Chapter 146: Thunder Sound Path, Seven Star Palace

"Stubborn! Outdated! Never changing!"

"Stoking the fire, working the bellows, hammering the iron, forging the steel, quenching… the same decades ago, the same a thousand years ago, and still the same today?"

"No change means death. The Palace Master spoke true—every generation of Divine Weapon Valley declining is not without cause!"

……

Walking out of Cold Pool Cave, before he had even reached the forging grounds, Lei Lei Jingchuan had already heard those grating criticisms.

"That old fossil!"

Lei Lei Jingchuan flew into a rage and was about to charge out, but was pressed down on the shoulder by Jing Jing Shuhu.

"Steady on."

Jing Jing Shuhu's face was dark as still water; he walked to the front.

In the forging grounds, Wan Chuan had his hands clasped behind his back, pointing and lecturing, while Brother Qiao Tianhe beside him chimed in every now and then, nodding repeatedly.

Master and disciple, ignoring everyone around them, critiqued the work, drawing furious glares from the gathered smiths—several of them nearly coming to blows.

"Old friends come to visit, yet you don't come to greet them. Old Tiger, your magnanimity doesn't even match your master's!"

Suddenly, Wan Chuan turned and looked at Jing Jing Shuhu and the other approaching: "What, not even a welcoming feast?"

"Old fossil!"

Lei Lei Jingchuan had meant to hold his tongue, but hearing the man bring up his master, he flared up at once: "You've gone too far!"

Boom!

Lei Lei Jingchuan struck out in fury, a forging hammer like thunder leaving streak after streak of white afterimages in the air.

In an instant, he threw dozens of hammer blows—even a hundred-times refined iron ingot could have been smashed flat.

From ten zhang away, Brother Qiao Tianhe felt the gust of force against his face and couldn't help stepping back several paces, while Wan Chuan merely smiled.

He raised a hand and tapped the empty air; gang qi burst forth.

For every hammer Lei Lei Jingchuan threw, he tapped back with one finger.

In an instant, the sounds of bursting air rang out in a continuous roar; dust rose on all sides in the forging grounds, and everyone retreated in disarray.

Thud!

Lei Lei Jingchuan staggered, the great hammer leaping from his palm and burying itself deep in the wall:

"Organ Refining!"

As the dust cleared, Wan Chuan still had one hand clasped behind his back, not having shifted his feet even half a step: "Old Tiger, want to have a try?"

"The Life-Tapping Finger of Seven Star Palace?"

Jing Jing Shuhu casually picked up a forging hammer from the workbench, qi flooding his whole body: "This old man would like to test whether you've truly succeeded in Organ Refining."

The two faced each other from afar, and the atmosphere in the forging grounds instantly grew Solemn.

Behind Wan Chuan, Brother Qiao Tianhe saw his master's hand signal and only then awoke as from a dream: "Master, don't forget the real business."

The moment he spoke, Wan Chuan likewise withdrew his stance, clapped his hands, and said:

"I did forget. I've come on real business today. Old Tiger, if you want to spar, shall we find some place without people afterward?"

Jing Jing Shuhu stared at him for a while, then nodded: "Fine."

"Shall we move somewhere else to talk?"

Wan Chuan glanced around.

"Mm."

Jing Jing Shuhu's expression was as usual, and he invited the two to Cold Pool Cave.

"What are you all gawking at? Get back to work!"

Lei Lei Jingchuan shook his numb palm, barked an order, and swept his sleeves away. But before he reached Crimson Fusion Cave, he ran into Li Yuan.

"Elder, what is this?"

The booming from the forging grounds carried loudly through the tunnels, so Li Yuan had naturally heard it.

"A few uninvited guests showed up."

Lei Lei Jingchuan's face was very ugly.

"Uninvited guests?"

Li Yuan frowned slightly; from Old Lei's expression, it seemed he'd suffered a loss?

"Mm."

Lei Lei Jingchuan didn't slow his steps. Arriving at Crimson Fusion Cave, he finally spread his palm open.

His palm was a bruised black, the Hukou split open, drops of black blood seeping out and hissing as they hit the ground.

"This is—?"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched; he caught a foul, fishy stench, like the smell of deadly poison.

"The Life-Tapping Finger of Seven Star Palace lives up to its name, that old fellow…"

Plunging his palm into the vat of ice water, Lei Lei Jingchuan's face twitched. After a moment he let out a long breath, and his color returned to normal.

Li Yuan saw that the water vat had already turned pitch black, as if several ladles of ink had been poured in.

"Seven Star Palace?"

The name rang a faint bell for Li Yuan. Thinking briefly, he recalled: "Seven Star Palace of Purple Cloud Province?"

Divine Weapon Valley was originally rooted in Purple Cloud Province. After the Dayun dynasty was founded, the ancestor Feng Yun refused the province and chose the prefecture; the one who took charge of that province afterward was Seven Star Palace.

Purple Cloud Province was more than ten thousand li from Huizhou, and there was no grudge between them. Why would they show up out of the blue, and seemingly with ill intent?

Li Yuan's brow furrowed slightly as he thought of Wang Wang Wenyuan's letter.

"That's right."

Lei Lei Jingchuan flexed his palm, his face dark as still water:

"The Seven Star Palace commands an entire prefecture. This Seven Star Pointing Finger is one of their sect's secret techniques, its power no less than the Soldier Dao Battle-Slaughtering Hammer. It's an extremely vicious poisonous finger art."

"They came to forge weapons?"

Li Yuan feigned confusion.

"Forge weapons?"

Lei Lei Jingchuan shook his head. He covered the large vat filled with Cold Pond water and sat down:

"Over fourteen hundred years ago, when the patriarch overruled all objections and insisted on migrating to Zhe Long Mansion, there were plenty who harbored discontent and took the chance to break away.

Among them, several branches joined other great sects after splitting off, and the Seven Star Palace was one of them."

"There's this kind of history?"

Li Yuan's heart tightened slightly.

"Over a thousand years have passed. Most of those branches from back then have perished, but that one branch within the Seven Star Palace has thrived splendidly."

Lei Lei Jingchuan didn't hide anything either, his face cold as he said:

"Originally, we were ten thousand li apart, with neither contact nor grievances between us. But around seven hundred-some years ago, that branch came from ten thousand li away…"

"Seven hundred years ago."

Li Yuan didn't even need to count on his fingers—that period should have been after the Divine Weapon Valley's upheaval, its weakest moment.

And from that day onward, Divine Weapon Valley never forged another divine weapon, its standing and reputation in the jianghu declining all the way to today.

"From seven hundred years ago until now, that branch would come every sixty years at most, or thirty years at least, bringing their talented disciples under the pretense of exchanging forging methods…"

Lei Lei Jingchuan sneered: "In truth, it's still to investigate Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, the Splitting Sea Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer!"

Over the past thousand-plus years, who knows how many have suspected the Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer was at Divine Weapon Mountain—many of them came under pretense to look.

Divine Weapon Valley never refused anyone who came, and over time, people stopped coming.

"Talented disciples?"

The Seven Star Palace coming for the Splitting Sea Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer didn't surprise Li Yuan, but bringing talented disciples…

He thought of Han Han Chuijun. Old Han has been searching for hammer-technique talents all these years—could he have learned from people of the Seven Star Palace?

Do the people of the Seven Star Palace know how to find the Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer?

"The Seven Star Palace commands an entire prefecture, with numerous experts and many talents beneath its gates. Thanks to this, that branch has produced generation after generation of disciples extremely gifted in the art of weapon-forging."

Lei Lei Jingchuan thought of that simple-minded youth in the forging grounds, and his expression suddenly improved.

That kid's bone structure and talent might be good, but clearly not as good as Li Yuan's.

"Mm."

Li Yuan was still digesting the implications of his words when Lei Lei Jingchuan's mood suddenly improved considerably:

"This old man is going to take a look around. Don't slack off—push your weapon-forging art to Great Completion as soon as possible."

Li Yuan nodded, somewhat curious whether those people from the Seven Star Palace really knew something.

"Seven Star Palace, Star-Plucking Tower, Xieshen Sect—the waters of Zhe Long Mansion are getting deeper and deeper."

Rubbing his brow, Li Yuan turned and went back to the forging platform, speeding up the crafting of the leather armor.

……

……

"Cold Pond fire vein—this place is truly a treasure ground for forging weapons. No wonder the patriarch of your esteemed sect back then abandoned Purple Cloud Prefecture and chose Zhe Long Mansion instead."

In the Cold Pond cave, Wan Chuan surveyed the bottomless water pool and put on a sigh of admiration: "Truly a fine place."

"Mm-hmm, a fine place."

Brother Qiao Tianhe nodded repeatedly, his face full of envy.

Divine Weapon Valley's forging methods seemed very ancient to him, but this environment made him too envious.

"No need for unnecessary words."

Jing Jing Shuhu's face was expressionless: "We've looked around, so shouldn't we be going?"

He knew perfectly well what Wan Chuan had come for, but this was something the successive patriarchs of Weapon-Forging Valley had agreed to, and he could neither oppose nor refuse.

Once he opposed it, it would draw attention—and then what came wouldn't be limited to just these two people from the Seven Star Palace.

"No rush, actually."

Wan Chuan neither agreed nor disagreed, leading Brother Qiao Tianhe to wander around the Cold Pond cave. He was very serious, moving step by step.

Brother Qiao Tianhe was also on full alert, scanning everywhere.

'Still no movement?'

Wan Chuan frowned inwardly—this shouldn't be.

Brother Qiao Tianhe is a born divine craftsman, a forging prodigy unseen in a prefecture for a hundred years—his talent must have already met the requirements recorded in that secret scroll the sect obtained from a hidden place.

Surely no one could have gotten there first?

"Old Tiger, I heard there's another place underground called the Chi Rong Cave. Would you mind taking my master and disciple there for a look?"

Wan Chuan spoke up suddenly.

Jing Jing Shuhu's brow furrowed deeply, barely holding back the fury in his heart: "A forbidden ground of the sect—outsiders cannot enter!"

"Can't you make an exception?"

Wan Chuan asked.

"Absolutely no possibility of that!"

Casting a sidelong glance at Brother Qiao Tianhe, Jing Jing Shuhu refused outright.

Although he didn't believe the Seven Star Palace's claim that "good talent means the Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer will acknowledge its master,"

and he couldn't even be certain whether the Shan Xuan-Jing Hammer was underground, he couldn't take the risk.

Better safe than sorry.

"Mm…"

Wan Chuan frowned and pondered for a while, then waved his hand, telling Brother Qiao Tianhe to leave the cave.

"When we met a few days ago, there were things this old man couldn't say. Now, though, I can speak freely."

Glancing at Jing Jing Shuhu, whose face was dark as still water, Wan Chuan didn't quite dare keep provoking this tiger.

Within the Divine Weapon Valley, he only feared three people, and Jing Jing Shuhu was one of them.

"No matter what you say, sect rules cannot be overstepped."

Jing Jing Shuhu was already getting impatient. His temper wasn't this good—if not for his wariness of the Seven Star Palace, he'd have swung his hammer at the man right now.

Wan Chuan sat down on the ground and asked, "Since when has the Xieshen Sect been targeting the Dormant Dragon Prefecture?"

"Hm?"

Jing Jing Shuhu, who'd had no intention of responding, felt his heart stir at those words. After a moment's thought, he answered:

"About four years ago."

A little over four years ago, the lands under Dormant Dragon Prefecture had their first rebellion—and the first traces of the Xieshen Sect were discovered.

Over the next four years, things escalated: the Prefect was killed, counties revolted, and even blood sacrifices appeared one after another.

Could it be…

"Five years ago, something major happened where my 'Thunder Sound Dao' is located. I can't disclose the details, but the Xieshen Sect moving against you is probably connected to that incident."

Wan Chuan weighed his words carefully, seeming to have quite a few reservations.

"What major incident?"

Jing Jing Shuhu's heart gave a slight jolt, but no matter how he pressed, Wan Chuan only shook his head.

"I'm bringing this up not to threaten you, but to tell you that my Seven Star Palace—at least my branch—harbors no ill will toward Divine Weapon Valley."

Wan Chuan stood up:

"Mm, this old man need not enter. Just let my disciple go in for a turn, how about it?"

Jing Jing Shuhu's mind churned with stray thoughts. After a long silence, he nodded:

"He can only go in alone."

"Good!"

Only then did Wan Chuan smile: "Today's as good as any day—better than picking a day. Let's go now, how about it?"

His sudden eagerness made Jing Jing Shuhu immediately regret it:

"It's too late today. How about in a few days?"

"Mm, very well."

Wan Chuan also realized he'd been too hasty. He quickly gathered his thoughts and smiled in agreement.

……

……

Whoosh, whoosh~

The night breeze blew gently.

In the small courtyard, Li Yuan climbed out of the large vat filled with iron sand, rested a while, waited for the pain of his bone structure remolding to fade, then hastily washed himself off and went out.

The night was deep, with no moon in the sky.

Li Yuan untied a black-canopied boat from the shore, looked around, then poled it out, drifting downstream.

When he was still a few hundred meters from that entrance, Li Yuan dove headfirst into the water, groped his way through that tunnel, and arrived once more at this temporary gathering place at Star-Plucking Tower.

The cavern was very quiet. Li Yuan looked around and found Snake Elder, the one stationed here.

Wang Wang Wenyuan's letter had mentioned this man at the end.

"A core assassin, eh."

Pulling a letter from his bosom, the snake-faced old man gave Li Yuan a seemingly wistful glance before slowly heading back inside.

Li Yuan, meanwhile, went to yesterday's 'cave tavern.'

The tavern was also very quiet, with only a scattered few masked assassins inside, each keeping a good distance from the others—no one spoke at all.

Li Yuan ordered a pot of Monkey Wine and found a corner to sit in.

"Five years ago, a major event that shook the world occurred at Thunder Sound Dao."

He opened the letter, and the first line met his eyes: "In the East Sea, a Palace-Bearing Spirit Turtle fell from the sky, crashing into the shores of the East Sea."

Palace-Bearing Spirit Turtle?

Li Yuan paused briefly, then shuddered—because this Palace-Bearing Spirit Turtle wasn't a name…

According to the letter, on that turtle's back was a cluster of palaces stretching over a dozen li!

How enormous must that be?

Li Yuan was somewhat dumbfounded. The Red Dragon Fish King beneath the cold pool was already a colossal creature—how big would this Spirit Turtle be?

"…Among the crashed palaces, there was mention of the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing… The Xieshen Sect Leader divined with the turtle's shell and seemed to calculate something…"

The letter was broken and fragmented, and Li Yuan saw crossed-out edits. From the words, he could almost sense Wang Wang Wenyuan's wariness.

"Could it be that he calculated that the Sea-Splitting Shan Xuan Whale Hammer is in Divine Weapon Valley?"

Li Yuan's heart gave a jolt, then he felt it wasn't very likely.

If divination had revealed where the Shan Xuan Whale Hammer was, the Xieshen Sect wouldn't have sent only one prefecture branch to act.

"The Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing cannot be seen without fate. This fate, many people—including this old man—believe is innate talent."

Wang Wang Wenyuan wrote in the letter:

"My talent is average, my luck poor. But I've heard you have a dragon-shaped bone structure—your talent is not bad. Perhaps you could go and try."

"If there's no fate, don't force it…"

The handwriting on the letter ended there, but Li Yuan understood his meaning.

"Someone has set their sights on the Divine Weapon Valley, perhaps more than one faction. Old Man Wang's implication is to leave quickly if there is no fate, right?"

? ￠o

Putting away the letter raft, Li Yuan's expression was solemn.

Wang Wen Yuan did not reveal too much, but it was clear he did not favor the Divine Weapon Valley.

"What if there is fate?"

Li Yuan murmured to himself.

According to Wang Wen Yuan's account, the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing cannot be seen without fate, yet he had seen it...

"Hah!"

After sitting for a while and finishing the monkey wine, Li Yuan finally rose and departed quickly.