Chapter 1104: Forging Like Painting a Beauty (Second Update!)
The crowd surged out of the workshop, and Blind grinned, saying, "Village Chief, this sword still has a slight flaw. Bring it here, and I’ll point it out to you."
The others understood his intent, but the Village Chief, unsuspecting, handed over the divine sword along with its scabbard.
Blind gripped the divine sword and shouted, "Everyone, attack together!"
Butcher suddenly grabbed the Village Chief, and Granny Si punched him in the face. Lame, Deaf, Mute, Blind, and the others swarmed in, landing punches and kicks, giving the stubborn old man who insisted on drawing the sword a thorough beating. Qin Mu and the Pharmacist also squeezed in, sneaking a few kicks to vent their frustration.
The Village Chief was beaten into begging for mercy before the crowd finally calmed their anger. They tossed the bruised and swollen old man aside, and Mute said, "Let’s go! Forge other treasures!"
The Village Chief climbed to his feet, furious, and demanded, "Pharmacist, did you just kick me?"
"No!"
The Pharmacist replied with a sincere face, "We’re the best of friends. We used to drink tea together at the village entrance back in the day. How could I kick you? Absolutely not! I was actually pulling them back, telling them not to hit you. It was Mu’er who kicked you!"
Qin Mu immediately leaped into the air to flee, but the Village Chief sneered, suddenly drawing his sword. A flash of sword light streaked by, and Qin Mu fell from the sky, crashing into the dust. He lay there for a long time without getting up.
The Village Chief sheathed the sword and praised, "Truly a fine blade. From now on, I’ll call you Demon-Slayer, to cut down unworthy and wicked ones. Let’s go, continue forging treasures."
Qin Mu climbed to his feet, limping as he entered the Supervision Factory, continuing to observe their forging and diligently learning the mysteries within.
Over ten more days passed, and Mute and Blind joined forces to forge Granny Si’s treasure, the Dao Wheel.
Granny Si’s hands itched to test the Dao Wheel’s power. Everyone’s faces changed dramatically, and without a word, Qin Mu pointed a finger. A teleportation divine ability erupted, sending the only woman of the Crippled Village to who knows where.
"Mu’er, when I get back, I’ll beat you to death!" Granny Si’s voice came faintly from the afterglow of the teleportation divine ability, trailing off.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and continued forging weapons. Qin Mu sat restlessly and said, "Village Chief, Grandpa Ma, when Granny comes back later, you’ll have to put in a good word for me."
"No problem, no problem."
Lame patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "It’s all good, all good."
Qin Mu still felt a bit uneasy, sensing that the elders of the Crippled Village looked like they were up to no good.
Sure enough, when Granny Si returned from testing her treasure and pinned Qin Mu to the ground to beat him, not a single person stepped forward to speak for him. Instead, they all sat there drinking tea and chatting about trivial household matters.
Only after Granny Si had tired herself out from beating him did the crowd disperse to continue forging the next divine weapon.
Qin Mu, bruised and swollen, climbed to his feet and glanced at the Dragon Qilin. The Dragon Qilin was hiding in a corner, pretending to sleep, while Yan’er, in the form of a little green sparrow, dozed on his head.
"Two utterly useless things. When New Year comes, I’ll have you both sit at the table together!" Qin Mu growled fiercely.
The little green sparrow shivered, and the Dragon Qilin lifted his tail, wrapping her up and bringing her to his chest. He gently patted the sparrow’s head to lull her back to sleep.
In the Supervision Factory, Qin Mu approached Granny Si and quietly told her about Gongsun Yan, saying, "Please go teach her, Granny."
Granny Si laughed and said, "I know that girl. She’s a bit silly and doesn’t like to cultivate much. What’s her current cultivation level?"
"She’s reached the True God realm."
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment before adding, "But her combat power should be at the top-tier Imperial Seat level. Her divine power is immense, possibly ranking first among Imperial Seat powerhouses."
Granny Si was startled and exclaimed, "True God realm, and her cultivation has already reached the Imperial Seat level? That’s skipping five whole realms!"
Qin Mu smiled and said, "She’s a demigod, the daughter of the Earth Mother. Realms were just created by the Nine Heavenly Lords of the Dragon Han Era; they don’t have much to do with actual strength."
Granny Si felt a headache coming on and muttered, "Teaching her to control her own power will be difficult. True God realm, controlling top-tier Imperial Seat power—that’s quite a challenge..."
She got up and hurried away.
Qin Mu continued to ponder Blind and Mute’s forging and formation techniques. By the time the two elders finished forging the Pharmacist’s alchemy furnace, he had basically mastered the results of their years of work.
"In forging, you still have much to learn."
Mute pointed out to him, "You’ve reached the pinnacle of precision in forging, but you’re still greatly lacking in the spirit of forging. First, you need to understand why we must ‘open the work of heaven’!"
Mute lifted his heavy hammer, and the blazing furnace flames filled the air, as if countless suns were hidden inside. He said in a deep voice, "Mortals don’t have the immense power of ancient gods, the means of creation, or the wonders of nature! But mortals have tools, minds, perseverance, passion, and dreams!"
"Opening the work of heaven means using your own hands to forge your dreams into reality, creating instruments of power, becoming the creator with the power of nature!"
Qin Mu pondered deeply. After a long time, he finally broke into a smile and immediately began selecting treasures from the Ancestral Land, planning to forge his own divine weapon.
Blind walked over, watching Qin Mu’s busy figure, and asked, "Mute, microscopic forging requires at least three people. Can he do it alone?"
"Of course."
Mute continued preparing to help Butcher forge his blade and said, "Five years ago, it was he who taught us about microscopic forging and divine consciousness forging. Now this kid comes back to leech off us. If he can’t learn it, we might as well beat him to death and bury him in a hole!"
Blind nodded repeatedly, "This kid’s cultivation has already surpassed ours, but when it comes to our unique skills, he’s still far off. And he leeches off us so shamelessly!"
Mute said, "If we don’t let him try and hone himself on his own, relying solely on us to teach him, he’ll never reach our level. But we also need to step up our game, so we don’t end up with nothing to teach him."
Blind was full of energy and laughed, "This brat only comes back to see us once every few years, and every time it’s to learn something. If we have nothing to teach him, he’ll probably abandon us!"
Qin Mu sensed the properties of the treasures he had stolen from the Zhaoyang Hall. As Mute said, every material has different attributes and even personalities. Understanding these attributes and personalities, and mixing different materials, can greatly enhance the toughness, rigidity, and self-repair of a divine weapon!
Qin Mu was now sensing the attributes and personalities of different treasures. A successful forger must first have a soft heart. Mute might look like a rough old man on the outside, but his heart was the softest in the Crippled Village.
That was also why he had been deceived the most, unwilling to open his heart, preferring to remain mute.
Qin Mu had found him so many beautiful female artisans from the White Tiger Divine Clan, but Mute still couldn’t bring himself to fancy any of them, precisely because his early experiences had dealt him too great a blow.
Qin Mu sensed deeply. In his eyes, the different treasures transformed into various beauties—some fiery and fierce, some tender as water, some cold as icebergs, some elusive as drifting clouds.
"No wonder Grandpa Mute can’t see those women. In his eyes, these materials are probably the unparalleled beauties."
Understanding the attributes of the different materials, he began to mix them in various proportions.
"This piece of beauty jade—adding a bit makes it too long, subtracting a bit makes it too short. I need this floating cloud, flowing sand-like beauty to match it. Then lightly apply some powder, a touch of rouge..."
Qin Mu was like an artist dressing up a beautiful young woman, bustling about as he murmured softly, "Add this pearl from the Ancestral Land, skin like snow. This silk can serve as the beauty’s sash, a slender waist worth a thousand gold..."
After he finished mixing the materials, he grew excited and suddenly activated the Heavenly Fire divine ability, melting the "beauty" he had just carefully adorned.
Qin Mu opened his vertical brow eye, activated the Dominator Body Three Dan Art, and used his vital qi and divine consciousness as hammers to forge his own divine weapon.
Mute and Blind quickly looked over. Though they said they weren’t worried, they were actually very concerned that Qin Mu might ruin the treasures.
Qin Mu’s spirit and energy grew stronger and stronger, immersing himself in the forging. The Dao resonance radiating from his body didn’t seem like forging at all—it was as if he was comprehending the Dao itself.
—Today is also four updates~