Chapter 57 - The Forging Hall
Su Ming activated the Halo of Insight for a split second. Under its influence, his Essence Sight mapped the study into flows of spiritual Qi. Calculating the Qi as needed to balance the flow, he slowly exhaled.
The silver Qi pulled inward. The outer edges converged as the core condensed into a hair-thin filament. It was perfectly sharp and completely stable.
However, Su Ming felt no satisfaction. He had technically cheated, relying on the Lantern’s perception to bridge the gap. He knew he could not rely on the Halo of Insight for such continuous, prolonged tasks. Running the Lantern for days would drain his life and soul force to zero, and risk his own life.
The Lantern had given him the perfect structural coordinates, but he realized he would need to spend the next couple of weeks in relentless, daily practice, embedding this into his muscle memory until he could replicate this hair-thin state naturally.
Su Ming opened his eyes, retracting the Qi thread and adjusting his sleeves.
Bai Qingxian stared, her breath catching as she leaned closer. "How..." she whispered, quiet awe in her eyes. "I expected it to take you weeks of daily practice to scale the Qi thread down. You did it in a single afternoon."
"Your instructions were clear," Su Ming smiled. "We should continue."
Bai Qingxian quietly reclaimed her composure, though she looked at him with newfound seriousness. A genuine admiration grew within Su Ming for her skills as well; even in her damaged cultivation of the mere foundation establishment realm, her skills were no doubt extraordinary.
***
Su Ming sat at his wooden desk, the quiet of the morning only broken by the faint rustling of pine trees outside the window. He spread his spiritual sense, entering his spatial storage.
Currently, his inventory was a disorganized mess. He wore a single high-quality spatial ring on his right hand—a personal gift from Sect Master Jun Tianya during his early days as Acting Peak Master.
However, because of his journey to the Secret Realm, he had been forced to rent several storage rings and pouches from the Outer Affairs Hall. The rent was cheap, but managing a dozen minor storage items was highly inefficient. It took too long to locate specific herbs or materials, and a single mistake could misplace a critical ingredient.
’I need to consolidate everything in one place,’ Su Ming thought, rubbing his chin. ’Renting is fine for a temporary store, but it is too slow for actual work. I should buy the largest spatial ring available the sect registry has to offer and return these rented pouches.’
As he sorted through his items, Su Ming pulled out his weapon, the Crimson Heaven Sword. He laid the red-hued steel blade flat across the desk.
Under the warm morning light, several thin hairline fractures were visible near the hilt toward the mid-section. It was a small crack. During his clash in the secret realm, he had channeled the absolute power of his Yin Yang Origin Flame Dragon’s Roar. The Crimson Heaven Sword was a Mystic-grade weapon, and it would have been fine under normal Qi.
But the sudden, explosive, and raw Yin-Yang flame had put too much pressure on the sword, causing it to crack from the inside.
’It’s still usable, but if I perform another full-power strike, the blade will probably shatter,’ Su Ming noted, tracing the fracture with his finger. ’It needs to be reinforced with good materials. I cannot afford to lose my main weapon.’
He recalled the sword’s origin. The Crimson Heaven Sword was originally forged by a prominent master blacksmith, Elder Tie, in the Forging Hall.
Since it was custom-made, it was best to return it to the original creator for repairs.
Setting the sword aside, Su Ming began sorting his resources. From his rented rings and pouches, he pulled out several large, raw stones that glowed with a deep, pulsing red and purple light. These were high-quality thunder-fire crystals he had harvested from the secret realm.
They were incredibly pure, radiating a heavy, crackling warmth. Next, he retrieved several pristine crimson dragon scales, a dense piece of the ancient dragon bone, and the high-grade Azure Iron ores he had received from the Wang Clan’s monthly mining profits. He planned to use these raw materials to reinforce the Crimson Heaven Sword and forge a second sword. If successful, both weapons would be elevated to the absolute peak of the Mystic rank.
With his cracked sword and a storage ring full of crystals, ores, and dragon remains ready, Su Ming stood up, smoothed his wide green sleeves, and stepped out of the study.
***
The Artifact Forging Hall was situated deep within the central volcanic rift of the Heavenly Cloud Sect. As Su Ming descended on his flying sword, the cool mountain breeze was replaced by a heavy, suffocating heat. Plumes of dark, sulfurous smoke rose from natural volcanic vents along the black stone cliffs. Below, massive channels of liquid lava flowed like glowing orange rivers, lighting up the dark valley floor. The air vibrated with the constant, rhythmic thud of heavy hammers striking hot metal, echoing off the stone walls.
Disciples clad in simple, sweat-stained leather aprons moved between stone workshops, carrying glowing ingots and heavy iron tongs.
Bypassing the outer registries where ordinary disciples waited in long lines for standard repairs, Su Ming presented his Peak Master token. A young deacon guided him through the stone corridors toward the private forging chambers.
The air grew hotter as they neared the deepest chamber, where a massive iron door stood closed. The deacon knocked twice and stepped back.
"Enter!" a gruff, booming voice roared from within.
The iron door slid open, releasing a wave of dry heat. Inside, the chamber was dominated by a large volcanic anvil anchored directly over a bubbling vent of lava. Elder Tie stood before the anvil, a massive steel hammer resting on his shoulder. He was a broad-shouldered man with a wild gray beard, his bare arms covered in dark soot and old burn scars.
Elder Tie did not look up immediately. He finished striking a piece of heated iron, quenched it in a tub of bubbling oil with a loud hiss, and finally rested his heavy hammer. He wiped his soot-covered arms with a grease-stained cloth, casting a flat, unimpressed look at Su Ming.
"A Peak Master from the outer rings," Elder Tie grunted, his voice dry. "I am busy, boy. If you want swords or minor repairs, speak to the registries outside. I do not have time to forge cooking pots or farming tools for outer peaks."
"I require your expertise, Elder Tie," Su Ming said, bowing politely.
He reached into his sleeve and placed the Crimson Heaven Sword on the stone table between them.
Elder Tie frowned, stepping closer. He picked up the red blade, turning it under the glow of the lava light. As his eyes found the hairline fracture near the hilt, his expression shifted from casual interest to deep confusion. He ran his soot-stained thumb along the crack, closing his eyes to sense the internal structure.
"How in the heavens did you manage this?" Elder Tie muttered, looking up. He stared at Su Ming, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the young man’s calm, relaxed posture. "This is the Crimson Heaven Sword. I forged it myself using a Demon Lord-rank core. It is meant to handle the Qi of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator with ease. Yet the core of this blade has been completely stressed. The damage came from the inside, forced by an explosive burst of Qi that expanded too fast for the metal to release."
He looked back at the sword, then back at Su Ming. "Even if you ran your Qi at full capacity for three days straight, you shouldn’t have been able to crack this core. What did you do?"
Su Ming remained calm. "A minor accident during my travels. I had to push a sudden surge of my Qi through the blade to defend myself. The force was somewhat higher than anticipated."
Elder Tie grunted, clearly not believing the simple explanation, but he did not press. Cultivators always had their secrets. "You are lucky the blade did not explode in your hand."
"Can it be repaired?" Su Ming asked.
"Of course it can be done," Elder Tie snapped, placing the sword back on the table. "I forged it, and I can fix it. But it will not be cheap. It will cost you fifteen thousand contribution points or Spirit Stones."
"That is fair," Su Ming nodded. "In addition to the repairs, I have some other orders. I need twenty sets of specialized surgical needles forged, five standard training swords of good quality, and five sets of defensive armors and vests for my peak. I also want to purchase a high-capacity spatial ring—the largest one you have in stock."
He pulled a jade slip from his sleeve containing the needle blueprint Bai Qingxian had given him and handed it to Elder Tie.
Elder Tie swept his divine sense over the slip, and his eyebrows shot up. "Needles? You want specialized meridian needles? And you want twenty complete sets of them?"
He looked at the blueprint again, tracing the fine measurements. "These are not standard acupuncture needles. The tips are designed to guide and stabilize raw Qi, and the steel must be refined to an extreme density to prevent bending when piercing thick skin or bone. Forging these requires high-level precision. Blacksmiths rarely touch such small items; this is usually the work of specialized blacksmiths."
"I am aware," Su Ming bowed. "Elder Tie, can your forge handle the precision?"
Elder Tie looked insulted. "Hmph...My forge can shape anything from a mountain-cleaving axe to a hair-thin needle. But why does a sword cultivator need ten sets of specialized meridian-mending needles? Are you planning to become a Physician now?"
"A personal study," Su Ming chuckled.