Chapter 462

"Cultivating the Qian Duan Jue is impossible without guidance; my Qian Duan Jue is nearly perfected. I dare not claim much else, but I can certainly guide you."

"One hundred taels of silver a day, or ten contribution points? Why don't you just go rob someone?"

"Thank you, senior brother, for your kindness, but I truly have no money." Xu Yang remained unmoved.

Even Jiang Yan said this thing relies on talent; guidance from others likely holds little meaning.

He was no young Marquis, rich and powerful enough to disregard one hundred taels of silver a day.

"Junior brother Xu, once you have decided, you may come find me at any time."

Seeing that Xu Yang was still unwilling to spend money, Luo Xin did not get angry but turned and left.

He knew the difficulty of cultivating the Qian Duan Jue; once Xu Yang hit a wall, he would naturally come to him.

After Luo Xin left, Xu Yang did not expect a few more people to approach, asking him to pay them to guide his cultivation of the Qian Duan Jue; their conditions were much like Luo Xin's, some charging eighty taels a day, others ninety taels a day.

Xu Yang refused them one by one!

He did not know how skilled these people were, but their tones were all arrogant, almost all claiming their Qian Duan Jue was nearly perfected.

How could Xu Yang not recognize this kind of rhetoric? Calling the entry level "nearly perfected," calling the minor success "nearly perfected."

Truly impressive figures, yet they still need to swindle the few coins from newcomers.

"Junior brother Xu had best hire a senior brother to guide you for a few days; without guidance, the Qian Duan Jue is indeed very difficult to enter."

Xiong Kun walked over and reminded Xu Yang.

He had come here to cultivate the Qian Duan Jue before Xu Yang; at the start, he also felt there was no need to spend money on a waste, but after smashing several pieces of black iron into scrap, he still gritted his teeth and hired someone for guidance, and the situation improved greatly.

"I will try for a few days first and see." Xu Yang smiled.

Xiong Kun shook his head and left; this was advice from experience, and if Xu Yang did not listen, there was nothing he could do.

Soon, the black iron in the furnace fire turned red; Xu Yang took it out, lifted the weapon-forging hammer, and began hammering using the technique of the Qian Duan Jue.

"Clang, clang..."

Accompanied by the dull sound of iron forging, his gang qi seeped bit by bit into the black iron.

After half a quarter-hour, the glowing red black iron turned dark; Xu Yang completed the first fold-forging of the black iron. Compared to before, there was no visible difference, nor was it known whether the quality or performance had improved.

Using tongs, he picked up the black iron and placed it back into the furnace; he looked at the panel.

【Qian Duan Jue · Entry Level (0/200)】

His brows furrowed; after hammering for half a day, the Qian Duan Jue had not changed a bit.

"Again!"

Xu Yang did not know whether he lacked weapon-forging talent or if the progress was simply this slow in the early stages; once the black iron turned red again, he took it out with tongs and continued to cast the Qian Duan Jue to hammer it.

Once!

Twice!

【Qian Duan Jue · Entry Level (1/200)】

By the eighth forging, the panel finally flashed, and the progress of the Qian Duan Jue increased by one point.

"This is too slow!" Xu Yang was speechless.

By now, almost an entire afternoon had passed, and the progress of the Qian Duan Jue had increased by only one point.

Calculated by this progress, to reach minor success in the Qian Duan Jue, he would need to spend at least three months or more.

"According to Yan De Shuo Fa, I have no weapon-forging talent; the effect of my gang qi improving material performance is very poor."

Fortunately, he could cheat, but it would waste the points he had painstakingly accumulated.

Nine times!

During the tenth fold-forging, with a "pfft" sound, the originally fine black iron suddenly exploded; the unique dark luster of the black iron faded rapidly, turning gray-black, becoming scrap iron.

This piece of black iron was completely ruined.

"Haha... Junior brother Xu, I told you it's impossible without guidance. Now you believe me, right? You wasted a piece of black iron for nothing, losing seventy or eighty taels of silver."

Luo Xin strode over, his face full of schadenfreude.

He had been watching Xu Yang's situation all along, waiting for this moment.

"Wanting to master the Qian Duan Jue without spending money to hire someone is simply dreaming."

"We all went through this; we also spent money to hire former senior brothers for guidance. Who does he think he is?"

"Stubborn people must bang their heads until they bleed before they know to repent."

The disciples Xu Yang had previously rejected also took the opportunity to mock him.

"Didn't Brother Jiang also smash a piece of black iron under your guidance?" Xu Yang smiled.

Luo Xin's expression instantly froze, then he said angrily: "Although Junior Brother Jiang also smashed a piece of black iron, he only spent one afternoon, and his cultivation of the Qian Duan Jue has already reached ten forges."

"What about you? How many forges are you at now?"

Only ten forges?

Before this piece of iron of his was ruined, it seemed he was performing the tenth forging.

"Let's count it as nine forges!" Xu Yang said.

Upon hearing this, Luo Xin's expression changed slightly.

The others also widened their eyes, showing a hint of disbelief.

"You say nine forges, so it's nine forges? It's not that you folded and forged the black iron nine times before it broke; your Qian Duan Jue reached nine forges. We must see if the quality improved as well."

Luo Xin quickly reacted; he had almost been fooled by Xu Yang.

The function of the Qian Duan Jue is to improve material performance, not to see how many times you fold and forge the material before it breaks.

"Believe it or not, it's up to you; anyway, I have no money to hire you." Xu Yang was too lazy to waste more words.

He had only just started learning the Qian Duan Jue and could not tell whether the material's performance had improved.

Luo Xin said all that just to get him to pay for Luo Xin's guidance; stating his position directly would spare him from this fellow bothering him again.

It was already evening. Xu Yang picked up the remaining black iron and hammer, sold the ruined black iron to Duanbingge for twenty taels, and left immediately.

"Lost eighty taels!"

In the days that followed, he only occasionally went to Duanbingge to put on appearances, not planning to cultivate the Qian Duan Jue by his own ability; every day he used the panel to add some progress to the Qian Duan Jue.

When he had spare time, he also cultivated the Iron-Refining Hand, but spent most of his time cultivating the Blood Prison Heart Blade Sutra, the Fu Yue Xiong Jing, and the Jin Gang Gong.

This day, he finally saw Lu Ren at Li Huo Peak; Lu Ren must have completed the assessment task and successfully entered the Bairunei Sect.

Xu Yang did not ask Lu Ren how he had completed it; their gazes met in mid-air, and they each departed.

In the blink of an eye, it had been nearly a month since he arrived at Li Huo Peak.

In the morning, Xu Yang was about to go out when he saw Gao Lin walking over with a smile.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Gao!" Xu Yang quickly clasped his hands.

Gao Lin nodded: "Junior Brother Xu, if you have nothing else to do, come with me. Today Master will instruct all the senior and junior brothers in the art of forging weapons; do not miss it."

"Very well, thank you, Senior Brother, for telling me."

For nearly a month, Elder Elder Huoyun had never summoned him; he was about to forget he was even Elder Elder Huoyun's disciple. This Master seemed as if he did not exist, neither instructing in Wu Gong nor teaching the art of forging weapons.

Xu Yang followed behind Gao Lin; Gao Lin notified several others who were also disciples of Elder Elder Huoyun. When the group arrived where Elder Elder Huoyun was, they found seven or eight people already there.

Including them, Xu Yang counted a total of thirteen, and this probably still was not all of Elder Elder Huoyun's disciples.

"Too many disciples; no wonder he doesn't take it seriously."

Xu Yang finally understood: Elder Elder Huoyun had too many disciples; if he were to take each one by the side to instruct them, Elder Elder Huoyun would likely be unable to do anything, for teaching these disciples alone would be more than he could handle.

The chance for an Outer Sect disciple to enter the Runei Sect was very small, but with year after year of accumulation, each Elder still had quite a few disciples under his name.

Some of the senior brothers' ages looked older than Xu Xu Laoer.

"What I will explain today is still the Qian Duan Jue."

Seeing everyone had arrived, Elder Elder Huoyun immediately stood up and said: "The Qian Duan Jue is the foundation of the Way of Forging Weapons. If one wishes to forge a Spirit Weapon, without cultivating the Qian Duan Jue to perfection, even if all the materials used are Spirit Iron, one cannot forge a qualified Spirit Weapon..."

Hearing this, Xu Yang was somewhat surprised; he knew the Qian Duan Jue was important, but did not expect it to be so important.

Without the Qian Duan Jue being perfect, one could not even forge a qualified Spirit Weapon.

"Some masters who have reached the peak of the Qian Duan Jue, even with ordinary materials, can forge powerful weapons comparable to Semi-Spirit Weapons... Watch closely."

Beside Elder Elder Huoyun, a red-hot furnace had long been ready; as he spoke, he took out a piece of red-hot black iron from it, then lifted the forging hammer and began to strike with a clanging din.

Xu Yang widened his eyes to look; he saw Elder Elder Huoyun's technique was skilled, a strange aura rising from his body, and the whole person seemed to merge with heaven and earth and nature.

The simple strikes caused the black iron below to emit a strange vibration with every blow; streams of red energy were absorbed by the black iron. The black iron grew redder and brighter with each strike, its quality improving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Truly a master!"

Xu Yang was secretly shocked in his heart; his own Qian Duan Jue was truly just hammering iron, with no aesthetic appeal whatsoever.

The Qian Duan Jue displayed by Elder Elder Huoyun gave a pleasing and delightful feeling, making one involuntarily immerse oneself in it.