Chapter 180: Infusing Qi into Weapons, the Divine Blade Awakens

Outside the city, on the official road, a carriage moved slowly forward.

A voice came from within the carriage:

"Stop here."

The driver tightened the reins; the horse let out a soft sigh and halted.

The curtain was pulled aside.

Gao Zhen stepped out of the carriage, leaping down lightly, and instructed the driver: "Drive the carriage into the woods, hide it, and wait for me."

"Yes!"

The driver was a trusted man from the Gao family, brought along only when Gao Zhen needed to handle matters too sensitive for others to know.

After speaking, Gao Zhen walked straight into the woods beside the road.

As a sixth-rank Garrison Commander, he could normally travel with four horses leading the way; such low-key conduct clearly hid deeper motives.

Gao Zhen moved calmly through the thorny underbrush.

Moments later,

he arrived at a deep, dark pine forest.

Gazing at the figure standing in the shadows, he smiled: "Senior brother."

The black-clad man in the pine forest slowly turned, his thin, shriveled lips curling slightly, making him seem even more cruel:

"Junior brother, it's been a long time."

Four-Armed Demon Ghost, Wu Yun.

Gao Zhen: "Thank you, senior brother, for traveling so far to assist me."

Wu Yun cackled: "It's not just me who came—Fifth Senior Brother has already arrived in Qinghe."

"Fifth Senior Brother came too?"

Gao Zhen was genuinely delighted.

Among the Twelve Blood Disciples of Blood Shadow Ancestor, the numbering follows the order of entry, not combat strength.

Gao Zhen, though last in rank, is far from the weakest.

Of the Twelve Blood Disciples, Wu Yun holds the lowest realm: seventh-rank peak.

Rumor says it's due to his cultivation method—he's been stuck there for over a decade.

Gao Zhen joined Blood Shadow Ancestor solely for resources.

There's no real master-disciple bond here.

He's even colder toward these so-called senior brothers.

When he received Wu Yun's secret letter, he wasn't particularly pleased—after all, even if Wu Yun was strong, he was still only seventh-rank, offering little help.

But Fifth Senior Brother is different.

He's a powerhouse who crossed the Dragon Gate over a decade ago; Gao Zhen knows he couldn't match him.

With his aid, perhaps they could finally kill Ning Zhongtian and complete Blood Shadow Ancestor's mission.

Perhaps Blood Shadow Ancestor, pleased, would grant him another thread of immortal qi.

"Immortal qi."

Thinking of immortal qi, Gao Zhen's heart burned hotter.

Even his own senior brothers knew nothing of this.

Only because of his unique status—as a secret agent meticulously cultivated and planted by Ghost Ming Teach by the Ghost Ming Teach—did Blood Shadow Ancestor make an exception and grant him a thread of immortal qi.

When he left Luyang and headed for Qinghe,

Blood Shadow Ancestor promised him: if he completed the mission well, the Immortal Sovereign would grant him another thread of immortal qi.

Gao Zhen had truly felt the power of immortal qi.

What is called "turning decay into wonder"?

He knew well: Ghost Ming Teach had no true immortal arts—only by nurturing objects in immortal qi did they become immortal treasures.

During this time, he used immortal qi to nurture his body, even strengthening his bones slightly.

Changing one's bone structure.

Just this alone would drive countless martial cultivators mad.

Gao Zhen's ambitions weren't limited to sixth-rank—he wanted greater power.

He would climb, step by step, step by step, to the pinnacle of power.

Luyang's Gao clan had too many prodigies; he knew well that without Ghost Ming Teach's vast resources, he'd never rise above the rest even within his own family.

So he was even more desperate to strengthen his bone structure.

Only immortal qi could achieve such a feat against heaven's will.

Thinking of it,

a flash of cold light passed through his eyes.

"Kill!"

Li's residence, back courtyard.

A massive furnace blazed fiercely, the bellows puffing air into it with a whooshing sound.

Flames shot skyward.

Liang He strained to pump the bellows, while Liu Tiezhu stared intently at the iron block inside the glowing furnace.

For forging a weapon.

He had gone to great lengths, turning the back courtyard into a blacksmith's shop—furnace, bellows, anvil—all present.

Forging weapons generally has three stages: heating, hammering, quenching.

But Liu Tiezhu was doing something different this time.

The heating and hammering stages had been repeated in cycles for a full month!

Spirit iron also has ranks.

Previously used Xuanjin Iron was the most common ninth-rank spirit iron; this time was vastly different—Li Rui had gone to great effort, using two major merits to obtain Dragon-Elephant Iron through Ning Zhongtian's connections.

Sixth-rank spirit iron!

A rank-defying material.

Li Rui had exerted tremendous effort to acquire this two-jin-three-liang piece of sixth-rank spirit iron.

At this moment, the value of being efficient became clear.

Had he not previously distinguished himself so sharply, Ning Zhongtian would never have gone out of his way to help secure the Dragon-Elephant Iron.

Relationships must be cultivated bit by bit before they can gradually bear fruit.

Otherwise, slacking off daily and expecting your superior to help?

Where in the world is there such good fortune?

Liu Tiezhu's expression was tense; he didn't miss a single detail inside the furnace.

He knew this Dragon-Elephant Iron was hard-won and couldn't afford to disappoint his master.

The best forging is done in one attempt; otherwise, remelting would drastically reduce its effectiveness.

"Good!"

He let out a low cry.

With iron tongs, he pulled the Dragon-Elephant Iron from the furnace and swung his hammer.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The sound of hammering rang out, sparks flying everywhere.

Liu Tiezhu's muscles swelled, like a human beast—violence and beauty filled the eye.

After relentless hammering, the Dragon-Elephant Iron finally took the shape of a blade hilt. The Dragon-Elephant Iron was pure enough, nearly free of impurities—this step was purely shaping.

Yet even this step alone was enough to defeat most swordsmiths in the world.

To hammer sixth-rank divine iron requires at least the strength of an eighth-rank martial cultivator, plus exceptional skill.

But here's the problem:

Who, once an eighth-rank martial cultivator, would still want to do the work of a craftsman?

This is why the number of high-rank swordsmiths in the world is extremely scarce.

Liu Tiezhu, though only just entered the ranks, was born with a Diamond Body and possessed extraordinary brute strength—even surpassing ordinary eighth-rank cultivators.

Only then could he hammer the Dragon-Elephant Iron into shape.

Yet even with his strength, it took him a full month.

Such was its difficulty.

Liu Tiezhu shouted to Li Rui: "Master, infuse qi!"

=9+ Shu _ Ba

Without hesitation, Li Rui slapped Liu Tiezhu's back.

The next instant,

a thread of blue qi flowed from Liu Tiezhu's palm into the Dragon-Elephant Iron blade hilt.

Infusion Technique!

As the blue qi descended, patterns appeared on the blade's surface at visible speed, eventually forming the shape of a two-winged Ying Dragon, lifelike, as if ready to soar into the sky.

Liu Tiezhu's eyes lit up:

"It's done!"

He had only guessed it originally, but Meixiangdaojingchengzhenle 。

The Qi-Infusion Technique is a method only master smiths with exceptional skill can use.

More crucially, beyond the extreme demands on technique, there is another requirement: the smith himself must have cultivated true qi.

Liu Tiezhu, at his current realm, could never achieve this.

That was why he sought an alternative path, using the Xuanqing qi that Li Rui had cultivated within him to perform the Qi-Infusion Technique.

"For sixth-rank spirit iron, this method must be used!"

Liu Tiezhu was ecstatic, yet his hands never paused for a moment.

He placed the red-hot blade blank's edge into the pre-prepared beast blood.

A hissing sound.

The red-hot blade touched the beast blood, and the blood instantly boiled.

Only three breaths.

Liu Tiezhu immediately lifted the blade blank and resumed hammering; the entire sequence flowed like water, without the slightest pause.

Li Rui and Liang He watched from the side.

They nodded inwardly: "A fine prospect for a smith."

Liu Tiezhu reached over and grabbed two short pieces of wood placed on the table.

They were meant for the hilt.

About two quarters of an hour passed.

Liu Tiezhu finally walked to Li Rui with the blade in hand:

"Master, this blade is two feet one inch long, weighing two jin three liang, made in the Zhan blade pattern, forged entirely from Longxiang iron—it qualifies as top-grade!"

He looked exhausted, yet his excitement could not be concealed.

For a smith, there is no greater honor than forging such a divine weapon.

A sixth-rank divine weapon.

This is a weapon only a Longmen realm martialist can afford!

The key is he truly used the Qi-Infusion Technique—this left him unable to calm down.

Only a smith understands the significance of performing the Qi-Infusion Technique before reaching Liujin.

"Without Liujin, the Qi-Infusion Technique cannot be used."

This was something he once heard from a master smith from Anning Prefecture at the state-run forge.

But he broke this iron rule.

And all of this was thanks to Li Rui's unique true qi.

Ordinary martialists cannot expel true qi from their bodies and store it temporarily within another's.

Li Rui took the Zhan blade from Liu Tiezhu's hands.

The moment he held it, it felt as if the blade shared his spirit—every detail perfectly suited him.

"Excellent blade!"

His eyes brightened.

He took a deep breath and slashed, chopped, swept, and whipped—man and blade as one.

The Zhan blade swept across a nearby boulder.

Like a blade gliding over water, without the slightest resistance, the boulder split cleanly in two.

"Damn!"

Liang He blurted out a curse.

That moment had been too smooth—he'd trained his fists against that rock so often he almost thought the boulder was fake.

What was called "hair-cutting sharpness" or "iron-slicing cleanness"?

Before this blade, they were utterly pathetic.

Li Rui smiled slightly; besides its sharpness, this blade had another advantage—it was short and compact.

It didn't even need to be strapped to the waist; it could be hidden directly inside the sleeve.

Yu Kingdom clothing already had wide sleeves; no one could tell a blade was concealed within.

In combat, it would strike with perfect surprise.

Liu Tiezhu watched as Li Rui severed the boulder with one stroke, his heart surging with excitement.

For a smith, nothing is more joyful than a fine blade finding its worthy master.

Li Rui sheathed the blade.

He patted Liu Tiezhu on the shoulder: "Tiezhu, you've worked hard."

For the past month, Liu Tiezhu spent every waking moment—except eating and sleeping—hammering iron.

His ability to forge a sixth-rank divine weapon at the ninth-rank level stems directly from this perseverance.

Any other smith, hearing a weapon required a month's forging, would have long given up.

Liu Tiezhu grinned sheepishly, then looked at Li Rui with hopeful eyes: "Master, why not name this blade?"

Li Rui smiled lightly.

By nature, he had no habit of naming inanimate objects.

A blade is just a blade.

As long as it's comfortable, effective, and lethal, there's no need for a name.

But his disciple Liu Tiezhu had poured immense heart into this blade—he couldn't let that go unacknowledged.

After a long pause, he spoke slowly:

"Call it… Zang Feng."

It's the end of the month—I'm shamelessly asking for monthly votes. Thank you all for your support~ Wishing everyone great fortune in the final month of 2024.

(End of Chapter)