Uncle Nine: You were supposed to drive corpses, so you summoned the Monkey King!

Jiale was beaten so badly that he ran around the table, covering his head.

"Master, I was wrong! I just said it offhand!"

A bald head peeked out from behind the bamboo fence next door.

Master Ikkyu watched the farce unfolding in the courtyard with a smile.

"Brother Four Eyes, why are you so angry so early in the morning?"

"Monks value a calm and peaceful mind. Since your sword is ruined, why don't you chant some scriptures with me to dispel the malevolence?"

Si Mu stopped in his tracks, holding up his cloth shoes and pointing them at Master Ikkyu.

"You old bald monk, stop watching this joke!"

"This sword of mine was damaged while slaying demons and monsters; this is an act of merit!"

"Unlike you, you spend all day banging on that broken wooden fish, and you haven't even caught a mosquito."

Master Ikkyu wasn't angry; he simply held one hand up in front of his chest.

"Amitabha, well said, well said. Weapons are ultimately external things; if they break, they break."

Si Mu put the cloth shoes back on his feet.

He walked to the stone table, sat down, picked up the bowl, and slurped down his porridge.

Lin Chen walked over, picked up the bronze greatsword from the ground, and ran his fingers over the notch on the blade. It felt rough to the touch, and there were several cracks on the spine of the sword.

The sword's material was pushed to its limit after it withstood the recoil from the Hercules' possession in the mine.

"Master, this sword is truly unusable. If it encounters anything tough again, it will break at the slightest touch."

Lin Chen placed the sword on the stone table.

Si Mu put down the bowl and sighed.

"I know it can't be used anymore."

"Reforging a good sword is too expensive, and I don't want an ordinary iron sword."

Four Eyes was a miser; for him to spend tens of dollars on weapons was more painful than cutting off a piece of his own flesh.

Lin Chen possesses the "Maoshan Qimen Formation Technique" and common knowledge of weapon crafting.

With the addition of the strength attribute, blacksmithing is worth a try.

"Master, why don't we reforge this sword ourselves?"

Lin Chen spoke.

Si Mu paused, then looked up at Lin Chen.

"Recast it yourself? Apprentice, you can even forge iron?"

Lin Chen nodded.

"I know a little bit about it."

"The basic structure of this bronze greatsword is still intact. We just need to find some good materials to mix in and reforge it."

"Not only can it repair, but its power can also be stronger than before."

Jiale chimed in from the side.

"Junior brother, blacksmithing is no joke."

"That would require a huge furnace and immense strength, otherwise you simply couldn't break those iron lumps."

Si Mu slammed his hand on the table.

"You don't know anything!"

"Your junior brother can smash an armored corpse with his bare hands, so how could he not be able to forge iron?"

Si Mu turned to look at Lin Chen.

"Disciple, are you really confident?"

"If this gets damaged beyond repair, we won't even have enough money to sell it as scrap metal."

"Ninety percent certain."

"However, the dojo doesn't have a forge, so we'll have to go to town to find a blacksmith shop to borrow one."

"We still need to buy some good materials."

Si Mu's face fell when he heard that he wanted to buy materials.

"How much would that cost?"

Lin Chen took out the gold bar that Ren Tingting had given him from his pocket and put it on the table.

"Master, this money is on me, consider it a token of my respect to you."

Si Mu grabbed the gold bar tightly, as if afraid it would fly away, and his old face beamed with joy.

"Oh dear, what a good apprentice! Truly a good apprentice of your master!"

"Jiale, look at your junior brother, and then look at yourself! All you do all day is annoy me!"

Jiale pouted, lowered her head, and drank her porridge without daring to speak.

Si Mu put the gold bar into his pocket.

"Okay, I'll leave this to you."

"There's a blacksmith shop in Qingshan Town. Old Wang there has a good skill set, and his furnace is big enough."

"Jiale, take your junior brother down the mountain later."

Jiale perked up when he heard he could go down the mountain.

"Okay, Master!"

After breakfast, Lin Chen wrapped the bronze greatsword in a rag and carried it on his back.

Jiale changed his clothes, and the two left the dojo.

The air was fresh on the mountain road in the early morning.

Jiale led the way, humming a little tune.

"Junior brother, you're now a favorite of Master."

"I've followed my master for so many years, and he's never given me a single extra copper coin."

Jia Le's tone was tinged with sourness.

Lin Chen followed behind.

"Senior brother, as long as you master that Maoshan ordinary boxing style, the master will naturally look at you with new eyes."

Jiale sighed.

"I don't have your kind of abnormal talent."

"I'll be content if I can stay peacefully in the temple and marry a beautiful wife for the rest of my life."

When it came to getting a wife, Jiale pictured Jingjing's face from next door and chuckled to himself.

Lin Chen shook his head; this senior brother didn't have any great ambitions.

In the Nine Uncle Universe, a world overrun by demons, being able to live peacefully is a blessing.

The two walked along the mountain road for more than half an hour before a market town appeared ahead.

Qingshan Town.

This is the largest town in the surrounding area, and it holds a market day on the 1st, 4th, and 7th of each month. Today happens to be market day.

The streets were bustling with people, and vendors selling vegetables and groceries were constantly calling out their wares.

Jiale, familiar with the area, led Lin Chen through the bustling city and to a secluded alley at the western end of the town.

The clanging of blacksmithing echoed through the alley, and a wave of heat swept over you from the depths of the alley.

"Junior brother, it's the one up ahead."

"Wang's Blacksmith Shop".

Jiale pointed to the shop ahead, which was emitting black smoke, and the two walked to the shop's entrance.

The interior was dimly lit, with a large, glowing red-hot stove in the center.

A gaunt old man with bare chest was swinging a hammer, smashing a red-hot iron bar on an anvil.

The old man was blind in his left eye, and his muscles were withered, like old tree roots.

"Uncle Wang, may your business prosper!"

Jiale shouted.

Wang the blacksmith stopped hammering, wiped the sweat from his brow with the towel around his neck, and glanced at the two men at the doorway.

"So he's Master Four Eyes' eldest disciple."

"What's wrong? Are the kitchen knives at your dojo chipped again?"

Wang the blacksmith was rude.

Jiale wasn't angry; she walked in with a smile.

"It's not about repairing kitchen knives."

"My junior brother wants to borrow your furnace to forge a weapon."

Wang the blacksmith glanced at Lin Chen, saw that Lin Chen was young and dressed in an ordinary Taoist robe, and sneered.

"Borrow a stove?"

"This furnace of mine is an heirloom. It has a very high heat, and ordinary people can't even swing a hammer."

"Forging weapons? Don't break my anvil."

Lin Chen took the bronze greatsword, which was wrapped in tattered cloth on his back, untied the cloth, and revealed the broken blade.

"Master Wang, I'd like to reforge this sword. Can I borrow your furnace? I'll pay you."

Lin Chen handed over the bronze greatsword.

Wang the blacksmith took the sword, glanced at it, frowned, and flicked the notch on the blade with his finger.

A muffled "thud".

"It's just a piece of scrap iron. This sword contains refined copper; it was originally a good thing."

"But the gap is too deep; all the energy has dissipated, and there's no saving it."

Wang the blacksmith threw the sword back to Lin Chen.

"Take it back and sell it as scrap copper; you can get a few pounds of meat in return."

Lin Chen caught the bronze sword.

"I know in my heart whether I can save him or not."

"I just need to borrow your fire and tools. Also, I'd like to buy some good stuff to mix in."

Hearing this, Wang the blacksmith was amused. He put down his hammer, went to the water vat next to him, and scooped up a ladle of water to drink.

"Good material?"

"I only have pig iron in my shop for forging hoes and kitchen knives."

"If you want good materials, go to the provincial capital and find a big shop."

Lin Chen scanned the blacksmith shop.

They possess keen senses and high mental attributes, enabling them to perceive things that ordinary people cannot see.

The shop was dilapidated, but there was a sharp, metallic aura in one of the corners.

Lin Chen walked to the innermost corner of the shop, where there were piles of discarded iron lumps and scrap metal.

Lin Chen cleared away the clutter and pulled out a fist-sized, dark stone from underneath.

The stone has a pitted and uneven surface and is extremely heavy, three times heavier than a similar volume of pig iron.

Lin Chen turned around, holding the stone.

"Master Wang, are you selling this piece of jade?"

When Wang the blacksmith saw the stone, his right eye widened and his face changed.

Wang the blacksmith strode over and reached out to snatch the black stone.

Lin Chen flicked his wrist, avoiding Wang the blacksmith's hand.

Wang the blacksmith missed, and his face turned red.

"You little Taoist priest, don't you know the rules? This is not for sale in my shop, put it down right now!"

Wang the blacksmith stared at the black stone in Lin Chen's hand, while Jiale stood beside him, completely bewildered.

"Uncle Wang, it's just a piece of junk, why are you so angry?"

Wang the blacksmith glared at Jiale.

"You don't know anything!"

"This is called Crimson Flame Copper. It's leftover scrap material from when my great-grandfather was making weapons for the royal family."

"This thing is impervious to water and fire, as hard as a rock in a latrine, and even my furnace can't melt it."

"This is a family heirloom of the Wang family!"