Restless Xu Xian

“Master, I think you can start teaching me how to forge swords now.”

“Hmm?”

Xu Xian was brimming with confidence. “Forging a low-grade spirit sword shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

Ruan Hao sipped his tea and puffed on a cigarette, his tone indifferent. “There’s no rush for sword forging. You need to spend more time grounding yourself.”

Xu Xian’s face fell. “Still grounding? I’ve been grounding for half a year already.”

He had truly had enough of striking iron; just the sight of it made him want to gag now.

Ruan Hao glanced at him, his eyes half-closed. “You realize it’s only been half a year. It took you ten months just for your foundation establishment. Do you think foundation establishment is easier than sword forging?”

“Is it that hard?” Xu Xian countered.

Ruan Hao said leisurely, “There are five thousand disciples in the Forging Hall. Go ask them how many took more than ten years for foundation establishment. Then see how many can forge a spirit sword within ten years. You tell me which is harder, foundation establishment or sword forging...”

Xu Xian pursed his lips. To be honest, he didn’t think either foundation establishment or sword forging was particularly difficult.

Ruan Hao advised, “Fine, listen to me. Just focus on striking your iron. In sword forging, haste leads to chaos. You must take it slow. Go back and keep grounding yourself.”

Xu Xian rolled his eyes and conceded. “Alright, I’ll listen to you. You are the master, after all.”

The matter of sword forging was dropped for the moment.

Although the proud Xu Xian was somewhat unconvinced, he did not go against Ruan Hao’s wishes, nor did he attempt to forge a sword on his own.

First, Ruan Hao had never actually taught him how to forge a sword; from beginning to end, he had only been striking iron and performing purifications. Even the secret manual Ruan Hao had given him only contained theories regarding the purification of ores.

Second, he believed Ruan Hao had a purpose for doing this. Whether it was because the time truly hadn't come or because he wanted to further temper his temperament, it didn’t matter. After all, the old man treated him so well, giving him ores, hammers, and even money...

Xu Xian didn't have many virtues, but he knew how to be grateful.

However, while Xu Xian didn't forge any swords, he didn't exactly stick to the script of striking iron either. Instead, he began to harbor other ideas.

He started trying to temper different types of mortal iron into spirit ores of various attributes, then combined these regular spirit ores to create top-grade spirit ore...

Failures were frequent. Progress was slow. But when he finally succeeded, he was ecstatic.

He didn't breathe a word of it to anyone. Instead, he began trying to figure out how to temper the top-grade spirit ore he had obtained into regular immortal gold.

At first, Xu Xian utilized Ruan Hao’s theories. The result: failure. Failure. Failure.

Later, he modified some of the steps. The result was still: failure. Failure. Failure.

Eventually, Xu Xian successfully got himself obsessed.

“I refuse to believe I can’t do it.”

He began searching through the unfamiliar knowledge he had gained alongside the sword embryo. No results. He ran to the Scripture Pavilion and spent an entire day reading every book related to forging. Useless. He turned to the little book spirit for help.

Shuer spread its tiny hands, indicating its helplessness.

“I’m just an ordinary sword spirit, a spirit born from a Sword Tower. If you ask me about sword techniques or swords themselves, I might know, but I really don’t understand the business of forging.”

Helpless, Xu Xian finally went to Ruan Hao and asked for a few pieces of the lowest quality immortal gold.

Deep sea meteoric iron.

This kind of immortal gold was produced ten thousand meters below the sea and was the most common material on the market for forging earth weapons. Of course, the price was still exorbitant.

Ruan Hao didn’t ask many questions. With a wave of his hand, he gave Xu Xian ten pieces.

Even though Xu Xian never mentioned his plan, the two of them lived in the same forging workshop and courtyard. Ruan Hao saw every move Xu Xian made clearly. As his teacher, he knew exactly what Xu Xian was trying to do.

To be honest, when he initially told Xu Xian to keep striking iron, he didn't have many complex thoughts; he simply wanted to rein in Xu Xian’s temperament and grind down his impulsive nature.

After all, everything had been far too smooth for Xu Xian. Setting aside his meteoric rise in cultivation—body refining, qi refining, foundation establishment, core formation, and nascent soul all achieved in less than two years—his path in forging had been equally effortless. In just half a year, he could already forge top-grade spirit ore.

Putting talent aside, he was moving far too fast and had encountered almost no obstacles. Thus, Ruan Hao wanted Xu Xian to slow down and settle his heart. Whether in cultivation or forging, haste leads to chaos, and excessive speed brings calamity. Many things are not better just because they are faster; a mix of urgency and patience is the proper way.

He feared Xu Xian would achieve the opposite of what he intended. Even more, he feared that if Xu Xian ran too fast, he might trip one day and never be able to get back up.

Fanzhou was never short of geniuses. Innate dao seeds, those with peerless immortal grace, alchemy immortals reincarnate, those possessed by demon gods, formation geniuses—the list was endless. Every hundred years or so, a few would burst onto the scene in the vast Fanzhou, their names echoing across the world, only to vanish without a trace a few years later.

Heaven knows what happened to them. He only knew that even a genius had to grow up to be useful; otherwise, they were just empty talk—nothing more than a joke.

Ruan Hao did not want Xu Xian to follow in their footsteps. So, he wanted to temper Xu Xian’s character, making him adaptable, able to pick things up and put them down. Simply put, he wanted him not to fear failure.

However, what he hadn't expected was that this boy seemed completely different from what he had imagined. Not only was he unafraid of failure, but he also couldn't stay idle. He was studying and researching every moment.

So, Ruan Hao simply watched him tinker, turning the impossible into the possible and overcoming one difficulty after another. Now, Xu Xian was attempting to forge immortal gold by hand.

To be honest, he had been startled by the idea at first. After all, he had researched this himself in the past—one could even say he hadn't given up on it even now. But the results were predictable.

He had originally thought Xu Xian would give up after a few days of tinkering, but clearly, Xu Xian was serious. He had a resolve that wouldn't waver until the goal was met.

Ruan Hao’s perspective shifted from watching a show to one of anticipation. What if he actually succeeded? Then, as his master, not only would he have bragging rights, but he might even be able to learn a thing or two himself.

Even if such a thought was somewhat unrealistic, he only had this one disciple. How could he dampen his spirits?

Ruan Hao didn't have much, but he had plenty of ores. Not just these common immortal golds—he could even produce seven or eight pieces of rare immortal gold if needed.

After receiving the immortal gold, Xu Xian didn't start forging it. Instead, he used his immortal sword to slice it open bit by bit. To create immortal gold, one had to understand it. Only by understanding it deeply enough was it possible to create it. This was Xu Xian’s logic, and he was putting it into practice.

This was torture for Ruan Hao. He watched as those pieces of immortal gold were sliced into scraps by Xu Xian, turning into a pile of worthless iron filings. His heart felt like it was bleeding. He had plenty of mines, it was true, but those were saved up bit by bit. Seeing them wasted like this made his heart ache.

“You can’t just squander it like this!”

His heart was heavy, but he said nothing. As for Xu Xian, he was immersed in his research, bordering on obsession, and didn't notice his master’s pained expression at all.

“Where exactly is the problem?”