Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

Chapter 177: The First rays of the sun and the first draft of the craftsman's tool

Martial arts training ground.

Chen Ping sat cross-legged, his internal energy slowly flowing along the meridians of the second level of the Blazing Sun Burning Sea True Scripture.

486/500.

Chen Ping spent three days completing the last fourteen points.

Day 1, 490.

The next day, 496.

Day three.

After the vital energy completed its final cycle, a very subtle vibration emanated from the dantian, as if something had gently clicked and settled into a certain position.

500.

In front of the retina, the words shatter and then recombine.

[The Blazing Sun and Burning Sea Scripture (Third Level)] [Current Progress: 1/1000]

The threshold for the third level has been opened.

Chen Ping closed his eyes, sensing the changes within his body.

After completing the second stage of tempering and returning to the origin, the quality of the qi became even more solid, flowing heavily, as if each strand had been pressed down.

However, the approach on the third level is completely different from that on the first two levels.

The first two layers are for expanding the total amount and for refining the quality; both rely on the inherent power of the Qi itself.

The third level, the first rays of the blazing sun, requires the use of fire-type qi as a guide, and the intense heat of fire to temper the qi throughout the body, like throwing iron into a furnace to heat it thoroughly, then hammering it again, and then heating it again, repeatedly tempering it.

He closed his eyes and, following the path on the third layer of the rubbing, drew fire-type qi from his dantian.

A wisp of dark red qi separated from the intertwined qi of gold and fire, and began to travel along the unique veins of the third layer.

Wherever the fire-elemental energy passed, a scorching sensation seeped from the inner walls of the meridians; it wasn't intense, but it was clear.

The other qi was enveloped by this scorching heat, as if it had been licked by a furnace fire, and the impurities on the surface peeled off little by little under the high temperature.

This is the principle behind the accelerated polishing effect of the fire-based qi hammer. Chen Ping focused intently, guiding the fire-based qi through a complete cycle.

After one round, he could clearly feel that the purity of his Qi had improved significantly compared to when he used the Returning Origin Technique to refine it.

The Returning to Origin Technique is about compression and release, like a blacksmith hammering repeatedly.

The third level of the Blazing Sun Burning the Sea True Scripture uses fire to burn the qi. You throw the qi into the furnace, burn it thoroughly, then hammer it, and then burn it again.

Combining the two methods is more efficient than using either one alone.

Chen Ping opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

Once you've mastered the third level, all that's left is to practice day after day.

He closed his eyes again and began the second time.

again and again.

The fire-elemental energy circulates repeatedly within the body. With each cycle, the energy becomes purer, and the burning sensation intensifies.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Ping felt his body begin to heat up, and a thin layer of sweat seeped from his skin, soaking his clothes.

He stopped. One cannot be greedy in cultivating the third level. The heat of fire-type qi has an upper limit. If it exceeds the threshold that the meridians can withstand, it will only harm oneself.

The numbers jumped a few times in front of my retina.

【The True Scripture of Blazing Sun and Burning Seas (Third Level)】

Current progress: 38/1000

Three days, thirty-eight points.

The speed was much slower than the first two floors, but this was within Chen Ping's expectations.

Each step of progress in the third layer corresponds to a complete cycle of tempering fire-type qi, making it far more valuable than the first two layers.

He stood up, went to the side courtyard to soak in the hot spring, washed away the heat accumulated during his cultivation, changed into clean clothes, and returned to the training ground to continue his cultivation.

And so the day passed.

The next day, Chen Ping left the inner courtyard as usual and went to the Bai family's house for a meal.

Six bowls.

On the way back, I stopped by the Affairs Hall to see if there were any new missions. I have a little over 40,000 merit points, which seems like a lot, but I still need to exchange them for water-attribute rare items and get visualization diagrams from Elder Liu. I need to start saving them up now.

There weren't any good tasks in the office, so he looked around and left.

Back to Xuanzi No. 6.

The gate to the courtyard was open.

Chen Ping paused in his steps.

He closed the door when he left.

He went inside.

In the center of the training ground, a person sat cross-legged on the ground.

She wore a gray short jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her forearms, and her hair was neatly tied back.

A roll of blueprints lay open on his lap, a charcoal pencil was tucked behind his ear, his right hand was supporting his chin, and he was looking down at something on the blueprints with a slight frown.

A knife lay across the ground beside her.

Chen Ping's gaze fell on the knife. A horse-slaying sword.

The blade is about five feet long and four inches wide, slightly curved, single-edged, with an extremely thick back that narrows towards the tip, which is slightly upturned. The handle is two and a half feet long, wrapped with rough hemp rope, and has an iron ring at the end.

The knife was dark and undecorated, with simple and brutal lines; it was a pure weapon of death.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up at Chen Ping, took the charcoal pencil from her ear, and pointed at the horse-slaying sword on the ground.

"Give it a try."

Chen Ping walked over, bent down, and picked up the horse-slaying sword with one hand.

It feels solid and substantial in hand.

He weighed it in his hand, then placed his left hand on it, gripping the hilt with both hands and creating some distance.

She stood up from the ground, rolled up the blueprints and tucked them under her arm, took a few steps back, and looked at him with her arms crossed.

Chen Ping gripped the knife, felt the position of the center of gravity, and found it was about one-third of the way down the blade.

He swung his knife.

The blade sliced ​​through the air with a muffled sound. But as he swung the blade, Chen Ping frowned.

The center of gravity is off.

The front of the blade is too heavy, and there is a noticeable feeling of obstruction when swinging it. The force is momentarily delayed at the connection between the handle and the blade, and is not fully transmitted to the tip of the blade.

The foundry opened his mouth, about to speak.

Chen Ping frowned, using his strength to adjust the muscles throughout his body.

The muscles in the front of the right arm tightened slightly, while the muscles in the back of the left arm relaxed a bit. The strength of the waist and abdomen was redistributed, and the center of gravity shifted from the waist and hips to the right shoulder.

With another swing.

That cut was smooth.

The sound of the blade cutting through the air was much crisper, and the force traveled from the hilt to the tip without any resistance.

The foundry swallowed back what he was about to say and stared at Chen Ping's forearm.

Chen Ping swung his sword a few more times, each strike smoother than the last, his movements becoming increasingly fluid.

The over 300-pound broadsword swung in his hands, whistling through the air as if he were swinging a wooden stick. The blacksmith watched as the muscles in Chen Ping's forearm twitched and changed, his pupils shrinking slightly.

He is changing the muscles themselves.

The grip method remains the same, but the force distribution of the fingers, the tension angle of the forearm, and the rotation range of the shoulder have changed. Every muscle is being finely adjusted so that he can exert full power even if he grips the wrong position.

The more she looked, the more she frowned, the more upset she became, feeling as if her heart was being scratched by cat claws.

"Stop, stop for a moment," she finally couldn't help but call out.

Chen Ping sheathed his sword, the tip touching the ground, and looked at her.

She stared at Chen Ping, her gaze sweeping back and forth between his arm and the blade of his sword.

"This precious artifact weighs 312 jin (approximately 150 catties). Is it heavy for you?"

Chen Ping thought for a moment and replied truthfully, "It's not heavy."

She bit her lower lip, walked around Chen Ping, and looked him up and down as if he were an invaluable piece of material.

"Well, according to common sense, a weapon weighing three hundred catties should be a bit too heavy for a martial artist like you who has just entered the first stage of Yuan Gang Refinement to wield."

She rubbed her temples, seemingly with a headache. "But judging from your performance just now, this weight is indeed too conservative; I've set it too light for you."

She looked down, crossed something out on the drawing, and rewrote it.

Then she looked up and gazed at the iron man statue in the corner of the yard.

"Strike that iron stump with all your might, without using your internal energy."

Chen Ping nodded, put down the knife, and walked to the iron man stake.

He didn't throw a punch immediately, but closed his eyes first.

Blood and qi surged, circulating throughout the body and filling the limbs. The force of the control coiled the power of the entire body, locking in a complete chain of power from the soles of the feet to the waist and hips to the shoulders and fists.

He twisted his body and threw a punch.

boom!

A dull, loud bang.

The Iron Man Pole shuddered violently, and the black iron on its chest caved inward, leaving a clear fist imprint deeply embedded inside, with the edges of the black iron being squeezed and bristling.

The blacksmith stared at the fist imprint, his eyes lighting up. "That's at least five thousand jin of strength."

She looked down, crossed out the weight figure she had written on the drawing, and rewrote it.

He raised his head, looked at Chen Ping, and thought for a moment while biting the end of the charcoal pencil.

"And you can also actively adjust your muscles to adapt to the center of gravity."

She added a few more strokes to the drawing and nodded.

"That should be enough, 600 jin."

Chen Ping glanced at her: "Six hundred jin?"

"Using your strength with a 300-pound sword is a complete waste." She tucked the charcoal pencil back behind her ear, her voice flat. "A 600-pound Xuanjing Heavy Iron Horse-Slaying Saber, combined with your strength and that true intent, would be so powerful that no one would dare to block it."

She picked up the 300-pound horse-slaying sword from the ground, held it in one hand, and the blade swayed gently in her hand.

Chen Ping asked, "What does my true meaning have to do with the shape of the sword?"

She glanced at him, walked to the iron man's post, and drew a circle on the ground at the foot of the post with the tip of her knife.

"Your true essence, like the ocean that swallows and spits out the tide, eventually spews out a vast sea of ​​qi, within which lies hidden sword qi." She drew a few lines in the circle.

"The larger the ocean's coverage, the denser the blade energy, and the stronger its destructive power. Ordinary short swords with narrow blades have a small area for the energy to adhere to, and the ocean cannot spread it out."

She pointed to the broad blade of the horse-slaying sword.

"The horse-slaying saber has a long blade and a wide edge, allowing for a large area of ​​qi to adhere to it. When you sweep it horizontally, the area of ​​the surging tide becomes your killing range."

She sheathed the knife and looked at Chen Ping.

"Your true intention is well-suited to the chaotic battles on the battlefield, which is why your sword is shaped like a horse-slaying sword."

Chen Ping looked at the circle and lines on the ground, remained silent for a few moments, and then nodded.

She pulled the blueprints from under her arm, unfolded them, and handed them to Chen Ping.

The drawing shows a side view of a horse-slaying sword, with the dimensions and thickness of each part marked. The curvature of the blade is marked with dotted lines, and the length of the handle and the position of the counterweight ring are also clearly drawn.

Next to it was a densely written list of data: total length seven and a half feet, blade five feet, handle two and a half feet, the thickest part of the back of the blade nearly two inches, total weight six hundred catties, material is Xuanjing heavy iron.

Chen Ping read it once and had no objections.

She rolled up the blueprints, put them away, and carrying the 300-pound broadsword in one hand, walked to the courtyard gate. She turned her head and glanced at Chen Ping.

"I'll create a rough draft of the second version and discuss the key points with you. The timeframe is uncertain, but it should take about a month."

After saying that, he stepped out of the courtyard gate, and his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Chen Ping stood in the training ground, looking in the direction she had left, and thought for a moment.

They still didn't give their names.

He still didn't ask.