Forging with a New Method-Master and Disciple Shocked Again!

Another three days passed peacefully.

That day, the injury to Zhou Changqing's elbow healed completely, and he returned to forging weapons in the courtyard as usual.

Clang! Clang! Clang...!

Beside the furnace, Zhou Changqing stood in coarse cloth clothing, tongs in one hand and a hammer in the other, repeatedly hammering a piece of red-hot Refined Iron.

Unlike before, Zhou Changqing was not simply hammering the Refined Iron, and his movements were considerably slower than they had been in the past.

As he raised his hammer, a golden glow appeared around his left hand. Metal Attribute Dou Qi flowed through his palm into the tongs, then through the tongs and continuously into the red-hot Refined Iron.

When he was about to bring the hammer down, the Metal Attribute Dou Qi withdrew, returning entirely to the Dou Qi Vortex in his dantian.

Finally, the instant the hammer struck the Refined Iron, lightning attribute Dou Qi surged from the Dou Qi Vortex, traveled through his right hand into the hammer, and entered the Refined Iron through the point of contact!

Once injected, the lightning attribute Dou Qi stimulated the lingering Metal Attribute Dou Qi, driving it to merge continuously with the Refined Iron and improve its quality!

This was the new method of forging Iron-Cleaving Mortal Weapons that Zhou Changqing had developed some time ago.

Rather than waiting until the weapon had taken shape to begin refining and nurturing it, he continuously refined and nurtured the iron blank throughout the forging process.

This method completed everything in a single step, making it much faster than the old two-step method.

Moreover, refining and nurturing the iron blank during forging improved the weapon's quality considerably more than doing so after it was finished.

If a Mortal Weapon forged with the old method needed two slashes to cut through a Nine-Star Dou Shi's Dou Qi Veil, one forged with the new method needed only one.

Why was there such a difference?

The reason lay in the temperature of the blank during the refining and nurturing process.

By chance, Zhou Changqing had discovered that the hotter a metal material was, the more efficiently it absorbed Metal Attribute Dou Qi. It could also draw closer to its absorption limit, allowing the material's improvement to approach saturation.

When forging Mortal Weapons with the old method, Zhou Changqing's lightning attribute Dou Qi had been too weak to transform into actual lightning and heat the blade further. As a result, the blank could not fully absorb the Metal Attribute Dou Qi and reach the limit of its improvement.

The new method was different. Furnace flames compensated for the insufficient strength of his lightning attribute Dou Qi, bringing the iron blank to the highest temperature it could withstand. With stimulation from the lightning attribute Dou Qi, the blank could then absorb Metal Attribute Dou Qi to the fullest extent possible.

Of course, the new method was only useful at his current stage. Once Zhou Changqing grew strong enough to transform lightning attribute Dou Qi into actual lightning, he would no longer need the furnace flames.

It was worth mentioning, however, that forging with the new method not only improved the quality of Mortal Weapons but also brought considerable benefits to Zhou Changqing's own strength.

Because he had to switch frequently between the two types of Dou Qi while hammering, refining, and nurturing the metal, Zhou Changqing was forced to maintain intense concentration.

When raising the hammer, he had to circulate Steel-Condensing Force to release Metal Attribute Dou Qi. Before bringing the hammer down, he had to withdraw that Dou Qi, then circulate the Dormant Thunder Method to release lightning attribute Dou Qi at the instant of impact.

Stopping one method and starting the other, withdrawing one type of Dou Qi and releasing the other—none of it allowed the slightest carelessness.

Otherwise, even the smallest mistake could cause both cultivation methods to circulate simultaneously, sending both types of Dou Qi into his meridians together.

The consequences would naturally be a clash between the methods, with both types of Dou Qi running riot inside his body.

At best, this would damage his meridians and leave him severely injured. At worst, his meridians would rupture, reducing him to a cripple.

It might even cause his Dou Qi Vortex to burst, destroying all his cultivation—or make his body explode and kill him.

That was why Zhou Changqing moved so slowly while forging.

Yet precisely because of this, his understanding of both cultivation methods and his control over Dou Qi were steadily improving.

With his mind intensely focused and unable to relax for even a moment, Zhou Changqing vaguely sensed that his soul perception had improved a little. That also meant his soul was slowly growing stronger.

Even his Dou Qi gradually strengthened through its constant depletion and recovery during forging, advancing his cultivation.

Without these benefits, Zhou Changqing would never have continued forging weapons with the new method.

Perhaps this was what it meant for fortune and misfortune to lean upon each other. Risk always came hand in hand with reward.

A long while later.

Zhou Changqing had hammered the Refined Iron held in his tongs into a Horizontal Saber blank.

After quenching and cooling it, grinding its edge, fitting a hilt, and making a sheath, a brand-new Iron-Cleaving Horizontal Saber was born before his eyes.

Zhou Changqing looked at his handiwork, thoroughly satisfied.

Although the new method carried considerable risks, its efficiency truly surpassed anything the old method could achieve.

Forging one Mortal Weapon every three days meant Zhou Changqing could now make ten a month, doubling his previous output of five.

Ten Mortal Weapons might not seem like much, but at their current price of over ten thousand Gold Coins apiece, ten would bring in well over a hundred thousand Gold Coins.

With this terrifying money-making ability, a single month's earnings could match the net profit the three great clans made from an entire year of business.

After putting away the Horizontal Saber, he glanced at the sky. It was time for his daily drink and relaxation again.

Having washed and changed, Zhou Changqing sat in the courtyard and sipped Green Plum Wine.

"Old Zhou! Are you home? Your godfather's here!"

A young man's voice came from outside the courtyard, reaching Zhou Changqing's ears.

Zhou Changqing shook his head helplessly. Old Xiao always knew how to pick his moment.

"Come on in. The gate isn't locked."

"Creeeak—"

A youth dressed in black with red beneath pushed the gate open and ran straight toward Zhou Changqing.

Smack!

"Old Zhou, you bastard, you've been hiding your cards way too well! You've kept your father in the dark all this time!"

Reaching him, Xiao Yan plopped down and slapped Zhou Changqing on the shoulder, crying out with a pained, indignant expression.

"Oh, get lost. What has your father ever hidden from you? When did that happen? Go on, tell me."

Zhou Changqing knocked Xiao Yan's hand away and replied irritably.

"Uh..."

Xiao Yan froze. After thinking it over carefully, he gave an awkward laugh. "I guess you haven't."

He had known Old Zhou was talented since he was fourteen. Back then, however, he had assumed Old Zhou had become a Dou Zhe at thirteen.

That was already remarkable talent, so Xiao Yan had not thought much of it or asked for the details.

As for the Treasure Weapon, he had spent the past half year training hard and had never visited. It was perfectly normal that Old Zhou had not told him.

"Then why the hell are you acting like you're nursing some bitter, lifelong grudge?"

Zhou Changqing gave him a speechless look.

"But that still doesn't make sense. I remember you only got your cultivation method half a year ago, right? What's going on with your cultivation? You reached High-Rank Dou Zhe in just half a year?"

"That terrifying cultivation speed is practically as fast as mine! You only became a Dou Zhe at thirteen. How the hell can you be this insane?!"

"Huh? Who told you I became a Dou Zhe at thirteen?"

"Didn't you?"

"Like hell! Your father started cultivating Dou Qi at four, reached ninth stage Dou Qi early in his ninth year, and became a Dou Zhe that same year. If not for the problem with my cultivation method, I'd have fucking reached Da Dou Shi ages ago!"

"And one correction: I'm not a High-Rank Dou Zhe. I'm at the peak of Nine-Star Dou Shi!"

"Holy shit! You fucking—!"

"Hiss!"

Xiao Yan was stunned, even more shocked than when he had last heard about Zhou Changqing from his father!

From One-Star Dou Zhe to the peak of Dou Zhe in half a year?

And a Dou Zhe at nine? Was he even human?

This bastard was definitely cheating!

He had cheats!

Was nobody going to do something about this?!

Even Yao Lao, inside Xiao Yan's ring, could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

When he first met this boy, he had actually assumed that, like Xiao Yan, Zhou Changqing had become a Dou Zhe at eleven.

He had never expected the boy's talent to be even more astonishing than he had imagined!

Even with Yao Lao's vast experience, talent of this caliber was rare.

And every one of those geniuses had come from a major faction in the Central Plains!

(End of chapter)