Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

"Give me the hammer, and find me some more material."

After seeing the image of Chi You forging iron in his mind, Qin Le had a clear understanding of the situation.

Instead of giving a long explanation, he simply reached out his hand, gesturing for Chen Yun to hand over the hammer and materials—practice is always the best way to teach.

Qin Le was not completely ignorant of weapon crafting.

On the contrary, the power of the Great Dao flowing within him, even when suppressed to its limit, is far beyond ordinary spiritual power in essence, at least at the level of laws.

Using this power to forge artifacts, the finished product would start at the level of a magic weapon, rather than a magic tool for mortal cultivators. It's just that he doesn't usually need to do it and rarely has the opportunity to demonstrate it.

"Give!"

Without hesitation, Chen Yun immediately handed over the ancient black hammer in his hand, and at the same time took out a palm-sized piece of meteorite iron that shimmered with starlight from his storage ring and placed it on the worktable.

Qin Le stepped forward and ignited the earth fire in the refining furnace, burning the meteorite iron until it was red-hot.

He picked up the seemingly heavy black hammer with one hand, weighed it in his hand for a moment, and then aimed it at the red-hot iron block, striking it down with a seemingly casual yet unique rhythm.

Ding!

A crisp clang of metal rang out, sparks flying everywhere.

Just as the hammer made contact with the meteorite iron, a barely perceptible glimmer of silvery-white light entered the iron block.

As the hammer was raised, a clear, intricate silver pattern, radiating faint fluctuations of law, was clearly left on the surface of the crimson meteorite iron!

That wasn't an inscription made afterward; it was hammered in the instant it was being shaped!

"I understand!" Chen Yun's pupils constricted, and he slapped his thigh, his face instantly bursting with joy and enlightenment: "So that's how it is! The method of the great Chi You is to directly hammer the spirit patterns—no, the more advanced 'Dao patterns' or 'law patterns'—into the internal structure of the material during the forging process! Instead of shaping it first and then painstakingly inscribing spirit patterns on the surface, as we do now!"

Chen Yun's comprehension may not be as exceptional as Qin Le's, but in the art of weapon crafting, he is undoubtedly a top genius in the mortal realm.

Qin Le's hammer blow was like lightning piercing through the fog, instantly allowing him to understand the revolutionary weapon-forging philosophy hidden behind Chi You's seemingly ordinary blacksmithing scene!

In the scene depicting Chi You's legacy, all the spiritual runes, or Dao runes, are hammered into the material, hidden from view, so it looks like pure physical forging.

Qin Le, on the other hand, made this process visible on the surface, immediately revealing the most crucial essence.

If he still didn't understand after all this, Chen Yun felt he should pack his bags and give up on the path of a weapon refiner.

"That's the basic idea, that's correct." Qin Le put down the hammer, affirming Chen Yun's understanding, but then added, "However, there's one more crucial point."

"What time?" Chen Yun immediately asked, his eyes burning with desire.

Qin Le raised the black hammer in his hand, shook it gently, and a helpless smile appeared on his face:

"How was this hammer made? Its material, its internal structure—how did it manage to bear and transmit the power of 'hammering into Dao patterns'? I still haven't fully figured it out."

He couldn't help but marvel at how profound the knowledge and wisdom left behind by those great thinkers of the past was.

Whether it's the cultivation method created by Fuxi, the ancient alchemy furnace of Shennong, the fire of Suiren, or the forging hammer of Chiyou before him, their essence is profound and mysterious. Even with his unparalleled comprehension, he has not yet been able to fully comprehend them.

This gave him a more intuitive understanding of the heights at which those things existed.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yun seemed completely unconcerned upon hearing this, even laughing, "Hey, we'll talk about that later! Anyway, Boss Chi You's hammer is right here, we can use it for now! Why think so much?"

Unlike Qin Le, Chen Yun was very self-aware.

In his eyes, Chi You was a saint-level being whose weapon-forging techniques had long surpassed the conventional level.

How dare a weakling like me, who hasn't even grasped the basic principles, presume to understand the fundamental mysteries of this thing?

That's called being overly ambitious or overestimating one's abilities.

The right approach is to first master the skills that are readily available and usable.

"You have a good attitude." Qin Le smiled and handed the hammer back to Chen Yun: "Then you can try it out first."

"Alright!" Chen Yun took the hammer, took a deep breath, and his eyes became extremely focused.

He circulated his spiritual energy and slowly poured it into the black hammer, attempting to control the energy with his mind to outline a simple reinforcing spiritual pattern inside the hammerhead.

Then, he aimed at the red-hot meteorite iron, recalling the rhythm of Qin Le's hammer blow, and swung the hammer down!

Ding!

Another crisp sound rang out, and sparks flew everywhere. On the surface of the meteorite iron, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible spiritual rune appeared.

However, the mark only existed for a moment before it rippled like water and quickly disappeared.

"Tsk." Chen Yun put away the hammer, not at all disappointed, but grinned: "This feel... is indeed hard to control! The timing and intensity of the spiritual energy injection, the landing point and force of the hammer, and the stability of the spiritual runes at the moment of impact... the requirements are too high."

Although he failed, he clearly perceived the problem—the vibration of spiritual energy at the moment of hammering caused the spiritual pattern structure to become unstable, failing to be successfully imprinted into the material.

Knowing the problem gave him a direction for improvement, which in turn fueled his fighting spirit.

"After all, it's a completely different weapon-refining system. It takes time to get used to it and master the feel of it," Qin Le comforted him.

This is equivalent to asking an engineer accustomed to modern precision machine tools to go back and learn the most advanced blacksmithing techniques; both their mindset and muscle memory need to be rebuilt.

"Understood! Thanks, Qin Le! Alright, alright, stop getting in my way, I need to start my research."

Chen Yun's eyes gleamed with excitement and focus. He waved his hand, his gaze completely fixed on the meteorite iron on the workbench and the black hammer in his hand.

He started kicking people out without any politeness.

The new weapon-refining system opened up a whole new world for him, and countless ingenious ideas and experimental plans churned and collided in his mind.

At this moment, all he wanted to do was immerse himself in it immediately.

Qin Le's presence here is actually a distraction for him.

Qin Le was already used to Chen Yun's research obsession, so he smiled, stopped bothering him, and turned to leave the weapon-refining workshop.

Evening, the college cafeteria.

Qin Le and several of his dining companions sat around a table, but Chen Yun was the only one missing.

"Where's Chen Yun? Is he hanging out in the workshop again?" Chu Xiaonan asked casually, picking up a bite of food.

"I don't know."

"He's probably so engrossed in researching something new that he lost track of time, right?"

"Should we go and call him?"

The group looked at each other and shook their heads.

At this moment, Qin Le swallowed the food in his mouth and explained with a smile, "Don't worry about him. He's busy researching a brand new weapon-refining system. He'd probably be furious if anyone bothered him right now."

"A completely new weapon-refining system?" Wang Zhiheng keenly grasped the key phrase and asked curiously.

The others also cast surprised glances at them.

A new system and new tools are two completely different concepts. The former means that there may be fundamental changes from theoretical foundation to practical methods.

Qin Le nodded and said simply while eating, "Yes, he learned some special weapon-refining techniques from the hammer left behind by the great Chi You. It's completely different from the methods we use now, and it'll keep him studying it for a while."

"..."

A hush fell over the dinner table. Everyone was stunned.

Chi You's... weapon-refining techniques?

What does this mean?

This means that Chen Yun may have gained the favor of a certain sage. Even if he did not become a personal disciple like Qin Le, he definitely received unimaginable inheritance and recognition!

"How enviable..." Li Yanran put down her chopsticks, her tone filled with undisguised envy.

"Indeed..." Luo Qiuyue nodded slightly in agreement.

Although the others didn't speak, their expressions were roughly the same.

To receive the inheritance or guidance of a sage-level being is an immense opportunity for any cultivator.

"Alright, stop thinking about it so much, let's eat first." Qin Le smiled and shook his head, interrupting everyone's thoughts.

He could understand his friends' envy, after all, he himself was the one with the most connections.

Some things you can't envy, nor can you force.

Everyone has their own path and their own opportunities.