As always, the day began with the master of the house having breakfast with his five maids. However, instead of quiet eating, a small uproar was taking place.

“Weiwei, I heard the sound of roars coming from your room at dawn. Were you cultivating your battle spirit?”

“I heard the sound of a spear thrust… Is it a technique you are training?”

“Creating a technique combining the battle spirit and the physique… Weiwei is too much of a genius!”

At the lively chatter going on, Qinglan Weiwei glanced at Heifeng Jiansui as if to ask, “What do I do?” In response, he simply nodded.

“The young master granted me a technique! I was so excited that I began practicing that dawn.” Hearing Weiwei’s embarrassed voice, the commotion increased. Finally, Heifeng Jiansui spoke up.

“Due to the fact that Weiwei is cooking for us everyday along with the fact that I am barring her from breaking through, I thought that I might as well give her a technique to train in. As for you all, first master the martial arts I have granted you.” After saying this, the commotion ended. In the end, Qinglan Weiwei was the only one to have mastered her martial art.

Of course, the attention of the group now rested on the Longfei sisters, the ones who had been dual training in top tier martial arts since childhood. After mastering their arts, would they be the ones to gain new techniques from their master?

After that breakfast, Heifeng Jiansui asked the designated cook, Qinglan Weiwei to make 15 portions for him. He was going into seclusion for 5 days.

+++

“Weiwei, the manual arrived at the correct time, but I ended up reading it and became enthralled with it. So I sent it to you after holding it for a few hours. You don’t mind, right?” In truth, that manual had been written down in the span of the night. Heifeng Jiansui was simply providing explanation for delay.

At this time, Qinglan Weiwei immediately took the manual of her spatial ring and thrust it at him. “Young master’s needs are greater than mine. Please use this manual for as long as you want.”

Heifeng Jiansui returned the manual to the girl while quipping, “I am simply dabbling with it, anyway. It isn’t like I am serious or something. Anyway, I comprehended some aspects of it. Want to spar?” At Heifeng Jiansui’s invitation, Weiwei eagerly nodded.

After arriving at the Training Hall, both of them equipped their weapons and attacked. Heifeng Jiansui was wielding a spear that was an exact copy of her, striking at and parrying her blows.

Qinglan Weiwei was quickly caught up on the defensive side. While Heifeng Jiansui had lesser skill with the spear, his understanding of the technique and his great battle skill allowed him the offensive. Blue and green spearlight had already surrounded her from all sides and it would only be a matter of time before she was overwhelmed.

But Heifeng Jiansui kept her on the tenterhooks, not finishing the battle. She desperately parried strikes after strikes, until a sudden resonance with the technique and her bloodline formed pushing Heifeng Jiansui away. Struck by a sudden frenzy, she continued to strike at her master who kept on parrying her.

Finally, her endurance lost out as before. Collapsing in exhaustion, she silently paced her breath. “Young master, you are too strong.” Within her heart, she knew that surpassing her master would be impossible for her.

“Well, you had a chance to win, but you blew it when you descended into that frenzy.” At Heifeng Jiansui’s words, she felt a bit embarrassed. Descending into a frenzy like that, she wanted to apologize but she ended up reprimanded for not being able to make full use of that strength.

“That spear technique converges power of the 8 layers to break open the 9th layer. You converged the power of your physique and dantian together and added the power of the battle spirit as well, but ended up entering a frenzied state due to the impact on your spirit. Pay attention, a power that you cannot control is not one you can lightly use.” Leaving these parting words, Heifeng Jiansui left.

+++

“I thought you would be churning out those pillars, but you have been forging weapons…” As expected, the formation spirit was imploring him to work on the pillars.

“You do know that if I recklessly keep on churning those pillars at the rate of 1/4, we will end up burning through your resources? After that forget about the 2-star and 3-star pillars, we will have to stall until you get more resources. Since you already owe me a favor since I am only making you pay by the resources from the island, I won’t contribute even a penny for buying resources.” At Heifeng Jiansui’s words, the formation spirit scoffed but shut up.

Like this, under the guise of ‘gaining experience’, Heifeng Jiansui completed the 10 S+ Rank missions given by the Sect.

This was the first time that the excess materials in lieu for failure were actually being used by him. Heifeng Jiansui was using all the techniques he had to forge, but he was currently unable to reduce failure to zero.

But Heifeng Jiansui wasn’t disheartened by that. Instead, he was rejoicing at the challenge.

Morning and afternoon passed by until it was night. Heifeng Jiansui ate the food prepared by Weiwei and kept on his work. At certain points, it was efficient to take rest but at other points, unrelentingly training was the better path.

Thus, day after day passed as Heifeng Jiansui used various techniques to forge, unrelentingly improving his technique. At the end of three days, the missions given by the Mission Palace of the sect were complete. Heifeng Jiansui sent away the completed equipment with the flying sword.

“Well, you can now start with the pillars…” Just as Ninebless said this, she found herself facing a sleeping figure. Heifeng Jiansui slept for the first time in three days.

+++

Heifeng Jiansui’s pleasant sleep was interrupted by a high pitched trill. “Ah, I didn’t even sleep for that long…” Yawning like that, he looked around for the culprit Ninebless, but she seemed to have disappeared. Instead, there was a flying sword in front of him.

It held a note from Elder Shenhai. [Congratulations on becoming a refiner who can forge Quasi-Earth Rank equipment. This is a private request from me. Can you refine the Ninelives Swordriver Array? While I won’t provide merit points for you, I have received a quite powerful forging technique. I will send you the complete technique on completion.]

Attached to it was the forging procedure for the Ninelives Swordriver Array and the required materials for forging. It didn’t seem to be that hard to refine, with the only complication being the nine water-elemental swords that formed the array, each one requiring a different style of forging.

More interesting was the abridged version of the forging technique. It was the Ice-Fire Divine Forging Art, the incomplete technique that formed the core of his personal forging art. If he actually found its complete version, his forging prowess would definitely increase by leaps and bounds.