Chapter 82: The Method of Forging a Sword

Inside a private room on the third floor of the pleasure boat.

Qin Chuan, Bai Luozhou, and Lou Qianxue, who had already been sitting inside for some time, seemed to have known in advance that Lu Qingyuan would bring Lin Yuchu and Gu Chun with him. There was not the slightest abnormality in their expressions.

Lin Yuchu guessed that Lu Qingyuan must have already given them a heads-up.

“What are you standing in the doorway for? Hurry up and come in.”

Inside the private room, Bai Luozhou raised his head and looked toward Lin Yuchu and the others at the door, smiling as he spoke.

Only, just a moment ago, his face had still been cold and largely expressionless. For him to suddenly put on such a warm smile seemed a little abrupt.

Lin Yuchu, standing at the doorway, glanced at Qin Chuan beside him, dressed in a dark black robe, his expression cold and stern, his brows forever severe. Then he glanced at Lou Qianxue on Bai Luozhou’s right, dressed in white, his face as icy as frost and snow, silent and unspeaking.

He immediately understood, and a few traces of sympathy rose in his heart for Bai Luozhou.

Making someone whose personality was not exactly cheerful sit between two icebergs—how could he not become outgoing and cheerful?

He had been forced into it!

“Is this wine from Peach Blossom Spring?”

Lu Qingyuan brought Lin Yuchu and Gu Chun inside. As soon as he sat down, Bai Luozhou poured him a cup of wine.

He sniffed the fragrance, then spoke, looking at Bai Luozhou before him. “Where did you get it?”

The wine from Peach Blossom Spring was fine wine whose fame in the cultivation world could rank among the top three. It was just that the quantity of this wine was especially scarce, and very little ever circulated outside. Lu Qingyuan had once, through a lucky chance, tasted Peach Blossom Spring wine.

Therefore, now that he smelled the fragrance, he recognized it at once.

Hearing this, Bai Luozhou lifted his eyes and looked at him, then said with a teasing smile, “Your nose is rather sharp. The master of Peach Blossom Spring has some ties with me, so I was fortunate enough to receive one jar of wine.”

After saying that, he continued, “This is the only jar I have. Today I’ve taken it all out and generously given it up for all of you.”

When Lin Yuchu and Gu Chun at the side heard this, their gazes immediately went curiously toward the wine cup in front of Lu Qingyuan. Although they did not know what Peach Blossom Spring wine was, from Lu Qingyuan and Bai Luozhou’s words, they could tell that this had to be rare, excellent wine.

They wanted to drink it!

Bai Luozhou noticed the two of them looking. He raised his eyes and glanced at them. Seeing their faces full of eagerness to try it, he immediately smiled and said, “You two are too young. You can’t drink this wine.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu immediately refused to accept it.

“We’re not that young.”

He retorted, and then asked in return, “Besides, drinking wine has nothing to do with age. If you want to drink, you drink.”

When Bai Luozhou heard this, he immediately clapped his hands, his face full of agreement. “Those words rather accord with the Dao following nature, all things centered on the self.”

“However, you still cannot drink it.”

Bai Luozhou coldly and mercilessly rejected the two of them in their desire to drink. He poured each of them a cup of tea and said, “Peach Blossom Spring wine is intoxicating. With the two of your drinking capacity and cultivation, I fear that one cup would be enough to make you unconscious.”

“...” Lin Yuchu.

“...” Gu Chun.

The two of them still refused to give up, their eyes fixed on the cup of wine in Lu Qingyuan’s hand. Sensing their gazes, Lu Qingyuan raised his eyes and looked at the two of them with a smile that was not quite a smile, the corner of his mouth curling into a wicked grin.

Deliberately, right in front of the two of them, he drank the wine in the cup in one gulp.

“Good wine!”

At the end, he even praised it.

Following his action, the light in Lin Yuchu’s eyes immediately went out and dimmed.

Gu Chun, who was sitting beside him, directly asked, “What does it taste like?”

“A taste you don’t know,” Lu Qingyuan said.

“...” Gu Chun.

He wanted to hit someone!

After teasing the children, the group of adults finally remembered the proper business.

The purpose of gathering here today.

Qin Chuan, Bai Luozhou, Lou Qianxue, Lu Qingyuan, as well as Lin Yuchu and Gu Chun, each took out a sheet of paper they had prepared in advance and placed it on the table.

They laid them together.

Written on these sheets were the things each of them wanted.

“I have red ore from Tongmu Pass. I can exchange it with you.” Qin Chuan glanced at Lin Yuchu’s sheet of paper and spoke.

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu also glanced at Qin Chuan’s sheet of paper, then said, “Then I’ll trade you Snowflake Pills for it.”

After hearing this, Qin Chuan gave a sound of assent. “Mm.”

This was also one of his purposes today. Snowflake Pills were a secret pill recipe of the Lin family, and only the Lin family’s medicine firm had them.

Every year, the quantity of Snowflake Pills was scarce. Before this, Qin Chuan had already searched the Lin family medicine firm for a long time but had been unable to obtain any stock.

Today, he had come with the idea of seeing whether he could exchange for them from the Lin family’s young master, Lin Yuchu.

Having gotten what he wanted, Qin Chuan was in a very good mood, and even the expression on his face softened somewhat. He looked at Lin Yuchu’s sheet of paper, then asked, “You want to forge a sword?”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu did not hide it either. He said openly, “Yes.”

“My sword is too ordinary. It isn’t suited for practical combat,” Lin Yuchu said.

Although Lin Yuchu himself did not have much pursuit of divine weapons and sharp arms, this time’s arena Sword Path Grand Competition had made him realize that on the battlefield, a good sword could place you in an undefeated advantageous position.

Therefore, as soon as the Sword Path Grand Competition ended, he intended to forge a sword that suited his hand.

The moment he said this, everyone present immediately turned their gazes toward him.

They knew the strength of this youth before them. Indeed, in the arena Sword Path Grand Competition that had just ended, because this youth’s sword had been too fragile, he had started in a disadvantaged position.

But even so, he had still taken that ordinary spiritual sword that snapped short with a single break and used it to take down the master of the immortal sword, Ye Li, as well as his other opponents, walking all the way to the end and claiming the champion title.

If he were given a divine weapon or sharp blade, wouldn’t this youth ascend to the heavens?

At that moment, everyone present had more or less the same thought in their hearts. Among those of the same rank, would anyone still be able to defeat him?

This thought only flashed through everyone’s minds and did not linger for too long.

No matter how formidable and heaven-defying Lin Yuchu was right now, he was only a Sword Path newcomer just setting out. He was not enough for famous sword cultivators such as Qin Chuan to keep in mind as someone to guard against.

Everyone sighed inwardly in amazement. The juniors of today truly could not be underestimated.

Then they seriously analyzed it for Lin Yuchu. “Judging from the metal ores you need, you want to forge a tough and durable sword?” Qin Chuan said.

“Yes,” Lin Yuchu said.

At this point, the expression on his face became a little subtle. That battle with Liguang Sword Master Ye Li had made Lin Yuchu realize one problem: your sword could be not sharp enough, but it absolutely could not be not hard enough!

When sword clashed against sword, if yours could not hold up against the other person’s sword—for example, if you were unlucky enough to run into some divine sword or immortal sword, and during one exchange, clang, your sword broke...

Then what the hell was there to fight?

So, after that battle with Ye Li.

Lin Yuchu put making sure the sword was hard enough in first place.

At the very least, it could not break!

After hearing his words, Qin Chuan frowned slightly. In his heart, he did not quite agree with this. Or rather, he was completely unable to understand Lin Yuchu’s pursuit.

The first pursuit of a sword should be sharpness.

All of Lin Yuchu’s forging materials emphasized the sword’s hardness. This kind of hardness meant his sword would inevitably have to be thick. Once the sword became coarse and thick, its edge would not be sharp enough.

Nor would it be fast enough.

In the arena Sword Path Grand Competition, this youth’s Sword Path had clearly been light, swift, and sharp. Yet the sword he now wished to forge ran counter to his Sword Path.

Qin Chuan found it very strange. He raised his eyes and looked at the youth before him.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Although asking this is somewhat rude, still...”

He voiced the doubts in his heart.

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu saw that his expression was solemn and serious, and he answered just as seriously, “It isn’t as you think.”

“I’m not sacrificing the sword’s lightness, speed, and sharpness in pursuit of its solidity,” Lin Yuchu said. “Or rather, I’m doing this deliberately.”

Hearing this, everyone present immediately looked at him in confusion.

Lin Yuchu explained, “Just as Daoist Qin said, my Sword Path emphasizes speed, lightness, swiftness, and sharpness.”

“So all along, I have been doing my utmost to improve the speed of my sword strikes. But recently, I feel I’ve reached a bottleneck,” Lin Yuchu said. “My speed has reached its limit. No matter how hard I try, I can’t become even one breath faster.”

“Sailing against the current, if you do not advance, you retreat,” Lin Yuchu said. “If I stop here, then my Sword Path will be unable to improve.”

“So I thought, if ordinary methods don’t work, then I’ll take an unconventional path,” he continued. “Make the sword in my hand thirty percent heavier. If I can still reach my original sword speed, then when I switch back to my original light sword and strike again, my sword speed should increase.”

This was very simple weighted running.

After hearing his words, everyone present was immediately stunned.

Qin Chuan’s expression turned thoughtful, his brows steady and grave.

“This idea is indeed the first I’ve heard of it,” Bai Luozhou, who was sitting to the side, said. Most sword cultivators in the cultivation world pursued the best, fastest, and sharpest sword, and the better a weapon suited one’s hand, the better.

As for Lin Yuchu deliberately doing the opposite, this was the first time he had heard of it.

“However, it does sound feasible,” Bai Luozhou said with a smile.

After saying this, he raised his head and looked at the youth before him, his tone carrying praise. “No wonder your Sword Path has improved so much despite your young age.”

This youth’s thoughts were so different from others, unconstrained by convention, taking an unconventional path.

Someone like this was either a fool or a rare genius found only once in ten thousand.

And clearly, Lin Yuchu was not a fool.

“The younger generation is truly formidable!” Bai Luozhou sighed inwardly.

After learning Lin Yuchu’s thoughts, the group of Sword Path seniors began giving him advice with great interest. “Since that is the case, you can replace your mithril with copper-gold. Copper-gold is just as hard, only somewhat heavier in weight.”

“For charcoal, use blackwood charcoal from Liuzhou.”

“You can use heavy water for smelting.”

“...”

“...”

Gu Chun sat alone in the corner, watching eagerly as this group of seniors enthusiastically gave his little companion suggestions and plans. He felt as if he had... been neglected.

He reached out somewhat gloomily and touched the greatsword behind him, sighing inwardly. A lifebound sword had no rights!

Sigh, he also really wanted to try that method Lin Yuchu mentioned.

However, Lin Yuchu’s method was built on the premise that he had not yet settled on a lifebound sword. For him, swords were consumables and could be replaced at any time.

In other words, he had countless more choices.

But Gu Chun was different. For his entire life, he was bound to the Taichu Sword behind him, and could only use this one sword.

Thinking of this, Gu Chun suddenly felt a little sour inside. He had never felt it before.

Now, inexplicably, he had the feeling of... an ignorant youth, marrying into a wealthy family at such a young age, never again able to experience that the world was so vast and there were so many beauties—or famous swords—and try a few more before finally finding the one that suited him.

“...” Taichu Sword.

What else do you want?

You want to cheat?

Do you believe I’ll hit you?

Qin Chuan, Bai Luozhou, Lu Qingyuan, and even Lou Qianxue occasionally joined in with a few words, offering Lin Yuchu advice and pointing out what materials to use in forging his sword.

At the end.

Qin Chuan raised his head, looked at him, and said, “Have you found a forging master?”

“Which forging master do you plan to ask to forge your sword?”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu said in a surprised tone, “Why do I have to find someone?”

“Can’t I forge the sword myself?”

After hearing this, it was Qin Chuan and the others’ turn to be stunned. “You want to forge the sword yourself?”

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