Even though Li Lin was an extremely experienced man, his face twitched slightly as he spoke. Originally, the Li Family focused primarily on forging and had some reputation, but by this generation, only Li Lingru remained. Li Lingru was not very interested in forging, and Li Lin couldn't force his daughter to wield a hammer and forge weapons. Therefore, under his guidance, the Li Family slowly transitioned from a forging family to an alchemy family.
"What does Chu Xingxia want to forge?" Li Lin took a sip of tea and asked sincerely.
"I wonder if it's possible to use these two items to forge a treasure sword and a piece of armor?" Chu Ming took out the spines and scales of the wolftiger from his pack and placed them on the table. These two items were extremely valuable, even in the market.
"Are these the spines and scales from a wolftiger?" Li Lin's sharp eyes immediately discerned the origin of the items with just a glance, his face showing a hint of emotion.
He picked up the spine, kept stroking it in his hand, and then lightly tapped it a few times to listen. He carefully observed every detail and even took out a silver needle to gently scrape some fragments off the spine to examine closely. Chu Ming sat beside quietly, not understanding the special method of observing materials, but he trusted that Li Lin, being a seasoned forger, must have found something.
After a full quarter of an hour, Li Lin took a deep breath and gently placed the spine down. Without waiting for Chu Ming to ask, he picked up the wolftiger's scale and began to examine it excitedly. This time, he took out a silver hook from his storage ring and kept engraving on the scale while Chu Ming drank tea and waited patiently.
Another half a quarter of an hour passed, and Li Lin put the scale down, shook his head, and sighed, "There's no problem forging a treasure sword with the spine, but forging armor with the scale requires an auxiliary material."
Chu Ming placed his teacup down lightly and asked indifferently, "What materials does the Li Patriarch need for forging armor?"
He understood that forging armor requires a lot of materials, otherwise it's impossible to connect the scales together.
"Apart from the scales, we have all other materials, but we lack Celestial Silkworm Silk!" Li Lin said with a bitter smile. To make Chu Ming owe a favor to the Li Family, he had meticulously prepared all the forging treasures of the Li Family to add to the two items Chu Ming wanted to forge.
"In that case, Li Patriarch, first forge the treasure sword. I will come back for the armor after finding Celestial Silkworm Silk!" Chu Ming thought. The Celestial Silkworm Silk is incredibly resilient and a precious material for forging armor, rare even in the market. If there is any, the Chu Family should have it, but Chu Ming's authority to use the Celestial Silkworm Silk is almost impossible.
"No problem, it will take only ten days to forge the treasure sword, and Chu Xingxia can come to collect it then!"
"Good!"
...
After leaving the Li Family, Chu Ming hurried towards the sect because his rented green pheasant horse was killed by Yang Hongbo on the way, leaving Chu Ming no choice but to pay the sect five thousand taels of silver to buy the dead horse.
"Elder, this is the task proof!"
Chu Ming took out a piece of paper from his chest and handed it to the Task Elder, who was busy recording. Respectfully, the Task Elder picked up the paper and looked at it before giving a glance at Chu Ming and praising, "Good job!"
"Here is your reward!" The Task Elder took out a grey cloth bag from a cupboard, along with a few paper tickets for contribution points, and said indifferently. Chu Ming nodded and put away the items. He suddenly remembered the three blood-colored tokens on the bodies of the three black-clad men he killed. Huang Liangping and Luo Qianyi had left too hastily, and Chu Ming hadn't had the chance to ask.
"Elder, do you know what this token is?" Chu Ming took out a blood-colored token from his bosom. As soon as the token appeared, it emitted a faint blood-colored aura, extremely sinister.
The Task Elder's face changed, he grabbed the blood-colored token and examined it repeatedly, as if confirming his thoughts, he couldn't help but gasp.
Chu Ming stood beside nervously, watching the Task Elder's changing expression and realizing the token might be significant. Slowly, the Task Elder's face relaxed, but still looked grim.
"Don't tell anyone about this token, understand? Otherwise, it will only bring trouble to you!" The Task Elder said flatly, placing the blood-colored token into his sleeve.
"Disciple understands!" Chu Ming said, and then left the Task Hall. From the Task Elder's expression, Chu Ming sensed that something major might happen in the Great Yan Kingdom, though all this had nothing to do with him. Should the sky fall, there are bigger men to hold it up; he, still targeting the breakthrough to the Transcendence Realm, could only work on improving his strength.
Soon after Chu Ming left the Task Hall, the Task Elder rushed to Cyan Yang Peak, anxiously heading towards the Sect Leader's resting place there!
.....
Returning to his small courtyard, Chu Ming took out all the spirit stones from his task reward and began his seclusion. During his fight with the three black-clad men, he sensed the barrier of the Transcendence Realm loosening slightly. This time, his seclusion aimed to push firmly and directly break through to the Transcendence Realm!
Cyan Yang Sect Hall.
At this moment, the elders of Cyan Yang Sect showed worry, the origin being the blood-colored token brought by the Task Elder!
"Sect Leader, I think the Blood Hand Association might not be targeting the Great Yan Kingdom this time, perhaps they're just passing through!"
The Fourth Elder said conservatively, but even he didn't believe his own words. Demon Dao organizations have unpredictable actions, and once they appear, they always have a purpose. For example, the Great Yan Kingdom originally wasn't one of the Five Great Sects but had eight. Twenty years ago, a group from the Blood Hand Association secretly laid an evil array in one of the sects, Hong Song Sect, extracting all the martial artists' essence blood, causing that sect's immediate destruction!
Only then did the Great Yan Kingdom's sects unite to attack the Demon Dao organization, but they underestimated its strength. In the fierce counterattack of Demon Dao, another two sects were obliterated. This incident made all present elders aware of the terrifying power of these organizations.
"Indeed, the Fourth Elder is right. The Blood Hand Association isn't targeting just the Great Yan Kingdom but all small countries in Celestial Realm!" The Second Elder sarcastically retorted the Fourth Elder's remarks, causing the latter to blush.
"I think we should immediately contact the other four great sects to discuss countermeasures. If the Blood Hand Association comes, no one can stop them!" The Grand Elder said worriedly. After all, the Great Yan Kingdom is just a small country. Although Cyan Yang Sect dominates within the Great Yan Kingdom, within the entire Celestial Realm, the sect is as insignificant as sand in the sea!
"I also agree with the Grand Elder's suggestion!"
"I think it's feasible!"
"There's no other way!"
"..."
Several elders expressed their agreement with the Grand Elder's plan, Guan Chengzhi, the person in charge, nodded and said:
"Enhance the sect's vigilance, I will go discuss with the Sect Leaders of the other four great sects!"
Saying that, he left the hall!
.....
Time passes quickly for martial artists, and it had been ten days since Chu Ming started his seclusion. Near the end of the year, many sect disciples chose to take half a month's leave to visit their families.
On a clean, wide bed.
Chu Ming was sitting cross-legged in the center, heat was rising from his head.
Pure spiritual power kept circulating through his body, slowly liquifying. However, the process was extremely slow, with over fifty spirit stones arranged around him in a large circle, constantly sending spiritual energy into Chu Ming's body.
Buzzing sounds
As the spiritual qi kept compressing, the liquid spiritual power in Chu Ming's Dantian increased, from a trickle to resembling ribbons, clearly distinct from the spiritual qi.
In the room, invisible currents centered on Chu Ming, forming an inverted funnel, causing all light objects to rise and float in the air!
Bam
Suddenly, Chu Ming's aura surged, spiritual power erupted from his body, and his cultivation broke through, directly advancing his Cyan Yuan Technique from the Fifth Layer to the Sixth Layer!
Strange waves spread from Chu Ming's Dantian, and all floating objects fell down, causing a series of cluttered sounds!
"Finally the Transcendence Realm." He said.
Exhaling deeply, Chu Ming opened his eyes, bright sparks gleamed like lightning in the void.
After a while, the sparks dimmed, Chu Ming's face revealed a confident smile!
Breaking through to the Transcendence Realm, the quantity and quality of spiritual power in his body had massively increased. Now, if facing black-clad men, Chu Ming was confident he could kill with one strike!