His iron grip clamped down on Lv Cheng’s shoulder. His deeply lined face broke into a smile that quickly froze. "That year, half of Divine Weapon Ridge crumbled to ash. My courage was shattered so completely I didn’t even dare to look back. I didn’t dare return, didn’t dare investigate, didn’t dare ask... I was afraid I would die for it, and the legacy of Divine Weapon Ridge would be severed for good. I never imagined... that you were still alive and had even rebuilt Divine Weapon Ridge."

Lv Cheng’s shoulder blade made a faint creak under the iron grip.

Twenty years had etched two deep lines between his brows. "The Soldier Burning Pool did indeed melt away half my body."

As he raised his arm, his sleeve hung empty. "Now I’m just a Second Realm Martial Master, barely surviving while guarding these broken steles and ruined furnaces."

Despite suppressing the roiling emotions in his heart, the joy of meeting Zhan Yan was evident on Lv Cheng’s tense face.

"Fifth Senior Brother, I never thought we’d meet again."

Hearing this, the smile on Zhan Yan’s face gradually faded. He was silent for a long time before sighing, "Eldest Senior Brother died on his feet back then. We..."

"If we had all followed Eldest Senior Brother’s example and met force with force..." Lv Cheng turned to the side, revealing a dozen or so women and children behind him. An infant in swaddling clothes was sucking on its knuckles. "The Divine Weapon Forging Technique would have been lost long ago."

He glanced back at the women and children, his eyes filled with a trace of worry.

"Fifth Senior Brother, the Daqian Army has now occupied the Nine Provinces of Yanbei. They’re leveling mountains, destroying temples, and arresting Martial Artists everywhere. Divine Weapon Ridge is a Forging Sect. If we get caught, I’m afraid..."

Zhan Yan fell silent for a moment before speaking. "I remember a secret path that leads directly to the mountains thirty li behind Divine Weapon Ridge. We can go check. If it didn’t collapse back then, it’s a path to survival."

Lv Cheng’s expression brightened. "There’s no time to lose. Let’s go now!"

-----------------

「Lingnan Dao, Shu State’s Celestial Craft Cave, three days later.」

Xu Yunfan swept past the youths in front of the Weapon Casting Hall, their Hundred-Patch Robes billowing in the wind. The setting sun illuminated their forms as they craned their necks to gaze at the dome above.

Their ten fingers, weathered and rough as plowed furrows, were clenched into tight fists, their eyes burning with hope for the future.

Nearby, cast-iron Forging Platforms hummed amidst blue, phosphoric flames, radiating waves of heat.

The boys’ backs still held the curve of men bent by stalks of rice, yet they were already learning to hold their necks as straight as quenched steel blades.

Their wrists, wrapped in coarse linen, trembled with each breath, as if they were already gripping invisible hammer handles.

These were the disciples who had successfully activated their Blood Qi and been allowed to stay. Of the two hundred who had been recruited, only thirty remained.

Xu Yunfan, who had been circling the youths with his hands clasped behind his back, suddenly stopped. He looked at a boy standing before him, head held high. Though his face was still childish, he couldn’t hide his excitement. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"What’s your name?"

"My name is Xiao Fan!"

Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow. He reached out and felt the youth’s frame, then nodded slightly. "Your aptitude is quite good. The Weapon Casting Hall of the Celestial Craft Cave will not treat you poorly."

"Yes, sir!"

Having received Xu Yunfan’s praise, the youth’s expression grew animated, and he responded in a loud voice.

’The young man before me is already a legend in the Celestial Craft Cave.’

’A True Disciple of the Weapon Casting Hall who defied the odds to kill a Half-Step Blood Exchange expert while only in the Outer Three Harmonies Realm. The strongest of the younger generation.’

He turned his head to look at the youth next to him.

"And you? What’s your name?"

"Replying to Junior Martial Uncle, my name is Ye Yan!"

"...Hmm. Your name contains ’fire.’ That makes you a good prospect for weapon forging."

Now that Xu Yunfan was temporarily in charge of the Weapon Casting Hall, there were naturally many matters he needed to be aware of.

However, he considered most of them to be completely trivial matters and had dumped them all on Fu Li.

’Everything must revolve around my cultivation.’

To this end, he spent nearly every day sleeping, interacting with a white-robed woman in his dreams. Every battle, every life-and-death struggle, served to accumulate an immense wealth of combat experience for him.

In the days that followed, Xu Yunfan did not take a single step out of the Celestial Craft Cave. He simply asked Mo Shisan to have disciples from the Mechanical Hall’s Giant Kite Team constantly investigate the whereabouts of Fu Jin, as well as the situation at Qingzhou Divine Weapon Ridge.

According to the news sent back by the Giant Kite Team’s disciples, someone had indeed spotted traces of Zhan Yan at Divine Weapon Ridge. Moreover, all the weapon forgers of Divine Weapon Ridge had vanished without a trace, leaving only small squads of the Daqian army constantly patrolling the highways.

Three cold moons waxed and waned, and the flames of war across the land burned ever hotter.

The iron cavalry broke through the Nine Provinces of Yanbei Dao one after another, and Daqian’s black banners were planted on every beacon tower.

When those savage soldiers clad in Profound Iron Armor cut down the grand banners on the city walls, not a single Sect could stand in their way.

The Nine Radiance Sect turtled up within the borders of their Three States around Nine Glories Mountain. They sent out patrols led by powerful disciples and Elders but turned a deaf ear to the wails of the common people in the other Sixteen States.

Not until wolf-smoke signals rose from the seventh mountain pass did the giant Bronze bell of Yanbei Dao City finally toll.

The Defending General gathered three hundred thousand garrison troops, their armor frosted over as they formed ranks before the city gates.

A plea for reinforcements, affixed with twelve Golden Feather Arrows, sped through thirteen relay stations and scattered toward the other five Daos.

"...Besides Yanbei Dao’s Dao City finally reacting and gathering its army to resist, Swordsmen in green robes came striding across the rooftops, the Iron Judge’s Judge’s Pen tore through the bloody mist, and Rangers charged into the fray, their twelve-foot Mo Sabers held inverted."

"Bones piled like mountains beneath the broken city walls, yet they managed to carve out a sliver of life in the twilight, finally managing to hold Yanbei City, that great fortress of the Northern Territory."

Fu Li read the letter from the Giant Kite Team disciple aloud. The disciples present listened, utterly captivated, wishing they could spur their horses to the battlefield and shed their blood for the cause.

"...Who wrote this letter? It’s so melodramatic. A bit much."

Xu Yunfan frowned. Martial Artists were naturally full of vigorous Blood Qi and quick to anger. With this letter circulating, he feared that the hearts of many disciples in the Celestial Craft Cave would fly off to Yanbei City.

Fu Li gave a dry cough. "The head disciple of the Foreign Affairs Hall, Junior Martial Uncle Yuan, Yuan Ze."

Xu Yunfan understood. Although Yuan Ze’s Martial Power was decent, he was like Su Zhenhe from the Profound Daoist Sect—far too much of a romantic idealist.

"All of you, dismiss. The Weapon Casting Hall has taken on many large orders recently. The Great Zhou Military Department alone has placed an order for nearly eight million taels of silver. Every weapon you forge is also a contribution to the cause."

The two hundred Weapon Forgers in the Weapon Casting Hall were now working nonstop, day and night.

Some of the standardized weapons even required the use of the Weapon Forging Furnaces jointly developed by the Celestial Craft Department and the Mechanical Hall.

Ungraded weapons naturally didn’t require the hands of the Weapon Casting Hall’s disciples. The Mechanical Hall and the Celestial Craft Department, with assistance from the Weapon Casting Hall’s advisors, had already developed automated production lines, and the results had been gratifying.

However, to forge a graded weapon—even a single Lower Grade Mortal Soldier—still required the careful, personal hammering of an Artifact Casting Master before it could be considered complete.

Xu Yunfan, of course, would not participate personally. His breakthrough was imminent, and nearly all his focus was on the Cultivation of his Pure Yang Qi Skill.

On the tenth day, in his courtyard, Xu Yunfan took two deep breaths of Qi of Ginseng from the Ginseng Doll. The Qi of Ginseng quickly spread from his lungs throughout his entire body, and the Pure Yang Inner Breath within his flesh and blood began to circulate ceaselessly between his torso and limbs.

He glanced at the information floating on his Attribute Panel. He was only twenty-one Skill Level points away from achieving Great Success in his Pure Yang Qi Skill. Today, he would inevitably and naturally step into the Flesh Refining Realm!

He felt the two streams of Qi of Ginseng transform into a molten-hot current flowing ceaselessly through his body. As his Pure Yang Inner Breath circulated, the Qi was constantly refined and absorbed.

’You have deeply inhaled two mouthfuls of Spirit Marrow Qi of Ginseng, activating the Pure Yang Inner Breath cultivated through the Pure Yang Qi Skill to circulate endlessly through your sinews, bones, skin, and flesh. Aided by the Qi of Ginseng, your Skill Level has increased significantly.’