After leaving Sword Inquiry Peak, Xu Xian headed straight for Zuiwan Residence to water his spirit herb field.
The three elements of farming:
Fertilize frequently.
Weed frequently.
Water frequently.
One could not afford even a hint of negligence, or the harvest would suffer...
After finishing the watering, Xu Xian made a trip to the Personnel Hall to find Elder Qian. When they first met, Elder Qian was incredibly nervous, thinking Xu Xian had come to settle a score. After all... the rumor that Xu Xian was living off a woman had originated from his own mouth.
While he was busy thinking of how to explain himself to Xu Xian, he never expected that Xu Xian would bring him local specialties and even tell him to eat them while they were fresh. Then, Xu Xian simply left!
Elder Qian was stunned. With an apprehensive heart, he opened the jar, wondering if his Little Grand-Uncle was making a subtle point. His divine sense swept over it, and his whole body jolted. By the time he looked up, Xu Xian's back was already out of sight.
Filled with shame, he raised his hand and gave himself a slap. "Ai... I really am a damned fool!"
Snake meat, snake soup! Others might not know, but no one knew better than him—this had to be the meat of that Xiushe. After all, he was the one who had personally appraised that snake skin. This was the meat of an ancient exotic beast. Although eating this wouldn't have a significant effect on someone at his level, the value of such a thing could not be denied.
Xu Xian left Falling Cloud Peak and hurried to Zhujian Peak. Ruan Hao was not in the forging workshop. "Where did that old man go?"
Placing the Xiushe meat soup he brought for Ruan Hao on the table, Xu Xian rolled up his sleeves and dove into the forging workshop. On the way back and forth, Xu Xian had already memorized every word of the Forging Essentials Ruan Hao had given him, imprinting it in his mind. He had even mentally rehearsed the fusion of various ores multiple times. It could be said that his theoretical knowledge was already very solid; now, it was time for practical application.
He began rummaging through the warehouse for suitable mortal iron ores, intending to use them to synthesize the most common type of spirit ore for his practical exercise. Although Xu Xian didn't know much about ores, he possessed the Pupil of Insight. With a mere thought, the warehouse that looked like a junkyard was suddenly filled with the names of various ores floating before his eyes. It even clearly marked their purity levels.
Xu Xian quickly selected the appropriate materials. Placing them on the forging table, he drew Wait and cut them into various weights according to the proper proportions. Then, he placed them all into the spirit furnace to be blasted with fire.
A spirit furnace was a specialized furnace for master forgers. This item was produced by the Tianji Sect and was designed from the start to facilitate the forging and smelting of ores. It used the minimum amount of spiritual energy to drive the maximum amount of spiritual fire, focusing primarily on labor-saving. It was essentially like an energy converter.
Xu Xian used his Pupil of Insight to look inside and saw an array carved within. This array was extremely exquisite, requiring only a small amount of qi to be channeled into it to continuously release spiritual fire.
Spiritual fire was the fire of cultivators, capable of melting all things. Mortal iron could be forged with mundane fire, but spirit ore required spiritual fire. As for immortal gold, the spiritual fire required was even more immense.
The Tianji Sect, as one of the Seven Sects in Fanzhou besides the Three Sects, had always established itself through formations. They possessed many terrifying and powerful slaughter formations. They enjoyed research and followed the path of technological cultivation, using formations to fuse all things and spirit stones to power them. Cloud Boats, spirit furnaces, and elixir furnaces mostly came from the Tianji Sect.
Although the Tianji Sect's strength consistently ranked at the bottom of the Seven Sects, in terms of sheer wealth, even the Buddhist sect with its flourishing incense might not be able to match them. According to unreliable rumors, the majority shareholder behind the Central Plains' largest chamber of commerce, the Wanxian Chamber of Commerce, was the Tianji Sect. By contrast, the supposed head of the Seven Sects, the Wendao Sword Sect, seemed somewhat strapped for cash.
Smelting mortal iron with spiritual fire took only a moment. Xu Xian removed the metal. Applying the Extreme Cold Intent he had comprehended from the Nine-Turn Spirit Lotus, he cooled it rapidly, obtaining a rough blank the size of a water vat. With a wave of his hand, he took up a hammer. Keeping his Pupil of Insight active, Xu Xian began to strike and forge.
Achieving a grading leap for ores was not as simple as imagined, nor was it just a matter of fusing several ores together. The fundamental difference between mortal iron and spirit ore was that spirit ore contained a massive amount of heaven and earth qi. It was like the difference between ordinary river water and spiritual water from a spirit spring. They were two entirely different species.
To turn a pile of mortal iron into a higher-grade spirit ore, one not only needed to strip away the excess impurities and keep what was necessary to form a new ore, but most importantly, one had to create a resonance with the qi of heaven and earth during the forging process. While changing the structure and internal organization, the heaven and earth qi had to be integrated into it, achieving a certain balance.
The theory wasn't hard, and it was simple to say—nothing more than a few sentences. But to actually do it required extremely high skill from the master forger: control over details, mastery of force, the exactness of proportions, and more! Any error in any step would result in failure.
Precision! Strength within the coarse. Lightness! Weight within the light. One had to let their eyes become a ruler and the hammer become an extension of the hand, achieving zero error and perfect force. This was the foundation of becoming a qualified master forger.
Xu Xian thought that his master hadn't taught him how to forge swords yet and had him start with these things specifically to temper him in this way, so he could become a qualified master forger sooner. Xu Xian had asked Zhang Yang, and their master didn't teach them this way. As a grandmaster, Ruan Hao naturally took an unconventional path.
Fortunately, Xu Xian possessed the Pupil of Insight. Where others needed years of experience for their eyes to become a ruler, he could truly achieve flawless precision. Whether it was the heat, the force, or the proportions, everything was clear as a mirror in his eyes. The only thing he needed to overcome now was how to make the hammer in his hand an extension of his own body, moving exactly as he wished! Once he conquered this point, he believed it wouldn't be long before he finished his apprenticeship.
Clang! Clang!! Clang!!!
The sound of the hammer striking rang out as scheduled. Xu Xian focused intently, immersing himself in the work. Unlike the previous two times he had swung the hammer, Xu Xian's movements this time were much smaller, and his rhythm and breathing were much steadier. He struck again and again, failing and starting over again and again, trying repeatedly...
Despite possessing the Pupil of Insight, success did not happen overnight. Instead, he gradually approached success through countless failures. He hammered from noon until dusk, and from dusk until the dead of night. The star-filled river spanned the sky, yet the hammer did not rest. The stars were silent, but the hammer did not stop. Moonlight was like silk and the clear glow like water as the youth sweated like rain, sparks flying from the iron block...
Ruan Hao had returned. He watched silently without a word, puffing out clouds of smoke one after another. His brow furrowed tighter and tighter, his expression becoming deeper and deeper... until noon the next day, until the ground was covered in embers... he saw the youth strike one final blow.
With a boom, the red-hot iron transformed into an ore shimmering with light. Ruan Hao exhaled a puff of smoke and watched from a distance, forcibly suppressing the joy in his heart. He thought to himself, 'He did it!!'
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