Between drilling the army, the Grandmaster went to the forge. To contend with the Spirit Empire and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Tai Tan had shut himself in, forging hidden weapons without taking a single step outside.
Among Tang Sect hidden weapons, he had already produced some of the mid-tier ones. But the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles, and Peacock Plume were simply too difficult—not only were their crafting techniques complex, the materials required were extremely rare.
Fortunately, this was the imperial palace—he'd managed to find quite a few rare materials in the Treasury Pavilion. Tai Tan planned to head up to the Clear Sky Sect after finishing this batch of mid-tier weapons, to ask them to use the Clear Sky Hammer to temper ores.
"Mr. Tai Tan, how are you coming along with the Icefire Meteor Needle blueprint?" Yu Xiaogang walked up and asked.
"Grandmaster, you're here—please, sit." Seeing the Grandmaster, Tai Tan hurried forward to greet him; this was his young master's teacher, after all.
"I have some leads on the Icefire Meteor Needle. According to the notes left by the young master, this weapon may be on par with the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles in power, and its construction is simpler. But it never made it into the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons Canon because it's practically impossible to manufacture—the materials are far too unique. I never expected you to actually have them, Grandmaster."
As he spoke, Tai Tan looked at two peculiar ores on the table: one crimson like fire, the other snow-white like ice. Likely only two people in this world—Tianlin and the deceased Tang San—could have recognized them.
They were called the Sunshine Crystalline Core and the Coldheart Ice Essence. It was said they had only a one-in-a-thousand chance of forming where ultimate heat and ultimate cold converged. They were the primary materials for forging the Icefire Meteor Needle. But places where ultimate heat and cold converged were seen perhaps once in a century; thus, for hundreds of years, no one in the Tang Sect had reproduced the weapon, its power unknown and thus unranked. So in his notes, Tang San had only written that it might be no weaker than the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles.
The Grandmaster explained, "I came by them by chance. I was going to present them to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to buy Ma Hongjun's freedom so he could assist Xiao San. But now that Xiao San has been killed, Ma Hongjun has no value."
"Strictly speaking, this is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's own sin to bear. These two stones were sent by their Medicine Hall elder, Dugu Bo, back then as thanks for Prince Xue Xing saving his life."
"He had no idea what they were good for and sent them as pretty rocks—utterly foolish."
"Heh, but doesn't that give us hope? As long as we produce a single Icefire Meteor Needle, we can be certain of killing at least one Titled Douluo from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect or Spirit Hall. Preferably Bibi Dong or Jun Tianlin," Tai Tan said excitedly.
The fire poison and ice poison contained within the Icefire Meteor Needle far surpassed Dugu Yan's power of ice and fire. Anyone struck would find their soul power unable to circulate no matter how deep their cultivation.
He also deduced that with the hardness of the Sunshine Crystalline Core and Coldheart Ice Essence, the needle might barely be able to pierce a Titled Douluo's bodily defenses.
It was just that refining the ice and fire power within such peerless ores into poison was a rather low use. If these two ores were in Lou Gao's hands—after he had learned Shu Mountain smelting techniques—there would be far more ingenious applications.
The Grandmaster stood. "There's no time to waste. Tai Tan, continue mass-producing the mid-tier hidden weapons. I'll bring these ores to the Clear Sky Sect now. Only Tang Xiao's Clear Sky Hammer can grind these stones. Once you finish your batch, hurry to the Clear Sky Sect as well."
"Yes," Tai Tan responded.
Leaving the imperial palace, the Grandmaster first returned to Shrek Academy, calling on Liu Erlong and Flender to accompany him. Given his current status, he needed protection when traveling.
He considered the Soul Emperor-level bodyguards assigned by the royal family unqualified, so he specifically summoned his two personal Soul Douluo. United as the Golden Iron Triangle, their strength could rival a Titled Douluo.
Flender had actually retired and didn't want to get involved, but as the Grandmaster's longtime friend, he couldn't refuse such a small request.
As the trio left Heaven Dou City, three pairs of eyes were already fixed on them.
The first pair belonged to the Clear Sky Sect—arranged by Tang Yuehua. To spark a deadly clash between the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Spirit Hall, she needed a fuse, and that fuse was the Grandmaster.
The second was Chrysanthemum Douluo, sent by the Evil Sword Immortal, intending to take the Grandmaster away. But he hadn't expected the Grandmaster to be traveling with Flender and Liu Erlong. At present, he wasn't a match for the Golden Holy Dragon—and there were Clear Sky people secretly tailing them as well. He simply couldn't find a chance to act and could only bide his time.
The third pair belonged to Bai He from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. He was the most concealed; the others hadn't noticed him, but he had clearly marked both the Clear Sky and Chrysanthemum Douluo.
"The Sect Master guessed right. A mere twenty-ninth-rank Soul Grandmaster, and yet three great powers are watching him. Even if he dies, it'll be a glorious death!" Bai He said.
With a flicker, he left. He didn't need to personally keep watch now. As for how the Clear Sky Sect and the Evil Sword Immortal would move next, both Tianlin and Ning Fengzhi had already roughly predicted it. Let them play their game.
They would swoop in and cut certain things off at the end.
…
Elsewhere, on Sea God Island, after several days of rest, Ning Rongrong finally began her seventh trial: drawing the Sea God Trident.
Tianlin didn't go this time. It was the Sea God's temple after all—what would a successor of the Asura God be doing there? Besides, Rongrong wouldn't be in any danger during this trial.
"Since Rongrong has begun her seventh trial, I should begin my own seventh as well." Tianlin rode his sword away from Sea God Island, landing on an uninhabited islet nearby.
Here, he would draw the Asura Demonic Sword. Its baleful aura was too intense; doing this in a city would inevitably harm innocents.
He opened his belt soul tool. The Asura Demonic Sword, still in its scabbard, appeared before him. The task this time was to draw the blade.
Tianlin held the scabbard in his left hand and gripped the hilt with his right. In that instant, his Asura God Domain flared out of his control. Every bird and beast on the island, and even the sea soul beasts in the surrounding waters, fled the islet in terror.
On Tianlin's body, soul bone armor manifested—everything but the chestplate.
"As expected of a legendary super divine weapon. Without even leaving the scabbard, it pushes your Asura God Domain to its limit and even forces your soul bone armor out," the Skydream Iceworm sighed.
Tianlin channeled soul power into his right hand and pulled with all his might. Blood-red light seeped out bit by bit from the gap between blade and scabbard.
Back then, Tang Chen took a full three days to draw this sword—and he never fully gained its recognition.
But the Asura Demonic Sword slowly emerged at Tianlin's first attempt. That was because Tang Chen's martial path was the hammer; a hammer was a blunt instrument and not a perfect fit for a sword. If the Asura God had had a better option, he wouldn't have chosen Tang Chen.
Tianlin was different. He was a sword master, and his current strength was in no way inferior to Tang Chen's back then. The Asura Demonic Sword clearly preferred him.
"Come out!" Tianlin roared, unleashing all his soul power. With a sharp swish, blade and scabbard finally parted completely.
Centered on the islet, the sky within a radius of a thousand li turned blood-red. Blood clouds blotted out the heavens.
["Jun Tianlin, Asura God's Seventh Trial: Draw the super divine weapon, the Asura Demonic Sword—passed. Asura God affinity increased by twenty percent; current affinity: ninety percent!"]