EP.2 Ecstatic Broken Blade: Smiling Roar, Broken Edge

Fragrant Dream carefully poured the molten iron into the mold after lifting the crucible from the induction furnace. The high-speed troop carrier bounced from time to time. Once the molten iron in the casting started to churn and air bubbles appeared in the ore, the casting would be a defective product.

After the steel giant finished its rough processing and cooled, the sword blanks arrived at Xue Ming's place and only required extremely simple polishing. After several hours of travel, more than 130 small swords had been piled up in the carriage.

These short swords didn't seem to have anything special about their design; most were in the style of Qing dynasty swords, only two fingers wide and seventeen centimeters long. Xue Ming found it hard to understand his brother Ping An's request. The Daoist priest wanted him to forge swords, but what use were these short swords?

Its hilt can only be picked up with the Thumb, and the sword blank has not been quenched. If it is used as a knife, its hardness is also substandard, making it more like a cultural artifact.

Ping An and Xue Ming had instructed that all that was needed was to grind the sword-shaped spine and hilt; the quality of the iron sand was not important. The voltage of the induction furnace had been set in advance. No quenching liquid was prepared, and quenching was not to be done; the furnace should be kept in a decarburized state.

If this were a tool for killing enemies, it would chip and break the blade the instant it pierced bone.

Before forging the sword, Xue Ming specifically inspected the raw materials in the ammunition box. These iron sands contained many impurities, and it would not be an exaggeration to describe them as "ore from a hundred different sources".

Fragrant Dream could recognize the most basic iron, nickel, aluminum, and copper. Xue Ming looked closer and saw that the bright silver particles covered in dust seemed to be platinum group minerals. After stirring around a bit more, fine sand of four colors—yellow, black, red, and white—emerged. Without professional testing tools, he had no idea what these minerals were.

Ping An simply waved his hand, telling Xue Ming to confidently and boldly forge the sword.

If Luo Ping'an weren't a certified VIP at the station, Xue Ming would have gone crazy on the spot if an apprentice in the workshop had performed such a banquet.

Different elements have different melting points, so you can't refine them all in one pot; this isn't like making soup.

Although most metal ores in nature cannot withstand temperatures of 2,000 degrees Celsius, different elements can react with each other in a crucible. Iron ore, which is not afraid of fire, may just begin to melt, while aluminum ore, which is not heat-resistant, may turn into black smoke and foam.

Two golden rulers were cut into fourteen equal parts and melted with the iron sand into a viscous slurry. After Xue Ming finished forging these more than one hundred and thirty swords, he was covered in cold sweat and looked completely exhausted.

However, the result was good. These minerals of unknown composition were forged and polished, eventually taking the shape of a sword. Perhaps it was the special spiritual energy of the BOSS's bones that allowed these strange alloys to fuse together tightly and evenly.

Brother Ping An didn't even prepare any ceramic stirring rods. His method of smelting iron was to simply throw it in and heat it. Once the temperature was right, the material would melt and form a strange vortex, as if an invisible magnet was rotating at the bottom of the crucible. Xue Ming had read many documents in the Arcane Library, but he had never seen such an outrageous flux.

Xue Ming picked out two of the worst-quality small swords from the finished products and handed them to Brother Ping An.

"Mr. Ping An, please inspect the goods."

Upon receiving the document, Luo Ping'an immediately perked up, and the fatigue from driving for several hours vanished.

He held the small sword, which resembled a scholar's object, flat with one finger, its center of gravity perfectly in the middle.

Xue Ming asked nervously, "I don't know what you're going to do with these short swords, Brother Ping An. Just take the one with the most impurities as a sample. If you're not satisfied with these two swords, I can find the problem immediately and reforge them right away."

"It's already very good." Ping An compared the spines of the two swords; Ming De's bones had completely fused with the material. "It exceeded expectations."

Xue Ming then asked, "What are you going to do with them? I don't quite understand."

Luo Ping'an did not answer immediately. He gripped the steering wheel with his right arm, and the Iron Stone Avatar of his Soul Might Spirit used his left hand to hold two small swords, stabbing two red dots into his right arm.

A trickle of crimson blood oozed from his skin and was immediately absorbed by the sword's edge. The blade, which had been shimmering with platinum and silver light, began to change— Ming De's bones, like millions of stars, burst forth with powerful spiritual energy.

The two small, thick iron swords emitted a deep hum, much like the sound of a high-voltage electrical cabinet operating at full capacity, ranging from low frequency and low volume to high frequency and high volume, eventually turning into a loud flute sound.

The small swords floated along with Ping An's loose hand gesture, initially trembling violently, until the azure starlight completely covered the blades, at which point they floated quietly in Mr. Ping An's palm.

Xue Ming stared in astonishment at all of this, as it was beyond his comprehension of psychic energy.

In Hohnheim's triadic theory, the soul needs a fulcrum, and psychic energy also needs a material basis to support it.

Like the psionic technology of Shinto City, each supernatural power has a complex and bloated material basis, which is the great power of the collective karma of all living beings. The gods have powerful spiritual bodies and can change the weather, change the form of matter, change air pressure and sound waves, and change the brain's thinking time - all of this requires the support of the primordial essence of the sacred beast. Only after cloning and continuous trial and error can the correct answer be found.

No matter what, these small swords can only be considered as minerals from nature. Even if the BOSS's bone powder is added, they cannot be regarded as Luo Ping'an's essence, nor can they be used as flexibly as limbs.

But just now, in Xue Ming's eyes—Brother Ping An merely dripped a little blood onto the two swords, and they were able to turn them into new "limbs"?

"Are you cheating?!" Xue Ming couldn't hold back any longer and blurted out what was on her mind.

Luo Ping'an replied seriously, "This is a long story, and we are short on time. Let's talk about it another day. Hand over the rest of the swords to me."

Xue Ming didn't intend to get to the bottom of it. There were still six kilometers to go before they entered the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel in half an hour. He needed to think carefully about how to get through this.

He delivered a large box of "magical treasures" to Luo Ping'an, and then began to stab Brother Ping'an's arm—using the same method, stopping immediately after each small sword had only stained a drop of blood.

Until a pockmark appeared on Brother Ping'an's arm, Xue Ming understood less and less.

These magical artifacts became lighter the moment they were stained with blood. At first, they wobbled in his hands, but within seconds, a sharp flute sound rang out, as if an unseen person had snatched the short sword from his hand. The artifact then floated beside Ping An and, in the blink of an eye, obediently lay back on the platform of the troop carrier, lining up with the other companions.

As Brother Ping An's right arm became increasingly pale, his arm, which was originally as white as Five Fingers and had slender fingers like a woman's hand, was now turning yellow after about 200 milliliters of blood had been drawn. The backs and knuckles of his fingers were also wrinkled, and he looked visibly old.

Xue Ming speculated that perhaps the secret lay in this arm. This VIP had cultivated an external avatar using Radiant Stones as spiritual stones and was an immortal being. It was normal that his understanding of spiritual energy differed from that of the academicians in the Arcane Library.

As the vehicles drove into the city, the distant giant tower illuminated the beach. Without its guardian, the city had entered a state of emergency. The streets, which were not crowded to begin with, were now completely silent.

"Get ready." Luo Ping'an drove the car onto the intercity expressway, about to enter the vicinity of Stone Hill Town.

Jiang Xueming: "Should we still go through the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel?"

Luo Ping'an: "I want to go off-roading through mountains, not through tunnels."

Jiang Xueming: "Why?"

Luo Ping'an pointed to Haofeng Ridge outside the passenger window. The railway on one side of the mountain road was only 700 meters away, requiring several large detours.

"I can hear and I can see—the monsters underground won't let us go so easily."

"My soul power attribute is related to [Earth]. My spiritual form resembles a handful of yellow earth. I can sense to some extent what is happening underground and what souls are hidden there--"

"--This damn mountain god is already angry. If we go through the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel again, it's like going into its belly. If it turns over, millions of tons of the mountain can crush us."

Before the words were even finished, the vehicle crashed through the median and drove into a rocky wasteland.

Layer upon layer of mineral veins, compressed by geological movements, have been transformed into terrifying ravines. The edges of these ravines reveal the multifaceted oxide layer of pyrite, which shines with a dazzling luster under the headlights.

The stone beams, standing like blades, resemble monuments built by an ancient civilization. But all of this is the work of nature. When the Pacific Plate moved, brittle and hard rocks were crushed into finer gravel and dust, which were then piled up in the gaps between more flexible metallic ores along with the tides and monsoons.

Gold, a rare find on the earth's surface, is abundant here. These soft, precious materials were the first to pierce the earth's surface during geological movements, colliding and interlocking with each other, rising high and stretching and deforming, turning into bright yellow "waves" in the wilderness.

If there are mountains of knives in hell, then this is roughly what they look like.

The tires of the troop carrier could no longer withstand the strain. After climbing over the intricate mountain terrain of Haofeng Ridge, the tires broke down after 1,200 meters, and the rims began to scrape against the road surface, sparking even more intensely.

Black Brother nervously clung to the headrest of the passenger seat, his eyes wide, as if afraid he would die without knowing why.

Xue Ming broke out in a cold sweat, glancing at the VENOM mechanism on his right arm still in operation, unsure how to remove it from his body.

After navigating around two osmium-rich rock formations that resembled sharp knives, the vehicle sped up a low slope and climbed to the top of Haofeng Ridge, where there was still over 6,000 meters of cliffside road ahead.

In that instant, everything suddenly opened up before my eyes, and the sky and the earth gradually became clear.

Looking down from the southwest side of the mountain, Stone Hill Town sits in a "broken bowl". Haofeng Ridge, like a cradle, blocks most of the sea breeze blowing from Niflheim, leaving the moisture here to nourish the plants and nurture the people of Northeast China.

To the northeast lies a desolate wasteland, with four volcanic craters standing quietly in the distance. The closest one is the main body of the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel.

The ground began to tremble slightly, and more and more rocks fell from the mountainside. The troop carrier was flying through the air, sparks flying and lightning flashing, its rims glowing red and deformed, as it made its way to the end of this dead-end road.

Xue Ming struggled to keep his body still inside the carriage, while Black Brother was dazed and disoriented from the impact, soaring through the air with the up-and-down movement of the vehicle before crashing heavily onto the platform. He kept his body taut to prevent the unconscious Meteor from suffering further injury.

Luo Ping'an shouted loudly.

"See that? The leader of the Nameless Gang!"

Through the observation window of the carriage, at the entrance railway leading from the front-line outpost to the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel, one can get a panoramic view from the mountaintop.

Xue Ming's pupils contracted slightly, and a chill ran down his spine.

--The mountain range was slowly shifting.

In his eyes, the exposed cliffs shimmered with crimson light. Those golden-red lights, like lava, were like millions of eyes, squeezing, twisting, and intertwining with each other in the depths of the abyss, only to be scattered by the gale-force winds of the mountain stream.

What is that?

Is this the mountain god of Haofeng Ridge?

It had encroached upon the underground mineral veins at the tunnel entrance; its bright red tentacles resembled the bristles of a Pompeii worm. Xue Ming took out a high-powered telescope from his bag, intending to take a closer look—

The troop carrier was so bumpy that his eyes had difficulty focusing on the optical instruments. The fleeting images startled him so much that he lost his senses, and his already terrible mental state was further aggravated.

Through the telescope, thick, golden-red buds flashed by. According to the scale of the magnification, they were almost twenty meters thick and nearly a hundred meters long. Countless keratinous scales were densely distributed on these buds, resembling bright red crystals. At a glance, the golden things were the powerful electric currents transmitted between the keratinous scales.

Its size is enormous. Starting from the deep abyss of the mountain ravine, what Xue Ming can see is estimated to be over four thousand meters high. As for the part hidden in the mineral veins and mantle electrolytes, it is impossible to observe.

Rather than being a divinely ordained beast, or a Pompeii worm blessed by Mother Earth, it is more like it was captured by Mother Earth and transformed into part of her iron-nickel core.

The scale-like structure of these worm bristles is like millions of windows, and the crystals made of bright red volcanic rock resemble coffins, through which one can see all sorts of illusory human figures, like coffins storing souls.

Xue Ming finally understood why Extreme Bliss Space possessed such powerful software resources.

--Whether it's the artificial flesh and blood of the artificial body or the server body, their hardware is created by the Holy Beast and is connected to Mother Earth.

In the end, the Fen Feng Legion still failed to defeat the Madness Butterfly, and thus returned to [unity].

Luo Ping'an: "You saw it?"

Xue Ming's face was covered in cold sweat. He nodded blankly, "Mm."

Luo Ping'an: "This is the last stretch of road, let's bypass it."

The earth trembled more and more violently, the vehicle's motor had long since begun to groan, and half of the eight shock absorber arms were broken. Going uphill was difficult, but going downhill would be even more difficult.

They found a relatively gentle slope on the southwest side of Haofeng Ridge and drove back along the road riddled with holes and burrows. Just as they were about to crash back into the railway tracks, Luo Ping'an suddenly grabbed Xue Ming.

"Close your eyes!"

Xue Ming immediately did as instructed, preparing to blindfold Black Brother as well.

As the terrain sloped down, the cliff face next to the driver's seat suddenly lit up!

At a distance of only six meters, the obsidian volcanic rock cliff turned blood red, and the mental pressure almost crushed Xue Ming into a lump of minced meat in an instant.

He felt as if every pore on his body was completely shut, and his lungs felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on them. Even with his eyes closed, he could still see the blood-red color through his thin eyelids.

Black Brother screamed in agony, the wolfhound was suffering a severe psychological attack, and the carriage was filled with the stench of dog urine.

Luo Ping'an stared angrily at the wall.

--It is a hair of a sacred beast. If we consider it as the hardware server of the Extreme Bliss Space, it is inhabited by nearly two thousand people from the Shinto City.

This is the only way to the railway; if you want to cross the mountains and circle back to the Nine Realms, this is the safest option.

"Return!"

"Return!"

"Return!"

A chaotic and violent surge of psionic energy erupted from the scales—

--Just like the noise accompanying the rock bursts in the Haofeng Ridge Tunnel.

Hearing the mournful whispers of nearly a thousand or even ten thousand people today, rising and falling, could almost instantly destroy the mind of an ordinary person.

Meteor and Black Brother were affected; their capillaries burst, and blood flowed from their mouths and noses.

"Based on the principle of equality of all things, we speak of creation; based on the principle of emptiness, we speak of transformation through technique; based on the principle of non-action, we speak of transformation through virtue; based on the principle of morality, we speak of transformation through benevolence."

Xue Ming was also in a daze. When he awoke from his confusion, he heard Luo Ping'an sing the introduction in rapid, clear pronunciation—

He saw that Brother Ping An's spiritual body was becoming increasingly blurry, and even his arms were turning into blood and flesh and turning into dust.

Everything is constantly changing.

"Ordinary trees have no roots, yet they possess thoughts. The mind arises like a dream, amidst the myriad fleeting worlds."

"Completely engrossed, it's hard to tell if it's real or not."

"The boundaries of high and low, without distinguishing near and far, reveal the gains and losses as easily as sleeping when viewed in their entirety."

"From nothing comes something, from something comes nothing; from nothing comes movement and stillness, black and white, yin and yang, all naturally exist."

The sound of the flute echoed, but there was no one in the driver's seat. It seemed that the spiritual energy had been exhausted, and Luo Ping'an's avatar had completely dissipated.

The troop carrier rushed down the mountain, and a clear, cold glint of sword light burst forth from its cargo compartment!

"A rootless tree, yet its flowers are in full bloom; the heavens respond to the stars, and the earth to the tides."

"The Dragon-Slaying Sword, the Tiger-Binding Ribbon, and the Dipper of Heavenly Dipper in motion."

"Forging a furnace of true sun and moon, sweeping away three thousand six hundred evils."

"Soaring through the clouds, roaming freely, all sins and grievances of the mortal world are wiped away with a single stroke."

The decadent music, like a high-speed divine incantation, faded into the distance.

One hundred and thirty-three small, sharp blades leaped into the deep valley.

--They were like miniature fighter jets, like nimble sparrows, first soaring to a high altitude near the dome, then circling in a large loop.

Accelerated by natural gravity, at the moment of breaking the sound barrier, countless sword blades, like raindrops, exploded out a continuous stream of powerful sounds.

The iron rain lashed into the keratinous scales, instantly turning the splashed volcanic rock into black dust, and the sky and earth roared. The dilapidated car, carrying Xue Ming and Liuxing, stumbled and rolled all the way, finally coming to a stop on the mountain road.

The mournful and shrill cries of "Come back!" abruptly ceased with the crisp sound of the sword, as if they had been slapped cleanly and dared not utter another word.

Xue Ming climbed out of the carriage and saw Black Brother, covered in injuries, resting by the railway tracks.

He felt a sharp pain in his arm. The Venom mechanism, having lost the blessing of the Shinto City, had turned into a gray stone, which soon crumbled into dust. Human blood pressure had blasted it through his flesh, and it fell to the ground along with the Steel Heart. The Venom mechanism that the Snow Leopard Battle Group had previously delivered to the Nine Realms had also been in a similar state of utter destruction.

After a long while, the black mist still hadn't dissipated. Xue Ming stopped the bleeding from her wound and finally felt a little relieved—they had left the area of Shinto City and were safe.

On the other side of the mountain range, in the dark abyss, the Pompeii worms that make up Haofeng Ridge still wriggle slowly, and millions of golden-red eyes shimmer in the thick black fog, like the electric currents of the Original Seed.

At the front-line stronghold, Luo Ping'an immediately gave instructions to Isoragi Youkei, the commander of the Guangling Zhixi.

"Go and bring them back."

After saying this, he collapsed onto the table and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

The sound of his head slamming against the table was so loud that the soldiers were too scared to speak.