The black liquid perfectly merged into the blade's body, yet it was still under the control of one's Mental Consciousness. So, could these black liquids be used to construct restrictions within the blade?

If so, as long as the constructed restrictions are ample, the Boulder Mountain Saber could restore its original quality, or perhaps even exceed it...

This means that from now on, the Boulder Mountain Saber will become a personal weapon that can change its quality according to his desires. If such a thing could truly be accomplished, it would be of immense help to Lu Ye.

All along, Lu Ye had a vague worry.

That is, with the growth of his own strength, to what extent can the Boulder Mountain Saber accompany him?

This is also the awkward situation that most combat cultivators face.

Combat cultivators have high demands on their personal weapons. Long-term companionship, growth, and enemy defeat make a combat cultivator and his weapon as one in spirit and action. With the Boulder Mountain Saber in hand, Lu Ye can unleash his full potential. The same goes for other combat cultivators; however, if he were to switch to another weapon, even if the reduction in power was minimal, it would inevitably have some effect.

In the struggle between the strong, any external influence can be fatal.

Therefore, Lu Ye has consistently opted to spend more battle merit upgrading the Boulder Mountain Saber, never considering replacing it with another long saber. If he wanted to change, the Hall of Battle Merits was full of long blade-type Magic Artifacts available for exchange.

But the foundation of the Boulder Mountain Saber is too weak. It was originally just a low-grade Spiritual Artifact. It can be upgraded to a top-grade Spiritual Artifact or even a Magic Artifact, but can it be upgraded to a spirit treasure?

Maybe it can, maybe it can't.

There are significant risks involved in the upgrading process. If upgrading fails, the Boulder Mountain Saber may shatter. At that time, even if Lu Ye finds someone to craft an identical one, it wouldn't be the Boulder Mountain Saber; it would require him to nurture it anew and establish a new connection with it.

One key point is that Lu Ye's cultivation has been advancing quickly, leading to a high frequency of upgrades for the Boulder Mountain Saber, which increases the risk of future upgrades.

He is now in the Divine Sea Realm, and currently, the quality of the Boulder Mountain Saber is not quite suitable for his use. It's time to upgrade it again.

Originally, he planned to handle this matter himself when he had some free time, accumulating more experience.

Always seeking outsiders from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault for upgrades involved too many uncertain factors, because there was no guarantee on how much care they would take during the upgrade.

The cultivation's advancement triggers a series of subsequent issues, all of which require dealing with.

But the current change made Lu Ye see a possibility.

If his guess proves true, he will no longer have to worry about upgrading the Boulder Mountain Saber. He can change its quality at any time and place, making it more suitable to his current realm's capabilities.

After deliberating steadily for a moment, Lu Ye felt that this was feasible.

The fact that the black liquid constituting the Soul Severing Saber could be controlled at will was a signal in itself.

With resolve, Lu Ye's Mental Consciousness surged, pouring into the Boulder Mountain Saber.

The manipulation of the black liquid requires relying on one's own Mental Consciousness, something Lu Ye had just verified. Activating spirit force had no effect.

As the Mental Consciousness surged, the black liquid transformed within the Boulder Mountain Saber into small Yin-Yang Dual Origins, quickly constructing a spirit rune.

With the Mental Consciousness withdrawn, the spirit rune became fixed within the Boulder Mountain Saber. Since it was already integrated into the saber, it caused no damage to its interior.

This was a restriction.

It truly worked!

Lu Ye grew interested and continued his efforts. Moments later, nine restrictions were added within the Boulder Mountain Saber, classifying it as a low-grade Spiritual Artifact.

He tried channeling spirit force into it; the restrictions operated smoothly and could perform perfectly.

After playing with it for a while, Lu Ye dispelled the restrictions within.

That was only a kind of attempt. Now that it was confirmed feasible, he needed to plan carefully.

The foundation of restrictions in Spiritual Artifacts lies in the spirit runes. A Sharpness spirit rune constitutes a restriction, and so does a Foundation Fortification spirit rune; they have different effects.

Spiritual Artifacts of the same quality might be hefty, sharp, or graceful. This is not only due to the different materials used but also depends on the type and ratio of restrictions inside.

If there are more Foundation Fortification restrictions, the Spiritual Artifact is sturdier. More Sharpness restrictions make the Spiritual Artifact sharper.

How to balance the types of restrictions is what Lu Ye needs to consider now.

Previously, when upgrading the Boulder Mountain Saber, he would always find that Feathered Master and state his requirements simply, leaving Feathered Master to work freely. Whether the finished weapon was good or bad, whether it met his needs or suited his desires, depended on Feathered Master's level of Artifact Refining.

But now it's different. What he was doing now was equivalent to crafting to suit himself.

Only he can truly know what he most needs.

Lu Ye has always demanded that the Boulder Mountain Saber be hefty, as it needs to be used in close combat, and not being hefty enough would make it prone to damage.

Thus, the proportion of Foundation Fortification restrictions should be higher to ensure the Boulder Mountain Saber wouldn't break in a fight.

Sharpness, of course, is also necessary. Though he generally adds Sharpness spirit runes to the long saber when fighting, the Boulder Mountain Saber itself needs to be sufficiently sharp as well.

It's inevitable that he will have to confront opponents in the Divine Sea Realm in the future. At this level of cultivation, their self-protection is very strong, and a weapon that isn't sharp enough won't be very effective in battle.

Hefty Weight is a good thing — it must be added, and there can't be too few of them.

Although the Boulder Mountain Saber itself is not light, it is not too heavy either. However, if the Hefty Weight spirit runes are activated in the midst of fierce combat…

It's clearly just a single slash, but upon receiving it, one finds it has the weight of a mountain. Can you withstand it?

Of course, the reality won't be as exaggerated, but the presence of the Hefty Weight restriction will undoubtedly make Lu Ye even more formidable in battle, allowing him to better utilize the power of his physical body.

Cactus can exist.

Sometimes it's difficult to inflict effective damage on a strong opponent, but the presence of the cactus restriction can turn minor injuries into severe ones.

Is it possible to add restrictions such as Lightning Attracting or Golden Arc to the Boulder Mountain Saber?

Clearly, it's just a slash, but the activation of Lightning Attracting Technique and Golden Arc Slash seems like it could take the enemy by surprise?

Lu Ye realized there were too many restrictions to choose from…

The root of this is his Talent Tree, which currently has forty spirit runes activated. Although many are not suitable for weapon construction, quite a few are appropriate.

After contemplating for a long time, he eventually abandoned some of his flashy ideas. The restrictions within a weapon, like a cultivator's learning, should be high quality rather than numerous. Adding too many flashy things unnecessarily dilutes the restriction composition and may not be very effective.

If he really wanted to activate magic and spells, Lu Ye could do it himself; there was no need to waste the restriction allocation of the Boulder Mountain Saber.

The final decision was that the restrictions within the Boulder Mountain Saber should prioritize Foundation Fortification and Sharpness, supplemented by Hefty Weight, with two additional Cactus restrictions.

He immediately set to work, letting his Mental Consciousness surge and directing the black fluid within the blade to construct each spirit rune restriction.

Time passed by.

The spirit runes chosen by Lu Ye were all those activated on his Talent Tree, making them easy to construct without much effort.

The command over the black fluid was as natural as moving his arm, and as the two came together, the quality of the Boulder Mountain Saber steadily increased with the number of restrictions.

Low-grade spirit artifact, mid-grade, top-grade, supreme grade, low-grade magic artifact, mid-grade magic artifact…

In just a moment, the work was done.

Carefully examining the Boulder Mountain Saber lying across his knees, it appeared unchanged at first glance, still with an ink-black blade, simple and unadorned.

But the Boulder Mountain Saber now had undergone a transformation compared to before.

The previous Boulder Mountain Saber, though at the magic-artifact class, was only the lowest quality, a low-grade magic artifact, containing seventy-two restrictions.

After all, the last time Lu Ye upgraded the Boulder Mountain Saber was when he was at the Cloud River Realm, and a Cloud River realm cultivator couldn't use anything of too high quality.

Throughout the entire True Lake Realm, he had not upgraded the Boulder Mountain Saber, and strictly speaking, it could no longer keep up with his cultivation advancements.

Now, with a total of one hundred eighty restrictions concealed within the Boulder Mountain Saber, this blade that had accompanied Lu Ye across the land had finally been promoted to a supreme-grade magic artifact.

The next step up would be the spirit treasure level.

Lu Ye could indeed upgrade the Boulder Mountain Saber to a spirit treasure, as for him now, it was merely a matter of constructing a few more spirit runes, very simple.

The reason he didn't construct them was that he needed a process of familiarization.

The leap from a low-grade magic artifact to a spirit treasure was too great, which would undoubtedly have a considerable impact on his own combat strength. The current quality of the Boulder Mountain Saber was just right.

Additionally, the material of the Boulder Mountain Saber was an issue.

The Boulder Mountain Saber was crafted by Feathered Master, and although some materials were added during its creation, it was only improved to support the restrictions of a magic artifact.

If Lu Ye really were to raise the Boulder Mountain Saber to spirit treasure quality, it might not withstand the load with its current material.

He certainly did not want the Boulder Mountain Saber to suddenly break during a fierce battle.

The solution is quite simple, merely a matter of recasting it with the addition of some precious materials to enhance its quality.

Lu Ye himself could handle this task and plans to do so when he has the time and opportunity in the future.

Grabbing the Boulder Mountain Saber and channeling spirit force into it, he immediately felt the difference.

The consumption of his own spirit force was more than three times before, as the number of internal restrictions required a substantial spirit force to activate.

This undoubtedly made it easier for him to exert his strength.

An almost imperceptible layer of aura fluctuated on the jet-black edge of the Boulder Mountain Saber, which was the aura of Sharpness.

The restrictions Lu Ye constructed on the Boulder Mountain Saber this time had a significant proportion of Sharpness, making it naturally sharp once activated.

Looking at the Boulder Mountain Saber, Lu Ye was extremely satisfied.

It truly is a case of destroying to build anew.

The things in the Hall of Battle Merits were indeed reasonably priced and fair, the fifty thousand battle merits spent were worth it. Had he known the Soul Severing Saber had such characteristics earlier, he wouldn't have hesitated to spend even a million.