Su Yu's furious voice reverberated in the air.

Outside the Heart Calming Spring, the weaponsmiths all appeared worried. Many of them were glaring at General Zhang furiously. The weaponsmithing community was not exactly a single, united entity. But there were too few of them around. Thus, they still had a relatively high level of unity to maintain the importance of the profession.

They had no choice. Since there were so few of them. They would probably end up as prisoners forced to do nothing but forge weapons for experts if they didn't work together. Even Heavenly Forge King was very supportive of this community of weaponsmiths.

They had to maintain their unity if they wanted to preserve their status. If they couldn't get status and power from being a weaponsmith, what was the point of being a weaponsmith?

And now, a weaponsmith who might become the next earth weaponsmith had been interrupted in the middle of forging. Cui Lang was still continuing with the process, but nobody knew if he could complete it anymore. Any single mistake might cause the failure of the entire process.

At times, luck played a very big role in weaponsmithing. After this failure, he might not be able to find another spark of inspiration to break through anymore in the future. He might end up stuck for life.

General Zhang had an unsightly expression. How unlucky of him. But he really suspected Cui Lang. He had been investigating his son's death in Nanyuan during the past few days. He had gathered the information of all the people present in Nanyuan during his son's death. That included the Invincible descendants. But he had yet to perform a deeper investigation on some of these people.

Through the little bit of clues he found, he traced the scent of blood from the crime scene. He had even burned his own blood to follow this trail of blood. After all, that was his sole son. They were linked very deeply through blood.

The scent only started fading when he reached the north of Great Xia. He judged that the murderer must have left Great Xia for the north. As of late, not many people were traveling north from Great Xia.

But still, the number of travelers to the north was by no means small. This included people like Zhou Hongbo and the others. They were all traveling north toward the Knowledge Seeking Realm.

The general was only trying his luck when he placed a ban on the Heart Calming Spring for all visitors from Great Xia. And coincidentally, Cui Lang, one of his suspects, had arrived. How could his suspicion not grow after such a coincidence?

According to his investigations, his son had died on the very night Cui Lang arrived. Sure, Cui Lang had an alibi. But cultural researchers had too many tricks up their sleeves. Who knew if the so-called alibi was fake?

Thus, he had rushed over right after hearing that Cui Lang was here. He had rushed into the Heart Calming Spring due to his impatience. Unfortunately, Cui Lang was really forging a weapon inside. And the forging had reached a critical stage. Evidently, he was here to advance into the earth grade.

That placed General Zhang in a difficult predicament. He had disrupted the forging process without any proof of wrongdoing. This was very troublesome.

Disrupting the advancement of a weaponsmith might result in a ban by the entire weaponsmithing faction. It might even incur the wrath of the sole heaven weaponsmith in existence. Heavenly Forge King himself might personally administer a punishment to General Zhang.

General Zhang still wasn't sure if the murderer was actually Cui Lang. After all, Cui Lang did not have a strong motive to kill his son. And if Cui Lang wasn't the murderer, he would have offended a bunch of weaponsmiths for nothing. He frowned as he stared at the Heart Calming Spring helplessly. One could even hear a soft sigh coming from him.

Before Cui Lang entered the Heart Calming Spring, General Zhang might still be able to find some proof. But after staying in the Heart Calming Spring for so long, even if Cui Lang was the murderer, the proof would have been washed off by now.

General Zhang had only rushed inside due to his impatience. In truth, it was pointless as he had arrived too late. At this point, he was starting to regret his actions.

Outside the Heart Calming Spring, the air started warping while waves of source qi undulated intensely. This was not a heavenly phenomenon. Rather, it was caused by the intense movement of source qi. The source qi in the Heart Calming Spring was not enough to support the advancement of the weapon being forged in the grotto. Thus, the weapon was starting to gather source qi from outside the grotto.

This was understandable as the Heart Calming Spring was never a powerful grotto. It was only useful, not powerful. A Sunmoon wouldn't have been able to tear the portal open so easily otherwise.

At this moment, the barrier separating the grotto and the outside world started turning transparent. The people outside were able to see an indistinct Su Yu.

His shirt had long been destroyed during the forging process. With a large hammer in hand, he struck down again and again. Each time he slammed his hammer down, a burst of willpower would ripple out.

They could even hear him cursing endlessly. He was furious! This was the same as interrupting the breakthrough of a Sunmoon. Anyone would go mad from fury. If one really wanted to push the issue, this was enough to cause a blood feud.

An opportunity to break through could not be stumbled on so easily. If he failed his breakthrough today, he might be stuck for years or decades.

Rumble!

This forging process was not comparable to Zhao Li's forging process, but it had still created quite a spectacle. Slowly, the barrier of the Heart Calming Spring started showing signs of being broken through as Su Yu became clearer and clearer to the observers outside the grotto.

With blood dripping out of his mouth, he coughed a mouthful of blood before continuing with his forging.

At this point, Su Yu was starting to get an indistinct look at the world outside as well. He could also hear the voices outside the grotto. He felt very lucky that he had cleansed his body before this. Otherwise, things would have turned very troublesome for him.

At the moment, his sea of willpower was roiling intensely. As for the forging process, if he had enough strength, failure was not something he needed to worry about. After all, he did not start this attempt based on some sudden inspiration. Rather, he was relying on the solid foundation Zhao Li had built for him. The moment he gained sufficient cultivation level, he would be able to forge earth weapons.

"Forging an earth weapon will be the best option for me here."

As for the option of failing deliberately to make things difficult for this general, that wouldn't be too helpful. Profound weaponsmiths weren't important enough. At most, they enjoyed the status of Mountainseas. Meanwhile, earth weaponsmiths were equal in status to Sunmoons. In fact, even Sunmoons wouldn't want to offend them for no reason.

If he could complete the earth weapon, he would have more confidence to do what he wanted. And in the event of failure...well, this general would take the blame for it. He would insist that the general's interference was the only reason he failed.

Of course, he also needed to convince everyone that it wouldn't be long before he made a second attempt and completed his advancement into the earth grade. Earth weapons could only be used by Mountainseas and Sunmoons.

Even an early earth weaponsmith could forge cultural weapons suitable for late-stage Mountainseas. At the late or peak earth grade, Sunmoons would be the ones begging them for suitable weapons. After all, earth weaponsmiths were even rarer than Invincibles.

There were only about fifty earth weaponsmiths in existence among the entirety of humanity. And all the human Mountainseas and Sunmoons were relying on these weaponsmiths for weapons. The demand was far higher than the supply.

Inside the Heart Calming Spring.

Su Yu continued working on his weapon. He was already greatly exhausted. His sea of willpower continued churning madly while his willpower continued rippling outward violently. Abruptly, a majestic burst of willpower rippled out.

Boom!

The willpower broke through the barrier and leaked to the outside world. When General Zhang sensed the wave of willpower, his face changed. Too strong! This was the Cloudbreach Realm!

More importantly, Cui Lang had just broken through yet he was already capable of forging earth weapons. General Zhang could feel just how dense Cui Lang's willpower was.

"A fire character and willpower comparable to a Mountainsea's...His willpower was probably weaker prior to this breakthrough. But he does have a fire character. As for his physical cultivation... its level is still unknown. But it is probably not weak since he's capable of withstanding such an intense weaponsmithing process..."

He stared at Su Yu intently with suns and moons revolving in his eyes. Due to this breakthrough, his suspicion of Su Yu was growing yet again. This weaponsmith was too strong.

Experience and talent were not the only things required to forge earth weapons. Actual cultivation strength was required as well. Without enough strength, one would fail. Back when Zhao Li attempted to forge his first earth weapon, he was already a late-stage Cloudbreach.

Meanwhile, Cui Lang was only an early-stage Cloudbreach. That wave of willpower earlier felt as strong as the willpower of a middle-stage Cloudbreach.

"Was it you?"

General Zhang stared at Su Yu as he sank into thought. It was no longer possible to find proof. A ninth-stage Cloudbreach had also been killed in Nanyuan. Could Cui Lang kill a ninth-stage Cloudbreach as a ninth-stage Skysoar?

If he could, what was the motive? There were too many questions. General Zhang's son didn't even know Cui Lang.

Of course, Cui Lang was not the sole suspect. The people from the Knowledge Seeking Realm were also suspects, but why? Did his son discover something related to the ruin? Or perhaps it was the Xia Family? Numerous possibilities appeared in General Zhang's mind.

Meanwhile, Su Yu roared after his breakthrough and took advantage of the sudden growth of his willpower to unleash a powerful hammer strike. The impact from the strike fully broke the grotto barrier and completed the seventy-first golden stripe on the weapon.

Outside, Master Chen clenched his fists tightly as he said, "The seventy-first stripe is completed! If he can complete the seventy-second stripe as well, the seventy-third stripe will be within reach as well. And with seventy-three stripes, the weapon will officially become an earth weapon!"

Seventy-two stripes would place a weapon at the peak profound grade. A vast majority of peak profound weaponsmiths wouldn't be able to forge even seventy-two stripes. Someone capable of doing so was actually on par with actual earth weaponsmiths.

In fact, a weapon with seventy-two stripes was considered a pseudo earth weapon. At times, such a weapon was even more valuable than proper earth weapons as it could be used by even those with lower cultivation levels.

Of course, there was no comparing this weapon with Zhao Li's weapon. Back then, he had fused his character with his weapon. The weapon had also been forged with the foundation of a heaven weapon. Thus, even if Su Yu could forge a proper earth weapon, Zhao Li's earth weapon would still be in an entirely different class.

Zhao Li's earth weapon was definitely comparable in strength to a weapon with eighty-six stripes even if it only had seventy-seven stripes.

"Please don't fail!"

The weaponsmiths gathered together and stared at General Zhang cautiously.

The mayor also sent a voice transmission, "General Zhang, please don't create more trouble for me. Just wait until this is over if you have anything to do or say. Cui Lang is about to complete an earth weapon. We can only find a single earth weaponsmith even in the entirety of Great Jin. If the prefect finds out that we nearly ruined the breakthrough of an earth weaponsmith...both of us won't be able to withstand the consequences. We will need to answer to even Heavenly Forge King himself."

General Zhang had an unsightly expression as he replied, "I know this better than you!" The mayor said nothing else, but he was cursing inwardly. Bullshit! If he was aware of it, why did he create trouble earlier?

If Cui Lang managed to complete his advancement, he would owe them a big favor. The mayor was on the verge of earning this valuable favor when this damn general waltzed right in and ruined his plan.

With this favor, even if he couldn't make Cui Lang a resident of the city, he could probably persuade Cui Lang to stay here for a month or two each year. During his stay, he could even offer his services as a weaponsmith. With that, the city would grow even more prosperous than before.

But that beautiful plan had been ruined by this damn general! Sure, the general had lost a son. But how was that Cui Lang's business? Just investigate and find the murderer, for fuck's sake. Why bother Cui Lang? No, why even suspect Cui Lang?