189: Chapter Forty-One: The Swallow Returns to the Nest_1 189: Chapter Forty-One: The Swallow Returns to the Nest_1 The sword furnace flas never extinguished, while Lian Que watched in silence.
He thodically added various precious materials.
If a discerning person were to see this, they would understand the sacrifices Lian Que had made for this.
Among them were materials as valuable as golden stones and light-drinking clay, which in terms of rarity and value alone, were fully worthy of the life token Jiang Wang had returned.
People of Lian’s family were born bound by the life token; thus, they particularly cherished their freedom.
When Lian Que said that he would rather die than surrender his life token, it wasn’t an empty boast.
If there had been another way in the Heavenly Abode Secret Land, he would not have used it as a token of credit.
Because only the life token could show that his heart owed nothing to anyone.
So, the mont he discovered the life token on Jiang Wang’s person, he roughly understood the choices he had made within the Heavenly Abode Secret Land.
Jiang Wang didn’t make the wrong choice, and he wouldn’t let Jiang Wang make one either.
The mbers of Lian’s main lineage also only had three opportunities in their lives to cast weapons in the ancient furnaces, usually reserved for when breaking through a bottleneck as a weaponsmith.
And yet, he was willing to use one of these precious chances just to cast a sword for Jiang Wang.
Lian Que’s strength wasn’t poor; back in the Heavenly Abode Secret Land, if not for other people’s constant scheming, it was uncertain whether he would have been eliminated.
Furthermore, in the art of weaponsmithing, he had particular talent.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been one of the rare ten in Lian’s generation to control his own life token.
The materials gradually lted in the sword furnace, and he infused them with different Seal Techniques, each step as precise as a chanism from the Mo Family.
And from start to finish, Jiang Wang just sat nearby in ditation, channeling Path Origin.
Ti flew, and three days and nights had passed.
…
Lian Que was truly surprised by the robustness of Jiang Wang’s Path Origin!
After three days and nights, there was still no sign of Jiang Wang’s Path Origin running dry.
What he didn’t know was that now Jiang Wang’s nine Star River spirals, coupled with the Star-Winding Serpent, allowed him to automatically generate eighty-four units of Path Origin every day without practicing ridian Rush Practice, surpassing the number ninety-nine.
If Jiang Wang were considered a Path Origin stone vein, he could almost produce a Pri Stone every day.
Not to ntion his relentless practice, he never missed his morning or evening routines.
If it weren’t for the fact that practicing Dao Technique and cultivating the pattern of Heaven and Earth Gate were also major consurs of Path Origin, Tongtian Palace would have already been “full of supplies”.
Nevertheless, Lian Que woke Jiang Wang from his ditation, “The stage of slting the ore has passed, you can relax and rest now.
I’ll call on you again when needed.”
Jiang Wang imdiately stopped.
In truth, the three days and nights of infusing Path Origin did not leave him tired, for he remained spirited due to his constant state of ditation.
Lian Que focused on forging the sword, and he wasn’t bored either.
He resud his ridian Rush Practice that had been interrupted for three days, catching up on “howork”.
Then he practiced the Four Spirits Body Refinent Technique, and with daily accumulation, the Azure Dragon and Vermilion sections were already Perfect.
The Black Tortoise section, which originally progressed slowly, sprung ahead after witnessing the massive turtle-like beast in You Nation, which inspired Jiang Wang with its robustness and lineage of dominance, almost completing the Black Tortoise section in one go.
He was now focusing on the White Tiger section, just one step short of perfection for the Four Spirits.
After completing his cultivation of the Four Spirits Body Refinent Technique, he began practicing the three Dao Techniques that Zhongxuan Sheng had brought him.
Tiger Binding was already imprinted in Tongtian Palace, not to be ntioned, but Sea of Flowers and Thorn Crown needed much more familiarity to be wielded as effortlessly as his own limbs.
Another three days passed like this.
Lian Que was engrossed in refining and adjusting the essence of the molten ore, until now, when he finally relaxed a bit and glanced at Jiang Wang, unable to help a touch of surprise, “Have you always been so diligent in your cultivation?
Don’t you need to rest and relax?”
“I’m used to it.”
Lian Que nodded, “It’s not without reason that you beca the victor of the Heavenly Abode Secret Land.”
After a pause, he added, “Your sword is about to take shape.
Do you have any thoughts?”
Jiang Wang looked at him and said very sincerely, “Thank you for your hard work.”
These words were not just pleasantries; he himself practiced relentlessly, but he also saw how laborious Lian Que’s efforts were.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that in his eyes, Lian Que’s face, exceptionally clear in the light of the furnace fires, seed all the more endearing now.
Lian Que looked at the situation in the sword furnace and said, “I’m asking about your thoughts on the sword, not about .”
Jiang Wang smiled, “You’re from an aristocratic family of weapon forgers, a talent in armant craft.
I have no thoughts, I trust you.”
Lian Que shrugged his shoulders and said no more.
About half an incense stick of ti had passed.
His hands moved rapidly, thrusting seal after seal.
Finally, with a pull of his right hand, a scalding stream of molten tal leaped from the sword furnace.
As soon as it was exposed to the air, it crackled and popped!
It was as if it were the foundational substance of heaven and earth, just in a condensed form.
The molten tal solidified into red-hot iron bars, which quickly turned a dark hue and were laid down on an anvil to the side by Lian Que.
“Co, forge it yourself,” Lian Que passed over a hamr the size of a person’s head.
The mont Jiang Wang took it, the weight sunk in his hands; he stabilized himself with Dao Technique, inwardly startled.
Given his current physical strength, he had at least a thousand catties of force in his hands, yet he found the hamr still heavy to lift.
“I’ll go make the final preparations.
You’re responsible for forging the sword blank.
Forge the front side five thousand tis, then the back side five thousand tis.
Repeat this cycle.
Don’t stop until I tell you to.”
After giving his instructions, Lian Que turned and walked into the midst of the sword array.
Behind him, the sound of forging iron had already begun.
…
Who knows how long it had been.
Jiang Wang had truly lost track of ti.
He was exhausted.
His arms no longer even felt like they belonged to him; they were completely numb.
Although he knew many techniques for channeling energy, in the end, he could only rely on his body itself.
He persevered entirely on astonishing willpower, supported by the unceasing Pri Stone power yielded by the Star River Dao Spiral.
Lian Que had not reappeared, and he even suspected the fellow had snuck off to sleep at ho.
But not for so long.
Initially, he could think about these random things, but later he could only empty his mind.
Since Lian Que said not to stop, he wouldn’t stop.
After all, this was his own sword.
There was nothing before him, no one behind him.
He was the only one he could rely on.
Persistence was the only thing he could rely on.
Amid countless rounds of forging, he faintly felt a connection with the sword blank beneath the hamr.
It was a very subtle feeling but, due to its sharpness, not one to be easily dismissed.
Later on, Jiang Wang unconsciously began to practice the thods from the White Tiger Body Refinent.
Originally, the Four Spirits Body Refinent Technique was based on the White Tiger Refinent, with the White Tiger component being the most essential.
Now that he was on the last part of the Four Spirits Refinent, and the sword harmonized with the elent of western tal.
As he continued to forge, Jiang Wang’s arms slowly regained sensation.
At first, they were sore and weak; then ca the intense pain, which he gritted his teeth and endured.
In the end, he felt blood coursing strongly and warmly through his arms.
The White Tiger Body Refinent progressed at an astonishing rate.
Just when he was adapting and even finding his rhythm, he heard Lian Que’s voice.
“It’s done,”
Lian Que’s voice was very tired.
Jiang Wang subconsciously stopped moving.
The excitent brought on by the Four Spirits Body Refinent Technique dissipated, and he suddenly felt exhausted all over.
But Lian Que didn’t care about him; his hands were red from the heat, as he directly grasped the repeatedly hamred and extrely hot sword billet with his bare palms before throwing it back into the forge.
“I have fasted and refined my heart for the last three days and nights, employing the Lian’s secret techniques, and I am fully prepared,”
It had been another three days and nights.
Jiang Wang thought hazily.
“I had you ditate and empty your mind to draw out the purest Path Origin, so your sword could sense you from the mont of its birth.
And then I had you hamr the sword billet to infuse it with your spirit and energy, for a perfect fusion.”
Lian Que’s fingers flew as he ford a seal, his expression one of mad devotion.
“So I needn’t ask you anymore.
This is the sword you most desire!”
“Now, you may give it a na.”
Jiang Wang managed to lift his gaze.
Before him, the world suddenly brightened!
As if sothing had stung his eyes, a tear rolled down his cheek.
In front of Jiang Wang, he couldn’t yet see the exact shape of the sword billet rising from the fires of the forge.
But its sharpness, its presence, had already captivated him.
In that mont, a thousand images spun through his mind.
Like the unavoidable light of the moon, once you’ve seen it, you are already enveloped by it.
During the instilnt of Path Origin and the forging of the sword billet, he had completely emptied himself.
This sword billet, in a sense, was a reflection of his innermost self.
And what lay deep within Jiang Wang’s heart?
It was the ever-unreachable bright moon, the steadily receding ideal, the holand he could never return to.
With an indescribable emotion, Jiang Wang said passionately, “Let’s na it ‘Longing.'”
“Longing,”
Lian Que murmured the na, gazing fixedly at the sword billet.
No true swordsmith lacks feeling for the weapons they craft, but indeed, with this yet-to-be-finished sword, he sensed sothing that touched his heart.
…
In the past location of Lian’s holand, now stands the Sumr Country.
But it wasn’t Sumr Country that had destroyed the Lian’s holand; the country that had co before Sumr had been wiped out by them.
There was no direction for their hatred.
When their holand fell, the Lian clan scattered, fleeing to Qi Country.
Over the years, the Lians were guests in foreign lands, and the people of the Lian family were foreigners.
At first, they were hardly accepted by the local people of Qi, suffering discrimination.
They did not gain the trust of the court of Qi Country either, and even the most talented among them were not entrusted with important tasks.
Out of nostalgia for their holand in the south, the Lians nad their newly built city Nan Yao.
As the years passed, the old country had vanished into the dust of history, and the Lians gradually made a place for themselves in Qi Country with their increasingly renowned reputation among swordsmiths.
But the discrimination never vanished, and the alienation remained.
Back then, outside of Ming Yue Lake, Zhongxuan Sheng had told Jiang Wang not to be wary of the Lians.
Though it was a show of support for a friend, it also reflected this phenonon to so extent.
In the hearts of many of the Lian clan, they too had a holand they could never return to.
They would always be strangers in a foreign land.
…
Lian Que slowly closed his seal technique.
He placed a mass of light, wrapping the sword, into Jiang Wang’s hands.
It was like entrusting him with a bundle of moonlight.
The light dissipated.
And there appeared,
a slightly flat sword spine, a full moon-like sword guard.
The patterns on the sword hilt were tangled like persistent thoughts.
The sword ridge was straight and stiff, the sword edge sharp and thin.
On the blade, a subtle frosty gleam could be seen.
The sword tip, sowhat mysteriously, hid its own brilliance.
By its hue, the hilt was like ink, the blade like snow.
Without a speck of flaw.
On the sword ridge, close to the guard, were inscribed three Qi characters.
They read: ‘Swallows Return to the Nest.’
The sword’s na “Longing,” and its inscription “Swallows Return to the Nest.”
…
…
Longing
—In Jiang Wang’s stead, at Nan Yao
Longing, Swallows Return to the Nest.
Frosty moon storing wine for a three-month intoxication,
Abundant flowers as makeup, willows like waists.
May the swallows carrying the date of return not tire,
In their relentless journey east and west.
(1)
Overcoming a thousand mountains with a single-hearted resolve,
After those thousand mountains, their wings grow old.
…
Having seen every eave and found none to be the sa,
The spring swallows fly back, unable to find their nest.
They linger over the ruined city in fruitless cries,
All seasons have passed, the heat and cold dissipated.
(2)
Wishing to ask the locals where their hos are now,
Those displaced reside in Nan Yao.
Longing, always sharp as a knife.
…
Annotations:
(1) Zhuang Country is to the west of Qi Country.
(2) “The seasons have all ended” because Fenglin City is forever fixed in that mont, without spring, sumr, autumn, or winter.
The swallows need not co or go anymore.
It always seed to that there should be a poem to accompany this sword.
Thus, embodying Jiang Wang’s sentints, I composed this.
Although Jiang Wang himself is not a poet, this does not necessarily reflect his talents in literature, which are purely my substitution for his emotions.
At the sa ti, I hope the reader can more deeply understand these feelings.
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