Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 10 - Forging

The Xu Clan’s current position was like a raft in the midst of a raging storm. If they shut down their weaponry workshops, their status would drop and be reduced to a second-rated clan before being devoured by the other three clans.

Liu Wuxie couldn’t just stand by and watch the Xu Clan collapse. After all, Xu Yilin cared for him deeply, and he was also Xu Clan's son-in-law. Common ways of nurturing a blacksmith were too slow, and the Xu Clan would be destroyed before they could recover. After all, losing the market share was easier than regaining it.

“Young Master, are you joking? I’ve always dreamt of becoming a master blacksmith!” All the blacksmiths rested as the business plummeted, including the apprentices. But Hu Shi persevered by showing up daily, and Liu Wuxie deemed him worthy of being nurtured based on this remarkable quality.

“There’s an opportunity in front of you right now, and I can help you become a master blacksmith.” Liu Wuxie wouldn’t stay in Azure Billow City for the rest of his life as his goal was the Celestial Realm.

“Young Master, stop teasing me. What kind of weapon do you want to forge? I’ll help you with it.” Hu Shi treated it as a joke because Liu Wuxie’s last visit had closed down the workshop for a few days. So Hu Shi naturally wouldn’t dare to let Liu Wuxie forge a weapon.

Liu Wuxie didn’t pressure him. He was a piece of trash in everyone’s eyes, and no one would believe him if he said the same thing to someone else. He wanted his actions to prove his worth.

“Hu Shi, control the fire!” Liu Wuxie’s temperament suddenly changed, with his gaze becoming firm. He picked up a piece of the meteorite iron and threw it into the furnace.

Without wasting a moment, Hu Shi seized the bellows with his right hand. As the wind gusted and stoked the furnace, the temperature rose rapidly, causing the black ore to burst into blazing flames. Due to the intense heat, Hu Shi was compelled to discard his coat.

In order to craft the weapon, Liu Wuxie needed to melt the meteorite iron and pour it into a mold to initiate the forging process. The forging process consisted of three levels, with ‘Ten Refinement’ being the lowest level. The Ten Refinement level of forging was typically utilized for shaping tools like hoes and rakes, employing a more rudimentary forging technique.

Moving up to the next level was ‘Hundred Refinement.’ As the name suggested, it involved a more sophisticated approach to metal tempering. Weapons crafted through the Hundred Refinement technique possessed exceptional sharpness and surpassed the durability of those forged with the Ten Refinement. However, not all metals could endure the rigorous demands of Hundred Refinement, making it essential to select metals that met the strict criteria.

The most challenging level in the forging process was known as ‘Thousand Refinement,’ and no blacksmith in the Azure Billow City could achieve it. Once the iron had undergone Hundred Refinement and taken its desired form, melting it again became a formidable task. Even if the melting process proved successful, the resulting metal would become significantly tougher once poured into the mold. This meant that ordinary individuals lacked the ability to temper it with a hammer, let alone shape it into the desired form.

Most of the weapons on the market were at the Hundred Refinement level, which was a dividing line. The Xu Clan held a huge market share because they had a unique technique of forging weapons, increasing the sharpness of Hundred Refinement weapons.

Liu Wuxie naturally wouldn’t be interested in ordinary Hundred Refinement weapons. Since he was personally forging it, he naturally had to forge the best blade for himself.

As the meteorite iron slowly melted, Liu Wuxie made his way to the molding station. Most of the available molds were designed for blades and swords, but none of them suited his desired shape. Therefore, he had to carve a new mold for himself.

Taking out the tools, he carved a mold for a blade according to the blueprint in his mind. By the time he finished, the meteorite iron in the furnace had also melted and started boiling, splashing on the edge of the furnace. Hu Shi’s arm got covered in burnt scars from the splatters.

“Young Master, you put too many meteorite irons in the furnace, and there are enough to forge three blades.” Hu Shi had long heard that Liu Wuxie was a wastrel, and he witnessed it today. He felt a pang of regret as he could have made three weapons out of them.

“You won’t understand it. Just pay attention to what I do because it will help you in the future.” Liu Wuxie poured the molten iron into the mold before putting it in cold water to cool it down. After the mold cooled down, he placed it on the anvil. Liu Wuxie was topless and could feel infinite strength after having his body tempered by the Body-Refining Elixir. He lifted a sixty kilograms hammer while Hu Shi wielded one that weighed six kilograms.

Liu Wuxie and Hu Shi began to hammer on the mold. After hammering it a hundred times, they placed it back in the furnace before taking it out to hammer again. As they repeated this process, Hu Shi went from disbelief to shock and numbness. He couldn’t describe his current mood and wondered who taught this technique to Liu Wuxie.

Two hours soon passed, and Liu Wuxie hammered the mold tirelessly. The mold shrunk from over a meter to half a meter, but the density of the metal had increased tenfold.

“Young Master, we have to stop. We have already surpassed Hundred Refinement. We won’t be able to shape it if we carry on, and we’ll have to scrap it.” A pang of sorrow filled Hu Shi's heart as he contemplated the high-quality meteorite irons. The thought of wasting such precious materials seemed like a great pity. These irons had already undergone the meticulous process of Hundred Refinement, and hammering them further would hold little significance.

Xu Yilin was a famous blacksmith. Over the years, he had been trying to make a breakthrough after reaching Hundred Refinement, but he failed all his attempts.

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing!” Liu Wuxie threw the semi-completed mold back into the furnace.

Hu Shi had no choice but to grab the bellows, making the black ores crackle as the wind blew into the furnace and the mold again turned red.

“Hu Shi, eat this.” They were reaching a critical moment, and Hu Shi had severely exhausted his physical strength over the two hours of continuous hammering without a rest. So Liu Wuxie took out a Heavenly Spirit Pill and gave it to Hu Shi. They couldn’t afford to stop there, and their efforts would go down the drain with the slightest mistake.

“What pill is this? It’s giving off such a strong fragrance...” Hu Shi couldn’t afford to take such a high-graded pill, and his face showed a hint of surprise when he saw Liu Wuxie taking it out. This was because he couldn’t see through Liu Wuxie.

“Just swallow it.” Liu Wuxie also tossed a pill into his mouth, instantly recovering all the exhausted true essence. He even showed a vague indication of making a breakthrough to the sixth level of the Houtian Realm, which was a good sign.

By repeatedly using up his true essence, he would make his true essence purer after compressing it. But Liu Wuxie didn’t wish to break through and wanted to dig deeper into his potential.

When Hu Shi ate the Heavenly Spirit Pill, he felt like he was basking in the warm sunlight with crackling sounds coming from his body. His cultivation also reached the sixth level of the Houtian Realm, making him overjoyed. After all, this pill saved him a few months of hard work.

He had been stuck in the fifth level for a long time and couldn’t find an opportunity to make a breakthrough. So his breakthrough was smooth.

“Thank you, Young Master!” Hu Shi bowed in gratitude and almost went down on his knees. Previously, Hu Shi's respect for Liu Wuxie stemmed primarily from their roles, with Hu Shi being the servant and Liu Wuxie the master. However, this time, his profound respect for Liu Wuxie emanated from the depths of his heart.

“We’ll have to forge for an incense stick of time. We can’t stop even for a moment, and I’m worried that you might be unable to keep up. The odds are now higher after reaching the sixth level of the Houtian Realm,” Liu Wuxie explained. It was difficult for someone in the Houtian Realm to complete Thousand Refinement. Liu Wuxie wanted to achieve Thousand Refinement and engrave spiritual runes into the weapon to grant it spirituality, which was crucial.

In the Houtian Realm, cultivators primarily relied on weapons refined through Hundred Refinement. However, once they advanced to the Xiantian Realm, Hundred Refinement weapons proved inadequate in containing the full power of their true essence. Only spiritual artifacts had the capacity to harness and withstand the complete might of a Xiantian Realm cultivator. Unfortunately, only the blacksmiths in the imperial capital possessed the skill to forge such spiritual artifacts. Azure Billow City, on the other hand, lacked a single individual capable of forging them.

Consequently, each spiritual artifact held significant value, and Azure Billow City possessed no more than five such artifacts in total.

As the blade mold glowed red, Liu Wuxie deftly removed it from the furnace and proceeded to engrave intricate patterns upon it using a carving knife, leaving Hu Shi utterly astounded.

At that moment, it seemed as if a divine presence had possessed Liu Wuxie. His movements flowed effortlessly, leaving behind vibrant engravings with every stroke of his carving knife upon the blade mold. As he continued his meticulous work, a subtle aura of spirituality began to emanate from the mold.

As a blacksmith apprentice, Hu Shi naturally knew the importance of spirituality in a weapon. After all, being able to forge a weapon with spirituality was enough to cause an earthquake in Azure Billow City. At that very moment, Hu Shi felt an overwhelming sense of reverence towards Liu Wuxie, causing his right hand to tremble involuntarily. Such was the intensity of this feeling that he even lost his grip on the hammer he held, inadvertently causing it to fall onto his foot.

“Let’s begin,” Liu Wuxie declared. However, due to his cultivation being at the fifth level of the Houtian Realm, his true essence was restricted, and he had already reached his limit after engraving ten spiritual runes. To forge a spiritual artifact, a hundred spiritual runes were required. Recognizing that his current cultivation was insufficient to support the engraving of a hundred spiritual runes, he reluctantly made the decision to set that task aside for the time being.

When Hu Shi brought the hammer down, a powerful rebound force nearly made him lose grip of his hammer. This was because the toughness of the half-completed blade increased significantly after Liu Wuxie engraved spiritual runes on it.

Sparks flew about when Liu Wuxie swung his hammer down. Hu Shi swiftly regained his composure, fully dedicating himself to the weapon-forging process. This was the best weapon Hu Shi had participated in refining by far. He had a feeling that his forging technique would undergo a qualitative leap if he could succeed, and there was even a possibility that he might reach the level of a master blacksmith.

As dense and collected hammering sounds echoed from the forging chamber, no one in the workshop noticed it. Just when Liu Wuxie was at the critical moment of forging, a group of uninvited guests came to the workshop ferociously.

“Get the person in charge out here! Your Xu Clan sold us defective weapons, causing the deaths of my brothers in the mountain range. I’ll smash the workshop if the Xu Clan doesn’t give us an explanation today!” Ten ferocious people stood before the workshop. None of them were weak, and all were in the eighth level of the Houtian Realm. They were a mercenary group in Azure Billow City.

They often wandered at the border of life and death throughout the year, entering the mountain range to hunt demonic beasts. They sold demonic beasts’ cores to make a living, and mercenary groups like them digested 30% of the Xu Clan’s weapons.

“I’m the shopkeeper here. What can I do to help you?” Dong Changliang stood up and rushed to the entrance. The other servants also quickly got to their feet and followed behind him.

"Who do you think you are? Bring someone from the Xu Clan to speak with me!" The group leader delivered a forceful slap across Dong Changliang's face. The act was far from courteous, sending Dong Changliang hurtling backward, crashing into the counter, and spewing forth a mouthful of blood. The oppressive nature of these individuals was palpable, as they slapped him without allowing him a chance to respond, resulting in one side of his face swelling considerably.