Chapter 803: Mount Zhong Sword Hut

Upon hearing those words, Di Nufeng spat out a mouthful of Immortal Brew.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said sternly. "I have a bottom line that cannot be crossed, you know! How could I possibly do something so fucking terrible?"

Chu Liang was taken aback. He never expected to hear the words “bottom line” from his esteemed teacher. He quickly clarified, "Esteemed Teacher, I'm asking you to try smelting this Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze."

Xu Ziyang took a step back and conjured the Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze onto the ground outside the pavilion.

Di Nufeng blinked, then she let out an awkward laugh. "Aha... So,

that's

what you meant by smelting bronze. You should've said so earlier. I thought you meant... smelting the Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze. Yes, aha."[1]

"I'm at fault for being too impatient and not explaining first, Esteemed Teacher," Chu Liang replied with a smile, playing along.

Di Nufeng stepped outside, stood with her legs apart and her hands on her hips, and examined the divine bronze.

A moment later, she said with bewilderment, "This divine bronze is perfectly covered in divine light. I can't find any weak points in the coverage."

Di Nufeng was an expert in destruction—the grandmaster of burning down mountains and houses. She had used her fire to destroy countless enchanted tools in her lifetime. When it came to assessing the quality of a material, even master artificers might not have her level of insight.

With just one glance, Di Nufeng noticed the peculiar nature of this Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze.

Ordinary materials—be it gold, jade, or bronze—all had natural fissures or weak points, serving as entry and exit points for spiritual qi. When artificers refined materials, they always started with these weak points, probing the internal structure. They would smelt and reshape the material and then engrave enchanted formations onto it.

When Chu Liang tried using his Divine Dragon Fire to purify the Tribulation-Forged Divine bronze, he had already noticed divine light covered its surface perfectly. This meant that the immense spiritual qi contained within wouldn't leak out, and no spiritual qi could enter the divine bronze from the outside. Even materials that had been refined countless times would rarely become that perfect, let alone materials in their natural form.

Nevertheless, instead of backing down after realizing how tough the divine bronze was, Di Nufeng's eyes burned with an intense fighting spirit.

Her Samadhi True Fire had long yearned for a worthy opponent.

Whoosh.

Letting out a shout, Di Nufeng raised her hands and pushed them toward the divine bronze with her palms out. Two balls of purple-gold divine fire burst from her hands and engulfed the Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze. The heat surged so intensely that Chu Liang and the others instinctively retreated several steps.

Yet, the divine bronze remained as solid and smooth as ever, completely unchanged.

Seeing this, Di Nufeng furrowed her brows deeply.

As her robes fluttered in the wind, she bellowed, "Burn for me!!!"

Boom.

With a thunderous explosion, the Samadhi True Fire engulfed the irregularly shaped chunk of divine bronze and took on the appearance of a purple-gold lotus flower. The surrounding hundred-zhang area turned into a scorching inferno, and all vegetation dried up, withering in an instant.

Seeing that, Di Nufeng became even more ruthless. "

Haaaaah!!!

"

Realizing that things were going south, Chu Liang hurriedly shouted, "Esteemed Teacher—"

But it was already too late. A pillar of purple-gold flames shot into the sky, and Silver Sword Peak could no longer withstand the searing heat. There was a deafening crack, and the very ground beneath their feet crumbled with a deep rumble.

This attempt at smelting ended with the Discipline Master sentencing Di Nufeng to seven days of confinement.

As the master of Silver Sword Peak, she had failed to exercise proper restraint. Without considering the extent of her destructive power, she had recklessly fueled the Samadhi True Fire with her maximum cultivation power. That resulted in severe damage to Silver Sword Peak and the many nearby properties surrounding the sect.

It had also frightened the numerous spirit birds and exotic beasts that had been flying over the sect. They became so terrified that they lost control of their bladders, resulting in a rather pungent downpour over Mount Shu.

All things considered, the punishment that the Discipline Master gave Di Nufeng was quite lenient.

The Hall of Construction's disciples went over to rebuild Silver Sword Peak. As the head of the hall, Chu Liang naturally made sure his buildings and plants were properly restored and put back in place.

Despite all the damage dealt to Silver Sword Peak, the Tribulation-Forged Divine Bronze remained completely unscathed.

"Even Esteemed Teacher's Samadhi True Fire couldn't affect it... It seems there truly is no way to smelt this divine bronze," Chu Liang commented with a sigh.

Di Nufeng's muffled voice rang from inside the pavilion. "I can't do it, but that doesn't mean no one can."

"Oh?" Chu Liang, Jiang Yuebai, and Xu Ziyang crowded around the door of Di Nufeng's pavilion and asked, "Who else could smelt this divine bronze?"

Di Nufeng answered, "Chen Buyan, of course."

...

The Mount Zhong Sword Hut was the oldest sword-forging legacy in the world. Despite the advances that had been made in the world of immortality cultivators, the Mount Zhong Sword Hut still adhered to ancient smithing techniques—working freely by following the heart. Its current master, Chen Buyan, was hailed as the world's greatest swordsmith.

In his lifetime, Chen Buyan had forged fewer than ten swords, yet each one became a family heirloom. Among them were legendary masterpieces that ranked within the top hundred of the Catalog of the Mortal World's Ten Thousand Treasures.

From afar, Mount Zhong appeared vast and brimming with spiritual qi. It had a towering peak that pierced the clouds, and that was where the Mount Zhong Sword Hut resided.

A brightly colored airship with an oddly vibrant design descended, and Chu Liang, Xu Ziyang, and Lin Bei disembarked together.

Jiang Yuebai had returned to meet the Whale-Riding Immortal, as she wouldn't be of much help here anyway. Lin Bei, on the other hand, volunteered to join them upon hearing they were headed for Mount Zhong Sword Hut.

According to him, he had two friends at the sword hut.

Nestled in the mist-covered mountainside before them was a village of considerable size. Dozens of thatched huts and wooden houses dotted the landscape, winding deeper into the mountain peak.

The hut closest to them had an open window. Inside the hut, a beautiful young woman with a delicate egg-shaped face and large eyes was cheerfully welcoming visitors.

At least twenty or thirty people were standing in a line ahead of Chu Liang's group.

There was a wooden sign beside them. It was inscribed with the words:

Visitors, line up.

The line moved swiftly, and before long, Chu Liang's group reached the front of the line.

Chu Liang stepped forward and said, "We are here to meet Chen Buyan—Master Chen."

"Every visitor comes here with the purpose of meeting Master Chen." The young woman flashed a charming smile, revealing her dimples. "Are you three here to request a sword from Master Chen?"

Chu Liang shook his head. "It's not to forge a sword, but it is something similar. We need him to smelt a material."

"Let's just say it is then," the young woman replied. She seemed to be following a standard procedure. "Would it be acceptable for one of Master Chen's disciples to smelt it instead?"

"That probably won't work."

It wasn't that it

had

to be Chen Buyan himself. Chu Liang just felt that if even his teacher couldn't smelt the material, it would likely be a waste of time for anyone else to try smelting it.

"Alright then, please take this token and wait for your turn." The young woman handed over a wooden token. "When it's your turn, the inscription on the token will light up. Then, you can meet with Master Chen and discuss whether he is willing to take on your request."

Chu Liang accepted the wooden token and saw that it bore the number "7903."

He asked, "Does this mean we are number 7,903 in the queue?"

The young woman nodded with a smile. "Yes."

"May I ask what number is currently being served?"

The young woman continued to smile as she replied, "Forty-three."

The three from Mount Shu furrowed their brows. "?"

Chu Liang pressed further. "Um... How many visitors does Master Chen see per day?"

The young woman explained, "It's like this, young heroes. This queue has been in place since Master Chen started his career. Over the past hundred years, he has met with a total of forty-three visitors, and he forged swords for only a small number of them."

"..." Lin Bei was speechless for a moment. "At this rate, even if Oldie Brodie took a token the day he was born, he still wouldn't have met Master Chen by now."

The young woman gently raised her hand. "If you three young heroes have no further business, please step aside so as not to block the other visitors. Thank you for your cooperation."

Chu Liang let out a helpless chuckle.

Her attitude is oddly polite...

"Looks like I'll have to reach out to a friend," Lin Bei said.

He pulled out his Circle of Immortal Friends Token and sent a message.

Soon after, a hearty laugh boomed from within the village. "

Heheheh!

Brother Lin!"

"

Heheheh!

" Lin Bei responded with an equally hearty laugh. "Brother Chen!"

A tanned robust man in a brown short-sleeved attire leaped out. He had thick eyebrows, and his hair was tied up.

Lin Bei made the introductions, and Chu Liang learned that this man was Chen Buyan's disciple, Chen An. He had previously visited Red Cotton Peak for business dealings and gotten acquainted with Lin Bei.

After hearing from Chu Liang's group about why they were there, Chen An furrowed his brows, pondering for a moment.

He then said, "I can take you to see my esteemed teacher, but as for whether he's willing to take action, I can't help with that."

"No worries, Brother Chen," Chu Liang replied. "We're very grateful just to be able to meet with Master Chen."

"It's nothing!" Chen An waved it off. "We're all brothers here after all!"

He turned and led Chu Liang's group deeper into the mist.

As they neared their destination, Chu Liang asked curiously, "Master Chen hasn't forged a sword in years... Has he been in closed-door cultivation all this time?"

"Not at all," Chen An replied with a chuckle. "My teacher follows the old ways for cultivation too. He believes in gaining enlightenment through fate and inspiration."

"But he's a swordsmith... If he neither forges swords nor cultivates regularly, what does he do all day?" Lin Bei asked, equally curious.

"Uh..." Chen An uttered as his smile stiffened. After hesitating for a moment, he finally answered, "My esteemed teacher is... searching for inspiration."

In the span of their conversation, they arrived at the largest thatched hut at the top of the peak. Before they even stepped inside, they could hear the sounds of clattering tiles coming from within.

"Eighty thousand!"

Thock!

1. So, there's a wordplay here that is impossible to translate. In Mandarin, the characters for “Smelting bronze” sounds like the characters for “loving/having a relationship with children”. It became well-known as an internet slang after a news anchor mentioned “smelting bronze” and was exposed as a pedophile a few years later. So, it is fortunate that this is where Di Nufeng draws the line. She is not a pedophile. ☜