Chapter 1 Divine Weapon Manor

The Divine Weapon Manor covers an area of hundreds of *li*, and within the manor are five active volcanoes. All the important forging workshops are built around these five volcanoes.

With the five volcanoes as connecting points, interconnected underground palaces, mine tunnels, and array pathways that gather the energy of heaven and earth cover the surface and underground.

Hundreds of thousands of miners and basic artisans are scattered throughout the manor like ants.

Those weapon smiths who have earned the name of Divine Craftsman stand at the pinnacle, living in magnificent palaces, with numerous servants and disciples, enjoying the richest material and spiritual supplies.

In the Immortal Treasure Realm, there is no concept of a nation.

Because of the unique environment, weapon smiths hold an extremely high status.

Every Divine Craftsman is like a deity, standing above billions of living beings.

The ruler of the Divine Weapon Manor is naturally the strongest Divine Craftsman in the manor, possessing the best weapon refining techniques.

If one day, he is surpassed by other Divine Craftsmen within the manor, then he will lose the position of Manor Lord.

In other worlds, weapon refining skills do not represent combat ability, nor do they represent cultivation realm. Therefore, even the most outstanding weapon smith will only gain respect, and it is difficult to grasp the core power.

The Immortal Treasure Realm is of course different. From the beginning, weapon refining strength has been linked to actual realm and combat power.

Ordinary mortals, if they do not cultivate, then under the influence of the laws of heaven and earth, will only have ordinary physical fitness, somewhat weaker compared to people in other worlds.

But once they start cultivating, although they gain the ability to cast spells or martial arts techniques, their bodies will quickly become fragile, and they can only compensate by adding equipment.

And magical treasures that can merge with the physical body, or even help in cultivation, are not something that everyone can possess.

Therefore, more ordinary cultivators use full body armor, resembling iron buckets, covering their entire bodies. This full body armor is divided into crude and refined, depending on the refinement of the forging and the preciousness of the materials used.

If one cannot cross the class and obtain the blessing of a true magical treasure to protect the fragile physical body.

Then, the moment the full armor covers the body, one may have to be shrouded in a thick shell for the rest of their life.

Gender, beauty, and ugliness all seem to become unimportant things.

Ye Chuxiao felt the unique laws of heaven and earth in this realm, and was determined not to cultivate even once in this world.

"Although I am the Third Young Master of the Divine Weapon Manor, it is not easy to ask a Divine Craftsman to craft a divine weapon."

"Because the forging of any divine weapon requires a lot of the weapon smith's effort and energy. Moreover, in terms of persona, I should also be a weapon smith, and a Spirit Craftsman of the fifth rank. With good materials, I should keep them for my own use and strive towards the Divine Craftsman realm."

Thinking of this, Ye Chuxiao suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly.

He was also confused and had not yet changed his mindset.

The purpose of customizing an identity was just to find a good entry point.

In fact, he is now an Intent Realm cultivator, standing at a position close to the pinnacle of human cultivators.

Wouldn't it be possible to generously state his identity and seek cooperation with the Manor Lord of the Divine Weapon Manor?

The five active volcanoes emit billowing smoke, and the scorching heat constantly permeates everything. The smell of sulfur in the air makes people feel uncomfortable.

On the highest and largest active volcano stands a magnificent copper palace.

Outside the copper palace, within a huge formation, three demonic dragons are locked, spewing out scorching dragon fire.

Rolling thunderbolts fall along the lightning-attracting array, turning into thunderfire and burning in the thunder pool.

Earth fire, thunderfire, and dragon fire, three different types of flames, are separately merged into the furnace. A giant wearing scarlet armor and a bull-horned helmet, and standing tens of feet tall, is holding a giant hammer, aiming at the towering forging furnace, and fiercely hammering the sword that is taking shape.

Weapon refining techniques vary from school to school.

Some respect ancient forging methods, as seen before their eyes.

There are also some new weapon refining methods that manipulate powerful flames between the palms, then melt the materials and knead them into the shape of a weapon like kneading clay. Then, they inject spiritual patterns, array diagrams, and so on, making weapon refining full of tricks and as delicate as embroidery.

The former and the latter are difficult to distinguish in terms of superiority or inferiority; it can only be said that each has its own strengths.

Weapons and magical treasures forged using ancient methods have simpler functions, but more spirituality.

Magical treasures crafted using new-style weapon refining methods have more functions and are more delicate, but they are slightly lacking in initial spirituality.

That tall giant is not a natural alien species, but Nangong Juhong, the Manor Lord of the Divine Weapon Manor.

One of the representative figures of ancient weapon refining in the Immortal Treasure Realm.

As the hammer strikes down like a raging storm, clang, clang, clang.

The splashing fire and cracking lightning also spread in all directions, as if the Thunder God and Fire God of the heavens were fighting.

The giant wearing scarlet armor waves thunder and fire above the clouds, the scene is incredibly shocking.

In Ye Chuxiao's view, the hammer technique used by this Nangong Juhong to forge the sword can not only be used for weapon refining, but is also extremely tyrannical for beheading enemies and killing people.

Each hammer strike carries the power of thunder and fire, and presses down on people with overwhelming force, forcing opponents to confront it head-on.

"Even I would be unwilling to engage in close combat with him. It is more likely that I would use a kiting tactic, first eroding his fighting spirit, diverting and consuming his energy, and then seizing an opening for a fatal blow." Ye Chuxiao instinctively analyzed, while simulating tactics in his mind.

Boom!

With the last hammer falling, the giant held the giant blade, raising the sword, still burning in thunderfire, high above his head.

Above the clouds, two ice dragons, manipulated by dragon-riding armored warriors, spewed out cold breath.

In the cold breath, the heat on the sword quickly cooled.

A large number of spiritual patterns, drawn with the blood of spirit beasts as the foundation, also followed the wind, covering the sword body and imprinting into it.

The sword began to emit an extremely intense spiritual light.

Ye Chuxiao sensed that on this huge sword, there was an extremely vast but extremely chaotic spirituality, rapidly condensing and being born.

If all the subsequent steps go smoothly, this will be a very qualified divine weapon embryo.

However, it is obvious that even with a Divine Craftsman's help, creating a divine weapon embryo is not so simple.

The moment the embryo took shape, an evil wind suddenly flew from the sky.

Although a large number of craftsmen used magical treasures to block it.

A strand of evil energy still injected into the sword.

The sword let out a mournful cry, and its original full spirituality was immediately cut by 30%, falling from its original rank.

At this time, although it is still a high-grade spiritual weapon, it is already a considerable distance away from a divine weapon.

The giant looked at the 'mediocre' sword in his hand, and seemed to sigh.

Then, his original body, which was tens of feet tall, quickly shrank.

The surrounding thunderfire was also entirely absorbed into the scarlet armor.

Ye Chuxiao then realized that the armor worn by the giant was actually a divine artifact.

And the giant hammer in his hand should also be a divine artifact.

After taking the armor and hammer into his body, the giant, who previously looked so majestic, was actually a thin middle-aged man, even giving a sense of frailty.

Dressed in a snow-white robe, one would be more likely to believe that he was an old scholar who had studied hard for many years.

Slightly struggling to hold the equally shrunken sword, the thin middle-aged man handed it to a black-clad old man, "It's a pity! The Nine Winds Evil Calamity came strangely, and ultimately it was not completely avoided."

"But after all, it was once at the level of a divine weapon embryo. Its potential is still greater than that of ordinary spiritual weapons. If you nurture it well, perhaps after a hundred years, it may be able to reproduce its former glory."

Although it seemed to have been messed up, the black-clad old man did not show any anger. Instead, he said with a flattering smile, "Thank you, Manor Lord! This sword already has the potential of a divine weapon, all thanks to the Manor Lord's tireless efforts. How could this junior not be satisfied?"

After saying that, he happily took the sword and kept stroking it in his hands, clearly extremely fond of it.

"With this Great Que Sword, you can merge and cultivate the Great Que Sword Bone, and your cultivation will advance further. Progress is just around the corner, congratulations!" Some people gathered around and congratulated the black-clad old man.

The old man politely returned the greetings one by one.

Seeing that he did not have the slightest look of loss, not even pretending, it was evident that the matter of forging a divine weapon embryo briefly, and then falling in rank due to some accidental disaster, was relatively common.

Perhaps what is uncommon is forging a divine weapon embryo, even if it is only briefly...

Ye Chuxiao was originally puzzled, but then he adjusted.

He was still measuring by the rules of the Wilderness Battle Realm.

In the Wilderness Battle Realm, Intent Realm cultivators have a mere century of life, so everything that accompanies a cultivator is accelerated to form, burn, and then return to dust and dissipate in a very short period of time.

Powerful cultivators are like this, and so are the divine artifacts that cultivators nurture and use.

It is precisely because of this 'acceleration' that Ye Chuxiao had the illusion that divine artifacts were 'nothing more than that', although he did not have one, he simply felt that it was because of time constraints and had not had time to nurture it.

On the contrary, he overlooked the fact that divine artifacts themselves are extremely hard to come by.

Apart from the Wilderness Battle Realm, in any other cultivation world, the gestation and formation of divine artifacts requires a large amount of time to accumulate.

It is often measured in units of centuries or millennia.

A high-grade spiritual weapon has the potential to transform back into a divine weapon embryo within a hundred years, which is already a great surprise for cultivators in the Immortal Treasure Realm.

Hoping for more is simply unrealistic.

Of course, if we reverse and deduce, is the Wilderness Battle Realm more suitable for creating divine artifacts than the Immortal Treasure Realm?

This is a matter of opinion!

Ninety-nine percent of the divine artifacts in the Wilderness Battle Realm are exclusive divine artifacts, and immediately fall in rank when separated from their original owner.

The small number of common divine artifacts are also guarded by powerful forces.

Ye Chuxiao does not currently have the ability to forcibly seize them.

In comparison, the Divine Weapon Manor has eight divine artifacts visibly suppressing it.

There should also be reserves hidden.

Moreover, how many there are now and how many have been born in total are simply not the same thing.

Throughout history, the Divine Weapon Manor has never had only eight Divine Craftsmen.

And each Divine Craftsman will never have crafted only one divine artifact.

"In general, it seems that I came to the right place!" Ye Chuxiao made a summary judgment.

Thinking this, Ye Chuxiao strode towards the thin middle-aged man.

Looking at the familiar face in his 'memory', Ye Chuxiao cupped his fist and said, "Manor Lord Nangong!"

Nangong Juhong looked at Ye Chuxiao, his expression seemed to flicker slightly.

Then he covered his chest and coughed a few times.

Afterwards, he waved to Ye Chuxiao somewhat weakly, "Come with me!"

Suddenly, a cloud of auspiciousness appeared beneath Nangong Juhong's feet.

The auspicious cloud was filled with five colors, scattering a fragrant aroma.

This faint fragrance was comfortable, seeming to have the effect of soothing the mind, helping recovery, and gathering *yuanqi*.

Ye Chuxiao followed and stood on the auspicious cloud. Noticing the benefits of this object, he also had the thought of perhaps getting one of his own?

The auspicious cloud flew up and ascended into the sky.

Above the clouds, the vast sea of clouds undulated, the volcano beneath their feet constantly erupting with scorching lava, and black and white clouds overlapped in the air, cutting out a chaotic boundary.

"From outside?" Nangong Juhong asked.

Ye Chuxiao was somewhat surprised by Nangong Juhong's calmness.

After all, not every cultivator who has had their memories tampered with and 'family' added can face those transmigrators calmly.

Some will have more violent reactions.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Nangong Juhong smiled faintly, appearing refined, "If you've had seventeen little sons, eight little daughters, and a lot of grandfathers, uncles, nephews, and nephews who suddenly appeared, you'd get used to it too."

Ye Chuxiao instantly understood when he heard this, and revealed an expression that wanted to laugh, but he tried hard to restrain it.

He is not the only one who needs divine weapons.

It seems that among the myriad realms, there are more than a few foreign cultivators who have found the Immortal Treasure Realm, then customized an identity and landed in the Nangong family.

"You also want a divine weapon!"

"Then follow the rules. If you choose me as the main craftsman, you have to line up."

"You are currently in the one hundred and seventy-third position. Each time you take out a forging material that satisfies me, you can move forward one place, but you can only move up to eleventh place at most."

"The forging times for the top ten have already been determined, and the people have all been invited, so they cannot be changed." Nangong Juhong had a business-like attitude.

This even made Ye Chuxiao feel a trace of regret, seeming that he had revealed his hand too early.

But upon further thought, Nangong Juhong is well-tested, and probably has some unique methods in judging true relatives. Even if he had not revealed his hand, he would only have called Nangong Juhong 'Father' a few times in vain, losing face and substance, with no benefit.

"Can I ask, do you have the confidence to forge a divine artifact?"

"How long does it take to craft a fully formed divine artifact?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

Jumping out of the 'trouble' of needing to line up, Ye Chuxiao regained control of the conversation.

Nangong Juhong said, "How much confidence I have depends on how big your sincerity is!"

"As for a completely formed divine artifact... I suggest you nurture the embryo yourself. At most, it will take two or three hundred years to complete. The Divine Weapon Manor's Weapon Cleansing Pool and Soul Condensing Platform are already booked for over three thousand years from now. There's no room for you to cut in line even if you want to."

"So long? Then I might as well just use the Weapon Forging Platform on the Ark of Creation!" Ye Chuxiao sighed.

Nangong Juhong's eyes lit up, and his attitude instantly softened a lot.

"Looks like you're not short on resources!"

"Do you have a stock of Dao runes?"

"Give me five strands of Dao runes, and I'll put you in the top five!"

Ye Chuxiao took out the Yuanyang Treasure Blade, "Stop talking nonsense, I'll give you ten strands of Dao runes. I'll be first in line, and I want to upgrade my blade to the divine artifact level within a year at most."