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Qing Xuanling and Elder Gao reentered the forge. He approached the anvil and retrieved a rectangular box, handing it to Qing Xuanling.
"Here is your companion. Take a moment to look at it—we'll begin the reforging afterward." Elder Gao started making necessary preparations for forging. He smiled as he added, "And you'll need to assist me. In case you've forgotten—I only have one arm~"
Qing Xuanling smiled faintly. She didn't mind helping at all. After all, it was her sword being reforged. In fact, she felt somewhat excited to participate in the process.
But she set that aside for now and opened the box containing her sword. There it was—her sword, unremarkable in appearance despite its quality. Just as she remembered: heavily damaged. A moderately strong strike would be enough to shatter it.
She smiled weakly and touched the sword with her finger. Surprisingly, the blade trembled slightly while emitting a faint hum. Qing Xuanling's eyes widened—but she understood instinctively.
"Hehe—I suppose this is the first time we've been separated for so long, isn't it?" Qing Xuanling smiled affectionately as she continued caressing her sword.
She truly held deep affection for the sword—even if she hadn't realized it until now. She'd simply grown too accustomed to having it by her side. Her sword seemed to feel the same—she could sense a yearning emanating from it.
Qing Xuanling recalled the nights she'd spoken to her sword while hiding from demonic beasts in the Scarlet Forest, the joy she felt each time her sword skills improved, the way she'd gripped its hilt during desperate moments.
Most were moments born from lacking people to rely on or share happiness with—but that didn't change the fact her sword had accompanied her through many of her hardest and happiest times.
Undoubtedly, it was an object of immense emotional weight for her. A companion.
"I hope everything goes well…" Qing Xuanling sighed with slight nervousness and returned the sword to Elder Gao. "Please—reforge my sword into something far more magnificent and powerful than before!"
"That goes without saying with my skills, brat." Elder Gao smiled and carried the sword to the smelting furnace. "Normally I wouldn't do this—but I believe you're the type who'd appreciate knowing the processes your sword undergoes. So I'll explain each step."
Qing Xuanling's eyes lit up. Indeed—she was deeply curious about how her sword would be reforged!
She believed—especially after her recent body cultivation breakthrough—that all knowledge was interconnected. If something learned in alchemy could improve a cultivation technique, perhaps something learned in a forge might aid alchemy or other arts.
The Dao existed everywhere—so Qing Xuanling wasn't wasting time by learning such things.
Elder Gao nodded satisfactorily upon seeing Qing Xuanling's excitement and immediately ignited the furnace by injecting Qi into a formation within it. Simultaneously, he began dismantling Qing Xuanling's sword while explaining:
"The first step in reforging a sword is assessing the damage to its body." Elder Gao separated the hilt from the blade. His eyes sharpened as he inspected the blade. "There are several degrees of damage—but yours is the most severe case, with cracks throughout its entire structure."
Qing Xuanling grimaced. "Does that mean the reforging process will be more difficult?"
"Yes and no." Elder Gao shrugged. "In mortal blacksmithing—the origin of all our refining techniques—it would be simpler. They'd simply melt the blade down and forge a new one from that metal."
"But in immortal refining, everything changes completely." Elder Gao narrowed his eyes. "As you know, different types of spirit materials possess various properties and affinities. If we're not careful, we risk damaging those properties."
"This becomes even more complicated during reforging—since we typically reforged something precisely to preserve aspects of the original sword. So we can't simply melt the blade carelessly. In your case, it's even more complex. Your sword is on the verge of awakening sentience and is still in a nascent state. Without proper procedures, the awakening sentience would vanish instantly."
After handing the blade to Qing Xuanling, Elder Gao retrieved a small hammer from his pocket. "Hold the blade firmly and keep it perfectly still."
Qing Xuanling nodded seriously and gripped it so tightly her fingers turned white. Elder Gao nodded in satisfaction and began delivering precise, tiny strikes to the blade.
Metal fragments fell with each tap of the small hammer, landing in a previously prepared bucket.
Each strike from Elder Gao appeared meticulously calculated—Qing Xuanling realized this from the sweat beading on his forehead. His wrinkled eyes seemed to blaze intensely as he tapped rhythmically with his hammer.
Qing Xuanling observed everything, belatedly realizing Elder Gao was actually using a technique—or at least performing something requiring significant Qi expenditure. The glow on his sole hand and the small hammer betrayed this.
Elder Gao continued striking until nothing remained but small metal fragments of varying sizes. He exhaled deeply.
"Don't think I struck randomly—each blow came after studying your sword for several days." Elder Gao wiped sweat from his brow. "Each strike landed precisely where cracks were irreparable, with just enough force to avoid damaging anything else."
"Essentially—I salvaged every still-good portion of your sword while breaking away completely damaged sections. It's a high-level technique few bother with due to its high cost. The amount of divine sense I expended wasn't trivial."
Qing Xuanling nodded, eyes gleaming. Though she knew Elder Gao's actions weren't trivial, this was a higher-level feat than she'd anticipated! Separating the good while preserving the good was by no means easy!
"But won't reducing my sword to this state cause its nascent sentience to shatter?" Qing Xuanling murmured worriedly.
Elder Gao rolled his eyes. "A weapon's sentience differs from that of a living being. Removing damaged portions of the blade actually improved your sword's faint consciousness. Unless the pieces are separated by great distances, your sword's sentience won't be endangered. So stop muttering nonsense and fetch the materials from that chest!"
Qing Xuanling smiled sheepishly and quickly searched a chest in the forge's corner. Inside lay dozens of metals exuding profound spiritual energy. Qing Xuanling immediately recognized their high quality!
Not a single metal was below mid-grade! There were even over five high-grade ones!
Qing Xuanling gasped sharply. "These are the materials for reforging my sword?!"
"Hehe—I squeezed the clan quite hard to obtain these!" Elder Gao smirked mischievously. "They seemed quite guilty about what happened to you—so acquiring so many things was rather easy!"
Qing Xuanling's face flushed with embarrassment. She didn't believe the clan owed her anything. Quite the opposite—she'd been at fault for venturing out alone at night when she could've stayed at a friend's house…
Elder Gao snorted. "Wipe that expression off your face. The clan planned to use you as bait anyway. They knew you might be attacked—but said nothing, hoping the enemy would act so they could counterstrike. What they didn't expect was the spy being so foolish as to leak information to the enemy—exposing his identity before they could place a bodyguard in your shadow… It was the clan's miscalculation—so take these things without shame!"
Qing Xuanling smiled defeatedly. Still, she didn't feel the clan had done anything wrong. She'd been somewhat reckless too. Yet knowing this undoubtedly lifted a weight from her shoulders. She immediately gathered all the metals and brought them to Elder Gao!
He smiled satisfactorily and ordered Qing Xuanling to arrange them in order before the furnace.
"What we'll do now forms the alloy base for your sword's blade." Elder Gao pointed to five metals of different color tones. "The blade's foundation—which serves as the bridge between your Qi and the rest of the sword—will be made from five metals of the five elements."
"The foundation is the blade's most fundamental part—thus typically crafted with attributes compatible with anyone. But for custom commissions, we usually use metals sharing affinity with the wielder's spiritual roots. In your case—a complete root."
Elder Gao took a deep breath at this point.
"And in reforging a sword in your sword's state—this is the most crucial step." Elder Gao licked his lips, tasting the forge's fiery air. "Here—we'll melt the remaining pieces of your sword together with metals sharing affinity with your spiritual roots."
"We do this not only because it is the gentlest process when forging a sword, but also to nourish the weakened sentience of the blade fragments when heated to high temperatures—using spiritual energy matching the elemental attributes of your Qi."
Qing Xuanling listened intently—as if hearing a magical tale for the first time. Spiritual artifact forging contained so many new, complex concepts it nearly left her stunned!
But Qing Xuanling's recently enhanced mind—sharpened by becoming a body cultivator—rapidly processed all the information and asked decisively: "What must I do now?"
Elder Gao nodded, regarding her with solemn seriousness. "You must grasp these five metal pieces and let them melt in the deepest part of my furnace. I'll warn you outright—this is an extremely difficult task. The fire within my furnace isn't ordinary—it's specially enhanced, dozens of times hotter than normal. The heat you'll endure standing before the furnace to melt the metals will be inhuman. Are you certain you can do this?"
Qing Xuanling's expression turned strange. "Mmm… Elder Gao—if I'm not misunderstanding—you're worried the… heat will affect me?"
Elder Gao frowned. "Girl—don't underestimate this. The heat expelled by the furnace isn't ordinary. Even apprentices who've trained for years often faint from heatstroke. It's not an easy task."
A flicker of doubt appeared on Qing Xuanling's face—but as she considered several things, that doubt transformed into strong confidence.
"Don't worry, Elder Gao. Though it may be very difficult—I'm confident I won't give up midway! Especially when it concerns my sword!"
Elder Gao regarded her doubtfully—sensing something strange—but could only sigh in the end. "You'd better mean it. You can't faint midway—or the resulting alloy from fusing the five metals will contain impurities."
Qing Xuanling merely smiled and grasped the five metals of different attributes. Elder Gao shook his head, praying her confidence wasn't unfounded, and handed her special tongs.
The tongs—instead of having two tips for gripping—featured two hollow steel rectangles that, when joined, formed the shape of a steel ingot mold. Additionally, there was an opening at the top of the ingot mold.
"Place the five metals there and immediately insert them into the furnace." Elder Gao opened the lid that sealed the heat inside the smelting furnace.—releasing a wave of intense heat as he infused more Qi into the furnace's formation. "You must remain there for thirty minutes until the metal melts. After twenty minutes pass—I'll begin melting the remaining fragments of your sword with special fire to integrate them with the molten metal resulting from the five pieces of metal."
Qing Xuanling nodded calmly as she carefully placed the five metals into the tongs. Upon finishing, she took a deep breath and stepped before the furnace. An intense wave of heat struck her immediately—so fierce an unaccustomed person might faint instantly.
Yet…
'Is this all?'
Qing Xuanling remained expressionless as she inserted the tongs deep into the furnace. Her hands and forearms inevitably drew closer to the furnace's interior. Normally, this would instantly redden someone's skin.
Yet Qing Xuanling's skin remained white and flawless. At most, sweat droplets appeared—only to evaporate in an moment.
Elder Gao's mouth fell open the instant he saw this.
'…This girl also has talent in… in… refining?! Argh—damn it—this feels so wrong!'