Lord of the Rending Stars

Virtual universe, Forging Star Pavilion Mission Hall.

Qingyang stood in the center of the hall where the light curtain converged, all the fluctuations of the laws of time and space around him had been subdued, and he transformed into the phantom of an ordinary human immortal youth.

Qingyang stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping over the dense array of mission lights, like a cascading river of stars.

Weapons, armor, domains, support items...

Behind each light screen is a request from a weapon refiner, seeking cooperation or to refine weapons on their behalf, with rewards ranging from hundreds of thousands of Chaos Yuan to rare materials, insights into the laws, and valuable treasure points as a token of gratitude.

Qingyang did not linger. His gaze passed over these ordinary tasks and fell into the depths of the palace, where thirty-two gray light curtains floated, like stars that had been silent for billions of years, almost ignored by everyone.

Gray indicates an extremely high level of difficulty and failure rate in the task, and the issuers are mostly senior figures in the Universe Venerable Realm.

Qingyang strode forward, his first task: Top-tier Palace-type Treasure. Reward: 1000 Treasure Points + one ordinary Treasure Refining Material. Number of Failures: Nine.

Second task: Top-tier domain-level treasure. Reward: Negotiable; the issuer is willing to exchange it for a cosmic overlord-level secret technique. Number of failures: Seven.

Before the third task, Qingyang stopped in his tracks.

[Task: Crafting Common Palace-Type Treasures]

[Posted by: Lonely Monk]

[Requirement: A weapon refiner with expertise in the laws of spacetime and strength reaching the Universe Venerable realm (or equivalent combat power) is needed to assist in stabilizing the Spacetime Flowing Gold main material and participate in the construction of the law's network.]

[Reward: Upon successful refinement, a reward of 30 Treasure Points will be given, along with 10,000 cubic meters of "Momentary Sand," a precious material with the attribute of the Time-Space Law. If the refinement fails, the basic reward of 3 Treasure Points will be paid.]

[Note: This is the sixth attempt. The previous five attempts all failed, the main materials collapsed five times, and the furnace was damaged twice. If this attempt also fails, I will never forge weapons again for the rest of my life.]

Qingyang stared at the gray light screen, his gaze falling on the last line of small characters: "I will never refine weapons again for the rest of my life."

Throughout his five-thousand-year journey of weapon crafting, Qingyang has witnessed far too many weapon crafters who have become disheartened by repeated failures.

Some retired from weapon crafting and focused solely on cultivation; some dedicated themselves to theoretical inheritance; and some faded into obscurity, never setting foot in the Star Forging Pavilion again. Each abandonment marked the end of a path.

This Venerable Guyi, after six attempts and five disastrous defeats, still dared to issue a sixth mission. This was not due to stubbornness, but rather to his unwillingness to give up.

Qingyang reached out and touched the light screen.

"Accept the quest?"

He clicked "Yes," and the light screen trembled slightly, like ripples spreading across an ancient well after a pebble has been thrown in. A moment later, an aged and weary consciousness seemed to reach out from a distant point in time and space, connecting with his own.

"Fellow Daoist who accepted the mission, please state your name," Qingyang said calmly, "Qingyang, a Grade A weapon refiner from the Star Forging Pavilion, King Liefeng."

The Venerable Lonely City was silent for two breaths before speaking, "King Liefeng..."

The voice was low and repetitive, as if recalling, "The immortal kings who rose to prominence in the race over the past 30,000 years became famous for their battles against many invincible kings in the Initial Continent and the Kunwu Secret Realm, but I have never heard of them being skilled in weapon crafting."

"After five thousand years of weapon crafting, I've just entered the first rank," Qingyang said neither humbly nor arrogantly. "I just forged an ordinary heavy treasure battle sword a few days ago, which was jointly rated as top-grade by four experts."

Venerable Guyi's consciousness paused slightly, and after a moment, a phantom figure slowly solidified in front of Qingyang. The newcomer was a Venerable who looked like an old man, with a thin figure, white temples, and deep-set eyes like two dry wells.

He wore a simple gray robe, the corner of which still bore a few wisps of embers from the fire.

Venerable Guyi did not use his divine power to conjure a youthful and vigorous appearance. Instead, he stood before Qingyang in his most authentic, even slightly disheveled, state.

"Top quality?"

The Venerable Lonely Village's voice was hoarse, and his deep-set eyes revealed a scrutinizing gaze. "The first treasure, a top-grade item?"

He paused, as if weighing the significance of those two words. "King Liefeng, do you know what quality my first powerful artifact was?"

Qingyang shook his head, and Venerable Guyi smiled faintly, a smile more painful than tears. "Low grade, barely acceptable."

The highly respected elders in charge of the evaluation bluntly stated, "The artifact I forged can be classified as a great treasure, but it's only at the entry level. Let me refine it for another three thousand years, and perhaps I can reach the edge of the middle grade."

"I was young then and didn't believe in such superstitions. Over the past three thousand years, I have refined twenty-seven precious treasures, from low-grade to mid-grade, from mid-grade to high-grade... In the three thousand and seventieth year, I finally refined my first supreme-grade precious treasure."

The Venerable Guyi looked at Qingyang with a complicated expression. "Your first item is of the highest quality. I should congratulate you on your talent."

Qingyang sensed the bitterness hidden behind the congratulations. He neither said "lucky" nor "you flatter me, senior."

Qingyang simply looked back calmly, "Your senior failed five times, yet you were still willing to start the furnace for the sixth time. I admire your perseverance."

Venerable Guyi was slightly taken aback. He stared at Qingyang for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly. "Admiration?" He shook his head. "He's just a gambler who's blinded by losses and refuses to leave the game."

As the laughter subsided, Venerable Guyi suppressed all his emotions, and his voice returned to its aged and weary calm.

"Since you dare to accept, you must have some confidence. I won't ask who your master is or what you rely on. You only need to answer one question for me," Venerable Guyi raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Have you ever suppressed the flow of time and gold?"

"No," Qingyang answered crisply.

The last glimmer of light in Venerable Guyi's eyes was almost extinguished.

Qingyang's tone remained calm, without any excitement or boasting, simply stating, "But this time, I believe we will not lose."

Venerable Guyi remained silent for a long time, then said, "That's enough..."

Venerable Guyi let out a long breath, and the invisible weariness around him seemed to have faded a little. "Come with me."

In an unknown star system of the human race, far from the core territory of the Virtual Universe Company, there are no inhabited stars in sight. Only countless broken continental remnants float in the solidified darkness, like an ancient battlefield that ended billions of years ago.

The weapon-forging dojo of Venerable Gu Yi is located deep within these ruins.

A palace, entirely forged from scraps of time-space gold, floats in the void. Its surface is riddled with cracks, like a failed piece that has been repeatedly repaired but never truly completed. From those cracks, chaotic fluctuations of time and space faintly emanate, like old wounds that have not yet healed.

Qingyang stepped into the hall, which was extremely simple. Apart from a dark blue-black cauldron that was more than ten feet tall, a stone table, and two futons, there was nothing else.

Dozens of dark blue ores, all of them Time-Space Gold, were casually piled on the stone table. Some were already taking shape, while others were completely carbonized and rendered unusable.

The Venerable Guyi stood before the furnace, his back to Qingyang, and said, "This is the sum of my five failures."

His voice was soft, "Every piece of gold was personally collected by me from the most violent mining areas of the spacetime turbulence. Every piece of waste was personally taken out of this furnace by me."

Qingyang spoke directly, "Venerable Guyi, I would like to see those five failed items."

Venerable Guyi did not turn around, but simply raised his hand and waved it. The void at the corner of the palace cracked open, and five illusory palaces of different shapes appeared one after another.

The first one was entirely dark blue, with neatly crafted patterns, but it was broken in the middle, and the remains floated like a drowning boat.

The second vessel was intact, yet dim and lifeless, like an empty tomb forgotten for millennia.

The third palace still exhibits some fluctuations in its laws, but its surface is covered with fine cracks, making it vulnerable to collapse at the slightest touch.

The fourth one...

The fifth one...

Qingyang glanced over them one by one. With his Time Shadow Beast's affinity for the laws of time and space, he could even "hear" the emotions that Venerable Guyi had during each of the refining processes, which remained in those veins.

Qingyang calmly said, "The reason why the Time-Space Flowing Gold is difficult to tame is not because it resists all Daos. It is simply waiting for a Dao that can accommodate the flow, but not suppress it."

"This junior is not very talented, but has a shallow understanding of the laws of spacetime. I am willing to give it a try."

Venerable Guyi looked at him without responding immediately. After a long while, he said in a hoarse voice, "Do you know that if we fail this time, this sixth piece of Time-Space Flowing Gold will also be ruined. It is one of the last few main materials I have."

Qingyang nodded: "This junior understands."

"Do you know that if I fail this time, my lifelong passion for weapon crafting will be severed right here in this very hall?"

Qingyang nodded again: "This junior understands."

Venerable Guyi stopped speaking. He turned around, took out a head-sized piece of dark blue ore from the deepest corner of the hall, and solemnly placed it in the center of the stone table.

The deep blue ore was crystal clear, with countless tiny streams of light seemingly flowing through it, as if the entire river of time had been condensed into a small space.