Chương 69: The Golden Lock Is Severed; A Great Calamity Hath Been Wrought!

【Name: Smelting-And-Casting Hammer】 【Grade: Fourth-Grade Precious Weapon (Sealed)】 【Equipment Requirement: The Blacksmith's Three Great Martial Arts must have reached the realm of Great Perfection】 【Equipment Entries: Comprehension of the Artisan Dao increased; techniques of the Artisan Dao increased; constitution and talent increased.

Entry: As Though Born To The Hand (Fourth Grade), Ever Seeking Perfection (Fourth Grade; probability of forging Precious Weapons increased)】 【Special Acquisition: Memory inheritance of the Blacksmith Ancestor's forging of Precious Weapons; memory inheritance of the Three-Spirit Martial Fire Method. 】"One layer of the seal hath been undone. It hath stepped into the rank of Precious Weapons!" Su Zhe grinned. He equipped the fourth-grade Precious Weapon, the Smelting-And-Casting Hammer.

The memories of the Blacksmith Ancestor came rolling forth like a great tide. Aside from methods and arts concerning the forging of Precious Weapons, he also obtained a special martial art: the Three-Spirit Martial Fire Method. The Three-Spirit Martial Fire Method was the fusion method born after the Blacksmith's three martial arts had all attained Great Perfection. By urging forth the three kinds of internal force within the dantian and causing them to pass out through the body, one could gather searing heat.

At the end, it would transform into flame. Once this martial art was learned, one could attach the Three-Spirit Fire to fist and foot, or else to blade and weapon, causing its might to increase greatly, burning all things to ash. It could also smelt martial dao materials and burn away impurities. This martial art was not counted among the ranks of mortal arts or precious arts. It transcended them.

In days to come, should he obtain another martial art capable of cultivating the Dao of Fire, and condense fire-aspected internal force, it could be fused into the Three-Spirit Fire, and at last be transformed into Myriad-Spirit Fire. The thicker a cultivator's internal force, and the greater his realm, the mightier the power of the Three-Spirit Fire would become. To grow without end, to burn the four seas and eight wilds to nothingness, was no vain imagining.

"Three-Spirit Martial Fire, Three-Spirit Fire… Shizun once said that the fire within the Fire-Refining Furnace was named Three-Spirit Fire."

"In other words, this Three-Spirit Fire is most likely what the Blacksmith Ancestor left behind."

"To burn for a thousand years without being extinguished—though it hath been nourished by the internal force of the powerful men of the Tiejiang Bang (Blacksmith Gang) generation after generation, it is yet a thing to make one marvel…" Su Zhe sighed inwardly, lamenting in his heart:"Ancestor, in that thousand years past, what manner of mighty one wert thou?" Su Zhe wished he could hammer open heaven and earth, tear apart the long river of time, and travel upstream to a thousand years ago.

He wished to behold the bearing of the ancestor of his own lineage. A peerless figure of astonishing talent—how could one not yearn toward such a man? Though in Lu County, Su Zhe too was called a "heaven-bestowed genius," only Su Zhe himself knew the truth. Without the Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron, he might not even have entered the inner gate of the Tiejiang Bang. Much less possessed today's renowned name, or the achievements he had now.

"Men say Luoyang's flowers are brocade-like in bloom, yet I alone arrived when spring had not come…" Su Zhe murmured to himself. Yet Su Zhe was free and easy by nature. The brilliance of those before him was, in the end, but paving-stones for those who came after. The road of martial dao was long and boundless. Su Zhe firmly believed that he himself would, one day, step upon the utmost peak, not a whit inferior to the men of old.

Having equipped the fourth-grade Precious Weapon, the Smelting-And-Casting Hammer, Su Zhe began cultivating the Three-Spirit Martial Fire Method. Bang! His internal force surged. Su Zhe's fleshly body and blood qi were like dragons, billowing without cease, producing wave upon wave of "tiger-leopard thunder-sounds." The Barbaric Bull Force began from the Foot Lesser Yin Kidney Meridian, passing through Huiyin and Changqiang, then rose along the spine until it reached Baihui.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The Baleful Tiger Force began from the Hand Greater Yin Lung Meridian, passing through Zhongfu and Tianfu, then went along the inner side of the arm to Shaoshang. Thereafter, it rose along the outer side of the arm to Yunmen, passed through Tanzhong, and returned into the dantian.

The Spirit Serpent Force issued from the Foot Reverting Yin Liver Meridian, passing through Dadun and Xingjian, then followed the inner side of the leg to Qimen. Thereafter, it moved from the outer side of the chest to Zhangmen, passed through Zhongwan, and returned into Guanyuan. The three kinds of internal force, each circulating through its own meridians for nine times nine, eighty-one circuits, then gathered in the Ren and Du Meridians.

At this moment, Su Zhe silently recited the formula, his heart and intent becoming one. His heart followed his intent; the three forces intermingled and collided with one another.

"Unite!" Su Zhe looked within himself. He beheld, within the Purple Mansion of his dantian, a wisp of three-colored flame burning in the qi sea of the dantian. The Three-Spirit Martial Fire illuminated Su Zhe's fleshly body, making it shine with a resplendent glow. After forming the Three-Spirit Martial Fire, Su Zhe plainly felt that his perception of martial fire had deepened. As for breaking through those final five breaths of time, he now had a path!

"Again!"

"This time, Su shall surely become thy master!" Su Zhe's eyes burned brightly, his confidence full. Both palms pressed against the Fire-Refining Furnace. His internal force transformed into Three-Spirit Martial Fire, fusing into the Three-Spirit Fire within the furnace. Perhaps because their origins were akin. The Three-Spirit Fire abruptly grew dense, then rose in a sudden blaze, its flames towering to the heavens! Yellow, red, white, and black shone against one another, tongues of flame dancing wildly.

As if to burn the very firmament to ash, it instantly wrapped around that golden lock, its might dreadful beyond measure. One hundred breaths! Two hundred breaths! Three hundred breaths! After three hundred breaths had passed. The middle portion of the golden lock turned into liquid golden essence, and suddenly snapped apart.

"It is done!" Su Zhe withdrew his internal force. At that moment, the golden lock fell from midair. From within it was revealed a section of beast hide of unknown material.

"What thing is this? Is this the inheritance?" Su Zhe's heart stirred. He picked up the rolled beast hide, then unfolded it. He saw that the opening words written upon the beast hide were— The Artisan Dao Blood-Refining Method.

"The Blood-Refining Method—the Blacksmith Ancestor's inheritance was actually this?"

"The Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron nurtures precious blood. According to the information contained within the Immortal Cauldron, precious blood may refine treasures, but without the Blood-Refining Method to accompany it, its effect would be less than one-tenth."

"I never thought that this so-called Blood-Refining Method was in truth the Ancestor's inheritance." Su Zhe's mind and spirit shook together. His eyes widened. His pupils contracted. Immortal Cauldron… blood refining… He felt that, in the unseen, there seemed to be some manner of karma. That karma emitted endless threads, which in the void became a vast net. Even Su Zhe, though he exhausted every scheme, was still hard-pressed to escape it. Rumble! A dull sound that shook heaven and earth resounded.

Dust fell from the secret chamber, and the ground rose and fell like the surface of the sea. Su Zhe could not stand steady.

"This… could it be… an earthquake?"

"Can it be that the Ancestor was so narrow of heart? If one takes his inheritance, he intends to exterminate his descendants?" Su Zhe's countenance changed greatly. There was no time for further thought. He hastily tucked The Blood-Refining Method into his bosom. Then his consciousness communicated with the Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron, and with a wave of his hand— Five-colored immortal radiance spread forth, enveloping the Fire-Refining Furnace.

The Fire-Refining Furnace and the severed golden lock were both taken into the Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron. Rumble… rumble… The earth shook and the mountains swayed. A calamity was suddenly born, and it only grew fiercer. The stone slabs atop the secret chamber could not bear this mighty power of heaven and earth, and continuously gave forth creaking sounds.

"Flee for my life! Flee for my life!" The earth dragon had turned over! A true turning over of the earth dragon. Su Zhe's heart was filled with dread. What strongest martial artist of Lu County? Before the might of heaven and earth, it was simply not worth a fart. After Su Zhe had melted through the golden lock, his cultivation had already reached the high stage of the third grade. He was confident that even before a fourth-grade martial artist, he need not fear in the slightest.

Yet at this moment— Facing the wrath of the mountain god and the roar of the earth dragon— Su Zhe still felt himself to be an ant. Whoosh! Su Zhe's bones crackled, his body soft as though boneless, his footwork nimble. He was graceful as a startled swan, supple as a roaming dragon; his figure drifted as though treading upon ripples and moving over waves. In an instant he leapt ten zhang and entered the secret passage.

"This Ancestor's secret chamber was built underground. Truly, my luck is foul. To encounter an earth movement—should I fail to escape and be buried beneath it, Su shall even be spared the trouble of a grave mound." Su Zhe was desperately anxious. The so-called earth movement was an earthquake. And now, the shaking was growing greater and greater.

"But these night-shining pearls must absolutely not be wasted!" At the juncture of life and death— Su Zhe suddenly smiled. His body was like a roaming dragon, his feet treading waves. His mind connected with the Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron, and five-colored immortal radiance pierced through both his hands. Wherever he passed, each and every Eastern Sea night-shining pearl fell into the Good Fortune Immortal Cauldron. … Lu County, more than a hundred li away.

Two demonic-beast warhorses led the way, followed by over a hundred black riders. At their head were two women. One had gentle brows, tenderness like water; her whole being seemed as though the goddess of the Luo River had taken the Luo Book and fashioned her from it. This was none other than Li Shanyun. The other was petite and lovely, her face like the moon at Mid-Autumn, her complexion like flowers at spring dawn, her temples as if cut by a blade, brows as though painted in ink, and cheeks like peach petals.

Only, her expression was calm, and within her brow there faintly lay heavenly majesty. She looked, in appearance, just like a girl of twelve or thirteen years; yet within her eyes there brimmed sharp slaughter and the vicissitudes of ages. Rumble! Rumble! … The earth movement in Lu County also reached Li Shanyun's side.

"Yushen shishu, it came from the direction of Lu County… Why would the earth move all of a sudden? Lu County is by no means a place where the earth frequently stirs!" Li Shanyun's vermilion lips parted slightly, surprise showing upon her face.

"Hmph! A wild god causing mischief!"

"A thousand years have passed, and still it knoweth not life from death. It seeketh death!" That little girl suddenly opened her mouth. Her voice was neither male nor female, ethereal and vast, yet hoarse and hideous. It was like ten thousand blades clashing and grinding against one another in mutual slaughter. This person— Was precisely one of the supreme experts of Tang Prefecture. Of the Zhujian Four Great Manors (Four Great Sword-Founding Manors), the Manor Lord of Yushen Manor!