Immortal Taoist

The next day was pretty eventful as early morning on the first light of the day, thunder clouds gathered above the mountain of the Martial Arts Dividion and lightning fell from the sky under the watchful gaze of the inner sect diciples.

Meng Lin stood next to Feng Yue and watched as thunder fell but held a disappointed gaze as she realized that the system didn’t react to it.

At the Tribulation Platform, the figure of Xu Ruan elevated a few feets of the floor as he released his aura of the Gold Core Realm.

Across his body were bits of burnt mark but he didn’t appear bothered by it as he went through the tribulation with little difficulty.

Meng Lin watched in admiration as Xu Ruan successfully overcame the tribulation, his power and aura increasing to new heights.

After the tribulation ended, the disciples cheered and congratulated Xu Ruan on his achievement.

Meng Lin returned to her courtyard, feeling a sense of urgency and inspiration from witnessing the tribulation.

She might not have gained anything through the system, but her perception was improved and she gained a few more percentage to her cultivation.

As she walked through the serene courtyard and past the tranquil pond she held a sense of determination and gratitude.

Meng Lin began to meditate, focusing her mind on the path ahead and the inner strength and wisdom she would need to succeed.

Over the next five days, Meng Lin continued her trainings, with a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration.

On the first day, Meng Lin spent the morning working on her blacksmithing skills, creating two other low grade weapons and improving her techniques.

Later on she went to the sect market and was able to buy a few book on blacksmiths and their different weapons grade.

She bought a few book on elixers as well as pills since she had been thinking about releasing the three girls in her inventory.

In the afternoon, she went to the Pagoda of five elements and practiced her Black Tortoise Essence Art.

And after cafully pushing herself to her absolute limit she broke through the second cycle, reaching the strenuous goal of cultivating her spiritual vains.

With that she didn’t have to fear her veins bursting from over exertion of qi or pressure.

After that Meng Lin spent the next day working on her blacksmithing skills, this time she focused on the items section.

She created five new items and improved her percentage in the intermediate blacksmith panel.

Meng Lin was pleased with her progress, but she knew she couldn't become complacent.

She continued with her training as well, spending hours each day practicing her swordsmanship, refining her Qi and practicing all the techniques at her disposal.

On the third day, she focused entirely on blacksmith and after creating over dozens of low grade weapons and items she managed to reach the peak of her percentage in her intermediate blacksmith panel.

The fourth day, Meng Lin ran into a problem, she had run out of ingredients and she had also run out of spirit stones.

She had used all of it to buy dozens of ingredients for her blacksmith to increase her percentage.

Meng Lin spent that entire day inside the sect market, and after going through dozens of different vendors and other shops she managed to sell the weapons and items that she had created.

She made sure that all the vendors and shop were far apart as to not appear suspicious with so many low grade weapons.

After completing the task Meng Lin was dissatisfied to see that she only procured 2360 spirit stones from the dozens of weapons and items that she had sold.

None the less Meng Lin wasn’t discouraged as she used the spirit stones to buy ingredients for a middle grade sword.

She had to go through the process of crafting a middle stage weapon before her blacksmiths panel can upgrade.

So after buying multiple ingredients of similar descriptions she made her way to her courtyard before going to bed.

On the fifth day, Meng Lin decided to finally put her skills in blacksmiths to the test.

[Blacksmith (intermediate) 100%]

Weapon slot: Middle Grade Sword

Ingredients: Fire Stone, Ocean pearlx4, Diamond dustx9, Ruby Pearlx6, Jade Essencex5.

Chance of success: 20%

Meng Lin took a deep breath and began to focus her spiritual consciousness, channeling it into the blacksmithing furnace.

She carefully placed the ingredients into the furnace, making sure to follow the instructions she had learned from the blacksmithing books.

After pressing the start button she watched as a timer appeared before her.

14:59 seconds

With her spiritual consciousness she watched as the ingredients began to melt and fuse together.

The fire burned brighter and hotter, and Meng Lin could feel the pressure building up inside it as she watched.

As the timer ticked down, the sword began to take shape, the blade grew longer and sharper, and the hilt became more defined.

Meng Lin could feel the energy pulsing through the sword, and after careful observation she knew that she it had failed.

She waited for the timer to reach zero and the cauldron buzzed before spewing out a sword charred in fine burns.

[You cannot gain more experience anymore]

Meng Lin didn’t feel a sense of disappointment as she had experienced in refining with the couldron these past few days.

She examined the charred sword, trying to figure out what went wrong and after some careful inspection.

Meng Lin took out a book and carefully read and reread the parts that mentioned the temperature of the flames.

She spent an entire hour reading about the temperature control and how much is needed for each different weapon refinement.

After she was done she focused her spiritual consciousness, channeled it into the blacksmithing furnace once again.

After carefully placing the ingredients into the furnace she pressed the start button and waited.

She watched as the sword began to take shape again, and she could feel the energy pulsing through it once again, the pulse caused her heartrate to increase.

As the timer ticked down, Meng Lin could feel anticipation building up within her.

Finally, when the timer reached zero the couldron began to cool down and the sword was complete.

Meng Lin carefully watched the sword that appeared above the couldron as panels began to appear before her.

[Congratulations! You have successfully created a middle grade spirit weapon: Jade Dust Sword]

[For successfully creatingd a middle grade weapon for the first time you have received the items: Fire Stone3, Ocean pearlx8, Diamond dustx22, Ruby Pearlx15, Jade Essencex10]

Meng Lin didn’t turn her attention as she seemed mesmerized by the sword.

It was stunning, with a gleaming, polished surface and a sharp, deadly blade.

She could feel the power emanating from the sword, and she felt that it was a weapon worthy of her.

Meng Lin smiled to herself, feeling proud of her accomplishment. She had been able to create a middle grade weapon after just a little over a week of starting on her blacksmith path.

She was especially happy because the weapon seemed to not have any flaws, looking at it Meng Lin began to realize that her luck wasn’t half bad.

She was one step closer to achieving her plan and she felt it was worth it ‘now only one more breakthrough left’

With a renewed confidence, Meng Lin smiled as she felt that she would become even stronger before the nether cloud domain opens.