Demonic Beasts Attack

Zhou Yang's first attempt at artifact forging failed, but it didn't dampen his enthusiasm, as he hadn't expected to succeed on his first try anyway.

If artifact forging were easy to master, the profession of Artifact Forger wouldn't be the most sought-after in the Cultivation World.

Not a single Artifact Forger, not even the most talented ones, could succeed on their very first attempt at forging.

Most Artifact Forgers possessed a small amount of innate talent for artifact forging and then relied on countless materials to brute-force their way to mastery.

This is why, in the Cultivation World, rogue cultivators without sects or families rarely become Artifact Forgers or Alchemists, as they simply cannot afford the cost of wasted materials required to learn these two skills.

Even for a Foundation Establishment Family like the Zhou Family, with cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage, it was difficult to nurture a truly profitable Second-Rank Artifact Forger. They had to select disciples with talent and invest heavily in them.

Before Zhou Yang, many Zhou Family cultivators of the "Xuan" generation had studied artifact forging. However, only his seventh uncle, Zhou Xuanlin, had barely managed to advance to Second-Rank Artifact Forger. This was achieved with the direct guidance of Zhou Minghan, a Third-Rank Artifact Forger, and after investing materials worth thousands of Spirit Stones.

However, the limit for Qi Refining stage cultivators was Second-Rank Artifact Forger. To become a Third-Rank Artifact Forger, one had to achieve Foundation Establishment first.

Therefore, when Zhou Minghan expressed his hope that Zhou Yang would inherit his artifact forging techniques, he implicitly wished for Zhou Yang to achieve Foundation Establishment.

As long as Zhou Yang could achieve Foundation Establishment and show some talent for artifact forging, even if they had to spend Spirit Stones to support him, Zhou Minghan was confident he could groom him into a Third-Rank Artifact Forger!

Zhou Yang was unaware of all this. He simply felt that the artifact forging materials were hard-earned and it would be a waste to squander them. Thus, after failing, he didn't rush to try again immediately. Instead, he cleaned up the scrap materials in the cauldron and carefully reviewed his lessons learned.

Only when he felt he had a better grasp of the process did he begin a new attempt.

This cycle of failure, review, more failure, and more review continued...

After seventeen failures, Zhou Yang finally succeeded in forging a finished Azure Edge Sword, officially becoming a First-Rank Artifact Forger.

With the experience of his first success, Zhou Yang's success rate in subsequent artifact forging improved significantly, with a success rate of roughly one in ten attempts.

After hundreds of attempts, when he managed to control his success rate to twenty percent, he stopped forging the First-Rank Artifact, the Azure Edge Sword, and began forging another First-Rank Artifact, the Flame Blade.

The primary material for the First-Rank Artifact, the Flame Blade, was also Fine Iron. However, it also required the incorporation of twenty percent Fire Attribute Spirit Metal Vermilion Copper. Once the artifact was forged, an Innate Realm cultivator could infuse it with Xiantian True Qi while holding it, igniting flames that would adhere to the blade, causing burning damage to enemies. It could also deal with ghosts that pure physical attacks couldn't affect.

The forging process for the Flame Blade was largely similar to that of the Azure Edge Sword. The difference was that the restriction array set within the blade was not "Sharpness," but the "Blazing Flames" restriction.

Despite Zhou Yang's successful experience forging the Azure Edge Sword, his first attempt at forging the Flame Blade artifact still failed.

However, after summarizing the lessons from his failure, he managed to succeed on his second try. He then spent dozens more attempts to successfully control the success rate of forging the Flame Blade to over twenty percent.

At this point, he still had a significant amount of the basic artifact forging materials given to him by the Old Clan Leader. However, he didn't continue forging. Instead, he gathered the finished artifacts he had forged, his artifact forging insights, and letters written to his parents. He handed them over to Zhou Qi, a clan member of the same generation who was collecting the Fine Iron ore output, asking him to take them back to the family for the Old Clan Leader and to forward them to his parents who were far away.

Zhou Qi ranked third among the "Yuan" generation of the Zhou Family. Both his parents were ordinary mortals. He was thirty-two years old this year, but due to his spiritual root quality being only low-grade, his cultivation had barely reached the Third Level of Qi Refining. He had no hope of achieving Foundation Establishment in his lifetime.

Upon hearing that Zhou Yang had become a First-Rank Artifact Forger, he was naturally surprised at first, then his face lit up with joy. He took the items, nodded vigorously, and said, "Ninth Brother, don't worry. I will definitely deliver these items and letters to the Old Clan Leader and Aunt and Uncle."

After a pause, he continued with a tone of earnest advice, "But you must also cultivate diligently and not focus all your energy on artifact forging. You are the hope of our entire Zhou Family. The elders and all of us brothers and sisters are counting on you to achieve Foundation Establishment and lead our Zhou Family forward!"

"Third Brother is right. I will cultivate diligently and will never disappoint the elders!" Zhou Yang replied with a serious expression, nodding.

"As long as you know what you're doing, I'll be going now."

After watching his cousin Zhou Qi depart, Zhou Yang manipulated the formation to restore its original state and closed the door to read the long letter his parents had sent him through his cousin.

Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Xuanhao, had focused wholeheartedly on cultivation in his early years. It wasn't until he was over sixty and realized he had no hope of achieving Foundation Establishment that he followed the advice of his elders, married, and had children.

Coincidentally, at that time, his mother, Lin Yuting, was being pursued by enemies and fled to the vicinity of the Jade Spring Lake Oasis, where she was rescued by him. The two fell in love and married, and within a few years, Zhou Yang was born.

Since both of them were cultivators, their first child was fortunate enough to be detected with a Medium-Grade Spiritual Root. From then on, Zhou Yang became the apple of his parents' eyes, cherished as if he were made of glass, treasured beyond measure.

It was precisely because of his parents' meticulous and doting love since childhood that Zhou Yang, a transmigator with twenty to thirty years of memories from his previous life, gradually let go of everything from his past. He accepted and acknowledged his parents and the entire Zhou Family from the bottom of his heart.

In order to allow their son to go further than themselves on the path of cultivation, Zhou Xuanhao and Lin Yuting did not have any other children. They dedicated all their energy to earning Spirit Stones and taking care of Zhou Yang.

Later, upon discovering Zhou Yang's precocious talent and his ability to take care of himself, the couple entrusted him to the care of the clan elders. They then took up permanent residence at a shop opened by the family in a cultivator market town, using their alchemy and brewing skills to earn Spirit Stones for the family and for their son.

As someone who had "been there before," Zhou Yang deeply understood the thoughts of Zhou Xuanhao and Lin Yuting.

Just as his parents in his previous life had left their hometown at a young age to work in the city to support his education, Zhou Xuanhao and Lin Yuting were doing everything they were doing now for his future Foundation Establishment and for him to go further on the path of cultivation.

Therefore, he never resented them for not seeing them for long periods. Instead, he wrote multiple letters every year, entrusting them to the clan elders to send to his parents, telling them about his daily life. He knew that these seemingly ordinary and boring things were what his parents wanted to see the most.

"Yang'er, Qingping Mountain is far from the family. Whenever you encounter anything, think thrice before acting. Prioritize your own safety..."

"Son, business at the restaurant here is getting better and better. It's all thanks to the idea you gave me last time. My son is truly a genius. You will definitely become a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the future, no, you will definitely become a Golden Core Ancestor!"

Zhou Yang read his parents' letters word by word, a genuine smile on his face. The simple encouragement from his parents' letters was far more effective than a thousand words from others.

After finishing the entire letter, he carefully put away the paper and murmured to himself, "Two more years. Once I complete the remaining two years of my stationed duty, I will return to the family and prepare to break through to the Seventh Level of Qi Refining. As long as I reach the Late Qi Cultivation stage, I will apply to the Old Clan Leader to be stationed at the market town. Then, our family can be reunited!"

Meanwhile, when Zhou Qi returned to the family with the artifacts and insights forged by Zhou Yang and submitted them to the Old Clan Leader, it immediately drew Zhou Minghan's high attention.

He personally inspected each of the artifacts forged by Zhou Yang, pointed out their shortcomings, and offered suggestions for improvement. He also answered each of the problems recorded in Zhou Yang's forging insights. Then, he dispatched an elder of the "Guang" generation of the family to personally deliver some higher-grade artifact forging materials and forging insights to Zhou Yang.

"Hahaha, Little Nine, you truly make us proud! I've lived for over a hundred years, and this is the first time I've seen the Old Clan Leader so happy and value a junior so highly. Your reputation as the Zhou Family's prodigy has spread throughout the clan, and even the secular members of our family are talking about your deeds!"

The elder of the Zhou Family from the "Guang" generation who was responsible for delivering items to Zhou Yang was named Zhou Quan. He ranked third among his peers and was the second elder among the eight elders of the Zhou Family.

The elder was one hundred and twelve years old, very close to the lifespan limit of a Qi Refining stage cultivator. If Zhou Minghan hadn't personally ordered him to make this trip, no one in the family would have dared to disturb this elder who was on the verge of passing away.

"I apologize for troubling Third Grandfather for making this trip. Your nephew is truly sorry, truly sorry!"

Looking at the elder whose mouth had gaps when he smiled, Zhou Yang was moved and sighed inwardly.

He knew that if the cultivators at the Late Qi Cultivation stage in the family weren't all occupied with their own tasks, the Old Clan Leader would never have sent Zhou Quan, an elder on the verge of death, on this errand.

Zhou Quan's arrival not only showed the importance the Old Clan Leader and the family placed on him but also exposed the family's shortage of available manpower.

"Hehehe, I am old. It doesn't matter if I pass away tomorrow. To be able to see such an outstanding junior appear in the family before my death, I will die with no regrets!"

Old man Zhou Quan chuckled heartily and gently patted Zhou Yang's shoulder to show affection. He had long since come to terms with life and death.

However, despite his words, a moment later he couldn't help but sigh with regret, "What a pity, what a pity that this old man won't live to see the day you achieve Foundation Establishment. Otherwise, when I descend to the Yellow Springs after death, I'll have the face to meet Ancestor Yuquan!"

Zhou Yang remained silent, his mood also growing heavy.

For the past hundred years or so, successive generations of Zhou Family cultivators had been stuck at the Foundation Establishment bottleneck. This had caused elders like Zhou Quan to develop a deep obsession. Their sole wish was to witness another Foundation Establishment Cultivator emerge from the Zhou Family within their lifetime, one who could succeed the Old Clan Leader in protecting the family.

His father, Zhou Xuanhao, also harbored this obsession. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spared no effort to earn Spirit Stones from outside to prepare for Zhou Yang's future Foundation Establishment.

Just as Zhou Yang was contemplating how to break the somber atmosphere, a streak of fire suddenly pierced through the sea of clouds outside Qingping Mountain and landed before him. From it came the extremely panicked voice of a Zhou Family steward from the outer iron ore mine: "Immortal Master, save us! A powerful Demonic Beast is attacking the mine!"

Two updates today. Each chapter of this book is three thousand words. Little Zi is full of sincerity! I hope those who like this book and this genre will give it a collection, help vote for recommendation tickets daily, and it would be even better if you could join the new book investment group. Young seedlings need diligent watering to grow strong. Every recommendation ticket, every review, and every reward from fellow book lovers is the nourishment and driving force for this book's growth. Love Little Zi a little more (blushing).