Lingyun sighed when he thought of the several time he went through old age. He felt first hand that the so called heavens mercy is more pain than actual mercy… at least the first two times, where he was still bitter about it.
Then, he recovered and understood that this mercy was true mercy – for the elderly, even though they can't advance, they can still teach their juniors or take disciples and pass on their teachings. This way, they can still give away their goals to their next generation.
The mercy is not for the cultivators themselves, it's for the cultivation society, because only through repeated efforts and experience can one reach the higher stages. If Lingyun didn't have the chance to reincarnate, he didn't know how he would manage to rise without having a good background.
He went out and saw that the other cave was still closed. Smiling, he left. His own cultivation was higher than the other person's, so even if he was less experienced, he would naturally take less. This is the advantage of starting later on.
If all his lives were like this, he could master many spells at a much faster time. Unfortunately, life isn't so beautiful. The only reason he mastered four of the five control spells is because he truly focused on them, even neglecting other spells and cultivation.
He planned to advance fire control through refining towards the perfect stage. From then on, he could see about the dharma stage or learning other spells.
The next day was spent quietly cultivating. As an advanced cultivation art, the Enriching Wood Art relied on the connection of wind and water to help wood. Water nourishes wood while wind refines wood. Together, they create a wood that is extremely durable and full of vitality.
This art is a defensive nourishing art that enhances life. It has the function of basically always giving an extra 20% of lifespan, which is enormous. A common qi refiner has the lifespan of a mortal human, only, he can securely survive all the 120 years without worries of sickness.
With the cultivation art, one basically has at least twenty years additionally. Lingyun didn't lack anything but the time to learn more things. If he could spend more time in this life, his next would be easier.
He wasn't a masochist who liked dying many times, he became somewhat indifferent to it, but of course he'd be happy if he could become an immortal in a single step. Unfortunately, it seems his good luck and cheat is based on having many lives, not getting opportunities… on the other hand, at least he didn't have to worry about many things now.
After the day of cultivation, Lingyun walked slowly into his refining room. In front, a young man appeared, talking to a few strong men pulling heavy carriages.
When Lingyun approached, Lingyi stepped forward and bowed "Greetings, eldest brother!" as common, every branch lineage member of his generation would call him eldest brother, not only for his cultivation, but also because he took care of them when he was in the clan school, helping many behind the back of the clan teachers.
"Hmm. Why is the delivery this early?" he didn't like things that ruined his plans.
Lingyi smiled wryly and sent the kneeling martial artists away, then he said in a low voice "In fact, we also bribed a few miners who would hide ore from the main branch. In exchange, we usually ensure their off-spring marry other branch members. They loyalty is absolutely secure! Well, that's because they are all treated like trash…" he sighed at the end.
'Another reason' Lingyun thought, but he didn't say anything and just commented "You can use them if you want, I won't be needing them. Just go by the common plan for now. If there is more than eight kilograms, just take them yourself, I won't bother with them."
He didn't plan to work overtime. The ore refining was secondary, the real deal was learning runes, and he didn't need so many iron pieces. It would be better if he could simply do four kilogram batches twice, which would be less work.
Then, on the three days, he would simply inscribe four plates and try to align them. His goal in the end was to make a perfect low-grade black iron sword. The reason why he chose a sword among all things was that it was extremely easy.
Swords can be called the starter tools for many because it includes different things: smelting iron, inscribing, woodwork and sharpening. For others, different steps might take a much longer time. Just the black iron shield's outer shield would require double the amount of black iron and a lot more smelting to condense it.
He walked into the room after chatting with Lingyi for a bit, closed the formation and looked at the six plates in front of him. He thought about it and wanted to make four one-plate swords and one two-plate sword.
Whether he succeed or not, as long as he could go through everything in three days, he would be satisfied.
He took the first plate, then took out a small tool. It was a scalpel in the form of a pen. This tool was used to cut iron directly, as a low-level weapon, it fully had the ability to cut the black iron.
Lingyun wanted to start cutting, then stopped and slapped his forehead "I'm so stupid, who cuts directly when they can make an outline first?"
He took out a brush and ink, mortal items he simply kept in his spatial bag, then started colouring the sword. He made a straight line slightly left to the iron edge, then at the end, he made a small ) curve from the left to the right top – creating a sharp tip.
On the other side, he crated another line with little distance, at the end, he created another ), this time it was longer and reached all the way to the tip. Then he went back to the ground and started making a /// pattern. This was to show that he would go from the bottom left to the top right when shaping the sword, creating an edge.
This is a traditional one-edged sword, the Messer.
Once cut, the extra iron would be added to pommel and rain guard. Naturally this wouldn't be enough, but as his skills of refining ore get better, he would have extra ore he could use. For now, he was focusing on the sword blade, as this was the key to everything. Adding things to the handle was not something low-stage weapons had, at least not in the first stage. Later when one had to add many runes could that space be used.
After doing the sketch on the blade, he put the iron piece for a moment into the cauldron to heat it up. Then he took out his hammer and started hammering the edge. He wanted to create the blade before cutting, as it was very easy currently. Later on, he would have to be careful around the edge.
He hit the right side very thinly and pushed the iron leftward, then he started shaping it the way he wanted, with the perfect edge. In fact, this part was very easy, after all, these could be done by a mortal as long as he had sufficient strength.
The important part came now – inscribing runes.