It wasn't until the auction dispersed that people realized, aside from what Lord Lyderic had initially acquired, virtually everything else of genuine worth had been completely snatched up by Qian Jin alone.

"Lord City Master Lyderic..." Leiguang Riyue blocked Lyderic's path, his face plastered with an obsequious grin. Beside him stood Xiudastak, his expression grim.

Qian Jin observed this scene and shook his head slightly. Now these three finally had a chance to re-negotiate the price for the Mental Shock Potions, but it was far too late; any discussion regarding the West County would likely be difficult. Bah.

"I hear Yueyue is both a demonic cultivator and a martial artist?" Lyderic chuckled, his gaze shifting towards Xiudastak. "And I also hear the Vice President's son has been trapped behind a Level Three Mental Barrier for a full year now?"

At this moment, the complexions of both Leiguang Riyue and Xiudastak darkened further. The greatest fear in any negotiation is having one's trump cards exposed, as it immediately puts one in a deeply disadvantageous position.

Qian Jin let out a weak laugh upon hearing Lyderic's words; those two faction leaders were surely in for a rough time ahead.

Seeing Qian Jin walk past with that infuriating smile, the pent-up, nameless rage within Leiguang Riyue and Xiudastak instantly found a target. Precisely!

Xiudastak recalled the time Qian Jin had ruined his attempt to claim the beautiful little lady Bao Luoqingqing, and the anger boiled fiercely in his chest.

Leiguang Riyue thought of his son, Lei Wei, who could do nothing but lie on his bed groaning, and his fury surged even higher.

Qian Jin paid no heed to the wrath of the two great experts; his entire mind was consumed with thoughts of how to produce the Blood Beads and forge that one Soul Weapon.

"I probably need to practice more, just to eke out even a slight increase in the success rate," Qian Jin mused as he boarded the carriage. He resolved to return and first familiarize himself again within the Endless World. Whether it was forging the Soul Weapon, preparing the blood, or inscribing the runes onto the Blood Beads, there wasn't a single aspect he was fully confident in—or rather, any aspect he felt he had more than a twenty percent grasp on.

"Tell me, Fabredius, what exactly do you intend to do?" Mugui Wuxin, seated in the carriage, finally voiced the deep-seated confusion he had held in his heart for so long.

Fabredius never took his eyes off Qian Jin for a moment, terrified that Qian Jin might suddenly vanish into thin air. The battle aura within his body was tense at its absolute peak. If anyone dared attack Qian Jin at this moment, the Tianlu Sword would slice the intruder into mince, leaving not even a brittle bone fragment behind.

Qian Jin returned safely to his room, silently securing his door and windows before immediately entering the Endless World to make the final preparations for forging the Soul Weapon.

This wasn't just for Fabredius; it was for himself too! Should he ever have the chance to enter the Saint realm in the future, having more experience in crafting Soul Weapons would mean a greater possibility of successfully forging a new one.

Fabredius grasped the Tianlu Sword and hauled the bed directly to the entrance of Qian Jin's room, intending to eat, drink, and sleep right there by the door.

Three days passed before the Lei family finally sent word regarding the time for the duel. Qian Jin emerged from his room looking refreshed, having heard the duel was set for one month later.

One month? Qian Jin pondered. Lyderic and the Lei family must have reached some agreement, an agreement that wouldn't be fully enacted for another month, only then would Lei Yueyue receive the Mental Shock Potion. It seemed the Lei family had suffered a significant loss for the sake of that single potion this time.

"Kid, are you ready to begin?"

Compared to the energetic Qian Jin, Fabredius had become considerably haggard over the past three days, with quite a few new strands of white hair appearing at his temples.

Qian Jin mustered his spirit and said softly, "I'll give it a try. Prepare a courtyard where I won't be disturbed, and stock enough coal to fuel a furnace for a month. Also, I need one hundred blacksmith hammers of different specifications—all of them! Absolutely all! And..."

In the afternoon, Qian Jin walked into the courtyard filled with forging tools. Besides Fabredius, the equipment for mixing mysterious potions, nearly a thousand knives carved with runes, and Duandeng Buer, Fentu Kuangge, and Chetfulite, there was no one else present.

Runes! Qian Jin picked up a knife and carefully attempted to carve a magic circle onto a piece of metal. He completed it swiftly.

"Feels good." Qian Jin took the metal Fabredius had spent a fortune acquiring before they left Oakland—metal meant for practicing rune carving—and tossed it directly into the furnace.

The next day, Qian Jin used tongs to pull out the metal, which had been thoroughly heated and saturated with fire's energy. He raised his hammer and brought it down heavily. A series of dazzling sparks erupted, resembling brilliant magic, scattering wildly as the heavy hammer struck a few times. Fabredius felt as if his own heart had been violently struck each time the hammer fell.

Five days passed. Other than eating and sleeping, Qian Jin was ceaselessly crafting the casings for the Blood Beads. On two occasions, the rune carving resulted in an explosion. Had Qian Jin not thrown the object away fast enough, his face would surely have been scorched black. In the end, however, he successfully carved the required runes onto the Blood Beads.

The Demon Flame Blood took only one day to prepare, costing four explosions in the process. Fabredius felt his heart, watching from the side, was about to shatter. Was this forging a Soul Weapon? It was more like tempting fate!

What Fabredius could least understand, however, was Qian Jin’s expression—so utterly focused! No, more accurately, so immersed, as if he were deriving immense joy from the process!

Joy! Qian Jin himself hadn't expected to find happiness in such circumstances. Both the potion concoction and the rune carving demanded astonishing control, coupled with the precise layering of various techniques. This wasn't just a test of his specialized skills; it was unexpectedly training his battle aura as well.

Slabs of rare metal were drawn from Fabredius's Battle Realm, only to be thrown piece by piece into the furnace. Fabredius felt as if his own heart had been dropped into that blazing fire.

A layer of solemnity settled over Qian Jin’s face. This was the final and most crucial step! It could not be wrong! In the production process, they had spares for both the runes and the blood; if one failed, they could start over.

The main material for the Soul Weapon, however, was only present in a single portion! If an error occurred during its forging, it would truly be the end. Fabredius doubted he would have the courage left to live long enough to gather the next batch of materials.

The flames burned the metal continuously for two full days. During these two days, Qian Jin and Fabredius took turns performing the same task: pumping the bellows! Pushing the flame to its absolute maximum intensity!

Watching the metal glow so fiercely it seemed on the verge of igniting itself, Qian Jin took a deep breath. Employing the Blacksmith Breathing Technique, he drew the fiery updraft from the furnace into his body, channeling it down his arm and into the hammer in his hand. The Eighteen Ascending Hammers carved arcs in the air that defied description, colliding with the metal to produce sharp blasts resembling thunderclaps!

In the past, striking metal always sent countless sparks flying. But during today's forging, not a single spark erupted from the impact. The moment the heavy hammer connected with the metal, Qian Jin distinctly felt a suction force generated by the hammer in his hand, drawing all the metal sparks that should have flown out, gathering them together, and smashing them forcefully back into the metal itself.

Fabredius stared dumbfounded. What kind of forging technique was this? Such heavy blows, yet not a single spark flew from the metal.

The first hammer strike, successful! Qian Jin cheered internally but dared not relax his focus even slightly. Strike! Strike! Strike! When the heavy hammer reached its one hundredth blow, it suddenly shattered—it could not withstand the impact, nor could it continue to gather the sparks that should have scattered.

"Switch hammers!" Qian Jin accepted the second heavy hammer handed to him by Fabredius. As he swung it again, he finally understood what an invaluable tool Uncle Black’s old blacksmith hammer was! No matter how he struck it, or what metal he struck, that hammer never showed any sign of wear.

Could that thing even be a divine artifact? Qian Jin dismissed the stray thoughts and resumed forging the metal before him.

Forging: a rudimentary shape begins to form... Every day, apart from time for eating and sleeping, Qian Jin was ceaselessly forging the metal provided by Fabredius. Previously, he would only sweat after a very long time; now, after just one hammer strike, sweat would pour down.

The expenditure of mental energy, the control over the power battle aura, the precise selection of angles—not even the slightest error could be tolerated.

Heavy hammer, medium hammer, small hammer... Different hammers targeted different areas of the weapon.

⊥⊥⊥First⊥⊥Launch⊥⊥

Eighteen days later, Qian Jin used the tongs to slowly draw the Zhan Tian Sword out of the furnace. Fabredius drew a blood groove along the handle of his Tianlu Sword, and his hot blood dripped onto the Zhan Tian Sword, producing a sharp sizzling sound as plumes of white mist rose.

Hiss! The long sword plunged into the water bucket, instantly turning the cool water into boiling heat. The sword was cooled in ten successive buckets of cool water before it finally stopped boiling as intensely as it had initially.

"It's done—aaaaaah!"

Qian Jin’s tension broke. He slumped helplessly onto the ground, gazing at the weapon before him with a flood of complex emotions. He truly hadn't expected that forging a Soul Weapon would consume nearly an entire month.

Even more unexpectedly, because of this month of all-out forging, his battle aura had been depleted and then regenerated, reaching the second stage of Demon Suppression, with his battle aura circulation reaching a dizzying speed of fifteen thousand revolutions per minute!

"Sharpen the edge now," Fabredius said, helping Qian Jin walk over to the Flowing Cloud Stone. "This is the final step."

"Indeed!" Qian Jin looked at the Zhan Tian Sword in his hands. This edge-sharpening would likely take another full day—his own Edge Cleansing technique required a day. If it were another master forging expert who didn't know the Edge Cleansing technique, the sharpening process might take ten days to half a month!

The sun rose the next day. A bolt of lightning suddenly shot from the courtyard into the sky. Fabredius, who had been dozing, squinted at the long sword in Qian Jin's hand, seemingly afraid that the cold glint reflected by the blade might pierce his eyes.