Tribulation of Myriad Races

After a while, Hu Qi said, "Zhao Li has a unique weaponsmithing technique. It is not advised to imitate him. But it will be fine to learn from his experience. This earth weapon will be an exceptionally unique one. Calling it an earth weapon is actually inaccurate. In fact, rather than calling this process weapon forging, we might as well call it human forging.

"When you arrive in Great Xia, ignore everything else. Only focus on the forging. Of course, there is no guarantee that we can actually see the process. But since Zhao Li is letting the projection of his weapon to hang in the sky, he is clearly planning to give his all. We can see parts of the process through that projection."

"Got it."

A short while later, they departed on a large flying beast. It wasn't a real beast. Rather, it was one of their mechanical beasts.

One weaponsmith after another started traveling toward Great Xia from all over the realm.

The event had overshadowed the upcoming public trial. Everyone was more curious about Zhao Li's weapon forging. Could he succeed? Would Great Xia gain its second earth weaponsmith? Gaining an earth weaponsmith was as momentous as gaining a Sunmoon.

Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.

This place had turned into the center of attention. The source qi around the giant projection in the sky was incredibly dense. Countless people were shocked. This wasn't how an earth weapon should feel like. This weapon of Zhao Li was too unique.

Inside the grotto.

Su Yu was drenched wet with sweat. He constantly absorbed his heavenly source qi and the regular source qi from the environment. His hammer struck down again and again.

He had long tossed his white robe aside, leaving his torso bare. Golden light covered his entire body while his fire character worked endlessly. At the same time, he was also using his fire of inheritance.

He wasn't activating the fire of inheritance for himself. Rather, he was trying to give Zhao Li more inspiration with it. Zhao Li's eyes were shut as he sank into thought, preparing for his upcoming weapon forging.

A total of fifty-two golden stripes had appeared on the weapon Su Yu was forging. At this point, the weapon exploded yet again. Several wounds were left on Su Yu's body, but he ignored them all. He gnashed his teeth in confusion. Why did he fail again? He had been able to switch his energy smoothly. So why had he failed?

Zhao Li spoke without opening his eyes, "Calm your heart. Whenever you do something major, it is imperative that you stay calm. This is only weapon forging. Do not panic. I did not pressure you so that you would collapse under its weight. So what if we fail? Settle your mind. Weapons have feelings as well. If you can't remain calm, your burning heart will cause the weapon to turn unstable as well."

Su Yu nodded. He said nothing and activated his calm character.

Zhao Li: "..."

Damn you! Zhao Li had the urge to curse someone. Just how many characters did this kid have? Why did it feel like the kid has a character for every purpose? The kid had actually taken his advice literally and immediately achieved a state of calm with a calm character.

Zhao Li was about to start scolding Su Yu when he found his emotions calming down as well. He could only helplessly say, "This character of yours...is very unique. It is pretty helpful."

"Of course. I formed it through Great Zhou King's private notes."

As the number one man in the Knowledge Seeking Realm, he was indeed quite impressive. Zhao Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Fine. What else could he say to that? Su Yu paused shortly and centered himself before resuming his work.

Extracting, refining, quenching, forging...

As for the materials worth thousands of merit points he had just wasted on the failed product, he did not care. And thus, a new round of forging began.

Three hours later, a cultural weapon with fifty-three golden stripes was tossed aside by Su Yu like it was a piece of trash.

He stood there silently to think before opening his mouth, "Teacher, unless I can push my willpower to the third tier, it will be very hard for me to forge a high profound cultural weapon."

Zhao Li indifferently said, "Who made that a rule? Use the Soul Expanding Art to strengthen your foundation."

"But if I do that, I will be further delayed from the Cloudbreach Realm."

"That doesn't matter. Weapon forging is a form of cultivation as well. Why the rush to advance? What can you even get from advancing into the Cloudbreach Realm? Without a strong foundation, why are you dreaming of gaining more strength in the future? Do not shake your foundation because of a minor affair."

Su Yu thought about it and nodded.

Once again, he used the Soul Expanding Art to compress his willpower, expand his sea of willpower, and temper his characters. After a while, he started another round of weapon forging.

With the recent tempering on his willpower, it felt easier than before. However, his willpower percentage had also dropped.

Like the Mental Tempering Stage, if he could push his second-tier willpower to a hundred percent fullness, he would be able to advance to the next realm. But the Soul Expanding Art had compressed his willpower and expanded his sea of willpower, resulting in a drop of percentage.

Before the compression, he was near ninety-five percent. Now, it had dropped to a lower level. Of course, his strength had not dropped. Instead, he had gained even more potential with the strengthening of his foundation. He had previously planned to stop expanding his sea of willpower to prioritize a breakthrough.

Looking at his hanging hammer, Zhao Li said, "I will start the opening work of the forging. You can observe me while forging your weapon. The opening work will take several days. It will mainly involve the refinement of past imperfections. Back then, I forged seventy-two and a half golden stripes on the weapon, but a lot of them were imperfect. I'm going to reforge all these stripes."

Su Yu's expression changed drastically.

Reforging.

This was what he saw when he first witnessed a forging process by Zhao Li. Completed stripes would be hammered out of existence before being replaced with new stripes. This was much harder than forging new stripes from scratch. In fact, Su Yu was still incapable of this. This was a true demonstration of skill.

Zhao Li said, "I will remove all the stripes before I add new stripes onto the weapon. The removal will take a few days. When I'm done, you will help me with the rest of the process."

"How long, exactly?"

"Around three days." Zhao Li said, "Three days later, the weapon will be returned to its initial form. But even in its initial form, it is comparable to regular peak yellow-grade cultural weapons. That will be the best mold for what we will create. Upon completion, this weapon will have even more potential than before. It will also have a much higher chance to be upgraded into a heaven weapon in the future."

Su Yu grimaced. His teacher was going to increase the difficulty. Wasn't this old man too much of a perfectionist? Three days just to remove the existing stripes? Was the old man sure that he could last until completion?

"Teacher, I have enough source qi and heavenly source qi. But I lack treasures that can rapidly recover my willpower. Do you want to make more preparations before starting?"

Zhao Li said, "It's fine. I have what you need."

He then took out about a dozen incense sticks. These were the same as what he used on Su Yu earlier.

"These incense sticks were made from soul return grass. A single strand is worth thousands of merit points. I have been collecting these to be used when I make another attempt at my earth weapon."

Su Yu nodded and tossed a ball over, "Teacher, this is a ball of heavenly source qi. I still have more with me. Regular source qi is too slow in terms of recovery. Use this instead. It can also help slightly with willpower recovery."

In truth, the value of these treasures had probably exceeded the value of an earth cultural weapon. But they were not forging this weapon just for the weapon alone. If Zhao Li succeeded, he would be able to enter the Mountainsea Realm and become an earth weaponsmith. As for Su Yu, he would also benefit greatly from it. Money was meaningless compared to what they could gain.

Zhao Li glanced at Su Yu indifferently, but he was greatly shocked inwardly. What a rich kid. So the kid had more heavenly source qi? He did not try to ask about the origin of the heavenly source qi. This attempt would greatly benefit both of them if they succeeded. And they would lose a lot upon failing. Thus, failure was definitely not an option. If he succeeded, he might be able to become a middle or even a high earth weaponsmith.

At that point, his status would be high enough to get his voice heard by even Invincibles. There was also his senior brother. That fellow was probably on his way here. Two earth weaponsmiths together would have enough influence to help the kid if the kid really ended up in big trouble.

Zhao Li said nothing else. With a roar, a large hammer appeared in his hand. The Soul Expanding Hammer in Su Yu's hand looked remarkably like the son of Zhao Li's large hammer. In fact, the small hammer even started emanating some excitement after the large hammer appeared.

Zhao Li smiled, "A resonance...good. Your Soul Expanding Hammer has been strengthened considerably. Both of us are actually the perfect weaponsmith pair to work on the same weapon. With compatible forging methods, the resulting product will have less imperfections. There also won't be much conflict within the weapon itself. This is one of the main reasons you can help me. Others, including Zhao Tianbing, will result in a conflict within the weapon. The two of us are the only users of the Soul Expanding Art alive."

Su Yu nodded. With a roar, Zhao Li swung his hammer while an intense clump of flame raged in front of him.

Both Su Yu and Zhao Li were sweating profusely. Zhao Li was even more direct. He allowed the flame to burn his outerwear off, leaving him in only his underpants. With a hearty laugh, he said, "When we exit seclusion, remember to get dressed. We can't embarrass ourselves in front of others."

"Of course. I won't forget that."

Su Yu smiled as he returned to his work.

Bang! Bang ! Bang!

Both started hammering relentlessly. Zhao Li started working on his incomplete weapon while Su Yu continued his practice. They worked untiringly while dripping with sweat. Both were so engrossed that they had completely forgotten about everything else.

Only one thing was in their mind: weapon forging!

The fire of inheritance continued burning alongside the calm character, providing the perfect working environment for the two of them. Their minds needed to remain both calm and active.