I Pick up a Lost Godhood

Chapter 132 - 130: You Can Only Do It When You’re Grown Up

Little Lingxuan had been working very hard recently, much to the surprise of her Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh. It had never seen its master so serious before.

However, the Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh soon learned the truth. It was simple: she was only allowed to go out and play after completing her cultivation goals.

Playing was, without a doubt, Zhao Lingxuan’s number one goal in life.

However, when Zhao Tianlong had summoned Zhao Guang, Little Lingxuan hadn’t missed the opportunity. But the phrase "He’s with Yang Ying" gave her a terrible shock.

Back in her room, Zhao Lingxuan paced back and forth, making her Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh so dizzy it had no choice but to stop its master.

"No, this won’t do at all! He has to wait for me to grow up before he can find a partner!"

Zhao Lingxuan declared decisively. Beside her, the Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh innocently preened its feathers, having already grown accustomed to its master’s behavior.

"Little Spirit, how about we go cause some trouble?" Zhao Lingxuan suddenly had an idea.

The Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh pretended it hadn’t heard a thing. After all, nothing good ever came from causing trouble with its master.

"Little Spirit, if you don’t listen to me, I’m going to pluck your feathers! Do you want to go bald?"

The girl had played her trump card. The Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh shuddered and nodded at once.

"That’s more like it!" She gently stroked the Nine Heavens Fire Simurgh’s feathers, her mind already scheming how to break the two of them up.

For any new Alchemy Technique to become a Pill Formula, it required fine-tuning, an area in which Zhou Feng was an expert. Wang Meng’s Refining Technique was groundbreaking, but the finer details were not yet perfect. The method was also tailored specifically to him; an ordinary person couldn’t replicate it even if they knew how. However, he had successfully created a Refining Technique for the "Five Elements Deficiency," and Zhou Feng had already submitted it to Ancestor Master Zhou Luodan for confirmation. Once verified, Wang Meng would be the first disciple to ever create a Refining Technique, and his name would be recorded in the annals of the Holy Hall. The reason Zhou Feng was so respected was that, during his years as an Elder, he had created three Refining Techniques worthy of being recorded in the history of Pill Cultivators. Why else would the Ancestral Masters tolerate his loud and boisterous behavior?

In the world of cultivation, strength was what ultimately mattered.

It was obvious how much Zhou Feng wanted Wang Meng to become a Pill Cultivator, but Wang Meng knew his own situation. Fortunately, finalizing the Pill Formula would consume much of Zhou Feng’s energy. While the general direction of the Refining Technique for the Five Elements Deficiency that Wang Meng created was undoubtedly correct, confirming a Pill Formula, especially one that would be used by many in the future, required a precise Refining Technique. It also needed a method suitable for teaching, and the Pill’s effects had to be tested for side effects or other unexpected outcomes. Zhou Feng was handling all of this himself.

As for Wang Meng... he went off to do some smithing.

Almost any disciple in the Holy Hall with a bit of a reputation was arrogant and difficult to approach, only associating with those on their own level. But Wang Meng was different. He mingled with everyone naturally, and people weren’t fools; they could tell the difference between someone putting on an act and someone who was genuine.

Sometimes, people couldn’t help but gossip a little, but Wang Meng would just laugh it off. He never explained or said much, simply focusing on his forging.

He understood the principles and general concepts of many things but lacked knowledge of the details. Now, what he needed to do was focus on those details and find the transformation he sought through them.

Wang Meng started from the very basics. He had to admit, looking back now, the sword he had previously forged was, technically speaking, utter trash. However, his state of mind at the time had been perfect—a pure manifestation of instinct.

To achieve enlightenment, one couldn’t seek it for enlightenment’s sake. The first step was to let go. When forging, Wang Meng had to imagine himself as a Body Cultivator. He tired more easily than a typical Body Cultivator, who only needed to use their physical strength while forging. But as a Sword Cultivator, he had to constantly channel his Elemental Power, which placed a higher demand on his control. And yet, Wang Meng couldn’t help but be happy about it.

That’s just how life is sometimes. He suddenly discovered that forging with Elemental Power was actually the best way to train his precision in controlling it.

For a typical Body Cultivator, a hammer strike was just a hammer strike, making it much easier to control their strength. This was their signature trait: a fast and ferocious rhythm, possible because they lacked the step of combining and outputting Elemental Power.

But it was another matter entirely for a Sword Cultivator. One had to use their Life Marks to produce Elemental Power while simultaneously controlling its direction and rhythm. The higher the output, the greater the difficulty.

As a result, Wang Meng’s failure rate was about as high as everyone else’s success rate.

The standards for forging were much lower than for alchemy. Good weapons were useful, and even poor ones could be used in a pinch. Yet Wang Meng frequently ended up with scrap. Fortunately, he had a bit of money now and could afford the losses.

However, he soon discovered a problem: the ore. The ore for all the other Sub-Halls came from the Fire Cloud Hall’s Fire Cloud Cave. He didn’t know about the other halls, but the quality of the ore allocated to Thunderlight Hall was truly subpar.

After working for a few days, Wang Meng figured it out. His failure rate was so high because the ore was of such poor quality. Before he could even begin to apply his more advanced techniques, the material would just break. This was different from his experience with alchemy. He had Zhou Feng to thank for that; the materials and Pill Furnace he had prepared were the best of their class. It was no easy feat to pass Zhou Feng’s inspection, and this had saved Wang Meng from an entire step of the process.

BANG...

Wang Meng could only give a wry smile as he stared at the shattered fragments in his hand. The last piece had exploded. Most importantly, he knew that continuing like this was highly inefficient and a huge waste of time. It looked like he really needed to find a way to get some better ore.

He’d probably have to find Zhang Liang for this. That kid was well-connected and knew how to get things done.

"Wang Meng, another one gone? Don’t worry, I’ll go get some more," Hex Ziyuan from the Forging Pavilion offered.

He was a senior disciple of the Forging Pavilion. Not long ago, the Forging Pavilion had been on its last legs and had only recently regained some of its former vitality. Hex Ziyuan was very grateful to Wang Meng and his friends. After all, forging had once been the pride of Thunderlight Hall, and it was a bitter feeling to lose that glory.

"Brother Hex, there’s no need. Is there a problem with the quality of our ore?" Wang Meng asked.

Hex Ziyuan gave a wry smile. "It’s not that there’s a problem, exactly. It’s an open secret. When the ore comes out of Fire Cloud Hall, they of course keep the best for themselves. The rest is distributed based on ranking."

Thunderlight Hall has been at the bottom of the rankings for years, so eventually, they just started tossing all the scraps our way.

"I’ve seen that Hengshan Hall’s weapons are quite good, though."

"Rules are one thing, but reality is another. Take Dao Guang Hall, for instance. Their forging skill isn’t bad, but their Body Cultivators look down on forging. They won’t need to rely on it to make a living in the future, unlike us. So, it’s actually Hengshan Hall that has the greatest demand," Hex Ziyuan said. "Ascension, glory... for people like us, those are just dreams."

The disciples of Dao Guang Hall are the "nobility" of the Holy Hall. They learn the skills, but they don’t actually intend to use them. This is a fundamental difference between them and the disciples from the lower-ranked halls.

The Holy Hall is not a charity; it won’t house so many disciples forever. After a certain amount of time, everyone has to descend the mountain. And out there, adventuring in the world, if you lack strength and don’t have a useful skill, even a Cultivator can starve to death.

In the future, many of Thunderlight Hall’s disciples would likely end up like that. Not everyone has such lofty ambitions. Talk of glory and whatnot is just the ignorance of youth.

Wang Meng smiled faintly. "Brother Hex, you’re older than me, but I’m a simple man. I do what I want to do. So what if I never reach that ultimate goal in the future? At least I’ll have lived an exciting life, a life true to myself."

Hex Ziyuan had been in Thunderlight Hall for many years, and most of his fighting spirit had been worn away. But he was still young—not yet thirty—with a long future ahead of him.

Hex Ziyuan couldn’t help but shake his head. "I don’t know what it is, but being around you makes me feel like life is full of hope. You have a point. How can you know if you don’t try? Maybe I can persevere a little longer too. By the way, I heard you got in with only the Second Layer of Life Mark. Is that true?"

"One hundred percent true. I was even eliminated in the first round. Luckily, Elder Xu gave me another chance. I didn’t have much hope at the time. If I failed the re-test, the worst that could happen was that I’d have to fight for another three years. So what?"

Wang Meng said it frankly; that was exactly what he had been thinking at the time. But the wonderful thing about life is that you never know what’s going to happen next.

"What a great ’So what’!" Hex Ziyuan couldn’t help but pump his fist in the air.

"So, you’re saying if we want good ore, we still have to negotiate with Fire Cloud Hall?"

"That’s right, but it will be very difficult. Given Thunderlight Hall’s current standing, Song Zhong won’t do us any favors."

Hex Ziyuan had dealt with Fire Cloud Hall before. In a nutshell, they simply didn’t take you seriously.

"Heh, alright. I understand the situation. Leave it to me. This poor-quality ore isn’t helping anyone improve."

"Sigh... without good ore, we can’t even practice the more difficult forging techniques. And as everyone knows, practice makes perfect."

Hex Ziyuan said, just as he was about to launch into a long list of grievances, he noticed a commotion outside.

He stepped outside to see a group of Body Cultivation Disciples standing frozen, as if they’d been hit with an Immobilization Skill.

Hex Ziyuan soon froze as well. ’Isn’t that... Senior Sister Yang???’

’Senior Sister Yang is actually visiting a place like this???’

"I just came to see how things were going. I hope I’m not disturbing you," Yang Ying said with a gentle smile, showing none of the airs expected of the lead disciple of Flying Phoenix Hall.

"N-no, not at all! H-how could you be?" Hex Ziyuan stammered, his tongue tied. Like everyone else, his IQ had suddenly dropped to about a fifth of its normal level.

Wang Meng just smiled. "Come on in. Did something happen?"

"Nothing’s wrong. I just brought some fruit for everyone. I imagine forging is very hard work," Yang Ying said. Flying Phoenix Hall didn’t have a forging division, and its Body Cultivators were mostly for show; no girl wanted to train herself to be as burly as a man.

Everyone had privately joked that Wang Meng was probably the type who did whatever Yang Ying told him to, but even if that were true, they were all just envious. Any one of them would be willing to slave away for her.

"Heh, great. Go ahead and pass them out to everyone," Wang Meng said casually.

Those words truly stunned Hex Ziyuan... If it had been him, he would have been ready to go through hell and high water for her, so how could he possibly bear to have the great Yang Ying do any work?

’Wang Meng... a true man. He’s fierce, just like his name!’

Hex Ziyuan praised him fiercely in his heart, but he himself didn’t dare to trouble the esteemed Yang Ying.

"Senior Sister Yang, let me take that. I’ll hand them out. Our place is a bit dirty and messy."

Evidently, a bit of Wang Meng’s manly aura had rubbed off on Hex Ziyuan, as he was now able to speak clearly.

"Thank you, Brother Hex."

Hex Ziyuan was older, but given Yang Ying’s status, she would have been giving him face by simply calling him junior brother. The address "Brother Hex" was clearly out of respect for Wang Meng. ’So this is what life is all about,’ Hex Ziyuan thought. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)