Chapter 24
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Chapter 24: Controlling Temperature
After taking the ring into his hand, Lou Yun\’s spiritual sense naturally perceived its usage method. It was very simple: it was manipulated through spiritual sense.
The space inside the ring wasn\’t very large, just about forty to fifty feet, equivalent to a small study. Yet for Lou Yun, who had never seen a storage common weapon before, it was enough to astonish him.
From such a small ring, someone could create a completely independent space, and the size of that space could be set freely. What a wondrous thing! He truly didn\’t know when he could forge a storage common weapon like that himself.
Despite Xu Yangteng\’s seemingly careless nature, he was extremely thorough in his actions. The items inside the ring were sorted and organized neatly by category, making everything clear at a glance.
The Taoli Stone that Lou Yun needed now was in the beginner materials section under the main material category. Beyond the main materials, Lou Yun was surprised to find it also held three first-tier spiritual crystals, four beginner one-star beast souls, and two beginner two-star beast souls.
Just the ring itself was already quite valuable, but adding in the materials, Lou Yun roughly estimated it was worth at least Five Thousand Gold. Such a generous gift made Lou Yun deeply grateful to Xu Yangteng, and he thanked him repeatedly.
Xu Yangteng, however, looked entirely unconcerned. \"Alright, brother, keep the things for now. If you run short, come to me anytime for more. But starting next month, I\’ll be away from Lingjiang City for a while. So if you need me, you\’d better come early!\"
Lou Yun\’s heart stirred. \"Xu Yangteng, where are you heading?\"
\"Heh heh, to gather materials, and then join a competition.\"
\"A competition?\" Lou Yun asked puzzledly.
\"Yeah, brother. In the field of us skilled weapon makers, a weapon forging competition is held every three years. Anyone who can forge weapons can enter. Besides gaining experience, winners receive rich prizes. Plus, the ranks of skilled weapon makers are awarded based on performance at the competition. This time, I want to give it a try to see if I can jump straight to third-grade skilled weapon maker.\"
\"Oh!\" Lou Yun nodded. He hadn\’t realized the ranks of skilled weapon makers were earned that way.
\"By the way, brother, if you\’re free, why not come with me? You\’re new to this field—it will broaden your view, and with some luck, you might rise directly to first-tier skilled weapon maker.\"
Hearing this, Lou Yun was genuinely enticed. \"When does this weapon forging competition begin?\"
\"This time next year, meaning a full year from now.\"
\"Next year!\"
Lou Yun thought to himself that he would head to the Ancient Weapon Academy in half a year, and in a year he might not even know where he\’d be. Still, he really wanted to go. After some thought, he said, \"I can\’t predict what will happen in a year. How about this: Xu Yangteng, tell me the exact date and place, and if I\’m available, I\’ll go myself.\"
Xu Yangteng shook his head. \"The time and location aren\’t set yet—they\’ll announce them three months before start to prevent troublemakers. So here\’s what: I know you\’ll be at the Ancient Weapon Academy in half a year. I\’ll go there and inform you then.\"
On hearing Xu Yangteng would go out of his way to notify him at the Ancient Weapon Academy, Lou Yun felt it was far too bothersome. He started to refuse, but Xu Yangteng waved him off before he could finish. Left with no choice, Lou Yun just smiled and nodded.
After the two exchanged casual talk for a while, Lou Yun took his leave. Xu Yangteng saw him all the way to the entrance of the Lou Family.
Though he had drunk some alcohol, Lou Yun wasn\’t tipsy at all and was instead full of spirit, utterly unable to sleep. So he decided to start forging his first ever common weapon right away.
Under the cover of darkness, Lou Yun slipped quietly from his room and headed straight for the back mountain. The nearby guards thought it odd that he was going to the mountain so late, but now that his status in the Lou Family had changed, they didn\’t dare question him.
Since forging weapons involved fire that could draw attention at night, Lou Yun sought out a hidden cave and crawled inside. Only then did he summon Chang Xiang.
Chang Xiang looked over the materials Lou Yun presented and nodded. \"Good, all here. We can begin forging weapons now.\"
\"Wait—doesn\’t forging weapons require a furnace? Do you have one?\"
Chang Xiang sneered. \"For a mere beginner two-star common weapon, what need is there for a furnace? You can forge it in your palm directly. Now, start meditating to bring your body to its peak condition.\"
Half a shichen later, Lou Yun finished his meditation. Following Chang Xiang\’s instructions, a \’peng\’ sounded as the Fusang Fire appeared in his hand.
Though the Fusang Fire was only fingertip-sized inside him, once out, it could shift according to his will. Of course, the degree of change depended directly on Lou Yun\’s cultivation level.
\"Since this is your first time forging weapons and your materials are limited, practice on an ordinary stone first to save money.\"
As he spoke, Chang Xiang produced a palm-sized piece of stone and tossed it straight into the Fusang Fire in Lou Yun\’s hand.
With a \’swish\’ of bluish smoke, the stone vanished instantly.
Lou Yun stared at the suddenly vanished stone, a little confused about what had happened. Chang Xiang, however, slapped his own forehead and said, “Forgot, forgot! This is your Fusang Fire, its heat is far too intense. Looks like I was rushing things too much. Lou Yun, you need to try and control the heat of the Fusang Fire first!”
“Using spiritual sense?”
“Mm. Be it human fire or Heaven’s fire like this, its temperature can be adjusted and controlled. All materials, that includes spiritual crystals and beast souls, have a limit to how much fire heat they can withstand. If it exceeds that limit, it will be like that stone just now—instantly vanished. You absolutely must be able to precisely control the heat of the fire you use!\"
\"When I say ‘precise’, I mean you must be able to guarantee that the material is burned into a liquid, while also not letting it burn away into nothingness.”
“Your current strength is insufficient; you probably can\’t unleash the true heat of the Fusang Fire yet. But right now, I don\’t need you to raise the heat. I need you to lower it. Lower the heat of the Fusang Fire. Understand?”
Amid Chang Xiang\’s incessant explanation, Lou Yun was frantically trying to control the heat of the Fusang Fire. This was, after all, his first time manipulating flames, and Heaven’s fire at that. Although the Fusang Fire had acknowledged him as its master, the process remained extremely challenging.
Chang Xiang kept tossing stones in for him, enabling Lou Yun to observe how the stones changed within the Fusang Fire and adjust the fire\’s heat accordingly.
This went on until not only were all the loose stones in the entire cave burned into nothing by Lou Yun, but Chang Xiang eventually had to break stones off the cave walls to provide material for Lou Yun\’s experiments.
It was only when dawn broke that Lou Yun could barely manage to control the Fusang Fire\’s heat—though he still hadn\’t reached the level of perfect precision Chang Xiang had described.
Finally, after Chang Xiang showed signs of weariness and retreated back into Lou Yun’s body, Lou Yun himself collapsed to the ground with a “thud”. Controlling the Fusang Fire throughout the entire night had completely drained his spiritual energy. It was at this moment that Chang Xiang finally realized that becoming a skilled weapon maker was not only difficult but might even require more effort and sacrifice than becoming a magical weapons master.
Dragging his weary body down the mountain, Lou Yun returned to his room and immediately threw himself onto the bed, quickly falling asleep.
When Lou Yun woke again, he found Chang Xiang standing right in front of him, clearly waiting for him to wake up.
Rubbing his eyes, Lou Yun asked, somewhat puzzled, “Why are you out? Is something wrong?”
Chang Xiang nodded. “I thought it over yesterday. I genuinely was rushing things too much. The more I push like this, demanding quick results, the less good it does for you. Therefore, I’ve decided that for now, you should go back to how you trained half a year ago, intensively refining your body. In your spare time, practice controlling the flames. As for cultivating the Devour Weapons method and forging common weapons, put those aside for the time being.”
Lou Yun thought it over and admitted Chang Xiang made sense. He currently had far too much to cultivate: body refinement, cultivating his magical weapon, controlling fire, and forging common weapons. If he just blindly pushed on like this, not only would his time and energy be insufficient, he feared he’d just mess everything up. He needed to prioritize and arrange his training sequence rationally to improve his strength more effectively.
And so, in the following period, Lou Yun temporarily set aside the matters concerning the magical weapon and forging, returning to his regimen from before the changing ceremony: intensively refining his body and familiarizing himself with the weapon manual. In the evenings, he continued practicing flame control.
Although this training was somewhat monotonous, Lou Yun had gotten used to it. Moreover, he knew this was laying the foundation for future cultivation, so he persevered.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed. Lou Yun finally gained a high degree of control over the temperature of the Fusang Fire. The price, of course, was that the area of the cave where he practiced had expanded inward by well over a meter!
After dinner one evening, Lou Yun prepared to head back to the cave to practice controlling the Fusang Fire, but his father stopped him: “Yun’er, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“You know about the duel agreement between our three great families, right?”
His father’s words instantly made Lou Yun understand. The three great families of Lingjiang City, due to their stake in a spiritual crystal mine, had agreed to hold a duel competition every three years. The winning family would gain three years’ mining rights. “Ah! Is it time for the duel again?”
“Yes, it’s tomorrow. Originally, your Second Uncle didn’t want to disturb your cultivation. But now Qian’er has gone to the Ancient Weapon Academy, and Fei’er—whose arm you broke—still hasn’t fully recovered. Among the younger generation clan members, there really wasn’t a suitable candidate to take part. So I wanted to ask: would you be willing to go? Don\’t worry, if you don\’t want to, I won\’t force you.”
Lou Yun laughed heartily. “Father, what sort of talk is that? I am your son, a member of the Lou Family. As part of the Lou Family, it’s only natural I contribute. Father, I’ll go with Second Uncle tomorrow.”
“Good! Then I\’ll inform your Second Uncle. Hearing you’re willing should ease a great burden off his mind!”
“Alright!”
After bidding his father farewell, Lou Yun decided against flame practice for the night. He needed his body to be in peak condition for tomorrow’s duel.
Three years of mining rights represented a vast sum of money. Having experienced financial hardship himself, Lou Yun knew exactly what that meant for the Lou Family. Of course, he also saw this as a chance to test his current abilities.
Additionally, Lou Yun remembered clearly: nearly a year ago at Xu Yangteng’s shop entrance, Lin Yuehua of the Lin Family – the Little Tyrant of Lingjiang City – had pointed right at his nose and vowed to “teach him a lesson” during this duel. He had been looking forward to that ever since.
