Chapter 315: Chapter 131: Transform Qi into Gang! Blade Gang!_1
Forging Master Su Changkong reached out to catch the blueprint and examined it closely.
The blueprint depicted a wildly designed combat blade, with annotations on the side marking the name ‘Monster Wailing Blade’ in bold letters.
Excitement stirred in Su Changkong’s heart. Forging a Monster Blade? This was a challenge to his forging skills. If he were to succeed, his skills would undoubtedly make leaps and bounds, advancing to the 8th tier!
Furthermore, having experience with crafting weapons using Demon Monster Crystal Cores, Su Changkong would be able to forge similar arms and armor in the future if he had spare cores.
Of course, Su Changkong knew he had to be cautious of Wei Chiao’s tendency to discard people once they’ve served their purpose, so for now, he decided to feign obedience, waiting for his chance to escape.
Instantly energized, Su Changkong said, “I’ll give it my all! My wish is to forge a divine weapon that will be renowned for ages!”
“Good! Work hard, and I never shortchange my brothers!” Wei Chiao, extremely satisfied with Su Changkong’s attitude, declared.
However, Ma Hong, who was standing beside them, remained silent. In fact, the task of forging the ‘Monster Wailing Blade’ was not only assigned to Su Changkong. Before him, Wei Chiao had already had iron workers of notable forging skill within the rebel camp attempt to forge it.
But those blacksmiths had gone mad from the influence of the Demon Monster Crystal Core during the process and, unable to withstand it, ended their own lives.
That’s why Wei Chiao had no choice but to seek Chai Zheng’s help in bringing over a Forge Master.
Ma Hong simply hoped that this young man had some real talent and wouldn’t follow in the previous ones’ footsteps.
“Ma Hong, our journey has been long and tiring. Take Master Su to rest for now. We will begin work tomorrow.”
Wei Chiao then instructed Ma Hong to take Su Changkong away.
“Yes!”
Ma Hong agreed, arranging a separate place for Su Changkong to stay and treating him with courtesy.
But Su Changkong could feel the secretive glances watching him from the shadows. As a Forge Master from outside, even if brought by Chai Zheng, he was still under surveillance.
Su Changkong ignored it and went straight to sleep. His current strategy was to remain unchanging in the face of a myriad of changes! Until the Monster Wailing Blade was forged, there was no need to worry about his own safety.
The next morning, Ma Hong had someone take Su Changkong to his workspace – a fully equipped forging room complete with a wealth of rare metals.
“Star Pattern Gold, Purple Gold, Black Gold…”
To craft a suitable weapon with the Demon Monster Crystal Core, Wei Chiao had invested heavily, and Su Changkong noticed there were as much as twenty or thirty taels of Star Pattern Gold among the materials – more than enough for the project!
“Make good use of it,” Ma Hong said as he personally handed the Demon Monster Crystal Core to Su Changkong.
Su Changkong felt the strange, immense energy within the crystal core, similar to the one he obtained from killing Feng Mo. Su Changkong speculated it must have come from a lower-tier Demon Monster of comparable strength.
He had learned quite a bit about Demon Monsters from Zhou Zhengye, including that lower-tier ones could be killed through continuous wounding and chopping.
Mid-tier Demon Monsters, however, were terrifyingly strong, so much so that even the mightiest Martial Artists within the Qi-Blood Realm would struggle to kill them!
“What a waste; would have been better to refine them into pills…” Su Changkong inwardly complained.
If it were him receiving the Demon Monster Crystal Core, he would definitely choose to enhance his own strength. But he also knew alchemy had its risks of failure, and one misstep could mean everything was lost, whereas forging weapons had a much greater chance of success.
Although he was very tempted to pocket the Demon Monster Crystal Core and run, he was in the rebel camp, under the watchful eyes of Martial Artists like Ma Hong, so he had to abandon the thought.
“Let’s begin,” he said.
Without paying attention to the onlookers, Su Changkong began to work on the model for the ‘Monster Wailing Blade’, starting with experimenting with Black Gold.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Next to the forging furnace, where flames belched forth, Su Changkong swung his hammer, shaping pieces of Black Gold.
Each strike sent sparks scattering, creating an aesthetically pleasing sight.
“He really knows his forging…” The Martial Artists watching Su Changkong nodded silently in approval, acknowledging his skill even as laymen.
Creating a proto-form of a blade came easily to Su Changkong, but the difficult part was integrating the Demon Monster Crystal Core into it.
After shaping the rough form of the Monster Wailing Blade, Su Changkong tried embedding the Demon Monster Crystal Core into a groove within the blade, striking with his hammer, wishing to meld it into one with the blade.
The crystal core was strong and resilient, able to withstand blows without shattering, unfazed by the hammer’s repeated heavy strikes.
“Clang!”
But with one strike, Su Changkong’s body jolted. A forceful backlash emanated from the crystal core, numbing his wrist, and with it a malicious essence intrinsic to the crystal core infiltrated his body, affecting his mind!
“The malevolent essence within this Demon Monster Crystal Core is resisting! It doesn’t want to be forged into a weapon!”
Su Changkong understood that the core was difficult to refine; he had previously used a similar core for alchemy and had needed a Star Patterned Gold Pill Furnace to mitigate its malignancy.
The same held true for forging; the malignancy within the Demon Monster Crystal Core would influence the forger, and those with weaker minds could easily be affected, driven to insanity, no longer themselves.
However, a remarkable gleam crossed Su Changkong’s eyes. Such challenge was just what he needed to train and refine his own strength!