Chapter 182: Forging the Blade Embryo, A Strange Misunderstanding

On a small hill, within the woods...

Lu Qing stared at the corpse of "Shadow," who was gradually losing his breath, and fell silent.

Echoing in his mind were the other party's last words.

"Lord Lu Qing, I've told you everything I know. But let me advise you, don't rush to seek revenge. Within the Seven Killing Tower, there are many assassins stronger than me, and several of our most important bases are guarded by elders of the Innate Realm.

Lord Lu Qing, your talent in martial arts is unparalleled, and your future is limitless. You will undoubtedly grow to become a pillar of the martial world.

By then, crushing our Seven Killing Tower will be effortless.

It's a pity that I won't live to see that day..."

Lu Qing could sense the deep resentment "Shadow" held towards the Seven Killing Tower, even in his dying moments.

Thus, he revealed all the intelligence he had on the tower.

Lu Qing wondered what cruel deeds the tower had inflicted on "Shadow" to make him, as a disciple, devoid of any loyalty to his sect, instead wishing for its utter destruction.

He recalled "Solitary," the assassin who had tried to kill Wei the Young Master, and how he, too, had offered a word of advice before his death.

It seemed that these assassins of the Seven Killing Tower had their own unique code.

Perhaps, having assassinated countless others, they had long come to terms with their own mortality.

Even in the face of death, they remained calm and composed.

However, despite this slight change in his impression of them, an enemy was still an enemy.

Lu Qing would not let his guard down, nor would he spare "Shadow's" life out of kindness.

Although he had the ability to heal "Shadow's" injuries, showing mercy to an enemy was cruel to himself.

The moment "Shadow" decided to assassinate him, their fates were sealed, and only one of them could walk away.

Lu Qing wasn't naive enough to generously forgive someone who tried to take his life.

Using his ability to check, Lu Qing confirmed that "Shadow" was indeed dead.

He searched his body, taking some useful items and storing them in his Cosmic Qi Bag. Then, he found a spot to bury the corpse, granting it a resting place rather than leaving it to the elements.

After finishing, he headed home with Xiao Li, who had been hiding in the shadows the entire time.

Earlier, he had kept Xiao Li hidden as a precaution.

If the enemy proved too strong, she could have been his trump card.

However, it was clear that he had worried unnecessarily.

Upon returning home, Lu Qing retrieved the items he had taken from "Shadow."

After sorting through them, he found that there weren't many items of value.

Aside from some gold, silver, and banknotes, there were only a few items worth keeping.

Two vials—one containing poison and the other containing pills for cultivating the internal organs, a set of soft armor, and a thousand-refined short sword coated in deadly poison.

While most of these items weren't particularly useful to Lu Qing, aside from the pills for internal organ cultivation, they could make for nice gifts in the future.

Lu Qing felt a twinge of disappointment.

Neither "Solitary" nor "Shadow" had possessed any secret manuals or the like.

To be honest, he was quite interested in the bone-and-muscle altering technique of the Seven Killing Tower.

Although his current realm allowed him an exceptionally high level of control over his physical body, easily allowing him to alter his appearance temporarily, achieving the flawless disguise that "Solitary" had managed, coordinating his entire body with barely any flaws, was still extremely difficult.

It seemed obvious that the Seven Killing Tower had some restriction in place, preventing their assassins from carrying secret manuals, to avoid leaking their sect's foundational secrets.

Finding nothing of particular use to himself, Lu Qing casually put away the items and, together with Xiao Li, carried the bucket of fish toward the halfway mountain courtyard.

"Brother, Xiao Li, you're back!"

Upon reaching the halfway mountain courtyard, Xiao Yan, who had been reciting an article in the yard, immediately put down her book and ran over, full of energy.

"Hmm, how was it? Did you memorize today's article?" Lu Qing asked with a smile.

Xiao Li jumped into Xiao Yan's arms, enjoying her caresses.

"I memorized it. Brother, how was the fishing? Did you catch any exotic fish?"

Xiao Yan knew that Lu Qing had gone fishing mainly because Xiao Li had been craving exotic fish lately, begging and rolling around playfully to get what she wanted.

"I did, and I caught quite a few," Lu Qing replied.

As the siblings chatted in the courtyard, Chen, the old doctor, emerged from the house, his expression solemn as he looked at Lu Qing.

"Ah Qing, what was that earlier?"

Clearly, the old doctor had sensed the battle between Lu Qing and "Shadow."

After all, the halfway mountain courtyard wasn't too far from that hill.

"It was a petty assassin from the Seven Killing Tower. My disciple has taken care of him," Lu Qing casually replied.

The old doctor nodded, not pressing further about the assassin's fate.

He himself disliked taking lives, but he wouldn't impose his beliefs on his disciples.

Moreover, he held a strong distaste for organizations like the Seven Killing Tower, which casually took the lives of others.

"Be careful from now on, even if nothing happened this time." The old doctor warned.

"Disciple understands." Lu Qing nodded and added, "Master, I was quite lucky this morning and caught several Red Moon Carp. Last time, we sold the one we caught, but we didn't get a chance to taste it. How about we savor this delicacy, one of the Ten Wonders of the culinary world, for dinner tonight?"

"You caught several Red Moon Carp?" The old doctor was surprised. "Is it that easy to catch them these days?"

"I find it strange too. Maybe they gathered in the river because it's been a while since anyone fished here," Lu Qing replied, though he had his suspicions, he didn't want to jump to conclusions without proof.

The mention of Red Moon Carp excited the old doctor as well.

That evening, as Lu Qing prepared the fish, the old doctor couldn't focus on his medical books and left his study early.

Lu Qing prepared the fish in two ways: one steamed and the other boiled into a soup.

At dinner, everyone savored the tender, fragrant, and exceptionally fresh fish meat and the soul-warming soup. It truly lived up to its reputation as one of the Ten Wonders.

The meal brought joy and satisfaction to Lu Qing and his family.

That night, after Xiao Yan and Xiao Li fell asleep, Lu Qing sat on his bed, deep in thought.

During the day, he had gained a lot of information about the Seven Killing Tower from "Shadow."

This included the locations of some of their important bases.

However, he didn't plan to take action against the Seven Killing Tower anytime soon.

Lu Qing was self-aware of his current strength, and challenging the Seven Killing Tower with his current power would be a fool's errand.

Even if he could destroy one or two of their bases by surprise, it would be like a drop in the bucket to such a massive organization, and it might only serve to alert them without causing any significant damage.

If he were to strike, he wanted to do it decisively, leaving them crippled or even destroyed.

So, Lu Qing was in no hurry.

For now, his focus was on improving himself and increasing his strength.

Only when he became powerful enough would he have the qualifications to challenge a force like the Seven Killing Tower.

Moreover, he had a premonition that the millennial shift foretold by the plain-clothed youth was not far off.

Perhaps, in just a few years, the world would undergo a drastic change.

After successfully condensing a trace of the divine soul rune framework, Lu Qing trusted his intuition more than ever.

To stand firm during the impending upheaval, strength would be indispensable.

Momentary gains and losses, or quarrels over honor, were insignificant compared to enhancing his power.

With that in mind, Lu Qing's spirit stirred, and a blade appeared in his hand—the divine blade embryo forged from the meteoritic iron.

He placed the blade across his knees, calming his mind and spirit. A wisp of his divine soul force emerged from his glabella cave and entered the blade, beginning the refining process.

Lu Qing employed a secret technique passed down in the Li Huo Sect.

By infusing his spirit into the blade, he would engrave secret runes and leave his spiritual imprint on it.

Once the runes were fully engraved and the refining process completed, the blade embryo would transform into a divine blade artifact, an even higher existence than a divine weapon.

However, due to the weakness of his divine soul force, Lu Qing could only refine the blade for a short time each day.

Thus, the process of refining the blade embryo into an artifact would undoubtedly be a lengthy one, requiring a significant amount of time.

After refining for a quarter of an hour, Lu Qing began to feel his spirit flagging, signaling that he had reached his limit for the day. He stopped the refining process and put the blade embryo away in his Cosmos Qi Bag.

Seizing the opportunity, he cultivated the Staring into the Furnace Visualization Technique, pushing his spirit to its limits before employing a special breathing technique to fall into a deep sleep.

The next day, Lu Qing woke up feeling refreshed, and the divine soul force in his glabella cave had increased noticeably.

This was a cultivation method he had devised over the past few days by piecing together various techniques from the trove of inherited memories in his mind.

Every night, he would first use his divine soul force to refine the meteoritic iron blade embryo, then cultivate the Staring into the Furnace Visualization Technique to push his spirit to its limits before employing a special tortoise breathing technique to rest and recover his divine soul force during sleep.

With this routine, he could fully restore and even enhance his divine soul force by the next day.

It was a perfect balance of artifact refinement and self-cultivation.

Feeling the enhanced divine soul force, Lu Qing was quite pleased.

At this rate, he believed that condensing a complete divine soul rune before reaching the Innate Realm was no longer an impossible dream.

As the morning sun rose, Lu Qing, as usual, practiced the Health Preservation Fist in the courtyard a few times before preparing breakfast.

Just as he was about to call Xiao Yan and Xiao Li, he heard some noise outside, followed by a cheerful voice.

"Lu Qing, my brother! I'm here to mooch a meal!"

"Uncle Ma, are you done with your clan's matters?" Lu Qing walked out, a bit surprised.

Chapter: "..."

Ma Gu, who had just arrived, wore a long blue robe with a long sword at his waist, returning to his previous attire.

"It's all taken care of, thanks to Zian. To be honest, there's not much to do in the clan these days. The clan leader and elders keep hinting that as long as I maintain good relationships with Zian and you all, they're satisfied. They just didn't say it directly."

Ma Gu's expression was somewhat glum, and he seemed a little embarrassed.

It seemed that he felt the clan was calculating too much based on his relationship with Lu Qing and the others.

However, Lu Qing didn't pay much attention to these matters. Instead, he asked, "Since you're back, what about Zian? Aren't you supposed to supervise his cultivation?"

Lu Qing was well aware of the real reason why Wei Zian had taken Ma Gu as his master.

"Oh, let me keep you in suspense for now. You'll know in a couple of days." Ma Gu smiled mysteriously, selling the information.

Lu Qing was left speechless.

Just as the silence between them grew, Ma Gu removed the long sword from his waist.

"By the way, Brother Lu Qing, I only noticed recently that this sword was a gift from you?" Ma Gu asked, his eyes fixed on the familiar sword sheath.

Lu Qing took a closer look and nodded. "Yes, it was a gift from me, a token of my appreciation for the master-disciple ceremony between you and Young Master Wei."

"You're kidding! Brother Lu Qing, do you know this is a thousand-refined sword? It's priceless!" Ma Gu exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Of course I know; why else would I give it to you?" Lu Qing nodded again.

Of course, he knew the quality of the sword he had forged himself.

However, Lu Qing was a little confused. "I gave it to you a while ago. Why are you asking about it now?"

"A thousand-refined sword is incredibly valuable. It's worth a fortune, Brother Lu Qing. I can't accept such an expensive gift. Please take it back," Ma Gu said hastily.

In his heart, Lu Qing was a great benefactor who had saved his life several times.

Ma Gu hadn't even had a chance to repay his immense gratitude, and now he felt uncomfortable accepting such a valuable gift.

A thousand-refined weapon was something that even the Ma family treasury didn't possess.

So, when Ma Gu had discovered the gift, he, along with the clan leader, had been utterly stunned.

"..." Lu Qing was silent for a moment. "Didn't Wei, the Grand Administrator, tell you that I made this sword myself and that it didn't cost much?"

"You made this sword yourself?!" Ma Gu's eyes widened even further, and he looked at Lu Qing in disbelief.

Lu Qing fell silent.

From Ma Gu's reaction, it seemed he wasn't pretending, and he genuinely didn't know about this.

But how could Wei, the Grand Administrator, have made such a mistake?

What Lu Qing didn't know was that Wei, the Grand Administrator, was usually very meticulous. However, on the day of the master-disciple ceremony, several things had happened, especially the assassination attempt on Wei Zian, which had left him severely injured.

Although Lu Qing had saved his life with spiritual medicine, his vitality had been greatly damaged, leading to an abrupt end to the ceremony.

Afterward, the Wei family had been preoccupied with finding out who had put a bounty on Wei Zian's head, resulting in their negligence regarding the gifts. They had only delivered Ma Gu's share to the Ma family, leaving the rest unattended.

Among the numerous gifts, Lu Qing's present had been inconspicuous.

It was only when the Ma family had been inventorying the gifts and seen Lu Qing's name on the box that they had realized it was from him. Upon opening it and discovering the thousand-refined sword, the entire Ma family had been astounded.

By then, Lu Qing and the old doctor had already returned to Jiu Li Village.

After hearing Ma Gu's explanation, Lu Qing finally understood what had happened.

He smiled and said, "In that case, Uncle Ma, feel free to keep the sword. I made it as a practice piece back when I was at the Casting Heart Forge. It's not particularly extraordinary and didn't cost much."

Ma Gu was left speechless by Lu Qing's words.

A thousand-refined practice piece...

Had Lu Qing's forging skills reached such a level?

Wait, when did Lu Qing learn forging? How come he didn't know about it?

Could it have been during the days Lu Qing was staying at his home? But that was only for a few days!

Ma Gu's thoughts were in disarray, and his brain felt like it was about to crash.

However, knowing that Lu Qing had indeed forged the sword himself, he eventually accepted the thousand-refined sword.

"Uncle Ma, have you eaten yet? I just made breakfast. Would you like to join us?" Lu Qing asked, seeing that Ma Gu had regained his composure.

Ma Gu's eyes lit up. "Of course I'll eat! I came on an empty stomach, timing it just right. I've been craving your cooking; it's been too long."

"..." Lu Qing could only smile at Ma Gu's shameless freeloading. "Alright, go on in and wait. I'll call Xiao Yan and the others."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end