Chapter 17

Seeing the increased cohesion of the Qin family during the crisis, Qin Chuan couldn't help but feel quite pleased. The men of the Qin family were all men of iron and steel.

"Second Brother, Third Brother, you come with me to see Grandfather. Wentian, Yaoyao, you two go back first." At this moment, Qin Chuan spoke to the few people, and he led Qin He and the others to a side courtyard in the Qin family estate.

"The late emperor had a favor for our ancestor Qin Wu, and our ancestor Qin Wu and Grandfather have always remembered this kindness, thus serving the State of Chu. But now, the royal family actually wants our Qin family to disappear. Grandfather probably can't bear it anymore." Qin Yao whispered, and Qin Wentian understood the gravity of the situation, nodding slightly, "Grandfather Qin knows what to do."

"Also, you managed to condense a star soul without telling me. Eight strikes of the force drum, the strength of eighty oxen, what realm are you at now?" On the way, Qin Yao's beautiful eyes stared at Qin Wentian, asking curiously. If not for the enhancement from the star soul and techniques, even a martial cultivator at the ninth level of the Body Tempering stage would only have the strength of eighty-one oxen.

"Guess?" Qin Wentian shrugged. Being at the sixth level of the Body Tempering stage and possessing such immense strength seemed somewhat abnormal.

"How can I guess?" Qin Yao pouted, then looked at him and smiled, "Feeling very disappointed about the annulment of your engagement to the beautiful Bai Qiuxue?"

"What's there to be disappointed about? Don't I have a beautiful woman right here?" Qin Wentian looked at Qin Yao, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe. Qin Yao, standing at 1.7 meters tall, had a slender and graceful figure, soft curves, and a prominent chest, making her a rare beauty. Especially after her training in the capital of Chu, she had developed a mature charm.

"Even daring to tease your sister." Qin Yao's face turned slightly red at Qin Wentian's bold gaze, and she reached out to pinch his waist hard, making Qin Wentian gasp.

"Sister, I'm wrong." Qin Wentian smiled bitterly, and Qin Yao finally let him off. She then put her hand into her bosom and took out two star meteorites, causing Qin Wentian's expression to change.

"This is..."

"This is the star meteorite you gave me before. You knew you would need it one day to condense a star soul, so you deliberately left two for me." Qin Yao grabbed Qin Wentian's hand and handed him the star meteorites.

Looking at her beautiful face, Qin Wentian felt a warmth in his heart. The importance of star meteorites to martial cultivators was self-evident; they could rapidly enhance their cultivation. Qin Yao had not used them, preferring to cultivate slowly and save these two extremely precious star meteorites for him.

"Sister?" Qin Wentian looked at Qin Yao, who smiled back, "What? Planning to offer yourself to me?"

"Uh." Qin Wentian's eyes flickered, staring straight at her, making Qin Yao's beautiful face flush red again. She quickly turned around and said, "Cultivate well, and show everyone what you're made of."

With that, Qin Yao ran into the courtyard.

"Ye family, Bai family, the royal family." Qin Wentian muttered to himself, then returned to the training ground in the western courtyard, sitting cross-legged. The events of the past few days had happened too quickly, and he hadn't had time to properly assess his cultivation status.

Calmly, Qin Wentian entered a deep meditative state. His consciousness sensed the existence of the star gate, where the Heavenly Hammer Star Soul stood, brimming with surging power.

"The Heavenly Hammer Star Soul is formed by communicating with the martial destiny star in the fifth heaven. Even now, I am not yet capable of fully utilizing its power. Even if I reach the Tian Gang stage one day, it will still support my cultivation and battles."

Qin Wentian thought to himself. The higher the rank of the star soul, the more terrifying the energy it contained. Therefore, although Qin Wentian was only at the sixth level of the Body Tempering stage, he could exert formidable strength, thanks to the enhancement from the Heavenly Hammer Star Soul.

"Moreover, the Heavenly Hammer Star Soul should also grant me a talent for forging, which I haven't yet discovered."

Qin Wentian's consciousness drifted toward the star child, feeling a sense of awe. The star child contained memories and even bestowed him with the Thousand Forgings Technique, which was extremely mysterious.

Furthermore, the star child was formed from a stone left by his father, whom he had never met, and was likely a very high-rank star meteorite.

That stone must have absorbed stellar energy to trigger its transformation. Thinking of this, Qin Wentian's consciousness drifted toward the star child, but the star child was dim and seemed sealed, preventing his consciousness from communicating with it.

Qin Wentian focused his mind, and the star meridians in his body formed a vortex, drawing the stellar energy within him toward the star child. The energy flowed like a river into the sea, unstoppable. In an instant, threads of stellar light entered the star child and disappeared without a trace.

"Indeed!" Qin Wentian's heart trembled as he continued to channel stellar energy into the star child, which seemed like a bottomless pit, continuously absorbing without any response.

Finally, Qin Wentian stopped, opened his eyes, and a look of shock flashed in his gaze. To activate the star child, he needed an enormous amount of stellar energy, and the energy he had stored in his body was insufficient.

Qin Wentian pondered, the star child had bestowed him with the Thousand Forgings Technique and was the only legacy from his father, likely containing great secrets. He had a strong desire to explore it.

Determined, Qin Wentian placed a star meteorite in his palm, closed his eyes again, and the stellar energy in his body flowed out from his limbs and bones, surging toward the star child. At the same time, Qin Wentian continuously drew stellar energy from the star meteorite into his body.

He sat for a long time, the star child absorbing stellar energy like a bottomless pit, seemingly insatiable. Qin Wentian felt frustrated; if he could draw the energy from a star meteorite into his body and use it to temper his flesh, it would help him advance to the next realm more quickly.

But now, the stellar energy he absorbed was not used to temper his body but was given to the star child.

However, Qin Wentian was now in a bind and had to find out what was happening. As time passed, the star meteorite in his palm began to deplete its stellar energy, and the star child finally showed a faint glow.

"It's responding." Qin Wentian's heart trembled as his consciousness drifted toward the star child. He sensed that the star child was a consciousness entity, and his own consciousness was immersed in the boundless consciousness within the star child. Qin Wentian felt his consciousness was tiny, like being in the vast star river.

Qin Wentian's consciousness tried to communicate with the boundless consciousness, but he couldn't grasp anything. The consciousness entities seemed sealed.

"More stellar energy is needed." Qin Wentian continued to channel stellar energy into the star child, and when the energy from one star meteorite was depleted, he took another and continued. He was determined to find out what was happening.

Finally, Qin Wentian could feel the sealed consciousness entities gradually gaining a luster. After an unknown amount of time, a burst of stellar light suddenly shone, and Qin Wentian felt a vast consciousness envelop his own.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot into his consciousness, causing a great shock, almost dispersing it. His mind trembled, his head ached, and his body felt like it was about to collapse.

"Phew..." Qin Wentian took a deep breath. That moment was similar to when he received the Thousand Forgings Technique, a moment that felt both brief and long. Now, he was drenched in sweat.

"Memories, more memories." Qin Wentian's heart raced. The star child had once again dimmed, driving his consciousness out, but his mind now contained more memories.

The star child was like a treasure trove of memories, and each activation granted him extraordinary memories, all of which he needed. The last time it was the Thousand Forgings Technique, and this time, it was fragmented memories about forging, which he also needed.

"Father, what kind of stone did you leave me?" Qin Wentian looked into the void, as if he could see a gentle face, his father, watching him from the sky.

After a moment of silence, Qin Wentian opened his palm, looked at the second depleted star meteorite, and whispered, "To activate the star child, I need a vast amount of stellar energy, and this energy can only maintain a small part of the memory fragments. To activate it again, I need more expensive star meteorites."

After speaking, Qin Wentian continued to draw energy from the star meteorite, but this time not to activate the star child, but to replenish the energy in his limbs and bones. At the same time, Qin Wentian began to organize and absorb the memories.

Weapons were divided into ordinary weapons and divine weapons. Ordinary weapons had no power enhancement, while divine weapons could enhance a martial cultivator's strength. Therefore, when martial cultivators referred to weapons, they meant divine weapons.

Divine weapons were ranked from one to ten, with each rank further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Martial cultivators who could forge divine weapons were highly respected and called forging masters or alchemists. Those with forging star souls were more likely to become forging masters. Qin Wentian's Heavenly Hammer Star Soul was a type of forging star soul, and He Bo had once listed many martial destiny stars in the fifth heaven, showing his extensive knowledge.

"The memories state that for a forging master to forge, besides mastering the main forging techniques, the most important thing is to be able to engrave divine patterns. Those with forging star souls have an advantage in forging because they can directly form divine patterns in their bodies and then inject them into divine weapons using their star souls."

Qin Wentian slowly digested the memories, which even involved array formations.

Divine patterns were a special type of array formation, specifically used for forging, and were extremely complex.

The memories contained many basic and mixed divine patterns, which needed to be slowly comprehended.

"The status of forging masters on the continent is extraordinary. With a forging star soul, even becoming a basic first-rank forging master would allow me to forge divine weapons in exchange for star meteorites. If I become a second-rank forging master, joining the Star River Guild would grant me a unique status, and even the royal family or the Ye family would have to be cautious if they wanted to deal with me."

Qin Wentian thought to himself. The forging star soul from the fifth heaven was his talent, and he must make good use of it. Since he was involved in this turmoil, he had to plan for his and the Qin family's future, improving his cultivation while becoming a forging master.

For five days, Qin Wentian immersed himself in the study of divine patterns during the day and meditation and the Thousand Forgings Technique at night, ignoring everything else. Since Qin Hao told him not to worry, he focused on improving himself.

The training ground where Qin Wentian was now had many iron sheets with complex patterns, which he had practiced engraving over the past few days. The divine patterns seemed to have a life of their own, floating on the iron sheets, forming intricate divine pattern diagrams.

"Now, my accuracy is getting higher and higher." Qin Wentian stood there, and in his star meridians, divine patterns shone like symbols, forming a sharp sword with powerful piercing force. In his hand, he held a large hammer, like a star soul hammer.

Qin Wentian's feet trembled slightly, and the divine pattern sword in his body surged through the star meridians, rushing toward his arm and flowing into the hammer. At the same time, Qin Wentian raised his arm and struck the iron sheet below with great force.

"Clang!"

A crisp sound echoed as the hammer landed on the iron sheet. The iron sheet glowed with a divine pattern sword, emitting a sharp aura, making Qin Wentian smile.

"The most important divine patterns in forging are no problem, so forging will be easy. I am indeed a natural forging master."

Qin Wentian chuckled softly. Although he was satisfied with his engraving of divine patterns, he still didn't realize how much of an advantage he had compared to other forging masters.