Path of Smithing

Coming up with a cooking arrangement was nothing complicated. It did not take long before the group managed to come up with a proper plan and distribute the relevant tasks.

After which, the group promptly left the canteen in two separate groups.

Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying headed for their garden plot, where Lu Zhiying was currently learning the ropes from Gu Qiansi.

On the other hand, Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang went to the Forge as planned.

"Have you managed to gather the rest of the materials?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.

"Yes, I went to get them right after leaving your residence last night," Nie Hanchang confirmed.

"As efficient as always," Zhao Yunxiao smiled in satisfaction.

After their discussion last night, Zhao Yunxiao had written up a shopping list for Nie Hanchang, detailing all the extra materials that they would need for the forging process today.

Since it was already late at night, Zhao Yunxiao thought that Nie Hanchang would probably have waited till today to get them. In that case, they might have to drop by the Sect Market before heading to the Forge.

However, it would appear that Nie Hanchang was more enthusiastic than expected.

Or perhaps he should have expected this from the start.

After all, Nie Hanchang had always been known for his obsession with the bow and arrow, so anything regarding his equipment was probably considered a big deal for him.

"All right, wait here for now," Zhao Yunxiao said as they arrived at the Forge. "If I don't come out in around thirty minutes, that will be your signal to enter."

"Got it," Nie Hanchang nodded. They had already agreed on this last night, so he did not need further explanation.

Just like that, Zhao Yunxiao made his way into the Forge to greet the administrative deacon – Tian Guiren.

The latter was surprised to see Zhao Yunxiao since he was not supposed to be on duty today.

Under normal circumstances, showing up for duty on a different day would not entitle one to fulfil their weekly requirement.

But considering their close relationship, Tian Guiren made an exception for Zhao Yunxiao this time, though not without cautioning him not to do so too often.

In any case, the start of the year was usually a lull period at the Forge, so doing this would not make too much of a difference.

A cultivator's equipment was almost like a part of their body, and it usually stayed with the cultivator for a long period of time as the cultivator slowly familiarised with it.

Therefore, cultivators who chose to forge their own equipment would usually attempt to reforge their equipment numerous times, hoping to get the best result possible before actually committing the effort to familiarise themselves with it.

Many would only stop when they had obtained a satisfactory result, or if they had run out of resources to make any more attempts.

This was relevant because most disciples would make grand plans that they wanted to carry out with the beginning of a new year.

Understanding that it might take some time before the successful completion of their equipment, most disciples would have started preparing early so that they could have everything ready by the end of the year.

This meant that most disciples who visited the Forge during this period usually did so only because of a sudden need that arose, such as in Nie Hanchang's case, where he started to feel that his equipment was falling apart.

Such cases were considered to be in the minority, so the Forge was unlikely to be shorthanded even if a disciple or two had their rosters shifted around. This made it easier for Tian Guiren to make an exception for Zhao Yunxiao this time.

After getting his permission, Zhao Yunxiao entered an empty furnace room and did the usual checks while leaving the room door open.

At the same time, he went through the plan that he had in his head one last time.

Zhao Yunxiao had already run countless simulations about the forging process in his head last night, so he was rather confident about at least completing the process.

As for the actual quality of the final product, they would just have to leave that up to fate!

"I'm here, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Nie Hanchang entered the furnace room and closed the door behind him.

Huu-!

Zhao Yunxiao took a deep breath to compose himself before nodding. "Let's get started."

Even though this was not for himself, Zhao Yunxiao still wanted to do everything he could to make it a success.

No, perhaps it was because this was not for himself that he wanted it even more.

After all, the thing he hated the most was to burden his companions!

The duo laid out all the materials they had prepared beforehand, and went through the entire plan once more just to ensure that each of them knew exactly what to do at each stage of the upcoming forging process.

Thankfully, this was not the first time that they had done this together, so Zhao Yunxiao had a clear understanding of Nie Hanchang's abilities, or the lack thereof in his case.

This allowed Zhao Yunxiao to better plan their respective roles, making sure that Nie Hanchang only had to do things that he was truly capable of.

After they were done, Nie Hanchang decisively brought out the Grand Annihilator with a flick of his wrist and rested it against the wall.

"Hmm? Why are you bringing that out now?" Zhao Yunxiao asked in confusion.

"Since we are forging support equipment for the Grand Annihilator, I just thought that it would be nice if it could witness the entire process as well," Nie Hanchang scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Or is it going to be a distraction?"

"No, it doesn't matter," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head with a smile. "This might be a good thing as well. Being able to see the Grand Annihilator might just motivate us to work a little harder for its sake."

At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao thought that Nie Hanchang was truly different.

He was truly treating the bow as a partner instead of an item, and genuinely wanted to do his best for its sake.

Perhaps this level of dedication was something that Zhao Yunxiao should be learning from him as well!

And thus, with Zhao Yunxiao leading and Nie Hanchang supporting, the duo began the forging process for the Grand Annihilator's support equipment.

However, despite all their discussions and preparations, Nie Hanchang still found himself caught by surprise the moment they started.

That was because Zhao Yunxiao immediately started moving with such absolute precision that Nie Hanchang found himself struggling to keep up.

When Nie Hanchang saw Zhao Yunxiao in action the previous time, it was when Zhao Yunxiao had been forced to take over halfway through the forging process.

In that situation, he basically had to come up with everything on the spot, so his actions were not nearly as smooth.

This time, things were completely different.

Not only did he have a plan in mind from the start, but he had also run numerous simulations in his head beforehand.

He knew exactly what he needed to do, when he needed to do them, and how he needed to do them.

Heating, moulding, hammering, trimming, and welding.

There were absolutely no wasted movements in everything that he did, and every part of the process was timed to perfection.

Seeing this, Nie Hanchang could not help but gain a newfound level of respect for Zhao Yunxiao, further elevating the admiration that he already had before.

Indeed, this was the true class of someone who had forged a mythical tier weapon!

At the same time, Nie Hanchang also felt slightly regretful that Zhao Yunxiao was not getting the recognition that he so deserved.

Had it been known that Zhao Yunxiao was the one responsible for forging the Grand Annihilator, Tu Shi would probably not have talked to him in such a manner earlier!

The duo sweated buckets as they focused all of their energy on the forging process, and their efforts did not go to waste.

One by one, the parts that they required started to take form, much to the excitement of the two.

And in their excitement, they failed to realise that, on top of what they had been doing, there was actually a third party that had been contributing to the forging process.

Resting upright against the wall, the Grand Annihilator started to emit a faint glow from behind them.

Invisible strands of energy started to extend from the long bow, connecting it to each individual part at the moment of completion.

"Hmm?" Zhao Yunxiao frowned all of a sudden, as he felt that something was amiss.

"What is it?" Nie Hanchang asked in concern.

"No, it's nothing," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged off the strange feeling after checking that nothing was wrong with the materials, and quickly returned his focus to the forging process.

The difference in their responses was not due to the fact that Zhao Yunxiao was more sensitive to the energy fluctuations than Nie Hanchang, either.

In fact, having spent some time with the Grand Annihilator as his main weapon, Nie Hanchang had actually sensed its energy even before Zhao Yunxiao did.

Unfortunately, Nie Hanchang was almost a complete novice when it came to the forging process, so he did not know what was natural and what was not.

Even though he had sensed the presence of an energy resembling that of the Grand Annihilator, he simply ignored it after seeing that Zhao Yunxiao was not saying anything about it.

And after hours of unceasing hard work, the forging process finally came to an end.

"And... done!" Zhao Yunxiao exclaimed as he performed the final remaining connection between two separate parts of the chest guard.

"Yes!" Nie Hanchang cheered before letting out a sigh of relief. "We did it!"

That marked the completion of the final piece of support equipment.

As opposed to back when the Grand Annihilator was completed, there were no huge reactions this time around. However, that did little to diminish the huge sense of satisfaction that the duo was feeling right now.

Gloves.

Finger tab.

Arm guard.

Chest guard.

Quiver.

Bow stand.

These were the six pieces of equipment that they had worked on today, and each of them had been completed without issue.

Now, all that was left was to ascertain the quality of the equipment, but that was not something that they could do right now.

For that, one would have to either get the equipment looked at by a qualified assessor, or simply try using the equipment to personally test out its quality.

"Thank you for the help, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Nie Hanchang said. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without you."

"Don't thank me too early. We still don't know if these are actually well done or not," Zhao Yunxiao dared not get ahead of himself. "Give them a try for now. If there are any slight adjustments that you require, just let me know. In return, you'd just have to make sure that you hunt better prey for our meals!"

"Haha, definitely!" Nie Hanchang laughed. "On a separate note, your smithing skills are really amazing. Have you ever considered seriously pursuing this path?"

"Me?" Zhao Yunxiao was surprised by the sudden compliment. "Are you asking if I want to focus on becoming a grandmaster smith?"

"I don't think it is an impossible thought," Nie Hanchang said. "From what I see, you are definitely talented in this aspect. And once you become a grandmaster smith, even those in the inner sect will have to beg you for your help!"

"That sounds nice indeed, but it is not exactly suitable for me," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head.

"Why do you say that?" Nie Hanchang asked.

"Even a grandmaster smith will not be able to handle materials that are too far beyond their cultivation level," Zhao Yunxiao explained with a wry smile. "I am aware of my own lack of cultivation talent. If I were to spend too much time pursuing the path of smithing, my cultivation rate would only suffer further. In that case, even if I truly managed to become a grandmaster smith, who would care for a grandmaster smith who can only create high quality equipment for those at a lower cultivation level?"

"This..." Nie Hanchang was stumped for a moment, unable to come up with a proper rebuttal.

"Don't worry, this is not my true pursuit anyway," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head. "What I truly want is to slowly increase my cultivation level to eventually achieve a state of freedom. Picking up smithing is nothing but a means to an end."

"Since you already know what you want, I will not persuade you otherwise. I just find it to be a waste of your talent," Nie Hanchang sighed.

He knew exactly how it felt to have others try to persuade him to deviate from his intended path.

After all, this was what he had experienced all this time while being fixated on the path of the bow and arrow.

Since Zhao Yunxiao had already explicitly stated that he was not interested in pursuing this path, he would not keep harping on it either.

What Nie Hanchang did not know was that his casual remark had planted a fresh thought in Zhao Yunxiao's mind.

Earlier, Zhao Yunxiao had simply replied with the first thought that came to his mind when he heard Nie Hanchang's sudden compliment.

However, it was rare for Zhao Yunxiao to hear that he was talented in anything, so he could not help but keep replaying Nie Hanchang's words in his head.

As he thought more about it, Zhao Yunxiao started to consider it as a possible auxiliary path as well.

If he really had talent in this aspect, perhaps it was worth considering reducing his commitment in other fields, so that he could spend more time and effort on pursuing the path of smithing a little more seriously?