Chapter 788: I Want To Forge (3)
Zhao Li immediately acted on his plan. He left the research center and went straight to the Grotto District.
Source Qi Secret Grotto.
Old Nie was watching over the grotto. The moment Zhao Li arrived, Old Nie asked, "Old Zhao, why are you here?"
"Hand over the grotto. I'm moving it somewhere else. Also, kick everyone inside out."
Old Nie was stunned. He said, "Old Zhao, this...don't you want to think about this? If you're unhappy about something, you can always tell us about it. The students can't afford to lose this grotto..."
"I'm going to forge a weapon."
"Weapon forging?"
Old Nie's eyes flickered as he asked, "Your earth weapon?"
"Yes."
Old Nie frowned, "Who will be the helper? Principal Zhao?"
"No. A guest. He's a genius weaponsmith. He will serve as my assistant. Others are unsuitable. Those who are too strong will take over my position as the main smith. I need someone weaker than me."
He frowned and said, "Hurry up. I need it. I'll bring it back after I'm done."
"Old Zhao...this is too risky. Why look for an outsider who is weaker than you? The probability of failing is too high."
"If I fail, I fail. Why do you care?"
Old Nie could only helplessly hand the Source Qi Mirror over. That was the key to controlling the grotto.
Zhao Li wasted no time and formed a hand-seal at the mirror. Before long, the air warped as the entire building around the portal collapsed. Instantly, a translucent chunk of space appeared before everyone's eyes. It only lasted for a split second before vanishing into the mirror.
Yuan Qingdong and a few other elders arrived moments after that happened.
When they saw what was happening, an elder asked, "Old Zhao, what are you doing? We can talk it out if there is something you're unhappy about. Yes, this grotto belongs to you. But the academy is currently undergoing a difficult phase. Old Zhao, isn't this a tad bit too excessive?" Fresh chapters posted on noveⅼfire.net
Zhao Li rolled his eyes and said, "Why do you care? This is mine. What can you do if I insist on taking it away?"
"..."
The elder was left completely speechless.
Yuan Qingdong frowned and said, "Teacher Zhao, must you take this grotto away?"
If that happened, the students would start protesting again. Nothing had gone smoothly for him ever since he took over the academy's administration.
The books depository had been taken over by Hong Tan and entry was forbidden for everyone. That was driving the students and teachers mad. If even the Source Qi Secret Grotto was removed, wouldn't the students go even crazier?
Zhao Li completely ignored Yuan Qingdong. Anger flashed in Yuan Qingdong's eyes. He was a Sunmoon, but nobody in this damn place respected him. Even a Cloudbreach was disregarding him.
"Teacher Zhao Li, even if you want to take the grotto away, you need to first call for a meeting of elders, right?" Yuan Qingdong said, "Yes, the Source Qi Secret Grotto was left behind by the fourth principal. But over the years, the academy and the Knowledge Seeking Realm have invested a lot in it to push the source qi density inside to such a high level..."
Zhao Li glanced at Yuan Qingdong. He could have explained that he was only taking it away temporarily, but after hearing those words, he changed his mind. He said, "I'm going to take it away. What are you going to do? Are you going to snatch it from me? Try it. If you do that, I'll kill myself right in front of Great Yuan's capital city. I want to see how Great Yuan King would react to that. How is something my old man left behind not mine? Did anyone die helping him back then? Did I owe you guys anything?
"Go fuck yourself. Do you think you can bully me like this? Do you think the Yuan Family can do whatever they want? That damn Zhao Tianbing is useless. His teacher's property is being stolen. Why is he still acting all lofty as the second greatest weaponsmith of humanity? What a piece of trash. He should kill himself in front of Great Yuan capital alongside me!"
"..."
Yuan Qingdong instantly shut his mouth. Fine. This was not related to him. This old man was free to take the grotto away. He wasn't afraid of Zhao Li, but this was not a trouble he was interested in getting involved in.
Second greatest weaponsmith of humanity. That was no exagerration. That was the truth. If Zhao Tianbing were to kill himself in front of Great Yuan capital, Great Yuan King would probably need to kill Yuan Qingdong to placate the masses. After all, he had caused the death of the second greatest weaponsmith by stealing their grotto. Not even an Invincible could cover for him.
Thus, Yuan Qingdong decided to stay out of this. It wasn't like he needed the grotto himself. He only tried to stop it because he was afraid that the students would start protesting again. But what else could he say if Zhao Li was acting like this?
The other elders shut their mouths as well.
Fine, fine.
Just take it away.
Even though they were unwilling to let this happen, Zhao Li was too much of an eccentric. If he really did something like killing himself in front of Great Yuan capital, Zhao Tianbing would go crazy. All of them would suffer greatly for that. Sure, as Mountainsea elders, they were impressive. But a Sunmoon weaponsmith could easily make life miserable for them.
Seeing that they had finally shut their mouths, Zhao Li snorted and said, "A bunch of thankless wretches. How dare you talk about their investments in the grotto. If you want to talk money, you should give me all the money they have earned through the grotto over the years. This grotto has supported the academy financially for decades. How dare you talk about money with me. Do you want me to make a detailed list of who is owed more here? If you're really so great, why don't you die and leave behind a source qi grotto as well?"
"..."
Zhao Li snorted again and said, "The fuck are you looking at? I'm using this grotto for weapon forging. I'll take it back when I'm done. But from now on, your students and families will be banned from this grotto. This applies to every single one of you bastards who have spoken earlier. Don't even dream of using the grotto anymore. Little Nie, note this down. If you let even one of their people into the grotto, I'll take the grotto away for good."
The elder who had spoken earlier felt incomparably helpless. He hadn't even said much.
Old Nie could only nod and say, "Sure. I understand."
Elder Qi curiously asked, "You're forging a weapon?"
"What a dumb question. What else am I going to do?"
Elder Qi did not take offense to that. he smiled and said, "Why do you need the grotto for weapon forging? If you need source qi, the academy can supply you with what you need."
"I'm forging an earth weapon. Send me a hundred thousand drops of source qi liquid."
"..."
They were rendered speechless.
Earth weapon.
Elder Qi's face turned solemn as he said, "Old Zhao, what are you thinking? Why are you suddenly making this attempt?"
"I'm in the mood to do it, so I'm doing it. Can't I?"
Zhao Li continued throwing out harsh words. That was how he had always been. Even if one was unhappy with him, one could only stay patient. Sure, he wasn't backed by any specific Invincible, but his senior brother was enough of a backer even if he had cursed countless times at that senior brother.
Finally, Zhao Li left with the grotto. The grotto couldn't be moved too far away, but it would be fine as he was only moving it within the academy. Everyone watched silently as he left. Before long, a translucent clump of space appeared above Zhao Li's research center.
And after a short moment, the entire research center vanished. Only a translucent dome could be seen where the research center used to be. One could only see the other side of the dome instead of seeing inside the dome. It was as though there was nothing inside, but those with sufficient strength could sense the intense energy undulations inside.
As everyone was staring speechlessly, a powerful aura erupted from the dome. Slowly, a gigantic hammer appeared above the dome. The hammer was also slightly translucent.
Someone sighed and said, "Old Zhao is really going to start working on this weapon."
Yuan Qingdong was blanking out. Even as a Sunmoon, he couldn't avoid being surprised. He blankly muttered, "I-Is this an earth weapon?"
He had an earth weapon as well. But why was it so different? Could an earth weapon be so powerful?
Elder Qi explained, "Old Zhao's weapon is different. He has grand ambitions. Back then, he forged this weapon with the heaven grade in his mind. At completion, it would be an evolving weapon with the foundations of a heaven weapon."
"Evolving weapon?"
"Yes." Elder Qi sighed, "Because his main character has been merged with the weapon. He will become one with the weapon. He even wanted to forge the weapon with his body as the material. If we hadn't stopped him back then, he would have done so. He would rather die and leave the work of his life behind."
Yuan Qingdong was completely speechless. This was too crazy. He felt like his horizons had been broadened considerably after arriving at Great Xia. He even started rejoicing that he had taken a step back during his argument with that madman earlier. Someone like that would most definitely have the courage to kill himself in front of Great Yuan capital.
He was not a nobody. Sure, the weaponsmithing faction wasn't known for their combat strength, but all cultural researchers were reliant on them. They were a lot more important than pillmakers. One could survive without pills, but very few people would choose to remain unarmed.
The massive ruckus attracted a lot of attention. Source qi started gathering around the area as the gigantic hammer swayed gently in the sky.
At the same time.
Several experts who were in the middle of a discussion in the prefect's residence suddenly looked in the direction of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
Great Han King said, "This is..."
When Marquis Xia sensed what was happening, he smiled, "Zhao Li is forging his weapon."
"Zhao Sanchui's son?" One name appeared in Great Han King's mind.
Silk Destroying King said, "Interesting. What is he forging? It looks like a heaven weapon. This doesn't feel like an earth weapon. Don't tell me it's really a heaven weapon."
A refined youth with a folding fan in hand smiled and said, "Is this the unique forging method, the fusion of weapon and character? This Zhao Li is quite a courageous person. I heard about him in the past. He failed in his previous attempt. If he succeeds this time, he won't have any issue reaching the Mountainsea Realm. At that point, as long as he maintained his cultural weapon, he will grow from the power of his weapon. Even the Sunmoon Realm will be within reach. He is walking the path of cultural weapon fusion..."
Marquis Xia nodded, "I guess so. Martial Uncles, why don't I stop him? That fellow is used to doing whatever he pleases. We can't let this distract us from the coming trial..."
"It's fine."
Great Han King said, "There is no rush. Feng Ji is injured so we can give him some time to recuperate. We can take this time to witness this unique forging method. If Zhao Sanchui had not died back then, he would have grown into the second heaven weaponsmith of humanity. Great Xia is indeed a land of talent."
Marquis Xia said, "Of course. Of the six principals of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, apart from the weak Wan Tiansheng, none of the others isn't a person of extraordinary talent."
"..."
The three Invincibles said nothing about that. Wan Tiansheng? They all looked in the same direction. Wan Tiansheng...what was that kid planning? Even after their arrival, he still remained in seclusion.
Also, was the timing of Zhao Li a coincidence or something else? Was Great Xia deliberately dragging the trial out? That was pointless, right?
In any case, it seemed pointless for these Invincibles. If it wasn't for their curiosity, they could have proceeded with the trial at any time. They could even start it immediately. But they were in no rush. Feng Ji wasn't the key here. Chen Yong and the silent Hong Tan were the main individuals of interest.
Great Xia's multiple character faction was truly very troublesome. These Invincibles wouldn't have personally traveled here otherwise. This was supposed to be a matter Great Xia could resolve internally.
But it involved Chen Yong and Hong Tan. Ye Batian might be dead, but some of his influence still remained. Any carelessness might result in a massive disaster. Ye Batian had left a big mark in the field of cultural research. That had not changed even so many years after his death.
Chapter 789: Reforging A Cultural Weapon (1)
Inside the research center.
The entire research center had been covered by the grotto. Su Yu was very shocked. Old Zhao sure was incredible. He had directly moved the grotto over and covered the research center with it.
And the earth weapon gave him an even bigger shock. Zhao Li was lifting the seal on the cultural weapon. The weapon hovered in the air and started warping repeatedly before taking the form of a massive hammer.
Looking at the floating hammer, Su Yu sank into contemplation. This hammer felt powerful, but he felt like it lacked something compared to the Hundred Dao Pagoda. Sure, the two were different types of weapons. But he couldn't help feeling like this hammer lacked something.
When Zhao Li saw Su Yu staring at the hammer, he said, "Stop looking. It has been unsealed. I will be completing the weapon with you as my assistant. I will be making my preparations. You continue. When you manage to forge a high profound cultural weapon, we will start."
"Teacher, isn't this too rash?"
That was what Su Yu felt. Why did Zhao Li unseal the weapon?
"Rash?" Zhao Li glanced at him and said, "Weren't you the one who had promised to help me with it?"
"..."
Holy shit!
He had not said anything about doing it immediately. And he didn't know that it would be this hard. This earth weapon was stronger and more complicated than the earth weapons he had seen in the hands of some Sunmoons before.
More importantly, failure would result in the destruction of Old Zhao's main character. That would be very troublesome.
Suddenly, the little furball flew out. He looked at the weapon and said, "Smells nice!"
He wanted to eat. There was a main character in that hammer. A character that had been nourished for decades.
Su Yu berated, "Come back here!"
The little furball appeared reluctant, but he obeyed.
Zhao Li did not react to that. He said, "Continue with your forging. I will proceed with my preparations. We're inside a grotto formed by a peak Sunmoon character. Invincibles can still pry upon us, but the grotto will react. It might even result in the explosion of my grotto. I will make that Invincible pay."
How was he going to make an Invincible pay? Easy. He would kill himself in front of the Invincible's home. Even an Invincible would be annoyed to death by that.
"Teacher, do you need any materials?" The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the noᴠelfire.net
"No. I already have enough materials from what you delivered to me previously. I only lack some minor materials, but those do not matte—"
Before he could finish, Su Yu took out another pile of materials, "Teacher, I don't have too many materials. I only bought around a hundred thousand merit points worth of materials. Is there anything you need here?"
"..."
Zhao Li glanced at Su Yu and snorted. Who was this kid showing off to? Did he lack money? Fine. He was indeed lacking in money.
Holy shit!
This damn bastard had earned a lot of money in Great Ming. A hundred thousand merit points? Back when the kid first joined the academy, the damn kid had pestered him for only a few dozen merit points.
"Cut the crap!"
Zhao Li berated, "Start working. You have enough source qi here. With the grotto, both your source qi and willpower will recover rapidly. Breaking through is also much easier inside the grotto. Both body forging and willpower growth will be much simpler here."
"Also, you need to improve your switching process between the two forms of energy. This forging process might last several days. Can you last that long with your current level?"
Su Yu was left speechless. Nope. Unless he could smoothly switch between the two forms of energy. This was so stressful.
He gloomily said, "Teacher, you should have lifted the seal after I'm done."
"How will there be progress without some pressure?" Zhao Li indifferently said, "You lack nothing but pressure. I shall be the one to give you this pressure. I probably won't die upon failure. I will only suffer the destruction of my main character and the backlash from it. I will only drop to the early Cloudbreach Realm. It's no big deal. I won't die."
Su Yu was very speechless. Was this really the case? Was this really no big deal? Zhao Li sure wasn't holding back when delivering this so-called pressure. Su Yu had the urge to just let the little furball eat the old man's character.
Fine, fine. Forget it. In truth, Zhao Li's main character had already advanced to the fourth tier. But his main character was stuck inside the weapon. It couldn't return. Or to be precise, the weapon itself had become the character. And if he couldn't take the weapon into himself, he wouldn't be able to take the character into himself as well.
Zhao Li ignored Su Yu and started processing the materials required for his forging. Su Yu did not waste any time and continued with his work.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hammering sounds rang out repeatedly. Instead of exhausting one energy before switching like Zhao Li had advised, he started switching when he was halfway through that energy. Zhao Li frowned when he noticed that and said, "Switching too often will affect the quality. It won't be good even if you manage to complete it."
Su Yu didn't even look up as he said, "I'll melt it down after I'm done with it. This weapon is not forged to be used. I'm only using it as a test. If I switch my energy after fully draining one, it will take too long and the margin of error will be too small."
Zhao Li blanked out slightly when he heard that. That was true.
He would always initiate the switch after exhausting one type of energy. Perhaps he had been too inflexible in that regard. He had always been stubborn about that as switching too frequently might result in a drop of quality of the weapon forged. And he had always been a perfectionist.
As for Su Yu, he cared more about the process than the end result. There were still some differences between the two of them.
While Su Yu was hard at work.
He became even more famous than before. Or to be precise, Cui Lang became even more famous. Zhao Li had created quite a ruckus. He had moved the Source Qi Secret Grotto and manifested a hanging earth weapon in the sky. The weaponsmiths of the other prefectures had heard of this and all of them were rushing over, including Zhao Tianbing of Great Zhou.
According to the rumors, Zhao Li had decided to make this attempt because he saw hope after receiving the offer to help from Cui Lang. He was going to make the attempt with Cui Lang as his assistant.
Because of this, Cui Lang's name spread far and wide. Niu Baidao's unofficial student, ninth-stage Skysoar, and an early profound weaponsmith who might have advanced into the middle stage.
He had caught Zhao Li with his unique weaponsmithing skills. At thirty-five years old, he was quite young.
Of course, Cui Lang was still more widely known as someone who had seduced the granddaughter of a Sunmoon from Great Tang, Cheng Mo. As a ninth-stage Sunmoon, he was one of the pillars of Great Tang. He was an existence near the Invincible Realm. He was already as strong as the prefects of the various prefectures.
After leaving Great Ming, Cui Lang had actually offered to help Zhao Li complete his weapon. News of this spread everywhere. Some people said that upon success, both Zhao Li and his assistant would benefit greatly.
It wasn't like nobody had ever forged an earth weapon before. Earth weapons weren't too rare as each prefecture would have some in their possession. But Zhao Li's earth weapon was different. Strictly speaking, he wasn't forging an earth weapon. Rather, he was forging an embryonic heaven weapon. There was a difference between the two.
Every single heaven weapon was an incredible existence. Great Ming's Hundred Dao Pagoda was a heaven weapon. The Super Sensory Jade was a pseudo heaven weapon. A supportive weapon like this was actually much more valuable. Thus, it had the value of a proper heaven weapon even though it was only a pseudo heaven weapon.
Great Xia had the heaven weapon as well. It wasn't exactly a weapon. Rather, it was a tool that could steal a glimpse of the future, the Heaven Connecting Mirror. Strictly speaking, the mirror itself wasn't a heaven weapon. Numerous powerful characters had been installed inside the mirror to forcefully elevate it into a heaven weapon. And now, two profound weaponsmiths were going to make an attempt at forging an embryonic heaven weapon.
This attracted the attention of all weaponsmiths in the Human Realm. Naturally, this was also applicable to those in Great Ming. Thus, the experts and weaponsmiths of Great Ming were also rushing over to Great Xia. After all, one of the two main characters of this event was someone from Great Ming.
Great Ming.
Hu Qi was personally leading the Great Ming entourage. Worried about her safety, Vice Principal Wang followed her as well. Yes. There were two Sunmoons in this group. They brought with them a group of genius weaponsmiths comprised of both students and teachers.
Bai Jungsheng was one of them.
With a look of shock, Bai Junsheng said, "When did Senior Brother Cui Lang become a profound weaponsmith? He's going to complete a weapon alongside Master Zhao Li? And it's not even going to be a regular earth weapon? Is he really so good?"
Hu Qi said nothing.
A teacher sighed with admiration, "Cui Lang is truly a genius. He has actually reached the profound grade out of nowhere. He's not just a normal profound weaponsmith, but he's a middle profound weaponsmith. Regardless of the result of this project, he will benefit greatly. And the moment the embryonic heaven weapon is completed, he might be able to take this chance to reach the high or even peak profound grade."
Hu Qi maintained her silence. Inwardly, she was shocked. She knew that Su Yu was quite talented, but that fellow didn't seem to have dedicated much of his time to weaponsmithing. Even so, he had reached the profound grade.
She didn't know what Su Yu did in the pagoda. When Su Yu challenged the pagoda, she was in the middle of seclusion. Even if she hadn't been in seclusion, she might still be unaware of that.
Chapter 790: Reforging A Cultural Weapon (2)
Restore scroll position
After a while, Hu Qi said, "Zhao Li has a unique weaponsmithing technique. It is not advised to imitate him. But it will be fine to learn from his experience. This earth weapon will be an exceptionally unique one. Calling it an earth weapon is actually inaccurate. In fact, rather than calling this process weapon forging, we might as well call it human forging.
"When you arrive in Great Xia, ignore everything else. Only focus on the forging. Of course, there is no guarantee that we can actually see the process. But since Zhao Li is letting the projection of his weapon to hang in the sky, he is clearly planning to give his all. We can see parts of the process through that projection."
"Got it."
A short while later, they departed on a large flying beast. It wasn't a real beast. Rather, it was one of their mechanical beasts.
One weaponsmith after another started traveling toward Great Xia from all over the realm.
The event had overshadowed the upcoming public trial. Everyone was more curious about Zhao Li's weapon forging. Could he succeed? Would Great Xia gain its second earth weaponsmith? Gaining an earth weaponsmith was as momentous as gaining a Sunmoon.
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
This place had turned into the center of attention. The source qi around the giant projection in the sky was incredibly dense. Countless people were shocked. This wasn't how an earth weapon should feel like. This weapon of Zhao Li was too unique.
Inside the grotto.
Su Yu was drenched wet with sweat. He constantly absorbed his heavenly source qi and the regular source qi from the environment. His hammer struck down again and again.
He had long tossed his white robe aside, leaving his torso bare. Golden light covered his entire body while his fire character worked endlessly. At the same time, he was also using his fire of inheritance.
He wasn't activating the fire of inheritance for himself. Rather, he was trying to give Zhao Li more inspiration with it. Zhao Li's eyes were shut as he sank into thought, preparing for his upcoming weapon forging.
A total of fifty-two golden stripes had appeared on the weapon Su Yu was forging. At this point, the weapon exploded yet again. Several wounds were left on Su Yu's body, but he ignored them all. He gnashed his teeth in confusion. Why did he fail again? He had been able to switch his energy smoothly. So why had he failed?
Zhao Li spoke without opening his eyes, "Calm your heart. Whenever you do something major, it is imperative that you stay calm. This is only weapon forging. Do not panic. I did not pressure you so that you would collapse under its weight. So what if we fail? Settle your mind. Weapons have feelings as well. If you can't remain calm, your burning heart will cause the weapon to turn unstable as well."
Su Yu nodded. He said nothing and activated his calm character.
Zhao Li: "..."
Damn you! Zhao Li had the urge to curse someone. Just how many characters did this kid have? Why did it feel like the kid has a character for every purpose? The kid had actually taken his advice literally and immediately achieved a state of calm with a calm character.
Zhao Li was about to start scolding Su Yu when he found his emotions calming down as well. He could only helplessly say, "This character of yours...is very unique. It is pretty helpful."
"Of course. I formed it through Great Zhou King's private notes."
As the number one man in the Knowledge Seeking Realm, he was indeed quite impressive. Zhao Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Fine. What else could he say to that? Su Yu paused shortly and centered himself before resuming his work.
Extracting, refining, quenching, forging...
As for the materials worth thousands of merit points he had just wasted on the failed product, he did not care. And thus, a new round of forging began.
Three hours later, a cultural weapon with fifty-three golden stripes was tossed aside by Su Yu like it was a piece of trash.
He stood there silently to think before opening his mouth, "Teacher, unless I can push my willpower to the third tier, it will be very hard for me to forge a high profound cultural weapon."
Zhao Li indifferently said, "Who made that a rule? Use the Soul Expanding Art to strengthen your foundation."
"But if I do that, I will be further delayed from the Cloudbreach Realm."
"That doesn't matter. Weapon forging is a form of cultivation as well. Why the rush to advance? What can you even get from advancing into the Cloudbreach Realm? Without a strong foundation, why are you dreaming of gaining more strength in the future? Do not shake your foundation because of a minor affair."
Su Yu thought about it and nodded.
Once again, he used the Soul Expanding Art to compress his willpower, expand his sea of willpower, and temper his characters. After a while, he started another round of weapon forging.
With the recent tempering on his willpower, it felt easier than before. However, his willpower percentage had also dropped.
Like the Mental Tempering Stage, if he could push his second-tier willpower to a hundred percent fullness, he would be able to advance to the next realm. But the Soul Expanding Art had compressed his willpower and expanded his sea of willpower, resulting in a drop of percentage.
Before the compression, he was near ninety-five percent. Now, it had dropped to a lower level. Of course, his strength had not dropped. Instead, he had gained even more potential with the strengthening of his foundation. He had previously planned to stop expanding his sea of willpower to prioritize a breakthrough.
Looking at his hanging hammer, Zhao Li said, "I will start the opening work of the forging. You can observe me while forging your weapon. The opening work will take several days. It will mainly involve the refinement of past imperfections. Back then, I forged seventy-two and a half golden stripes on the weapon, but a lot of them were imperfect. I'm going to reforge all these stripes."
Su Yu's expression changed drastically.
Reforging.
This was what he saw when he first witnessed a forging process by Zhao Li. Completed stripes would be hammered out of existence before being replaced with new stripes. This was much harder than forging new stripes from scratch. In fact, Su Yu was still incapable of this. This was a true demonstration of skill.
Zhao Li said, "I will remove all the stripes before I add new stripes onto the weapon. The removal will take a few days. When I'm done, you will help me with the rest of the process."
"How long, exactly?"
"Around three days." Zhao Li said, "Three days later, the weapon will be returned to its initial form. But even in its initial form, it is comparable to regular peak yellow-grade cultural weapons. That will be the best mold for what we will create. Upon completion, this weapon will have even more potential than before. It will also have a much higher chance to be upgraded into a heaven weapon in the future."
Su Yu grimaced. His teacher was going to increase the difficulty. Wasn't this old man too much of a perfectionist? Three days just to remove the existing stripes? Was the old man sure that he could last until completion?
"Teacher, I have enough source qi and heavenly source qi. But I lack treasures that can rapidly recover my willpower. Do you want to make more preparations before starting?"
Zhao Li said, "It's fine. I have what you need."
He then took out about a dozen incense sticks. These were the same as what he used on Su Yu earlier. Follow current novels on novel⁂fire.net
"These incense sticks were made from soul return grass. A single strand is worth thousands of merit points. I have been collecting these to be used when I make another attempt at my earth weapon."
Su Yu nodded and tossed a ball over, "Teacher, this is a ball of heavenly source qi. I still have more with me. Regular source qi is too slow in terms of recovery. Use this instead. It can also help slightly with willpower recovery."
In truth, the value of these treasures had probably exceeded the value of an earth cultural weapon. But they were not forging this weapon just for the weapon alone. If Zhao Li succeeded, he would be able to enter the Mountainsea Realm and become an earth weaponsmith. As for Su Yu, he would also benefit greatly from it. Money was meaningless compared to what they could gain.
Zhao Li glanced at Su Yu indifferently, but he was greatly shocked inwardly. What a rich kid. So the kid had more heavenly source qi? He did not try to ask about the origin of the heavenly source qi. This attempt would greatly benefit both of them if they succeeded. And they would lose a lot upon failing. Thus, failure was definitely not an option. If he succeeded, he might be able to become a middle or even a high earth weaponsmith.
At that point, his status would be high enough to get his voice heard by even Invincibles. There was also his senior brother. That fellow was probably on his way here. Two earth weaponsmiths together would have enough influence to help the kid if the kid really ended up in big trouble.
Zhao Li said nothing else. With a roar, a large hammer appeared in his hand. The Soul Expanding Hammer in Su Yu's hand looked remarkably like the son of Zhao Li's large hammer. In fact, the small hammer even started emanating some excitement after the large hammer appeared.
Zhao Li smiled, "A resonance...good. Your Soul Expanding Hammer has been strengthened considerably. Both of us are actually the perfect weaponsmith pair to work on the same weapon. With compatible forging methods, the resulting product will have less imperfections. There also won't be much conflict within the weapon itself. This is one of the main reasons you can help me. Others, including Zhao Tianbing, will result in a conflict within the weapon. The two of us are the only users of the Soul Expanding Art alive."
Su Yu nodded. With a roar, Zhao Li swung his hammer while an intense clump of flame raged in front of him.
Both Su Yu and Zhao Li were sweating profusely. Zhao Li was even more direct. He allowed the flame to burn his outerwear off, leaving him in only his underpants. With a hearty laugh, he said, "When we exit seclusion, remember to get dressed. We can't embarrass ourselves in front of others."
"Of course. I won't forget that."
Su Yu smiled as he returned to his work.
Bang! Bang ! Bang!
Both started hammering relentlessly. Zhao Li started working on his incomplete weapon while Su Yu continued his practice. They worked untiringly while dripping with sweat. Both were so engrossed that they had completely forgotten about everything else.
Only one thing was in their mind: weapon forging!
The fire of inheritance continued burning alongside the calm character, providing the perfect working environment for the two of them. Their minds needed to remain both calm and active.
Chapter 791: Reforging A Cultural Weapon (3)
Restore scroll position
24th of May.
The second day had arrived.
One expert after another had gathered near the Source Qi Secret Grotto. Many of the visiting weaponsmiths were standing at the very front of the crowd. There were even some earth weaponsmiths among the crowd.
Great Xia's very own earth weaponsmith had also left seclusion for this event. He was busy speaking to the crowd around him. Back then, he had a small conflict with Zhao Li. But that did not matter at this moment. A large number of local weaponsmiths were surrounding him.
The white-haired old man solemnly said, "Zhao Li is removing the golden stripes to forge them anew. He is too ambitious and arrogant. The difficulty level of this is extremely high. He is trying to revert a pseudo earth weapon into its original state. That is even harder than forging a new weapon from scratch. But if he manages to complete this, he will become a true earth weaponsmith. Perhaps this fellow has long reached the skill-level of an earth weaponsmith."
Everyone could see the massive projection hanging in the sky. There were seventy-two and a half golden stripes on it. And the half stripe was in the middle of dissipating away.
Reforging.
For many weaponsmiths, this was a fairy tale. But today, someone was doing that in front of them. And it was being done on a pseudo earth weapon. The old man was right. Just the completion of the removal process was enough to make Zhao Li a proper earth weaponsmith.
But after the removal process, Zhao Li was going to continue with the forging. If he was able to proceed until the end and complete the earth weapon, he might even reach a level that was higher than this old man.
This old man was only a middle earth weaponsmith. He could forge up to eighty-two golden stripes. That was sufficient to make him one of the best in the Human Realm.
Nearby, a confused layman asked, "Elder Chen, why is Master Zhao doing this? Isn't it better for him to continue forging on top of what is already there? What's the point of this?"
"There are a lot of benefits to doing this." The old man explained, "Firstly, this process will strengthen the mold. A middle earth mold might grow into a peak earth mold.
"Secondly, this will remove the previous imperfections and further perfect the weapon. Back when he attempted to make this weapon, he was naturally not as experienced as he is now. With his current experience, he can remove all the past imperfections.
"Thirdly, the reforging process will result in a stronger weapon. And a stronger weapon will grant its maker even more benefits. A top tier cultural weapon will grant him more comprehension of weaponsmithing, their characters, their willpower, and their cultivation as a whole.
"Fourthly..."
At this point, he paused slightly. Someone behind him smiled and said, "Fourthly, Cui Lang will also benefit greatly by working alongside Zhao Li. He will be able to witness the creation of an earth weapon from scratch. He will understand the entire process. If they succeed, Cui Lang will probably experience one or two stages of growth in his weaponsmithing level."
The crowd turned to look at the newcomer. It was an old woman. Hu Qi!
Elder Chen stood up and greeted, "Senior Hu."
Yes. She was considered senior to him. She might be a middle earth weaponsmith, but she was slightly better than him. But that was mainly thanks to her age. Furthermore, she was the aunt of Great Xia's Administrator Hu. Thus, her seniority was actually quite high.
Administrator Hu was looking at them from afar with a smiling face. He did not dare to approach them as Hu Qi did not like him.
Hu Qi smiled and nodded, "Chen Xu. It has been many years since we last met."
"I didn't expect to see you here, Senior."
"I'm here to take a look since I once taught Cui Lang a thing or two." Hu Qi said, "He's Old Niu's student, but he can also be considered half a student of mine. A great opportunity is right before him. I hope he can grab it. If he can become a high or even a peak profound weaponsmith this time, he will definitely reach the earth grade in three to five years."
Her eyes lit up brightly as she said, "He will be an earth weaponsmith before forty. He will have an incomparably bright future. I did not expect Zhao Li to let Cui Lang act as his assistant for this project."
A lot of people were envious upon hearing that.
Some of the weaponsmith teachers started grimacing. One of them said, "I really don't understand Elder Zhao. We still have some profound weaponsmiths in our own academy. For example, Senior Brother Wang. He is a high profound weaponsmith. That's his first student as well. Why did he get an outsider to help him?"
Senior Brother Wang was there as well. He laughed and said, "Brother Sun, don't say that. My teacher has always been straightforward. If he thinks that you're unsuitable, you won't cut it even if you're his student. If he thinks you're suitable, he won't care about anything else. I looked at Junior Brother Cui's weapon earlier. He's pretty good. And he's so young. He has a brighter future ahead of him. If they manage to succeed and pave the way for his advancement into the earth grade in a few years, that will benefit humanity as a whole as well."
Suddenly, someone exclaimed in alarm. The half stripe on the hanging hammer had finally faded away.
"It's starting!"
"The moment the removal is completed, they will need to proceed directly with reforging these stripes. With Zhao Li's strength, the removal process will last around three days if there is no mishap."
"..."
Everyone stared at the hanging hammer attentively. They weren't able to see much, but any movement of the golden stripes would cause some people to exclaim in alarm. In the field of weaponsmithing, this event was akin to the birth of a Sunmoon.
Regardless of one's strength, an earth weaponsmith was the equivalent of a Sunmoon in value.
If Zhao Li succeeded, Great Xia would gain another earth weaponsmith. They would have one additional person capable of forging the weapons of Mountainseas and Sunmoons. Then again, with Zhao Li's temper, nobody could guarantee that he would forge any weapons for them.
Not far away.
Xia Huyou and a bunch of youngsters were also observing the hammer.
One of them said, "Cui Lang sure is lucky. He gets to take part in this. It's an earth weapon. An embryonic heaven weapon! It's not like he is a good man benefiting from good karma. How is this happening?"
"Why did Master Zhao pick him?
"This fellow sure is brazen. After creating such a big ruckus, he needs to be careful less Elder Cheng of Great Tang decides to come looking for him."
"Hahaha, that is very possible. He created too big of a ruckus this time. Everyone knows that he's helping Master Zhao Li. Upon success, he will become a high or even peak profound weaponsmith. I suspect that when news of this reaches Great Tang, the people there will call Elder Cheng out of seclusion to capture Cui Lang and take him back to Great Tang!"
"See, even the people from Great Ming are here. Senior Hu is a middle earth weaponsmith as well. And Vice Principal Wang is a Sunmoon. They are probably here to prevent anyone from stealing that fellow from Great Ming."
Beside them, Xia Huyou listened silently while rubbing his chin. Cui Lang? He knew who that person was. But how did that fellow earn Teacher Zhao Li's favor? This was too surprising.
In fact, it was already very surprising that Teacher Zhao would actually agree to meet Cui Lang. Everyone knew about Zhao Li's temper. He enjoyed offending everyone around him when talking. If it wasn't for his status, he would have been beaten up in secret.
"Cui Lang...if they succeed, we can consider roping Cui Lang to join Great Xia. I wonder if Su Yu knows him..."
Somewhere else.
Hong Tan and Bai Feng were at the top of the Wentan Research Center. With his arms crossed in front of him, Bai Feng said, "Teacher, what is Old Zhao doing? Why is he using an outsider as his assistant instead of his own student?"
His tone turned to one of envy as he continued, "Old Zhao's temper is too terrible. Teacher, why did he teach Su Yu his Soul Expanding Art but not me? Am I that bad?" This did not make any sense!
In the past, the Soul Expanding Art was relatively unknown apart from its fame among weaponsmiths. But after Su Yu used his hammer to kill Zhou Pingsheng and cripple Shan Xiong without even using a cultural weapon, everyone knew that this was a super offensive soul technique.
There were very few soul techniques in existence, and something with such prowess and low requirement in terms of characters like this was even rarer. Thus, a lot of people were starting to covet the Soul Expanding Art.
However, Old Zhao's temper was too terrible. He refused to teach anyone. As for Su Yu, since it wasn't his own art, it was unlikely that he would teach it as well. Thus, a lot of cultural researchers were feeling very regretful about it.
Hong Tan smiled, "That's not a bad thing. Your talent isn't good enough. After learning this, how long will you remain stuck below the Cloudbreach Realm?"
"..."
His talent wasn't good enough? Him? Bai Feng was feeling very gloomy. At this time, he saw someone heading in their direction. It was his younger cousin. He decided to ignore that boring cousin.
He said, "Teacher, what should we do about Brother Feng Ji? Are we ignoring him?"
"He will be fine. Someone else will be in trouble."
Bai Feng sank into silence. After a short while, he nodded, "I understand. It's not a bad thing to delay the trial for a few days. This will give Senior Brother the time to run further away. Maybe he can enter the Allheaven Battlefield and find somewhere to hide."
Hong Tan said, "It's fine. Don't worry too much. This might not be related to your senior brother. And even if it is..."
Hong Tan calmly said, "It won't have anything to do with us."
Bai Feng gloomily said, "Teacher, apart from enduring, is there nothing we can do?"
"Focus on protecting yourself first." Hong Tan said, "He's still alive, right? He's not dead. If you can reach the Cloudbreach or the Mountainsea Realm sooner, I will have fewer things to worry about. Even your student is going to surpass you soon."
"He might have surpassed me already." Bai Feng sulked, "With his apertures, he can directly become a Cloudbreach the moment his willpower reaches the corresponding level. Teacher, what can I do? I feel very helpless as well. It hasn't even been a year. Why are you comparing me against him? Why don't you compare yourself against him?"
"..."
Bai Feng was sent flying by Hong Tan's kick. Damn this bastard! How dare he disrespect his teacher! Was his teacher not allowed to nag him anymore? He ignored Bai Feng and looked in Zhao Li's direction again. Was Old Zhao doing this now to buy more time for Chen Yong? Google seaʀᴄh novęlfire.net
If that was the case, this would be a huge favor owed. The more he thought about it, the more helpless he felt.
Perhaps...it would have been better if Su Yu had joined the weaponsmithing faction instead. Bai Feng had rashly accepted this student. Not even Liu Wenyan had expected that this kid would grow so fast. But now, it was too late to change anything. Hong Tan shook his hope and offered Old Zhao his prayers.
He turned to look in the direction of the prefect's residence. He saw a scene nobody else could see. There, in the void, several imposing figures were hovering.
"Three Invincibles...my student sure is important."
Hong Tan smiled. This...wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A few Mountainsea enemies had been killed. This was an acceptable trade. Of course, the premise was that Chen Yong would be able to escape this.
He then looked in the other directions. Sunmoons could be seen hiding all over the city. Hong Tan rolled his eyes. What was so interesting about this? These people should be careful lest they lose their lives from their curiosity.
"They are probably hoping to make Little Yong the main culprit. I guess having a public trial is a good thing. This way, we can force some people to show their true colors."
Hong Tan sneered with contempt before vanishing into thin air. Outside the research center, Bai Feng sent Bai Junsheng flying with a kick. This fellow should leave as soon as possible. Why was the Bai Family getting involved in this?
Chapter 792: Nine-Forged Body (1)
Restore scroll position
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. A storm raged.
Zhao Li's weapon forging had temporarily overshadowed the matter involving Feng Ji. For Great Xia, Zhao Li's success was even more important than the birth of a Sunmoon. Great Xia still had a decent number of Sunmoons, but they only had a single earth weaponsmith. That actually felt quite terrible.
In the sky.
The golden stripes on the hanging hammer started fading away. On the first day, they dropped to only fifty stripes. On the second day, they dropped to twenty-five stripes.
The stripes continued fading on the third day. The removal was on the verge of completion. And completion would signify that Zhao Li was as capable as an earth weaponsmith. Even middle earth weaponsmiths like Hu Qi and Elder Chen couldn't guarantee that they could successfully remove all these golden stripes.
Inside the research center.
The pale Su Yu was getting slightly anxious, but he forced himself to calm down. After several days of forging, he had reached the limit of the middle profound grade after forging a weapon with fifty-four golden stripes. But he was still a tiny bit away from the high profound grade.
As for Zhao Li, he was sweating heavily. His speed had reduced considerably. After working three days in a row, he was feeling more and more pressured. He was currently on the verge of completion.
When only several golden stripes remained, Zhao Li said, "Stop. Later, I will forge the golden stripes from scratch. You will watch the entire process. Only help when I require it."
"Teacher!" Su Yu was feeling very gloomy. He was starting to regret coming here so early. "I'm still not at the high profound grade."
"Shut up!" Zhao Li said, "I'm telling you to watch as I forge the weapon, not the other way around. Kid, I'm warning you. Pay close attention. I will start forging from the very beginning for you. If you miss anything, don't blame me for being rude."
Su Yu said nothing. He nodded. Right at that moment, Zhao Li roared.
Boom!
The final golden stripe faded away from the massive hammer. A wave of energy leaked out of the weapon. From the pseudo earth grade, it dropped to a gradeless weapon. The hammer had returned to its original form.
Something Zhao Li had forged and sacrificed everything for decades ago had been reduced to a mold. Zhao Li inhaled deeply and started recovering his strength rapidly.
"When it is done leaking energy, I need to start the forging immediately. Watch closely. The strength used, the heat control, the forging techniques, the forging process...Since both of us have different characters, you don't need to copy everything I do. But as a whole, the process should still be similar. You have an advantage over me with your characters. The five elemental characters are very suitable for weaponsmithing. And since all your characters are human characters, they will also be more compatible when working together on a weapon. You only lack experience and strength. As for the forging techniques, I will teach them to you..."
Zhao Li started talking. He said a lot of things. Su Yu listened attentively.
After about half an hour, the large hammer stopped leaking energy. With a hammer in his hand, Zhao Li inhaled deeply, "The moment I start this, I can't stop or the weapon will fall apart and deliver me with a backlash. That will be very troublesome. Watch. I will be able to forge around seventy-two stripes, but I will stop at fifty-four. You can start helping me then."
Su Yu nodded. Zhao Li continued, "When helping me, time yourself well. You need to last a very long time. You might not be able to last all the way."
"I can do it!" Su Yu said, "I will start recovering now. By the time you're done with fifty-four stripes, I will probably be as good as new again."
He left one thing unsaid. If he couldn't recover fully and ended up not lasting all the way, he would crush some characters to supply himself with energy. He still had two Sunmoon characters in his possession. Both were kept in his storage ring.
At worst, he would crush those characters. What was there to hesitate? Yes, Sunmoon characters were very valuable. But it wasn't like he had never crushed Sunmoon characters to cultivate before. At worst, he would kill more Sunmoons in the future.
Zhao Li did not know what Su Yu was thinking. He would have never guessed that the kid would carry some Sunmoon characters around. And he would also not expect the kid to harbor the thought of crushing Sunmoon characters for recovery. If he knew, he would have beaten the kid to death for being such a wastrel.
Damn it! That was too much of a waste. In fact, a lot of Sunmoon cultural characters had only one Sunmoon character. The stronger ones might have several of them. And removing one such character from its master was very difficult. Previously, several Sunmoons had been killed but they had only obtained three Sunmoon characters. If it wasn't for the support of an entire prefecture, Su Yu wouldn't have been able to even get his hands on so many Sunmoon characters.
Zhao Li did not think too much about Su Yu's words. It was never easy to recover willpower. He was going to start the forging for real. A clump of raging flame appeared in front of him. His long, white hair whipped about. His body which was only covered in a pair of underpants went taut. All his muscles intensified as he swung his hammer down.
A large boom rang out.
That hammer strike was much stronger than any of Su Yu's hammer strikes earlier. With a rumble, the walls of the research center shook. Su Yu did not feel anything special, but the small hammer in his hand started resonating with the vibration created by Zhao Li's hammer and spread the vibration all over Su Yu's body and his sea of willpower. That gave Su Yu a somewhat numb yet comfortable sensation.
Zhao Li's stuffy voice rang out, "You can start forging your body now. Do that while watching me. I will try to do it slowly in the beginning. Focus on sensing the tempo behind my vibrations. When you start participating later, you need to maintain the tempo."
"Alright."
Su Yu nodded and started forging his body with the help of heavenly source qi. He had left Great Ming with around three hundred portions of heavenly source qi. He had used some while traveling, but he still had a lot left. He also activated the Source Soul Life Art and started farting as he cultivated. Zhao Li was momentarily stunned.
He nearly failed his forging then and there. He cursed, "I told you to cultivate, not fart!"
Su Yu awkwardly said, "Teacher, just continue. I'm not farting. This is the heaven connecting acupoint. This cultivation method can strengthen the body and increase longevity. It can also increase the efficiency of the absorbed heavenly source qi. It is an excellent cultivation method."
"..."
Old Zhao felt like going crazy. He was busy forging weapon while the damn kid was farting right beside him. Was the kid messing with him?
After a long while, he said, "I won't use this grotto anymore in the future."
"..." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Su Yu laughed dryly. There was no need for that. His fart could very well be of higher purity than the source qi generated by this grotto. After all, he was absorbing heavenly source qi. The fart he produced would definitely be as good as regular source qi. Old Zhao was worrying over nothing.
He decided to ignore everything else. This would increase his cultivation level greatly. He wanted to try completing his ninth body forging.
Zhao Li returned to his hammer and started striking the weapon again and again. At the same time, Su Yu's little hammer continued sensing the vibrations generated by Zhao Li and generating vibrations of the same tempo all over Su Yu's body and sea of willpower.
Outside the grotto.
The pounding sounds of the hammer could even be heard outside. These booming sounds followed a unique rhythm.
Right at that moment, Hu Qi and Elder Chen exchanged gazes. Next, Elder Chen said, "Calm down, everyone. Sit down cross-legged and sense the rhythm and the vibrations generated by the hammer strikes. This is an opportunity provided by an earth weaponsmith to cleanse your body and sea of willpower."
This was a rare opportunity. Of course, the vibrations had been weakened considerably since there was a grotto separating the source and all these people. Cui Lang was the one who was going to reap the biggest harvest from this.
Nobody knew if Zhao Li was deliberately doing this or if he had no choice but to generate these vibrations during the forging. Elder Chen wasn't sure, but he also couldn't be bothered to guess.
Numerous students sat down cross-legged and immersed themselves in the vibrations all around them. Under the effect of these vibrations, some of them found their acupoints loosening, as though these acupoints could now be opened with less effort than before.
Boom!
Boom!
Again and again, the hammer landed down at a unique tempo. Again and again, waves of vibrations spread all around the area. Slowly, a golden stripe appeared on the hanging hammer in the sky.
Mayor's residence.
After several days of observation, these Invincibles finally noticed something. Great Han King softly said, "What an incredible attempt. This fellow must have reached the skill level of an earth weaponsmith long ago. In fact, his skill level is probably comparable to a veteran earth weaponsmith. He clearly has his eyes set on the heaven grade. What a pity that Heavenly Forge isn't here. Otherwise, the two of them would have found a lot of common topics."
They were all seated inside a large hall. The scene in the hall was quite surprising as it seemed as though the space between them and the grotto had vanished. It was as if they were hovering right above the grotto even when they were actually still inside the prefect's residence.
The earth grade wasn't a low grade. But only the heaven grade was equal to the Invincibles in terms of status.
Chapter 793: Nine-Forged Body (2)
At this moment, someone arrived outside the hall and said, "Greetings, Seniors."
Great Han King smiled, "Tianbing, you sure are fast."
Silk Destroying King laughed heartily and said, "Little Zhao, your junior brother seems to be just as good as you. Your teacher is truly worthy of being someone who once competed against Heavenly Forge."
"..."
Even Great Song King opened his mouth to exchange pleasantries with this newcomer. The newcomer was none other than Zhao Tianbing. He had rushed over right after hearing about the attempt. And he had gone straight to the Invincibles after arriving.
It hadn't been long since he entered the Sunmoon Realm. He wasn't supposed to be worthy of such courtesy from Invincibles. But he was also the human nearest to the heaven grade. He was a grandmaster weaponsmith. These Invincibles were waiting for him to enter the heaven grade before asking for some weapons from him.
After stepping into the hall, Zhao Tianbing felt like he was standing above the grotto and inside the hall at the same time. He overlooked the entire academy and the grotto. He also heard the pounding sounds coming from inside the grotto.
Zhao Tianbing looked around and said, "Seniors, my junior brother is acting rashly. If he fails, his weapon will fall apart and his main character will suffer a massive damage. I beseech you to separate his main character from his cultural weapon when that happens."
Great Han King smiled and said, "Are you not optimistic about his chances?"
Zhao Tianbing helplessly said, "No, but my junior brother does not have the strength to forge so many stripes. If he only wants to forge a regular earth weapon, he will definitely succeed. But he is stubbornly trying to forge an embryonic heaven weapon. He needs to add dozens of incomplete stripes on top of the complete stripes. And the level of difficulty will only increase the more stripes there are. The probability of failure is too high."
"He has Cui Lang's help."
Zhao Tianbing felt somewhat speechless. He said, "No matter how talented Cui Lang is, he won't be of help to my junior brother. I don't know what my junior brother is thinking. Why did he find an outsider to help him? And a profound weaponsmith at that. If I knew he was going to do this, I would have offered to help instead."
Great Han King said, "Sure. If he fails, we'll help."
"Thank you, Seniors." Zhao Tianbing bowed with gratitude.
Marquis Xia said, "Brother Tianbing, take a seat. You can see the whole thing here as well. You don't want to be near the grotto. What will you do if Old Zhao senses your presence and fails his forging from sheer anger?"
Zhao Tianbing ignored Marquis Xia.
With a smile, Marquis Xia said, "Brother Tianbing, I'm not wrong, right?"
Zhao Tianbing snorted and said, "I wouldn't have left if Great Xia did not place so little importance on weaponsmithing. My relationship with my junior brother wouldn't have deteriorated badly if it wasn't for that. This is Great Xia's fault. Are you not ashamed when you say things like this?"
Marquis Xia helplessly said, "What are you saying? You asked for too much. You insisted on opening a new academy just for weaponsmithing. That is very expensive. Great Xia can't afford the money."
Zhao Tianbing didn't even deign to give a reply. He did not fear Xia Xiao'er. He was the honored guest of the prefect even in Great Zhou. After spending decades in Great Zhou, he had produced numerous students. One of them was even an earth weaponsmith.
In the field of weaponsmithing, he was the person with the highest status after Heavenly Forge King. Of course, his strength wasn't anything special. As an early Sunmoon, he was too weak.
"Will Old Zhao succeed? Is it hopeless?"
Marquis Xia was hoping that this would succeed. He was sure that Zhao Li wouldn't bear to leave. After all, this was an academy his own father had dedicated his entire life to.
Zhao Tianbing solemnly said, "He has about a thirty percent chance of success. But even if he manages to complete the weapon, things might not proceed in the direction he wants."
Marquis Xia nodded, "Brother Tianbing, since you're back, why don't you stay for good?"
"..."
Zhao Tianbing couldn't be bothered to answer. Great Xia had turned into a quagmire. If possible, he wanted to take his junior brother away instead. Then again, perhaps that did not matter as Great Zhou would be in trouble very soon as well.
Su Yu had landed Great Zhou in big trouble. Of course, Zhao Tianbing was not interested in getting involved in that. Su Yu had a close relationship with his junior brother. Meanwhile, the Zhou brothers had treated him well during his time in Great Zhou. Thus, he had decided to stay neutral.
A genius would be able to do well everywhere. After joining Great Zhou, even Great Zhou King had personally met him several times. All five people in the hall were completely focused on the grotto. Nobody mentioned Feng Ji. The three Invincibles were merely avoiding the topic because they did not feel like talking about it. As for Zhao Tianbing, he was uninterested in the topic itself.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Again and again, booming sounds rang out. Slowly, the aura of the hanging hammer grew stronger and stronger. One golden stripe after another appeared. As for Su Yu, thanks to the vibrations, his body experienced a thirty percent increase in efficiency when absorbing heavenly source qi.
This was merely the start of the weapon forging process. It would become much harder toward the end.
It was already late at night. Su Yu did not think about the passage of time. He was completely immersed in the forging. His willpower continued growing, and before he knew it, his willpower percentage had reached the peak again. His fire of inheritance remained active as he continued comprehending what Zhao Li was doing. The more he saw, the more shocked he was.
Boom!
As the hammer slammed down, Su Yu's face was covered with shock. This was not a single strike. He had only noticed this now. Or to be precise, he sensed it.
108 strikes.
With one strike, the hammer shook 108 times, generating 108 strikes within a single strike.
"Stacked hammer!"
Su Yu's jaws dropped in shock. He had thought that he wasn't that far away from Zhao Li. But at this moment, he finally realized that he was nothing. Was Old Zhao really a profound weaponsmith? Was this supposed to be a profound weaponsmith?
He had been observing the process for a long time. But he only sensed this with the help of his fire of inheritance. He had been watching for a few days, but he had only realized this now. For origınal chapters go to noᴠelfire.net
When Zhao Li heard Su Yu muttering, he smiled, "Not bad. You finally heard it."
Very good. This signified that Su Yu had reached a certain level in weaponsmithing. He wouldn't have noticed this otherwise. Even outside the grotto, very few people could notice this. Only those with formidable strength or weaponsmiths of a certain level could sense this.
Zhao Li was already as good as an earth weaponsmith. He had reached this level for years. But his cultivation was not enough and his main character had separated from him, resulting in his inability to forge earth weapons. Apart from that, he was already equal to an earth weaponsmith in both experience and skill. He had only been held back by his lack of strength after the failure of his previous attempt.
In his shock, Su Yu started brandishing his little hammer in an attempt to imitate what Zhao Li was doing. 108 strikes in a single instance. This was truly incredible. It wouldn't have taken him several days to notice this otherwise.
Stacking! If he could learn this, he would be able to hammer even someone stronger than him with a single strike! This was a divine technique! An advanced utilization of the Soul Expanding Hammer!
Sensing the rhythm of the hammer and the resulting vibrations, Su Yu started experimenting. His hammer hummed as he brandished it around, but he was unable to stack multiple strikes within one strike. He was not discouraged. He persevered and swung his hammer again and again.
Zhao Li smiled and slammed his hammer down again, releasing a vibrating force that slightly resonated with Su Yu's little hammer. With the resonance and guidance, Su Yu slowly grasped the intricacies of this move.
Hum! Hum!
He swung his hammer twice, but he still failed to stack the strikes.
Zhao Li said nothing. He continued hammering his weapon while guiding Su Yu, allowing Su Yu to experience the move himself. Zhao Li wouldn't have bothered guiding Su Yu on the stacking of hammer strikes if Su Yu had failed to notice it.
As far as Zhao Li was concerned, forcefully teaching someone this move might not necessarily be a good thing. Thus, he would only start teaching it after Su Yu noticed the move and grasped a certain level of comprehension of it.
Inside the academy.
The booming sounds of the hammer strikes resounded throughout the academy. Elder Chen muttered, "Is Zhao Li...preparing to accept another student?"
He could feel it. Zhao Li's hammer strikes were being launched in an educating manner. Of course, a complete layman would not be able to sense this.
When he looked at Hu Qi, she smiled and said, "Cui Lang is very talented. If Zhao Li is really interested, it's fine for Cui Lang to become his student. He is only an unofficial student of Old Niu. He can take another teacher."
"That wasn't what I meant. I was curious about Cui Lang. How had he earned the favor of an eccentric like Zhao Li?"
The people around them were listening to the conversation. Through the conversation, they learned that Zhao Li was teaching Cui Lang. As for how these two had realized that, well, the others were completely clueless. This was too complicated for them.
Hu Qi laughed, "I have no idea. Perhaps Cui Lang is a very endearing person."
Elder Chen was rendered speechless. After a short pause, he asked, "How many strikes did you hear?"
Hu Qi answered, "144. How about you?"
"138. Looks like I missed some of them." Elder Chen looked at his student and asked, "How many strikes did you hear?"
His student was a middle-aged man. At that question, he sank into a short silence before answering, "108."
Elder Chen frowned and looked at Senior Brother Wang before asking, "Little Wang, how about you?"
Senior Brother Wang answered, "122. I've been listening to this for decades so I'm a little bit more familiar with it."
Elder Chen nodded, "In terms of weaponsmithing skills alone, your teacher was better than me back then. Now, we're at a similar level. The standard of a peak heaven grade weaponsmith is 144 strikes. Senior Hu is better than me so she was able to hear the whole thing. If your teacher succeeds in this forging, he will surpass me."
Senior Brother Wang remained silent. That was not something he would dare to comment on. The surrounding people were completely confused. What were they talking about? A large number of earth, profound, and yellow weaponsmiths were there. The yellow weaponsmiths did not even sense anything. As for the profound weaponsmiths, those below the middle stage couldn't sense anything as well. Only some at the high or peak stages were able to notice a tiny bit of what was happening.
All these people were able to gain more from experiencing the vibrations. After all, the others could only hear a single strike while they could hear the dozens of strikes contained within a single strike.
Chapter 794: Nine-Forged Body (3)
At the same time.
With a surprised expression, Zhao Tianbing said, "Xia Xiao'er...cough, cough, Acting Prefect Xia, can you give me a copy of Cui Lang's information? My junior brother seems interested in accepting a student. He's even teaching the Soul Expanding Art. Just who is this Cui Lang?"
Marquis Xia glared at Zhao Tianbing before tossing a jade talisman over. With a frown, he said, "Zhao Tianbing, how many strikes did you hear? Your junior brother is nothing in terms of strength, but his weaponsmithing skills are truly outstanding."
"Of course." Zhao Tianbing said, "Back when my teacher was still around, he once praised my junior talent for being exceedingly talented. He didn't say that because that was his son. Rather, he is really very talented. He is even more talented than me. Unfortunately, my teacher died in the Allheaven Battlefield not long after he started teaching my junior brother.
"My junior brother could only learn from me. At eighteen, he forged his first yellow weapon. At twenty, he forged his first peak yellow weapon. At twenty-eight, he forged his first profound weapon. At forty-five, he forged his first peak profound weapon. But then...sigh."
That was an endlessly regretful sigh. After that, his junior brother had started researching all sorts of weird stuff instead of focusing on advancement. And he was too busy to get his junior brother back on the right track.
Eventually, Zhao Li started creating his Soul Expanding Art. He spent decades doing that. Then, he strayed even more as he started researching the unity of human and weapon. That had completely strayed from the traditional forging methods. Otherwise, he would have reached the earth grade long ago. What a pity.
Zhao Tianbing tossed all that thoughts out of his mind and said, "I heard 180 strikes. He has improved considerably. Back during his first attempt at forging this weapon, he was only able to stack his strike 144 times."
Great Han King and the others smiled upon hearing that. Silk Destroying King laughed and said, "Looks like only specialists know their field better. I heard 180 strikes as well, but I didn't even think of weaponsmithing when I heard that. Instead, I thought of ways to implement this to my Time technique. Wouldn't that allow me to send the Silkwyrm King back to the ancient times with one kick?"
Zhao Tianbing said, "You overestimate this technique, Lord. He is still weak so it's easier to stack his strikes. At the Invincible Realm, no, even at my realm, it is impossible to surpass 180 stacks. My current limit is 144 stacks. But that's mainly because I don't know the Soul Expanding Art. Then again, all weaponsmithing methods will share some similarities with each other."
"Soul Expanding Art..." Great Song King said, "This is an incredible art. Unfortunately, it has high requirements. This level alone is enough to help Zhao Li face anyone at the third-stage Mountainsea Realm and below in combat."
One ought to remember that Zhao Li was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. The two Invincibles had a lot of praise for this self-created art.
Great Han King said, "I wonder how much of Zhao Li's skills did that Su Yu kid manage to learn. Previously, I thought that the Soul Expanding Art is merely a useful art. But after what I felt today, I can conclude that Su Yu has probably not comprehended the core concepts of this art."
He was essentially saying that Su Yu was bringing shame to the Soul Expanding Art. He had heard about this art before, but he never thought much of it. After experiencing it himself, he changed his mind. This was an excellent art. It was comparable to even some heaven-grade soul techniques.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still fully focused on observing Zhao Li. He was only able to hear 108 strikes even though he was standing right beside Zhao Li. He was still too lacking in the art of weaponsmithing compared to the veteran profound weaponsmiths. But thanks to his good teachers, he was already comparable to middle profound weaponsmiths.
He continued trying to stack his hammer strikes.
Once, twice, thrice...
Slowly, he started to grasp the basics of this move.
And after grasping the basics, further improvement became much easier than before. A few hours passed. When he swung his hammer yet again, it hummed nine times in a row. Zhao Li smiled and said, "Familiarize yourself with it. Nine stacks...This is probably enough for now. You're very talented."
"I can't compare with you, Teacher. The gap between us is too big. You can reach 108 stacks while I'm stuck at 9 stacks. I can't even make it soundless."
Zhao Li did not correct Su Yu. He merely smiled and returned to his work. 108 stacks? He supposed the kid was pretty good to be able to hear 108 stacks. But the kid had still underestimated him. In truth, he had stacked his hammer strike 180 times.
Due to the grotto separating him and the outside world, the experts outside were unable to hear the exact number of stacks.
Before anyone knew it, it was the 28th.
Zhao Li was starting to feel tired. He had reached 36 golden stripes.
"Find an opening and join in."
Su Yu was fully focused. The moment he heard that, he pushed his fire of inheritance to its limit while using the calm character at the same time. He raised his hammer and swung it down.
Boom!
Boom!
Two booms sounded at the same time. Zhao Li said, "Follow my rhythm. Don't mess it up."
"Alright."
Su Yu adjusted to Zhao Li's rhythm and the two started forging together. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveIＦire.net
Only the earth weaponsmiths and high-stage Sunmoons outside noticed something changing. It was no longer one person. Two people were now working on the weapon. Both were striking the weapon. The booming sounds had changed slightly, but apart from these experts, nobody noticed anything.
The look in Hu Qi's eyes changed. As for Elder Chen, he muttered, "Cui Lang has reached the high profound grade."
The surrounding people were shocked to hear that. Just how did he figure that out? How? Elder Chen did not feel like explaining. He felt both surprised and regretful. Why was he regretful? Because this wasn't a member of Great Xia. There were very few weaponsmithing geniuses in Great Xia. But yet another genius had appeared in Great Ming.
Not long ago, Su Yu had left Great Xia. And now, a Cui Lang had appeared. Great Ming seemed to have gained a lot recently.
Inside the hall.
Zhao Tianbing exclaimed in surprise, "This Cui Lang is actually quite good. He's able to follow my junior brother's rhythm. He must have reached the high profound grade. Why have I never heard of him before?"
Great Song King said, "I heard of him once. But not because of weaponsmithing. Cheng Mo of Great Tang chased after him several times. I heard about the kid during one of these pursuits when the kid ran into Great Song."
"Cheng Mo?" Great Han King laughed and asked, "Is he still in seclusion?"
"Nope. He's trying to affirm his dao...but it won't be so easy for him." Great Song King sounded regretful, "He lacks an Invincible ruin. Otherwise, he might succeed."
They were people of the same era.
Silk Destroying King laughed and said, "Cheng Mo is quite shameless. Why did he chase after a brat? Is he not ashamed?"
The other two Invincibles didn't even deign to reply. This Silk Destroying King was the most shameless of all. Why was he talking about others? If he wasn't so shameless, he wouldn't have spent hundreds of years fighting the Silkwrym King.
It wasn't like he could kill that fellow. What was the point of fighting again and again? They were merely talking about this to pass the time. They still weren't too bothered about Cui Lang. High profound grade was impressive, but these days, there were geniuses everywhere. For example, people like Su Yu, Shan Xiong, Qin Fang, and Huang Teng. All these were also the super geniuses of humanity. And all of them were so young it was inconceivable how they were so strong.
Cui Lang was thirty-five, so he was talented enough to be supported. But his genius was not at a level that would stun the world. Perhaps that would change if he could become an earth weaponsmith.
Inside the grotto.
After joining in, Su Yu finally realized how difficult it was. He was able to keep up with Zhao Li's rhythm, but the recoil from each hit was terrifyingly strong. While forging, Su Yu yelled, "Teacher, why does your body feel even stronger than mine? Are you not affected by the recoil?"
"Dissolve the recoil force. Also, isn't it normal that my body is stronger than yours?"
Zhao Li was quite speechless.
"That shouldn't be the case."
Su Yu was trembling from the recoil as he spoke with great difficulty, "M-my b-body is very strong! I c-can release the p-power of f-four thousand acupoints! T-teacher, a-are you s-stronger than me?"
Wasn't Zhao Li supposed to be a cultural researcher? His body had to reach the Cloudbreach Realm to be that strong.
"W-why the f-fuck a-are you trembling when you s-speak? Y-you're affecting m-me as well!"
Zhao Li found the trembling infectious.
After a short pause to recover, he said, "I am able to release the strength of around eight thousand acupoints. Don't even dream of comparing against me."
"Y-you're that strong?"
"D-do you think you're the only genius around?"
"No..."
"Stop talking. Shut up and focus."
Zhao Li scolded. This was clearly not hard enough for the kid if the kid could still talk with him.
After a while, Su Yu suddenly said, "T-teacher..."
"What is it this time?"
"I-I need to t-take a short break. I'm f-finishing my ninth body forging..."
Fuck! Zhao Li cursed inwardly. Was this kid a masochist? After being tortured by the recoil force, he was going to break through? Fine, fine. Damn this kid. What an amazing kid. He had actually achieved a body breakthrough after a short while of forging.
Su Yu stopped forging and ran further away. There, he consumed a large amount of heavenly source qi as he started his breakthrough. Zhao Li's eyes widened as he saw that. Where did this damn kid get all that heavenly source qi? He was using it like it was free!
More importantly, this was a ninth body forging. Someone cultivating a regular cultivation method could have reached the Cloudbreach Realm at this level. How terrifying. Golden light covered Su Yu's body.
Then, his aura shot up. He said in excitement, "Teacher, I can now muster the strength of 4,500 acupoints! After a few more body forgings, I will be comparable to you in body strength!"
Zhao Li decided to ignore the kid. He was a cultural researcher. Why should he care about body cultivation? Only brutes would care about that. Also, did the kid think that he could forge his body more just because he wanted to? It wasn't that easy!
But next, he saw Su Yu rejoining him while absorbing a large amount of heavenly source qi. When he saw the sheer amount of heavenly source qi the kid was absorbing, his eyes turned red with envy. Damn it! He did not get to enjoy something like this back when he was young. Otherwise, he would have walked the path of a warrior instead.
Holy shit! Served this kid right for having so many jealous enemies who were eager to suppress him! He could only blame himself for being too rich!
The envious Old Zhao applied more force when striking the weapon, resulting in a stronger recoil force. Su Yu forced himself to keep up as he stuttered due to all the vibrations, "T-t-teacher, s-s-slow d-down..."
If his teacher continued with this pace, the recoil was going to kill him. The number of golden stripes on the weapon continued increasing as the two worked on it.