Chapter 794: Nine-Forged Body (3)

At the same time.

With a surprised expression, Zhao Tianbing said, "Xia Xiao'er...cough, cough, Acting Prefect Xia, can you give me a copy of Cui Lang's information? My junior brother seems interested in accepting a student. He's even teaching the Soul Expanding Art. Just who is this Cui Lang?"

Marquis Xia glared at Zhao Tianbing before tossing a jade talisman over. With a frown, he said, "Zhao Tianbing, how many strikes did you hear? Your junior brother is nothing in terms of strength, but his weaponsmithing skills are truly outstanding."

"Of course." Zhao Tianbing said, "Back when my teacher was still around, he once praised my junior talent for being exceedingly talented. He didn't say that because that was his son. Rather, he is really very talented. He is even more talented than me. Unfortunately, my teacher died in the Allheaven Battlefield not long after he started teaching my junior brother.

"My junior brother could only learn from me. At eighteen, he forged his first yellow weapon. At twenty, he forged his first peak yellow weapon. At twenty-eight, he forged his first profound weapon. At forty-five, he forged his first peak profound weapon. But then...sigh."

That was an endlessly regretful sigh. After that, his junior brother had started researching all sorts of weird stuff instead of focusing on advancement. And he was too busy to get his junior brother back on the right track.

Eventually, Zhao Li started creating his Soul Expanding Art. He spent decades doing that. Then, he strayed even more as he started researching the unity of human and weapon. That had completely strayed from the traditional forging methods. Otherwise, he would have reached the earth grade long ago. What a pity.

Zhao Tianbing tossed all that thoughts out of his mind and said, "I heard 180 strikes. He has improved considerably. Back during his first attempt at forging this weapon, he was only able to stack his strike 144 times."

Great Han King and the others smiled upon hearing that. Silk Destroying King laughed and said, "Looks like only specialists know their field better. I heard 180 strikes as well, but I didn't even think of weaponsmithing when I heard that. Instead, I thought of ways to implement this to my Time technique. Wouldn't that allow me to send the Silkwyrm King back to the ancient times with one kick?"

Zhao Tianbing said, "You overestimate this technique, Lord. He is still weak so it's easier to stack his strikes. At the Invincible Realm, no, even at my realm, it is impossible to surpass 180 stacks. My current limit is 144 stacks. But that's mainly because I don't know the Soul Expanding Art. Then again, all weaponsmithing methods will share some similarities with each other."

"Soul Expanding Art..." Great Song King said, "This is an incredible art. Unfortunately, it has high requirements. This level alone is enough to help Zhao Li face anyone at the third-stage Mountainsea Realm and below in combat."

One ought to remember that Zhao Li was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. The two Invincibles had a lot of praise for this self-created art.

Great Han King said, "I wonder how much of Zhao Li's skills did that Su Yu kid manage to learn. Previously, I thought that the Soul Expanding Art is merely a useful art. But after what I felt today, I can conclude that Su Yu has probably not comprehended the core concepts of this art."

He was essentially saying that Su Yu was bringing shame to the Soul Expanding Art. He had heard about this art before, but he never thought much of it. After experiencing it himself, he changed his mind. This was an excellent art. It was comparable to even some heaven-grade soul techniques.

Meanwhile, Su Yu was still fully focused on observing Zhao Li. He was only able to hear 108 strikes even though he was standing right beside Zhao Li. He was still too lacking in the art of weaponsmithing compared to the veteran profound weaponsmiths. But thanks to his good teachers, he was already comparable to middle profound weaponsmiths.

He continued trying to stack his hammer strikes.

Once, twice, thrice...

Slowly, he started to grasp the basics of this move.

And after grasping the basics, further improvement became much easier than before. A few hours passed. When he swung his hammer yet again, it hummed nine times in a row. Zhao Li smiled and said, "Familiarize yourself with it. Nine stacks...This is probably enough for now. You're very talented."

"I can't compare with you, Teacher. The gap between us is too big. You can reach 108 stacks while I'm stuck at 9 stacks. I can't even make it soundless."

Zhao Li did not correct Su Yu. He merely smiled and returned to his work. 108 stacks? He supposed the kid was pretty good to be able to hear 108 stacks. But the kid had still underestimated him. In truth, he had stacked his hammer strike 180 times.

Due to the grotto separating him and the outside world, the experts outside were unable to hear the exact number of stacks.

Before anyone knew it, it was the 28th.

Zhao Li was starting to feel tired. He had reached 36 golden stripes.

"Find an opening and join in."

Su Yu was fully focused. The moment he heard that, he pushed his fire of inheritance to its limit while using the calm character at the same time. He raised his hammer and swung it down.

Boom!

Boom!

Two booms sounded at the same time. Zhao Li said, "Follow my rhythm. Don't mess it up."

"Alright."

Su Yu adjusted to Zhao Li's rhythm and the two started forging together.

Only the earth weaponsmiths and high-stage Sunmoons outside noticed something changing. It was no longer one person. Two people were now working on the weapon. Both were striking the weapon. The booming sounds had changed slightly, but apart from these experts, nobody noticed anything.

The look in Hu Qi's eyes changed. As for Elder Chen, he muttered, "Cui Lang has reached the high profound grade."

The surrounding people were shocked to hear that. Just how did he figure that out? How? Elder Chen did not feel like explaining. He felt both surprised and regretful. Why was he regretful? Because this wasn't a member of Great Xia. There were very few weaponsmithing geniuses in Great Xia. But yet another genius had appeared in Great Ming.

Not long ago, Su Yu had left Great Xia. And now, a Cui Lang had appeared. Great Ming seemed to have gained a lot recently.

Inside the hall.

Zhao Tianbing exclaimed in surprise, "This Cui Lang is actually quite good. He's able to follow my junior brother's rhythm. He must have reached the high profound grade. Why have I never heard of him before?"

Great Song King said, "I heard of him once. But not because of weaponsmithing. Cheng Mo of Great Tang chased after him several times. I heard about the kid during one of these pursuits when the kid ran into Great Song."

"Cheng Mo?" Great Han King laughed and asked, "Is he still in seclusion?"

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Nope. He's trying to affirm his dao...but it won't be so easy for him." Great Song King sounded regretful, "He lacks an Invincible ruin. Otherwise, he might succeed."

They were people of the same era.

Silk Destroying King laughed and said, "Cheng Mo is quite shameless. Why did he chase after a brat? Is he not ashamed?"

The other two Invincibles didn't even deign to reply. This Silk Destroying King was the most shameless of all. Why was he talking about others? If he wasn't so shameless, he wouldn't have spent hundreds of years fighting the Silkwrym King.

It wasn't like he could kill that fellow. What was the point of fighting again and again? They were merely talking about this to pass the time. They still weren't too bothered about Cui Lang. High profound grade was impressive, but these days, there were geniuses everywhere. For example, people like Su Yu, Shan Xiong, Qin Fang, and Huang Teng. All these were also the super geniuses of humanity. And all of them were so young it was inconceivable how they were so strong.

Cui Lang was thirty-five, so he was talented enough to be supported. But his genius was not at a level that would stun the world. Perhaps that would change if he could become an earth weaponsmith.

Inside the grotto.

After joining in, Su Yu finally realized how difficult it was. He was able to keep up with Zhao Li's rhythm, but the recoil from each hit was terrifyingly strong. While forging, Su Yu yelled, "Teacher, why does your body feel even stronger than mine? Are you not affected by the recoil?"

"Dissolve the recoil force. Also, isn't it normal that my body is stronger than yours?"

Zhao Li was quite speechless.

"That shouldn't be the case."

Su Yu was trembling from the recoil as he spoke with great difficulty, "M-my b-body is very strong! I c-can release the p-power of f-four thousand acupoints! T-teacher, a-are you s-stronger than me?"

Wasn't Zhao Li supposed to be a cultural researcher? His body had to reach the Cloudbreach Realm to be that strong.

"W-why the f-fuck a-are you trembling when you s-speak? Y-you're affecting m-me as well!"

Zhao Li found the trembling infectious.

After a short pause to recover, he said, "I am able to release the strength of around eight thousand acupoints. Don't even dream of comparing against me."

"Y-you're that strong?"

"D-do you think you're the only genius around?"

"No..."

"Stop talking. Shut up and focus."

Zhao Li scolded. This was clearly not hard enough for the kid if the kid could still talk with him.

After a while, Su Yu suddenly said, "T-teacher..."

"What is it this time?"

"I-I need to t-take a short break. I'm f-finishing my ninth body forging..."

Fuck! Zhao Li cursed inwardly. Was this kid a masochist? After being tortured by the recoil force, he was going to break through? Fine, fine. Damn this kid. What an amazing kid. He had actually achieved a body breakthrough after a short while of forging.

Su Yu stopped forging and ran further away. There, he consumed a large amount of heavenly source qi as he started his breakthrough. Zhao Li's eyes widened as he saw that. Where did this damn kid get all that heavenly source qi? He was using it like it was free!

More importantly, this was a ninth body forging. Someone cultivating a regular cultivation method could have reached the Cloudbreach Realm at this level. How terrifying. Golden light covered Su Yu's body.

Then, his aura shot up. He said in excitement, "Teacher, I can now muster the strength of 4,500 acupoints! After a few more body forgings, I will be comparable to you in body strength!"

Zhao Li decided to ignore the kid. He was a cultural researcher. Why should he care about body cultivation? Only brutes would care about that. Also, did the kid think that he could forge his body more just because he wanted to? It wasn't that easy!

But next, he saw Su Yu rejoining him while absorbing a large amount of heavenly source qi. When he saw the sheer amount of heavenly source qi the kid was absorbing, his eyes turned red with envy. Damn it! He did not get to enjoy something like this back when he was young. Otherwise, he would have walked the path of a warrior instead.

Holy shit! Served this kid right for having so many jealous enemies who were eager to suppress him! He could only blame himself for being too rich!

The envious Old Zhao applied more force when striking the weapon, resulting in a stronger recoil force. Su Yu forced himself to keep up as he stuttered due to all the vibrations, "T-t-teacher, s-s-slow d-down..."

If his teacher continued with this pace, the recoil was going to kill him. The number of golden stripes on the weapon continued increasing as the two worked on it.