novelraw Chapter 810: She Even Wants to Be a Henchman Now
Chapter 810: She Even Wants to Be a Henchman Now
"That won’t do." Ye Lanfeng chuckled and said, "If you were raising an ordinary pet, giving it random food would be fine, but Exotic Beasts, like Swordsmen, require a tremendous amount of energy to grow and advance. We Swordsmen can absorb the Heaven and Earth Power to enhance our cultivation or take Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to condense Qi. But a small Exotic Beast that can’t cultivate yet can only grow and advance by relying on Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. In fact, that’s how those untamed Exotic Beasts in the Longyan Mountain grew up.""Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures..." Han Yan had a bit of sweat on her forehead. You should know that even a slightly decent piece of Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure costs tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands; even millions aren’t surprising. Even if she had more money, she couldn’t possibly feed them to a pig—oh wait, not a pig, just an auspicious beast that looks like one.
More importantly, this wasn’t an ordinary Exotic Beast, but a legendary Auspicious Beast. The energy needed for its growth would surely be even larger. How could she afford to raise it?
"Elixirs can actually work too, and even better." Seeing the cold sweat on Han Yan’s forehead, Ye Lanfeng added.
Alright, that was as good as not said. Han Yan also knew Elixirs were more effective than unrefined Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, but they were also more expensive.
Right, last time Star Illusion Thousand Machine also mentioned that he needed Elixirs to regain his strength. A Star Illusion Thousand Machine, plus a Little Auspicious Beast, and also the cultivation progress of Huayue Zirong and the others had slowed down, meaning they also needed Elixirs. How could she possibly afford all that? For a moment, Han Yan thought about finding someone to be a henchman for, because being taken care of versus taking care of a whole family makes such a difference.
Besides, her own progress was just as slow; unless she found an Ancient Treasure like the Heavenly Destiny Star Plate, she’d have to rely on Elixirs for assistance in her cultivation.
Finally, Han Yan understood why the Noble Families of the Holy Court Continent were embroiled in constant disputes, and why the ancient war that shattered the continent occurred: all for cultivation resources.
Han Yan originally thought that having tens of millions of silver notes and the backing of the Nanyan Commerce would be enough to be proud of. Now she realized she had been thinking too simply.
You see, she’s now just in the Sword Master Realm, while Huayue and the others hadn’t even reached Sword Master yet. With the rise in everyone’s abilities, the demands for cultivation resources would also increase, which is something neither the tens of millions she had nor the current Nanyan Commerce could cover.
Of course, that’s all future business. At least for now, their abilities were still limited, so she could manage. Therefore, Han Yan wasn’t in a hurry. Since she had decided to help Mu Nan fulfill his wish to build Nanyan Commerce into the strongest chamber of commerce on the Holy Court Continent, the issue of cultivation resources could eventually be resolved.
After chatting with Ye Lanfeng and the others for a while, Han Yan began to ponder the longsword in front of her. Although her abilities weren’t quite enough, she wasn’t someone to give up easily. There were about ten longswords left, and she was unwilling to quit without trying them all first.
After resting for a while and recovering her Qi and spirit, Han Yan attempted again.
"Crack." With a light sound, the longsword in her hand once again shattered into pieces, with the same result as before.
"Young master, what are you doing?" Huayue and the others had long been curious, but seeing her focused appearance, they refrained from asking. But now, seeing her ruin another expensive longsword, they couldn’t resist asking.
"I’m trying to see if I can use Qi to remove the impurities in the sword and enhance its quality," Han Yan stated openly.
"I don’t think that’s possible." Jiang Yuzhe gaped, looking at Han Yan like she was a monster. He had never heard of using Qi to remove impurities from a sword.
"It’s said that Swordsmiths remove impurities by repeatedly melting the sword in a sword casting furnace and even borrow Earth Fire Power to do so. Relying on Qi alone, I’m afraid, would be difficult," Huayue pondered and commented.
"Right, why didn’t I think of that." Without intent from the speaker, with intent from the listener, hearing Huayue’s words, Han Yan slapped her forehead.
The impurities in the sword were difficult to refine because the Gold Stone Minerals themselves were too hard. If they were first melted at high temperatures, wouldn’t they become more pliable and easier to refine?
"Let’s go out." Han Yan said enthusiastically.
"Where to?" Jiang Yuzhe asked.
"To buy a sword casting furnace, and get some charcoal along the way." Han Yan replied.
"A sword casting furnace, young master, are you planning to become a blacksmith?" Huayue and the others looked at Han Yan with astonishment, unaware of when he had taken up this hobby.
"It’s a Swordsmith, not a blacksmith." Han Yan corrected, brimming with high spirits.
You could say this was once Lady Mu’s dream. At that time, Lady Mu was dimly called a natural wastrel, always wanting to prove herself, with too many dreams. However, like those other unrealistic dreams, after inhaling black smoke for several days, this dream was mercilessly killed in the cradle.
But times change. With several advancements in the Heavenly Heart Technique, Lady Mu had absolute confidence to forge a Divine Weapon capable of splitting hairs, fulfilling her childhood dream.
This time, there was no trouble. With previous experience, Han Yan quickly bought an available sword casting furnace from an old blacksmith in the west of the city, along with several large carts of charcoal.
"Huayue, Zirong, you two work the bellows. Yuzhe, you hammer the iron—no, I mean sword casting." Setting up the sword casting furnace, igniting the furnace fire, Han Yan directed Huayue and the others.
Sword casting was too time-consuming, so Han Yan decided to use those remaining ten or so longswords. Since they had already been tempered, their quality was decent and would save a lot of effort.
"Do I really have to hammer iron? I don’t know how to." Jiang Yuzhe took the hammer handed over by Han Yan, scratching the back of his head as he said this.
"It’s sword casting; if you don’t know, I’ll teach you." Han Yan corrected him again.
"Okay then, sword casting." Jiang Yuzhe looked at Huayue and Zirong awkwardly working the bellows, then at the hammer in his hand, really doubting what kind of Divine Weapon this half-baked team of Swordsmiths could produce.
Soon, the longsword in the furnace turned red hot. Jiang Yuzhe withdrew the longsword and, under the guidance of Master Swordsmith Mu, weakly hammered down one strike after another.
"Stop." Han Yan took over the slightly deformed longsword and once again activated the Heavenly Heart Technique.
Qi slowly permeated the sword’s body, circulating once, then returned to Han Yan’s body.
Han Yan delightfully found that after being tempered by the high temperature, the sword was much softer, and a small amount of impurities was refined by her Heavenly Heart Energy. Though it wasn’t significant for enhancing her cultivation, the quality of the longsword had noticeably improved.