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

The handwriting on the paper crane was very messy.

The last character, "商" (shāng), was so inked that the ink even stretched off the paper.

Zhou Lingxuan held the paper crane and looked at it twice.

Chen Baichuan is impatient, but he is never careless when it comes to refining weapons. For him to be unable to even write a complete message, something serious must have happened at the Weapon Refining Hall.

Heavy breathing could be heard from inside the courtyard.

Lei Yang held the Wind and Thunder Sword with both hands, the weight of the Spirit-Slaying Wood scabbard making his arms tremble. The wound on his right hand, which had just been treated with medicine and was barely healed, was reddened from being pulled.

Zhou Lingxuan pushed open the door and went out.

"lay down."

Lei Yang immediately put the sword on the ground and shook his numb hand.

"Has something happened to the Weapon Hall?"

How did you know?

"Elder Chen practically slammed the paper crane into the house when he sent the message. Would he be in such a hurry if it were something trivial?"

Lei Yang picked up the Wind and Thunder Sword.

"I'll go with you."

"Stay in the yard."

"My injury is nothing serious."

"Hand out."

Lei Yang took a step back while holding his sword.

"Actually, it's still a bit in the way, but I'm keeping it to recover from my injury."

Zhou Lingxuan did not expose him.

"No swords are to be drawn tonight, and no one is to leave the restricted area. If anyone comes looking for you, have them leave their name and purpose on the wooden sign."

"What if someone tries to force their way in?"

"Activate the isolation array and hide in the backyard."

Lei Yang frowned.

"If I hide, what will happen to your workshop?"

"The workshop is only useful if people are alive."

"If Zhang Qian brings his men, should I hide too?"

"Especially him."

Lei Yang was clearly unhappy.

Zhou Lingxuan raised his hand and tapped the scabbard of the Absolute Spirit Wood sword.

"You can't even hold this sword steady now. If we really fight, you'll hurt your hand if you draw it, and you'll smash yourself if you don't. Stay in the courtyard and stop causing me trouble."

"I can lift it for half an hour now."

"Then let's hold it for another half an hour."

Zhou Lingxuan returned to his room, put on the steward's gray robe, hung his identity jade pendant on his waist, and stuffed the protective jade pendant left by Qin Zhaoyun into his clothes.

He carefully kept all the Foundation Establishment Pills, Longevity Pills, and the concealment jade slips.

Lei Yang followed him as he walked out of the courtyard gate.

"Manager Zhou."

"What's wrong now?"

"Elder Chen, if you encounter any problems that you cannot solve, please come back."

"Why did you come back?"

"Even if I can't beat you, I can still help you lift the sword."

Zhou Lingxuan looked at his still trembling hands.

"First, hold the sword steady."

The courtyard gate closed.

The isolation array lit up again.

Zhou Lingxuan walked out along the old path leading to the abandoned hall. Old Sun was still at the entrance sorting out the day's accounts. When he saw the steward in gray robes, he quickly got up.

"Manager, are you going out so late?"

"Go to the equipment hall."

"Should we have someone follow us?"

"No need. If there's any commotion in the courtyard, go and inform Lei Yang first."

Old Sun nodded repeatedly.

"I guard the entrance and remember whoever comes."

Zhou Lingxuan walked past him, then stopped a step.

"Don't let anyone touch the two boxes of discarded pills sent by the Pill Hall."

"They're all sealed in the warehouse at the bottom of the valley; the seals are still on."

I'll handle it myself tomorrow.

After explaining all this, he left the abandoned hall.

Being in charge certainly saved a lot of trouble.

Along the way, they encountered several patrolling disciples who, upon seeing the jade token at their waists, simply checked their destination and let them pass. If they were still servants in the past, they would have had to explain themselves at length just to pass through a few inner gate intersections.

By the time Zhou Lingxuan arrived at the equipment hall, it was past midnight.

The main gate of the instrument hall was wide open.

Two disciples stood guard outside the door, their robes stained with black ash. One of them had strips of cloth wrapped around his arm, from which blood had seeped.

"Manager Zhou?"

Zhou Lingxuan nodded.

"Where is Elder Chen?"

"Main Refining Room".

The disciple quickly stepped aside and then shouted inside.

"Manager Zhou has arrived!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Chen Baichuan's angry curses echoed from inside the courtyard.

"Bring them in when they arrive! What are you shouting for!"

The gatekeeper shrank back.

"You can go in yourself. Elder Chen has already verbally abused two people tonight."

"Dizzy from being scolded?"

"It's also possible that the shock from the oven explosion stunned them."

Zhou Lingxuan stepped into the equipment hall.

The further you go in, the more things there are on the ground.

The furnace lid was shattered, the iron tongs were bent from heat, the array plates were scattered, and there were dozens of shield blanks of various shapes. Most of the shield blanks had exploded in the middle, and there were still charred red spots at the broken ends.

Several disciples of the Weapon Hall sat against the wall.

Some people were coughing up blood while clutching their chests, while others were stuffing healing pills into their mouths. Two weapon refiners nearby were still arguing, neither willing to admit fault.

"I told you before, the spiritual energy must not be interrupted during the third entry into the fire!"

"How dare you say that? The Hanyin Iron developed red spots as soon as it entered the furnace; what does that have to do with fire control?"

"Why was the first batch able to hold until the array patterns were fully formed?"

"The first batch only used three catties of main ingredients, but in each subsequent batch, we increased it to eight catties, which naturally made it fry much faster!"

"That's enough!"

Chen Baichuan rushed out of the main weapon-refining room.

His hair was disheveled, half of his weapon-forging robe was burned, and his eyes were filled with red lines. He was still clutching a shield prototype that had been split in two in his right hand.

The two weapon refiners immediately shut up.

Chen Baichuan scanned the crowd.

"Get out here and heal your wounds!"

"Elder, we can try one more batch."

"What are you going to use to test it? Your lives to fill the furnace?"

"Inspection can be conducted tomorrow..."

"roll!"

The group helped each other leave.

Chen Baichuan threw the broken shield blank on the ground and walked a few steps to Zhou Lingxuan.

"Why are you so late?"

"They came on foot."

"Didn't I give you a flying sword before?"

"An old handyman with no cultivation level, flying into the weapon-making hall on a sword?"

Chen Baichuan raised his hand and scratched his hair a few times.

"What time is it? You're still thinking about hiding your cultivation level!"

"As long as you're not dead, you have to hide."

"Fine, you're right."

Chen Baichuan grabbed him and headed towards the main weapon-refining room.

The room was even more cluttered.

All three forging furnaces were open, one of which had a deformed opening. Nearly a hundred pieces of cold-sound iron were piled on the ground, along with a large number of unfinished shield blanks.

Seven finished shields stand against the wall.

Zhou Lingxuan went over and knocked on it.

The first six sides produce a crisp sound, while the last side sounds muffled.

He flipped the shield over, and sure enough, there was a crack on the back.

"Of the seven finished products, only six are usable."

Chen Baichuan plopped down next to the stove.

"Even six sides might not be usable. Just now, when I activated it with my spiritual power, the inside of those shields was agitated and couldn't withstand more than ten impacts."

How much do you want?

"One hundred sides."

"When is it due?"

"Tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM)."

Zhou Lingxuan looked up at him.

"You summoned me here so I could collect your corpse?"

"I'm not dead yet!"

Chen Baichuan slapped the edge of the furnace, and the sheet metal beneath his palm dented instantly.

"The sect urgently needs one hundred Xuan Frost Shields, and the main materials were delivered to the Weaponry Hall three days ago. I mobilized seventeen weapon refiners, and the three main furnaces worked day and night. Originally, they could have been finished by this evening."

"and then?"

"The first batch came out without any problems. But when the second batch started, the shield blanks kept exploding. At first, I thought someone had made a mistake in controlling the fire, so I changed the weapon refiner, but it still exploded."

Chen Baichuan picked up a piece of cold-sounding iron and threw it at Zhou Lingxuan's feet.

"The third time, I personally tended the furnace. As soon as the Cold Sound Iron melted, poisonous fire emerged from within."

Zhou Lingxuan squatted down to examine it.

The surface of this piece of Cold Sound Iron is grayish-white, with fine frost-like patterns along its edges. Judging from its appearance alone, there are no red spots left by the Fire Poison Sand, nor any traces of it being soaked in medicinal liquid.

He tapped it with his knuckles.

The echo is clean.