Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Forging
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Over the course of three years, her body had reached the age of sixteen and completed its growth to its innate limits.
As predicted earlier, her height had reached 170cm, and her limbs had grown considerably longer.
However, what So-hyang hadn't anticipated was the body's astonishing innate femininity.
The mass of fat on her chest had nearly doubled to the size of her head, and her hips drew even more pronounced curves.
This left So-hyang, who had resolved to follow the body's congenital conditions in appearance, flustered enough to seriously consider suppressing the growth.
Fortunately, the growth concluded without expanding to a degree that seriously impeded her movements.
The baby fat on her face had also vanished, smoothing out into elegant lines—a beauty so peerless that even the title of "a woman of unparalleled allure" seemed fitting.
With such a supreme feminine form, she mingled in the smithy, a workplace of sweaty men...
Stripped to the waist in the heat, wrapping only her chest in bandages as she hammered iron—the massive flesh quivered with an intense presence.
Her sweat-soaked skin glistened, reflecting the forge's flames, and even the scent from her body carried a seductively sweet allure.
When dealing with the smiths, she responded with gentle smiles and soft words, making it a wonder that their eyes didn't bulge with bloodshot rage or ignite with desire.
"...Grgh! Th-this is...! Y-you're the one who seduced me first, right!?"
In the end, several young smiths reached the limits of their patience and stretched hands toward So-hyang, nearly sparking an embarrassing brawl.
"Ahaha, it's not like that..."
So-hyang placed a hand on her cheek, feigning distress with a groan—
"Thwack!"
Then delivered a sharp flick to their foreheads, infused with her Evil-Breaking intent, scattering their impure thoughts and smoothly defusing the situation.
"You've set the young men's hearts ablaze."
Even in the eyes of the Alliance Leader, who had lived over a century in the jianghu, So-hyang's appearance was beyond specifications.
Simply her looks reached the realm of soul-ensnaring arts, rivaling the profound mysteries of seductive techniques—small wonder the smiths revealed their desires.
It was an overwhelming beauty that could shatter their aesthetic senses and sexual barriers.
"What can one do? She can't accept them anyway."
The two chatted idly about such trifles as they reached a vast plain far from the Martial Alliance.
"Quite... a massive furnace, isn't it?"
A gigantic smelting furnace So-hyang had built herself, heaps of metal filling multiple carts, and all manner of equipment for forging a sword.
The culmination of three years' efforts.
What caught the Alliance Leader's eye among them were the types of metal loaded on the carts.
"What's this? I've never seen material like it."
Titanium.
The raw titanium-iron ore was quite common in the Central Plains, just as in her previous life, but the high-difficulty refining process—boiling it with chlorine and purifying with sodium ore—was the issue.
Smelting it in large quantities without modern infrastructure was no easy task.
However, knowing the principles and manufacturing process, she could sacrifice safety and pour in money; efficiency would be abysmal, but production was feasible.
Handling the toxic chlorine meant forgoing safety protocols and tanking it with her body, while the gaseous titanium purification was substituted with the Fluid Transformation School's pill-refining formations.
Of course, it consumed a vast sum of money, but the merits accumulated in the Martial Alliance sufficed without needing to mobilize even the Imperial Dragon Medallions.
The result was sponge-form titanium masses awaiting the final process.
"...Sigh, isn't this too soft?"
Curious, the Alliance Leader prodded the ores with his finger and looked at So-hyang with disappointment.
"It needs to be melted once more to complete the smelting."
At present, these titanium lumps were fragile and crumbly, and even in that state, their extreme heat resistance made pre-modern firepower nearly useless for smelting.
So-hyang had considered advancing technology with her knowledge to build a modern blast furnace, but...
"No need for such worries with this around!"
She proudly presented the blowpipe with a beaming smile.
The Demon Weapon of the Saint Grade, Ignorance Fire Punisher.
A Demon Weapon that generated flames rivaling Gang Qi, providing firepower beyond modern technology.
Most limitations imposed by the era could be overcome with this one tool.
"Y-you dutiful thing..."
Chiii...
So-hyang stroked the Ignorance Fire Punisher fondly, eyes sparkling with pride, while it emitted a cowed, huddled resonance.
In addition, tungsten for alloys, iron ingots, and various additives were perfectly prepared.
"Now, time to forge the sword."
At So-hyang's request, the Alliance Leader enveloped the surrounding area in his Heavenly Domain.
-----
She loaded the titanium lumps into the massive furnace and ignited it with the Ignorance Fire Punisher.
The gigantic furnace So-hyang had built herself wasn't particularly excellent in basic performance like heat retention efficiency.
All that could be overcome with overwhelming firepower—what she had focused on was solely heat resistance.
A short time later, molten metal glowing from the smelting furnace.
Gazing at the liquid flowing unimpeded after melting under extreme heat, So-hyang drew forth her Spirit.
A translucent figure resembling eleven-year-old So-hyang floated behind her head.
"...If my eyes aren't deceiving me, isn't that a corpse?"
Despite its transparency, the hue was subtly pallid, pupils vacant, fingertips blue.
The Alliance Leader, who had sensed something off before, posed the question.
"You could see it as the corpse left by the child who should have been this body's original owner."
A child who, at eleven, met spiritual death from the agony of family and hometown crushed.
The child's spiritual core—its soul—had crumbled and vanished in pain, but its remained in the body.
What would have been mere vestiges of a soul was drawn to the surface by the old man's bizarre act stimulating the brain—the Upper Dantian—and reborn as a Spirit with intent per the old man's wish.
This was also why So-hyang rarely drew out the Spirit for uses beyond the initial brain remodeling.
Guilt akin to using a child's corpse as a tool.
Thus, the current task was a form of funeral rite.
Incinerated in flames—a cremation.
Flowed into waters—a sea burial.
Made fertilizer for new life—a tree burial.
Upon the sword's completion, So-hyang's Spirit would reincarnate as the sword, and the like the child's corpse would scatter outward, returning to nature.
"You've given to the end. I'm sorry."
The child had yielded life, body, and a reason to live to the old man.
But what the old man gave in return was only horrific vengeance.
An adult who lived first ought to cherish and pave the way for a child—yet the old man had only received.
Thus, the Spirit in the form of the cold corpse-child plunged into the molten metal.
Surrendering to the flow, it gradually melted, soon becoming one.
The completion of the titanium ingot infused with the Spirit.
Of course, this wasn't perfect integration—merely a temporary dwelling.
The road ahead was still long.
"Hoo..."
After smelting the other ores for immediate use, only the final material remained.
Without wiping the dripping sweat, So-hyang reached into the void.
"Come."
Calling the Demon Weapon through soul-bond.
Kieeeek...!
The sole Demon Weapon acknowledging So-hyang as master, Blood Curse, wailed joyfully at her touch after so long.
So-hyang responded to Blood Curse's resonance with a tender, soft smile—
Then, without hesitation, tossed it into the furnace roiling with flames that could melt even Gang Qi.
Kii, kieeeek!!!!
It called her master or whatever, but Blood Curse was mere material for So-hyang's sword.
It spoke of serving her, yet Demon Weapons' inherent nature never strayed—harboring malice to devour their master, unhidden.
So-hyang preferred swords over single-edged blades anyway.
She worried casual use might draw public reprimand as martial misconduct.
Above all, a Demon Weapon acknowledging her as master was optimal material for what she aimed to create.
Kiaaaaaak!!!!!
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Per So-hyang's will, the Ignorance Fire Punisher spewed fiercer flames.
Under firepower strong enough to melt Gang Qi, Blood Curse's indestructible properties crumbled, beginning to glow brilliant yellow.
Kii, kieek...
Sensing its end, the death cries quieted, its form collapsing into dripping molten metal.
The destruction of a Demon Weapon.
Typically, its collapse liberated demonic nature, unleashing unpredictable calamities defying reason—
"Tsk, where do you think you're going."
But its master forbade it.
Under So-hyang's potent will, it melted into slag without full destruction, merely changing form.
Though its demonic nature weakened from extreme damage, and its Blood Qi and power degraded considerably, this was precisely what So-hyang desired.
With weakened demonic nature, its volume sharply reduced to a thin core unworthy of the name Blood Curse.
A wedge to implant the Spirit in place of demonic nature, the iron core to become the sword's spine.
"Complete."
Lifting the core no longer capable of death cries, So-hyang smiled in satisfaction.
Thus, material processing ended, leaving only the forging.
So-hyang mixed the prepared ingots into an alloy and embedded the iron core at the center.
"...Isn't something off?"
At this point, the observing Alliance Leader felt doubt—the sheer volume of materials So-hyang prepared was excessive.
Refined and impure-free, yet nearly cart-sized metal mass.
Indisputably too much for one sword.
"Indeed. That's why I asked you to erect the barrier."
In truth, prior work required immense firepower and was risky, but not to the point of needing a Transcendent Realm expert.
The truly dangerous part began now.
"I'm going to compress this down to the size of one sword."
She placed the glowing, heated mass on a slate-shaped Demon Weapon.
Gripping indestructible mallet-like Demon Weapons one in each hand, So-hyang grinned ferociously.
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Titanium isn't particularly hard.
It's light, resilient to extreme heat or submersion and such, biocompatible—ideal for various uses, that's all.
Modern sword steels rarely use titanium alloys primarily; nickel, chromium, and other metals are mixed instead.
Per volume, it's weaker than wrought steel...
But only under 'equal volume'.
Titanium's absolute strength is low, but relative to weight, exceedingly high.
In other words, compress to equal weight—nothing surpasses it!
Of course, resource consumption is excessive, efficiency and cost abysmal—never commercialized even in her previous life.
Thus, bespoke orders to factories at great expense back then; now, So-hyang herself acts as the press.
The three-year preparation was to stockpile materials and skills, but also because...
An immature body couldn't endure such madness, even for So-hyang.
"Prep finished about a year ago, but my strength seemed insufficient."
"Strength... insufficient?"
The Alliance Leader recalled So-hyang's monstrous power three years prior.
If even that fell short, what insanity was she attempting?
"...Kya, this'll be fun."
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The mallet-shaped Demon Weapons mindlessly spewed demonic nature to devour their grasping human, but...
"Shut it."
Crushed by grip strength ignoring indestructibility and will like the sea, they couldn't even cry out.
"No stray thoughts from now on."
Clutching Demon Weapons as hammers in both hands, she lifted the Ignorance Fire Punisher with intent.
"Telekinesis?"
Pure psychokinesis without internal energy—lacking great power, but...
Sufficient to position it, keeping the metal hot with flames.
"Huuuu..."
Deep breath to steady mind and body.
Hammer the insanely heated metal.
Ear-shattering booms resound ceaselessly, shaking the Alliance Leader's Heavenly Domain beyond count.
Over a dozen, nearing a hundred strikes per second.
Yet maintaining symmetry for balance, modulating force in exquisite geometric arcs.
The titanium alloy, light for its density, crumpled like a dented pot lid, volume steadily shrinking.
"...Haha, dangerous indeed!"
The Alliance Leader chuckled.
So-hyang's hammer swings weren't merely fast—the power behind them was staggering.
Should the near-perfectly balanced accumulated shocks release, it would explode, devouring the vicinity.
Nothing short of his Heavenly Domain could halt such overwhelming physical force.
...That mad barrage continued for nearly an hour.
"Haa, haa..."
Even superhuman lung capacity reached limits; tough palms tore, blood dripping.
Her efforts bore fruit—the cart-sized metal slug now sword-sized.
Forced into shape by extreme pressure.
The work progressed smoothly.
Employing Metallurgy Skill principles, yet inverting the outcome.
Not infusing natural qi or internal energy to enhance properties, but excluding all to let the Spirit unite with the sword.
She studied Metallurgy Skill because perfect wrong answers require perfect right ones.
Also, an unexpected deviation from So-hyang's plans.
Her hammering intent naturally reproduced her knowledge, twisting the metal's microstructure.
Powder metallurgy.
Building high-heat materials into nanoscale ultrafine powders.
Deemed impossible this era, thus excluded—yet intent forcibly recreated it.
Intent infiltrating the casting decomposed shocks finely, severing, tearing, grinding material bonds.
Under repeated impacts, the mixed mass wove into modern powder steel structure.
"Ha, haha!"
Sweat poured like rain, soaking clothes; laughter bubbled naturally.
State of no-self.
In ultimate focus, So-hyang discarded part of her plan.
She shoved aside the hilt carved from premium fossilized wood, hammering to shape it.
A sword of pure metal from blade to crossguard to hilt.
Dubious practicality, yet her intuition vehemently insisted it was right.
She flawlessly executed the on-the-fly revised plan in no-self.
The sword's form, artfully perfect beyond mere hammering.
"...Quite the exotic design?"
A type unfamiliar to Central Plains murim, novel to the Alliance Leader.
Longsword.
Though twisted from original into grotesque mastery, her past life's swordsmanship originated from—
Johannes Liechtenauer, cleric of old Europe.
The Art of Combat (Kunst des Fechten).
Thus, though proficient in all swords and weapons, she mainly wielded the longsword.
Target form unchanged, composition utterly transformed.
"...Now, just quenching remains."
The final step: cool the heated casting via heat treatment to rebirth metal into sword.
So-hyang moved to dunk it in prepared oil, but...
"Wait."
Is this right?
A fleeting incongruity in So-hyang's mind.
Infused with Spirit in casting, shaped by ultimate impacts—this sword transcended ordinary matter.
Oil quenching viable, but something more ritualistic, mystical...!
"—Alliance Leader!!"
Then, the sky—oft bonked on her head by the Leader when bored.
Sunset skies, rainy skies, cloudy skies.
Stormy skies.
"Strike it with lightning!!"
"What?"
Mythic weapons of yore were oft forged by thunderbolts at completion's eve.
So-hyang's thoughts hadn't reached there, but intuition arrived at the same.
She snatched the searing metal barehanded, thrusting it skyward.
Flesh sizzled, agony surged—but no time for that.
To her urgent, earnest gaze, the Alliance Leader complied sans understanding.
"...Understood."
Instantly, pitch-black clouds blanketed; massive lightning formed.
A technique born of Heavenly Thunder Qi, now pure Alliance Leader's imagery.
A Transcendent's imagery equals reality—if his sky matched true skies,
His lightning would match true lightning.
Blinding light, thunder filling the heavens.
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At heaven's center stood So-hyang.
One sword raised, charred black by lightning.
From her sizzling, steaming lips...
"Hee..."
A dazzling smile bloomed.
Raw material born of era-transcending tech.
Structure forged by transcendent force.
Her Spirit enshrined within.
Miraculous inspiration flashed.
All harmonized exquisitely into one sword.
Far surpassing So-hyang's initial expectations.
A true Divine Object, not idly named by men.