Zhao Yunxiao woke up feeling refreshed the next morning.
There were still a few weeks until the opening of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm, and there would even be a briefing to attend before that. So, it was not something that he had to worry about for the time being.
With the recruitment test over and done with, he could finally spend some time pursuing his own goals once again.
After going through his usual morning practices, Zhao Yunxiao headed to the Lightwind Pavilion for breakfast.
He was the first to arrive, but it did not take long before the rest started showing up one after another.
"Congratulations, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!" Lu Zhiying cheered upon hearing that he had successfully passed the second stage of the recruitment test.
Huang An had passed as well, but her test had ended a day earlier than that of the observer test. Because of that, the group had already celebrated her success the day before.
"Thank you, Junior Martial Sister Lu," Zhao Yunxiao said with a smile.
"Make sure you don't screw up this time," Gu Qiansi said.
"You are making it sound like I did screw up last time," Zhao Yunxiao rolled his eyes.
"It's a pity that I can't be there, but please let me know if you see Senior Martial Brother Wei beat up that crazy woman Quan Hui!" Lu Zhiying added.
"Haha, you don't have to worry about that. I will definitely let everyone know if I ever see that happen!" Zhao Yunxiao laughed.
"By Quan Hui, I assume that you mean Infernal Claw, Quan Hui of the Vermilion Bird Sect?" Bo Fei raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What's with the animosity?"
"Don't you know? That crazy woman is the one responsible for all their injuries," Nie Hanchang remarked.
Gu Qiansi: "..."
Since when did Nie Hanchang join Zhao Yunxiao and Lu Zhiying in calling Quan Hui a crazy woman as well?
"Woah! Seriously? What did you do to incur her wrath?" Bo Fei exclaimed in shock. "Wait, am I the last to know this?"
"Let's just drop the matter," Gu Qiansi said with a helpless sigh. "After all, she only did what she did because of a misunderstanding."
She could not help but feel that something would go wrong if their group continued addressing Quan Hui in such a disrespectful manner.
No matter what happened, the other party was still a core disciple of the Vermilion Bird Sect while they were mere outer disciples.
In the worst case scenario, they might even end up getting punished by their own sect administrators for showing such blatant disrespect!
"That's true, we mustn't get caught calling her names, so make sure to keep this among ourselves," Zhao Yunxiao reminded everyone.
"Understood! I will be careful!" Lu Zhiying agreed. "Make sure to be careful about what you say too, Senior Martial Brother Bo!"
"Why are you only asking me?" Bo Fei was confused.
"I'm sure Senior Martial Brother Nie and Senior Martial Sister Huang won't go around saying things carelessly," Lu Zhiying answered frankly.
"And I will...?" Bo Fei felt the corner of his lips twitch.
"Won't you?" Lu Zhiying tilted her head in confusion.
Bo Fei: "..."
This was exactly why he told Zhao Yunxiao that some flowers should only be admired from afar!
Gu Qiansi let out a helpless sigh upon seeing this.
She would have preferred that they refrain from calling Quan Hui names even in private, but this was better than nothing, at least.
"So, what will everyone be doing today?" Zhao Yunxiao asked out of curiosity.
"Training," Nie Hanchang answered in a heartbeat.
"Right..." Zhao Yunxiao was not surprised.
"Junior Martial Sister Lu and I will be having a discussion with Senior Martial Sister Chang and Senior Martial Sister Luo later," Gu Qiansi said.
"I see," Zhao Yunxiao nodded. "I will see you guys tonight if you are done by then."
Chang Min and Luo Ling were two of Gu Qiansi's closest friends in the sect, and it would seem that Lu Zhiying was starting to join the group as well.
"I will be heading to the Alchemy Chamber for work," Bo Fei said.
"I will be going to the Medicine Pavilion to do some research," Huang An said.
"What about you?" Gu Qiansi asked him in return.
"Forge duties," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. "After that, I am thinking of visiting the Sect Market to see if there are any suitable weapons."
"A miser like you is actually going to look for a new weapon?" Gu Qiansi exclaimed in surprise. "Is your halberd finally completely worn out?"
"No, this is simply the non-miserly me thinking of getting a good weapon!" Zhao Yunxiao corrected. "I just hope that I can find something suitable."
"If you can't find something like that, why not make one for yourself?" Nie Hanchang asked.
"Make one for myself?" Zhao Yunxiao was slightly taken aback.
"That's right. Isn't that both cheaper and better?" Nie Hanchang continued. "All you would need to do is get the necessary materials from the Sect Market."
"Oh, that would be cool!" Lu Zhiying chimed in. "Why not do that, Senior Martial Brother Zhao? I am available if you need a helper!"
"Hahaha! You really overestimate our Junior Martial Brother Zhao!" Bo Fei laughed. "Not everyone is like you, Brother Nie. Just because you are capable of forging a mythical tier weapon doesn't mean that everyone else is cut out for it as well! Rather than risk wasting loads of materials on creating inferior products, it is definitely much safer to just purchase a decent one off the shelf."
Nie Hanchang: "..."
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
"Is it really that difficult, Senior Martial Brother Zhao?" Lu Zhiying asked.
"It is indeed not easy to create a good weapon," Zhao Yunxiao agreed. "On top of skill and experience, a lot of luck is involved as well."
"Why don't you help Senior Martial Brother Zhao create a weapon then, Senior Martial Brother Nie?" Lu Zhiying asked. "Or is that too much to ask?"
"This..." Nie Hanchang looked at Zhao Yunxiao hesitantly. "Should I?"
"There's no rush, so let's discuss this further in the future..." Zhao Yunxiao let out a dry laugh.
Gu Qiansi narrowed her eyes at Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang.
She could not help but feel that the duo was hiding some sort of secret from the rest of them.
After breakfast, the group split up to go about their separate plans.
Today, the Forge was closed to all disciples, strictly declining all walk-ins and reservations.
This was so that the duty disciples could fully focus on their task – to perform basic forging duties for the sect.
While most disciples usually already possessed their own set of trusted equipment, the sect needed to be stocked up with sufficient equipment as well.
Due to various reasons, such as equipment breaking or simply wanting to try out a new style, it was not uncommon for disciples to require additional basic equipment on short notice.
Therefore, the sect had to be ready with a stock of basic equipment to accommodate any of such last minute requests.
And rather than purchasing the basic equipment from mortal smiths, the sect administrators preferred to get their disciples to create them from scratch.
This way, they could not only give their disciples some forging practice, but they could also ensure that the equipment would not have been tampered with.
After all, the quality of their equipment could easily determine the difference between life or death in an actual battle between cultivators!
For this forging activity, duty disciples were paired up for maximum efficiency, with each pair occupying a furnace room.
Zhao Yunxiao might already have years of experience under his belt, but he naturally took on a supporting role after being paired with a senior outer disciple who was already in his thirties.
"Don't worry, I am very easy to get along with," the senior outer disciple assured him. "I have already done this countless times in the past, so just follow my lead. My motto is very simple – minimal requirements at maximum efficiency. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand, Senior Martial Brother," Zhao Yunxiao understood immediately.
Minimal requirements at maximum efficiency.
In other words, making the equipment as quickly as possible so that they could be done with this early, not seeking too high a quality for the products as long as they did not fail to meet the minimum requirements stipulated by the sect.
This was the motto followed by most duty disciples whenever it came to performing basic forging duties for the sect, and Zhao Yunxiao was no exception.
After all, most of the equipment would either be used as spares or for testing purposes.
In either situation, any equipment would do the job as long as it was of semi-decent quality, so there was no need to put too much effort into it.
Anyway, it was not like they would be rewarded for churning out better quality equipment.
On top of that, the materials provided by the sect were limited.
If they ended up failing while trying to pursue higher quality, it would only end up causing them to expend more materials. And if it got to the point where they ran out of materials, they would almost certainly be penalised for it.
All things considered, the costs of seeking quality in this activity far exceeded the benefits!
Zhao Yunxiao and his partner immediately got to work after organising the materials provided by the administrative deacon, Tian Guiren.
There was a lot to do, so it was best to get started quickly if they wanted to knock off on time.
Today, the two of them were put in charge of forging sabres, and Zhao Yunxiao's partner's experience really showed through during the forging process.
He truly had the entire process at his fingertips, proceeding to churn out sabre after sabre in the exact same manner, each step performed within the exact same amount of time.
Zhao Yunxiao was more than pleased to see that.
Everything followed a very systematic and methodical approach, making it extremely easy for Zhao Yunxiao to provide his support.
By the time the first sabre was completed, Zhao Yunxiao already understood exactly when and where he was needed during each step of the process.
One led in a consistent manner, and one followed perfectly.
Just like that, the pair worked like clockwork as they forged the sabres at breakneck speed.
In the end, they completed their work much earlier than expected. Not only that, but their consistency also greatly reduced the chances of failure, resulting in plenty of materials being left over.
"Well done, you are the first group to finish," Tian Guiren commented after inspecting the batch of sabres. "Since the two of you did so well, I shall let you have the leftover materials as a reward. Split it among yourselves as you deem fit."
"Thank you, Senior Tian!" both of them answered in unison.
"Don't mention it, you earned this," Tian Guiren nodded in acknowledgement. "If there's nothing else, you can leave early."
After Tian Guiren left the furnace room with the new batch of sabres, Zhao Yunxiao's partner turned to him.
"I am a very fair person. You have done well to support me, so you can have more of the rewards," Zhao Yunxiao's partner said.
"Senior Martial Brother is too kind. In any case, I was only able to support you well because of how methodical you were in the process," Zhao Yunxiao answered frankly.
"Even then, few are able to follow my lead as well as you do," his partner said. "Just accept it. I don't really have much use for these materials anyway."
"Since Senior Martial Brother insists, then I will shamelessly accept your offer," Zhao Yunxiao nodded. "But may I ask how Senior Martial Brother intends to use your share of the materials?"
In fact, these leftover materials were nothing uncommon. If they wanted to, they could easily get them from the Sect Market at a reasonable price.
That was why Zhao Yunxiao was not too surprised that his partner was being so generous about it.
"What else can I do with it? Probably just experiment with something simple. But by asking that, does it mean that you are considering starting on a major project?" his partner asked. "I advise you not to be too ambitious. It is not easy to create something good. Most of the time, it is much cheaper to just buy something decent off the Sect Market instead of spending a fortune on repeatedly forging something on your own. In fact, most who attempt something like this still end up with something of a similar quality in the end."
"I will take Senior Martial Brother's advice to heart," Zhao Yunxiao nodded.
"Well then, it's been a pleasure working with you. I will take my leave now, and I look forward to working with you again in the future."
"Farewell, Senior Martial Brother."
With that, his partner collected just a small part of the leftover materials before leaving.
Zhao Yunxiao, however, remained in the furnace room and stared at the rest of the leftover materials.
His partner had stayed true to his word, only taking less than ten percent of the leftover materials and leaving the rest for Zhao Yunxiao.
This amount of materials would have been enough to forge more than a dozen sabres!
At this moment, various thoughts ran through Zhao Yunxiao's head.
The conversation that he just had with his partner reminded him of the one he had at the Lightwind Pavilion just a few hours earlier.
Back then, Bo Fei had said a similar thing – that it was safer to simply get a decent weapon from the Sect Market rather than risk wasting materials by trying to make one himself.
However, there was one thing that both his partner and Bo Fei were unaware of.
Zhao Yunxiao had been involved in the creation of the mythical tier Grand Annihilator as well!
As for the only other person who knew this...
Your smithing skills are really amazing. Have you ever considered seriously pursuing this path?
I just find it to be a waste of your talent.
Why not make one for yourself?
Nie Hanchang's past words resounded in his head.
And looking at the materials that had suddenly fallen into his hands, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel that this was a sign of sorts.
Previously, he had already considered the path of smithing as a possible auxiliary path.
While the materials for a sabre were not exactly the same as those for a halberd, they were still similar to a certain extent, and it would not be difficult if he wanted to make up for the rest.
Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to get started?