Hope Dashed

"Oh?" Ling Yi's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he could hardly contain his smile. "Mister Ye, please tell me your requests. As long as it's within my power, I will do my best to help!"

For such top-tier experts, it's not the demands that are feared, but the lack of demands altogether. The Ling Family's ability to stand strong for a century is not solely due to a single gate; attracting talent from all over the world is also crucial.

There's a saying in the cultivation world of Zhendan: half of the Expert under Heaven are in the Yuan Cultivation Society, 30% are in the Ling Family, and the remaining 20% are Rogue Cultivator from all walks of life.

This statement is somewhat exaggerated, but it is enough to demonstrate the Ling Family's status in Zhendan.

"I've heard that the Ling Family has a treasure called the Divine Smithing Furnace..." As he spoke, Luo Jun picked up the River-Sinking Stone Hammer: "I happen to be looking to forge a magical artifact, and I'd like to borrow it."

"The Divine Smithing Furnace?" Ling Yi looked at the hammer in Luo Jun's hand. "Could that be... River-Sinking Stone?"

Luo Jun nodded. "This thing is great in every way, except it's too heavy. I want to forge it into a magical artifact so it's easier to carry."

"Oh..." Ling Yi looked like he suddenly realized something. "This couldn't have been given to you by Ling Kai, could it? A Bearded Man in his forties?"

Luo Jun frowned slightly. They were all from the Ling Family, so it wasn't surprising that they knew each other. But the way Ling Yi mentioned Ling Kai sounded like he was describing a liar.

Seeing Luo Jun agreement, Ling Yi continued, "Did he set up a stall on the street and offer challenges, and even told you that as long as Ling Family, you'll have a chance to use the Divine Smithing Furnace?"

Luo Jun could only nod...

"Mister Ye, you are new to the Savage Wilderness and don't know much about the guild or the Ling Family." Ling Yi shook his head and explained, "Although the Ling Family has many members, those with some ability all work in the guild. Why would they be setting up stalls outside?"

"Ling Kai, well, he's talented, but somewhat lazy and likes to show off his cleverness. He's not recognized in the clan, yet he's quite ambitious and always wants to achieve great things to gain the appreciation of the clan elders..."

"Recently, the Ling Family added a new Clan Troops and is looking for talent. After hearing about this, he came up with this ingenious idea: to set up a stall on the street with weapon blanks made of River-Sinking Stone... The guild has caught him several times, but he hasn't made a move this month. I thought he had given up on this method, but unexpectedly, Mister Ye won the challenge and took the hammer away."

Luo Jun understood; Ling Kai was, in essence, a "traitor to the clan"...

"So, the Divine Smithing Furnace he promised was fake?"

"No, the Divine Smithing Furnace is real." Ling Yi shook his head and smiled, "As the Ling Family family's most prized treasure, it's not exactly a secret. But the Divine Smithing Furnace can only be used three times a year, and only the clan's elites, ranked according to their merits, have the opportunity to use it. Moreover, it requires the Clan Leader's permission, which is beyond my control..."

"Of course I can help you apply, but the Ling Family family is already overwhelmed with requests, so it's unlikely that outsiders will be allowed to use it..."

His plan failed, and Luo Jun was somewhat disappointed.

"Even if the Divine Smithing Furnace is unusable, the Ling Family has an elite team of Refining Masters, right? I can ask a master craftsman to forge one for me."

"That's easier to handle." Ling Yi hesitated for a moment, then said, "But personally, I don't recommend that you use this opportunity on this hammer..."

"Why?" Luo Jun asked, puzzled. In his opinion, this hammer was sturdy and had adjustable weight; apart from not being able to store it in the Hundred Treasure Box, it was practically a perfect weapon.

Ling Yi explained, "As you probably know, the River-Sinking Stone is taken from the head of a level seven monster Redwater River-Cutting Dragon. The guild has hunted more than one ordinary River-Intercepting Dragon, and has obtained quite a few River-Sinking Stone. Apart from being able to adjust weight, this thing is nothing special. It's porous and brittle, so it's basically not very useful."

"Until recently, Ling Yao led the royal family team to successfully hunt down an exceptionally large River-Intercepting Dragon. According to Ling Yao's description, its strength had reached level eight, making it a Dragon King!"

"This Dragon King's River-Sinking Stone is incredibly hard; even powerful magical artifacts cannot damage it. Ling Yao transported it back to Lingyun City, and the guild considered it a rare and excellent material for forging Divine Weapon, so they began processing it."

"Finally, through the efforts of many craftsmen in the Imperial Workshop, and after expending a great deal of manpower and resources, they finally managed to forge two weapon prototypes based on the shape of this River-Sinking Stone: a longsword and this hammer."

"Ling Yao used his clan's merits to exchange for the right to use the Divine Smithing Furnace once, and then filled it with a large amount of precious materials, finally successfully forging that longsword into a Legendary Treasure Item."

"Isn't this perfect?" Lu Kui had also taken the story to heart. He had failed in his challenge against the River-Sinking Stone Hammer and was very interested in it, even refusing to eat chicken legs.

"But the properties of this treasure are a bit strange..." Ling Yi shook his head. "Originally, the longsword weighed over a thousand catties, and it would take about three hundred breaths of Yuan Qi to neutralize its weight. But who would have thought that after it was forged into a treasure, this thing didn't improve much in other aspects, but its weight increased dramatically! From the original over a thousand catties, it became three tons, a five or six-fold increase! To neutralize the weight, it would take sixteen or seventeen hundred breaths of Yuan Qi!"

"That's exaggerated?" Father Qin and Xuanyuan Wuji also showed surprised expressions. Luo Jun did a rough calculation in his mind. If this hammer were to be successfully forged, it would weigh nearly 20,000 jin. To dissipate all of its weight, it would take at least five or six thousand breaths of energy. Even the Golden Cudgel is not that heavy!

"Is there a problem with the forging method?" Luo Jun asked.

"Later, the Refining Masters also studied it and discovered that adjusting the weight was the fundamental characteristic of this thing; no matter how it was forged, it would only become heavier and heavier..."

Ling Yi sighed, "What's even more troublesome is that, seemingly due to some special structure, the Dragon King's River-Sinking Stone needs a certain volume to maintain its Gao Qiang. The small scraps from the processing become just as porous and brittle as ordinary River-Sinking Stone. This longsword is already close to the minimum weight required to maintain its strength, so it's impossible to process this hammer into a small dagger or arrowhead..."

"Heh heh, isn't this just a piece of junk...?" Xuanyuan Wuji complained, "This kind of cumbersome thing is not suitable as a weapon for this This Heaven's Chosen!"

"Calling it trash isn't the best way to put it, but it's not entirely wrong... After all, if it were truly a precious treasure, Ling Kai wouldn't have taken it..." Ling Yi sighed, looking at the hammer in Luo Jun's hand. "So, Mister Ye, I advise you to give up. Although this thing Unstoppable, once it's turned into a magic weapon, no one can use it."

"Even Ling Yao's sword, besides being hard, doesn't have any particularly strong special effects. Holding it and wanting to use it requires consuming nearly two thousand breaths of energy, affecting the release of skills. Compared to that, there are far too many better weapons to choose from. This thing is really useless..."

Luo Jun looked down at the hammer in his hand, a mix of emotions welling up inside him...

It seems this thing can only be used in the Savage Wilderness...

At least for now, that's how it is...

This is an extra chapter for Lunar New Year's Eve! There's more to come, so stay tuned!

(End of this chapter)