Sixty years of blacksmithing, a single hammer blow forging a celestial being.

Li Pingan looked up at the mountain peak emitting black smoke.

It exploded again?

Li Ping'an held the two still-warm Body Tempering Pills in his hand and shook his head helplessly.

The noise this junior sister made while refining pills was greater than all the blacksmithing he'd done in his sixty years combined. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, she blew up two batches of pills.

Li Ping'an thought about it and realized that he would still need to rely on this junior sister to produce waste materials in the future, so he should maintain the relationship.

In a place like an abandoned hall, aside from the discarded pills in the alchemy room, it's not easy to extract spiritual energy from other broken artifacts and waste materials. It's a win-win situation, after all.

Having made up his mind, Li Ping'an put away the Body Tempering Pill and turned back towards the pill room.

When Li Ping'an climbed back to the open space, panting, he found the scene even more lively than before. The crowd hadn't dispersed; in fact, there were many more onlookers, surrounding the stone house in layers, making it impossible to move.

"Junior Sister, how about... we call it a day?" an inner disciple advised with a pained expression.

"Yes, why bother? The number of pills you've exploded in this month is more than the number of pills our alchemy room refines in a year."

"The sect doesn't have many alchemy experts to begin with. If you keep going like this, you won't be able to produce more than a few pills a month. You might as well exchange all these spiritual herbs for spirit stones and buy them from outside."

"That's right. With your talent, you would be at least at the Concentration Realm by now if you applied it to swordsmanship. Why bother with this alchemy furnace?"

Listening to the chatter around him, Li Ping'an roughly figured out what was going on. This dark-faced junior sister was quite a prominent figure in the inner sect.

She was of high status and had great talent in cultivation, but she just happened to love alchemy and was single-mindedly determined to make a name for herself in alchemy.

Elixirs are an important resource for any sect. However, the Tongtian Sword Sect is founded on swordsmanship, so its alchemy tradition is practically nonexistent.

The junior sister has talent and enthusiasm, but without a famous teacher to guide her, she relies entirely on herself to explore common pill formulas, so her success rate is naturally not high.

Her fellow disciples thought she was simply wasting her talent for cultivation.

"What do you know! I'm just doing this for the sect's sake!"

The stern-faced junior sister was so angry that she jumped up and down, her voice tinged with grievance.

"Once I refine the divine elixir, you'll all know how powerful I am!"

"Alright, alright, stop talking. If you keep going, our junior sister will really have to add something to the pills she gives us next month."

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

Li Ping'an frowned as he listened to these words.

He stepped forward through the crowd and said, "Junior Sister is ultimately trying to share the burden for the sect. Aren't you all being too hurtful with your words?"

The sound was not loud, and the noisy scene quieted down.

All eyes fell on the old man wearing a brand-new but ill-fitting inner disciple's robe.

Ignoring everyone's gaze, Li Ping'an looked at his sulking junior sister and continued, "Junior sister, two batches of pills exploded in such a short time, you must have been refining two batches of pills at the same time, right?"

"Although alchemy and weapon crafting are different disciplines, they share the same principles. The worst thing is to be distracted and the most important thing is to be focused. Being impatient and restless is a major taboo."

Li Ping'an spoke in a calm and understated manner.

When the group of inner disciples saw an old man come out to speak for their junior sister in a lecturing tone, they all looked somewhat displeased.

"Who is this old man? Where did he come from?"

"Judging from his clothes, he seems to have just entered the inner sect? How come he's only at the third level of Body Tempering at his age?"

A young disciple sized Li Ping'an up and down: "How did an old guy at the third level of Body Tempering manage to sneak into the inner sect? And he talks about weapon crafting and pill refining like a know-it-all. Old man, do you even know how to craft weapons? Don't pretend to know what you don't and try to impress everyone!"

An old man with depleted energy and blood would be nothing but a joke if he entered the inner sect; Li Ping'an's words carried no weight to them.

An older disciple in the crowd tugged at his companion's sleeve and whispered, "Wait... I think I vaguely remember this old man."

"Look, isn't he the one who... struck the Heavenly Bell this morning?"

A commotion erupted all around.

"The Heavenly Bell? Is that Li Ping'an, the one who spent sixty years forging iron and managed to gain entry into the inner circle through casting weapons?"

"It seems...it really is him!"

"My God, I heard he swung a hammer in the handyman's office for sixty years to keep a promise. That kind of perseverance is simply inhuman!"

"Although his cultivation level is a bit rubbish and his lifespan is almost over, when it comes to forging weapons and his craftsmanship, there are few people in the entire Tongtian Sword Sect who can compare to him."

The way everyone looked at Li Ping'an changed.

The disciples of the Tongtian Sword Sect may look down on cultivators with low cultivation levels, but they will not look down on artisans who can perfect their craft.

Their eyes held a mixture of admiration and regret.

The atmosphere around him changed, and Li Ping'an felt a little embarrassed.

He's just a lousy old man who's been blacksmithing for sixty years. He has no cultivation and has never even forged a real flying sword. What kind of craftsman is he?

The sullen, dark-faced junior sister came closer.

"Is what they're saying true? Did you really activate the Heavenly Bell?"

Li Ping'an looked at her and nodded seriously.

The junior sister stared at Li Ping'an for a long time before asking, "So, what you just said... that I was sharing the sect's burdens, was that also from the bottom of your heart?"

"nature."

Li Pingan responded.

"In my whole life, I've only ever known blacksmithing. I don't understand the intricacies of alchemy, but I do know the principle of applying knowledge to other things. Whether it's weapon crafting or alchemy, you can't do anything well if your mind isn't calm."

After listening, the junior sister remained silent for a long time.

She straightened her back, even puffing out her otherwise unremarkable chest, and declared, "Hmph! You old man, although you're a bit old and your cultivation is a bit weak, your words are still quite fair!"

"Alright! This senior sister has made up her mind, I'll take you as my little brother!"

"It's rare that you stood up for me just now. Tell me, what reward do you want? As long as it's within my power, I won't refuse!"

Her generous demeanor left the surrounding disciples dumbfounded.

Li Pingan paused for a moment, scratched his head, and looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Um... Senior sister, no need for the reward."

Li Ping'an pointed to the patch of black medicinal residue at the entrance of the stone house.

"Just give me these useless pills."

"I was halfway there when I heard another sound from here, so I thought I'd just turn back and get it all at once."

The junior sister's expression froze.

"That's...that's it?"

"You came back... just to pick up this trash?"

So you didn't come back specifically to get yourself out of trouble?

Li Pingan added, "Yes, I'm getting old and my legs aren't very mobile. It's really a hassle to make the trip back and forth."

"Since these things will be sent to the abandoned hall sooner or later anyway, just give them to me all at once, so I don't have to make another trip."

"you!"

The junior sister's face turned bright red. She stared at Li Ping'an, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

Finally, she stomped her foot, flicked her sleeve, and a gust of wind swept up all the waste pills and dregs on the ground, throwing them into Li Ping'an's arms.

"Here you go! All of it! You old man whose head is full of garbage!"

Li Ping'an hurriedly used his robe to catch the scalding hot waste.

The junior sister didn't even glance at him, turned around and went into the stone house, slamming the door shut and remaining silent no matter how much people outside shouted.

Li Ping'an, holding the heavy pile of discarded pills in his arms, scratched his head, somewhat bewildered.

Why is this junior sister's temper even more explosive than a furnace?

Without giving it much thought, he nodded kindly to the disciples around him, picked up the discarded pills, and turned to continue walking towards the abandoned hall.