chsdbacks Chapter 117 The Shen Family's Masterpiece
Chapter 117 The Shen Family's Masterpiece
Lin Yan took the cloth bag, untied the thin rope, and inside was a brand new handwritten booklet.
Shen's Master Craftsmanship
"What is this?" Lin Yan looked up at Shen Zhi.
"Our family's ancestral weapon-forging technique has been passed down to our generation. Neither my father nor I can become cultivators, so this technique is no different from waste paper to us now. Why not pass it on to you? You have been learning blacksmithing from us for more than a month, so you can be considered half an apprentice of the Shen family. Since you are a cultivator, you might be able to pass on this unique skill of the Shen family."
Lin Yan turned to the first page, his eyes sweeping over the densely packed small print in the booklet, and his heart skipped a beat.
This is a complete manual on weapon crafting, starting with ore selection, then moving on to how to smelt, how to forge, and finally how to inscribe the inscriptions. Every step is clearly written down.
More importantly, the last few pages of the booklet also record a technique called Spirit Tempering, which uses spiritual energy to condense into flames to replace ordinary fire for secondary tempering of objects. This can greatly improve the quality of the refined objects and may even allow them to transcend their grade.
It seems that what Shen Tieshan said back then was true; his ancestors were indeed renowned weapon refiners in the martial arts world.
"Shen Zhi, this is too valuable, I..." Lin Yan pretended to push the cloth bag back.
Shen Zhi slapped Lin Yan's hand away and said softly, "If you feel bad about it, you can give me 30% of the money you earn from refining good things in the future, as a tax on your cultivation techniques."
She turned her back to Lin Yan, clearly not wanting to continue the topic.
"Alright, stop talking nonsense and get on with your work. Don't stand here and delay my weapon forging. If you get angry later, you'll have to pay me for the materials."
Shen Tieshan patted Lin Yan on the shoulder. "Take it, Lin Yan. Zhi'er is stubborn; once she's made up her mind, nothing can change it. Giving this booklet to you is much better than letting it gather dust in our hands, isn't it?"
"Okay, I'll take it." Lin Yan retied the cloth bag and put it in his pocket.
Shen Zhi didn't turn around, she just waved her hand.
When Lin Yan walked out of the blacksmith shop, it was already dark.
He quickened his pace toward the Lin residence, his mind still replaying the contents of "Shen's Craftsmanship".
This weapon-refining technique is divided into four steps.
First comes material identification and ore selection, requiring mastery of the characteristics of at least 136 kinds of ores and their specific methods of measurement. Then comes forging, where true qi is infused into the hammer, and with a specific rhythm and force, the smelted ore is hammered into shape, and true qi is used to change its internal structure to completely remove impurities.
The third step is spiritual tempering, which uses spiritual energy as fire to temper the object a second time. This step is the most crucial, but it also carries great risks. If the spiritual fire gets out of control, the object will break and all previous efforts will be wasted.
The final step is to engrave patterns on the surface of the object to imbue it with power.
Lin Yan's blacksmithing skills are now highly proficient, and his treasure appraisal ability can also help him quickly identify the types of ores. The first two levels are not difficult for him.
The difficulty lies in the third and fourth steps.
The tempering of spiritual energy requires extremely precise control of spiritual energy; the slightest mistake will render all previous efforts futile.
I wonder if his spiritual energy, which he just broke through to the Transformation Realm, is enough.
As for the final step, inscribing the inscriptions requires him to have a deep understanding of formations, but right now he is a complete novice in this area.
Fortunately, he has a book on a hundred arts and crafts, so as long as he has time, these are not problems.
Upon returning to the Lin residence, Lin Yan immediately sensed something was amiss as soon as he pushed open the door.
He did not hear Lin Xiu's voice, who should have been playing and laughing in the yard at this time.
They also didn't hear Chen and the other servants chatting.
Not right.
With the expansion of the [Aura Observation] skill, after advancing to the minor mastery level, one can already sense a distance of one hundred steps.
Lin Xiu and Chen Shi sat obediently in the room.
Under the moonlight, a figure stood in the courtyard, dressed in black, his pale face expressionless.
He knew this person.
Chen Yi.
Upon seeing Lin Yan enter, Chen Yi cupped his hands in greeting and said, "General Lin."
Lin Yan's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Chen Yi's arrival couldn't be good, but she remained outwardly calm and replied, "Chen Yi? It's so late, is something wrong?"
Chen Yi took out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket and handed it over.
"His Highness sent me to deliver something."
Lin Yan took the porcelain bottle, uncorked it, and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.
Five round, milky-white pills lay inside the porcelain bottle.
Nourishing Qi Pill.
"His Highness said that you should take this pill and break through to the third rank within a week, or you will bear the consequences."
After saying that, Chen Yi's figure disappeared into the night.
There is only one week left.
Lin Yan tightened his grip on the porcelain bottle slightly.
He had heard of this pill, which was far more valuable than the True Qi Cultivation Pill he had been awarded for winning the martial arts competition. As the name suggests, this Qi Gathering Pill had a powerful effect on strengthening true qi and was one of the best auxiliary pills for martial artists to break through their cultivation levels.
Although this pill has miraculous effects, all medicines have some degree of toxicity. If one relies on taking the pill to break through a realm, their foundation will be more unstable than that of a cultivator who breaks through normally. When attempting to reach higher realms in the future, they will need to expend more effort, and may even be unable to make further progress for a long time due to an unstable foundation.
The Crown Prince threw out five at once, it seems he has no intention of giving him any time to stall.
The crown prince didn't care at all whether his foundation was solid or not; he only cared whether he could break through and be of use right now.
I wonder what kind of trap the Crown Prince has dug for him to fall into.
Lin Yan carefully put away the Qi-Nourishing Pill but did not take it.
He had reached the edge of advancing in the "Yan King's Heart Sutra". He knew that as long as he mastered the proficiency, there would be no bottleneck in advancing to the third rank, and he would not need the assistance of these pills at all.
He returned to the house, confirmed that Chen Yi had left the perception range of [Qi Observation], and took out the alchemy furnace he had bought from Jubaoyuan.
Lin Yan planned to repair the alchemy furnace first, and then break through to the third rank when the one-week deadline was approaching.
……
For the next five days, Lin Yan stayed in his room and never went out. Lin Xiu even brought him his meals.
He studied "Shen's Craftsmanship" dozens of times.
Every detail inside is etched into my mind.
He took the alchemy furnace and examined it carefully.
The surface of the alchemy furnace was covered with fine cracks, the largest of which stretched from the opening of the furnace all the way to the bottom, almost splitting the entire furnace in two.
Although the array patterns on the furnace body were blurred, they were not completely broken.
Once these cracks on the surface of the alchemy furnace can be repaired, the furnace can regain most of its functionality.
Following the method in "Shen's Heavenly Craftsmanship", Lin Yan first enveloped the alchemy furnace with spiritual energy, and then slowly increased the temperature of the spiritual energy.
After an incense stick has burned, the surface of the alchemy furnace began to turn slightly red.
He increased the output of spiritual energy, causing the temperature to continue to rise.
After three incense sticks had burned, the entire alchemy furnace turned dark red.
Right now.
Lin Yan maintained the output of spiritual energy, allowing it to flow continuously within the cracks and repair the broken array patterns.
This process is extremely mentally taxing.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
Lin Yan felt that his spiritual energy was almost exhausted, and the Hundred Arts Calligraphy Image in his dantian had become much dimmer.
But he gritted his teeth and persevered.
Finally, the array patterns at the end of the crack were reconnected.
Lin Yan slumped into the chair, his whole body soaked in sweat.
It took him a while to pick up the alchemy furnace and examine it carefully.
[Feedback: The alchemy furnace, a mid-grade Xuanbao (mysterious treasure), is slightly damaged, but the quality of the pills refined from it has increased by 10%]
Successful.