Chapter 20

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Chapter 20: The Choice

Lou Yun looked at Chang Xiang, then looked at his magical weapon. He nodded and said, "Wait until I give it a name, then we’ll start learning how to become a skilled weapon maker."

After saying that, Lou Yun gently stroked the magical weapon sword that belonged to him and murmured, "What should I call you? You’ve fulfilled a dream in my heart!"

"I’ve got it!" Lou Yun’s eyes lit up. "I’ll call you Dream Emperor Sword!"

Upon hearing that name, Chang Xiang smiled slightly and immediately added, "Dream Emperor Sword? Looks like you want to become a Weapon Emperor!"

Lou Yun puffed out his chest proudly and said, "I do want to become a Weapon Emperor!"

Chang Xiang could sense the confidence and pride radiating from Lou Yun inwardly and outwardly. He couldn’t help but smile faintly inside. Weapon Emperor, did you really think that was the ultimate existence?

After naming it, Lou Yun put away both the Stone Sword and the Dream Emperor Sword. He looked at Chang Xiang and said, "Alright, now you can tell me how to become a skilled weapon maker."

As soon as skilled weapon maker was mentioned, Chang Xiang’s demeanor instantly turned serious. He sat down cross-legged opposite Lou Yun and said, "To become a skilled weapon maker, you must meet two conditions. Both are essential, and neither can be omitted."

"First, extraordinary six senses, with spiritual sense being the most crucial among them. This is the most basic and important condition, because during the process of forging weapons, you must use your six senses to perceive the status of the weapon’s fusion."

"Second, powerful spiritual energy. The most important thing for forging weapons is control over fire. While anyone can produce fire, different forging materials require different fire levels. Moreover, forging weapons often takes a long time, and the act itself is part of cultivation. Throughout this process, the skilled weapon maker must ensure their spiritual energy remains sufficient."

Lou Yun nodded to show he understood, but a hint of doubt appeared. "Although these two conditions sound challenging, they don’t seem especially harsh. Logically, quite a few people should meet them, so why are skilled weapon makers so rare?"

Chang Xiang snorted derisively and said, "Quite a few? That depends on how you define those conditions, or what grade of skilled weapon maker you aim to become. Take the simplest example: Xu Yangteng, he’s a second-tier skilled weapon maker. Although his six senses are extraordinary, they’re only slightly so. That means even if he cultivates until death, at best he can become a fifth-tier skilled weapon maker, but no higher."

Lou Yun thought for a moment and responded, "Oh, I see. Although Old Brother Xu’s six senses are a bit stronger than ordinary people’s, that strength is limited. His six senses can only support him up to fifth-tier. Higher than that, his six senses wouldn’t suffice."

"Exactly, you’ve got it!" Chang Xiang nodded with satisfaction. "Your own situation doesn’t need me to explain in detail. You completely meet both conditions now. And I can tell you, your six senses are far stronger than Xu Yangteng’s, so your future achievements will definitely surpass his by a large margin."

Chang Xiang paused briefly, then added, "Also, the reason I helped you condense your magical weapon now is twofold: first, to get you into the Ancient Weapon Academy, and second, to lay the groundwork for you becoming a skilled weapon maker. Now that you have a magical weapon, there’s a vessel inside you to store spiritual energy."

When bringing up the magical weapon, Chang Xiang remained quite cautious, fearing it might upset Lou Yun again. But Lou Yun’s mood stayed fairly stable; he just nodded lightly without saying a word.

"We’ve covered the conditions for becoming a skilled weapon maker; now let’s talk about the essentials for forging weapons."

"Forging weapons requires three things: materials, fire, and a crucible furnace. Materials are divided into main materials and auxiliary materials; they’re fixed, unupgradeable, but have different grades. Fire, however, can be upgraded. As for the crucible furnace, it’s the tool needed to forge weapons and also varies in quality."

"Among the three, fire is the most critical. It falls into two main types: human fire, produced artificially through spiritual energy, and celestial fire, formed naturally within the heavens and earth. Just from the names, you know celestial fire is much better for forging weapons than human fire!"

"Both human fire and celestial fire have grade distinctions, but they differ in how they’re upgraded. Human fire can be upgraded through your cultivation, based on your personal power level. Celestial fire, however, has grades pre-established by predecessors who discovered and categorized the natural flames found in the world."

Hearing this, Lou Yun couldn’t help but interrupt and ask, "So how do I get celestial fire?"

"Good question!" Chang Xiang chuckled. "Celestial fire forms naturally in the heavens and earth, so you have to go out and find it. If you’re lucky and locate one, you need to find a way to subdue it. But celestial fire isn’t easy to subdue—even the lowest-grade celestial fire has incredibly high temperatures. So besides luck, strength is essential too."

Lou Yun rolled his eyes and said, "So celestial fire is basically hard to come by!"

"Exactly! If it were easy to obtain, what’d be the point of calling it celestial fire?"

Lou Yun noticed a hint of weariness on Chang Xiang’s face—he’d seen this before. Over the past year, Chang Xiang never appeared for long; he always looked tired after brief intervals. Though Lou Yun remained puzzled—at Chang Xiang’s level, he shouldn’t have fatigue—he hadn’t asked about it. Now, Lou Yun realized Chang Xiang’s talk was ending for the day.

Sure enough, Chang Xiang then said, "Alright, that’s enough for today. We’ll continue tomorrow."

"Wait a minute!" Lou Yun interjected urgently. "You’ve told me a lot, but you seem to have forgotten the most important thing: my cultivation manual!"

If he hadn’t feared others overhearing, Lou Yun would’ve yelled that last part out loud.

Chang Xiang hesitated before replying, "I can give this manual to you, but before that, I need to clarify: cultivating it will require you to work twice as hard as others. You’ll have to put in twice the effort and cost. Worse still, your power might stall at a certain realm—you couldn’t advance further and might even regress. In short, if you master this manual, you can achieve the dream you mentioned. If you fail, you might become a wasted talent again. Are you still daring enough?"

Lou Yun froze. Originally, he’d thought Chang Xiang’s manual must be incredibly advanced and miraculous—surely, through hard work, he could become a top master. But now, hearing this, becoming a master seemed possible, but equally, he could end up wasted?

What was going on? What kind of manual caused such contradictory outcomes?

Seeing Lou Yun’s confusion, Chang Xiang wiped his face and explained, "This manual requires you to cultivate both magical weapons and common weapons simultaneously. Every time your magical weapon rises a star, it must devour a high-grade common weapon. For example, right now you’re at beginner one-star magical weapon. When you can advance to beginner two-star, you first make your magical weapon devour a beginner two-star common weapon, then the magical weapon upgrades."

"At low grades, it’s manageable. Even if you can’t forge weapons, you can buy them with money. But at higher levels, common weapons get hard to find. Without devouring, your magical weapon can’t upgrade and stays stuck. Worse, if it goes too long without consuming, the grade might actually drop. Now you see why I insisted you become a skilled weapon maker—so at least you could forge the needed common weapons yourself!"

"But the higher the grade of common weapons, the tougher the forging conditions. The simplest issues are celestial fire and materials. Heavenly-level common weapons are best forged with celestial fire—which is hard to find—and high-grade beast souls in the materials. Don’t think killing a few wolves made demon beasts less fearful! Truth is, demon beasts are far stronger than humans in actual combat. All told, cultivating this manual involves high risks. It demands luck and immense strength!"

After all that, Chang Xiang appeared utterly exhausted. He waved weakly and said, "That’s enough. I won’t say more. Besides this manual, I have others, but they’re not top-tier; they could make you a strong master, but fall far short of the Weapon Emperor you aspire to be! I won’t demand an answer now. Think it over carefully and tell me your choice tomorrow."

Chang Xiang vanished, leaving Lou Yun sitting there alone like a fool. His mind relentlessly echoed Chang Xiang’s words as he struggled internally!

Becoming the top master, the Weapon Emperor existing only in legends—sure, that was everyone’s dream, but this manual was too bizarre! To upgrade magical weapons, it required consuming higher-grade common weapons. Yet forging common weapons needed celestial fire and high-level beast souls. Acquiring celestial fire relied on luck; getting beast souls depended on strength. Combining all these conditions made it seem like an impossible task!

Lou Yun buried all ten fingers into his hair, his face contorted with anguish and conflict. Should he choose this manual with seemingly low odds of success or a safer, easier option that wouldn’t make him a top master?

With a heavy sigh, Lou Yun collapsed onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling, still wrestling with that hard choice.

Suddenly, he saw two characters carved into the ceiling: “Wasted Talent!”

He’d done that at age nine, after three years failing to condense a magical weapon. Then, people treated and sneered at him as wasted talent. He’d been so angry he cried all day. Later, he got a stool and carved those words—to constantly remind himself he was a scorned wasted talent who must change that label!

Even today, he’d shed that title, but the memories of nine years living as wasted talent remained deep in his mind, unforgettable!

Then he thought back—when he injured Lou Fei today, the clan members eyed him with fear and respect. That wasn’t earned from begging or kindness; it came by proving his strength through his own power!

In this world, respect depended solely on strength. Only with strength would others acknowledge and respect you. Without it, everyone saw you as easy prey, willing to step all over you!

Lou Yun bolted upright and clenched his fist, swinging it forcefully!

At this moment, Lou Yun had finally made his choice!