A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

The Fifth Elder stroked his chin, lowering his voice: "Without a Nascent Soul cultivator intervening, it's not entirely impossible to handle..."

Liu Quan, looking impatient, abruptly flicked his wide purple robe sleeve: "Fifth Junior Brother, things are urgent, stop beating around the bush. Just say what you have to say."

The Fifth Elder pointed to the rolling red light behind the mountain, his expression extremely solemn: "This earth fire vein is in harmony with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."

"When our ancestor set up the formation, he left a backup plan. As long as we can obtain the power of the earth's fire, we can forge nine fire-stabilizing nails and drive them into the earth's vein nodes."

"If we, several Nascent Soul cultivators, work together, we can forcibly disperse the fire energy in Pit 3 to Pit 1 and Pit 2. Once the fire energy dissipates, the crisis will naturally be resolved."

Liu Quan sneered, his face full of mockery: "Fire-Stabilizing Nails? Do you think I don't know anything about weapon crafting? Those things aren't something an ordinary person can forge!"

"To draw the fire from the earth's veins into the embryo, the slightest carelessness could lead to the destruction of the furnace and the death of the person."

"Who in our Weaponry Hall has that ability right now? Chen Baichuan? If he can forge it, I'll eat this grand master's chair!"

The Fifth Elder sighed and shook his head repeatedly: "That's the difficulty. The requirements for materials and the firing temperature for the fire-fixing nails are extremely high. If there is the slightest mistake, not only will the nails be ruined, but the person who made the weapon will also be ruined. But this is the only way at present."

Liu Quan scoffed, mercilessly shattering the truth: "A method that risks your life, you call that a method? That old bastard Chen Baichuan is too afraid of death, would he do that?"

"Even if we assume he'd be willing to do it, could his limited fire control skills suppress the rampaging earth vein fire poison?"

"Don't end up blowing up the Grade A fire vein instead of making the nails."

The Fifth Elder was speechless, and could only rub his temples in frustration.

He turned to look at Zhou Lingxuan, his tone softening slightly: "Old man, the sect will find a solution as soon as possible."

"But before that, the abandoned hall is too dangerous. I'll give you half a month to pack up anything you can take and move it all to the outer gate servants' quarters."

Zhou Lingxuan's heart sank.

Half a month. That's too short a time.

If the abandoned hall is gone, where will he find so many top-grade discarded pills to refine medicinal power?

Where can I find free spiritual materials to temper my physical body?

He is currently at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining and needs a massive amount of resources to break through the seventh level barrier.

Cutting off his resources is tantamount to cutting off his path of cultivation.

Moreover, he had just settled Lei Yang in, and the secret of the Wind and Thunder Sword must not be exposed to the many eyes and ears of the outer sect.

But he showed no sign of anything amiss on his face. He simply bowed respectfully, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "I understand. Thank you for your consideration, Elder."

He absolutely cannot jump out at this time and say that he can practice it.

To act like a big shot in front of a Nascent Soul Elder is just asking for trouble.

The principle that "the tallest tree in the forest will be felled by the wind" is ingrained in him after a hundred years of forging iron.

Liu Quan waved his hand impatiently: "Alright, let's go. This lousy place is just annoying."

Two long rainbows shot into the sky, and the pressure from the Nascent Soul cultivator instantly dissipated.

The courtyard fell silent.

The servants got up from the ground, looked at each other, and none of them dared to speak first.

Old Sun leaned close to Zhou Lingxuan, his voice low and his face full of worry: "Manager, do we really have to move?"

Zhou Lingxuan sat back in his armchair, picked up the tea that had long since gone cold, and took a sip: "The elder has spoken, can we not move?"

The crowd immediately erupted in uproar.

Zhao Si patted his chest, let out a long breath, and relaxed completely: "Great! I don't want to stay in this awful place for another day. I'm inhaling poisonous fumes every day, and now I'm going to be burned. Going back to the outer sect is good; at least I can save my life."

A gaunt handyman standing nearby grimaced and stamped his feet, saying, "Go back to the outer sect? What can you do with that meager allowance from the outer sect? At least in the abandoned hall, I can get an extra low-grade spirit stone every month."

"I have a sick younger brother at home who needs spirit stones to buy medicine. If this money is cut off, my brother will die!"

Zhao Si glared at him and cursed, "You'd rather lose your life than your money! If the fire were to come, you wouldn't even be left ashes!"

The gaunt servant's eyes reddened, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "What do you know? You'll die anyway, even without spirit stones! If you die in the ruined hall, at least the sect will give you some compensation!"

"Why are you so stubborn?!"

"You, a well-fed man, don't know the hunger of a starving man!"

The two argued more and more fiercely, and it looked like they were about to come to blows.

The other servants also split into two factions and started arguing.

Some are relieved to have escaped their misery, while others despair at the prospect of losing their livelihood.

Zhou Lingxuan listened to the argument without interrupting.

This is the reality for those at the bottom of society. Life and death, and basic needs, are an intractable dilemma.

The cruelty of the cultivation world is vividly reflected in the lives of these mortal servants.

He stood up and dusted off his clothes.

"Alright, shut up, all of you." Zhou Lingxuan's voice wasn't loud, but the courtyard instantly fell silent.

He glanced at everyone and said, "Go back to what you were doing. We'll move in two weeks from now. If anyone dares to cause trouble during these two weeks, I'll throw them into the fire first."

The servants shrank back and dispersed in twos and threes.

Lei Yang walked over, his hand still on the hilt of his sword, his brow furrowed: "Master Zhou, are you really moving it?"

Zhou Lingxuan glanced at him: "How's your swordsmanship coming along?"

Lei Yang was taken aback, and subconsciously replied, "It's alright, the speed of swinging the sword is half a breath faster than yesterday."

"Then keep practicing. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up." Zhou Lingxuan walked back to his courtyard with his hands behind his back.

into the night.

The abandoned hall was quiet. The firelight from Pit No. 3 illuminated half the sky in a crimson glow, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur.

Zhou Lingxuan sat in the room, listening to Lei Yang's steady breathing next door.

He stood up and changed into an inconspicuous gray cloth outfit.

The abandoned hall cannot be abandoned. This is his bottom line.

Fire-fixing nail.

Others can't forge this, but he has the Heaven-Forging Hammer.

He can hammer out any nail if he can get his anger going.

While others feared the backlash of the fire poison, he wished the fire poison were even more intense, so that it could be used to temper his hundred-year-old body.

But this matter must never be done in his name.

Zhou Lingxuan pushed open the door, and in a flash, he disappeared into the night.

He avoided the disciples on night patrol and chose to take secluded paths.

With his peak sixth-level Qi Refining cultivation and the Concealing Breath Technique given to him by Elder Qin, he was completely hidden in the darkness.

Occasionally, when he encountered two patrolling groups of disciples from the Enforcement Hall, he only needed to lean against the shade of a tree, his breathing blending into the surrounding vegetation, so that no one could detect anything amiss.

Qitang.

Class A Secret Room.

The lighting was dim, and the soundproofing array was turned on to its maximum, completely isolating the noise from the outside world.

Chen Baichuan sat on a futon, with a pile of account books and jade slips in front of him.

He was pondering how to trap Li Yuan with the materials for the flying sword, his brows furrowed into a tight knot.

"That beast Li Yuan, he made sure his accounts were flawless."

Chen Baichuan irritably threw an account book on the ground.

"He has completely covered up the whereabouts of the Crimson Flame Marrow. If we investigate it thoroughly, we will only alert him."