Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 144 Refining the Entire Plaza?

"What?! They smashed the paving stones in the square?!"

Hearing He Shilie suddenly smash the paving stones on the square with a punch, Zhang Chengdao's face was blank, and he felt even more tired than Murong Ruyan, who had just finished a class.

Xu Ying explained, "It's not exactly rotten... it just has a few more cracks. Sect Leader, what do you think, should we have the craftsmen replace the bricks, or..."

With Ye Shuyun gone, Xu Ying became even busier.

Xu Ying's heart sank when he heard his disciple report that the golden sand and green jade bricks in the square had been smashed!
Those bricks aren't cheap!

"Forget about it for now. Let me see if I can add a formation to the plaza first. We can't stop the disciples from practicing their moves in the plaza in the future!"

Having heard Zhang Chengdao say this, Xu Ying had no choice but to nod and take his leave.

The so-called "adding a set of formations" was not just Zhang Chengdao's wild idea.

In order to separate the various chaotic cultivation techniques and secret manuals into complete sets of spells, supernatural abilities, and techniques, Zhang Chengdao was extremely busy in the months leading up to the Immortal Destiny Conference. He practically devoured all the books, including those explaining weapon crafting, alchemy, talismans, and formations.

Among the array formations, there are specialized reinforcement arrays that can strengthen various buildings. These are said to be a necessary means for major sects to reduce maintenance costs, but…

'I really don't want to learn formations anymore!'

Zhang Chengdao silently groaned in his heart.

The formations are really obscure and complicated. The various elements of the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, and all sorts of random directions and counting are so confusing that it's more painful than memorizing math formulas. At least you can memorize the basic math formulas, but a bunch of things like the fetal gods, the clashes of the five planets and the constellations are impossible to memorize!

but……

Zhang Chengdao, who only wanted to escape the pain of learning formations, suddenly thought of another way.

The text mentions that refining ordinary items with real fire can make them more durable or powerful—which is why the text is called "refining" or "refining," meaning to temper with real fire.

What if... we could "refine" all those gold sand and jade bricks?

Anyway, he has real fire, whether it's the mid-grade Six Jia Yang Fire or the low-grade Red Lotus Earth Vein Fire, he has it all!

Moreover, as a Golden Core cultivator, manipulating these true fires to directly temper oneself in the plaza... is not impossible as long as one has sufficient spiritual energy!
Thinking this way, Zhang Chengdao became even more tempted.

If he relies on formations, he still has to memorize and learn formations, but if he relies on weapon crafting, he can try it directly!

So Zhang Chengdao immediately went to the Iron Workshop, put the Six Jia Yang Fire that had been burning fiercely in the furnace into his backpack, and then flew to the square.

The square had now become empty, with only a few disciples gathered together, seemingly practicing some sword moves.

Zhang Chengdao then used his spiritual power to loudly proclaim in the air, "I will personally temper the entire plaza. I urge all disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect to leave the plaza in front of the Lingxiao Palace immediately—" He repeated this three times in a row. Zhang Chengdao's voice echoed throughout White Stone Mountain, deafeningly loud, which instead attracted the curious disciples to gather around.

However, everyone heard Zhang Chengdao's instructions and stopped outside the square. Some climbed on the wall, while others climbed onto the rocks next to them, curiously looking at their sect leader in the sky.

After the square was empty, Zhang Chengdao took out the seed of the Six Jia Yang Fire from his backpack and used his spiritual power to guide the Six Jia Yang Fire onto the gold sand and green jade bricks paved on the square. Instantly, the square was engulfed in flames, which distorted Zhang Chengdao's figure in the sky.

Upon witnessing this infernal inferno, all the disciples were dumbfounded and speechless. Even Murong Ruyan, who had rushed over to spy on the scene, stared wide-eyed.

If such methods were used in the army, then all martial arts formations would be useless!
The more Murong Ruyan thought about it, the more tempted she became—if she had this ability, wouldn't the Bohai Kingdom be hers for the taking?

Everyone watched in astonishment, feeling that their sect leader truly was a celestial being descended to earth, while Zhang Chengdao…

Actually, we were so tired we were sweating!
Refining all the gold sand and jade bricks on the plaza was more difficult than he had imagined. In particular, the Six Jia Yang Fire was an extremely yang and fierce domineering fire, which was inherently difficult to control. To control the Six Jia Yang Fire to maintain a relatively mild state to evenly burn the bricks, while at the same time using spiritual power to protect the bricks so that they would not be burned, the difficulty was not low.

More importantly, once the Six Jia Yang Fire was exposed to sunlight and nourished by his spiritual power, it was like a wildfire blown by the wind, burning fiercely and relentlessly. If Zhang Chengdao, as a Golden Core cultivator, had not been able to be unaffected by the temperature, he would probably have been soaked through by the heat while standing above the Six Jia Yang Fire sea!

Zhang Chengdao was unaffected by the terrifyingly hot Six Jia Yang Fire, but the other disciples were not. The first to lose their composure were those riding on the wall. Once their skin was scorched and blistered, they all obediently jumped down the mountain and ran away into the distance.

However, the power of the Six Jia Yang Fire was truly exaggerated. Even after running all the way to the dining hall next door, everyone was still sweating profusely and sticking out their tongues. It was only when one of the clever disciples suddenly remembered the waterfall at the highest point that he called everyone to go to the top of the waterfall to watch the excitement.

The iron chain bridge leading to the top of the waterfall was not yet completed, but some daring disciples had already erected ropes on both sides.

With everyone working together, and some disciples with higher martial arts cultivation who had not yet entered the Qi realm, dragged each of them one by one, dozens of disciples crowded to the top of the waterfall peak, gazing at the main hall that was already burning red in the distance.

From the top of the waterfall, the view is directed at the square in front of the Lingxiao Palace. Zhang Chengdao, with his robes fluttering, is seen standing on the sea of ​​fire, his eyes closed, and golden light emanating from his body.

Soon, the fire in the square finally subsided, but dark clouds gradually gathered in the sky.

In just a few breaths, the dark clouds gathered more and more, eventually forming a dense mass that seemed as if the entire sky had crashed down. Purple lightning and blue frost surged within the clouds, and thunder rumbled incessantly. The birds and beasts of White Stone Mountain scattered in panic and fled in all directions, and the disciples watched with trepidation.

One disciple murmured to himself, "Is this the legendary tribulation of lightning?"

"Is the sect leader about to undergo a tribulation of lightning?"

Some disciples asked in confusion, "Isn't the sect leader already a true immortal? Why would he need to undergo a tribulation of lightning?"

"That was not the tribulation of lightning that the sect leader underwent."

At some point, Murong Ruyan also appeared atop the waterfall peak, coldly saying from behind the crowd, "The sect leader has refined all the gold sand and jade bricks paving the square in front of Lingxiao Palace into magic treasures, which is why such a massive heavenly tribulation has been attracted!"

(End of this chapter)