Wild Dogs

"Look, that's the Sword Tomb."

One of the disciples pointed to the tall tomb over there.

Yang Fan nodded hurriedly.

However, he quickly looked away, knowing that if he appeared too enthusiastic, these people would definitely become suspicious.

"The Sword Tomb contains all the precious swords of the sword cultivators of our Qingyun Temple throughout the ages. Before cultivating, all sword cultivators will go there to choose a suitable weapon."

One of the disciples said enviously, clearly not yet qualified to go in and choose a weapon.

"Let's go. Everyone's curious the first time they come, but you'll get used to it after seeing it a few more times."

Another somewhat dull disciple spoke up calmly, and the others dared not delay, hurriedly leading Yang Fan toward the depths of the valley.

Passing through a series of tall chimneys, there was a row of wooden houses ahead, with blacksmiths and laborers coming and going from time to time.

This is clearly where these servants and craftsmen lived.

However, Yang Fan looked around but did not see any forging platform or anything like that.

All we could see ahead was an entrance that looked like a tunnel.

"Didn't you say you were coming to the blacksmith's shop...?"

Yang Fan looked at the others with a puzzled expression.

"It seems you didn't know. I thought Grandmaster Xuan Yang had mentioned it when you came. Alright, let me tell you."

One of the disciples patiently explained.

"The entire Forging Valley is divided into several halls, including the Materials Hall which is responsible for raw materials."

"The Smelting Hall, which is in charge of smelting. See those furnaces over there? Those are the Smelting Hall's products."

Following the direction the disciple pointed, Yang Fan saw more than a dozen tall furnaces, which were constantly emitting smoke.

"Besides that, there are several other halls, but the most important one in the entire Forging Valley is the Forging Hall."

"Each workshop delivers materials to the forging workshop, which then takes charge of forging weapons."

"However, the Forging Hall cannot use ordinary flames to forge weapons; this is forging with the fire of the earth's veins..."

"So, the blacksmith's workshop is underground!"

As he spoke, the disciple walked to the entrance of the tunnel in the forging hall and shouted inside.

"Uncle Liu, we've brought you a fire-making tool. Come and receive it."

Not long after the disciple finished shouting, an elderly man with gray hair emerged from the tunnel.

"What are you shouting for? I'm not deaf!"

Uncle Liu glared at his disciples with displeasure.

The disciples could only awkwardly laugh and retreat to the side.

After he saw Yang Fan clearly, his expression turned somewhat ugly.

"Hmph, so this is the only forge Master Xuan Yang has found? The weapon he's about to forge is worth a fortune; what use is this mere mortal?"

"Last time, there was some clueless kid who caused a large piece of refined steel to be over-fired, affecting the weapon's power."

Uncle Liu glared at Yang Fan with displeasure.

Upon hearing this, the others coughed lightly.

"Uncle-Master, you may not know this, but although this junior brother has no cultivation, he is quite skilled at starting fires. He is the alchemy apprentice of Grandmaster Qingyang."

"Grandmaster Qingyang is very picky, so his alchemy apprentice is definitely no problem."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Liu glanced at Yang Fan and then snorted coldly.

"Alright, let him try. If he's not capable, he should get lost and return to Grandmaster Qingyang."

As he spoke, he waved to Yang Fan.

"Follow me!"

Yang Fan didn't dare to delay and hurriedly followed.

The two walked into the tunnel.

The further in you go, the hotter it gets.

Before long, Yang Fan started sweating.

As they walked, Uncle Liu kept reminding Yang Fan.

"The underground fire used here is all from the earth's veins, so the requirements for controlling the fire are very high. If you don't have the ability to control the fire, it won't matter who recommended you."

Uncle Liu spoke in a deep voice, while Yang Fan nodded repeatedly.

Before long, the two arrived at the forging grounds deep underground.

Several enormous chimneys stretched from underground to the surface, leaving Yang Fan speechless with amazement.

No wonder there are such tall chimneys on the ground; they're there to vent the smoke out.

There are dozens of forging tables next to each chimney.

At this moment, many craftsmen were constantly forging weapons.

In the center of all the chimneys is a huge "well," but it is actually filled with flames.

Clearly, this "well" contains the earth's ley fire.

Several ignition channels led the earth's ley fire to several chimneys, where a young boy dressed as a servant stood beside each chimney.

They were carefully controlling the flames to heat some fine steel.

Clearly, this refined steel is the material to be forged next.

Yang Fan's gaze swept over all the chimneys, and he noticed that there were no servants at one of the chimneys in the corner.

At this moment, dozens of blacksmiths were watching this scene with eager eyes.

"Kid, go to that forging station and demonstrate your fire control skills to me."

Uncle Liu coldly gave instructions to Yang Fan, clearly doubting his abilities.

Yang Fan nodded, walked to the ignition trough, and then used his fire control technique to manipulate the flames.

"Okay, you've passed."

Uncle Liu was somewhat surprised, not expecting Yang Fan's ability to control flames to be much stronger than he had thought.

"From now on, you'll be in charge of this chimney. Keep an eye on the temperature of the refined steel."

"In addition, you will receive a spirit stone every day for working in the blacksmith's workshop. As long as you work hard, our blacksmith's workshop will not treat you unfairly."

"yes!"

Yang Fan hurriedly agreed.

Not long after, a hundred-times-refined steel was delivered.

After Yang Fan used the earth's vein fire to scorch these steels, he handed them over to the blacksmiths to begin forging.

Although he still can't enter the Sword Tomb, being able to get to the Sword Forging Valley greatly increases his chances of entering the Sword Tomb.

The following day, Yang Fan diligently controlled the flames.

Despite the intense heat underground, Yang Fan endured it and patiently controlled the flames.

That Uncle Liu came in to check on Yang Fan a few times, and seeing that Yang Fan was performing quite well, he treated him much better.

As evening approached, it was finally time to wrap up work, and the group of blacksmiths immediately took the finished weapons and headed out.

Although most of the weapons were successfully forged, some materials failed to be forged, resulting in unusable weapons.

Yang Fan glanced at it and felt a little regretful.

After thinking for a moment, he took advantage of the moment when no one was looking and secretly put a broken, useless sword into the small cauldron.

This small cauldron can turn elixirs and medicinal herbs into treasures; I wonder if it will have any effect on weapons.

After putting away his weapons, Yang Fan hurriedly walked out of the tunnel.

"You did a great job today, keep it up."

When they came out of the tunnel, Uncle Liu patted Yang Fan on the shoulder and gave him two spirit stones.

"This is a reward for you. As long as you work hard, you'll get a reward every day."

Yang Fan accepted the spirit stone with profuse thanks.

Although he had used silver coins when he went to town before, he was given spirit stones at Qingyun Temple, which suggests that cultivators use spirit stones for transactions.

After carefully putting away the spirit stones, Yang Fan followed the group to have a meal.

After finishing his meal, Yang Fan went to the wooden house assigned to him by the Sword Casting Valley.

After closing the doors and windows, Yang Fan took out the small cauldron.

He wanted to see if the broken sword had changed.

"Hopefully, this discarded weapon can also be turned into a valuable resource."