Forging Basics

"Heaven and earth in their natural order, let foul qi disperse. Within the cavern, mysterious emptiness; the radiant supreme origin..."

Time ticked by as Tang Zhixue kept reciting the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra. Under its effects, the white fog around him rapidly dispersed, revealing the ruins of a building beneath it.

Soon, Tang Zhixue had circled the ruins, even clearing the white fog within another two or three meters around them.

"It covers a little over a hundred square meters," Tang Zhixue said, looking in puzzlement at the ruins still shrouded in white fog in the center. "A whole sect had only this one little building?"

"Or are the other buildings farther away?"

Tang Zhixue shook his head.

Rather than think about all that, he might as well clear the ruins in front of him first.

Whether there were other ruins would become clear when he explored elsewhere.

But before he had been clearing for long, Tang Zhixue suddenly stopped and looked into the distance with a deep frown.

That was the way he had come. He had originally still been able to see the shelter through the passage opened by reciting the mantra, but now a short stretch closest to the shelter had been swallowed by white fog again.

"As expected, the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra has a time limit."

Although he had been prepared for this, since the mantra at the shelter also had a time limit, Tang Zhixue had never expected the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra to last less than an hour outside-only around forty or fifty minutes.

Good thing I cleared away the strange plants nearby with the iron axe on my way here. The marks I left will still let me find my way back.

Tang Zhixue turned and continued reciting the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra to disperse the white fog within the ruins. Toward the end, he even stepped onto the rubble to clear the fog.

Fortunately, it did not take Tang Zhixue long to disperse all the white fog shrouding the ruins.

I'd better hurry, before the mantra wears off.

Tang Zhixue set the axe aside and reached out with both hands, steadily hauling away the building debris.

Time passed little by little. The passage he had come through was gradually swallowed by the Silent White Fog again, while all kinds of building debris slowly piled up around the ruins.

"Hm?"

A book with a somewhat yellowed cover lay beneath a broken piece of timber.

Tang Zhixue's expression shifted. He hurriedly moved the timber aside and picked up the book.

"Uh, Blazing Fire Sect Forging Basics?"

After flipping through a few more pages, Tang Zhixue looked thoughtful. "Could this so-called Blazing Fire Sect have been a sect focused on forging?"

The book recorded simple forging fundamentals, perfectly suited to beginners.

Back in his former technological society, Tang Zhixue would have scoffed at these forging basics. After all, technological equipment was far better than hammering things out by hand.

The forging basics book was not thick, only twenty-odd pages, and mainly described the forging process for the Blazing Fire Sect's basic sabers and swords.

But the contents of the last few pages surprised Tang Zhixue somewhat.

"Once you've become proficient in the Blazing Tiger Fist, you have to combine it with forging to continue practicing? Using the fist technique's methods of exerting force to forge can further temper the body in the process?"

Tang Zhixue blinked. "Isn't this just a divine art for workhorses?"

If the Blazing Fire Sect's disciples forged things for the sect for free, then it really was a perfectly good divine art for workhorses.

Once someone learned the Blazing Tiger Fist, if they wanted to improve, they had no choice but to learn forging-and study it carefully, too.

"But that makes things a little troublesome." Tang Zhixue set the forging basics book aside. "Once I get back, I'll also have to figure out how to build a Forging Furnace, and find or buy metal ore."

Perhaps the Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent talent could ignore the fist technique's restrictions, but Tang Zhixue never gambled on things like that.

He was not so lucky during the rest of the clearing. After he cleared the entire ruin, he found no more books like the forging basics, only some heavily rusted sabers and swords.

"Twenty-five sabers, thirty-six swords." Tang Zhixue looked at the rusty weapons. "Looks like the Blazing Fire Sect's disciples preferred forging swords."

There were sixty-one metal implements in total. Although they were all rusty and unusable, they could certainly be melted down and reforged.

Of course, he first needed to build a Forging Furnace.

This was not unfamiliar territory for Tang Zhixue, however. He enjoyed watching forging videos, so he knew how to build a Forging Furnace.

But he would only know the specifics once he actually tried it himself.

"Wait, that doesn't add up." Tang Zhixue suddenly raised his head and looked at the cleared stone ground. "What exactly was this building used for?"

"Other than the materials making up the structure, there were only these sabers and swords and that forging basics book."

In other words, there had been sabers and swords lying around inside an empty building, along with a copy of Blazing Fire Sect Forging Basics, but nothing else.

It was as though someone had left in a hurry, with some belongings they had no time to move and could only abandon here.

"No, I'll look again."

Unwilling to give up, Tang Zhixue returned to search the cleared ground, even occasionally tapping the ground with the back of his iron axe to see whether there was a hidden space underneath.

Unfortunately, after searching the whole area, he found nothing. Instead, the surrounding white fog had closed in another ring.

"Forget it. I'll head back first."

Using a dark red vine he had found along the way, he bundled all the sabers and swords together, slung them onto his back, and headed toward the shelter.

"Heaven and earth in their natural order, let foul qi disperse. Within the cavern, mysterious emptiness; the radiant supreme origin..."

The Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra flowed from Tang Zhixue's mouth, and the surrounding Silent White Fog kept dispersing, revealing the road back.

Soon, Tang Zhixue returned to the vicinity of the shelter with his haul.

"Oh no!"

At the sight of the wooden cabin shrouded in white fog, Tang Zhixue's heart tightened. He hurried over and quickly recited the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra once.

He had been away too long, and the shelter's Purification effect had expired.

As Tang Zhixue recited, the surrounding white fog gradually dispersed, revealing part of the wooden shelter and the special plants near its entrance.

The instant he saw those plants, Tang Zhixue's anxious heart sank completely.

The once-green, vibrant special plants had now turned into strange, dull gray plants. As soon as Tang Zhixue approached, they attacked him.

Whoosh!

Although their appearances differed, their methods of attack were surprisingly consistent.

Wisps of dull gray gas seeped from their surfaces and rapidly approached Tang Zhixue.

Faced with the gray gas, Tang Zhixue could no longer worry about his discomfort. He turned and went straight back inside the shelter.

"Sure enough, the Purification effect really is gone!"

Tang Zhixue immediately opened the shelter panel. As expected, only the Door God Protection effect remained.

After standing behind the door for a while and confirming that the gray gas would not enter the shelter, Tang Zhixue recited the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra once more.