NOVPUB"This little fellow’s name is the Nightmare Beast, not only can it aid you in your cultivation, but it also has some combat ability," Xu Zimei said, "We’re poor and can’t afford anything nice.
So make do with it."
"Not at all, in fact, I like Senior Brother Zimo’s gift even more," Lin Qing said while playing with the little beast, replying hastily.
Xu Zimei smiled, as if he could hear someone’s heart breaking.
...
Due to a shortage of housing in the town, Xu Zimei and Tian Shi shared one room.
The faintly bright candle flame flickered gently, while Tian Shi was cross-legged in cultivation—after all, the spiritual energy of the Mythical Era was still very abundant.
The reason the locals had low levels of cultivation was because their techniques were too rudimentary, which led to their slow progress.
Xu Zimei, on the other hand, was sound asleep beside him.
...
The moon hung like a disk, and the night was exceptionally quiet.
Patrolling townspeople walked around the town’s perimeter, as unidentified insects hid in the corners squeaking.
As the night grew darker, a patrolling townsman had just reached the corner of the town.
A huge shadow suddenly burrowed up from the ground, and before the townsman could make a sound, he was swallowed whole by a gaping mouth.
Immediately after, a piercing sound of chewing arose.
In the room where Xu Zimei was staying, the flickering candle suddenly went out.
In the darkness, a sinister atmosphere spread.
The cultivating Tian Shi suddenly opened his eyes, only to see a giant shadow surge up from the floor of the room, lunging straight at him.
"Time slows down," Tian Shi snorted coldly.
Power of time surged over his right hand, and as time rewound, the shadow’s speed also slowed down.
Tian Shi smashed his fist down, with endless waves of air gathering at his fist.
With a "boom," the shadow was directly smashed into the ground, creating a deep pit.
"What’s going on?" Xu Zimei opened his eyes slightly and got down from the bed.
"Just a small bug," Tian Shi said indifferently.
The room’s candle was lit again, revealing the floor fractured into several pieces, with countless cracks appearing.
In the middle of the cracks, a creature resembling a centipede lay dying.
The centipede was twice the size of an average person, its body fiery red.
Xu Zimei counted its legs and found it had eighteen, and its mouth housed two sharp fangs.
Its eyes were as small as black beans, bulbous.
"What’s this?" Xu Zimei asked.
"Not sure, it’s probably a creature from the Mythical Era," Tian Shi replied, "We’ll ask Lin Qing tomorrow morning."
...
A night without a word.
The gentle sunlight once again spread across the land, as the sun rose day after day.
A scream shattered the peaceful morning.
Dead!
All the night watchmen who patrolled the town last night were dead.
All the townspeople rushed over; the bodies of the deceased were completely gone, leaving only some remains, and the ground was covered in blood.
Meanwhile, in Xu Zimei’s room, Lin Qing looked at the carcass of the giant beast in front of her with surprise.
"The Fiery Centipede," she said in amazement, "This is a monster of the True Vein Realm, and it’s also a very troublesome kind of monster.
Even my father might not be a match for it."
"Oh, we might just be lucky," Tian Shi said with a smile, "It was dark last night, and I hit its weak point with a punch, killing it."
"I’m not stupid, you guys must be no ordinary people," said Lin Qing.
"No matter who we are, we’re still your senior brothers," Tian Shi replied with a smile.
"All the night watchmen in the town were killed last night, and Dad is still looking for the murderer. I’ll go tell him now; it must have been the work of the Fiery Centipede."
Having said this, Lin Qing left the room.
...…
The fiery flames within the forge blazed fiercely as a breeze blew past, causing the flags hanging outside the blacksmith shop to flutter gently.
Lin Bao looked at Xu Zimei and the others, speaking seriously, "Before I teach you how to craft weapons, I will first teach you how to forge iron.
Forging iron is a process of removing the dross and taking the essence.
It requires a certain amount of waist and arm strength. Your ability to kill the Fiery Centipede yesterday proved that you have a decent physical foundation."
As he spoke, Lin Bao took a red-hot piece of iron from the furnace.
"Now try striking it with a hammer and see. Even though you are strong, forging iron is not an easy task."
Xu Zimei and Tian Shi exchanged a glance, and then he stepped forward, casually striking twice with the hammer.
With a "boom," the piece of iron was surprisingly smashed and fused together.
During the process, he also secretly used the Creation Force to alter the structure within the iron.
"Holy shit," Lin Bao, who was watching from the side, couldn’t help but exclaim, utterly dumbfounded.
He came up to the piece of iron and, gazing at the nearly flawless block, found it hard to believe it was the result of just two hammer strikes.
"Refinement Master?" asked Lin Bao, looking at Xu Zimei with some skepticism.
"Uncle Lin, you must be joking. I’m just a beginner," Xu Zimei replied.
Then he let Tian Shi give it a try, and just like before, Tian Shi condensed the essence of the iron with two "bang bang" strikes.
"For beginners, you’re pretty good, but there’s still more to learn," Lin Bao said, his face turning slightly red as he coughed a few times. "You’ll need to practice more in the future.
Now I’ll teach you how to shape weapons and their edges."
The two of them nodded eagerly.
...…
In the half-hour that followed, Lin Bao felt as though his entire worldview had collapsed.
Using less than half an hour, when the two of them placed the crafted sword and knife before him...
Lin Bao couldn’t help but sigh, "There really are geniuses in this goddamn world."
Back in the day, it had taken him over a decade of his life to become a Refinement Master, spending all that time practicing diligently.
He had always adhered to one principle, "Practice makes perfect."
But now, looking at Xu Zimei and the others, all he wanted to say was, "Practice makes perfect my ass."
Seeing Lin Bao fall silent, Tian Shi shook his head and sighed, "Uncle Lin, I know we’re terrible.
Don’t worry, even though our aptitude isn’t great, we’re willing to put in the effort."
Hearing Tian Shi’s words, Lin Bao gave a forced smile.
"You really are a lovable little thing, aren’t you?"
As they were talking, someone suddenly rushed in from outside in a panic.
"Uncle Lin, the hunting team has run into trouble outside."
"What?" Lin Bao turned around, asking with a frown.
"Lin Qing went out with the hunting team today. You should go take a look," the person hastily said.
"Nonsense, who let her go," Lin Bao’s face changed drastically, and he hurried towards the entrance of the town.
By the time several of them arrived at the town entrance, a large crowd had already gathered.
A man, covered in blood, lay on the ground receiving treatment.
This man was a member of today’s hunting team.
