Thousand-Refined Longblade (Please Bookmark, Recommend, and Vote!)

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Two pitch-black forging hammers collided with the glowing red metal, producing crisp, rhythmic rings.

Forging Technique had once flourished ten thousand years ago because of hidden weapons, only to rapidly decline with the emergence of Soul Tools.

Yet ten thousand years later, it had revived due to the demands of Battle Armor and Mecha.

There was likely no other profession on the continent that had endured as many ups and downs as blacksmithing.

Closing his eyes, Xu Tianming spread his spiritual power from between his brows into every minute part of the Qingjingang being forged.

"Guide spirit with spirit, turn stone into gold! Transform spiritual power into a catalyst, inject it into the metal, and awaken its slumbering spirituality!"

The methods of Thousand Refinement from the Tiangong Secret Forging flashed through Xu Tianming's mind, and the forging hammers in his hands seemed to form a special resonance with the metal.

It was as though the Qingjingang he was forging was communicating with him.

Under the strikes of the two forging hammers, impurities were continuously expelled from the Qingjingang, and its volume slowly shrank.

Xu Tianming no longer knew how many times he had swung his hammers. In his eyes, there was only the Qingjingang, faintly glimmering with light.

With every strike, the light on its surface brightened slightly, as if it were breathing.

Xu Tianming's eyes grew brighter and brighter, while the forging hammers in his hands swung faster and faster, nearly leaving afterimages.

His Bloodline Power was fully mobilized, raising a faint blood-red mist around Xu Tianming.

This storm-like barrage of hammer blows continued for more than two hours.

Worried about her son, Kong Yue quietly pushed open the door to the Forging Room. What she saw was her son swinging his hammer as though possessed.

She covered her mouth to stifle the cry that nearly escaped, even lightening her breathing.

Although she had no idea what was happening.

In her perception, however, Xu Tianming seemed to have merged into one whole with the Qingjingang he was forging.

It was a wondrous feeling, and Kong Yue vaguely sensed that she absolutely could not disturb her son at this moment.

Xu Tianming seemed completely unaware that his mother had entered the Forging Room. His eyes held only the Qingjingang being forged.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

A strange azure radiance suddenly shot skyward from the Qingjingang.

At that very moment, the two tungsten steel forging hammers in Xu Tianming's hands actually broke apart mid-swing.

He froze slightly, but only for a moment.

After recovering, Xu Tianming immediately bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood, faintly glinting with gold, onto the Qingjingang.

"Tianming, what are you doing?"

Kong Yue could no longer hold herself back. She stepped forward and grabbed Xu Tianming.

"I'm fine."

Wiping the blood lingering at the corner of his mouth, Xu Tianming stared fixedly at the Qingjingang on the forging table.

The blood scattered across the Qingjingang, immediately raising a cloud of white mist.

A moment later, the mist dispersed, and the azure light on the Qingjingang slowly receded, revealing its current form.

It was a strange longblade without a hilt, three feet and seven inches in length.

Its entire body gleamed with a jade-green luster like emerald, speckled with flickering golden points of light.

Faint, layered cloud patterns could be seen along its edge, traces left by countless hammer blows.

"Not bad, truly not bad!"

Xu Tianming laughed, laughing with pure delight.

Not only had he completed a Thousand Refinement and brought out Qingjingang's hardness, he had even forged it into the shape he wanted.

Picking up the longblade forged from Thousand-Refined Qingjingang, Xu Tianming could not help lightly flicking its blade.

Ding!

The crisp sound immediately echoed throughout the entire Forging Room.

Xu Tianming could clearly sense that he and this piece of Qingjingang seemed to share some special connection.

"Tianming, what exactly have you been tinkering with?"

Kong Yue tapped Xu Tianming's forehead, her face full of confusion.

In her view, Soul Engineers were the noblest profession. What Xu Tianming was doing seemed rather neglectful of his proper path.

"Mother, look."

Xu Tianming handed the longblade to Kong Yue, excitement evident on his face.

"This is the forging technique I have always pursued: the Thousand Refinement Method, which can even be integrated with Soul Tool technology in the future."

Kong Yue took the longblade from Xu Tianming with some skepticism, but her expression changed the instant she touched it.

Amateurs watched the spectacle, while experts saw the craft.

Kong Yue was a seventh-rank Soul Engineer, so she naturally recognized the extraordinary nature of the longblade in her hand.

"This is Qingjingang?"

"But why does this piece of Qingjingang surpass ordinary Qingjingang dozens of times over, both in hardness and affinity with Soul Power?"

"And... and why do I feel as though this piece of Qingjingang is alive?"

Kong Yue had encountered Qingjingang before and was certainly no stranger to it.

Yet the metal in her hands was completely different from ordinary Qingjingang.

Not only had its original properties been amplified, it even possessed an indescribable spirituality.

"This Qingjingang has gained a faint spirit under my forging."

Xu Tianming explained:

"The so-called Thousand Refinement Method is the process of a blacksmith communicating with metal. During that process, the metal's own spirituality is drawn out."

After a pause, Xu Tianming added:

"Once its spirituality has been drawn out, the metal itself undergoes extremely special changes, though the exact changes still require further study."

Kong Yue returned the longblade to Xu Tianming, her expression somewhat complicated.

"Tianming, your talent in cultivation is already outstanding."

"But I never expected you to possess such attainments in metal forging as well."

Kong Yue was no ordinary person. Naturally, she knew what high-quality, high-grade metals meant to Soul Tools.

"You flatter me, Mother."

Xu Tianming scratched his head somewhat sheepishly.

"But one cannot chew more than one can swallow."

Kong Yue lightly tapped Xu Tianming's forehead as she advised him:

"You cultivate Soul Power, train your body, make Soul Tools, and now you have started studying metal forging as well."

"Your energy is limited. If this continues, you may end up doing none of them well."

Kong Yue said this because she thought of her ancestor, Kong Deming, the Sun Moon Empire's only possessor of Twin Martial Souls and the chief enshrined of the imperial Enshrinement Hall.

He had devoted all his energy to the field of Soul Tools, which was why his Soul Power had been unable to break through rank ninety-five.

Even someone like him could not balance both paths, and Kong Yue did not believe her son could manage four fields at once.

"Mother is right."

Xu Tianming did not argue. He merely nodded obediently.

"Tomorrow, I will take you to Ming Capital. While you study there, you can think carefully about what you are best at and what you truly want to do."

Kong Yue drew Xu Tianming into her embrace and said gently:

"Then find a path that suits you, and keep walking it all the way."