Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Indestructible Shadowless Iron
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"Is that the Indestructible Shadowless Iron?"
Hyeok Mulin stared at the iron ore on the workbench and let out a murmur of admiration.
'No wonder the master smiths trembled and gave up on it.'
A lofty aura emanated from the ore itself.
If he closed his eyes and focused only on that energy, he might mistake it for a living creature.
"You've brought back a monster."
"Heh heh, you can't back out now. The underground seal that kept it contained shattered when we hauled it to the surface."
"Hearing that makes me suddenly feel like I have business at the Heavenly Demon Palace."
"Then I'll carry this Indestructible Shadowless Iron and follow you to the ends of hell, Cult Leader."
"Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place."
Before starting the work, Hyeok Mulin and Gundo Sang exchanged light banter to ease the tension.
At that moment, Sim Hyo approached to announce that preparations were complete.
They exchanged glances, nodded, and Hyeok Mulin asked,
"Any precautions for this forging?"
"The most crucial is maintaining a consistent temperature with the Extreme Heat."
Gundo Sang planned to hammer based on the temperature of the first Extreme Heat Hyeok Mulin had demonstrated.
If the temperature fluctuated during refining, a single hammer strike calibrated to a different baseline could snap the blade right away.
That's why Gundo Sang, eschewing bellows entirely, had decided to rely solely on Hyeok Mulin's abilities.
"Even with the same Extreme Heat, you must keep the temperature steady."
"Got it."
"I'll explain the rest as we go."
With that, Gundo Sang moved to the left side of the furnace.
Hyeok Mulin followed, taking position on the right.
Hyeok Mulin unleashed his extreme demonic energy through the Pure Soul Divine Demon Art, igniting a trance-like blaze and converting it to Extreme Heat.
He then directed it into the furnace.
Whoosh!
Black flames reminiscent of a world-devouring inferno danced as if alive.
They lapped gently at times, then surged like waves.
'Tougher than I thought.'
Producing a single burst of Extreme Heat was simple enough, but sustaining it at a precise temperature required superior control and profound mastery of internal energy.
Hyeok Mulin broke into a sweat, wrestling the Extreme Heat into submission.
Gundo Sang and Sim Hyo clenched their fists, watching him battle the flames.
And after an hour-long struggle...
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, flames erupted explosively from the furnace.
Startled, Sim Hyo widened his eyes, fearing failure.
But the blaze, which had swelled as if to engulf the world, halted just before Hyeok Mulin's face.
Vibrating with fury like a being with a will of its own, the flames gradually subsided and returned to their place.
The furnace's black fire now flickered at a normal size.
"It's stable."
At Hyeok Mulin's announcement of success, Gundo Sang tonged the Indestructible Shadowless Iron.
He carefully placed it inside the furnace.
Waiting for the ore to heat up, he stared intently at the flames ahead.
The desolate blaze reflected his life.
An orphan wandering the world, he had begged for scraps until chance led him to his master on the street.
He entered the Southern Iron Gate Sect under that master.
Succeeding his master, who passed far too soon, he became sect leader.
Images flooded him: clients who received his weapons laughing, weeping, rejoicing, cursing—all merging into the fire.
And at the end of those scenes... emptiness.
What else could there be?
The final scene...
Bang!
'...is being forged right now!'
Gundo Sang withdrew the Indestructible Shadowless Iron and began hammering.
The reddened lump deformed bit by bit under each strike.
Others might see no change, but he felt it.
The Indestructible Shadowless Iron thrashed wildly beneath his hands.
It clashed head-on against him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gundo Sang hammered with force that would shatter ordinary ore.
Yet the Indestructible Shadowless Iron showed no sign of cracking, not even a chip.
'It's all about control.'
Hammering slowly and lightly was manageable.
Even famed smiths of the Southern Iron Gate could manage it for hours.
But striking hard, fast, at constant speed across the entire surface for days on end? Only he could do it in the world.
Hyeok Mulin watched Gundo Sang's focused hammering without losing his grip on the flames.
'Even trickier than expected.'
Sustaining steady heat was one thing, but a bigger issue loomed.
No one knew when the forging would end.
With a set timeline, he could pace his energy accordingly, but it could wrap in a day or two—or drag on for half a month.
Thus, Hyeok Mulin had to extract maximum efficiency from minimal energy.
Analyzing that while fixating on the furnace temperature was no small feat.
'Cult Leader, Sect Leader—both of you, hang in there.'
Sim Hyo could only wipe their sweat midway and offer water every few hours as he watched their grueling efforts.
Yet witnessing these titans at work granted him profound insights.
A day passed without rest, then two, three—and now the fourth dawned.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Indestructible Shadowless Iron was thinning into a blade shape.
Hyeok Mulin had mastered energy control, reaching a realm where he could divide his focus, glance elsewhere, even speak.
Channeling the Pure Soul Divine Demon Art, he observed Gundo Sang's refining.
Truly worthy of his title Heavenly Sword Supreme Smith—a concentration unmatched among smiths.
Had he walked a warrior's path, he would surely be a legend.
"Cult Leader, have some water."
"Thanks."
Sim Hyo handed him a canteen. Hyeok Mulin drank and returned it, but Sim Hyo lingered awkwardly.
"Something to say?"
At Hyeok Mulin's query, Sim Hyo glanced at Gundo Sang behind him.
"It's fine. He's so immersed, no sound reaches his ears."
Swallowing hard, Sim Hyo bowed deeply.
"Cult Leader, thank you for saving my master."
"...Saving?"
"In the dozen years since he took me in, all I saw was him striking iron aimlessly, emitting hollow clangs without purpose."
Sim Hyo's eyes reddened as emotion welled up.
"But now, his hammer strikes ring with a clarity and purity I've never heard in my life. This is all thanks to your grace..."
"I haven't saved him."
The plain truth.
Half the reason he came was realizing it was time for a new sword to fully harness the Pure Soul Divine Demon Art; the other half, to see the face of the sect leader who sent disciples' swords without showing up himself.
"I just commissioned a master smith for my blade."
"...I see."
But to Sim Hyo, that didn't matter.
His master's eyes had regained their spark from deathly void—he was filled with gratitude toward the Cult Leader.
Sim Hyo gazed at his master awhile.
Watching the artisan's movements, he soon smiled faintly.
"Will I ever stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Master and forge a weapon for you, Cult Leader?"
"Honestly? Reaching his exact level will be tough."
A one-of-a-kind master smith amid countless experts.
But...
"Don't give up. Nothing's impossible in this world."
If a dead man could regress through time, what was becoming the world's top smith?
Sim Hyo beamed at Hyeok Mulin's casual encouragement.
"Yes!"
They returned to work, and another three days slipped by.
Fortunately, the hammering ended just as Hyeok Mulin's energy neared depletion—a miracle.
Gundo Sang then whetted the blade on a grindstone, revealing its razor-sharp edge.
Hyeok Mulin, recovering a pittance of energy during the brief respite, faced the final trial.
"Cult Leader, ready?"
"Yes. Let's begin."
At the end of refining, only the last step remained.
Quenching the glowing red-hot blade with Extreme Cold.
This differed utterly from standard tempering, done mid-forging to harden steel.
The Indestructible Shadowless Iron needed no such process.
Already the world's hardest ore, no amount of tempering ordinary iron could match its hardness.
All that was required now: blast it with Extreme Cold to dispel the Extreme Heat.
'And one more thing to watch.'
One chance only.
Insufficient Extreme Cold would leave residual heat, ruining the blade at lukewarm temperatures.
He had to unleash full power, no holding back.
Swish.
Hyeok Mulin's index and middle fingers touched the blade.
Sensing its surface heat intuitively, he deployed the Ice White Separation Palm.
Crunch—
'Not easy, as expected.'
The blade's Extreme Heat resisted the invading cold.
Heat clinging desperately and cold forcing its way clashed within.
From Hyeok Mulin's grip, the fused energies surged, exploding in conflict.
Solar blaze tangled with world-freezing chill.
Rumble—
The clash shook the workshop floor; tongs and hammers on the table vibrated and clattered down.
At the end of the fierce struggle, a victor emerged.
The sweltering workshop cooled, then chilled, soon biting like a northern winter plain.
And it didn't stop there.
Frost crackled from where Hyeok Mulin stood, spreading to rim the walls.
The workshop atmosphere flipped completely.
Hyeok Mulin unleashed the Ice White Separation Palm at maximum.
Kraaack!
Crystal-clear ice, mirror-like, encased the blade in an instant.
From tip to base, it froze solid.
But moments later...
Crack!
Fissures spiderwebbed the ice,
Clatter!
And it shattered, shards scattering across the floor.
Only the perfect blade remained.
Gundo Sang looked to Hyeok Mulin, who nodded.
Step. Step.
Gundo Sang approached slowly, hand trembling toward it.
His tense fingers shook.
Tap.
As his fingertip met the blade, the tremor vanished like a lie.
No searing flesh, no frostbite.
Neither hot nor cold.
"...It's done."
His voice mingled disbelief, rage, and ecstasy.
"It's doooone—!"
The greatest masterpiece of the Southern Iron Gate Sect—unparalleled before or since—had been born.