Nine Yang Sword Saint

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

“You found the inferno yet?” Yang Dingtian asked. “No,” Dugu Fengwu replied. “So, how long before it blossoms?” Asked Yang Dingtian. For which, Dugu Fengwu replied, “Soon, I suppose.”

Absolutely nothing was happening around them.

“Do we have to keep going down?” Yang Dingtian kept on asking.

“If you want to, sure. Just give me to Mystic Fire Devil Hammer first,” Dugu Fengwu said coldly. Yang Dingtian was free to do whatever he wanted, but there was no way she was going to jump down any further. Whatever was down there, she knew it was much more dangerous than the Heaven Flame Phoenix above.

“There is nothing here! You can"t find the grade nine inferno here!” Yang Dingtian exclaimed, but Dugu Fengwu didn"t answer. Instead, she suddenly grabbed onto him and flew several meters above the ground.

Dugu Fengwu pointed forward and asked, “Do you see that spot on which you were lying just then? What does it look like to you?”

Yang Dingtian opened his eyes as wide as he could. It looked like a candle-stand, a candle-stand with the shape of a circle.

Was that the natural base of the grade nine inferno?

Just when Yang Dingtian was about to express his skepticism, a green flame suddenly appeared on top of the candle stand.

It was a very beautiful flame. It seemed very delicate, vivid, and mysterious. So the grade nine inferno was here after all!

Yang Dingtian was exhilarated as he watched this tiny fire grew taller and taller.

Contradictory as it sounded, it was like the grade nine inferno was made out of ice. There wasn"t any heat coming out of it, despite the overwhelming energy that Yang Dingtian could sense.

Even the Heaven Flame Phoenix, which was miles above Yang Dingtian, turned silent after the grade nine inferno became active for the first time in a very long time.

A few minutes had pa.s.sed. By the time the inferno was about five cun tall, its colors had s.h.i.+fted from green to blue.

(NOTE: 1 cun = ~3.33 cm.)

It was said the grade nine inferno would fully mature when it would grow to one Chinese foot. Then, after it had reached that state, it would only take less than twenty minutes before it vanished away. It meant Yang Dingtian just had twenty minutes to craft his youngling sword.

(NOTE: 1 Chinese foot = 10 cun.)

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

As the grade nine inferno grew bigger and bigger, its color gradually changed from blue to yellow, and then it became a sort of light reddish tone. After that, it was a darker tone of red, which eventually ended with the color purple.

Seeing that the grade nine inferno was about eight cun tall now, both Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengwu couldn"t help but hold their own breaths.

Phew.

With no wind blowing anywhere nearby, the grade nine inferno somehow moved for a bit before rising to about one Chinese foot tall, while s.h.i.+fting into a much darker tone of purple.

This had to be it. The grade nine inferno had just fully matured and was now blossoming like a ripe flower.

Actually, mere ‘flower" was not enough to describe how beautiful and breathtaking this phenomenon was.

As if it had a soul of its own, this spark of flame was dancing in its own gentle rhythm, spreading messages of joy to whoever blessed enough to have witnessed its birth.

That"s right. It was more of a living creature than a simple element. A rare, unworldly specimen that was not acknowledged by the common man.

“The hammer…”

It seemed like Dugu Fengwu was too focused on the grade nine inferno. She wasn"t even looking at Yang Dingtian when she was asking for the hammer.

As for Yang Dingtian, he didn"t really have a reason to say no at this point, but he also didn"t want to let Dugu Fengwu know about his storage ring. So, while pretending that he really hid the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer inside his b.u.t.t, Yang Dingtian reached behind him and fake-groaned for a bit before handing it over to her.

Obviously, Dugu Fengwu was a bit skeptic to see this. She already knew that Yang Dingtian didn"t put anything inside his body, but it wasn"t like she was going to ask too many questions. The important thing was to harvest the grade nine inferno while she still could.

After she got the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer, Dugu Fengwu quickly reached for a box from her backpack. She then opened it and dropped several pieces of blood black gold on top of the grade nine inferno.

Dugu Fengwu was very fast at it. Within an instance, those pieces of the blood black gold were piled on together, essentially forming a pyramid that sat right on top of the grade nine inferno.

Technically, ninety-nine pieces of blood black gold was an overkill. With this much raw material, Dugu Fengwu could even make a complete youngling sword for herself. But to use it all to craft a youngling sword? Just how strong would that sword be once it leveled up? You"d have used at least several hundred pieces of blood black gold by then, and there was no telling how long that would take.

“I"m actually pretty slow at this. It took about two years for your wife-to-be to make her own youngling sword,” Dugu Fengwu said. She sounded almost like she was boasting about her results.

Despite its resistance against any kind of fire, the blood black gold pieces were starting to change their color from purple to glowing red, which made them look like they had just been mined from the underground.

After the blood black gold pieces became extremely red, they started to melt. Then, after three minutes had pa.s.sed, all forty-five pieces of them became a pile of liquified metal. Despite being completely squashed just then, the grade nine inferno was now standing vividly amidst the pile of melted gold. It was like a candle that was still burning even though the wax was no longer solid.

This whole place didn"t feel hot when the inferno had just blossomed, but the blood black gold pieces made it a burning furnace as soon as they started to burn down. Dugu Fengwu wasn"t thirty meters away from the inferno for no reason.

With two of her fingers lined together, Dugu Fengwu directed her mystic qi and shaped the liquified metal into a giant sword base, which would have to be polished many times before it was reduced into a usable weapon.

There was still much work to do. The sword base was about 500 kilograms in weight, two meters long, five cun wide, and three cun tall. As there were still a lot of impure materials inside of it, Dugu Fengwu must use the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer to chip out any unnecessary parts. The youngling sword should be complete after the hammering was complete.

While using one hand to lift the liquified metal in the air, while shaping it into a base, Dugu Fengwu raised the hammer with another hand and began injecting her mystic qi into it.

With Dugu Fengwu activating it, the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer started to glow red, at the same time, it started sending off a very powerful vibe.

As the hammer could not s.h.i.+ne any brighter, Dugu Fengwu began letting it slide out of her hand and began lifting it in the air with her mystic qi. The hammer then started drifting towards the melted sword base.

Just as it hovered to the top of the sword base, the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer was raised up even higher before it was dropped heavily onto the thing below.

To provide a picture of what was happening, Dugu Fengwu was standing very far from the hammer and the sword base, yet still had a firm grasp of them with her extended qi. The movement she was making was not that different from an ordinary blacksmith, just holding the sword and banging it many times over.

Boom.

After a loud first hit, tiny pieces of the sword base began shattering out and were instantaneously disintegrated by the grade nine inferno below.

Ting ting ting ting ting.

With her right hand controlling the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer, Dugu Fengwu started hammering the sword base in a much faster, and unbelievably fast rhythm. If Yang Dingtian had to give an estimate, it was about several tens of swings in each second.

With every swing of the hammer, countless sparks jumped out like fireworks and kept flas.h.i.+ng and disappearing in a very rapid motion.

Yang Dingtian was dumbfounded by what he was seeing. In fact, anybody would be.

A hot woman in her early twenties, who was wearing some very traditional yet revealing clothing, was repet.i.tively bas.h.i.+ng a piece of metal with a hammer thicker than her wrist.

Like how do you not get dumbfounded by that?

Especially those b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Dugu Fengwu"s outfit was already too tight for her, but those movements she was doing made it seem like something was just about to burst out. Something, like, you know, two big white rabbits.

And, speaking of which, the back was just as fun to watch. Those b.u.ms bouncing up and down could make any man lose control.

That being said, Yang Dingtian didn"t have any time to enjoy the spectacle that was right in front of him. He just realized he couldn"t use the same method as Dugu Fengwu. In other words, he couldn"t; first – shape the blood black gold into a sword base like her. Second, lift the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer with his qi and activate it. There was also no way he could swing the hammer as fast as Dugu Fengwu could.

Well c.r.a.p.

But it wasn"t like anybody gave Yang Dingtian any instructions. Dongfang Niemie would"ve told him what to do in a situation like this, but her soul was in temporary rest right now.

While Yang Dingtian still had no idea what he was going to do, Dugu Fengwu had already made thousands of strikes with the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer. It could even be said that the s.p.a.ce around them was lightened up because of how much she was swinging.

Gradually, at a visible speed, Yang Dingtian could clearly see the base becoming smaller and more defined.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

Five minutes.

Judging from how red Dugu Fengwu"s face was, it was obvious that she was using all of her strength to craft this youngling sword.

In just a few minutes, Dugu Fengwu had already made ten thousand swings with the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer. Even a master such as herself was drenched in sweat, and that"s saying a lot since masters don"t usually sweat at all.

Ting ting ting ting ting.

As the final minute came, Dugu Fengwu was starting to swing even faster than she already was. She was clearly going for a final push before her time was up.

Tingtingtingtingtingtingtingtintingtingting…

From Yang Dingtian"s view, he couldn"t even see the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer anymore. Dugu Fengwu was swinging it so fast that it just became this fireball-like object that was making streaks of firework in the air.

One minute was over.

To deliver the finis.h.i.+ng touch, Dugu Fengwu opened her mouth and spat out a tiny blood arrow onto the youngling sword. Then, with another hit of the hammer, she had finally called an end to her craft.

It seemed like Dugu Fengwu really used up all her strength. From the way she was barely standing up straight, Yang Dingtian made the presumption that he wouldn"t want to be interrupted while crafting his youngling sword.

Followed by a sigh of relief, Dugu Fengwu grabbed her finished sword with her mystic qi and made it fly into her hand.

To be honest, this weapon did not look like a youngling sword at all. The sharpness and fineness of it were already superior to the most weapons in this world, and there was no telling how invincible it would be when it actually becomes a youngling sword. In other words, this was a once-in-century item, something that was already so brilliant before its limitless potential was even cultivated.

“Let"s see…” Dugu Fengwu raised her youngling sword in excitement, “So this weighs about 65 kilograms, and contains about 25 percent of mystic qi enchantment bonus!”

This thing was overpowered. There was no other way to describe it.

One hundred kilograms was already, like, excellent for a youngling sword made of this much blood black gold, but thanks to Dugu Fengwu"s craftswomans.h.i.+p, she was able to refine it to an even more ridiculous 65 kilogram. And forget about the 25% enchantment bonus. This youngling sword was literally G.o.dlike compared to most weapons in this world.

So that"s how powerful a youngling sword was. Even during its youngling sword phase, its potential was already on a completely different level to that of an ordinary weapon.

“Your turn,” Dugu Fengwu said as she threw the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer back to Yang Dingtian. She was clearly looking forward to seeing him make a clown of himself.

Yang Dingtian was a grade six Mystic Martial Artist. Someone at his level shouldn"t even have his own youngling sword, let alone coming here to craft one. Also, since Dugu Fengwu didn"t see any blood black gold on Yang Dingtian, she a.s.sumed that he just didn"t have much of the raw material needed to make the youngling sword.

With little time left for the grade nine inferno to last, Yang Dingtian quickly went over to it, and while his back was facing Dugu Fengwu, he took out all forty-five pieces of blood black gold from his storage ring and let them drop onto the flame. After that, Yang Dingtian quickly withdrew his distance from it and readied the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer.

Watching as Yang Dingtian waited for the gold to melt, an astounded look started to emerge on Dugu Fengwu"s face. She was already very confused about where Yang Dingtian had hidden all his stuff, but those blood black gold pieces were raising even more question marks in her mind.

First of all, the pieces Yang Dingtian had were all at least ten thousand years old and were in much higher quality than the ones Dugu Fengwu used.

And then there was the quant.i.ty of it. Just how in the world did he get 45 pieces of blood black gold, which are all at least ten thousand years old?

Yang Dingtian would"ve gotten some blood black gold from Ximen Wuya, but even then, the most he could"ve got was probably nine pieces.

But forty-five? And they were all at least ten thousand years old? This was just all too unfathomable, too unheard of to Dugu Fengwu.

Yang Dingtian, on the other hand, didn"t care what Dugu Fengwu"s reaction was. He was too anxious about the fact that his blood black gold hadn"t melted yet.

Two more minutes had gone by, but the gold was only starting to turn red for a bit.

Three more minutes.

By this time, all forty-five pieces were melted, but they were still in a semi-fluid state, instead of being in complete liquid form like the gold Dugu Fengwu brought.

What was even more bizarre was that, while Dugu Fengwu"s blood black gold pieces were very hot when they started melting, it wasn"t at all the same for the ones Yang Dingtian had brought. In fact, it was still at room temperature as Yang Dingtian was about ten meters away from the grade nine inferno.

There were only about two minutes before the grade nine inferno was gone. Yang Dingtian really couldn"t wait any longer. Despite how impossible it seemed, he must walk over to the grade nine inferno and swing the hammer with his bare hand.

Swish.

The moment Yang Dingtian injected his mystic qi into the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer, a bright light came out of the hammer and lit up the whole area. However, in contrast to when Dugu Fengwu did it, the glow was distinctively much brighter and more powerful this time.

Just what in the world was happening here?

Dugu Fengwu wasn"t sure why the hammer reacted stronger to Yang Dingtian than to her. If they were to compare their mystic qi, Dugu Fengwu was definitely the one with the upper hand here. Was the difference in their meridian the key factor here, then?

Ignoring the envious look behind him, Yang Dingtian ran towards the pile of blood black gold in front of him. It was now his turn to begin the hammering process.

Ting.

After the initial strike with the Mystic Fire Devil Hammer, tiny gold sparks flew out of the sword base and spread throughout the area. It was like a light show, like watching the explosion of a star amidst the dark sky.

Yang Dingtian was a bit afraid to get hurt by this, but it seemed that they wouldn"t last very long at all.

Ting Ting!

Yang Dingtian was. .h.i.tting as fast he could, but he was nowhere as fast as Dugu Fengwu was. The most he could swing in one second was about seven to eight times.

The remaining two minutes were gone very quickly. The inferno was starting to shrink. There was not even a millisecond for Yang Dingtian to spare.

Ting ting ting ting.

Yang Dingtian didn"t even care about his posture now. He was just swinging the hammer for the sake of swinging it. It was the only thing he was focusing on.

As the grade nine inferno became smaller and smaller, its color was also becoming brighter and brighter. Yang Dingtian"s sword base, on the other hand, was becoming harder and darker by the seconds.

The blood black gold was solidifying. If Yang Dingtian couldn"t mark his blood on it before it was completely cooled down, then all the previous work would be for naught.

“A hundred more. Come on; one hundred is not a lot…”

Unsatisfied with his work, Yang Dingtian pushed as hard as he could for another rally of swings.

Twenty…

Thirty…

Fifty…

Like a candle that would go off at any moment, the grade nine inferno was becoming almost invisible now. Anybody could probably just blow it and make it extinguish.

By now, the youngling sword was almost completely solidified. Yang Dingtian was still going.

Eighty…

Ninety…

One hundred…

“Oof…”

Having bit into his own tongue, Yang Dingtian spat out a mouthful of blood onto the sword base and the grade nine inferno underneath. He had officially claimed owners.h.i.+p into this weapon he was crafting.

Poof.

As some of the blood spilled out, the grade nine inferno suddenly shot up into the air before it finally faded out. Then, after moving around for a bit, it shrank back into the ground and was never seen again.

Yang Dingtian was exhausted. With no strength in his legs, he just collapsed on the ground and lost consciousness right there.

“You"re not even going to look at your own youngling sword?” Dugu Fengwu asked as she lit up the area with her mystic qi.

With his legs too weak to stand upright, Yang Dingtian had to slowly drag himself towards his youngling sword before picking it up.

“Oh my- ha, ha, ha, ha!”

After laying her eyes on Yang Dingtian"s masterpiece, Dugu Fengwu was laughing so hard that her stomach was starting to hurt.

Yang Dingtian, on the other hand, was getting a bit teary.

Was t-this a sword? It looked more like a stick, or a pitch dark staff that remained after a bushfire.

Alright, call it a staff then, but it wasn"t even a good staff. The texture of it was rough, and the shape of it was bent in such an irregular pattern.

And it was heavy, too. Just by holding onto it, Yang Dingtian could estimate that this staff was weighed at about 150 kilograms, which was twice more than Dugu Fengwu"s youngling sword.

However, with all that being said, and as much as he would like to call fail on himself, Yang Dingtian couldn"t help but feel something strange when he was holding onto this staff.

Yes. It was a very strange feeling. It was warm, unique, and mysteriously comfortable, too.

There was a living soul inside this staff, and while it was incapable of expressing itself, Yang Dingtian could easily tell how eager it was to bond with him.

This staff, whatever shape it had, was suddenly starting to look kind of cute. It was, after all, something Yang Dingtian had made himself. It was like a child to him.

“Alright, I guess you"re it. You"ll be the weapon I use for the rest of my life. Nothing"s going separate us, okay?”

As soon as Yang Dingtian had said that, he could feel a vigorous movement inside his staff, dancing joyously in response to his proposal.

“Your youngling sword. Let me have a look at it,” Dugu Fengwu demanded, to which Yang Dingtian complied despite being a little bit reluctant.

Dugu Fengwu"s reaction next was very bizarre, to say the least.

“What?” Dugu Fengwu gasped as soon as she took over the staff, “How could this be? Yang Dingtian, are you the illegitimate son of the heavens?”