Chapter 1351: Corpse Collector (3)
At the moment, the ancient city and its surroundings were packed with people.
Initially, everyone was wary of coming here. Eventually, they found that Su Yu had stopped sealing the city for no reason. He also seemed indifferent to those visiting his city. He would only charge the visitors some source qi liquid as the fee to enter. With that, everyone finally felt safe to gather in and around the city.
Suddenly, the sky above warped and a stone statue appeared. Below, everyone went silent and withdrew their auras. This had been happening quite frequently as of late. These stone statues were ancient Invincibles who had rarely left their cities in the past. But because of Su Yu, they started leaving their cities at random times, forcing the myriad races to be constantly on alert.
This time, the stone statue had not appeared alone. An old man could be seen behind him.
Looking down at the city from above, Zhao Li was hit by a sense of melancholy. It had been years since he was last here. He had visited this place a few times back when he was still a middle-aged man.
His frequency of travel had dropped significantly after his failed attempt at forging an earth weapon.
After that failure, he had spent years reflecting on himself. Additionally, he had also been busy with numerous weaponsmithing projects. Thus, he had not been able to find much time to travel the Allheaven Battlefield.
Understandably, his face was unfamiliar to many of the people in the city. However, some of those from the older generations were able to recognize him. One of them exclaimed in surprise, "Zhao Li?"
"Why is he here?"
"Who's Zhao Li?"
This was causing quite a ruckus in the city. Someone personally escorted by a stone statue was probably a big shot among the humans, right?
"You might not know Zhao Li, but you must have heard of his father, Zhao Sanchui. That was the fourth principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. That academy has never produced an ordinary principal."
At that, many people couldn't help sighing with regret.
Wan Tiansheng was the sixth principal. He was likely the most controversial of all the principals. After Wan Tiansheng's departure, no seventh principal had been appointed. Even Ji Hong was only an acting principal.
Perhaps Xia Longwu couldn't find anyone worthy of taking over the mantle. Thus, the position had been left empty for now.
The first principal, Xia Chen, had founded the multiple character faction.
The second principal was an incomparably powerful beastmaster who had tamed even dragons.
The third principal was First Profound, an Invincible.
The fourth principal was an incomparably powerful weaponsmith.
The fifth and sixth principals were ferocious combatants capable of killing Invincibles without being Invincibles. Each preceding principal had been more impressive than the previous principal. With such a history to the position, who in Great Xia was worthy of being the seventh principal? Was Xia Longwu supposed to become the principal himself?
Zhao Sanchu's name was a lot more well-known. Someone exclaimed in surprise, "So it's him? This is the most promising weaponsmith in the human race at the moment, someone with the potential to become a heaven weaponsmith. I remember him. Su-Mayor Su seems to be a weaponsmith as well. Is this his teacher?"
"Yes."
"Why did Mayor Su send a guardian to pick him up? Is Mayor Su planning to forge a weapon?"
"Probably."
Everyone discussed spiritedly. Follow current novels on novel✦fire.net
The sheer strength Su Yu had demonstrated had caused everyone to neglect the fact that he was also an earth weaponsmith. Even in the Allheaven Battlefield, earth weaponsmiths were extremely rare. In fact, they might be even rarer than Invincibles.
That was even more so for heaven weaponsmiths. Even a major race like the human race could only produce one, the Heavenly Forge King. There were heaven weaponsmiths in the divine, devil, and immortal races as well. But each race would only have one or two. Even the immortal race, with the highest number of heaven weaponsmiths, only had four of them.
Thus, Zhao Li's arrival attracted a lot of attention. Was Su Yu planning to forge a weapon? He wouldn't have bothered to send a stone statue to pick Zhao Li up otherwise. Before long, news of Zhao Li's arrival spread everywhere.
Su Yu was now important enough that his every action would catch a lot of attention.
***
While everyone was gossiping.
In front of the mayor's residence.
Su Yu bowed deeply and greeted, "Teacher!"
When Zhao Li landed on the ground, he gave the stone statue a slight bow. When Grandstar left, he regarded Su Yu with a strict expression and said, "Mayor Su, it has been a while."
Su Yu hurriedly said, "Please don't play this joke on me, Teacher. In front of you, I'm no mayor..."
Zhao Li snorted, "Is that so? So you still remember that you're a weaponsmith?"
"Of course! How would I dare to forget?"
Su Yu said fawningly, "Teacher, congratulations on your promotion to a vice principal!"
Zhao Li merely snorted disdainfully.
When he looked around and sensed the death qi in the air, he exhaled and said, "Ancient cities are pretty good. Ignoring the death qi, these cities are quite suitable for one to focus on research. What a pity. I doubt you can focus on research anymore."
"Not at all. I'm still very interested in research." Su Yu said, "In truth, research was why I had opted to join a cultural research academy back then. Unfortunately, people kept forcing a cultured scholar like me to turn into an executioner."
He was actually being honest here. But very few people would believe these words. His very first pick had been a cultural research academy. At the time, he wasn't even aware that cultural researchers were excellent combatants as well. He had thought that a cultural researcher would be a pure researcher.
Fighting had never been his original aspiration in life. Before he started school, his only goal in life was to become a researcher and find the origin of his nightmares. Subsequently, his goal had changed into finding the origin of the golden book. Alas, things had developed so rapidly that almost nobody was viewing him as a pure cultural researcher anymore.
Even Zhao Li laughed in amusement as he said, "A butcher like you who had killed so many Sunmoons and caused the deaths of several Invincibles is claiming to be a researcher? What is the topic of your research? Corpse collection?"
"Yes." Su Yu smiled, "You got it right, Teacher. This is why I need your help. I'm planning to become a corpse collector. Teacher, is corpse collector one of the professions available for cultural researchers?"
"..."
Zhao Li asked in astonishment, "Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
Zhao Li stroked his beard and thought about it. He did not question this decision. Rather, he asked, "Is this related to the weapon you want to forge?"
"Yes. I wish to forge a book. Or something similar to a book. A tool to record and gather some things. You can consider this my dao."
At that, Zhao Li's expression changed. He asked, "Are you sure? The dao of a cultural researcher is not a joking matter. After deciding on a dao, you might not be able to change it anymore. For example, Lan Tian's madness is also his dao. As for me, I walk the dao of human-weapon fusion. It can be considered a minor dao. I can't change anymore. You're still young. Do you really want to set your future so early?"
Su Yu smiled, "You can say so."
"You..." Zhao Li shook his head, "So be it. This is a very personal matter. Even those learning from the same teacher will end up walking different daos. This is very common. We'll talk further inside. Tell me your requirements. What manner of a weapon do you need? What properties must the weapon possess? What abilities do you want the weapon to have?"
Su Yu went straight to the point, "I need something capable of storing the corpses of Invincibles."
Instantly, Zhao Li stopped walking and turned to look at Su Yu. Then, he started walking in the opposite direction as he said, "I quit. You can try asking for Heavenly Forge King's help."
Damn it! The kid must be messing with him! Su Yu was left speechless. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say that he wanted to store the corpses of Pseudo Emperors as well. Since he wanted to become a corpse collector, it would be reasonable for him to prepare for the collection of Pseudo Emperor corpses, right?
Why was his teacher's temper so bad? His teacher should talk it out before leaving!
Su Yu hurriedly said, "Teacher, how can Heavenly Forge King's smithing art compare with the Zhao Family's smithing art? Furthermore, I don't know him that well. Meanwhile, I'm your student. Am I right?"
Zhao Li scolded, "Are you trying to use me as a heaven weaponsmith? What joke is this? The so-called storing you mention must not be as simple as storing something in an empty space. The difficulty will be unimaginably high. Are you sure the two of us will be sufficient for this task?"
"I can settle with an embryonic weapon."
Su Yu hurriedly said, "That will be enough. I do not expect to finish it now. I can keep working on it in the future."
Finally, Zhao Li nodded, "Don't get too ambitious. Let's go. Tell me more about your thoughts. Do you have a blueprint of what you want or something? I knew it. You wouldn't have called me over to forge an ordinary weapon. That's understandable. Why would I bother to come for an ordinary weapon?"
Su Yu giggled. Of course it wouldn't be an ordinary weapon. He could forge an ordinary weapon himself. Why would he need their help for an ordinary weapon? Before long, the two entered the mayor's residence.
The moment Zhao Li saw Liu Hong, he said, "Why is this guy here? Kill him or kick him out as soon as possible. This kid is a villain through and through..."
Liu Hong, who was about to offer Zhao Li his greetings, shut his mouth and fled. He shouldn't bother. This wasn't someone he could afford to greet. This guy was hot-tempered enough that even greeting him might result in death.
Chapter 1352: Public Invitation (1)
Main hall.
Zhao Li wasted no time and asked right after taking a seat, "Do you have a blueprint of what you want?"
Su Yu shook his head, "I'm not yet certain. I only know that I want something like a book."
"You're not worthy."
"..."
Su Yu blanked out. Why was his teacher being rude?
Zhao Li said, "Your dao is not a book. Remember this. You are trying to use a book as the cover for the villainous acts you're going to do in the future. In my opinion, you should forge a saber, sword, axe, fork, or similar weapons."
"No. That does not fit my image."
Su Yu rejected the offer. With a flicker, white robes appeared on his body. Clasping his hands behind him, he looked up at the starry sky and said, "Teacher, is something as crude as a blade fitting for me? I need a book in hand. I am erudite and knowledgeable. In terms of cultivation methods alone, I know thousands of them."
Zhao Li stared at Su Yu. The kid was still as pretentious as ever.
Since Su Yu was insisting, he couldn't be bothered to argue further. He said, "The difficulty of forging a book-type weapon will be much higher. Swords, spears, sabers, and halberds are the easiest to forge, unlike the more unique weapons."
Su Yu nodded. That was expected.
Zhao Li asked, "What requirements do you have?"
Su Yu gave it some thought and said, "Firstly, it must be stable. It will be even better if it comes with its own pocket space. A pocket space per page..."
Zhao Li cursed inwardly. Was this kid trying to tire him to death? The difficulty of what the kid wanted was too high.
"How many pages do you plan to forge?"
"Ten thousand."
"Piss off." This time, Zhao Li was no longer cursing inwardly. "You're only good at making unreasonable demands. Ten thousand pages? Is that a joke? That's the same as asking for ten thousand pocket spaces in a single weapon. And you even want the weapon to be incomparably stable. Do you have any idea how difficult this is? If something like this can really be forged, it won't be a mere earth weapon anymore. Instead, it will be a divine weapon."
With a frown, Zhao Li continued, "If you wish to make this weapon your dao, it's not recommended to walk the path of character-weapon fusion. But such a weapon might also require you to fuse your character into it. Are you certain? You won't be able to pursue your dao weapon without fusing your character into it."
Su Yu nodded, "Yes. I'm fusing two characters into the weapon."
Su Yu naturally had his own considerations on what to do. He planned to embed the culture and radiance characters into the book. With the book, he would collect corpses and fuse their civilizations.
Old Zhao hesitated slightly and said, "I am not capable of forging all ten thousand pages. Not even Heavenly Forge King can do so. We can try forging a hundred pages first. This will be a semi-completed weapon. An embryonic weapon. You can keep improving the book as you grow in strength. Or we can take the easier path and forge only ten pages for now. What else do you need? Tell me all your requirements."
Su Yu considered and said, "Each page requires different levels of pocket space. The Great Strength Realm will be the basic level, before rising to the Skysoar, Cloudbreach, Mountainsea, Sunmoon, and Eternal Realms."
A headache assaulted Zhao Li.
Holy shit!
The kid was definitely trying to kill him! This was not something he could do!
The more Su Yu spoke, the more difficult it felt. Zhao Li said, "This isn't something the two of us can forge. We won't be able to push further than the high-tier earth grade. Even a peak earth weapon will be extremely difficult for us. Your requirements can only be fulfilled by heaven weaponsmith or even a divine weaponsmith. Do you think I'm a divine weaponsmith?"
Su Yu laughed awkwardly. After a slight hesitation, Zhao Li continued, "If we can't do it...I'll get some help. We'll get Zhao Tianbing's help. He's a peak earth weaponsmith. If you don't want him to know too much about your weapon, just let him work on a part of the project, including the fusion and splitting of space. But I doubt splitting space is something he can do easily."
Su Yu thought about it and said, "Faculty Head Hu Xiansheng of Great Ming can do it."
"Can you get him here?"
Su Yu nodded, "It won't be an issue. He lacks the money to forge his teleportation door while I lack everything except money. I can hire him with money."
"That's feasible." Zhao Li sighed, "Kid, you're too ambitious. This weapon you want isn't an earth weapon. It's not even an embryonic heaven weapon. You're trying to forge a divine weapon. In the current Myriad Realms, the Heavenly Hunt Index is the sole divine weapon in existence. We are not sufficient to forge something like that. More importantly, I doubt you can even afford the materials required for such a project."
Su Yu smiled, "I'm not making something like that immediately. If it can grow into a divine weapon in the future, that's a problem for me to solve in the future. Perhaps at the time, we will leave a deep mark in the annals of history."
Zhao Li ignored what Su Yu was saying and inhaled deeply. Despite the difficulty of the proposed project, he couldn't help feeling some excitement from it.
Suddenly, he said, "If my father were still around, such a project would excite him greatly. What a pity. Su Yu, the two of us are far from enough. Not even the addition of my senior brother will be enough for this project. Have you...considered getting Yun Chen's help?"
"Yun Chen?" Su Yu blanked out.
Zhao Li nodded, "There are two peak earth weaponsmiths in the human race. One of them is my senior brother. The other is Heavenly Forge King's first student, Tie Ge. And the third is the First Divine Sect master, Yun Chen."
Su Yu recalled hearing about this before. He said in surprise, "How is Yun Chen a peak earth weaponsmith?"
He hadn't given it much thought previously, but this was indeed quite surprising with the knowledge that the First Divine Sect master was also Yun Chen.
Zhao Li wasn't surprised. He said, "He's from the same generation as my father. They were quite close. Like you, he was multi-talented. After the lost of the third principal, my father became the new principal. Meanwhile, Yun Chen became the head of the Character Faculty at the time. He must have learned some weaponsmithing skills from my father back then. Strictly speaking, you can consider him a weaponsmith of the Zhao line as well."
Su Yu was quite speechless. Or to be precise, he was quite impressed. The Zhao line had truly produced some impressive individuals. Both Zhao Tianbing and Yun Chen were peak earth weaponsmiths. Old Zhao was probably good enough to forge middle earth weapons as well.
Of the three peak earth weaponsmiths in the human race, two had came from the Zhao line.
Heavenly Forge King might be a heaven weaponsmith, but he had only produced one peak earth weaponsmith. If the fourth principal had not died, he would have grown into the second heaven weaponsmith of humanity by now.
Zhao Li said, "I didn't think much about it before his identity was exposed. But now, it is clear that traces of the Zhao style of forging can be seen in some of the powerful weapons used by the Myriad Race Cult. However, the influence is quite sparse. Yun Chen must have learned some weaponsmithing skills of the divine race as well. You can consider him an erudite weaponsmith."
Su Yu nodded.
Zhao Li asked, "So? Do you want his help? We don't know Heavenly Forge King too well. As for Yun Chen...I'm decently friendly with him. It won't matter if you don't know him too well. Strictly speaking, he is Liu Wenyan's martial uncle. If he's currently in the Allheaven Battlefield, I believe he will come after receiving an invitation."
Su Yu hesitated.
Noting the hesitation, Zhao Li remarked, "I know what you're thinking. But there is no need to be so harsh toward them. The First Divine Sect master has been hiding himself in the Human Realm for many years. Some secrets might have been hidden so deeply that he couldn't react in time. This also applies to the third principal. Humanity has always been hostile toward the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. He would remain in dark about many things. Even if he knew, he wouldn't be in the position to do anything in time."
Su Yu said, "I don't really mind, but I don't think I'll be getting his help. This doesn't concern me alone. My teacher and the others, including Wan Tiansheng, can't get over this."
"Wan Tiansheng..." Zhao Li sighed, "True. Yun Chen can be considered his teacher. Wan Tiansheng had not spared Yun Chen a second look even until the very end. He did not even bother to say a word to Yun Chen. Clearly, he couldn't forgive this senior brother of his. Forget about Yun Chen. You can borrow a few earth weaponsmiths from Great Ming."
Zhao Li reminded him, "Kid, this won't be an easy job. The two of us will need a lot of time just preparing for the forging. And you will need to provide excellent materials for the forging. However, the better the material is, the harder it will be to refine and extract the material. The materials you require will be so hard to work with that one needs to be at least an earth weaponsmith to even participate in the errands associated with this project."
Su Yu was quite speechless. Was Old Zhao exaggerating things?
One needed to be an earth weaponsmith to even run errands for the project? Doubtful, he showed Zhao Li his materials. Instantly, Zhao Li was rendered speechless.
Fuck!
These were all materials meant for the forging of heaven weapons. One would not be able to do anything to these materials unless one was an earth weaponsmith.
"You are clearly trying to make a heaven weapon. The two of us are definitely not enough. If you really want to do this, start calling for help. Stop waiting."
Su Yu had not expected this. Even two weaponsmiths wouldn't be enough. Even three or five wouldn't be enough. They needed more.
More importantly, Su Yu needed to complete this project in one month. That would greatly increase the difficulty. He also needed to find someone to take charge of the splitting of space. That was a job for Hu Xiansheng.
After a slight hesitation, Su Yu nodded, "Fine. I'll listen to you and get some help. The two of us will be responsible for the main part of the project. The others can help with the errands."
In terms of trust, he trusted Old Zhao more. Even Hu Qi of Great Ming wasn't someone he could trust as much as Old Zhao. It wasn't that he doubted her. Rather, this involved his characters. It was too personal to involve too many people. This was even more so for someone like Su Yu.
"The death qi here is too dense. I'm afraid the death qi will interfere with the job."
Su Yu said indifferently, "Don't worry about that. I will flood the mayor's residence with heavenly source qi. The residence will have more heavenly source qi than even a ruin. This will block any death qi from entering and help with the recovery of everyone involved in the job."
That was not a problem at all. He did not lack heavenly source qi. He also needed to supply everyone with willpower-recovery treasures. This was not an issue as well. Su Yu told himself that he was not Old Zhao. How could he start forging a weapon before preparing enough treasures to replenish his energy?
At that thought, he said, "Teacher, we can't do things like we did previously. Our preparations back then were too lacking. We nearly failed! We lacked willpower even after crushing several Sunmoon characters. I had to form a new character mid-process to complete the job..."
Instantly, Zhao Li's face flushed red. Why was the kid holding back? The kid should be honest and call him poor to his face.
With an awkward cough, Su Yu said, "We need to prepare thoroughly this time. We need to consider everything, including the phenomena that might appear after a successful forging."
Something like that had appeared during Old Zhao's previous forging. They couldn't allow something like that to catch them by surprise this time. Sure, a phenomenon was meant as a reward instead of a disaster, but the timing of its appearance could turn a reward into something disastrous.
At the time, Zhao Li's phenomenon had further boosted his weapon in strength and greatly elevated the difficulty of completing the forging. It had nearly killed Old Zhao. Nobody knew what would appear during this forging.
Chapter 1353: Public Invitation (2)
Zhao Li nodded, "We'll do that. The final product might be unimaginably powerful. Even if it isn't so powerful, it will be a heaven weapon or even an embryonic divine weapon. We need to be prepared for everything. Alright, I'll leave and bring my senior brother here—"
"It's fine." Su Yu exhaled and said, "I don't really want to go back, but since I'm the one asking for help, it's only proper that I make the trip personally. I can't be sending my invitation to Great Ming through a message, right?"
He had invited Old Zhao over through a message because the two were close enough for that. It wouldn't be inappropriate. But that was not the case for the others.
Su Yu smiled and said, "Teacher, I'll go now. Is Principal Zhao Tianbing in the Allheaven Battlefield currently?"
"Maybe?" Old Zhao was unsure. He said, "It's fine. He will be able to reach faster than those from Great Ming."
"Sure."
Su Yu did not say more. Abruptly, the entire city shook. Then, the massive city vanished, sending massive waves in all directions. The many precious ships around the city were instantly crushed into pieces.
A pair of lovers were just walking through the city hand-in-hand moments ago. One of them had just stepped through the gate when the other vanished alongside the city.
The male, who was the one left alone outside the city, was sent flying for some distance before he yelled mournfully, "Su Yu! Why did you kidnap my lover? Where are you?"
All around him, people were regaining their balance from the sudden tsunami. They were all left quite speechless.
Fuck!
Could that bastard give them a warning before leaving?
Someone shouted, "My teacher is still in the city!"
"My grandpa is still inside as well! Where is he?"
"..."
Everyone was left feeling helpless. What now? Where did Su Yu go?
The experts of the nine realms sighed yet again. Damn it! They had given up on building an island. They had settled on boats. Why did Su Yu have to ruin even that? He was an asshole! Why couldn't he give them a warning before leaving?
The city was definitely still somewhere in the Allheaven Battlefield. But nobody knew where it went. Lovers had been forcefully separated. Teachers and students had also been forcefully separated. Many started cursing Su Yu furiously.
***
Eastrift Valley.
Great Qin King opened his eyes abruptly.
Next, a massive city appeared above the Eastrift Valley. Then, Su Yu's voice rang out.
"Su Yu of the Holy City Alliance offers his greeting, human Invincibles."
Numerous people in the area noticed the massive floating city, including those in the Liu City.
Su Yu!
He had arrived with his ancient city.
Great Qin King took a step forward and appeared before the city. This was Su Yu's very first time seeing Great Qin King for real. That was a tall middle-aged man with a stern, square face. His long hair was tied in a ponytail while the aura his body emitted was incomparably powerful. He did not look particularly handsome, but he looked dignified and imposing.
It was rumored that even prior to founding a prefecture, Great Qin King was already a regional overlord. At the time, the Human Realm was still under the rule of a feudal dynasty. Great Qin King was one of the barbarian kings during that era.
With an indifferent tone, Great Qin King asked, "Su Yu, why are you here with your ancient city?"
Su Yu coughed awkwardly before flashing a bright smile, "Great Qin King, do not misunderstand me. I'm not here to pick a fight. I'm here to invite a few people to my city. The journey might get dangerous so I'm here to pick them up personally."
Great Qin King looked at Zhao Li, who was standing beside Su Yu. He was aware that Zhao Li had been picked up by a stone statue not long ago. Who was Su Yu inviting now?
Su Yu said, "Principal Niu, are you here?"
A short while later, Niu Baidao appeared with a rather dishevelled appearance. At his appearance, soft laughter erupted in the area. When Great Qin King saw Niu Baidao, he frowned, "As an Eternal, control yourself. At the very least, clean the lipstick marks on your face before appearing in public."
Niu Baidao smiled as the lipstick marks on his face faded away. When he saw that everyone was still laughing at him, he said, "There is no need for you to be jealous. These marks were left by my wife. I was taking a break in the Allheaven Prefecture earlier. I had to rush over on short notice so I didn't have the time to do much."
He beamed at everyone and said, "We have been married for four hundred years yet we're still as passionate as ever. You won't understand."
"..."
Were they laughing at him? He should be the one laughing at them instead.
Only then did he address Su Yu. With a surprised tone, he said, "Why are you here?"
Su Yu said, "Nothing much. I wish to invite Faculty Head Hu, Senior Hu Qi, and the other earth weaponsmiths of Great Ming to my city and talk about the dao of weaponsmithing."
"Huh? Hu Xiansheng? He's no weaponsmith..."
Su Yu explained, "Faculty Head Hu is proficient in the dao of space. The daos of space and weaponsmithing complement each other. Additionally, I might also need their advice for my upcoming weaponsmithing project."
"Oh." Niu Baidao nodded, "It's no big deal. I'll notify the prefect and get him to make the arrangements."
Someone else asked, "Su Yu, you're forging a weapon? Can this old man witness the process?"
When Su Yu looked over, he saw a white-haired old man. Heavenly Forge King.
Su Yu said, "You jest, Lord. You're a heaven weaponsmith. How can a few earth weaponsmiths like us waste your time?"
Heavenly Forge King was rendered speechless. Why couldn't the kid reject him directly? Why must the kid spin things around to make himself sound so righteous?
Su Yu had caused such a big ruckus to invite some earth weaponsmiths, including Zhao Li. He had also traded for some materials to forge heaven weapons from the myriad races not long ago. Was he planning to forge a heaven weapon?
Could he do it?
While Heavenly Forge King was deep in thought, Zhao Li said, "Can I trouble anyone to contact Zhao Tianbing of Great Zhou? Tell him I'm looking for him. Prefect Zhou, is Zhao Tianbing in seclusion lately?"
He was speaking to Zhou Polong.
After glancing at both Zhao Li and Su Yu, Zhou Polong nodded, "Sure. I'll pass your message. He's in Great Zhou. He will be here shortly."
"Thank you, Prefect Zhou."
Zhao Li cupped his hands and said nothing else.
A short while later, Great Qin King and the others vanished. As Su Yu was saying nothing else, the silence was somewhat awkward. Only a few people were left behind. Niu Baidao was one of them. Heavenly Forge King was also one of them. He was too curious to leave.
Before long, an old man appeared. It wasn't Zhao Tianbing. Instead, it was Nan Wujiang. When Nan Wujiang's gaze met Su Yu's, the two stared at each other silently.
First Profound!
For a period of time, Su Yu had been rather close to First Profound. He would frequently tease and joke around with First Profound. But he no longer knew what to say to First Profound.
Nan Wujiang took a faceless mask out and tossed it over. He softly said, "This is an elder's mask. An elder's mask of the Profound Department. Take note that after Zhou Tianyuan's departure, a new head has been assigned to the department. Try not to keep the mask on you outside your city."
Su Yu caught the mask and slowly said, "Many thanks, Elder."
"..."
Nan Wujiang didn't know what to say. Su Yu was addressing him as the elder, not the great great grandteacher. For origınal chapters go to novel※fire.net
After a short silence, Nan Wujiang asked, "Yun Chen is a peak earth weaponsmith. Do you need his help?"
"No. Thanks for the offer."
Nan Wujiang nodded. Slowly, his figure faded away. His voice rang out in Su Yu's ears, "I still have a Third Profound mask on me. If you need me, feel free to contact me through the mask."
Su Yu said nothing. Inwardly, he was feeling quite complicated. In truth, he didn't feel too strongly about the two. However, his Teacher Liu couldn't let go of this. Thus, he had to keep a certain attitude around the two as well.
It was likely that his martial uncle, Chen Yong, wouldn't be able to let go of this as well. Since they couldn't place their hatred on the two, they had opted to forever sever their relationship with the two.
Only then did Niu Baidao step forth with a smiling face. He did not bother to enter the city. He was quite scared of the stone statue. He said, "Su Yu, are you planning to forge a heaven weapon? You're asking for quite a lot of people."
Heavenly Forge King hurriedly offered, "I'm good at that!"
Su Yu was rendered speechless. Why was this old man so enthusiastic?
Did the old man not hear his words earlier?
Heavenly Forge King did not mind Su Yu's expression. He said helplessly, "Su Yu, it has been thirty years since I last forged a heaven weapon. Do you know this?"
Su Yu stared at him wordlessly. He sighed and added, "I haven't been able to collect enough materials. My title as a heaven weaponsmith feels empty."
He was hinting at Su Yu to invite him into the project. Was Su Yu trying to forge a heaven weapon? That must be the case. He wouldn't have asked for so many earth weaponsmiths otherwise.
Heavenly Forge King was desperately reminding Su Yu that he was good at that as well! He was the best at that in the human race!
Before Su Yu could say anything, Niu Baidao laughed and said, "Old Forge, just tend to your own matters. This is only an affair of some children. Why are you taking it so seriously? Go wait for Mystic Armor King. As long as you can catch him, you will have all the material you want."
Niu Baidao had an extremely high seniority. After affirming his dao, he could be considered an equal of Heavenly Forge King in terms of status. Thus, he could speak casually with Heavenly Forge King.
Heavenly Forge King said, "Fine, fine. You youngsters will regret not seeking the help of a heaven weaponsmith like me. You will waste all those materials. This is no small matter. Wasting such valuable materials is a sin."
Then, he vanished.
Chapter 1354: Public Invitation (3)
Niu Baidao laughed and said, "That geezer hasn't been able to get sufficient materials himself so he has been getting quite envious of others. Just ignore him. I think you'll need to wait a day or two. Even traveling at full speed from Great Ming to here will take some time."
Su Yu nodded and said, "Tell Faculty Head Hu to take his spatial cutting machine with him. I'll be needing it."
"You need that thing?" Niu Baidao was surprised. He nodded, "Sure. Old Hu has been very free lately. Are you getting him to help with space splitting?"
"Yes. I plan to do something with it." Su Yu said, "Principal, is the prefecture still not supporting Faculty Head Hu's teleportation research? That honestly sounds quite impressive research. Didn't he teleport you to the battlefield not long ago? It's obviously quite useful."
"You have no idea!"
Niu Baidao shook his head, "If even someone like me was left disoriented by his teleportation, a regular person would be ripped apart by the process. There are still a lot of major issues to solve. The prefecture had allocated some funds to him recently, but he still needs more. It's a great idea, but it's also too expensive."
"How is Prefect Zhu doing recently?"
"Him?" Niu Baidao tried very hard to hold his laughter in before answering, "Not bad. He has probably been feeling quite sullen recently. His reputation as the killer of four Invincibles still lingers. All his grandchildren are looking at him like he's a monster."
Su Yu laughed in amusement.
Niu Baidao said, "I need to tell you something. Your cultivation methods have earned a lot of merit points. The prefect said that since you don't need merit points anymore, he will swap the merit points for other things you need. What do you want? Don't hold back. He's rich. His eldest brother had served as the Yellow Department head for so many years. That's a department in charge of information. It's a very profitable position through corruption. Not even the Profound Department is comparable."
Su Yu said, "Is that really the case? The Profound Department is in charge of their businesses. How much richer can the Yellow Department be?"
"You don't understand. With information in hand, he can blackmail or overcharge anyone."
Before Su Yu could say anything, Zhao Li said, "If my memory serves right, Great Ming King is a formation master as well. Back then, he was in charge of a majority of the formations in the Hundred Dao Pagoda. We require a heaven-grade formation to gather source qi and willpower. This will provide an environment where a damaged weapon can recover automatically.
"Not everyone can set up a formation like this, but Great Ming King is definitely capable. Su Yu will give up all his money in the Human Realm for a formation like this. Make sure it's a strong formation. It needs to be strong enough to run for three to five thousand years. It also needs to be durable enough to endure the attacks of Invincibles."
"..."
Niu Baidao exclaimed in alarm, "Are you forging a divine weapon? Why are you asking for something so powerful? Endure the attacks of even Invincibles? Little Zhao, you're asking for a lot..."
Little Zhao.
Su Yu almost burst out laughing. Meanwhile, Zhao Li was rendered speechless. In appearance alone, he looked older than Niu Baidao. Whatever. He decided to let it slide since Niu Baidao was indeed someone with a far higher seniority. This person was old enough to be considered a senior of even his old man.
Niu Baidao nodded and said, "Fine. I'll try asking for you. If you're giving up on everything in the Human Realm, it should be enough to get you a powerful formation."
He paused slightly and asked, "Are you in a rush? If you're in a rush, I'll deliver it after Great Ming King is done making it. Do you have other requirements for the formation?"
Zhao Li grinned and said, "If Great Ming King doesn't mind it, he can also add some defensive, offensive, teleportation, spatial stabilizing, and some other functions to the formation."
Su Yu's jaw dropped. He had thought that Old Zhao was a simple and straightforward man. But no. He was wrong. Old Zhao was also a shameless old man. Even though he knew nothing about formations, he also knew that adding all those functionalities to a formation would increase the difficulty of production by at least ten times.
The required materials would also increase exponentially. It would also be far more tiring to produce. However, he greatly approved of this.
Niu Baidao laughed and said, "Sure. I'll pass the message. I won't promise it will be done, though."
Zhao Li grinned, "If we can get the formation, things will be much easier. By the way, you're good at producing talismans. Can you produce a set of holding talismans for us, Principal Niu?"
"Sure. It's no trouble."
Su Yu did not know how good Principal Niu was at producing talismans. He only knew that Principal Niu had once given him a talisman to hide his strength. With the talisman, he could hide from anyone below the Invincible Realm.
So Principal Niu was actually good at talismans?
Niu Baidao had agreed before Zhao Li could finish. Thus, Zhao Li continued, "The talismans must be powerful. And the quantity must be high. I need an entire set. A set of ten thousand talismans. Separate each of them like the separate pages of a book. Each of them needs to be durable enough to hold Pseudo Emperors without suffering any damage..."
"..."
Niu Baidao's eyes widened. Holy shit!
What were they trying to do?
Was this supposed to be a joke?
Holding talismans wasn't hard to make. It's very simple. But ten thousand talismans in a set was an entirely different matter. And the talismans needed to have the ability to hold Pseudo Emperors without suffering damage? Were they planning to kill ten thousand Pseudo Emperors as a collection?
"Stop joking around!" Niu Baidao coughed and said, "Little Zhao, this isn't funny."
Zhao Li did not laugh. He said, "I'm not joking. The kid told me the same. I told him to stop joking as well. But he insisted. What can I do about it?"
Su Yu had an awkward expression. Facing the gazes of the two old men, he suddenly had a feeling that he had underestimated the difficulty of this project.
Zhao Li was truly worthy of being a grandmaster weaponsmith. He was able to figure out what they lacked immediately. A heaven formation and ten thousand heaven talismans. Wow. This was...indeed a joke.
Su Yu had not considered any of that before this. Now that he was given the chance to give it more thought, he realized that without what Old Zhao had asked for, they could perhaps still finish a prototype of what he had envisioned. But the resulting product would most likely fall below his expectations.
Niu Baidao's head started aching as he said, "Your request...is excessive. From what you mentioned, you are definitely preparing to forge a divine weapon. You need the help of talisman masters, formation masters, and weaponsmiths to complete this weapon. How long do you have to wait?"
"One month."
Niu Baidao shook his head, "That's impossible. Unless...you take a hundred talismans first. Also, your requirements are too high. Holding Pseudo Emperors? Are you kidding me? Even Invincibles will require extremely special talismans to hold. A lot of materials are required to produce something like this. I won't be able to afford the materials. You will pay for them. I will not charge you any additional fee for the production of the first hundred talismans. That's the most you can get within a month."
Su Yu nodded unhesitatingly, "I'll pay."
"Good." Niu Baidao smiled, "You are very ambitious, Kid. I can see that you won't be forging something simple. With money, you will get the formation and talismans you need. As for the rest, it will rely on your fellow weaponsmiths."
"Thank you, Principal!" Su Yu was overjoyed.
After some time, another old man arrived. Great Zhou wasn't too far away from the Allheaven Prefecture. Thus, Zhao Tianbing did not need long to arrive.
The moment he arrived, he said, "Junior Brother, you finally remembered me. You must need my help with something."
Zhao Li snorted. He said, "What a joke. I merely gave you this offer out of pity. You never seem to have enough weaponsmithing materials, right? Earlier, Heavenly Forge King begged to join the project yet I rejected him. If you don't want to join, you are free to leave."
Zhao Tianbing was all smiles. He did not mind his junior brother's words. He said, "Junior Brother, you're as naughty as always."
"..."
Su Yu felt quite awkward. Old Zhao, who had always been a stern and imposing teacher, had seemingly turned into a child in front of these geezers.
Little Zhao and the naughty kid.
How awkward.
He stole a glance at Zhao Li. Noticing the glance, Zhao Li gave him a glare. Su Yu was rendered speechless. Clearly, he was the only person Old Zhao could bully here.
They started chatting among themselves. Su Yu took this chance to ask Zhao Tianbing some questions about weaponsmithing. After all, Zhao Tianbing was far more skilled in terms of weaponsmithing.
***
Time flew by as they talked about the dao.
Before anyone knew it, a day passed. Nobody disturbed them.
On the second day, those from Great Ming arrived.
Zhu Tianfang was personally escorting everyone over. There were three earth weaponsmiths among them. One of them was Hu Qi. In terms of weaponsmiths, Great Ming was far beyond Great Xia.
With this, six earth weaponsmiths had been gathered in one place, Su Yu included. Additionally, they had also solicited the help of two Invincibles. One would help with the formation while the other would help with the talismans.
Su Yu left with everyone and the ancient city.
***
Before long, the myriad races found out about what he was doing.
Su Yu was planning to forge a weapon.
He had solicited the help of five earth weaponsmiths. He might be preparing to forge a heaven weapon.
One ought to admit that he was still quite well-connected in the Human Realm. Everyone knew that he was close to Great Ming. Everyone also knew that he was close to those from the fourth principal's line in Great Xia. Su Yu was probably the only person who could solicit the help of five earth weaponsmiths even when the Human Realm was not united.
If it were anyone else, these earth weaponsmiths would be far more concerned about the politics of humanity and refuse to help.
Su Yu seemed immune to the politics of humanity.
Once again, Grandstar City returned to its previous position. Once again, massive waves washed over the nine realms. With this, those of the nine realms finally gave up fully on building anything around the ancient city.
Holy shit.
They were done!
Whatever!
How unlucky must they be to get Su Yu as a neighbour?
Chapter 1355: Start Of Weaponsmithing (1)
Mayor's residence.
The heavenly source qi within the building was terrifyingly thick.
Su Yu did not lack heavenly source qi. He would extract some anytime he had the time. He was already capable of extracting heavenly source qi at an incredibly fast speed. With heavenly source qi and death qi exhausting each other in the mayor's residence, the leftover source qi was quite suitable for cultivation.
Of the five weaponsmiths, Zhao Li, Zhao Tianbing, and Hu Qi were no strangers to Su Yu. He wasn't as familiar with the other two, but they weren't complete strangers either. He had seen them during his time in Great Ming.
At the moment, they were blanking out.
What a thick heavenly source qi!
Su Yu had once taught them the Long Life Art, which was essentially a rebranded version of the immortal race's Life Trigger.
The two old men from Great Ming could sense some of their old injuries fading away from the heavenly source qi seeping into their bodies. They were quite shocked and embarrassed at the same time. The heavenly source qi had probably been prepared by Su Yu for his weaponsmithing, right? Would it be rude of them to absorb his heavenly source qi?
But such a concern was not present in Su Yu's mind. Apart from the five weaponsmiths, there was also a sixth helper with them. This was also someone Su Yu was quite familiar with. When he noted the sixth helper looking around everywhere, he asked, "Faculty Head, what are you looking at?"
Hu Xiansheng said, "Nothing. You told me to bring my spatial cutting machine with me. Are you planning to cut the space here? I'm looking for a suitable chunk of space to cut. The process of space splitting can easily cause a spatial collapse. Each ancient city is supposed to be connected to the Death Realm, right? Is it possible to do the cutting in the Death Realm? That way, we won't need to worry about a spatial collapse anymore."
"Hmph!"
A cold snort resounded in the room.
Hu Xiansheng was alarmed. "Who was that?"
Su Yu answered calmly, "It's fine, Faculty Head. There's a death sovereign here with the habit of eavesdropping when others are talking. Don't worry about it."
"..."
Everyone was stunned. Even Zhao Li was stunned. Holy shit! So this was a place a death sovereign could eavesdrop on easily?
Su Yu shrugged. When he saw that everyone was looking at him, he said, "She's different from other death spirits. The others will leave when they have nothing else to do in the city. But she loves staying in the tunnel all day long. Thus, she will be able to hear us sometimes."
Su Yu wanted to tell them that he was feeling quite helpless as well. He knew for a fact that some death sovereigns wouldn't be free enough to stay in the tunnel all the time. For the most part, each death sovereign was the ruler of a death kingdom. Xing Yue had one as well. But she had seemingly abandoned her kingdom to stay in the tunnel as of late.
In the past, she would still return to cultivate. But that had changed. What could Su Yu do about it?
All of them looked at Su Yu with odd expressions. How was he staying so calm? He truly was different.
Hu Xiansheng had an awkward expression as he wondered if he had somehow caught the death sovereign's attention with his words.
He said, "Then...we shouldn't consider cutting the space in the Death Realm anymore."
Su Yu nodded, "Yes. We can only do it in the Allheaven Battlefield. It's fine. It's not like we're damaging our own stuff. Spatial collapses are very common when Invincibles fight each other. What's the big deal with a little bit of collapse here and there?"
Hu Xiansheng nodded.
Su Yu went straight to the point and said, "I have invited everyone here to help with a cultural weapon. The workload will be quite high. It can't be completed by one or two people."
Su Yu already had a rough plan of what to do.
He looked at Hu Xiansheng and said, "Faculty Head Hu, you have an easy job. Please cut three hundred chunks of space for me. Each chunk only needs to be about ten cubic meters in size. That's enough--"
Zhao Li interrupted, "No. That won't do. It's too small."
The kid did not understand how big some people would be upon reverting to their true forms.
Zhao Li said, "Each chunk needs to be at least a thousand cubic meters in size. Also, try to compress the chunk with the expansion technique to enable each chunk to store far larger items. Additionally, a second compression is also needed to compress each chunk to the size of a piece of paper externally."
Hu Xiansheng stared blankly and said, "Zhao Li, are you kidding? This...is too difficult."
Zhao Li shook his head, "No, I'm not kidding. Stop wasting my time. We'll pay more. Su Yu, pay him."
"..."
Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He looked at Hu Xiansheng and said, "Don't worry, Faculty Head. I'll pay for all your research after this. I will support all your research as long as I'm alive."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"No problem."
Hu Xiansheng was overjoyed, "Three hundred chunks? A thousand cubic meters? Not a problem. In that case, a chunk of space three hundred thousand square meters in size will be gone."
That was far too massive.
Hu Xiansheng inhaled in shock as he continued, "It's better we do it separately. If we do it all at the same spot, we will have a city-sized black hole floating around. Su Yu, I'll need to warn you in advance. Cutting a chunk of space this big will attract the attention of Invincibles. You need to handle that."
Su Yu nodded, "No problem."
Everyone turned solemn. Just from the amount of space they were cutting, they could see that this wouldn't be a simple project. Even something as simple as a storage ring would reach the earth grade with so much space.
Three hundred chunks of space.
Just what was Su Yu trying to forge? Not even storage rings would require so much space. Furthermore, they needed to split the space into three hundred chunks. Was Su Yu forging three hundred storage rings?
Zhao Tianbing asked solemnly, "What do I need to do?"
Su Yu answered, "You have a simple task, Martial Uncle Zhao. Forge 302 pages that can store Faculty Head Hu's compressed space inside. Three hundred of them will be the pages of a book, while the extra two will serve as the covers of the book."
"Storage pages?"
Zhao Tianbing was alarmed. Holy shit. This kid was trying to kill him!
"A lot of energy is required to compress a space so big. And you want me to forge pages capable of storing these compressed chunks of space? The difficulty will be extremely high. And you need three hundred of them?"
Zhao Li rolled his eyes and said, "If you can, do it. If you can't, scram. I'll get someone else to do it."
Zhao Tianbing could only agree, "Fine, I'll do it. But know this in advance. To complete the task in a month, I'll need to forge more than ten pages per day. I will need assistants or it won't be possible. Each individual page is already comparable to a profound weapon..."
Zhao Li frowned and said, "That's not good enough. Each page needs to be comparable to an earth weapon."
"..."
Zhao Tianbing furrowed his brows and said, "Firstly, I won't be able to forge even ten pages per day if that's what you need. Secondly, do you even have enough materials? Thirdly, After completion, the assembly of three hundred earth weapons will result in something beyond a heaven weapon. Can Su Yu even control a weapon like that?"
Zhao Li nodded in agreement. He considered it and said, "It's fine. You can make them all embryonic earth weapons. You need seventy-three stripes to reach the earth grade. Just leave the stripes at seventy-two and half with some additional embryonic golden stripes on top. That way, Su Yu will be able to advance each page to the earth grade at need in the future."
Su Yu swallowed nervously. Why did it feel like Old Zhao was...even crazier than him?
Su Yu's plan was very simple. He only wanted a powerful earth weapon that was also an embryonic heaven weapon. That was why he had only requested small chunks of space from Hu Xiansheng. What was Zhao Li doing here?
Zhao Li looked at Su Yu and said, "Your growth is too fast. A regular earth weapon won't be enough for you. Furthermore, you're forging your dao weapon this time. We can't settle for an inferior product. If you lack the materials, I can provide you with some..."
Zhao Tianbing hurriedly offered, "I have some as well!"
Su Yu frowned and shook his head. "No, I can't accept your materials. You're both here to help me. I'm not so useless that I need your materials as well. Don't worry. I'll handle the matter of materials."
That was nothing. Wasn't the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion still around? It wasn't like he had no money. He could always sell heavenly source qi for whatever he wanted. And that was something he had plenty of.
If he was desperate enough, he could even sell his carrier treasures. The divines had surprisingly delivered him the carrier treasure promised to him previously. Thus, he now had eight carrier treasures in possession.
He had merely been surprised by the scale of what he was forging. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it.
Hu Qi and the two earth weaponsmiths from Great Ming were completely dumbfounded.
Hu Qi asked, "Three hundred pages with each page comparable to an earth weapon? Su Yu, are you forging a book-like weapon and fuse chunks of space into it, creating a world in each page?"
Su Yu nodded, "Yes, Teacher Hu. That's my plan. Or initial plan, to be exact. Of course, there is no guarantee that we will be able to really finish all three hundred pages."
Hu Qi inhaled deeply and said, "This will be no simple project. What are our tasks?"
Su Yu paused to think before answering, "Firstly, processing the materials. Secondly, help Martial Uncle Zhao with the insertion of the spatial pockets into the pages. This isn't a task a regular person can do. Only earth weaponsmiths can help with this."
The three earth weaponsmiths nodded solemnly. This would be an extremely difficult job.
Hu Qi said, "Space fusion is a risky task. It can easily cause explosions. Each damaged page will be a massive loss."
For this project, losing a page would be the same as losing an earth weapon.
Su Yu smiled, "So be it. Just make sure you remain unharmed. It doesn't matter if we lose some pages here and there. This will be your respective tasks for now. As for you, Teacher, you will be in charge of managing the project as a whole."
Su Yu continued, "As for me, I'll do the final forging with my teacher to finalize the weapon. I'll also be in charge of supplying the materials, helping with your rest and recuperation, and other menial tasks you need help with."
He was an earth weaponsmith as well, but he needed to spare most of his strength for the final forging. That would involve a reforging of the entire weapon, and the difficulty would be extremely high.
Zhao Tianbing asked doubtfully, "Can you do it? I'm not underestimating you, but this is too difficult. Are you sure you can persist until the end? This involves hundreds of earth weapons."
Su Yu inhaled deeply and nodded, "I'll try my best. If I really can't, I can reduce the pages. It's fine. I can add them in the future."
Zhao Tianbing nodded, "You're very ambitious, Kid. This weapon will be a peak earth weapon if not a heaven weapon upon completion. It will definitely attract a heavenly reward or tribulation. You will have to deal with that as well. If your weapon aligns with the will of the heavens, you will receive a reward. If your weapon is unwanted by the heavens, you will receive a tribulation." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novèlfire.net
Su Yu nodded. He wasn't sure what he would receive as well.
Chapter 1356: Start Of Weaponsmithing (2)
When Su Yu took out the materials he had prepared for the weaponsmithing, all the earth weaponsmiths in the room started gasping for breath.
The kid was...too rich.
Su Yu had not only traded for many treasures, but he had also killed a lot of people before. Thus, he had accumulated a huge stash of treasures without realizing it.
Next, he took a different pile of treasures out and introduced, "These are five elemental fruits. If you need to replenish your source qi or willpower, use them."
"Fuck!"
All of them had the same reaction.
Screw that!
What were they supposed to use for recovery?
Five elemental fruits?
Was this little shit addicted to the life of a wastrel?
Each five elemental fruit was worth ten strands of heavenearth profound light. This was no joke. It was as valuable as ten drops of first-stage Sunmoon blood essence. Even the price of an intact first-stage Sunmoon was probably only slightly higher than this fruit.
Zhao Li frowned and berated, "Stop messing around."
Su Yu shook his head, "I'm serious. Teacher Hu and the others are old and plagued by their old injuries. A heavy workload for one whole month might kill them. Maybe they will die before the month is up. How am I supposed to answer for your deaths? With five elemental fruits, you can not only replenish your source qi and willpower, but you can also heal your injuries."
Then, Su Yu took more fruits out and said, "These are hallow source qi fruits for your source qi replenishment. I have a hundred of them here. I made them from my scam not long ago."
Su Yu grinned, "Of course, try to avoid using these fruits unless you really need to. I will provide all of you with sufficient heavenly source qi. We don't use regular source qi here. It's full of impurities."
"..."
Everyone swallowed. As weaponsmiths, they were no country bumpkins. But...they had truly never seen someone like this.
Using heavenly source qi as regular water, using hallow source qi fruit as backup water, and using five elemental fruit as emergency water. This was essentially what Su Yu was telling them to do.
In truth, the value of these treasures was already far beyond that of a heaven weapon.
Was Su Yu crazy?
No. He wasn't. He was simply rich. Sure, these treasures were good enough to help even with source qi transformations, but they might not be sufficient for his own source qi transformations. He required even better treasures for that.
Since he was forging something that would help achieve his dao, why would he care about something like expenses? Since these earth weaponsmiths had agreed to help so readily, could he mistreat them?
What was he supposed to do if he worked them to death before the weapon was even complete? How was he supposed to answer to Great Ming and their families? He would never mistreat them.
Su Yu said, "I believe all of you are already familiar with the Long Life Art. Take this chance to cultivate it and recover from your physical injuries before using the five elemental fruits to recover from your willpower injuries."
Then, he took four more fruits out. These new fruits were celestial devil fruits, and they were incredibly valuable as well. Back then, each was sold at a price of sixty drops of heavenly source qi.
Of course, there was a reason for these fruits to be so expensive.
Su Yu looked at the others and introduced, "Celestial devil fruits. They are extremely valuable. I only have four of them. Their biggest function is the recovery of physical injuries. After consuming one, you will undergo rebirth. I used to have five, but the greedy furball ate one of them. If you suffer from any backlash while working on this project, you can recover with these fruits."
Everyone was stunned.
They were starting to suspect whether they were really here to forge a weapon. Were they here for a feast instead? There were too many treasures.
Su Yu...was too damn wasteful!
Of course, Su Yu wouldn't be so generous to everyone. These people had agreed to help him with such a difficult project without any hesitation. They were earth weaponsmiths. It wasn't like they wouldn't have anything to do if they hadn't agreed to help him. By agreeing, they were doing him a favor.
Su Yu would always be generous toward those who were kind to him.
That was not all. He also took out the sunmoon profound yellow liquid he had and said, "You can use this for recovery as well. I'll buy more from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. I have so many treasures that I have forgotten to use some of them. This will be my chance to use them all. Feel free to use them. They will be left collecting dust otherwise."
Even a peak earth weaponsmith like Zhao Tianbing couldn't help feeling envious. He said, "Su Yu, this is more than what I have earned after spending a lifetime as a weaponsmith. You are truly..."
Su Yu flashed a humble smile and said, "Don't worry about it. I earned all these through scams. The myriad races are too stupid. In truth, I haven't done much except scamming."
"..."
Silence descended.
Hu Qi laughed helplessly and said, "I had believed that we would be here to help you. But instead, we're here to enjoy your benefits. I'm starting to feel embarrassed."
Su Yu said, "Not at all. I had enjoyed my time in Great Ming. That was all thanks to you. Everyone there had helped me a lot. These treasures are mere external objects. Since I don't need them for anything, it's pointless to keep them. I might as well put them to use here."
Zhao Li exhaled deeply and said, "Just use them. You will be able to work better with your injuries healed. Zhao Tianbing is a peak earth weaponsmith while the three of you are middle earth weaponsmiths. I can forge middle earth weapons as well. This will give us a much higher success rate."
Hu Xiansheng laughed and said, "To speak the truth, we have enough people and treasures to surpass the lineup involved during the forging of the Hundred Dao Pagoda if Heavenly Forge King joins us as well. By the way, how are you getting the formation and other things needed for a weapon this powerful? Have you dealt with these issues?"
"Yes." Su Yu answered, "Great Ming King will help with the formation and Principal Niu will help with the talismans."
What a luxurious lineup.
Two Invincibles, multiple earth weaponsmiths, and countless precious materials. They had to admit that one could only afford to be willful if one had enough money.
Hu Xiansheng was left speechless for quite a long while before he could speak again, "Are you sure you're not forging a divine weapon here? Not even the myriad races are this spendthrift. We have enough people and materials to forge a heaven weapon. But if you're really forging a divine weapon...it will still be extremely difficult. Perhaps we can even try to forge a peak heaven weapon. But a divine weapon...is simply too difficult to make. A weapon like this is perhaps something only luck itself can bestow."
Everyone nodded. He was speaking the truth.
If divine weapons were really so easy to forge, there would be far more divine weapons out there. At present, the Heavenly Hunt Index was the sole publicly known divine weapon in existence. Each divine weapon was unimaginably powerful. For example, the Heavenly Hunt Index was capable of gathering and detecting auras in the entirety of the Allheaven Battlefield. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveI[F]ire.net
Zhao Tianbing inhaled deeply and said, "Alright. Since the tasks have been allocated, let's start. This is our first cooperation. If we can complete this project, all of us will benefit considerably as well. Perhaps...this will be enough to push me into a heaven weaponsmith. I am grateful for this opportunity. If I rely on myself or the human race...I will never be able to work with so many treasures at once. Su Yu, we only have one request. When both you and my junior brother are finishing up the weapon, we wish to observe the forging process."
Su Yu considered it slightly and nodded, "Sure."
Zhao Li frowned and said, "You can observe, but you're not allowed to pry into the inner workings of the weapon. Su Yu is courageous enough to put his trust on all of us. I might only be a mere junior in front of all of you, but I'll be frank. This won't be a simple weapon meant for combat. This will be his dao weapon. He claimed that he has discovered his dao. That was why I told him to reject Heavenly Forge King's offer of assistance. It is fine for any other weapon, even a heaven weapon, to have its inner workings exposed. But a dao weapon is different. Do not try to pry into it."
They all nodded in agreement. That was a fair request.
Zhao Tianbing said, "Don't worry, Junior Brother. We're all weaponsmiths. We know how things are done. Why is a wimpy kid like you reminding veteran weaponsmiths like us on the right thing to do?"
Suddenly, Hu Qi remarked flatly, "Tianbing, there is no need for this farce of a carrot-and-stick routine. Both of you are wimpy kids in front of us. We know better than the two of you."
"..."
This time, it was Zhao Tianbing's turn to feel awkward. True. The three of them came from the same generation as the prefecture founders. They were far higher than he in seniority.
Su Yu was resisting the urge to laugh.
But he was also feeling very touched. It would be inappropriate for him to issue these warnings. But Zhao Li had warned them all on his behalf.
This wasn't an issue of trust. A dao weapon was too important. The moment the inner workings of a dao weapon were exposed, the weapon would be very vulnerable. The loss of such a weapon would be heavy. Not only would he lose the weapon, but he would also lose the characters fused within.
Zhao Li did not say anything to Hu Qi. He was Su Yu's weaponsmithing teacher. He was akin to Su Yu's guide in the path of cultivation. Since it was inappropriate for Su Yu to say those words, he was obliged to say them.
They had refused Heavenly Forge King's offer of help because as an Invincible, Heavenly Forge King was too powerful. He could easily see through the secrets of the weapon, and he would gain too much leverage over Su Yu.
With nothing else to say, they could all get started.
They were all straightforward people. As weaponsmiths, they did not have the habit of procrastinating. Everyone started working while Su Yu started gathering the rest of the materials he needed. He had to contact the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion to get what he lacked.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clanking sounds started resounding in the mayor's residence.
***
At this point, news of what Su Yu was doing had spread all over the Myriad Realms.
Considering he had asked for the help of several earth weaponsmiths, everyone speculated that he was trying to forge a heaven weapon. This attracted the attention of many weaponsmiths in the Myriad Realms.
One could say that the forging of a heaven weapon was an extremely rare event. Apart from a small number of peak Sunmoons, only Invincibles were capable of owning heaven weapons.
In any case, a large number of people were already in the region for the Luminous Domain Mansion. Thus, even more people were attracted to the area. This was especially true since most of the people attracted by the forging were weaponsmiths, and most earth weaponsmiths would not go anywhere without the escort of Sunmoons.
Generally, each earth weaponsmith would have an entourage of three to five Sunmoons following them around.
***
Headquarters of Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
When Su Yu's list arrived, the gold masks in the room inhaled in shock.
The Earth Department head said, "Just what manner of heaven weapon is that guy forging? He traded for quite a lot of treasures not long ago. Are those treasures not enough? Why is he buying so many from us?"
The Heaven Department head, whose body was flickering in and out of existence, picked the list up and said, "These are all materials for earth weapons. He's probably forging an assembled weapon. He's not buying too many types of materials, but the volume of each type is massive. This weapon probably consists of a large number of components. The more components there are, the harder the weapon will be to assemble. Generally, most weaponsmiths do not recommend assembled weapons as the difficulty of the final forge will be too high.
"Since Su Yu has asked for so many weaponsmiths to help, he is likely planning to finish the final forge himself. He is quite courageous. Even a weaponsmith like Zhao Tianbing is being used as an assistant for this project. I'm not sure if he will be able to complete the final forge."
Just from the list, the Heaven Department head was able to make an accurate guess of Su Yu's goal. Clearly, he was quite well-versed in weaponsmithing as well.
After studying the list for a bit, he said, "Make the sale. I want to see if he can really forge a heaven weapon."
The Earth Department head said, "He requires a large volume of these materials. The price won't be low. He said that he will pay with heavenly source qi. But these materials are worth over five thousand portions of heavenly source qi. Can he even afford this price?"
"Just agree to the sale and you will know the answer."
The Heaven Department head said, "He was the first person to discover the Nanyuan ruin. He might have harvested a lot of heavenly source qi from that place. That ruin is very rich in heavenly source qi."
"True."
The others nodded. They had to admit that Su Yu was being extremely luxurious here.
Everyone was very interested in Su Yu.
When he helped Zhao Li with the embryonic heaven weapon previously, he had created quite a sensation. Since then, he had been known as the youngest earth weaponsmith in the Myriad Realms. A lot of people were speculating that he was really going to attempt forging a heaven weapon this time.
Of course, he still wouldn't be able to fully control a heaven weapon at this point. However, he was growing at such a crazy rate that it wouldn't be a waste for him to wield a heaven weapon.
Chapter 1357: Start Of Weaponsmithing (3)
While everyone was talking about Su Yu.
Inside the mayor's residence, Su Yu was busy providing support for the other weaponsmiths. For now, both he and Zhao Li would be focusing on assisting anyone requiring help without focusing on any task in particular.
This was a good opportunity for Su Yu to refamiliarize himself with the process of weaponsmithing. He had gotten quite rusty since it had been a while since he last forged anything.
In any case, he needed to be very familiar with these components if he wanted the final forge to be smooth. Both he and Zhao Li would be the only ones responsible for the final forge. They both knew the Soul Expanding Art, so they should have enough endurance to finish the process.
As he assisted Zhao Tianbing, he was able to observe Zhao Tianbing's forging style. Zhao Tianbing might have learned from the Zhao Family, but he had his own unique style as well.
While helping everyone, Su Yu also kept his fire of inheritance active at all times. As a fourth-tier character, it plunged everyone in the mayor's residence into a constant state of enlightenment whenever it was active.
That was not enough for Su Yu. He separated the civilization character into its two original characters again. The culture character was fused with the fire character, further boosting the effects of the fire character.
With that, the others all felt their work going much smoother than before. They were also able to instantly spot any tiny imperfection in their work that they wouldn't have noticed previously.
Zhao Tianbing said, "What an excellent character. I would have advanced into a heaven weaponsmith long ago if I had such a character as well. Kid, do try to keep the character active near me as much as possible."
He was able to easily complete the forging of a page while talking.
There were seventy-two and a half golden stripes on it, making it a pseudo-earth weapon.
Su Yu picked the completed page up and studied it for a while. Suddenly, he frowned, "Something isn't right. Martial Uncle, try to insert a drop of Sunmoon blood essence into the page before reforging it."
Zhao Tianbing frowned and said, "You're forging a book. A weapon of knowledge. The addition of blood will turn it into a weapon of carnage. Think it through."
Su Yu nodded, "To end wars through war. That is the proper path to take. We don't live in a peaceful era. I wish to be a peaceful scholar, but I wish even more to be a scholar capable of curbing violence through violence."
Zhao Tianbing inhaled deeply and said, "Fine. We can add a drop of Sunmoon blood essence per page and adjust accordingly at the later stages of forging. I'll try to make it possible to summon Sunmoons to fight for you in combat. This will make it a sort of unique summoning cultural weapon."
Su Yu nodded, "One race per page. With three hundred drops of blood essence, I'll have three hundred races to summon."
"Do you have that much Sunmoon blood essence?"
Su Yu nodded, "Yes. I still have several hundred drops of first-stage Sunmoon blood essence. I also have more blood essence of higher levels, but that's too powerful for me. I can only settle for the first stage for now. Three hundred first-stage Sunmoons will make for quite a powerful force as well."
Yet again, he stunned all his helpers.
Fuck!
Was something as valuable as Sunmoon blood essence measured in hundreds of drops here?
Little did they know, that wasn't enough for Su Yu. He had enough blood essence, but he didn't have enough variation of races among his collection. He would only fuse a single race into each page. To get enough variations of blood essence for this project, he would need to purchase more from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
***
During the next few days, Hu Xiansheng started traveling everywhere to cut the chunks of space required for the forging. Su Yu had Empyrean Cloud escorting Hu Xiansheng to protect Hu Xiansheng from the myriad race Invincibles. Things were also progressing smoothly in the city.
With an unending supply of heavenly source qi and other treasures, the weaponsmiths found themselves becoming more energetic the longer they worked. At the same time, the ancient injuries accumulated in their bodies were starting to heal. Even Senior Wang had benefited greatly from the environment.
The sheer amount of heavenly source qi and treasures provided by Su Yu had essentially turned the mayor's residence into a holy land of sorts.
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Inner hall.
Xing Yue's voice rang out, "Grandstar, just what manner of a weapon are they forging? They have forged over a hundred earth weapons by now."
"No idea."
Not even Grandstar knew what Su Yu was making. Also, why had the kid decided to forge a weapon out of nowhere? That was very surprising. Su Yu was known for his powerful physical cultivation. The addition of a weapon might not add much to his overall strength.
Was it worth exhausting all those treasures for one weapon?
Meanwhile, Su Yu was too busy to be concerned with what anyone was thinking.
The project continued progressing.
For the past few days, he had been practicing his weaponsmithing skills by helping the others with their tasks. After a few days of hard work, he was now able to easily forge a pseudo earth weapon. However, the final forge would require him to go through hundreds of pages, which were essentially hundreds of earth weapons. This wouldn't be an easy task.
Zhao Li had also been practicing, deepening his understanding on their current project, and making adjustments as necessary.
Finally, Zhao Li went to Su Yu and said, "We still lack something."
"What is it?"
"A binder. Without a binder, each individual page is too strong. The pages might scatter too easily even after the final forge."
Su Yu smiled and said, "You didn't ask before this, so I thought it was because you assumed I already prepared something suitable. Don't worry. I have the perfect thing for this. The binder will need to handle hundreds of pages now and even more in the future. It can't be something ordinary."
Then, he took a piece of dried wood out and said, "We'll be using this as the binder."
Zhao Li was alarmed.
"Carrier treasure!"
The other weaponsmiths also looked over with alarm. Was the kid crazy?
Su Yu smiled, "Yes, we're using this. According to what I know, this used to be a living being in the ancient past. A sentient plant-based life. This fellow in particular must have been struck dead by lightning. With this thing as the binder, the book will definitely not fall apart."
"Screw you!" Zhao Li cursed, "There is no way to process this thing. We can't extract what's inside or remove what's outside..."
"We can." Su Yu smiled, "Lord Grandstar can help. If he can't do it, I can get a Pseudo Emperor to help."
Fuck!
What were they supposed to say to this? This was how a true big shot should be like. An unsolvable problem? What a joke. He could ask Invincibles for help. If Invincibles couldn't help, he could ask Pseudo Emperors for help.
They all decided to shut their mouth and focus only on working.
Su Yu merely smiled with amusement. He had long thought of everything.
He wasn't finished. He continued, "Also, I'm not sure if the spatial pockets will be as stable as I want. I might even crush one carrier treasure to stabilize these spatial pockets."
He had done this once before when making the Nanyuan ruin. Very few people knew about that. In fact, only Old Wan and Su Yu were aware of that. Even now, everyone else still believed that the Nanyuan ruin was a real ruin. After all, the space within was simply too stable.
Nobody would expect Su Yu to be crazy enough to stabilize the space inside with an entire carrier treasure. That was simply not something a normal person would do. Even those from the Xia Family were more and more convinced that it was a real ruin.
Xia Longwu had visited the ruin personally, and that was what he believed as well.
As for Great Xia King, he was left quite dumbfounded after learning about the ruin. He once spent an extended period of time in Nanyuan. How had he missed out on such a ruin? This question had now become an unsolvable puzzle for him.
***
As they worked busily and spent money like water, one page after another was forged. Hu Qi and the other two Great Ming weaponsmiths constantly worked on embedding the chunks of space into the forged pages. During the process, they failed several times, wasting all the materials involved. However, they continued on relentlessly.
With so many earth weaponsmiths working so hard just to finish the preparatory works for Su Yu, even those without any knowledge about weaponsmithing could see that this would be no ordinary weapon. Su Yu was most definitely trying to make something ambitious.
As time passed, a book slowly took form.
However, the pages were still unbound.
It was an incomplete book.
Su Yu and Zhao Li would need to work on them to finish the job.
Looking at the various pages, Su Yu inhaled deeply. It wouldn't be long now. With Zhao Tianbing and the others working so hard that they nearly died from exhaustion, the preparatory works would reach completion soon.
As of late, he had been suppressing his body from undergoing an advancement. He could feel that his advancement was near. He only lacked one final body forging to make the breakthrough.
He would attempt the breakthrough when he was performing the final forge on the book. Upon breakthrough, the boost granted by the advancement would increase his endurance, allowing him to continue working for a longer time. He might even receive some heavenly rewards that would also help strengthen the book.
Zhao Li was also preparing himself for the final forge. He had been in seclusion for several days. He had consumed a large amount of resources to grow before compressing his willpower. He was trying very hard to ensure that he wouldn't run out of willpower during a critical moment.
This would be their second time forging a weapon together. Previously, Su Yu was still a Skysoar while he was only a Cloudbreach. The two had exceeded all expectations and forged an embryonic heaven weapon. Both of them had grown considerably since then.
However, Zhao Li still couldn't help feeling nervous about the coming forging. The price Su Yu had paid for this forging was simply too high. A failure would not be tolerable. Zhao Li would rather die than fail.
Not even the sale of an entire human prefecture would be enough to make up for the losses Su Yu would incur upon failure.
***
Time passed. It had been one month since the allocation of the slots. Those with the allocated tokens could start approaching the Luminous Domain Mansion.
However, Su Yu had yet to go. So were many other people. A large number of people were still gathered around the ancient city.
The clanging sounds had been coming from the city for an entire month. Since the Luminous Domain Mansion had yet to open, there was no rush. Everyone was more interested in spending some time here to satisfy their curiosity instead.
Yes. The entire myriad races were incredibly curious about the weapon Su Yu was forging. He had simply caused too big a ruckus.
In fact, a battle between Invincibles had nearly been triggered over this. A certain someone had been caught cutting space somewhere he shouldn't. Fortunately, Empyrean Cloud was around or Hu Xiansheng would be dead by now. One could say that Hu Xiansheng deserved this close brush with death. He had opted to cut some space right in front of the Mystic Armor Realm. That act of his had nearly infuriated Mystic Armor King to death.
Ultimately, Mystic Armor King was forced to retreat when Empyrean Cloud showed herself. As of late, he had been regretting his past actions. He had discovered that it was a very unlucky thing to have someone like Su Yu as an enemy.
If he had known this, he would have blasted Red Armor to death long ago. That bastard was the reason he hadn't even dared to leave his realm recently.
***
Time continued passing as everyone waited curiously.
Year 352 of Anping Calender. March.
All the preparatory works were finally done. All that was left was the final forge. All the weaponsmiths involved in this project had benefited greatly. The large amount of treasures supplied to them, coupled with the Long Life Art, had healed nearly all their old injuries.
As for Zhao Tianbing, he had even gained some new comprehension that would help him become a heaven weaponsmith.
That wasn't even surprising. Anyone would be able to gain as much after a month of exposure to the fire of inheritance.
Even Liu Hong, who had been kicked out of the main hall by Su Yu, had benefited greatly just by squatting outside the main hall for a month. He longed for nothing than to enter the main hall as well. Alas, Su Yu had not allowed that. Liu Hong was confident he could have grown by at least three stages if he had stayed in the main hall. Instead, he had only grown by one stage by squatting outside. It was too regrettable.
Senior Wang and the demonic beasts had also benefited as they were also staying in the mayor's residence even if they hadn't entered the main hall as well. That day, Su Yu and Zhao Li stepped out of the main hall. After looking at each other, they nodded. Finally, it was time for them to work together once more.
Previously, they had worked on Zhao Li's weapon. This time, it would be Su Yu's weapon.
After a deep inhalation, Zhao Li said, "Aim to complete it at one try. Do not rush things. Do it one page at a time. I will be your assistant this time."
"Thank you, Teacher."
302 pages flew out and floated around him. Far away, Liu Hong was salivating as he stared at the pages. Only now did he know what Su Yu had been doing for the past month. He couldn't resist taking a look at his storage ring. After seeing all those pages, he couldn't help but feel like he was as poor as a beggar.
He had thought that he was actually quite rich. But compared to Su Yu, that little bit of wealth he had was nothing.
While Liu Hong was lamenting his poverty, a fist dropped down from the sky. With a rumble, he lost consciousness. After casually tossing Liu Hong into the inner hall, Su Yu said, "Lord, please watch over him for me."
He did not see the need to let Liu Hong observe his forging. Grandstar did not say anything. He merely kicked Liu Hong behind him to get a clear view of what Su Yu was doing. He was very curious as well.
Su Yu had been very busy for the past month. Just what was he planning to do?
At the same time, a tiny strand of death qi leaked out of the tunnel. When Xing Yue noticed that Grandstar wasn't doing anything about it, she exhaled in relief. She wanted to see as well. Just what weapon was Su Yu trying to make? The clanking sounds had been bothering her for an entire month. She couldn't hold her curiosity back.