Wu Ling nodded in satisfaction, then reached out and lifted the refined Dragon Soul Wood.
The weight of the Dragon Soul Wood was almost impossible to imagine. It did not look large, but it weighed more than half a ton.
Wu Ling held it in his hand and tapped it lightly. The Dragon Soul Wood gave off a dull, heavy sound. It was not metal, yet the resonance was far deeper and thicker than metal.
White light flashed. The Blade of Noxis shifted into the form of a dagger, its thin edge extending about sixteen centimeters. Wu Ling's right hand moved in a blur, scattering fine silver threads through the air.
The silver threads released by the Blade of Noxis fell onto the Dragon Soul Wood. Noxis, who had been watching with his head lowered, immediately sensed something different. Points of silver light sank into the wood, forming thin lines that sketched out Magecraft arrays. Wu Ling's dazzling, flower-like technique made the process almost beautiful to watch.
"You should still have dragon tendons, right?" Wu Ling asked Noxis casually.
The soul fire in Noxis's eyes flickered violently. To the dragon race, using pieces of their bodies after death to make anything was a desecration. But perhaps the first time had already broken the line. Noxis nodded and, using the same method as before, took out seven dragon tendons one after another.
Before long, seven long, thin tendons lay side by side. They shone blue, red, yellow, green, gold, black, and six-colored.
They were the thinnest and strongest dragon tendons available. According to Noxis, those seven tendons came from the previous generation dragon kings of the Seven Dragon Cities. They were among the most precious materials in the Qin Emperor universe.
Wu Ling bent down and picked up the seven tendons. After carefully measuring them for a while, he shifted the Blade of Noxis into the shape of a fine needle and began carving Magecraft arrays into the tendons. At last, he fused them into the Dragon Soul Wood components.
The soul fire in Noxis's eyes had grown extremely dim. It still burned, but it carried the fatigue of something nearly spent. Relying on the last energy inside his spiritual imprint, he forced himself to keep watching Wu Ling craft this divine-grade soulcraft artifact.
There was one final thing Noxis felt he had to do. He had to make the dragon race's sacred ground recover its balance completely, free from any future threat.
His hidden gaze quietly studied Wu Ling, who was still working on the new artifact. A certain thought had already formed in Noxis's mind.
Wu Ling seemed not to notice anything wrong with Noxis. After obtaining the dragon tendons, he asked Noxis for some dragon teeth as well. Then he separated the Dragon Soul Wood according to the structure he had designed, reassembled it piece by piece, and finally formed a human-shaped outline.
That was right. Wu Ling had never seen a pig run, but he had certainly eaten pork.
He had never personally watched the third Soul Land era, but he had heard about it from a friend. Apparently, by then, soul tools had developed into a type of armor. According to that friend's complaints, a Spirit Meister or Spirit Leader could put on battle armor and fight a Titled Sage. That degree of cheating made even Wu Ling feel ashamed of himself.
Because of that, Wu Ling had researched armor-type soulcraft artifacts long ago. The Soul Shifter had been the predecessor to this kind of artifact.
Bzzzz.
When the blue dragon tendon successfully merged into the human-shaped soulcraft artifact, a layer of blue, water-like light spread across it. At the same time, a low hum echoed through the entire Dragon Domain.
The purple moon in the sky once again shifted toward a full moon. Beneath increasingly brilliant moonlight, Wu Ling continued connecting the dragon tendons.
He began with the water dragon tendon, then moved to the fire dragon tendon, earth dragon tendon, wind dragon tendon, golden dragon tendon, black dragon tendon, and silver dragon tendon.
The most distinctive among them was naturally the silver dragon tendon shining with six-colored light. It represented four elemental magics and two mixed magics. The elemental fluctuations inside it were the most violent, pulsing gently as if the tendon itself possessed a soul.
When the silver dragon tendon finally merged in, Wu Ling sliced his left palm with the blade. A spray of blood essence scattered across the entire suit of armor. Light and shadow immediately spread.
Seven giant dragons soared out, shining against one another in the air. A massive soul aura covered the entire Dragon Domain.
The silver-purple dragon moon overhead once again became full. Under the moonlight illuminating the Dragon Domain, more bone dragons awakened. Rose had to divide part of her strength to suppress them so they would not interfere with Wu Ling's work.
Noxis had been watching Wu Ling forge the armor the entire time. As the armor took shape, the soul fire in his eyes suddenly surged much higher.
"A thousand dragons awakening. Seven dragon shadows rising. This is the sign of a divine artifact being born. This strange armor truly has reached divine-artifact level."
"Your Excellency, allow me to lend you a hand."
Beneath the silver-purple full moon, over a thousand bone dragons woke and roared. The remnant shadows of the seven dragon kings appeared. The human-shaped soulcraft artifact had already reached the divine-artifact level of the Qin Emperor universe, but it still seemed to lack something.
Then Noxis spoke again. The soul fire in his eyes finally brightened when the soulcraft artifact took shape. Golden light flickered at the center of his brow. His spiritual imprint was moving once more.
"So the moon is full."
A trace of emotion suddenly entered Noxis's voice. His enormous dragon head lifted toward the sky.
The silver-purple crescent had once again become complete. The Dragon Domain visibly brightened. The enormous soul aura in the air began condensing once more.
The dim soul fire of the Sacred Giant Dragon Noxis fluctuated again and again. With a sigh, he said, "Your Excellency, your miraculous methods and genius skill are truly astonishing. Unfortunately..."
Noxis paused. His huge body barely propped itself up. He lowered his dragon head toward Wu Ling, and his crystalline, milky-white dragon bones released a faint silver glow.
"You still have not given up, have you?" Wu Ling looked at him calmly, as if he had expected this from the beginning.
"If I do not try, how could I ever be satisfied? I am, after all, the Sacred Giant Dragon who lived through the ancient war, buried the four divine beasts of the orc race, and buried the me of that age. How could I submit so easily?"
Noxis said faintly, "Your Excellency, with your ability, you would surely leave your name in Longinus Continent's history. Unfortunately, you will have to leave this world together with me."
As soon as he finished speaking, a ball of soul fire glowing with pale golden light shot out of the Sacred Giant Dragon's skull.
Noxis's soul fire broke free from the two chains that had been binding his soul. Carrying the last trace of his spiritual imprint, it shot to Wu Ling and plunged into the human-shaped soulcraft artifact.
As the soul fire left him, Noxis's enormous body crashed to the ground under the pull of the remaining chains. In that moment, the Sacred Giant Dragon announced his final departure from the dragon race's world.
Dazzling golden light sank into the human-shaped soulcraft artifact. The artifact Wu Ling had forged blasted him backward at once.
Blinding golden light erupted and covered Wu Ling. His body stiffened for an instant, then recovered. He raised a hand and stopped Angra, who had instinctively been about to attack.
The Dragon Domain became abnormally noisy. It was as if every bone dragon had awakened at once. The whole domain filled with dragon roars, surging like waves of death.
A beam of white divine light enveloped the human-shaped soulcraft artifact. The body of a Sacred Giant Dragon stood proudly within it. Noxis had restored his true form as a spiritual phantom, and his entire body radiated intense light. It was the last light he would ever release in his life.
The Sacred Giant Dragon's scales were pure milky white, different from a silver dragon's body. This was a sacred radiance. The horn on his head stood proud. Every detail of his body was harmonious, especially those silver-lit dragon eyes, which seemed capable of seizing the soul.
Noxis stared coldly at Wu Ling and said, "I must thank you for giving me this chance. This divine artifact is designed with tremendous power, but it lacks an artifact spirit. If I pour my spiritual imprint into it, I can become that spirit."
"This divine artifact was forged from the most precious materials in the Dragon Domain. It can draw upon every power within this place. Before I truly become its artifact spirit, I can use it as a vessel and temporarily unleash the peak strength I held while alive. That is enough, because I will use this brief time to leave you here forever!"