Chapter 566 - 336: Five Elders of Five Directions

Destiny? Fate? Or humanity?

In this world, there are many people with great ambitions, but few actually achieve great things. Even those with determination might not necessarily succeed.

The pursuit of power and dominance, to achieve success and fame, invariably involves a path paved with blood.

As you ascend to the peak, the dreams crushed beneath your feet may ironically belong to others.

Of course, Tie Dan was never one to wallow in such sentiments. After all, a guy like him who has endured hardship since childhood, struggling on the brink of life and death, doesn’t care much about his own life, let alone someone else’s.

Dreams, ideals, great ambitions? He doesn’t even know where his next meal will come from. Go chase your own tail!

So yes, Tie Dan essentially has no dreams or grand ambitions. Right now, he’s basically still stuck in the ’not having enough to eat’ phase.

Although his cultivation has seen some progress, and he has a passing understanding of daoist skills, he’s missing a handy weapon. Since he can’t find a suitable one and the Sword Sect won’t spare theirs, he’ll just forge one himself.

That’s right, sword casting!

Actually, what Tie Dan most lacks now is a good sword. It’s not that he can’t fight without one, but it sure takes the fun out of pinching the formula and flicking his fingers.

With a casual wave of his hand, using the Sword Array to massacre hordes of demons, leaving corpses strewn everywhere, he still feels a certain emptiness inside, as if something was missing to share this joy.

Exactly! Missing a sword! A Sword Immortal needs a sword! A Sword Immortal must use a sword to slash! Splitting skulls, beheading, gouging hearts, disemboweling! Feeling hot blood splash on your face is damn exhilarating! Waving a finger like a dainty princess? That’s ridiculous! A flute, a ruler, a stick? They don’t count! They aren’t swords!

Thus, Tie Dan decided to forge a sword.

Of course, the saying "Alchemy ruins three generations, sword casting destroys a sect" is well known, and Tie Dan is certainly aware of it. But it doesn’t matter; after all, there’s nothing left of his sect, so let it be destroyed.

Moreover, Tie Dan’s requirements aren’t high. A legit treasure sword takes hundreds of years to forge, but he’s rushing to use this sword by the end of the month, who’s got time to stand around watching?

Fortunately, Tie Dan has the Artifact Refining Secret Scroll Chen Xuantian found on the road, and the theoretical techniques of Hidden Sword Manor, honed through years of practice, now completely mastered. He could start by forging the sword embryo, then gradually enhance it through blood refining, letting it grow step by step, accompanying Tie Dan on his journey, through trials, executions, and bloodshed.

And over at Xuantian, all these classic explanations have been compiled into a manual, making it as simple as an instruction booklet for Tie Dan. As long as he follows instructions, not to say it will become some world-class sword, at least it’ll be handy to use... right?

Whatever, if it all blows up, it’ll just be practice! Forge! Forge! Forge like hell!

So how does one forge?

Actually, aside from all the mystical elements and irrelevant details, the principle remains akin to steel metallurgy.

As everyone knows, metallurgical steel-making involves reducing iron ore raw materials in a blast furnace, melting them into pig iron, using pig iron as raw material, adding various secret ingredients to produce steel, then casting steel ingots into billets—here becoming the most basic sword embryo.

Of course, this is just the beginning. The sword embryo still needs the integration of various Heavenly Materials Treasures, repeatedly refining the sword blade, inscribing sword seals, forged a thousandfold, simmered, and stewed in the process.

However, for Tie Dan, it isn’t necessary to go through so much hassle. You eat food one bite at a time, and since he’s forging a sword on the spot, simply making a sword embryo is enough.

Thus, Tie Dan first prepares the sword casting furnace.

This Sword Furnace exists right in Yingzhou City’s Divine Weapon Armory.

Speaking of which, this concept of treasure vaults is quite interesting. These are actually remnants of the Ancient Demon Clan’s civilization, most falling into the hands of the Immortal Palace. Having withstood thousands of years without decay or corrosion, immune to ordinary Daoist skills or secret techniques, they serve precisely as storerooms, preventing some thieves from casually rummaging around people’s houses.

But to Tie Dan, it’s like buying the box for the pearl. First of all, what are these ’treasure vaults’ made of, and why are they so great? Furthermore, the Demon Clan put so much effort into using such fine materials to just make an empty room for your gold and silver jewelry, is that possible? So this ’vault’, the real key is to protect what ’treasure’ it exists for, right?

Ah, whatever. It’s empty anyway, nothing to do about it for now.

Now the treasure vault is fully packed, stuffed with a pile of junk by Marquis Xichang. Not only the "DUANG!" that nearly smashed him to death, the ’Court Ceremony Meteorite Iron’, but also this guy who, in his ambition to rise, gambled everything, all his accumulated resources, converting everything into military supplies.

Even the Xiao Family knows that now is not the time to hold back, pouring all of Zhen Country’s might into preparing military armor and weaponry, initially to supply the entire Northern Expedition Army with swords soldiers. Now everything is here, to serve as Iron Forging Material for Tie Dan, as fuel for the soup, as the base for boiling the sword broth.

Then start preparing the furnace fire.

High temperatures are necessary to melt and refine the materials, removing impurities, and without a good fire, that’s impossible.

But luckily, Tie Dan has a good fire, and it’s top-notch, the Kaiyang Zhu Ming Sword Fire Array. Chen Xuantian has studied it for ten years, knowing it like the back of his hand.

First, launch the Thousand-Year Sword Power into the sky, using the secret technique of the Kaiyang Sword Formation, imbibing in the sweet spring, flowing with the Eternal Wind, burning with the Jade Candle. The sword strikes in a triple combo, finally lighting the Jade Candle, igniting the Zhu Ming Sword Fire to start heating the treasure vault.

Then, using the Tiger Talisman Marquis Xichang obediently handed over for his life, all the earthquake country operations prepared over the years, originally to fortify and defend, shifting the Earth’s Vein they had been meticulously channeling toward Tie Dan’s Zhu Ming Sword Formation, providing continuous fuel for the Sword Furnace. They specifically used the Tianpeng Law Ruler as the Array Eye to guard the setup.