Immortal Soaring Blade

Everyone, welcome to 2021!  2020 has been an absolutely horrid year for many people on many levels, and I think many (most? all?) of us are glad to leave it behind.  With that said, I wanted to give everyone a preview for some of the things that are coming up in the coming few months for Wuxiaworld.

Front-End Site Redesign - This one has been a long time coming!  Historically, we've focused more on incremental changes and feature build-out rather than overhauling the site itself, but for quite a few months now...

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The Sword Casting Hall was divided into three parts. One was the staircase leading down to the belly of the mountain. The second was the interior of the Sword Casting Hall. The last part was the core, where the treasures were refined and where the Earth Heart Fires were located. The interior of the Sword Casting Hall also had a showroom to display all the treasures that hadn’t been sent to the Treasure Pavilion. The personnel of the Sword Casting Hall also lived here, so the second part was the largest. There were also disciples patrolling this area. Their security was focused inside the Sword Casting Hall rather than outside.

The sloppy young man opened the stone door to take Zhao Jiuge to the second part of the Sword Casting Hall. After he pushed the door open, an invisible heat wave rushed into their faces. Zhao Jiuge felt the heat and saw the red color behind the stone door. There was a red glow that was mixed into this place, and just looking at it made Zhao Jiuge feel hot.

After the door was pushed open, there were two young men dressed similarly to the sloppy young man. The sloppy young man greeted them and they smiled back, but they looked at Zhao Jiuge curiously.

After greeting them, they continued inside. The Sword Casting Hall in the mountain was not as simple or desolate as Zhao Jiuge had expected. All the houses seemed to be connected to the mountain instead of being built with stone. Zhao Jiuge was amazed by what he saw.

The interior was not big. After taking a turn, the sloppy young man pointed at the largest building and said, “That is the exhibition hall, where you register and deliver materials. Generally, that is the most lively place in the Sword Casting Hall. Further down is where they refine treasures and where the Earth Heart Fires are located. Normal people are not allowed to enter.”

Zhao Jiuge looked at everything here with interest. Compared to the Treasure Pavilion or the Duty Hall, Zhao Jiuge liked the atmosphere here more.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the largest building at the center. The whole building was cyan-brown, the same as the stone around them. It was built directly inside the mountain and was divided into two floors. The first floor was the reception and the second floor was where the treasures were on display. They gave the disciples who came here to refine treasures some examples.

Zhao Jiuge suppressed the excitement in his heart and his hands trembled slightly. This was his first time refining his own treasure.

The sloppy young man seemed to be very familiar with his place. After entering, he directly walked to a counter. The counter was black and only waist haigh, with nothing on it. Behind the counter stood four figures. One of them was a middle-aged man. He had bronze skin, and although he wore simple clothes, they couldn’t hide his powerful body. At this moment, he had a proud expression like he was boasting about something to the other three.

One of the other three was a young man who had a similar temperament to the burly, middle-aged man. He was also wearing black clothes, and although he was a bit thin, his arms seemed to contain explosive power. He was standing behind the middle-aged man, and his eyes contained a sense of pride he couldn’t hide.

As for the other two figures, they were wearing the uniform of the Sword Casting Hall. They seemed to be personnel of the Sword Casting Hall. They were in high spirits while talking to the burly, middle-aged man. At the same time, they had envious expressions and yearning in their eyes.

The sloppy young man whispered into Zhao Jiuge’s ear, “You luck is very good. Master Zhang Chufeng is here. He is in the top three out of the dozen or so masters here. The young man in black is his disciple. Let’s see if Master Zhang is willing to refine for you.” 

Zhao Jiuge’s eyes lit up. Before he could speak, the sloppy young man continued, “There is a wide range of masters. Some are good at refining swords, some at armor, and some at auxiliary treasures. Master Zhang is pretty good at them all.”

These simple words made Zhao Jiuge realize how much he had to learn. Even just refining treasures was split into different paths. Rumor had it that in the southern barbarian lands, there were not only cultivators proficient in formations, but also those that tamed insects and beasts to battle for them. The world was so vast, and there were all kinds of people.

Before Zhao Jiuge, who had come to the Sword Casting Hall for the first time today, could speak, the sloppy young man had walked up to the counter and began speaking again.

“Hey, Brother Lu. Today is your turn on duty.”

Seeing that someone was here, the four people who were talking stopped. Their gazes turned toward the door, onto the sloppy young man and Zhao Jiuge.

The one called Brother Lu was a thin young man with an aquiline nose, and he had a faint smile on his face.

“Little Sloppy, you’ve brought someone here to refine treasures again.”

Hearing Brother Lu’s words, the burly, middle-aged man’s eyes lit up. He loved refining, but when he saw Zhao Jiuge’s youthful face, there was a flash of disappointment. He felt that Zhao Jiuge was too young and his cultivation level was too low to have any good materials. For someone with his skills, ordinary things would not make his hands itch.

“Yes, he came to refine an armor treasure.” The sloppy youth immediately said what Zhao Jiuge wanted to refine.

After hearing that Zhao Jiuge wanted armor, everyone was surprised. After all, not many people wanted to refine armor. Only after the Nascent Soul Realm would there be a demand for armor, because only then could one use the armor to its fullest.

“Do you have that much ore?” Brother Lu’s face became serious. After all, even refining the lowest quality armor would not reduce the amount of ore required. He was on duty today and was responsible for recording the information about the treasures being refined, along with collecting materials. He didn't want to make any mistakes because of an inexperienced youth.

At this moment, the sloppy young man didn’t speak. He turned and looked at Zhao Jiuge with a questioning gaze. He secretly signaled Zhao Jiuge to speak.

Zhao Jiuge immediately understood. He quickly stepped forward and respectfully said, “Brother Lu, I have enough ore.” Although Brother Lu hadn’t entered the inner sect, he had still entered the sect before Zhao Jiuge, and after being in the sect for so long, he was probably at a higher cultivation level as well. Thus, Zhao Jiuge spoke with respect.

The burly man behind the young man revealed some disdain in his eyes and his face was filled with pride. He didn’t believe Zhao Jiuge could refine anything good. Even though he was refining armor, it still depended on the quality!

Perhaps because of Zhao Jiuge’s choice of words, Brother Lu had a good impression of him, so his originally serious expression softened. “Come here and register. Also, you need to hand over the materials and also 10% of the materials as the cost for refining the treasure.”

The cost of 10% of the materials stunned Zhao Jiuge, but he soon recovered. Since he was here already, he didn’t care about the extra 10%. Anyway, he had 150 kilograms of Purple Ji Spirit Stone, which was more than enough. Zhao Jiuge went up to the counter and was ready to register and hand over the materials.

Brother Lu took out a jade tube and looked at Zhao Jiuge, asking, “What ore do you plan to use to make the armor?” It was a casual question, but once he heard the answer, he was dumbfounded.

Zhao Jiuge calmly said, “Purple Ji Stone.”

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly solidified and it became inexplicably quiet. The four people looked at Zhao Jiuge. Two of them were refiners and the other two always came by the Sword Casting Hall, so they naturally had knowledge about materials. A monstrous wave was set off in their hearts when they heard that it was actually Purple Ji Spirit Stone!

When the sloppy young man noticed the expressions of the four of them, his back inexplicably straightened. Although it was not his stuff, it belonged to someone he had brought, and this gave him a lot of face. Every other time he brought someone, these people always looked down on him.

Brother Lu was uncertain and asked again, “Are you sure it's Purple Ji Stone?”

“Yes.” Zhao Jiuge was a bit confused. He didn’t know why they had such expressions.

The young man in black became impatient and the proud expression on his face lessened. He looked at his master, asking if he wanted to refine it.

The burly, middle-aged man acted as if he hadn’t seen the look in his apprentice’s eyes and remained indifferent. He pretended like it was nothing. Perhaps it was out of self-control that he didn’t say he would accept the job, or he wanted Zhao Jiuge to take the initiative to ask him instead. He believed that even if Zhao Jiuge didn’t know who he was, the others would tell Zhao Jiuge his identity. 

“Junior Brother, perhaps you don’t know how precious Purple Ji Spirit Stone is, but people like us won’t be able to make anything with it, in fear of wasting it. However, Master Zhang, a top-notch master refiner here in the Sword Casting Hall, is here. Why don’t you ask Master Zhang if he is willing to make the armor for you? Any treasure he makes will definitely not be bad.” Brother Lu was still filled with shock. It had been a while since someone had come to the Sword Casting Hall. This was mainly because the old disciples mostly had all the treasures they needed, while the new generation of disciples were too weak to obtain materials to refine anything. There were only a few people coming in to refine ordinary treasures. It had been a few years since they refined a top-quality treasure. This made it so the showroom upstairs didn’t even have anything good on display.

Zhao Jiuge was a bit lost and scratched his head. He looked at the burly, middle-aged man but didn’t know how to make the request. After a long time, he just spoke his mind. “Master Zhang, can I trouble you to refine an armor for me?”

Master Zhang didn’t speak and remained motionless. He purposely looked elsewhere.

Seeing the situation, Zhao Jiuge understood and quickly said, “I’ll hand the 10% material cost to Master Zhang.” 10% of the Purple Ji Spirit Stone was not cheap—this precious ore was often traded in half a kilogram at a time.

Master Zhang still didn’t make a sound. In truth, he had already long agreed in his heart. He just wanted to delay this for a bit to make himself appear more important.

However, his apprentice raised his eyebrow and asked, “How much Purple Ji Spirit Stone do you have?”

“About 150 kilograms,” Zhao Jiuge answered honestly. After all, he was requesting for someone else’s help. However, after he spoke, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

Even the young man who always had a proud look on his face was shocked. He thought, “150 kilograms! Purple Ji Stone is so precious, and there is actually 150 kilograms!”

His eyes shined and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind. He quickly said, “Refining the armor requires 100 kilograms, including the cost of refining.

After Zhao Jiuge heard this, he frowned. Even though he didn’t know anything, it still felt like a bit too much. However, it was his first time getting a treasure refined, so perhaps it did indeed cost this much. Although he felt like something was wrong, he didn’t immediately question it.

However, just because Zhao Jiuge didn’t speak, that didn’t mean others wouldn’t speak. A crude and bold laugh came from outside the door.

“Hahaha, Zhang Chufeng, you really have a good apprentice. His heart is blacker than yours. Even though Purple Ji Stone is precious, you don’t have to be that greedy. The apprentice really takes after the master.” The voice echoed inside the room before anyone could see who it was.

However, when the sloppy young man heard this laugh, his expression changed. He muttered to himself, “Master Ou Yezi is here too.”

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