"Protect your body with Qi, young Master Qingyi. The resonance of the Divine Blacksmith’s hammer blows can harm bodies unaccustomed to it."
The Celestial Emperor at his side warned him, his low voice echoing through the underground corridor as they descended the dark stone steps. Each step carried them deeper into the bowels of Long Tianjin’s palace.
The young dragon merely nodded, allowing a thin layer of Qi to envelop his body like an invisible cloak.
Soon, his ears began to catch the clanging of steel against steel—a sharp, high-pitched sound that seemed to pierce his eardrums with every blow, reverberating off the rocky walls in ceaseless waves.
For a moment, even shielded by Qi, it felt as though his heart would explode.
Strangely, as he advanced, his body began to adapt to the resonance, each step making the sound more bearable and familiar.
After only a few seconds, his eardrums no longer screamed in protest, and in less than a minute, he dissolved the Qi barrier pletely.
The tremor that had spread through his body only moments before, threatening to explode his heart from the inside out, vanished entirely, as if it had never existed at all.
When he turned his face, he found the golden guard’s expression frozen in sheer shock.
"I was already a Stellar Sovereign when I first laid eyes on the Divine Blacksmith. Even so, it took me nearly thirty minutes to grow used to it.
Many young talents suffer serious injuries trying, since the only way to request a weapon from the Divine Blacksmith is to withstand the resonance of his hammer." The golden guard spoke, struggling in vain to hide the shock in his voice.
In all his long life, he had never seen anyone adapt so easily to that resonance.
Even the greatest geniuses of the Martial Alliance usually needed at least twenty minutes to adjust.
Qingyi was, without a shadow of a doubt, an aberration.
They continued descending, and the metallic clangs grew louder and louder, until they seemed to erupt right beside them, each blow making the air visibly vibrate around them.
The two stopped before a metal door towering over a hundred meters tall, its bulk likely weighing thousands of metric tons.
"You may try to open it if you wish. Being able to open this door is the second requirement for requesting a weapon from the Divine Blacksmith Lord," said the golden guard, a faint smile curving the corners of his lips.
Qingyi had no interest in requesting a weapon, but he took a step forward nonetheless, pressing both hands against the metal surface.
It was hot. So hot that it could instantly vaporize a mortal’s hands and even injure a cultivator at the Astral Body Realm.
Feeling the scorching heat sear his palms, he pushed forward, the temperature climbing rapidly with every centimeter of pressure.
It was as if his fingers were sinking into magma.
A loud crack echoed through the corridor, and through the thin fissure that opened, hellish heat burst forth, striking Qingyi directly in the face.
He pressed a little harder, and the steel door groaned in protest before finally giving way pletely, revealing the chamber within.
It was like the very depths of hell.
Black rocks stained crimson by the searing heat lined the walls. Hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor lay throughout the chamber, some scattered casually, others carefully arranged.
Many had clearly been forged for Celestial Emperors.
None came even close to the quality of the Heaven-Defying Thunder Sword, nor did any possess an ego of their own.
Qingyi could tell at a glance that Ruxue and her sister sword were the pinnacle of that blacksmith’s life’s work.
Slowly, his eyes settled on the forge.
There stood a tall, bearded man, his figure outlined by the orange flames dancing around him.
His dark eyes held a strange gentleness, and his lips remained curved in a constant smile as he shaped the sword with his hammer, his hand holding the hilt as a father would cradle a beloved child.
His white beard was neither soiled, nor excessively long, nor unkempt. It was carefully trimmed, his face clean despite his hands being stained black with soot, and his clothes—except for the sleeves of his robes—pletely spotless.
Qingyi stopped in his tracks and, alongside the golden guard at his side, watched in silence.
Every movement was perfect.
As a skilled swordsman, he noticed it immediately.
Millions, billions, perhaps trillions of repetitions had forged a motion so flawless that each swing of the hammer seemed to carry the power of a thousand Celestial Emperors.
Watching this, Qingyi understood why he had felt his own body on the verge of collapse merely from the clanging of the hammer blows.
That man was a peak Celestial Emperor—and no ordinary one at that.
For nearly two hours, the two watched the Divine Blacksmith work in silence.
Tempering smoke curled upward in dense spirals, sparks from the sharpening stone danced through the air like ephemeral fireflies, and delicate grooves were carved into the weapon with millimeter-level precision.
At last, the Divine Blacksmith stopped.
With gentle steps, he set the still-unfinished piece down on the workbench beside him.
He could have used his Qi to cleanse himself, but instead, he chose a small white towel, which was soon stained black by soot.
Slowly, the Divine Blacksmith’s gaze fell upon Qingyi, and then upon the Heaven-Defying Thunder Sword.
"Little Xue’er..." The Divine Blacksmith shook his head, a soft, playful chuckle escaping his lips. "I remember you promising that you’d only marry the man who married my daughter... The same goes for your sister."
The old blacksmith’s eyes narrowed. "Are you sure this one is worthy?"
Ruxue didn’t answer, but just like Qingyi, the old man seemed able to sense her emotions, a hearty laugh escaping his lips shortly afterward.
He walked over to Qingyi, gripping the young man’s shoulders firmly.
"You have gathered the lost fragments of Ruxue, my foolish and reckless girl—one of the three creations I am most proud of and love, my daughter in every way but blood."
To Qingyi’s surprise, without a trace of the pride one would expect from a Celestial Emperor, the Divine Blacksmith bowed.
"Tell me, noble young warrior, how can I repay you for this?"
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