Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1022 Bloodshed and Flames of War, the Roar of the Qin Dynasty

Xingheng and Yunji stood at the edge of the weapon-refining area. The scorching heat and deafening forging sounds were nothing more than a gentle breeze to them.

The shouts of the giant spirit, the heavy breathing of the young bull demon, the focused gaze of the dwarf apprentice…

Everything, amidst the stern yet insightful shouts of Chen Tieshou, the one-armed old man, formed a picture full of primitive and wild vitality.

"Control your strength! Control your strength! You little bull demon, is all that brute force you have meant for smashing the iron billet into the earth's core? What we need is penetration! It's about vibration! It's about making every bit of force follow the grain of the iron billet, awakening its dormant spirit!"

Chen Tieshou's voice was like sandpaper rubbing against iron.

He pointed to a blank that the young bull demon had just forged, a piece of material for a Rock-class heavy armor breastplate, which was covered with pits of varying depths.

"Look! Even a dog chewed it neater! You need to be able to lift heavy weights with ease!"

"First, go work the bellows, check the heat, and feel the fire's breath! Only when you can make the flames dance to your liking can you touch the hammer!"

The young bull demon with black horns blushed, his huge body trembling slightly, but he dared not utter a single word of rebuttal.

He mumbled a reply, "Yes, Elder Chen," and then walked with his head down toward the massive bellows of the Star Furnace, each step feeling incredibly heavy.

The other Bull Demon companions around him also instinctively shrank back and gripped their forging hammers tightly.

Just then, Xingheng, who had been silently observing, turned his gaze to the blank that the young bull demon had just forged.

Although the raw material was pitted and uneven, there was an extremely fine, almost imperceptible rune pattern on the edge that appeared and disappeared in a flash under the high temperature.

The patterns were not taught by Chen Tieshou; they carried an ancient and unfamiliar charm, as if a sleeping star had been unintentionally awakened by brute force.

“Effortless mastery…penetrating the texture…awakening the spirit…” Yunji murmured, a strange light flashing in his eyes, “This old craftsman, though his words are rough, makes perfect sense.”

"The ancient race, with strong bones and muscles and innate divine strength, but lacking refinement, possesses a treasure mountain but cannot find the way. What a pity for such innate talent."

Xingheng nodded slightly.

His gaze swept over the young men of various races who were struggling to swing their hammers but were not getting anywhere, especially the Bull Demons and Giant Spirits.

Each hammer blow they delivered carried the power to split mountains and shatter rocks, but due to their inability to control it precisely, seventy percent of their power was wasted, and they also damaged the spiritual structure of the materials themselves.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Junior Brother Yunji,” Xingheng’s voice was calm and even, yet it clearly pierced through the noisy forging sounds, “Look at how clumsy this Bull Demon’s control of his strength is. Doesn’t it remind you and me of when we first entered the Zhenyue Hall and faced the ‘Thousand-Jun Stone’?”

Yun Ji was taken aback, then his eyes flashed with a sharp light as he instantly understood his senior brother's intention. A faint smile appeared on his lips: "Senior brother, you mean... that 'Thousand Waves'?"

Xingheng said nothing more, took a step forward, and his figure appeared like a ghost in front of the forging platform where the young bull demon had just left.

He didn't deliberately reveal his aura, but a profound and unfathomable aura naturally spread out, instantly silencing the entire noisy weapon-refining area.

All eyes, filled with surprise, curiosity, and awe, were fixed on him.

Chen Tieshou narrowed his one eye, a hint of vigilance and seriousness flashing in his cloudy eyes.

He couldn't see through this suddenly appearing "vendor," but the profound sense of weight that had accumulated over countless years made him instinctively feel danger.

Xingheng ignored everyone's gazes and casually picked up a piece of unrefined, head-sized Abyss Iron Ore from the mountain of rough blanks piled up beside him.

The ore was as black as ink, and its surface was covered with honeycomb-like holes.

Its texture is extremely loose and fragile, yet it contains amazing resistance to demonic energy and toughness, making it an excellent material for creating the inner lining buffer layer of rock-solid heavy armor.

However, due to its loose structure, it is extremely difficult to forge into shape, and it will completely shatter if not handled carefully.

"Watch closely." Xingheng's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange penetrating power, reaching deep into the soul of every craftsman.

He pointed his right hand like a sword, without using any spiritual power, but simply guided it gently.

"Buzz!"

The heavy iron hammer, the size of a millstone, which the young bull demon had left on the forging platform, seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, suddenly flying up and falling into Xingheng's hands.

This heavy hammer was a ferocious weapon in the hands of the Bull Demon King, but in Xing Heng's palm, it was as light as a feather.

The next moment, Xingheng moved.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, no howling wind.

He raised his arm and then lowered it.

The movements were slow and fluid, with an indescribable sense of rhythm, as if they were not forging, but playing a zither or painting.

"Boom!"

The hammer gently landed on the abyss's deep iron ore.

The sound was dull, far less deafening than when the young bull demon slammed down.

However, at the very moment the hammer touched the ore—

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

Inside the ore, like a calm lake surface tossed with pebbles, five clearly visible, almost visible to the naked eye, ripples suddenly spread outwards!

These ripples are not illusions, but real ripples generated by the perfect transmission, superposition, and resonance of power within the internal structure of the ore!

The first ripple had barely appeared when the second one followed closely behind, layer upon layer, amplifying the power several times over in an instant!

"Hey!"

The edges of those fragile, honeycomb-like pores on the surface of the ore visibly become smooth and dense!

Extremely fine black impurities were forced out of the ore by this strange vibrational force, turning into black smoke and dissipating!

"This...this is impossible!" Chen Tieshou exclaimed in shock, his one eye wide open as he stared intently at the ripples spreading inside the ore.

He had been immersed in the art of forging for hundreds of years and had never seen such a miraculous method of controlling force!

Without relying on spiritual power or brute force, but solely on a subtle control over the essence of power, it triggers the resonance of the material's own structure!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Xingheng's movements became faster and faster, his arm turning into a blurry afterimage.

Each hammer blow was as light as a feather, and each contact triggered five, six, or even nine layers of superimposed shock waves inside the ore!

The pitch-black abyss iron ore seemed to come alive under his hammer, groaning and transforming in pain and pleasure.

The loose structure becomes dense and tough at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Its surface gleamed with a warm, understated dark sheen, and its volume had shrunk by a third!

Impurities are completely removed, and the inherent spirit of the ore is fully awakened!

"A thousand waves...nine layers of waves!" Yun Ji's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he couldn't help but shout it out. This was the secret technique of Zhenyue Hall for refining top-grade divine materials!

My senior brother actually performed this skill right here in front of everyone!

As Xingheng's final hammer fell, the power of the ninefold shockwave perfectly overlapped, like a raging wave crashing against the shore, before finally returning to calm.

He casually put the forging hammer back in its place, as if he had only done a trivial thing.

The original pitted and loose abyssal iron ore, about the size of a human head, has been transformed into a top-grade raw material the size of a fist, jet black, as dense as meteorite iron, with dark patterns flowing like water ripples on its surface!

Its quality far surpasses the so-called "rock-solid grade" that Chen Tieshou and others painstakingly forged!

"Power lies not in ferocity, but in penetration. It lies not in form, but in intention. Draw its pulse, invigorate its marrow, and nine waves will surge forth, even the stubbornest rock will be cleaved." Xingheng's voice was calm, yet it resonated like a great bell, striking the hearts of every craftsman.

The entire weapon-refining area was deathly silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

All the craftsmen, whether they were Bull Demon, Giant Spirit, Dwarf, Shadow Cat, or even master craftsmen like Chen Tieshou, Xuanjizi, and Mo Ling, were frozen in place as if under a spell.

Their eyes were fixed on the transformed raw material, then suddenly turned to Xingheng, their gazes filled with extreme shock, bewilderment, and an almost pilgrimage-like fervor!

"Pfft!"

I don't know who was the first to kneel down.

Immediately afterwards, like dominoes being toppled, hundreds of craftsmen from various races in the entire weapon-forging area, including the proud and arrogant Chen Tieshou, all knelt heavily in the direction of Xingheng!

His forehead hit the ground with a dull thud.

This is the most instinctive reverence and submission to supreme skill!

Thousands of waves!

This is miraculous skill, turning lead into gold, opening a door to the highest hall of forging for these craftsmen who grope in the dark!

"Your skill is divine! Please accept our bow!" Chen Tieshou's voice trembled with unprecedented excitement, tears streaming down his face.

What he pursued throughout his life was precisely this way of controlling the power to turn the rotten into the miraculous.

Yunji looked at the kneeling craftsmen, then at his senior brother's calm and unmoving face, and sighed inwardly.

My senior brother's action may seem casual, but it actually contains a profound meaning.

Although this "Thousand Waves" is only a basic method of controlling force, it directly targets the core of forging.

This is enough to completely transform the craftsmanship of these ancient races, indirectly enhancing the foundation of the Blood Mill's war preparedness.

Such a grand gesture, such a magnanimous spirit…

"Hmph, since Senior Brother has revealed 'Thousand Waves,' then I can't keep my 'Microscopic Inscription' a secret either." Yun Ji chuckled, and with a flicker of his figure, he appeared in the area where Xuan Jizi was in charge of engraving runes for the Rift Abyss-level powerful bow.

The atmosphere here is completely different; it's so quiet it's almost stagnant.

Several selected Shadow Cat Clan girls and Winged Clan youths, whose mental strength was the most acute, were holding their breath and carefully engraving intricate "Sky-Piercing" runes on tiny, fingernail-sized pieces of star-refined gold embedded in the bow arms.

Each stroke requires the infusion of extremely pure and stable spiritual energy; the slightest mistake could render the entire valuable piece of star gold worthless, or even trigger a miniature explosion.

A Shadowcat girl's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and her wrists trembled slightly from prolonged tension.

At a very subtle turn in the rune lines she was engraving, a barely perceptible burr appeared.

This tiny flaw is enough to weaken the Sky-Piercing Power of the Rift Bow by 30%!

"A restless mind and scattered thoughts. Even in the smallest of places, there is the power of Mount Sumeru." Yunji's voice was like a clear spring, instantly soothing the girl's anxious mind.

He didn't take the engraving needle; instead, he extended his right index finger, and a barely perceptible starlight shone from the tip of his finger. He then gently touched the thin piece of star-gold in front of the girl.

"Buzz!"

A phantom "engraving needle," a hundred times thinner than a hair and purely formed from spiritual energy, appeared out of thin air and landed precisely on the burr.

Without any contact or sound, the imperfection was as if it had been polished by the finest sandpaper, instantly becoming smooth and seamless, perfectly integrated into the entire rune structure!

Even more miraculously, the phantom of the mental energy needle did not disappear. Instead, it followed the trajectory of the runes and, with an unfathomable rhythm, clearly "demonstrated" itself in the girl's mental vision!

"Thoughts arise from the heart, and the needle moves at will. It is not you who are carving the talisman, but the talisman that uses your hand to reveal its form. Forget the needle, forget your hand, forget yourself, and only the meaning of the talisman flows."

Yunji's voice carried a strange power of soothing and guiding.

The Shadow Cat Clan girl shuddered, the confusion in her eyes vanished instantly, replaced by an unprecedented clarity and focus.

She instinctively dropped the needle again, her movements still clumsy, but her wrist strangely stabilized, and the trajectory of the needle faintly overlapped with the spiritual phantom that Yunji had just demonstrated!

Although slow, there is no more hesitation; each stroke carries a sense of smoothness, as if one has just begun to understand the basics!

"A speck of dust is carved... a thought transforms into a needle... the talisman appears spontaneously..."

Xuanjizi muttered to himself. This master craftsman, renowned for his expertise in precision mechanics and runes, was now as if he had been enlightened, and his entire being was in a state of sudden enlightenment.

He stared intently at Yunji's finger, which seemed to contain the trajectory of the stars, his eyes blazing with an even more fervent light than when he saw "Thousand Waves"!

This is the pinnacle of using mental power!

It is the supreme method inscribed with runes!

"Thump! Thump!"

The artisans in the rune engraving area also knelt down in unison, trembling with excitement.

If "Thousand Waves" represents the ultimate control of power, then "Micro-dust Engraving" is a miracle of communication between spirit and runes!

These two secret techniques, like two lighthouses that suddenly appeared, illuminated the dark path they had been searching for their way to without success!

The weapon-forging area of ​​the Blood Mill was in complete uproar.

A surge of emotions—shock, ecstasy, and gratitude—erupted like a volcano.

Countless craftsmen, with tears in their eyes, kowtowed again and again in the direction of Xingheng and Yunji.

This is true teaching and guidance, an unparalleled blessing that can change their fate and even the fate of the entire Blood Millstone!

However, at this peak moment of skill inheritance and the ignition of hope—

"Waaaaah—!!!"

A mournful, piercing horn sound, as if the cries of millions of wronged souls were being pierced without warning, tore apart the clouds above the Blood Millstone that had just been illuminated by the fire of the forging furnace!

The sound did not come from the ears, but pierced directly into the depths of the soul, carrying a terrifying demonic intent that could freeze the blood and tear apart the soul!

Immediately afterwards, on the highest beacon tower of the main fortress of Chentieling, a huge "warning drum" made of black tortoise shell was struck wildly!

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The drumbeats were heavy like muffled thunder, rapid like a torrential downpour, instantly drowning out all the noise in the weapon-forging area! Five drumbeats rang out in succession!

The highest level of alert: "The Abyss of Demons is Coming!"

"Enemy attack—!!!"

"The demon bastards are here! The banners of the Bone-Eating Demon Lord! A dark, countless mass!"

A piercing scream, accompanied by the beat of drums, came from all directions. (End of Chapter)