Chapter 30

"Clang... Clang..."

The sound of iron rings clinking against the door made Zhou Lu shiver, snapping him out of his excited daydream. Looking at the hourglass in the corner of the cave, he realized that the night had passed and it was already dawn.

"Who could be calling so early in the morning?"

Zhou Lu yawned, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and walked over to open the stone door with a frown. There stood Xiao Luan and Ke Ling, both smiling. They had changed out of their long dresses and were now wearing exquisite leather armor. The tight leather armor made them look dashing and heroic, especially Ke Ling, whose low-cut neckline revealed a figure that left Zhou Lu speechless. His nose was puffing out hot breath.

Both women carried a bamboo basket on their backs and held a mining pick in their hands.

"Huh?" Zhou Lu's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Not teaching me forging today, but teaching me to dig holes?"

"Go on," Ke Ling shot Zhou Lu a glare, automatically filtering out the fat man's teasing words. "Get ready quickly. We won't be teaching you anything new today. We're taking you out to look for minerals. Xiao Luan has an idea for the weapon made from three-refined Xuanjin, and we need some uncommon metals. Let's go and see if we can get lucky."

"Right, bring your bow and knife," Ke Ling reminded him.

"Got it."

Zhou Lu excitedly ran back, picked up his hunting armor from the animal skin on the ground, and deliberately hid behind the small furnace, shyly taking off his robe and putting on the hunting armor. He kept glancing at the two women by the cave entrance with a bashful expression.

Xiao Luan and Ke Ling were almost laughing and crying at the same time.

Under the robe, he was wearing tight protective clothing. Taking off the robe and putting on the hunting armor didn't expose any of his fat. Why was he acting so shy and afraid of being peeked at? He even hid behind the small furnace, which was only a foot tall. How could it block any part of him?

"Fat man, hurry up."

Ke Ling, with a black line on her forehead, shouted. Finally, Zhou Lu hurriedly finished putting on the hunting armor, grabbed his longbow and hunting knife from the cave wall, and followed the two women, who were blushing from his teasing, out of the Array Fire Pavilion.

The stone door creaked open, and the cold wind outside made Zhou Lu shiver involuntarily.

The sky was still dark, and thick fog enveloped the mountains. Xiao Luan lit a small, elegant torch, and the warm light illuminated a radius of over ten yards through the darkness.

The three of them followed a desolate path straight to the back mountain.

They jumped over mountain streams, waded through icy rivers, and turned through dense forests into even more remote paths...

The dawn gradually appeared on the horizon, and the three of them ventured deeper into the mountains.

On the way, Zhou Lu was quite curious about what kind of weapon Xiao Luan had designed.

Three-refined Xuanjin, the legendary material from the *Chronicles of the Wilderness* that could cut through hair, was used to forge such weapons. He wondered what kind of legendary piece would be born in Xiao Luan's hands.

Zhou Lu approached with a sly smile. "Xiao Luan, your design for the weapon is finally complete? Can I see it?"

Xiao Luan smiled, her eyes still showing signs of fatigue, clearly from many sleepless nights. However, the excitement in her eyes was hard to hide. She casually took out an elegant leather scroll from her sleeve and handed it to Zhou Lu.

Zhou Lu took it and slowly unrolled it.

"Hey..."

Ke Ling, unable to stop him in time, stomped her foot in frustration. "Hmph, that's the design for a legendary piece, and you're not keeping it secret. You just let someone else see it..."

Seeing that she couldn't stop him, Ke Ling took the other end of the scroll and helped Zhou Lu unroll it, saying with a pout, "It's good for you to open your eyes and see the masterful craftsmanship of your teacher Xiao Luan..."

Zhou Lu fully unrolled the scroll and, with the help of the torchlight, saw the design clearly, gasping in surprise.

Ke Ling and Xiao Luan couldn't help but laugh at Zhou Lu's stunned expression.

Zhou Lu saw a long knife shaped like a crescent moon in the center of the scroll. Around the knife, numerous lines of text provided detailed annotations, including the center of gravity, curvature, density distribution, and other parameters.

Zhou Lu, who now possessed the aura of a Dao realm, had a profound understanding of the martial realm. He immediately saw the sharpness and uniqueness of the knife, imagining how smoothly it would cut if swung.

Ke Ling walked closer with a smile and pointed to the knife design, saying:

"This knife is called Moon Trace. The curvature design allows it to cut silently without any air resistance. If you use Moon Trace in battle, it can instantly merge with you, fitting perfectly with your strength, like swinging a weightless ghost."

Looking at Zhou Lu's wide-open mouth, Ke Ling continued with a smile, "Whoever wields this knife in battle can instantly increase their combat power by more than thirty percent. Moreover, the sharpness of three-refined Xuanjin can cut through any metal forest, making it invincible."

Zhou Lu had learned a lot about this field in recent days and naturally knew the level of achievement such a knife represented. He praised with eyes full of surprise:

"This is almost a perfect design. Xiao Luan, to design such a piece at your age, your talent surpasses any weapon forger in the clan."

Ke Ling's eyes were full of pride.

Xiao Luan smiled and slowly shook her head, sighing, "I spent three months meticulously refining this knife, finally settling on its current form. If it were Master Brother, he could have perfected this design in much less time. I am still far from Master Brother..."

"Master Brother again..."

Zhou Lu pouted in frustration at the Master Brother who had already stolen the hearts of the women before even appearing. He turned to Ke Ling and asked:

"Right, where are we going now? What kind of mineral are we looking for?"

Ke Ling smiled and pointed to the curvature of the knife on the scroll, saying:

"Look here. This curvature is the soul of the entire knife. It requires absolute perfection during the forging process to fully unleash the knife's power. Absolute perfection is very difficult to achieve. If the metal distribution is slightly uneven, the knife will be a failure."

"So, we need to find a mineral called Yunjin. Legend has it that Yunjin is the finest metal we know. Mixing it with Xuanjin in the knife's back can make the curvature even smoother and more fluid."

"I see."

Zhou Lu nodded vigorously.

Ke Ling's voice took on a mysterious tone as she continued:

"Yunjin veins are extremely rare. In our entire clan, it is said that only the Western Mountain has some scattered Yunjin, but no one has ever truly discovered or mined it. Therefore, to get Yunjin, we have only one last resort, which is to follow the legendary method..."

Ke Ling playfully paused at the crucial moment, tilting her head and smiling, deliberately wanting to see Zhou Lu's anxious expression.

But Ke Ling saw that the fat man had a carefree look on his face, not even looking at her. Instead, his eyes were wide open, looking ahead, and he excitedly clapped his hands, shouting, "A stone pedestal! Look, there's a stone pedestal in this desolate mountain!"

Xiao Luan burst out laughing, her eyes forming crescent moons, and she looked at Ke Ling mischievously, as if saying, "You're playing with this fat man? How can you possibly win?"

Ke Ling's face turned red with anger, and she turned away, refusing to look at the fat man. She stubbornly decided not to reveal the legendary method, determined to see who could hold out longer.