The Junior Sister Is the Sect's Future Guide!

A sleeve arrow shot through the air.

The offending disciple merely tilted his head and dodged it.

Yet instead of panicking or getting angry afterward, he shrank his neck, gave an awkward grin, and ran off.

"Sorry, sorry! I've got something to do!"

And the disciple who had threatened to kill him did not continue the pursuit after attacking. He casually tossed the ruined blade blank into the scrap heap beside him.

Su Ling'er watched with her heart pounding.

They were going to take a fellow disciple's life over something like that?

And... the person who had been threatened was just letting it go?

What about the sect rules?

What about the elders?

Was no one going to do anything?!

In a sect where people fought among themselves like this and could casually kill one another, wouldn't all those disciples who had cost so much to recruit be dead before long?

How had this sect not destroyed itself? How could it still have so many people even now?

It was simply unbelievable!

At another forge station not far away, a burly man let out a roar as everyone watched.

"Get the hell out of my way! Watch closely!"

He threw away the iron hammer in his hand and spread his arms!

A massive hammer, even larger than his entire body, appeared out of thin air!

"Ha! Haotian Hammer!"

The burly man roared wildly!

Swinging the enormous hammer that was utterly disproportionate to the forging table, he smashed it down hard onto a glowing red iron blank!

"Boom—!!!"

A deafening crash rang out!

Sparks shot into the sky. The iron blank could not endure even an instant beneath the massive hammer and was flattened into an iron pancake.

The watching disciples burst into laughter and cheers, while the burly man smugly put away his giant hammer.

Su Ling'er stood dumbfounded.

Th-that hammer was definitely a magical treasure of an extremely high grade!

H-he could actually use such a divine weapon for forging?

To possess such a treasure and still be alive in a sect where fellow disciples could slaughter one another at will...

His strength was surely not to be underestimated!

Before she could recover from her shock, she witnessed another strange sight.

A disciple who appeared quite experienced was gesturing and instructing a junior disciple.

"You won't be able to forge anything like that."

"Your heart isn't sincere, your fire is too fierce, and your hammer technique is full of hesitation."

"Remember! There are no worthless materials, only worthless artifact refiners!"

"If you fail, look for the reason in yourself!"

The junior disciple nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Su Ling'er stared, completely baffled.

The materials were obviously terrible, yet every bit of blame was being placed on the forger himself?!

Was this teaching a craft, or destroying a person's Dao heart?!

The most insane scene took place in an area used for quenching.

A disciple eagerly immersed a longsword he had spent several days forging into a spiritual spring.

With a crisp crack.

Cracks spread across the blade, and it shattered on the spot.

The disciple stood frozen for several seconds.

Tears actually streamed from his eyes, and then he threw back his head and howled:

"No—!"

Then he took out a lump of viscous liquid from his robes.

Then, piece by piece... he began trying to glue the fragments back together.

"Come back to life! My—be—loved—!"

Su Ling'er felt as though her mind was no longer enough to process this.

What were they doing?

Was this really how artifact refining was done?

Or was this simply the Demonic Sect's method of artifact refining?

Lin Qingfeng looked at these people and shook his head helplessly.

These people were far too immersed in their artifact refining roleplay.

Of course, it was also possible that something they had watched had caused this.

But that was not important!

Let's see what the junior sister could make up!

"Junior Sister,"

"Have you gained any insight now?"

Su Ling'er took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed her tumultuous thoughts.

She knew it was time for her performance again.

She had to find a reasonable explanation for all the madness before her that defied common sense.

An explanation that fit the logic of this Demonic Sect.

Her gaze swept over the disciples with their varied expressions, then over the bizarrely shaped magical treasures.

At last, her eyes became distant and profound.

"Senior Brother..."

"Junior Sister... understands now!"

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Lin Qingfeng looked at her with great interest.

Though he himself had not understood anything...

It would still be good if this could help his junior sister gain insight!

As expected of the Senior Disciple Brother!

"What they refine... has never been artifacts."

"They are refining their hearts.

They hammer their joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, tyranny, arrogance, love, and obsession...

Everything they are, into those cold iron blanks through hundreds and thousands of hammer strikes."

"Thus, whether a magical treasure succeeds, whether the materials are good or bad, is fundamentally unimportant.

What matters is whether they have branded their own 'Dao' onto it without reservation during this process.

Every successful magical treasure is an extension of their own will;

And every shattered remnant is a tragic act of martyrdom."

"Artifact refining is heart refining; Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons."

"One hammer strike, one thought. One fire, one tribulation."

"So this... is the true artifact-refining Dao of the Gui Xi Sect."

Even Su Ling'er got goosebumps from her own speech.

Yet after hearing it, Lin Qingfeng fell silent for a long time.

That interpretation was pretty good...

It had depth!

She had actually comprehended "artifact refining is heart refining; Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons" from the everyday deranged antics of those idiot players?

It had to be because I taught her so well!

Did Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons mean the junior sister also possessed the resolve to become a divine weapon?

Did that mean she would accept cultivating the Sword Refining Art too?

No, I need to write this down quickly. I'll use this spiel to fool newcomers next time!

Next time...

No!

From now on, all matters involving fooling newcomers would be handed over to the junior sister!

Lin Qingfeng recalled something someone had said on Jintian's forums.

When a sect received its first native NPC, players would get a one-time guidance quest.

Once the guidance quest was completely concluded, it would unlock the advancement prerequisite quest for the subsequent Sect Rise upgrades,

One key part of it required the NPC to participate in the sect's daily contributions, and players could not even assist from the side.

During the quest and for a period afterward, the NPC could not take pills gifted by players either.

Otherwise, it would be considered invalid.

Who knew why the game designers had made it this way!

Damn it!

This junior sister clearly had a talent for fooling newcomers into joining too!

After all, once the later task of taking newcomers around the map and spouting nonsense no longer gave quest rewards, many players would be too lazy to do such work when there was no profit in it.

But now...

A perfect candidate stood right before him!

Under his influence, this junior sister was practically a born preacher!

Though she sometimes seemed a little stupid, her comprehension, eloquence, and imagination...

No, her ability to perceive the essence of things!

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have her guide any new NPCs they might recruit?

And it would be another great contribution from her to the sect!

If she could interpret the behavior of these idiot players as the grand Dao of cultivation, what kind of situation would she not be able to smooth over?

Not bad, not bad!

He would have much less to worry about in the future!

He would leave all future teaching and guidance of NPCs to the junior sister!

The way Lin Qingfeng looked at Su Ling'er was no longer the way he looked at a foolish but insightful junior sister.

He was practically looking at a sect treasure, the sect's future chief master of deception!

"Junior Sister..."

"It is very good... very good that you have gained such insight!"

Just as Su Ling'er thought this ceremony was finally about to end, she caught sight of the depths of the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

It was a corner completely different from everywhere else.

A group of disciples surrounded a bluish jade platform, holding massive hammers as though they intended to forge some kind of artifact.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, one disciple took a deep breath.

Then, that person actually lay down on the jade platform of his own accord?

They... were going to forge a person?