Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

Chapter 174: Crimson Flame Stone Marrow and the Weapon Forger's Visit

After leaving the inner courtyard, Chen Ping went to the armory on the fourth floor.

The armory was dimly lit, and Old Liu was still dozing in his rocking chair.

Chen Ping walked to the bookshelf, found the book "A Discussion on the Five Elements Refining Qi", and turned to the page that recorded the strange objects with fire attributes.

He read through them one by one, carefully memorizing the name, characteristics, and possible geographical features of each strange object.

After reading, close the book and put it back in its original place.

He turned and walked toward the eight stones in the center of the armory.

There were many objects displayed on the stone. Chen Ping examined them one by one and found that most of them contained "meaning". However, there were very few rare objects with pure five elements attributes.

"What are you looking for, you little brat, wandering around here aimlessly?"

Old Liu's voice drifted over from the chair, slow and slightly hoarse.

Chen Ping stopped and turned around, bowing respectfully: "Senior, my cultivation technique has reached a critical point, and I need fire-type qi as a foundation. So I came to the stone to look for a suitable fire-type artifact."

Old Liu opened his eyes and chuckled twice: "The items enshrined in these four layers of armory are mostly for you to use in comprehending the true meaning of martial arts. If you want to find those rare items for refining attributes, you'll have to ask at Wanbao Hall." He paused, his somewhat cloudy old eyes scrutinizing Chen Ping for a moment.

"However, judging from the energy pathways within you, you're cultivating the 'Blazing Sun Burning Sea True Scripture,' aren't you?"

Chen Ping was startled.

The old man was able to see through the details of my technique with just a glance.

He suppressed his surprise and nodded honestly, "Yes, senior has insightful eyes."

Old Liu leaned back in his chair, his voice slightly muffled: "The cultivation method is good, but the way those people made the copies is too crude. The two visualization diagrams on the fifth and sixth levels are so blurry that they're unreadable. If you intend to go all the way down this path, you should exchange them for two real visualization diagrams here. Otherwise, you'll never achieve anything in your entire life."

He waved his hand: "However, don't even think about it before you've mastered the Water and Fire Qi. First, practice to the fourth level, then come find me."

Chen Ping kept these instructions in mind, thanked them, turned around and left the armory, heading towards Wanbaotang.

There weren't many people in Wanbaotang.

Chen Ping looked around the shelves and found that items with fire attributes were indeed rare.

A few items were scattered around, with the best-quality piece, "Crimson Flame Stone Marrow," priced at 20,000 merit points.

Chen Ping glanced at the price and then considered the balance of just over 60,000 in his wallet. After the purchase, he would still have a little over 40,000 left. He would need a water-attribute item to reach the fourth level, which would be another expense, so he had to be careful with his money.

He reached out and picked up the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow, weighing it in his palm. It was about the size of a fist, entirely crimson, and warm, like holding a piece of charcoal just picked from a fire.

The breathing technique flowed secretly in my palm, allowing me to sense the fire element essence within.

The purity isn't top-tier, but it's enough to break through the threshold of cultivation techniques.

Chen Ping took the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow to the counter and took out his waist token.

"I'll take this one."

The steward took the waist token, checked the account, deducted 20,000 merit points, wrapped the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow in cloth, and handed it to Chen Ping.

Chen Ping took it, put it in his pocket, left Wanbaotang, and walked towards the inner courtyard.

......

We returned to Courtyard No. 6, Xuanzi.

Push open the courtyard gate and go inside.

There was another person in the courtyard. A woman sat on a stone bench next to the weapons rack, holding a thin wooden board and a charcoal pencil, and was writing and drawing on the board with her head down.

She appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with delicate features, no makeup, and her hair neatly tied back.

He was wearing a tacky gray short jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, giving him a capable look.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up at Chen Ping, then lowered her head and continued writing.

Chen Ping's gaze unconsciously swept over her hand.

Those hands didn't match her delicate face. Her nails were trimmed extremely short, and there were several old, whitish burn marks on the back of her hands.

Thin calluses layered on the fingertips.

There is a long scar on the palm, extending from the base of the thumb to the base of the little finger, as if it had been cut by a sharp weapon and burned by a furnace.

These are hands that have spent years wielding a hammer and guarding the forging furnace.

Chen Ping glanced at her, then looked towards the side courtyard behind her. There was no one else there.

She noticed Chen Ping's gaze, raised her head, and gave a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Stop looking, I'm the craftsman you're looking for." She stood up, tucked the wooden board under her arm, and extended her calloused hand to Chen Ping.

"Give me your knife, I want to check its base first."

Chen Ping didn't ask any further questions, took the Jingye from behind his back, and handed it over.

She took Jingye with one hand.

With a slight downward movement of his wrist, he steadily supported the thirty-pound blade.

As she rolled up her sleeves, Chen Ping noticed that a thin layer of qi was faintly floating on her forearm, clinging tightly to the texture of her skin.

Yuan Gang Realm.

She attached a wisp of internal energy to her index finger and slowly traced it from the hilt of the knife to the blade.

His fingertips traced the thick spine of the blade, pausing briefly at each spot with a hidden wound.

Then she turned the blade over and examined the thickness of the back of the blade, the wave pattern on the guard, and the dark brown leather on the handle.

He paused for a moment, tracing the fine cracks along the spine of the blade.

She looked up, her gaze falling on Chen Ping's palm. She examined the calluses on his hands and the wear marks between his thumb and forefinger, and asked, "This knife, it's been used for quite a few years, hasn't it?" Chen Ping thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, it's been a few years."

She nodded and held Jingye up to Chen Ping: "Hold it in the way you're most comfortable with in actual combat."

Chen Ping reached out and gripped the hilt of the knife with one hand.

She looked down and carefully examined his grip, the angle between his fingers and the handle, and the pressure point on his thumb and forefinger.

Then I picked up the wooden board and scribbled a few lines on it with a charcoal pencil.

Hold with both hands.

Chen Ping placed his left hand on top as well, gripping the knife with both hands, the blade pointing diagonally at the ground.

She looked down at the data again and added a few more sets of data to the board. Then she looked up and her gaze swept over Chen Ping's burly frame.

"The first refinement of Yuan Gang?"

Chen Ping nodded.

She noted the level on the board, then stepped back a few paces to clear the space: "Use only your own physical strength, without mobilizing your blood and qi, and swing the sword with all your might."

Chen Ping looked at the woman who was standing close to him and said, "If you're going all out, please step back a little. There's a shockwave." She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but nodded and stepped back to the courtyard wall.

Chen Ping gripped the knife hilt tightly with both hands, channeling his power throughout his body, his muscles tensing instantly, and his center of gravity lowering.

He slashed out with a single stroke.

A dull whistling sound echoed through the courtyard.

The heavy blade tore through the air, creating a visible, transparent shockwave.

Chen Ping was covered in dust.

Beside the courtyard wall, the woman's gray short jacket fluttered in the strong wind, her hair rising and falling.

She lowered her head and quickly wrote on the wooden board with charcoal: "Extremely strong physical explosive power; weapon base weight starts at two hundred pounds."

He raised his head and continued, "Qi embodies the weapon."

Chen Ping nodded.

The internal energy within his dantian seeped into the hilt of the sword through his palm, spreading rapidly along the spine and covering the entire blade.

The blade of the Thunderclap gleamed with a dark golden light in his hand, and an icy sharpness emanated from it, as if the surrounding air itself were being torn apart. The woman stared at the golden light on the Thunderclap, momentarily stunned.

"Gold...metal-based elemental energy?"

She lowered her head, her charcoal pencil flying across the board as she muttered to herself, "Sharp, metal element, main material needs to be Golden Obsidian Iron..."

Suddenly, she paused, her pen still, and looked up at Chen Ping.

"Will you refine other attributes in the future? Fire, water? Or do you plan to stick to the metal attribute path?"

Chen Ping answered truthfully, "At least we still have fire and water; it's hard to say about the others for now."

After listening, she nodded, lowered her head, and decisively crossed out the main material plan she had just written.

The charcoal pencil made a rustling sound as it scratched against the wooden board.

"The qi is ever-changing, requiring both inclusiveness and resilience. The base material has been changed to Xuanjing Heavy Iron, increasing the weapon's weight to three hundred jin..."

After finishing writing this line, she looked up again, her eyes revealing the seriousness of a craftsman.

"Have you grasped the true meaning? What path does your swordsmanship follow?"

Chen Ping held the Nightfall Ring and casually waved it forward. The True Meaning of Tide Abyss was revealed.

The dark gold light on the blade instantly vanished, replaced by a deep, dark black.

The airflow around the blade began to swirl and pull inward, producing a low, rumbling sound.

The lights around the training ground were drawn by this airflow, and the flames all shifted and tilted towards the blade.

The woman stared at the large sword that seemed to devour the air currents, her pupils shrinking slightly.

She lowered her head, the charcoal pencil almost leaving afterimages on the board: "The intent of the blade is like an abyss, with the added benefit of devouring, erupting like a tidal wave..."

After recording all these elements, she breathed a sigh of relief.

I turned the wooden board over and looked at it. It was covered with writing, with several parts crossed out in the middle, and a few simple sketches of weapon centers of gravity drawn in the corners.

She tucked the wooden board back under her arm and looked at Chen Ping.

"You have a wide range of skills, and the Qi attributes will be mutually exclusive in the future. I don't care how you deal with it, but I will take your weapon into consideration. So I can't use materials with obvious single attributes to make it for you, otherwise the weapon won't be able to unleash its full potential."

She pointed to the circled name of the material on the board.

"Mysterious Essence Heavy Iron. This material has no attributes, but it can contain and amplify any internal energy injected into it. Considering your strength and chopping habits, this sword will be extremely heavy when forged." She looked at Chen Ping, her eyes shining with the light of someone who had encountered a good material.

"Your knife is quite challenging."

She tucked the plank into her arms and turned to walk towards the courtyard gate.

He paused at the door, turned back, and said, "I'll start working on the blueprints when I get back. I'll come back to confirm the first draft after I've finished it."

After saying that, he stepped out of the courtyard gate, his brisk footsteps gradually fading away in the corridor.

Chen Ping stood in the courtyard, looking down at the Nightfall in his hand.

On the deep blue blade, the true meaning of Chaoyuan had been completely withdrawn.

The blade had regained its former cold and heavy appearance, with only a few fine lines on the spine lying quietly.

He had this knife with him for a long time.

From Qingkou Town to Tianyan City, from Bone Refining to Yuan Gang.

He tucked the Night Trap back behind his back and sat down on the stone bench.

She didn't give her name. He didn't ask either.