Please, Young Master, Slay the Demon!
Chapter 834 - 56 Zhongshan Sword Cottage [Seeking Monthly Votes!]

Chapter 834: Chapter 56 Zhongshan Sword Cottage [Seeking Monthly Votes!]

"Pfft—"

Upon hearing this, Empress Feng sprayed out a mouthful of Immortal brew.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said sternly, "As your master, I have my limits! Would I ever do such a damned thing?"

Taken aback, Chu Liang then hurriedly explained, "Master, I was asking you to try refining this piece of Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper."

As he spoke, Xu Ziyang took a step back and summoned the Divine Copper onto the empty ground outside the door.

"Ah..." Empress Feng blinked and let out an awkward smile, "So it’s about refining this piece of Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper, why didn’t you say so earlier? I thought it was about refining this piece of Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper."

"My foolish disciple was too anxious," Chu Liang said with a laugh, following along.

Empress Feng stepped outside, posed herself and scrutinized the copper for a moment, then with a mix of amazement and doubt, she said, "This Divine Copper’s spirituality is at perfection stage; not a single flaw can be found."

She was an expert at murder and arson, a master of burning down forests and houses, having destroyed countless Magic Artifacts in her lifetime. She knew the quality of materials better than any Artifact Refiner, even with just a glance.

She immediately noticed the extraordinary aspects of the Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper.

Ordinary materials, whether gold, jade, copper, and so forth... all had their own cracks or flaws, where their spirituality could enter or leak out. When Artifact Refiners refine materials, they start from these flaws to examine the inner structure, to melt and reshape it, to engrave Array Runes upon it.

Chu Liang had already found out when using Divine Dragon Fire to smelt it that this piece of Divine Copper’s surface spirituality was at the perfection stage, without a single flaw. This meant that the immense spirituality contained within would not leak out, and external Spiritual Power couldn’t penetrate it.

Forget materials formed naturally; even those refined numerous times artificially were rarely so perfectly seamless and leakproof.

However, discovering that the item was so sturdy didn’t discourage Empress Feng; rather, her eyes ignited with fighting spirit.

The Samadhi Divine Fire had long been yearning for a worthy opponent.

Whoosh—

With a sharp cry, Empress Feng raised both palms, each igniting a clump of purple-gold Divine Fire. In an instant, it spread and enveloped the Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper, the heat so intense that it made all three of them take several steps back.

Yet the piece of Divine Copper remained smooth and unchanged, not affected in the slightest.

Seeing this, Empress Feng’s eyebrows slanted downwards and her robes billowed as she shouted, "Burn for me—"

Boom—

With a thunderous roar, the irregularly shaped chunk of Divine Copper was engulfed by the Samadhi Divine Fire, resembling a purple-golden lotus of fire. Within a hundred yards around, steam rose as if from a hellish cauldron, instantly drying and withering the vegetation.

Empress Feng, upon seeing this, ruthlessly bellowed, "Heave—"

Seeing things turn dire, Chu Liang promptly called out, "Master—"

But it was already too late. As a column of purple-gold fire shot up into the sky, Silver Sword Peak could no longer withstand such temperature and burst open with a crash, the ground beneath their feet exploding with noise.

Boom, boom, boom—

This refining session ended with Empress Feng being punished by the Law Enforcement Elder with seven days of confinement.

As the Silver Sword Peak Master, she did not realize her own limits, did not foresee the immense destructive capacity of her own powers, and without any forethought used all her cultivation to stimulate the Samadhi Divine Fire. She damaged Silver Sword Peak as well as many nearby sect properties and frightened numerous Spirit Birds and Exotic Beasts flying overhead, causing them to lose control of their bladders and resulting in a heavily scented rain falling from the skies of Shu Mountain in that instant.

The punishment was rather light.

The shattered Silver Sword Peak was to be rebuilt by the Earth-Wood Hall disciples. Being the head of Earth-Wood Hall, Chu Liang had his own buildings and vegetation arranged clearly and plainly.

But that piece of Tribulation Crossing Divine Copper remained utterly undamaged.

"Even Master’s Samadhi Divine Fire can’t deal with it. It seems that there’s really no way in the world to refine this material," Chu Liang sighed.

"I may not be capable, but that doesn’t mean nobody can," the muffled voice of Empress Feng came from the loft door.

"Oh?" the three gathered at the door, asking, "Who else might be able to refine this material?"

From behind the door, Empress Feng answered, "Naturally, it would be Chen Buyan."

...

Zhongshan Sword Cottage.

The world’s oldest sword making heritage still adheres to ancient methods of sword casting in the Immortal Cultivation World today, going with the flow, acting on whim. The present successor of the Sword Cottage is none other than Chen Buyan, called the world’s foremost Swordsmith. He has forged fewer than ten swords in his life, but each one is a legendary masterpiece, with some ranked within the top hundred in the Ten Thousand Treasures Record.

From a distance, Zhongshan appears vast and spiritually vibrant, and that tall peak that reaches into the clouds is where the Sword Cottage is located.

A flashy and colorfully bizarre Flying Boat descended, with Chu Liang, Xu Ziyang, and Lin Bei alighting from it together.

Jiang Yuebai had already gone back to find Immortal Qi Jing, as there wasn’t much she could help with here anyway. On the other hand, Lin Bei, upon hearing that they were going to visit Zhongshan Sword Cottage, voluntarily requested to accompany them.

According to him, he had two friends inside the Sword Cottage.

Before the landing, there lay a village hidden amongst the clouds on the side of the sloped hill, not small in scale. It looked like there were dozens of straw huts and wooden houses winding their way into the mountain.

In the grass hut at the very front, a window was open through which a pretty young girl with an oval face and big eyes was beaming with a warm smile as she greeted each guest.

In front of Chu Liang and his party, there was a queue of at least twenty or thirty people, with a wooden sign next to it inscribed with the phrase "Visitors, please line up."

But the queue moved quickly, and soon it was the trio’s turn. Chu Liang stepped forward and said, "We have come to see Chen Buyan, Master Chen."

"All visitors who come here are to see Master Chen," the girl replied with dimpled smiles that made her look quite charming. "Do the young heroes wish to have Master Chen cast a sword for you?"

"Not casting swords, but something similar," Chu Liang nodded. "We are hoping that he can refine a piece of material for us."

"That counts then." The girl seemed to follow a certain procedure as she continued, "Is it acceptable for Master Chen’s disciple to do the refining on his behalf?"

"That probably won’t do," said Chu Liang.

It wasn’t that they insisted on Chen Buyan, but if even the master couldn’t refine the material, he felt that anyone else trying would be just wasting time.

"Okay, please take a token and wait for your turn," the girl handed over a wooden token. "When it’s your turn, the writing on the token will light up. Then you can come and discuss with Master Chen in person whether he is willing to help or not."

Chu Liang took the token and saw the numbers "7903" written on it. He asked, "Does this mean we are the seven thousand nine hundred and third visitors?"

"Yes," the girl replied with a smile and a nod.

"Then may I ask which number are you at now?" Chu Liang went on to ask.

The girl, still smiling, answered, "Forty-three."

The trio from Shu Mountain frowned in unison: "?"

"Um..." Chu Liang pressed on, "How many visitors can Master Chen meet in a day?"

"Here’s the thing, young heroes," the girl explained. "This token system has been in place since Master Chen started his path, and in nearly a hundred years, Master Chen has met with forty-three visitors in total and selectively crafted swords for some of them."

"..." Lin Bei was rendered speechless for a moment before saying, "If we go by that calculation, even if someone lived as long as Master and got a token on the day they were born, they still wouldn’t have seen Master Chen by now."

The girl gently raised a hand, "If the three young heroes have no other matters, please step aside for now, so as not to block other visitors. Thank you for your cooperation."

Her attitude was still quite nice... Chu Liang forced a smile.

"It seems I still need to get in touch with a friend," Lin Bei said as he took out a token from the Immortal Friends Circle and sent some kind of message through it.

Before long, a hearty laugh could be heard from within the village: "Hey hey hey! Brother Lin!"

"Hey hey hey!" Lin Bei responded with a loud laugh, "Brother Chen!"

They saw a brawny man in brown short clothes leap out, with his thick eyebrows tied up and his skin darkened.

After that, Lin Bei introduced both sides, and Chu Liang learned that the man was Chen Buyan’s adopted son named Chen An. Chen An had previously gone to Red Cotton Peak to discuss business and hence became acquainted with Lin Bei.

After the trio explained their intentions, Chen An frowned thoughtfully for a moment and said, "I can take you to see my master, but as to whether he would be willing to lend a hand, I can’t convince him."

"That’s fine," Chu Liang replied. "Just to have the chance to meet your master, we would already be very grateful, Brother Chen."

"What’s there to thank for!" Chen An waved his hand dismissively. "We’re all brothers!"

With that, he turned around and led the three men flying into the depths of the clouds.

As they neared the end, Chu Liang curiously asked, "Master Chen hasn’t been forging swords for many years. Has he been in seclusion all this time?"

"Not at all," Chen An laughed. "My master also follows the ancient way of cultivation, seeking enlightenment as fate decides."

"If he’s neither crafting swords nor cultivating, what does he spend his time doing?" Lin Bei also asked curiously.

"Um..." Chen An laughed a bit awkwardly this time and hesitated before replying, "Master is... searching for inspiration."

While they were speaking, the group had reached the largest grass hut at the far end of the mountain peak. Just before they could enter, they heard a series of clacking sounds from inside.

"Eighty thousand!"

"Pong!"