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

Chapter 347 Wow! The Golden Legend!

Inside the weapon-refining room of Tiangong Peak, the heat was oppressive.

Huang Wu was shirtless, his bronze skin glistening with sweat. He was intently controlling the Crimson Lotus Earth Vein Fire, scorching a piece of metal blank that gleamed with a bluish light.

The rhythmic sound of hammering rang out, each strike accompanied by the infusion of spiritual energy, causing the spiritual light on the metal blank to intensify.

"Hey! It worked!"

Huang Wu roared and cast the final spell. The strange fire suddenly subsided, and a simple-looking but cold-sharp short dagger floated in mid-air, emitting a slight hum.

Although it's called a short dagger, it's actually about the size of a concealed weapon, with a total length no longer than a forearm.

But this is already the "largest" weapon Huang Wu can forge. Any larger, and his spiritual power will not be enough to complement the tempering with the strange fire.

"Not bad, not bad, finally I've managed to refine something presentable!"

Huang Wu wiped his sweat with satisfaction and put the short dagger into the wooden box that had been prepared beforehand.

The wooden box already contained seven or eight weapons of various shapes, but none of them seemed to possess the same ethereal aura as this short dagger.

However, the other longswords and swords, although not as good as the newly forged short dagger, can still be considered "spiritual weapons," far superior to the so-called divine weapons forged by ordinary blacksmiths in the Sword Forging Manor. They are all the result of Huang Wu's hard work over the past half month.

Although he said he had made a huge profit from the sect, he actually put in his best effort, striving for perfection in every piece. He spent day and night in the [Refining Room] "forging iron," and even broke through a minor realm, which was an unexpected surprise.

Let’s talk about the other side.

Zhang Chengdao, far away in Liaoning, had nothing to do after finally making rough arrangements for several point-to-point assistance "industrial parks." He found a secluded place, namely the Huoshi Lake in the Kuandian Valley (this name was given by Hu Yun), and prepared to draw the membership red envelopes he had saved up for a month.

The rewards he prepared for the top three winners of the sect competition were all purple-grade magic treasures and weapons. Although they were already considered rare treasures in this martial arts and cultivation world, Zhang Chengdao still felt something was off.

These things may seem good now, but once spiritual energy truly revives, they will become just ordinary things.

As the esteemed White Stone Immortal Sect, the number one immortal sect in the world, and himself a dignified "White Stone Immortal," wouldn't it be rather disrespectful to use these things as rewards?

Zhang Chengdao, who had inexplicably developed an idol image to maintain, felt quite anxious.

He could certainly come up with a red-level reward, but after rummaging through his backpack, the only suitable reward was a red-level weapon called [Mysterious Pine Cold Peak - Mortal]. It was enough as a reward for the champion, but the rewards for second and third place couldn't be too different, right?
The downgrade from red to purple quality feels somewhat perfunctory.

Therefore, Zhang Chengdao could only pin his hopes on the member bonuses, since he hadn't gotten any high-level items for two consecutive months, not even purple-grade ones! Even if it was just the minimum guarantee, he should at least get some better items again!
Of course, if they still can't come up with anything good this time, then they'll have no choice but to ask He Yu for help.

At least that person's crafting skills are a bit better than mine; they should be able to make something slightly higher than a purple-grade item...

"Obtained the [Refined Iron Mace]".

"what?"

Zhang Chengdao exclaimed in surprise as soon as he drew the first one.

He looked at the so-called "refined iron club" in front of him and fell into deep thought.

This thing looks a bit strange, doesn't it?
Is this really not some kind of twisted humor by the show's producers?!
Staring at the huge, shiny, and delicious-looking orange-red "crab claw" in his hand, Zhang Chengdao even questioned his life.

He subconsciously reached out and tugged at the top half of the crab claw, which seemed to be movable, and his inner grumbling intensified—

'This thing is basically just an iron rod with a giant crab claw stuck on it!'

It actually works!

However, although this thing looks abstract, it is indeed a weapon, and its attributes are even higher than the broadsword "Night Talk" that he gave to his cheap apprentice Chang Ping'an. The "Iron Sword" he gave back then only had a rating of 40...

Wait, if I remember correctly, Night Talk Sword only has a rating of 40, but its attack power is increased by a full 100 points!
Why is this [Refined Iron Mace] in front of me rated as high as 100, but its attack power only increased by 92?

Is there a bug?

While Zhang Chengdao was puzzled, he couldn't help but unequip the ordinary iron sword he was wearing, put it into his backpack, and then equip the [Refined Iron Mace].

It seems like nothing has changed?
Zhang Chengdao stared at the [Refined Iron Mace] in his hand, thought carefully for a moment, then channeled some spiritual energy into it and swung it a couple of times to test its power.

This time, although the [Refined Iron Cudgel] remained unchanged, Zhang Chengdao's expression gradually became strange.

How to put it... I always feel like when I'm using the [Refined Iron Mace], I'm like a crab waving its claws, as if those claws are my own, and I can even control the opening and closing of the claw at the top... It's very abstract...

"What kind of twisted sense of humor did this dog planner come up with...?"

Zhang Chengdao cursed under his breath, then glanced at the waters of Huoshi Lake, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He deliberately didn't use the water-avoidance spell, and then plunged into the lake, where the warm water immediately enveloped him.

Sure enough, even though he was in the water, Zhang Chengdao didn't feel any suffocation at all!
This awful thing actually allows people to breathe underwater!

No wonder it has a rating of 100!

Zhang Chengdao pondered for a moment, then used a leather strap to sling the [Refined Iron Mace] behind his back. He didn't deliberately use it anymore, but he found that he could still breathe normally underwater!
This thing works really well!
It's like a giant water-repelling magic weapon, much more effective than manually performing water-repelling spells!
If it were given as a reward for a sect competition...

Zhang Chengdao had just considered this idea when he immediately dismissed it in his mind.

While this item did bring him quite a surprise, aside from its mere 92 attack points, its quality was only "common." It displayed a light brown background in his inventory, barely better than items with a gray background. It was fine as a toy for his disciples to play with, but it would be rather embarrassing to use it as a reward for the sect's grand competition.

"Ugh."

Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao slunk out of Huoshi Lake again, sat cross-legged by the lake, and began to draw the remaining member red envelopes.

"Received 30 portions of [Beast Meat]".

"Received 30 servings of [Kudzu Root Soup]".

When the fourth member red envelope was opened, another flash of blue light appeared, and in Zhang Chengdao's expectant gaze—

"Received 10 servings of [meat-filled rice dumplings]".

"Pah! What cult! I've already collected over three hundred, and you're still coming!"

Zhang Chengdao, his face dark, muttered to himself as he continued opening red envelopes.

Unexpectedly, the law of conservation of Euclid's law finally favored him at this moment. A golden flash appeared, and the fifth member's red envelope yielded a golden ornament: [Heaven and Earth Pavilion in a Pot].

This was the first time Zhang Chengdao had ever seen this ornament. In fact, when he played the original game, although he was one of the first players, he was just unlucky and didn't get many items. Many rare items and ornaments couldn't be obtained with real money; they could only be obtained by grinding events or drawing member red envelopes.

A lucky player might be able to rival a hard-working player through membership bonuses, but a player like Zhang Chengdao, who is neither lucky nor particularly hard-working, can only enjoy his own little world and accept whatever he gets.

Since it's a single-player game, there's no need to worry about being crushed by whales. As long as you don't pay attention to the so-called leaderboard rankings and simply treat it as a long-term collection and building game, it's pretty good.

Therefore, Zhang Chengdao had never really paid attention to how many ornaments, decorations, architectural blueprints, and weapon blueprints there were in the game; in short, there were quite a few.

This was the first gold legendary-level ornament he had drawn, and Zhang Chengdao couldn't wait to place it on the open space in front of him to admire it.

As expected of a gold-quality ornament, its exquisiteness is in no way inferior to the [Peach Blossom Palace] that cost him a lot of spiritual materials. He even went inside for a look around, and the furnishings and utensils inside were also very exquisite. Even the bedding on the bed looked much better than the one that came with the [Stone Tile House] that he had made!
But why is this thing called "Heaven and Earth Pavilion in a Pot"?

Zhang Chengdao was somewhat puzzled.

Although the "Pavilion in a Pot" is indeed exquisite and beautiful as an architectural decorative piece, the name gave Zhang Chengdao an inexplicable feeling.

The concept of "a world within a pot" has been overused in various novels, games, and films.

In the time before the time travel, there was a record in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty that a man named Fei Changfang had a strange encounter with "Master Hu" and followed "Master Hu" into the fairyland inside the pot, which had everything from pavilions and towers to fairy palaces and courtyards. This is probably the earliest record of the world inside the pot.

In the Northern Song Dynasty book "Yunji Qiqian", there is a Taoist technique called "Hutian", which is a Taoist technique that takes a hanging pot and transforms it into heaven and earth. The concept of "Huzhong Dongtian" originated from this.

With the advent of the modern information explosion, countless derivative cultures related to the world within a pot and the grotto within a pot have emerged, and similar designs can be found in almost all fantasy games and novels.

But in any case, these derived cultures and the earliest records all have one thing in common: anything related to "inside the pot" is a world that can be shrunk or a blessed land that can be freely entered and exited.

Surely this "Pavilion in a Pot" can't just be a name without any connection to the real concept of a "Garden in a Pot," right?

Could this be a magic weapon as well?
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao immediately tried a foolproof method, sending a large ball of spiritual energy into the exquisite building—

(End of this chapter)