Chapter 2288: 1044, where did this sword embryo come from?
Chapter 2288: 1044, where did this sword embryo come from?
At this moment, Han Muye was clearly a youth in a cyan cloth robe, with a thin face.
The piece of black metal he was holding in his hand was extremely heavy.
This was Primordial Iron, an additive in the sword refinement process that could make the Dharma artifact even sharper.
However, Primordial Iron is not a precious spiritual material and could only be used to refine the lowest level of Dharma artifacts.
Such low-level swords were common in the Weapon Refinement Hall of Nine Mystic Mountain of the Western Frontier where Han Muye used to work.
Clutching the chunk of iron, Han Muye followed the team ahead until they reached a large furnace with flames rising high.
That furnace was one of the refining furnaces, though it appeared quite rudimentary.
In front of the furnace, a soot-covered old man with a hammer in his hand, a worried look on his face, was listlessly hammering a sword embryo.
To Han Muye, it was already hammered excessively and could no longer be refined into a sword.
“Quick, put in the Primordial Iron.”
“Heavy Black Metal, add three pieces.”
While striking the black sword embryo, the old man wielding the hammer called out.
The figures holding spiritual materials approached the furnace and placed the materials in their hands into it.
The flames in the furnace instantly blazed even more fiercely.
Han Muye stepped forward as well, placing his own chunk of ore into it.
After adding the ores, the others left one after another. Han Muye did not leave, instead, he found a corner to lean on and then set his gaze on the hammer-wielding elder.
In fact, the elder possessed some skills in weapon refining, but whether it was due to his old age or an unsettled mind, his hammer strikes were inconsistent, and it was clear that the sword embryo was ruined.
Although it seemed undamaged from the outside, internally, the variety of spiritual materials had already become a chaotic mess.
A sword embryo like this could not be refined into a true weapon.
“How many times did I just hammer it?”
Suddenly, the elder froze with his hammer in mid-air and looked up at Han Muye in the corner.
The elder’s face was grayish-white, and a glint of divine light shone through his eyes.
“One thousand three hundred and one.”
Han Muye pondered for a moment and then responded.
These words made the elder’s eyes twitch, and a hard-to-conceal spiritual light flashed across them.
Bowing his head, he continued to hammer the sword embryo in silence.
Half an hour later, the elder threw the ruined sword embryo onto the ground.
“It’s ruined,” he said, putting down the hammer and walking away.
After a few steps, the elder turned his head to look at Han Muye, “Kid, come earlier tomorrow.”
Han Muye didn’t know what he meant but still nodded.
Walking down the hillside, several middle-aged men in the same cyan robes had come to meet him, “Brother, the Mountain Master favors you; you’re going to rise to prominence.”
“Indeed, the Mountain Master is a blacksmith, and surely you can become one too.”
The others also offered their compliments, leading Han Muye to a large encampment and providing him with a separate chamber.
Han Muye sat cross-legged in the chamber, his gaze fixed ahead.
He thought the Eternal Sword Platform was a challenge he posed to the endless sword paths using his own swordsmanship to leave behind an inheritance, yet it was an illusion all along.
This illusion was incredibly realistic, so much so that even Han Muye, who had already grasped the barriers at the Creator Level, could not detect its falsehood.
Such skill intrigued Han Muye as well.
In the days to follow, he would always go early to the side of the refining furnace to watch the Mountain Master refine weapons.
The Mountain Master was always refining a three-foot-long sword.
He consumed a lot of spiritual materials, and every time, something would go wrong while forging the sword embryos.
Later, Han Muye also learned from the servants that the Mountain Master owned Broken Sword Mountain and inherited the method of sword refinement. This time he was forging a sword for the lord of Yunjiang City.
The lord of Yunjiang City intended to use this sword to confront Feng Yangqing, the owner of Wind Sword Manor, located a thousand miles away.
Feng Yangqing had once swept across tens of thousands of miles with a Peerless Sword forged by the Mountain Master.
After half a year, the spiritual materials provided by the lord of Yunjiang City were exhausted, yet the Mountain Master’s sword had still not been forged.
Han Muye watched for half a year, observing the Mountain Master using various forging methods to refine weapons, but the weapon always broke at the last moment.
“Today is the final deadline for the sword refinement. Let’s see how you would refine this sword.” In front of the stone platform, the Mountain Master spoke softly, then continued to hammer the sword embryo gripped by the tongs incessantly.
Han Muye quietly observed as the sword embryo slowly took shape but then the integration problem with the spiritual materials reappeared in the previously problematic area.
But this time, the master of the mountain did not stop, but quickly hammered the sword embryo.
Shortly after, the sword embryo took shape, and at a glance, it appeared to be an extremely sharp sword, its spiritual materials’ sharpness and heft both unquestionable.
Moreover, the sword carried a faint spiritual light, clearly a high-quality existence among Dharma artifacts.
Han Muye knew that all these were just appearances, that the sword actually couldn’t bear a strong power infusion, and that it would break in a fight against a powerful enemy.
“The sword is ready, take it to your master to complete your task,” the mountain master said, tossing the refined three-foot-long sword to Han Muye.
Han Muye had not yet reached out to catch it when a figure had already flown out, grabbing the sword.
The person who acted was clearly the leading manager who had followed the master for over a decade.
The manager had a smile on his face as he looked at the frowning master of the mountain, then at Han Muye standing by.
“Master, it is not that I have betrayed you, it’s just that the lord of the city gave too much,” he said.
“You took a liking to this kid as soon as he arrived, allowing him to watch your weapon refining every day, yet for those of us who have followed for decades, you didn’t even give us the chance to glance.”
“The brothers have all felt disheartened.”
The leading manager laughed heartily, carrying the long sword as he left.
The mountain master glanced at Han Muye, gestured with his hand, and tossed the hammer to him.
“Your turn.”
Han Muye caught the hammer and began to refine the sword.
When the sword embryo was about to take shape, the mountain master behind him suddenly spoke, “Gold Inlay Hammer.”
As Han Muye’s hammer head struck down, it abruptly halted, rolling across the sword embryo.
A cloud pattern appeared.
This was the key secret when refining this sword.
As he was about to lift the hammer again, the mountain master grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Leave,” he said.
“Do not come back here again.”
Tossing the incomplete sword embryo to Han Muye, the mountain master turned and walked away.
Han Muye looked at the sword embryo in his hand, his face revealing a hint of curiosity.
After ten days, news came that the city lord of Yunjiang had dueled with Feng Yangqing for a hundred moves before his sword shattered and he was defeated.
Three days later, Yunjiang’s army set foot on Broken Sword Mountain.
Han Muye looked at the fires rising from Broken Sword Mountain, then at the sword in his hand, and some understanding dawned in his heart.
Swords are double-edged, harming both others and oneself.
He stepped onto Broken Sword Mountain again, where the barracks had been dismantled.
Disorderly soldiers were now chasing and killing the servants and apprentices of Broken Sword Mountain.
“Who goes there!”
“Seize him!”
Several figures rushed toward Han Muye.
Han Muye lifted the unfinished sword embryo in his hand and shouted, “I want to see the city lord.”
“This is the true Peerless Sword.”
A Peerless Sword?
The soldiers did not believe it and advanced with their swords and spears.
With one swing of the sword embryo in Han Muye’s hand, all the swords and spears were sundered.
The soldiers stared at Han Muye in shock.
But in a moment, Han Muye was brought before a middle-aged man in light armor with a short beard.
Not far away, the dust-covered master of the mountain was being pushed by several soldiers, kneeling by the collapsed furnaces.
“His name is Han Muye, the apprentice whom the master values!”
“He can refine weapons; the master allowed only him to watch his sword-making.”
“The sword in his hands must be one the master has made,” the servant who were held at spearpoint in panic exclaimed.
The light-armored middle-aged man’s gaze fell on the sword embryo in Han Muye’s hands, narrowing his eyes.
“Where does this sword embryo come from?” he asked.