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Chapter 54: Water of Underworld’s Yellow Springs
“That is not strange; my original body was forged by the Third Generation Sect Master,” Ao Jiao said indifferently.
Mo Fan was astonished, “Sub-Divine Weapon Thunder Wood Sword! Didn’t you perish together with Thunder Emperor Sang Mu thousands of years ago?”
Ao Jiao frowned slightly, “You don't have to bother yourself with my matters. You still have not answered my question.”
Mo Fan looked at his crippled leg and said, “The Clear Sky Sect had been obliterated long ago. I am the last successor of the Clear Sky Sect. This leg of mine was crippled by an enemy, causing the circulation of Essence to be disrupted. Now, I can only forge Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapons at best. It is impossible to forge Sub-Divine Weapons.
Ao Jiao kowtowed as she said, “Heaven Ranked? That is more than enough already.”
When Xiao Chen, who was outside, felt the barrier obstructing his Spiritual Sense disappear, he quickly went in. He glared furiously at Ao Jiao, but she just ignored him.
When Mo Fan saw Xiao Chen come in, he said, “Brother Xiao Chen, what kind of Spirit Weapon are you looking to forge? Are all the materials ready?”
When he heard this, Xiao Chen quickly took out the Moonstone and the piece of Peak Grade black metal out of his Universe Ring. He said, “These are all the materials that I have prepared. I wish to forge a saber.”
Mo Fan looked at the pile of Moonstone on the ground that was about 66cm tall. His eyes were opened wide in disbelief. He then shifted his gaze to the piece of Peak Grade Frost Iron.
“Oh my god! Where did you obtain so much Moonstone from? And this Peak Grade Frost Iron? How unbelievable!”
Xiao Chen smiled in satisfaction. He found a piece of paper and drew out what the Lunar Shadow Saber looked like before handing it over to Mo Fan, “This is the basic design. I wonder if the materials that I brought are sufficient?”
Mo Fan received the drawing and took a look. However, he felt helpless when he saw it. This drawing was not a proper weapons blueprint... It was just an illustration of the Lunar Shadow Saber.
“Young Master Xiao, this drawing of yours is too simple and crude. Forgive my straightforward words, but this design of a saber is not a good one. There are many places where it could be improved.”
Should it be changed? Xiao Chen hesitated in his heart. The design of this sword was something that he liked. It was very similar to the sabers he saw in cartoons during his previous life. It was not a chunky design like that of the cavalry blade.
This saber at least had a streamlined design. As a former ‘otaku’, he had a certain interest in keeping this design; he did not wish to change it too much.
Mo Fan saw that Xiao Chen was hesitating and said, “How about this... I will draw a rough sketch now, and you can take a look to see if you like it.”
Xiao Chen nodded his head and Mo Fan started to draw. Ao Jiao and Xiao Chen stood at the side and looked attentively. The more Xiao Chen watched, the more he blushed. The rough sketch of Mo Fan’s was so much better than his.
Half an hour later, Mo Fan handed the completed drawing to Xiao Chen. Not only did his drawing have a clear indication of its length, breadth, and thickness, it even had simple notes on all the required ingredients.
Fearing that Xiao Chen did not understand it, Mo Fan stood at the side and explained, “Young Master Xiao, based on the drawing you handed me earlier, that Lunar Shadow Saber seemed to only have a length of 1.2 meters. I increased it to 1.6 meters.”
Naturally, the longer the saber, the more advantages he would have in a battle. However, most blacksmiths would not increase the length of this kind of saber.
This was because the longer the saber, the harder it was to make the saber streamlined. It would destroy the overall form and streamlined nature of the saber. Thus, most blacksmiths would avoid this major change, and focus on minor changes. They would not increase the length of a saber to beyond 1.2 meters.
Mo Fan continued to explain, “There is no need to make a big change to the breadth. For this kind of saber, two fingers wide is the usual standard.”
“However, as the length of this saber was increased to 1.6 meters, I recommend that you add another half a finger’s width to the breadth. Thus, the saber would not look too thin as a result of the increased length negatively affecting its aesthetics.”
Mo Fan explained every bit of change that he made. Furthermore, after the changes, it looked even more tyrannical than the original Lunar Shadow. It was not even inferior to the scythe of the Grim Reaper.
The more Xiao Chen looked at it, the more satisfied he felt. He smiled and said, “Elder Brother Mo, we shall follow the changes that you made. Right, what other ingredients am I lacking? I still have time and can deliver them in a few days.”
Mo Fan said, “It depends on what rank of Spirit Weapon you are intending to forge. Furthermore, it also depends on any special requests you have.”
Xiao Chen did not expect that there would be so many details to this. He asked Mo Fan to explain it all to him.
Thus Mo Fan explained that Spirit Weapons are split into four ranks, from the best to worst: Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow. Within each rank, they can be subdivided into three grades: Superior, Medial, and Inferior.
Above Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapons were Sub-Divine and Divine Weapons. There were a total of ten Divine Weapons in Tianwu Continent. Every time a new Divine Weapon was born, an old Divine Weapon perished.
After Xiao Chen heard all these basic explanations, Mo Fan continued, “Regardless of the rank of Spirit Weapon, it is possible to fulfill a cultivators request and inlay a Demonic Core of the corresponding attribute.”
The Demonic Core was the inner core of a Demonic Beast. The Demonic Beast was a Spirit Beast that was corrupted by Demonic Qi. Compared to the Spirit Beast, they underwent  a drastic mutation.
One of the of drastic mutations was the inner core of the Spirit Beast. The inner core of a Spirit Beast was originally an object that nurtured Essence.
After the inner core turned into a Demonic Core, it would be filled with a violent energy. It seemed to have a mysterious connection with the world. When it was inlaid into a Spirit Weapon it would give the Spirit Weapon a great strength, as well as the attribute of the Demonic Core.
When Xiao Chen heard this, he said, “According to what you said, I am still lacking in a lightning attributed Demonic Core. Am I right?”
Mo Fan nodded his head, “ However, Ao Jiao had discussed this with me earlier. Actually, I happen to have a Rank 6 Thunder Roc Demonic Beast’s Demonic Core with me. I can let you have it first; consider it as my thanks to you.”
When Xiao Chen heard this, he felt incomparably joyful in his heart. However, when he thought about it carefully, he felt that there was something weird. It seems as though Mo Fan’s words earlier were  a setup to give this Demonic Core to Xiao Chen.
When he looked at Ao Jiao, he discovered that she was innocently looking at him. That gaze looked extremely pure, giving him a headache. Thus, he decided not to think about it anymore.
Xiao Chen said, “Since you are not lacking anything, when can you finish it?”
Mo Fan thought for a bit before saying, “Young Master Xiao, if you are in a rush, I can complete it today. However, you will have to help me. If you are not in a rush, I can finish it in three days by myself and send it to you.”
Since it was possible for it to be fast, that would be best. It was better to have such a good Spirit Weapon immediately. Having to wait for three days would keep  him in suspense.
Suddenly Xiao Chen seemed to have remembered something, “Right, after speaking for so long, you still have not said what rank of Spirit Weapon you are going to make.”
As Mo Fan picked up the Moonstone and Peak Grade Frost Iron on the ground, he casually said, “With so much Moonstone, naturally it will be a Superior Grade Heaven Ranked.
Superior Grade Heaven Ranked! Xiao Chen was astonished.
A Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon had not appeared in the continent for hundreds of years. While one of the major reasons was a lack of Moonstone, another important reason was the lack of skills of blacksmiths.
Within these hundred years, there should have been people who managed to accumulate the necessary amount of Moonstone to create a Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon. However, since no Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon had appeared, it was likely due to the lack of brilliant blacksmiths.
According to what Xiao Chen understood, the only people who could forge a Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon and above in the Tianwu Continent were the people of Clear Sky Sect.
There was a mysterious bloodline in the bodies of the people of Clear Sky Sect. They were all born with a Clear Sky Hammer. Each and every one of the Clear Sky Sect disciples were naturally born divine blacksmiths.
In fact, the few divine blacksmiths in the continent were the successors of the Clear Sky Sect. This was the advantage of their bloodline. This was something that outsiders could envy, but never have.
However, it was this talent that led them to their demise.
According to the legends, 600 years ago a Holy Land from the Tianwu Dynasty wanted them to forge a new Divine Weapon.
Since the ancient times, the Clear Sky Sect had a law passed by their ancestors. They were never allowed to forge Divine Weapons. At most, they were only allowed to forge Sub-Divine Weapons. Due to this strange rule, the Clear Sky Sect rejected the Holy Land’s request.
Ever since then, the Clear Sky Sect ceased to exist in this world. In this few hundred years, the Tianwu Continent did not have any new Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapons.
When Xiao Chen casually asked about the rank, Mo Fan said he wanted to forge a Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon. Could it be that he thinks that his forging skills are comparable to those of the Clear Sky Sect successors?
Xiao Chen suppressed the suspicions he had in his heart and followed Mo Fan. They left through the back door and arrived at a yard. Mo Fan continued to lead Xiao Chen forward as they went past a few small houses. Finally, he stopped in front of a stone house.
Taking out a key, he unlocked the door to the stone house and he gently pushed open the stone door. The inside was pitch dark. Because the house was built in a poor area with bad lighting, the sunlight from the outside was not able to shine in.
Mo Fan lit up an oil lamp and opened up a secret passageway. He said apologetically, “Because the temperature in the forge would be too high, I had to build it underground. We still have to walk a distance.”
Xiao Chen nodded his head to indicate that he understood. He followed Mo Fan down into the passage. After half an hour, a huge stone room appeared in front of Xiao Chen’s eyes.
Within the stone room, there were all sorts of forging tools. The huge furnace in the middle attracted everyone’s attention. Beside the furnace, there was a large vat.
Xiao Chen got closer to take a look, and he discovered that the vat was filled with a black liquid. It looked like ink, yet was not ink. It was so black that it seemed to give off light. However, when he examined it carefully, it was not glaring. This was very contradictory.
Xiao Chen had never seen such strange water before and could not help himself but ask, “What is in this vat?”
Mo Fan was currently tidying up the underground room that he had not used in a long time. He was currently not able to answer Xiao Chen’s question. Ao Jiao said, “This is the Water of Underworld’s Yellow Springs. This is the most suitable water in this world for tempering.”
Yellow Springs?
Xiao Chen shivered and quickly retreated away from the vat. The main reason was that the legends of the Underworld’s Yellow Springs from earth were firmly rooted in his heart. He could not help but retreat backward by a few steps.
[TL notes: Yellow Springs is another word for hell in Chinese.]
Ao Jiao looked strangely at Xiao Chen and said, “What’s wrong with you? Are you frightened by the water of Yellow Springs?”
Although Xiao Chen was indeed frightened by the water of Yellow Springs, he would not admit to it at this point. Xiao Chen said calmly, “How could that be? That's right, Elder Brother Mo, is there anything that you need my help with?”