Forging weapons

"Senior, I would like to know, do you have high-rank Demonic Beast blood essence here?" Long Chen asked with a look of expectation.

Just as Long Chen had anticipated, the old man nodded and said, "I do. They are all fourth-rank Demonic Beast blood essence. Do you want some?"

According to A-Man, his Master had always accompanied him on hunts and he frequently ate fourth-rank Demonic Beasts, which was why his body was so powerful.

One had to know that the blood essence of a fourth-rank Demonic Beast was a treasure; whether it was for tempering the body or for use in Alchemy, it had extremely wide applications.

That was why Long Chen had asked this question, and upon hearing this reply, Long Chen could not help but be overjoyed: "Senior, could you give me some?"

"That is a trivial matter. All this 'Senior, Senior' talk makes me uncomfortable. I am Cang Ming. Since you do not wish to take me as your Master, just call me Uncle Cang Ming," Cang Ming said, waving his hand.

Long Chen glanced at Ling Yunzi. If he called Cang Ming 'Uncle', wouldn't that put him on the same generational level as the Sect Leader?

Ling Yunzi saw through Long Chen's thoughts and smiled faintly: "That does not matter. Our Xuantian Branch Sect is different from other Sects.

Other Sects have Masters leading Disciples, and Disciples leading grand-Disciples, placing great importance on seniority. Our Xuantian Branch Sect is similar to the style of ordinary secular academies; we are not constrained by seniority."

Only then did Long Chen smile at Cang Ming: "Long Chen greets Uncle Cang Ming."

"Hehe, kid, actually, this old man really thinks highly of you. The arrogance and ruthlessness in your bones are exactly the same as mine back in the day.

Only someone like you can truly bring yourself to attack when encountering those vicious Evil Path Disciples.

As for those cabbages in the greenhouse, bah, I cannot even be bothered to evaluate them. Little Ling, do not be dismissive.

I have said it long ago: the rules of the Branch Sect have problems. What kind of people are cultivated under this framework?

They all dress up more beautifully than anyone else. In real combat, do we compare who is stronger? Do we compare who knows more battle skills? Do we compare whose moves are flashier?

To put it bluntly, the ultimate goal of combat is to take down the opponent with the least consumption. If you can kill in one strike, you absolutely must not strike a second time.

When encountering an opponent stronger than yourself, you must be like Long Chen: even if you kill me, you will not survive.

Look at that, what was his name, Wu something?"

Cang Ming suddenly could not recall the name, so Tu Fang hurriedly chimed in: "His name is Wu Qi."

"Right, right, that Wu Qi, he is simply a piece of dog shit. Arrogant and conceited; with his character, if he encountered a vicious Evil Path expert, he would absolutely be scared until he pissed himself.

In a life-or-death battle, he still wants to play tricks and use psychological tactics? Bah, is this the expert you cultivated?

You cultivated a bunch of pigs and sent them to those Evil Path Disciples for practice. The Disciples of our Branch Sect are becoming worse with each generation."

The more Cang Ming spoke, the angrier he became. By the end, he could not help but sigh, and a trace of sadness appeared in his eyes, as if he were recalling something.

Ling Yunzi remained silent while being scolded. He also knew that the Branch Sect's rules had some problems, but the key was that these were rules established by those above, and they could not be changed.

"Little Ling, although your talent was extremely strong back then, you lacked a ruthless streak in your bones. You were too hesitant in doing things and lacked courage.

That is why you eventually became the Sect Leader of our Branch Sect. Think about the experts of your generation; what is their cultivation level now?

Being steady and prudent in life certainly has its benefits, but as a cultivator, it will not do. If you lack courage and resolve, you simply cannot go far.

Talent is just a fart. If you release it, it might make a sound and stink up the place, but if you cannot release it, who knows what kind of fart you are holding in?"

Hearing this, Long Chen nearly laughed out loud, but he had to admit that Cang Ming was absolutely right. His words were crude but the logic was sound; it was truly hitting the nail on the head.

There are plenty of people with talent, but without the will to cultivate desperately and the determination to bravely climb to the peak and break through the shackles of heaven and earth, even the best talent is a waste. Just as Cang Ming said, a fart held in the stomach is useless if it cannot be released.

Long Chen had always scoffed at this selection method of the Branch Sect; other than the Immortal Cave assessment, he did not really agree with the other methods.

"Little Ling, life is short, like grass in spring; it passes very quickly. As the saying goes, 'a person leaves a name, a goose leaves a sound.' I want to ask you, when you die, do you know what you will have left behind?

You will have left nothing. You have spent your whole life living properly and doing things conscientiously," Cang Ming shook his head regretfully.

"I originally wanted to cultivate you into a true Martial Artist, but you insisted on listening to my Senior Brother and being an obedient, good child."

Cang Ming looked at A-Man, his eyes full of satisfaction: "Heaven has treated me well, allowing me to meet such a precious Disciple in my twilight years, hehe."

"Heaven has also treated me well. Meeting you, old man, I can finally eat until I cannot eat anymore," A-Man also said with a look of gratitude.

A-Man's expression made Cang Ming burst into laughter. Although A-Man was a bit slow and a bit foolish, he never beat around the bush. Even though he would sometimes make people angry, Cang Ming genuinely liked this silly kid.

He treated A-Man like his own child. He knew that A-Man was honest and kind and would absolutely never bully others. Therefore, when A-Man was bullied, he did not care about the consequences and directly slapped Elder Sun flying.

If it were not for the sake of Ling Yunzi, the Sect Leader, he would have long since dragged Elder Sun over and kicked him to death.

Cang Ming's originally somewhat depressed mood was diluted a lot by A-Man's words, and the whole atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Ling Yunzi pondered for a moment, then looked at Long Chen and said: "Long Chen, how do you think the Branch Sect should develop so that the Disciples can become stronger?"

Long Chen smiled bitterly and said: "Sect Leader, you are embarrassing this Disciple. This kid is just a rookie in the Blood Condensation Realm; how could I understand so much?"

Ling Yunzi smiled slightly, thinking to himself, 'You still do not know how terrifying you are. When you find out, you will not think that way anymore.'

"It is fine. Speak your thoughts; I want to hear them," Ling Yunzi said seriously.

Seeing that Ling Yunzi did not mean to joke, Long Chen could not keep acting cheeky and said seriously:

"Since the Sect Leader has ordered it, this kid will have to spout some nonsense. Actually, in my eyes, the rules of the Branch Sect are: make the horse run, but do not give the horse grass to eat.

You want to cultivate Disciples, yet you do not give them enough space, and you insist on engaging in this kind of competition that resembles a child's game. It is truly boring!"

Tu Fang frowned and said: "Without competition, how can there be a sense of urgency? Without a sense of urgency, how can one cultivate quickly?"

Clearly, Tu Fang was somewhat dissatisfied with Long Chen's words. If there were no competition and resources were distributed equally, wouldn't the growth of the Disciples be too slow?

"Competition is certainly a good thing, but there is a prerequisite: it must be a healthy way of competing.

It is very obvious that the Branch Sect's competition is a morbid way of competing. The original intention of the Branch Sect was good.

To let everyone compete and improve together, using mutual pressure to stimulate the will to strive for strength, thereby giving everyone the desire to surpass each other and cultivate desperately.

Just as Senior Cang Ming said, this method itself is not wrong, but the so-called experts cultivated are just a bunch of trash.

They think that because their cultivation is high, their talent is good, and their battle skills are strong, they can be invincible in the world.

Such people, once they reach a life-or-death battle, will find out how ridiculous their reliance on these things is.

The opponent does not care about your cultivation, your battle skills, or your talent; they simply want to chop off your head.

At such a moment, those flashy battle styles become tofu in the Face of someone else's desperate attack. The final result is dying flashily at someone else's hands."

After Long Chen finished speaking, Tu Fang and Ling Yunzi fell into a silence. Long Chen had pointed out the awkward current situation of the Branch Sect, but it was something that could not be changed.

You cannot just let these Disciples kill each other, right? Not to mention that those above would not agree, if that were the case, which power would send their Disciples to the Branch Sect?

The final assessment had already made countless powers shrink back; if they continued to let Disciples die, the Branch Sect would not even be able to recruit Disciples in the future.

"How can we improve this situation?" Ling Yunzi looked at Long Chen and asked.

"Establish an enemy," Long Chen said very straightforwardly.

"Oh?"

"Aren't we mortal enemies with the Evil Path? Then there is no need to establish one. Didn't Uncle Cang Ming say that our Disciples are their whetstones?

Then why can't we make them our whetstones? When a goal is established, everyone will develop towards one goal, uniting everyone into a single rope.

It is much better than us fighting amongst ourselves like this. Moreover, the result of internal strife is that everyone stops trusting each other and becomes mutually hostile. Even if a common enemy appears, it will be difficult to unite," Long Chen said.

Tu Fang nodded and said: "This is indeed a method, but we do not know when the Evil Path Disciples will invade, which is a bit troublesome."

"Can we not invade them?" Long Chen asked somewhat strangely.

Tu Fang and Ling Yunzi could not help but be shocked. Traditionally, it was always after the Evil Path invaded that they were forced to counterattack. Over a long period, a habit had formed, with a focus on defense.

Today, Long Chen proposed an active attack, which made them very tempted, but this matter still needed to be considered.

"Thank you. I will consider it," Ling Yunzi smiled at Long Chen, space moved, and he disappeared in front of everyone with Tu Fang.

"Long Chen, this is the Demonic Beast blood essence I have collected. Take it all and use it," Cang Ming said, taking out a spatial ring and throwing it directly to Long Chen.

Long Chen opened the ring to look, and even with Long Chen's composure, he almost shouted in excitement. There were actually more than fifty full vats of Demonic Beast blood essence.

Those were all fourth-rank Demonic Beast blood essence! If they were made into Ten Thousand Beast blood essence, it would definitely make his cultivation skyrocket.

"Besides, Uncle has nothing else to give you. I will forge a weapon for you later as a welcome gift," Cang Ming said.

"Old man, didn't you lose the bet? How did it become a gift?" A-Man asked somewhat strangely.

Cang Ming's old Face immediately flushed red, and he glared fiercely at A-Man. Being smart when one should not be is the most annoying thing.

Hearing that Cang Ming wanted to forge a weapon for him, Long Chen could not help but be ecstatic. He really lacked a handy weapon right now.

"Then thank you, Uncle Cang Ming. I hope my weapon can be a bit heavier," Long Chen said excitedly.

"Then you can throw a punch at me with all your strength so I can see," Cang Ming said.

Long Chen did not stand on ceremony. Knowing that Cang Ming was estimating his strength, he unleashed his full power and threw a punch.

Boom!

Long Chen's punch was blocked by Cang Ming. A look of surprise appeared in Cang Ming's eyes: "Stronger than I imagined. You actually have over eighty thousand catties of force. How about I forge you a fifty thousand catty broadsword?"

"150,000 catties, or even heavier is fine," Long Chen said with great anticipation.