"No. Couldn't I just skip all the steps and forge a divine sword directly?" I shook my head. I had never forged a sword before, but I had already learned what I hadn't studied, spending a pound of innate essence on it. Wouldn't it be a waste not to give it a try?
"You've never even forged an ordinary sword?" Sun Hanxi sneered. I still answered that I hadn't, which made her unable to resist mocking me. "So you're planning to donate materials to the God of Forging?"
"Heh heh, if it succeeds in the end, giving away a little won't matter." I smiled. Sun Hanxi was caught between laughter and tears. "My sworn brother, are you always this arrogant? Your swordsmanship really is excellent—I have to admit that. But besides forging the sword's initial shape, you still have to refine its spirit and test the sword! What are you going to do about the most crucial spirit refinement? You can make the other two first, but spirit refinement is best done midway through forging, so it can fuse with the sword and become inseparable from it. If you add it later, it'll become a parasitic sword spirit. The sword may become powerful because the sword spirit is formidable, but it will never be able to work with the sword as one, reaching the state of unity between spirit and sword!"
"I see. You mean all three have to be carried out together no matter what, right?" I asked.
"Yes!" Sun Hanxi said.
"Then there's no problem. Don't I have you? You've mastered the Sword-Testing Chapter even better than your father, and you can spot the most weaknesses. You can supervise me from the side while I forge it, can't you?" I smiled.
"Me?" Sun Hanxi asked in surprise. When