Book 12, The Descent of the Gods – Chapter 32, Divine Artifacts and Divinities

Hearing these words, Linley couldn’t help but frown.

Important common facts about divine artifacts? Important to his future training?

“Divine artifacts are just a type of weapon. How could they impact training?” Linley was puzzled, but he didn’t say anything. He just quietly listened to Muba’s explanation. Actually, Linley wouldn’t fully believe Muba’s words.

Muba’s arrival today was simply too strange.

According to what Linley knew, in the Four Higher Planes and the other major planes, experts engaged in battles against each other. How could they be so courteous? But since Muba was acting in such a way, Linley naturally would receive him with equal courtesy. He carefully listened to Muba’s explanation.

“I trust that you, Mr. Linley, also know that divine artifacts are divided into low, middle, and high quality artifacts. Different divine artifacts have different levels of power.” Muba looked at Linley.

Linley laughed. “Although I don’t know too much, I have heard of divine artifacts being divided into several levels, and that they have differences in power. What of it? What are you trying to say by discussing this, Mr. Muba?”

Muba laughed. “Let’s not discuss the differences in power between divine artifacts just yet. First, let me ask you, Mr. Linley. Do you know how divine artifacts are created?”

“I do not.” Linley replied succinctly.

Linley found it harder and harder to understand the meaning of Muba’s words.

“Linley, I am about to tell you…that actually, all divine artifacts, be they high or low level, are exactly the same when first created.” Muba said with a calm laugh. He paid attention to Linley’s face, and indeed…it was as he had suspected.

Linley was very surprised.

“How can they be the same?” Linley was extremely puzzled.

In the Yulan continent, ordinary ores and valuable ores would naturally produce weapons of varied quality. But divine artifacts…

“The materials which divine artifacts are made from might have some differences, but generally speaking the differences aren’t major.” Muba explained in detail. “The level of a divine artifact isn’t determined by its ‘birth’; it is determined by the ‘experiences’ it has after being created.”

“Experiences?” Linley didn’t really understand.

The nearby Delia maintained her silence. She was also listening carefully.

“Right. For example, an ordinary divine artifact that was just created. It is very ordinary, very average. But if it is in the hands of a Highgod, one which treats this weapon like family and often uses his divine power and spiritual energy to nourish the divine artifact, as well as often uses it to battle…hundreds of millions of years later, that divine artifact will most likely have killed over a million Deities. By then, you would discover that this divine artifact has actually transformed into a high level divine artifact.”

Muba smiled as he looked at Linley.

Hearing this, Linley seemed to understand a bit.

“What do you think?” Muba laughed.

Linley felt as though he now dimly understood the meaning of Muba’s earlier words; ‘The level of a divine artifact isn’t determined by its ‘birth’; it is determined by the ‘experiences’ it has after being created’.

“How much of a difference can there be between divine artifacts in terms of what mineral ores were used to create them? But the baleful aura and ‘spirit’ of a divine artifact is determined by its experiences, and are formed slowly. Those things cannot possibly be granted by lifeless minerals.” Muba continued.

Linley was beginning to understand.

“Baleful aura. Spirit?” Linley rather agreed with Muba’s explanation.

“People like us, after stepping onto the path of training, should understand how hard and arduous this road is. When we become Deities, it can be considered that we have succeeded to a certain extent already.” Muba said with a sigh. “Only, in the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes…there are far too many Demigods like us.”

“Divine artifacts are what we rely on to protect ourselves and kill enemies.” Muba said solemnly.

Linley once again agreed with Muba’s explanation.

The soul was the fundamental part of a Deity!

What Deities in turn truly relied on was their insights in the Laws, as well as a suitable set of divine artifacts! Relying on divine artifacts and insights into the Laws, one could protect one’s self and deal with enemies.

“To truly become attuned to the spiritual nature of a divine artifact isn’t an easy task.” Muba continued. “Can it be, Linley, that you think that just by binding it with blood, you will be able to fully make the divine artifact yours?”

Linley looked at Muba in confusion.

Binding something by blood to become its master; this was common knowledge!

“Binding by blood is nothing more than showing that this divine artifact belongs to you. However, to truly make it one with your will isn’t that simple. You must understand…a divine artifact, especially one which has existed for countless years, has a spirit of its own.”

Muba said solemnly, “As an expert grows, his divine artifact will grow alongside him and his experiences. We must treat our divine artifacts as we would our family. We must make our spirits become as one over a long period of time. Divine artifacts that have killed many Deities will have extremely powerful spiritual natures, making it easier to use them once you are one with it.”

“For example, an expert who trains in the Way of Destruction might use an ordinary divine artifact, but after using it for ten million years and killing many Deities, this divine artifact will become a divine artifact with a Destruction-style nature. For example…just by filling it with divine power, the divine artifact’s vibrations alone can cause space to shatter and create spatial blades.

Linley’s heart trembled.

Bloodviolet!

Bloodviolet was exactly like this. Linley only had to fill it with divine power, and Bloodviolet would not only create spatial fractures, it would also generate a humming sword song that could cause vibrations in the souls of others. Linley had been wondering this entire time about this. A divine artifact was nothing more than something formed from minerals; how, then, could it have such an unusual effect?

Now, it seemed, it was because of its ‘spiritual nature’.

Compared to Bloodviolet, the adamantine heavy sword was much inferior.

Linley was already beginning to believe Muba’s explanations.

“Let me make an example. A newly forged divine artifact is like an infant. What will the infant be like when it grows up? That depends on its future experiences. What we need to do is to cultivate it!” Muba explained. “Linley, if you have a powerful divine artifact, then what you need to do is make it acknowledge you.”

Linley began to worry.

“What does Muba mean by saying this? Could it be that he knows that I have powerful divine artifacts?” Linley was still very suspicious regarding this visit by Muba. Hearing Muba’s words, he became even more cautious.

“Mr. Muba, you said ‘acknowledge’?” Linley looked at Muba.

Muba nodded slightly. “Powerful divine artifacts are exceedingly rare and valuable. This is because generally speaking, a Deity is only capable of protecting and cherishing one or two divine artifacts, valuing them like his own life. It’s virtually impossible to make them give it up to someone else.”

“Just now, I said that newly made divine artifacts are like infants, while those very powerful divine artifacts are like adults. Powerful divine artifacts possess their own spirits, and are naturally powerful. But since they are already ‘adults’, it will be very hard for them to truly acknowledge another master.”

“Only after it has truly acknowledged you will you be able to utilize its full power.”

Linley listened intently to these words.

His adamantine heavy sword was most likely an ‘infant’ right now. He needed to spend time to nourish it and help it grow.

As for Bloodviolet, it was already an ‘adult’ with a soul of its own. It wouldn’t so easily acknowledge him. Most likely, the person which Bloodviolet truly acknowledged was ‘that one’…the devilish, purple haired man who had nurtured it from an ordinary divine artifact to its current level of power.

Muba was finished with his explanations.

But his words had a major impact on Linley.

After all, one of the most important things to a person training on this path was his weapons.

“Acknowledge? Acknowledge how?” Linley asked.

“Hard to say.” Muba frowned. “I can tell you a simple method. That method is…normally, often use your spiritual energy and divine power to nourish it. This is the most ordinary and most common way. Actually, to make a divine artifact that has a spirit acknowledge you as its master will require you to pay a high price.”

“A divine artifact will be able to sense the love you bear it as well.”

Muba laughed. “To put it simply, don’t treat it as a lifeless weapon. Treat it as you would a living creature. As time goes on, I imagine that the divine artifact will eventually acknowledge you.”

Linley nodded slightly.

Treat divine artifacts like living creatures!

“What if you are the first master of a divine artifact?” Linley asked.

“That’s simple. Just keep nurturing and cultivating it. It will naturally and completely acknowledge you.” Muba said with a laugh.

Linley suddenly had a thought…

His adamantine heavy sword didn’t have to be bound with blood at all. That meant…it hadn’t reached that level yet.

“If a weapon’s quality makes it very close to a divine artifact in power, but isn’t at the level of needing to be bound by blood, what then? After reaching the Deity level, can one continue to use this weapon?” Linley asked. He actually truly did have some affection towards his adamantine heavy sword.

He didn’t want to give up the adamantine heavy sword. And, in terms of quality, it wasn’t too far off either.

“Haha…”

Muba began to laugh loudly. “Linley, ‘binding by blood’ doesn’t necessarily determine whether a weapon is good or not. For example, interspatial rings. In the Higher Planes, interspatial rings are as common as bags or sacks here in the Yulan continent. They are very ordinary. Interspatial rings need to be bound by blood, but does that mean they are powerful?”

Linley was stunned.

All these years, Linley had always believed that binding by blood was something which a weapon would only acquire after reaching the divine artifact stage. But now, from the sound of it, that was a mistake.

“Binding by blood is nothing more than a technique.” Muba laughed.

“For example, an ordinary blade, even just a wood cutting machete, in the hands of a Sovereign who often uses his Sovereign power and his spiritual energy to nourish it, after trillions of years…will most likely have transformed into a ‘Sovereign artifact’ which is beyond the level of ‘divine artifacts’!” Muba explained.

Linley’s eyes lit up.

“Sovereign artifacts?” This was the first time Linley had heard him mention Sovereign artifacts.

“Right. Sovereign artifacts.” Muba laughed. “I forgot to tell you. The various levels which divine artifacts can be divided into also are based on the power of the divine artifacts master. Some newly forged divine artifacts, if given to a Demigod to use and nurture who remains at the Demigod level, most likely will only be a low level divine artifact.”

“But a full God who nurtures it, as long as he spends time and effort on it, will allow it to become a middle level divine artifact. From this, we can tell…that if a Sovereign wholeheartedly devotes himself to nurturing a weapon, then the weapon will most likely reach the Sovereign artifact level. As for what the weapon started off as, that really doesn’t matter much.”

Linley nodded slightly.

Muba could tell that this Linley most likely had a mortal, ordinary weapon.

Hearing Muba’s explanation, Linley felt at ease.

He didn’t need to change weapons, at least. Linley had been worried that if in the future, he grew too strong, if the adamantine heavy sword would perhaps be unsuited to high level combat. But now, it seemed, there was no need…as Muba had put it, even an ordinary wood chopping machete, in the hands of a Sovereign, could become a Sovereign artifact with enough time and attention from the Sovereign.

“My adamantine heavy sword is much better than a wood chopping machete at least.”

Linley was in an excellent mood after hearing this.

“Mr. Linley, I won’t disturb you further. I’ll head back for now.” Muba laughed as he stood up.

Linley and Delia hurriedly stood up as well.

No matter what Muba’s intentions were, he had told Linley many things today. Linley felt very grateful towards him. In addition, Linley felt that what Muba had said was most likely real, based on Linley’s own experiences with Bloodviolet.

After Muba left.

“So the creation of a powerful divine artifact is so complicated.” Delia sighed.

Linley laughed. “Actually, that makes sense. Only if you wholeheartedly nurture it will a truly powerful divine artifact slowly be created. If just by relying on good materials and good forging skills, you could create a powerful divine artifact, then they would be all over the place.”

Linley had already made up his mind.

In the future, he would have to pay more attention to his adamantine heavy sword and Bloodviolet.

While he travelled on his path to the peak of training, his divine artifacts would grow alongside him…