Chapter 8: The Refinement of the Blood Saber.
Qin Yu’s body and soul were completely devoted to forging, treating the onlookers as if they didn’t exist. Every time he pounded the saber using a hammer, he would place it into the dense, sticky, blood colored substance in the furnace to let it be absorbed. Then he would take it out, letting it cool off for a bit before continuing the cycle. Only when all the sticky and dense mysterious substance had been absorbed would the process be completed.
He placed the saber in ice water after he was done forging it, creating a hissing sound as a green-blue colored smoke emitted from the water. Qin Yu let it stay in the ice water until the water wasn’t cold enough anymore before taking out the saber and placing it in another bucket of ice water.
“Whew, I’m so exhausted.” After Qin Yu pulled the saber out from the ice water for the last time, he heavily sighed. After being tormented for half the day, everyone’s foreheads were covered in sweat. Fortunately, the saber was finally finished. It was worth the stress they endured.
Now the saber looked completely different. The saber’s body was like blood, a shiny and bewitching red. The blade was sharp and straight, gleaming with a cold scarlet light. It shined as a bloody aura washed over everybody, bringing with it a burst of chilliness.
“Young Master Qin, would it be possible for you to let this useless old man take a look?” Tie Shou stepped forward, his attitude and tone were filled with respect. It was completely different from his previous attitude.
Qin Yu glanced at Tie Shou and saw his fervent stare at the saber in his hands. The light in his eyes was like a starving pervert staring at a beautiful, naked woman.
“Eh, you really want it that much?” Qin Yu looked at the old codger with disdain before casually tossing him it. “Take a look then.”
“Yes, thank you!” Tie Shou excitedly took the saber and for the first time, he actually even thanked someone. Tie Shou’s apprentices were stunned by his courteous manners. Was this really their arrogant and haughty Master Tie Shou?
“What a good saber ah!” Tie Shou’s eyes gleamed. He was engrossed in inspecting the saber, paying no attention to the strange stares from everybody else.
“I never thought of using Fire Mica and Water Crow Powder to substitute Tungsten Steel Powder. The quality is actually even better than Tungsten Steel Powder alone. Before, I didn’t think of this no matter how much I pondered.” Tie Shou continued to excitedly admire the saber as he talked to himself.
“Fire Mica and Water Crow Powder are indeed incompatible, but by using Black Star Stone to purify it into the mysterious substance, it neutralized the effects and fuses them perfectly. By fusing them together, it even makes the saber even more durable and sharp than using Tungsten Steel Powder alone. Furthermore, because Black Star Stones are spirit stones and contain spiritual energy (qi), the saber is also imbued with it,” explained Qin Yu.
“So you’re saying it’s a spirit tool?” Tie Shou was giddy with excitement. Only Spirit Tool Masters could refine such godly weapons. Even great Tool Master Scholars—who were one level higher than Tool Refiner Masters—didn’t have the qualifications but now, Tie Shou—a Tool Refiner Master—knew the ingenious uses of Black Star Stones and how it could be used to refine spirit tools. In other words, he had directly skipped the Tool Master Scholar stage and advanced to the Spirit Tool Master stage.
His imagination was great but reality was cruel. Qin Yu splashed him with a bucket of cold water. “Spirit tool? This can’t even be regarded as a semi-spirit tool. Besides, you don’t even have the materials to forge a spirit tool and even if you did, you don’t even have the prerequisites to forge one.” Qin Yu’s voice held a trace of disdain as he said, “It’s only a bit stronger than an average weapon. If you really want to forge a spirit tool, you’d better work hard.”
“Right, right, right, Young Master Qin’s words are right. This useless old man will definitely work harder.” Tie Shou no longer looked anything like an arrogant great master and was completely obedient in front of Qin Yu like a good student.
In Ancient Wu Continent, strength was equivalent to respect. It didn’t matter if it was cultivation or tool refinement. If you wanted respect and reverence, then you needed to show strength and talent.
Now that Qin Yu had revealed his strength here, Tie Shou had no choice but to acknowledge him. On top of that, even though Tie Shou was extremely proud, he had an open-minded and ambitious heart for knowledge and self-improvement. He was far more infatuated and zealous towards tool refining than the average person. He treated his ambitiousness and his current position as Luosang City’s sole third-grade Tool Refiner Master as two separate things.
Now that he knew Qin Yu was better than him, he wanted to ask Qin Yu to accept him as an apprentice. In fact, he would even prostrate himself under Qin Yu’s feet and happily call him Master!
Just a moment ago, he had thought that apologizing to Qin Yu was losing face as a grand and stately Tool Refiner Master. Now, that feeling had long vanished like smoke. If becoming his apprentice wouldn’t be losing face, then an apology was nothing.
“Hehe. I didn’t think that at Qin Gongzi’s young age, you would not only have outstanding cultivation but also great knowledge in tool refinement. I [1. She refers to herself as 小女子, which literally means ‘small woman’ and is a humble way of referring to oneself.] really admire you.” Wang Murong’s smiling face was like flowers as she gracefully stepped forward. As she looked at Qin Yu, her eyes were filled with the rippling stirrings of the love of a young girl.
Qin Yu smiled slightly as he modestly said, “You’re flattering me. I just have some knowledge. Alright, the saber’s already been forged so I should also go. Goodbye!”
“Hold on!” Wang Murong hastily shouted to stop him. “Qin Gongzi, if I guessed correctly, the reason you specifically came here to pick up your saber is because you’re going to train at Ten Thousand Beast Mountain right?”
Her guess wasn’t strange. These days, everybody who got accepted into the Martial Examination preselections chose Ten Thousand Beast Mountain for practical training in the hopes that it would boost their strength in a short period of time along with giving them some battle experience.
“It just so happens that I [2. Still referring to herself humbly here] also plan on going to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, so wouldn’t it be better if we went together? However, it’s already about to get dark. You can rest here tonight. Tomorrow, Master Tie Shou will give us a pair of fast horses and we can set off early in the dawn. How about it?” Wang Murong’s beautiful eyes stared at Qin Yu expectantly.
Qin Yu raised his head and looked at the sky. Only now did he realize that he had actually wasted half the day here. If he left now, he definitely wouldn’t be able to arrive at Ten Thousand Beast Mountain by foot. Tomorrow he could leave at dawn with a fast horse and most importantly, accompanied by a beautiful woman. No man would reject such a good deal ah. So, Qin Yu agreed straightforwardly.
Tie Shou treated Qin Yu’s stay very seriously, personally arranging his board and lodging. After neatly arranging everything, he hurried to Wang Murong’s room.
Inside the sumptuous room, Wang Murong stood in front of the window, staring at the wooden villa’s guest room where Qin Yu’s was staying.
Right now, her heart was very flustered. The shock that Qin Yu gave her today was too much. She was very curious and interested in him, far more than Qin Yu’s interest in her.
*Knock* *Knock*
At this moment, soft knocks rang at the door.
“Come in.” Wang Murong closed the window before she turned around.
Tie Shou pushed open the door and cautiously closed it behind him before walking forward. He bowed deeply before saying, “Princess.”
“This place isn’t King City, so there’s no need to be so courteous,” said Wang Murong indifferently. “Tell me what you think about Qin Yu.”
Although her tone was very flat, it still exposed a faint imperial pressure.
Tie Shou was clear that even though the one in front of him was quite young, she had lived through a power struggle her whole life and as a result, she matured many times faster than others her age.
Facing her, Tie Shou didn’t dare to show even the slightest neglect. He also didn’t dare to flatter or exploit her as he hastily bowed. “Replying to Princess, to tell the truth, this useless old man also finds him impossible to understand. My head is filled with doubts. Wasn’t Qin Yu said to have been turned into a cripple? If so, how did he...just how...?” Tie Shou hit his head as he spoke. His brain turned into mush because of Qin Yu.
Wang Murong’s beautiful features frowned slightly as she questioned, “Is it possible the Qin Family deliberately released false information and is plotting something?”
Tie Shou thought hard and shook his head. “It can’t be. All of Qin Yu’s twelve meridians were crippled. This was Old Chen’s personal diagnosis. Princess already knows about Old Chen and this useless old man’s relationship. He could trick anybody but he would never trick me.”
“Then how do you explain what just happened? His cultivation is enough to fight you, an Immersion Realm cultivator. Could it be that during this short time period somebody had healed his meridians?”
“That’s absolutely impossible! All twelve meridians were crippled! Unless an immortal descended, no man could save him. With disregard to Luosang City, even if you scoured Qiong Xi Country or even the entire Ancient Wu Continent, you still wouldn’t be able to find one!” Tie Shou’s voice was firm as he denied the possibility. “Even if somebody somehow managed to heal his meridians, Qin Yu would have to recultivate all over again. There is no way that he could’ve become so strong in just a few months!”
Although Wang Murong was an Immersion Realm expert, Tie Shou knew the foundation behind it. It didn’t matter how Qin Yu restored all twelve meridians or how he re-established his crippled cultivation because they were both impossible. Since it was impossible, how could Qin Yu’s cultivation be explained? Furthermore, there was an even more difficult question: How did he know tool refinement?
“Old Tie, let’s not talk about his cultivation for now. You’re an expert tool refiner and Qin Yu also knows how to refine tools. This is something you should know about, right?”
It would’ve been better to have not asked this. Tie Shou immediately frowned when he heard her question. His old face turned bitter as he said, “Princess, this useless old man really doesn’t know. For generations, nobody in the Qin Family understood tool refinement ah. Otherwise, in Luosang City, it wouldn’t be this useless old man with such a highly regarded position right now. But, but how did Qin Yu, that youngster know stuff about tool refining? Furthermore, from this useless old man’s observations, his tool refinement level is probably at the Tool Refiner Scholar stage or even higher. This useless old man wouldn’t dare say I’m nearly as skilled ah.” After finishing, Tie Shou released a heartfelt sigh.
The number of geniuses in the world wasn’t small, but this kind of genius who was talented in both cultivating and tool refinement was rare even if you scoured through both the heavens and earth. Today he had personally witnessed it. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t believe there could be a genius in both cultivating and tool refinement even if they beat him to death. Nobody knew better than him how difficult it was to become a Tool Refiner Master and how much one needed to invest in it. People studying tool refinement simply had no time or energy to also cultivate.
“I’ve also never heard about Qin Yu knowing how to refine tools back then either. No, I have to figure this out. Otherwise, I’ll go mad!” After that, Tie Shou started muttering to himself in an almost deranged manner.
Wang Murong saw how Tie Shou knew almost nothing and could only wave her hand helplessly. “How about this then. Tomorrow, send people to investigate the Qin Family and see what secrets they’re hiding.”
“En.” Tie Shou nodded firmly. “Princess, rest at ease. Tomorrow, this useless old man will personally take a group of able men to investigate. I swear I won’t give up until I figure it out!”
He didn’t care about how Qin Yu managed to heal his meridians or restore his cultivation, but rather, how Qin Yu could refine tools. His grand title of being Luosang City’s sole Tool Refiner Master now only existed in name, but not in reality. He needed to fully understand how this happened, otherwise, he would never be able to eat or sleep in peace!