ounce of extra strength means an extra ounce of likelihood for victory.
"Come back," in her moment of happiness, Ling Yue calls for the needle to return when the single needle abruptly divided into three!
"This is?" Startled and shocked, Ling Yue invokes her will again and the three needles reformed and merged back together.
This Dragon Saliva Needle can actually clone itself?