The stone room was quiet for a moment.
Old Wu looked at Qin Tiexin's thoughtful look and suddenly asked, "Have you never learned to refine weapons?"
Qin Tiexin raised his head and thought for a while, "I was a blacksmith before. I made swords, guns, swords and halberds for the army. Later I learned about the spiritual pattern, Law Artifact, and then I started to think about forging half Law Artifact, and then I refined it into Law Artifact."
"No wonder." Old Wu nodded, "Your foundation is very solid, and your forging and smelting techniques are sophisticated. It can be seen that you have put in hard work. But your weapon refining... is just an imitation."
Qin Tiexin said nothing.
"It's like mortal calligraphy." Old Wu gestured, "You followed the copybook and drew it stroke by stroke. The shape is very similar, but there is no spirit. Law Artifact is not as simple as adding some spiritual materials to a mortal weapon and engraving spiritual patterns on it. What you make is at best a 'sharp weapon with some functions', not the real Law Artifact."
Qin Tiexin held the two daggers, his palms feeling slightly hot.
He thought of his efforts over the past few months - smelting spiritual materials, practicing spiritual patterns, and trying again after failing again and again. He thought he was making progress, and thought he had figured out how to refine weapons.
But Old Wu's words broke a layer of paper.
He was indeed just imitating. He followed the steps in "Preliminary Understanding of Weapon Refining Techniques" and copied the spirit patterns in Jade Slip given by Nangong Yao stroke by stroke. What he pursued was "image", "standard" and "perfection".
But weapon refining should not just be like this.
"Why are you telling me this?" Qin Tiexin asked.
Old Wu looked at him with complicated eyes. "I have been observing you for several months. In the Waste Equipment Pavilion, your skills are sufficient and your life can be very comfortable. I didn't want to be troublesome - there is no point in being a bad person."
He paused. "But your performance in the small competition, and the energy you showed after you started refining weapons, make me feel... this Wasted Weapon Pavilion cannot keep you. Sooner or later, you will go out and walk to a wider place."
Qin Tiexin Listen quietly.
"Furthermore," Old Wu said in a lower voice, "You have a good heart. The last time there was an explosion, you changed directions at the last moment - although I don't need your rescue, I will remember that intention."
He walked to the forging table and placed his hands on the table, his knuckles turning slightly white.
"If you are willing to promise me one thing, old man, I am willing to teach you everything I have learned in my life."
Qin Tiexin looked at his back. The gray robe was a bit old, and his shoulders and back were slightly stooped, but he stood very straight.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
Old Wu turned around and smiled, "What a smart boy."
The smile faded quickly. He was silent for a while, looking out the window of the stone room - there was only a stone wall there, but he looked at it seriously, as if he was looking far away.
"Do you know why I am in the Waste Equipment Pavilion?"
Qin Tiexin shook his head.
"With my level of weapon refining, it's not difficult to go to the weapon refining hall." Old Wu said, "But I'm not from Liuyun Sect. Strictly speaking, I don't count now."
He walked to the sink, took a spoonful of water, and slowly poured it into his hands. The sound of water dripped.
"I was born in the Lingxi Sect. Five hundred miles to the west along the Liuyun Sect, there is a small stream with Spiritual Qi water - of course, that was two hundred years ago. Now... it may have been done."
He paused, and there was a little warmth in his voice. "The Lingxi Sect is named after the stream. The sect is not big, with about a hundred people, and specializes in cultivating weapons and water methods. We are a friendly sect with the Liuyun Sect, and most of the spiritual water used by the Liuyun Sect to refine weapons and quench fires is shipped from us."
"I have been fond of refining weapons since I was a child. I became a junior weapon refiner at the age of twenty, and became a senior master at thirty - the number one genius of the Lingxi Sect." When he said this, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his eyes were bright, "When I was thirty-two years old, I came to the Liuyun Sect for exchange and study. The Liuyun Sect's weapon refining level is indeed high, but I refused to accept it. I challenged their geniuses one by one, and..."
He shook his head and said nothing further.
The smile gradually faded.
"That autumn, I received a summons - Lingxi Sect was exterminated."
It was very quiet in the stone room. There was only the occasional "crackling" sound from the remaining charcoal in the stove.
Old Wu's voice was very calm, as if he was talking about someone else's business. "When I rushed back, the water in the stream had been drained. The core of the Lingxi River was taken away, the stream bed was exposed, and Shitou was sunburned. The sect... was full of corpses. The sect leader, elders, junior brothers, gatekeepers... one hundred and thirty-seven people, not a single one alive."
He raised his hand and wiped the corners of his eyes.
"The blood has dyed the creek bed red. Lingxi Sect... I am the only one left."
Qin Tiexin stood there, with a dull pain from the wound on his back. He thought of Formation-Breaking Second Camp's comrades who died in battle, and of those who would never come back.
"I have been searching for two hundred years." Old Wu said, "The enemy seemed to disappear out of thin air, leaving no trace. I traveled thousands of miles around, asked all the people I could ask, and checked all the records I could find - nothing."
He smiled bitterly, "Sometimes I even doubt that it was a dream. But every time I close my eyes, I can see the blood in the stream."
"For two hundred years, I was busy looking for people and forgot to practice. When I realized it, it was already too late. My lifespan is short, and my cultivation level is stuck at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, and I can never go up. At the last moment, I returned to Liuyun Sect - after all, I have stayed here, and I am familiar with it. Waste Equipment Pavilion... When I was in Lingxi Sect, I started learning by dealing with waste equipment. Here, it is a bit like going home."
He looked at Qin Tiexin with deep eyes.
"I don't have enough time, and I don't have enough cultivation. But you are different. Although you Spirit Root are bad, I can feel that you will reach a height that I can't imagine."
"My request is very simple." He said slowly, "If one day you find clues to the Lingxi Sect, and if you are capable enough, help me avenge you. Bring the enemy's head to my grave."
"Of course, if you don't want to, just pretend I didn't say anything. I gave you the dagger. These words today..."
"I do."
Qin Tiexin interrupted him.
Old Wu was stunned. He looked at Qin Tiexin, opened his mouth, but said nothing.
Qin Tiexin repeated, "I do."
There was no hesitation, no questioning of "Who is the enemy?" "How strong is it?" "How to find it?". Three words, clean and neat.
Old Wu's eyes were a little red. He took a deep breath and said "ok" three times in a row, his voice getting louder each time.
"I saw the right person." He wiped his face and smiled, this time smiling widely, "I will teach you the Lingxi Sect's weapon forging inheritance and my two hundred years of experience. As long as you are willing to learn."
Qin Tiexin Take a step back and kneel down to perform the apprenticeship ceremony.
Old Wu quickly held his arm. "Don't kneel down. I am not qualified to accept disciples now, and I will not accept them - the inheritance of Lingxi Sect has been broken here, and I cannot consider myself a teacher. Just... call me Uncle Master."
Qin Tiexin stood up straight and said solemnly, "Uncle Wu."
"Huh." Old Wu responded, his eye circles red again. He turned around and took off a dusty Storage Bag from his waist. It looked like it was old.
He reached in and groped for a moment.
Then, he picked up a box.
The moment the box landed on the ground, it made a dull "bang" sound, and the floor of the stone room shook slightly. The box was not big, two feet long, one foot wide, and one foot deep. It was a dark ebony color with no patterns on the surface.
Old Wu squatted down and opened the lid of the box.
There are neatly stacked metal ingots inside. Each piece is about the size of a palm, about an inch thick, and is arranged meticulously. At first glance, there are forty or fifty pieces, glowing with various colors in the dark stone room.
Qin Tiexin took two steps closer and looked down.
On the top layer, he recognized the materials: red copper as dark as blood, black iron sand as dark as night, Cold Iron essence with a faint blue luster, lapis lazuli with twinkling stars... They are all common spiritual materials, but they are extremely pure and have no impurities.
There were some things he didn't recognize in the lower layers: a piece of dark gold metal with natural cloud patterns on the surface; a piece of silver-white metal with tentacles that were cold and bone-piercing; and a few pieces with strange colors, purple with blue, green with red.
Deeper, he saw several pieces of legendary materials - blood copper, which is as colored as solidified blood and is said to be able to absorb Blood Qi to increase its power; fine gold, which is light golden and is as big as a fingernail and is worth hundreds of spirit crystals. It is one of the core materials for forging flying swords.
This box of items is a priceless treasure in the eyes of any weapon refiner.
But Old Wu patted the box and said something else.
"This box is the weapon refining treasure of the Lingxi Sect." His voice was a little hoarse, "Each piece of metal is mixed with a little bit of 'Guizhen Spiritual Gold'."
Qin Tiexin looked up suddenly.
Return to true spiritual gold! Treasure material!
The existence of transcendent spiritual materials is a necessary material for refining Law Artifact and above - Spirit Artifact and Law Treasure. A piece of treasure material the size of a soybean is worth far more than a hundred times the volume of high-grade spiritual materials. It is said that the core of Law Treasure used by Jindan monks is the treasure material.
Old Wu looked at his reaction and nodded. "Yes, it is a treasure. But each piece here is only mixed with a little bit, less than one ten thousandth."
He picked up a piece of pure copper ingot and weighed it. "But this little bit has one advantage - no matter how you toss this piece of metal, as long as it is not missing, it will return to its original shape after three hours."
Qin Tiexin pupils shrink.
"So... you can use it to practice carving spirit patterns." Old Wu handed the copper ingot to him, "If it is broken, wait three hours, and it will recover on its own. Once it is carved, you can feel the resonance between the spirit patterns and the material - the real resonance is not seen with eyes, but 'heard' with touch and spiritual power. After three hours, it will still return to the time when it was not carved."
"This was something that Lingxi Sect used to train its core disciples in weapon refining at that time. Now, I will hand it over to you."
Qin Tiexin took the copper ingot.
It was slightly warm in hand, and the weight was slightly heavier than ordinary red-heart copper. The surface was smooth, and subtle metal textures could be seen. He condensed a trace of spiritual power on his fingertips and lightly tapped the surface of the copper ingot.
Buzz--
An extremely subtle tremor came from the fingertips. It was like heartbeat and breathing.
Old Wu looked at him and said slowly, "From tomorrow on, come to my place after work every day. I will teach you what real weapon refining is."