Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhang Zhi continued smithing the sword, the shape slowly turned into a eastern style blade.
The cultivators looked disappointed and shook their heads, they muttered via telepathy, “A standard eastern sword design but based on the aura, it’s certainly a low-tier artifact.”
“What a waste! Firelord Gold turning into a low-tier artifact, what a waste!”
…
The cultivators felt extreme heartache, they believed even amateurs like them could forge something better out of the Firelord Gold. For a moment there, their eyes on Zhang Zhi were filled with resentment.
However, Zhang Zhi did not stop. He nonchalantly swung his hammer, as if he was a robot.
“Why is he still forging? Throw it back into the hearth and maybe he can salvage a little something!” One of the cultivators finally lost it and said out loud.
“Yeah, stop it Owner Zhang!”
The cultivators started to make noise.
Han Ling’er frowned. Even though she too noticed the flying sword’s standard, she had promised to guard Zhang Zhi, so she controlled Flying Swan Sword and pointed it at the noisy cultivators.
She bellowed, “Shut up, don’t disturb Zhang Zhi!”
The cultivators were deterred from talking but a few of them who assumed they were closer to Han Ling’er voiced their concerns, “Senior Sister Han, since you are quite close with Owner Zhang, talk him out of this, throw it back into the hearth, it’s less shameful this way…”
“Yeah, he shouldn’t waste Firelord Gold like this!”
Han Ling’er reacted coldly to those words, “I said don’t disturb Zhang Zhi! Don’t make me repeat another time!”
The group sighed and shook their heads helplessly. Wasting Firelord Gold felt even worse than wasting their own lives.
Zhang Zhi turned a deaf ear to the cultivators, he concentrated on forging his sword. A while later, the blade was finally done; it was a standard 3 feet and 3 inches.
It was then that a throb sounded from the blade, as if it had a beating heart inside. The pulsating throb somehow synchronized with the heartbeat of everyone else in the blacksmith.
The sighing cultivators were suddenly stunned by the unusual throb, they looked at Zhang Zhi and the eastern style sword in disbelief.
“Guys, is it me or is that sword looking like a mid-tier artifact?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely becoming a mid-tier artifact based on the feeling! Owner Zhang’s forging skills will never let us down!”
“Wang! You said you were disappointed a moment ago!”
The group of cultivators communicated via telepathy again. Many of them were embarrassed because they were talking bad about Zhang Zhi for forging a low-tier flying sword with extremely rare material. They even wanted him to stop, but when the flying sword became a mid-tier artifact, they felt like they received a big slap in their faces.
Han Ling’er looked proud, Zhang Zhi never disappointed her.
“Even though it is still a little wasteful to use the Firelord Gold like this, it’s a lot better”
“Wait, hold on! The sword’s power seems to be growing!”
The cultivators were stunned. The sword continued to grow stronger under Zhang Zhi’s hammer, could it be that the sword’s tier was going to exceed mid-tier?
With what happened earlier, the cultivators dared not rush to a conclusion anymore. They held their breaths and concentrated on watching instead.
It was then that a waving crack appeared out of thin air in the blacksmith and an elderly man came out from it. The group were slightly shocked by the presence of Elder Wu, the elder who governed Lingtai Town.
Could it be that the elder was attracted here by Zhang Zhi’s forging?
Before the group could react to the arrival of Elder Wu, another elderly man with a white beard and robes also appeared inside the blacksmith.
The second elderly man shocked everyone once more, including Elder Wu. Even Elder Wu had to bow respectfully but the white-robed elderly man lifted his hand out and stopped everyone from bowing with an invisible force.
The white-robed elder smiled and put his finger in front of his mouth, telling everyone to keep quiet. He then concentrated on watching the forging process.
The cultivators dared not make a sound but the telepathic conversation exploded in awe.
“Holy moly! I thought Elder Wu’s arrival was already huge, I did not expect the Grand Elder to be here too! This is mad!”
“Is this really happening? Is Zhang Zhi really forging an ultimate weapon?”
Han Ling’er was extremely excited. The Grand Elder was not a common executive elder like Elder Wu or Elder Ouyang.
Elder Wu and Elder Ouyang were executive elders who were in charge of a certain task within the sect, any Golden Core cultivator could take on the job.
The Grand Elder, Second Elder and the elders with a numeral in their title were not common executives, they were the founding elders of the sect, they were the people with true authority within the sect and they were second only to the Sect Master.
Other than their status, their cultivation levels were also ridiculously high, every one of them was at least a thousand year Nascent Soul!
The Grand Elder had not shown himself in public for many years. Some said he was in closed-door training and would not come out before he broke through the Void Refinement stage, yet Zhang Zhi’s forging attracted the Grand Elder’s arrival.
Han Ling’er was at her proudest moment.
‘What did you people say earlier? Zhang Zhi would never forge an ultimate weapon? Now look who’s talking? Who would’ve thought even the Grand Elder was attracted by the forging!’
Zhang Zhi was so focused that he did not notice what happened in the blacksmith. The forging continued.
When the hilt was done, the sword throbbed strongly again and every other cultivator was petrified.
The telepathic conversation exploded once again.
“Hohoo! What am I looking at? A high-tier artifact?!”
“I’m watching the birth of a high-tier artifact?! I’d go blind for this!”
“Holy mother…”
“Wang, your mother is long dead!”
The cultivators were like a bunch of mad men, talking nonsense via telepathy. Their combined telepathy got so strong that it brought a whistling gale into the blacksmith.
The Grand Elder regained his senses from the shock and lifted his hand to stop the strong gale.
Zhang Zhi finally stopped hammering. He carefully sized up the blistering red flying sword in his hand. There was one last step left in the forging: quenching.
Quenching was the final step in forging but also the most deadly. If the quenching was done well, the flying sword’s tier would increase further; if it was done poorly, the efforts might fall short.
The Grand Elder looked at the quenching pool and his brows furrowed tightly. Due to the camouflage from the system, the colorful liquid in the quenching pool looked like normal water in the Grand Elder’s eyes, it even looked a little dirty.
…
A high-tier artifact should not be quenched using such poor quality water.
When the Grand Elder noticed Zhang Zhi wanted to quench the sword in the pool, he spoke and stopped Zhang Zhi, “Hold on, friend.”
Zhang Zhi heard the voice and looked up, he then realized his blacksmith was filled with people. He frowned and thought, ‘Who’s this old man? I thought I told them to keep quiet while I forge.’
Han Ling’er was afraid that Zhang Zhi would say something inappropriate so she quickly explained, “Zhang Zhi, this is the Grand Elder of Lingtai Sect.”
‘Grand Elder? So what? A Grand Elder has the right to interrupt my forging?’
The Grand Elder noticed the unhappy look on Zhang Zhi, so he quickly said, “I don’t mean anything else, it’s just that the water that you are going to use for quenching is a little inappropriate. I have traveled the world in my earlier days and collected some Rootless Immortal Water, why don’t I give it to you, friend, you can use it to quench the sword.”
Rootless Immortal Water was also a treasured material that rivaled Firelord Gold. The water was filled with spirit energy and a single drop was worth a few months of cultivation.
The cultivators were in awe when they heard it. The Grand Elder wanted to give such treasure to an outsider?
On top of that, the water was not for drinking but for quenching?
The cultivators were bleeding inside. They thought witnessing the birth of an ultimate weapon was an honor but why did they feel pain throughout the process?
Before Zhang Zhi could say anything, the Grand Elder sent a white ceramic bottle floating towards him.
Everyone looked at the bottle in envy but in Zhang Zhi’s mind, it was complete garbage.
Zhang Zhi chuckled and shook his head. He did not take the white bottle, instead he tossed the sword into the quenching pool. If he delayed the quenching any longer, he would miss the best timing.
“Holy f*ck!” The cultivators were horrified.
“The Grand Elder was kind enough to give you the Rootless Immortal Water for quenching yet you decline it!?”
“Even if you don’t want to use it, just try to decline him nicely, why did you toss the high-tier sword into the pool of dirty water?! Are you mad? You are such a…”
The cultivators were at a loss for words to describe Zhang Zhi’s character. A high-tier artifact was quenched in a pool of dirty water, it was no more than a waste of effort.
Everyone felt pity for the sword, even the Grand Elder. Watching the boiling water from the pool and listening to the bursting bubbles were not the best experience for them.
The Grand Elder sighed. Even though a high-tier artifact was rare, someone with his level of cultivation could afford to leave it behind. He swung his sleeves and wanted to return to his closed-door training in disappointment.
It was then that another powerful yet familiar throb came from the quenching pool. The throb shook everyone, as if a primordial demon beast was rising from the pool.
The sword in the quenching pool felt even stronger.
The cultivators screamed in shock, “Can this be? Is it becoming a spirit artifact?!”
They had witnessed the flying sword ascend from low-tier to mid-tier and mid-tier to high-tier, hence the strange thought.
The Grand Elder froze. He had been cultivating for a thousand years, his heart should be void of desire but at this very moment, his heart was racing. His eyes showed astonishment with a hint of fear.
The Grand Elder muttered, “This is impossible!”
“Grand Elder, what’s impossible?” asked the cultivators.
Before the Grand Elder could explain, Zhang Zhi reached out to the sword and took it out. A blinding gold brilliance shone, forcing everyone else to close their eyes.
Only the Grand Elder was able to look at the golden brilliance, even Elder Wu was stung by the blinding light and teared up.
The Grand Elder saw the sword transformed into a Tripedal Crow and flapped its wings in Zhang Zhi’s hand.
The scene was like a giant hand at the Grand Elder’s throat, suffocating him. He mustered enough strength to mutter, “How is this possible?”
His words changed from ‘impossible’ to ‘how is this possible’, meaning the one thing that concerned him had turned real.
At the next moment, a thought popped up in the Grand Elder’s head and he flicked his finger at the sword, sending over a white light that dispersed the golden brilliance.
Zhang Zhi sensed the changes in his sword, he glared at the Grand Elder but he received a telepathic voice in his head instead.
“Friend, I don’t mean anything. Please don’t be angry. The arrival of an epic artifact is too shocking to the world. It might not be a good thing, even to you. I’ve hidden its power for you.”
Zhang Zhi was surprised and quickly understood the Grand Elder’s intention. The appearance of an epic tier artifact was a deadly temptation even to a Nascent Soul Patriarch.
It might put him in danger.
Zhang Zhi cupped his fists at the Grand Elder to express his gratitude. If he continued showing off the golden brilliance, his life might be threatened.
It was then that the sky above the blacksmith turned dark as the thundering cloud arrived. The sword in Zhang Zhi’s hand transformed into the Tripedal Crow again, and as though it was infuriated by the thunder, it flew out the window and soared up to the thunder cloud, trying to fight it.
The golden brilliance intertwined with the lightning in the sky.
The cultivators finally opened up their eyes at the grand scene and they looked like they were looking at something holistic.