A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

Two days later, night fell.

The stove in the abandoned courtyard was burning red-hot, and the heat distorted the surrounding air.

Old Qin moved a broken wooden stool to the side and sat down, holding a handful of roasted spirit melon seeds in his hand, cracking them open with a loud crunching sound.

"Brother Zhou, are you sure that girl will come tonight? It's so late, the inner gate has been locked for ages. She's just an alchemist, she can't possibly climb over the wall, can she?"

Zhou Lingxuan ignored him and focused on adjusting the bellows valves. The fire had to be preheated beforehand; forging an alchemy furnace was different from forging an iron sword, and the temperature of the earth fire had to be kept stable.

A rustling sound came from outside the courtyard gate.

"Here I am." Zhou Lingxuan stood up.

The door was pushed open a crack. Xue Yi poked half her head in, looked around, and then pushed the door open forcefully.

Today she changed into a clean blue dress, and was dragging things into the yard, pulling two thick hemp ropes in her hands.

Two large wooden crates, each about half a person's height, were tied to the end of the rope. Judging by their weight, they must have weighed at least several hundred kilograms.

"I'm exhausted."

Xue Yi plopped down on the box and wiped her sweat with her sleeve without any regard for her image.

"To avoid the patrolling disciples, I had to go around most of the back mountain to transport the goods here."

Zhou Lingxuan walked over and was about to untie the hemp rope.

boom!

The already dilapidated courtyard gate was kicked open, and the two wooden planks flew out and crashed onto the open ground of the courtyard, stirring up a layer of dust.

The firelight flickered.

Five or six figures swaggered into the courtyard, completely blocking the entrance.

The leader was a middle-aged man dressed in the attire of a steward of the instrument hall, with a crimson jade pendant hanging from his waist.

Xue Yi was so startled that she jumped up from the box. When she saw who it was, her face turned pale instantly.

"Steward Sun..."

Deacon Sun stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping around the courtyard before finally settling on Xue Yi.

"Junior Nephew Xue, why aren't you staying in the Pill Hall in the middle of the night? What are you doing here at this junk-collecting place?"

Xue Yi stammered.

"I...I'm here to throw away some useless pills."

"Do you need to bring such a big box to throw away the waste pills?"

Deacon Sun chuckled, his gaze passing over her and fixing on Zhou Lingxuan standing behind.

"Or is it that Junior Nephew Xue is here to find someone to do freelance work?"

He took two steps forward, getting closer to the wooden crate.

"The sect has rules: any outer sect servant who takes on unauthorized weapon-forging orders and disrupts the weapon-making hall's overall management will, according to the law, have their cultivation revoked and be expelled from the sect!"

Xue Yi panicked and spread her arms to block the box.

"Deacon Sun, don't talk nonsense! These are just scrap metal, meant to be thrown into the fire pit and burned!"

"Nonsense!"

Deacon Sun's face darkened, and his voice rose.

"You took a batch of red copper and cold iron from the inner storeroom. Do you really think the Weaponry Hall didn't record it? Entrusting top-quality spiritual materials to a crippled old man who's about to die is an absolute waste!"

He pointed his finger at Zhou Lingxuan's nose.

"An old handyman without even a spiritual root dares to touch spiritual materials? Open the box immediately; this batch of materials is confiscated by the Artifact Hall. As for your unauthorized acceptance of orders, I will personally report it to the Enforcement Hall!"

The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly became tense.

Old Qin spat out the sunflower seed shells from his mouth and slowly stood up.

He dusted off his hands, a fierce glint flashing in his murky eyes.

Several disciples of the Weaponry Hall who were in the Qi Refining stage, plus a steward who was in the early Foundation Establishment stage.

In a desolate place like the abandoned hall, you could just crush him, dig a hole, and bury him without making a sound.

Just as Old Qin was about to take a step forward, someone grabbed his shoulder.

Zhou Lingxuan stood in front of Qin Lao and shook his head at him.

It's not worth exposing Elder Qin's strength for something like this. Besides, he knows the sect's rules far better than these people do.

Zhou Lingxuan pulled out a crumpled booklet from his pocket, which was the "Notice on the Abandonment of the Hall" that Old Qin had given him a few days ago.

He turned to one of the pages and began to read it by the light of the fire.

"Article Seven of the Sect Rules states that the stewards and servants of the abandoned halls have the right to carry out secondary destruction or processing of the sect's abandoned items. The finished products obtained belong to the sect, and the abandoned halls may retain 10% as compensation for losses."

Zhou Lingxuan closed the booklet and looked at Deacon Sun. "Deacon Sun, what I'm doing is processing waste materials. How can it be considered privately taking on weapon-refining work?"

Deacon Sun was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"scrap?"

He suddenly raised his right hand and slammed it onto the wooden box beside him.

A loud cracking sound.

The wooden crate was shattered into pieces. Its contents spilled out onto the floor with a clatter.

On the left were blocks of crimson metal, their surfaces gleaming with a warm luster. On the right was a pile of black iron ingots, emanating wisps of cold energy. Spiritual energy instantly spread throughout the courtyard.

Deacon Sun pointed at the materials on the ground, his face full of mockery. "Open your dog eyes and look! This is red copper, that's cold iron! These are all top-grade spiritual materials for refining mid-level magic weapons! You call this scrap?"

Xue Yi stamped her feet in frustration. "Deacon Sun, I gathered these materials myself. I can let whoever I want do the work. The Weaponry Hall is meddling too much!"

"The items needed by inner disciples must be allocated through the Weaponry Hall. Having someone forge them privately is a violation of the rules!"

Deacon Sun completely ignored Xue Yi's protest and turned to wave at the disciples behind him.

"Take all these spiritual materials away! Seize this old man and take him to the Enforcement Hall!"

Two disciples from the Weapon Hall drew their flying swords and strode menacingly toward Zhou Lingxuan.

Zhou Lingxuan did not retreat.

Instead, he took two steps forward and walked directly to the pile of scattered materials.

"Wait a minute."

Zhou Lingxuan bent down, picked up a piece of red copper from the ground, and weighed it in his hand.

"Deacon Sun, you just said this is a top-grade spiritual material?"

"Nonsense!" Deacon Sun scoffed. "This batch of red copper was just mined from the Nanshan mine last month. It's brimming with spiritual energy. How could it be fake?"

Zhou Lingxuan didn't reply. He turned around, walked to the anvil, and picked up the large iron hammer. He placed the red copper on the anvil and flicked his wrist slightly.

when!

The hammer struck the surface of the red copper lightly. The force was so weak that not even a spark was produced.

But then, a thin crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the copper, and a pungent smell of sulfur wafted out. A few dark red grains of sand rolled down the crack and onto the anvil.

Xue Yi, standing nearby, smelled the odor and couldn't help but cover her nose and sneeze. "What's that smell?"

Zhou Lingxuan picked up a grain of sand with his fingers and held it in the air. "Fire Poison Sand."

The courtyard fell silent instantly.

Deacon Sun's expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously took a half-inch back.

Zhou Lingxuan threw the red copper back to the ground, his tone indifferent.

"I've been forging iron for a hundred years, and I've handled more ore than you've eaten rice."

"This copper doesn't weigh right, and its color is too dark. I could tell what's going on inside even with my eyes closed."

"It's common knowledge that red copper is accompanied by toxic sand. If the toxic sand isn't completely removed during refining, the red copper will immediately explode once it's placed in the furnace and exposed to high temperatures."

He turned to look at Xue Yi. "Miss Xue, the two times you exploded in the furnace, besides the problem with your own technique, the fire poison sand might also have played a part."

Xue Yi's eyes widened, and her anger flared up instantly.

"Good! No wonder I can't control the heat every time I refine pills. It turns out the pill furnace your weapon-making hall gave me had this stuff mixed in!"

Deacon Sun forced himself to remain calm.

"Nonsense! What's the big deal if a piece of poorly refined copper gets mixed in occasionally!"

"piece?"

Zhou Lingxuan smiled.

He walked over to the pile of cold iron and picked up a piece at random.

"It's a mistake that the red copper wasn't completely refined. But what about this cold iron?"

Zhou Lingxuan took the cold iron, walked to the water trough, and scooped up a ladle of cold water to pour on it.

When cold iron comes into contact with water, a layer of white frost instantly forms on its surface, but several unfrozen black lines are interspersed within the frost.

"See? Moisture has seeped in."

Zhou Lingxuan pointed to the black line.

"Cold iron is valued for its dense texture, used to neutralize the heat of the alchemy furnace. But this piece of cold iron is riddled with dark cracks."

Zhou Lingxuan applied force with his fingers and lightly flicked the surface of the cold iron.

Click.

The entire piece of cold iron broke into two pieces, with irregular honeycomb-like cavities at the cut.

"This piece of junk isn't even as good as the scraps I use to forge iron swords. One hit and it'll shatter into pieces."

Zhou Lingxuan threw the broken piece of cold iron at Deacon Sun's feet.

"Red copper is poisonous, and cold iron is cracked. Deacon Sun, you call this top-grade spiritual material?"