After the meeting, Elder Hai Mo dismissed us, but not before assuring us that he would gather everyone in the Blood Blades the next day.

"I'll send out a mass email tomorrow morning, and have everyone gather on the day after tomorrow. That should give us ample time to prepare."

While I nodded, I glanced at the book he was reading when we entered, and unsurprisingly enough, it was a book on Spirit Engravings for battle-automata. Evidently Elder Hai Mo was taking these battle-automata thing seriously, and was preparing a major lesson for all of us in the Blood Blades, disciple or master.

"Can I join in too?" Tang Qi Hong asked eagerly. That was the whole reason why she tagged along in the first place – to learn Spirit Engraving for battle-automata.

Elder Hai smiled indulgently and nodded. "Of course you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you!" Tang Qi Hong was delighted. "I will see you in two days' then!"

"I'll be glad if you can join us." Elder Hai nodded. "But make sure you don't neglect your usual forging practice!"

"I won't!"

Unfortunately, I couldn't attend classes in Wu Ling Academy, travel back to Tushan, deal with the battle-automata, spend a couple of hours doing martial arts training, and then still have the time to do extra forging stuff (okay, I got my priorities wrong, the battle-automata should be the extra stuff, not my usual forging practice) all in the same day.

"You okay, Fei Wu?"

Tang Qi Hong noticed that I was scowling, and couldn't help but be concerned. I immediately forced a smile over my face and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry about Liang Shao Yang. I don't think he's stupid enough to try anything. Father is keeping a close eye on him."

"I'm relieved," I muttered sarcastically. "But I'm not worried about him. Sorry, I was just cursing Li Xiao Yao inwardly for being such a Mary Sue."

"Who?!" Tang Qi Hong's eyes widened.

"Nobody," I quickly said, and then turned to bow respectfully to Elder Hai. "I look forward to your guidance."

"Don't worry about it. It's only natural that we teach the disciples of our sect. We're not like the Azure Water Sect. We actually teach our disciples directly instead of just giving them contribution points and leaving it to them to redeem techniques and learn on their own."

"What's the point of joining a sect then if they're left to learn on their own?"

Elder Zhao asked, confused. Elder Hai shrugged.

"I don't know. You should ask Jian You Tai Xu. Perhaps it's for prestige, or just to move the plot along."

Was it my imagination, or was Elder Hai breaking the fourth wall after reading Eternal Reverence? Nah..it can't be.

"I'll handle the grounds and book a venue for your training sessions, Ah Mo." The middle-aged lady spoke up with a gentle smile.

"Thank you, Rong'er." Elder Hai smiled at his wife. "I'll leave the booking of the venue to you then. The main sect hall would be the best place because of its size. I'm hoping for a place where all the Blood Blade members can fit in."

"I'll make sure you get it."

Hai Rong nodded and disappeared into the room, presumably to book the venue online. Everything could be done from home these days, it was really convenient.

After the pleasantries, the three of us left Elder Hai's house and proceeded down the Flame Volcano. Shortly after we made our way down, Elder Zhao parted with us, saying that he needed to meet up with Shen Cha in his office.

Given how the elders' residence (which doubled as their offices) were clustered in the same area, it was only natural that he separated from us at such an early stage. Tang Qi Hong's inner sect disciple residence was just a bit further down, but obviously the inner sect disciples didn't share the same status and amount of prestige as the elders. Consequently, I could escort her back to her place, with the two of us alone together.

"I can't wait!" Tang Qi Hong stretched herself cheerfully, beaming as she looked forward to the battle-automata lessons. I nodded.

"Yeah."

"This is all thanks to you! I have no idea how you managed to obtain all those battle-automata, but thanks to you, Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is strengthened considerably!"

That statement caused alarm bells to ring. Tang Qi Hong just tripped some ominous flag – and the timing of my discovery of the battle-automata and my subsequent sale of them to the sect was too fortuitous. If my knowledge of xianxian novels was correct, then this heralded a sign that our sect was going to be attacked by a great force in future. The battle-automata would come into play here, as part of our defense against that immense assault.

The only question was who would be behind that assault. The Divine Shadow Sect? A coalition of demonic sects? And when did they plan to attack us, exactly? On the bright side, we were guaranteed some peace until we finished learning how to Spirit Engrave and control the battle-automata, but obviously I couldn't tell every Blood Blade member not to learn how to Spirit Engrave and control the battle-automata.

They would just laugh my reasons off and tell me I read too many wuxia and xianxia novels. Which I did, admittedly, but in what seemed like cruel irony, they would be telling me to stop mixing reality and fiction together.

On the other hand, if we were to follow the rules of such fiction closely, then our victory over the enemy would be inevitable, and I shouldn't have to worry about the conflict in the first place. Perhaps Zhu Jiao would swing in like the Messiah-like protagonist that he was and save our sect from the enemies, even though he wasn't actually part of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Then again, not being a member never stopped protagonists from meddling and saving the day..

"I'll see you in class tomorrow then!"

Stopping in front of her residence and completely oblivious to my pessimistic misgivings, Tang Qi Hong smiled brightly and waved before she entered the inner sect disciple dormitory. I nodded and then turned to proceed toward the apartment complex housing all the members of the Blood Blades.

The apartment complex allocated to the Blood Blades was further down the Flame Volcano, and my journey back to it brought me past the plaza floating atop the lake at the foot of the volcano. Even now, there were still many martial artists gathering at the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars in hopes of trying to achieve enlightenment.

I could still sense the dreadful entity dwelling at the bottom of the lake, sealed by the Spirit Engraved Pillars, but far from being discouraged, it was still trying to reach out. If I tried to probe the Spirit Engraved Pillars, it would become aware of my existence and try to possess me. Even though I had gotten a bit stronger than last year, I wasn't stupid enough to take unnecessary risks.

That said..once I reach the required level, I'll attempt to communicate with the entity sealed inside, and if necessary..I'll add more layers of seals.

Unfortunately, I was still quite far off from being able to do something like that. Shaking my head, I spared the group of people massing around the Spirit Engraved Pillars one last glance and then left them to whatever they were doing. Most of them clearly hoped they would be lucky enough to trigger a response from the ominous Spirit Engraved Pillars, and refused to give up. If I hadn't felt that menacing presence, I would probably be one of them too.

But one of these days I would need to confront that demon and resolve this matter once and for all.

Before I entered my apartment, Tong Xue popped his head out of the neighboring apartment and called out to me.

"Wu! You're back!"

"In black," I replied humorously. Tong Xue stared at me, puzzled, obviously not getting the reference. Without a neuralyzer, sunglasses and a suit, I couldn't show him, so I just waved as a friendly greeting.

"What's up?"

"Well..why don't you come in and chat?"

"Sure." Without any real reason to refuse, I stepped into his apartment when he beckoned me. It seemed a bit messy, so I had to step around discarded belongings before settling down on a chair not far away.

"It's been about a year since we joined the Blood Blades, eh?" Tong Xue leaned on the luxurious-looking couch. "It feels like only yesterday when we met Sect Lady Da Ji and talked to Elder Zhao about our entry..and when I told Lian Rou about it."

"Yeah." I nodded somewhat indifferently, not as hung up on nostalgia as he was. But now that he mentioned it, it really had been quite a while.

"It feels great, not needing to waste time on forging spirit artifacts and Spirit Engraving!" Tong Xue rolled over on the couch lazily, almost like a cat. I scowled at that.

Unlike Tong Xue, I had chosen to remain in the Spirit Engraving and blacksmithing classes in order to forge my own weapon. Even though it was not necessary for me to do so, I preferred to take a crack at it myself.

In the past, I had naively tried to craft rifles and ranged weapons like guns, but that was nothing but a far-fetched dream. Since everyone could effectively shoot qi blasts out of their hands, there was really no need for guns or ranged weapons. I had attempted to refine the concept to render guns more like conduits that could amplify the firepower of those qi blasts, much like spirit arrows or spirit swords that enhanced the wielder's melee capabilities rather than functioning as simple weapons, but quite clearly I had failed.

Qi bullets were fine and all, but unless they were more powerful than the qi blasts that we could fire out of our bare hands, it was a waste of time and space crafting rifles and carrying them around. For some reason I was unable to replicate the enhancement effect of spirit arrows or the melee weapons (people could unleash even more powerful qi blasts with swings of their swords, for example) for the guns.

This was so unfair. If I was a protagonist of a xianxia or wuxia story, I would be revolutionizing weapons technology with my modern knowledge and overawing everyone with my invention of guns and rifles. Too bad reality was never that convenient, and I was stuck being a mediocre, low-ranking blacksmith who was unable to fulfil his ideals.

"Oh, right..so were you able to forge your Spirit Weapon that you wanted to? You said you got that last component you needed from the Nascent Soul Stage Practitioner's tomb. It's been a week since then. How is your progress?"

"Um..ha ha, well..I kind of put it on the backburner for another project.."

Laughing sheepishly, I bowed my head in embarrassment. Tong Xue shook his head in disapproval.

"As Blood Blades, our status is equal to inner sect disciples. We get first priority to receiving high ranking Spirit Artifacts, armor, equipment and Spirit Weapons that the inner sect disciples forge. We can use as much Spirit Materials, Spirit Pills and Spirit Medicine as we want in order to increase our combat ability."

"Nope to dope."

"Uh, what?" Tong Xue stared at me curiously. I raised both hands and shook my head firmly.

"The whole Spirit Pills and Medicine thing sounds suspiciously like doping. And I don't trust doping. There will be side effects in future, and I honestly doubt it's so simple to improve your cultivation and boost your strength just from consuming pills. Usually those are steroids and they will harm your health in the long term if you rely too much on them."

Tong Xie looked as if he had a headache, but he knew better than to argue with me on that. Instead, he sighed.

"Fine, but my point isn't the Spirit Pills and Medicine. What I mean is that you don't have to invest so much time and effort into forging your own Spirit Weapon, you know? You're a Blood Blade now. You can just ask someone from the inner sect to forge a Spirit Weapon for you. I'm sure Qi Hong will be happy to craft you a suitable Spirit Weapon if you ask her to."

"Nah, I want to try something out for myself." I shrugged. "If I fail, I can always ask Qi Hong for help then. Otherwise I would prefer not to bother her."

"Dude..if you are out for a mission..just like during that expedition to the ancient tomb last week – what are you going to use? Those cheap-ass swords that you've been using for a year? They'll break anytime now."

"They already broke," I told him, half-amused and half-annoyed. Tong Xue threw his hands up in the air.

"See?! I told you so!" he glared at me. "Then what are you going to use? Hmm..well, you're not entirely helpless. I remember you're pretty good with kicking techniques too. But you don't have specialized boots.."

"Qi Hong gave me enchanted shoes." I pointed at my shoes, which had Spirit Engravings on them to ensure they didn't wear down so easily, and enhanced their durability tremendously so that they wouldn't get destroyed whenever I kicked a powerful enemy. "They are more than sufficient for my needs. You know her skills."

"Lucky bastard." Tong Xue sulked. "Even Lian Rou has not personally given me anything to use for combat."

"You could ask her."

"..I did."

Despite raising my eyebrow, from Tong Xue's sullen tone I knew better than to ask. Furthermore, I did have the Azure Lotus Sword that I acquired from the frosty chamber in the ancient tomb, but I wasn't stupid enough to show that off to my friend when he was in a bad mood. It would feel too much like showing off.

Well, he would find out eventually, but even so, I would prefer to keep my Azure Lotus Sword as much of a secret as possible. I could take an enemy by surprise by drawing it when he or she least expected it. And keeping them in the dark about what weapon I owned was one way to ensure that I preserved that element of surprise.

Instead, I decided to change the subject.

"Speaking of missions, we won't be getting any soon. Not until Elder Hai assigns us our personal battle-automata and teaches us how to Spirit Engrave them. He plans to give the Blood Blades control over an army of battle-automata."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Tong Xue stared at me blankly. I grinned knowingly.

"You'll see what I mean in a couple of days' time. Just wait for the email tomorrow."

"Hey! Don't leave me hanging! Tell me what you mean!"

"Exactly what I said." My grin widened. "We'll be receiving our individual battle-automata in two days' time, and First Elder Hai Mo will be personally teaching us how to inscribe our own personal Spirit Engravings into them."

"Are you fucking serious?!" Tong Xue almost shouted. I winced as I covered my ears defensively to prevent myself from becoming deaf.

"If you don't believe me, you can just wait for the email tomorrow. The First Elder will provide all the details then."

"But..but where did he get all the battle-automata from?" Tong Xue spluttered, still mired in disbelief.

Smiling, I shrugged. "Well, I wonder?"

*

As he promised, Elder Hai sent out the mass email to all the Blood Blades, and Elder Zhao managed to recall all of them – even those who were supposedly out on a mission. Those who were too far away or couldn't make it back in time for the lessons would receive their own battle-automata and be taught by the Blood Blade elders at a late time, when they returned to Tushan City. Fortunately, over 95% of the members were present for the lesson on the third day.

Yeah, yeah..I could hear the complaints from certain people beyond the fourth wall. Like how I was stupid for selling the battle-automata at a discount instead of making as much money as I could. Not everything had to be about the money. In fact, that was the fucking problem with the previous timeline. Too many people were overly obsessed with money, and capitalism had pretty much ruined our world by stressing too much on profits.

And then there would be those fourth wall-ers who cursed me for being stupid not to hoard the entire army of battle-automata to myself, never mind that it would take me years, or even decades just to inscribe the Spirit Engravings necessary to restore and reactivate them by myself. They were used to cliché xianxia stories with overpowered Mary Sue protagonists who were special snowflakes that monopolized all the cool stuff like symbol puppets and divine weapons, and couldn't stand the idea that I was sharing the battle-automata with my comrades instead of keeping them for myself. It was unfortunate, but I was not a special snowflake. I was just a normal guy, with a few lucky encounters (granted, most normal people wouldn't get a chance to learn Heaven and Earth Formula), but I wasn't such a special existence that only I got dibs on all the cool stuff and monopolized them for myself.

That was reality for you. Many people might need some getting used to, but the fact was that no one was special, nor did the entire world revolve around any one of us. I knew for sure that I was nobody special.

"Wow, you were right. I don't believe it."

Tong Xue was still gaping at me as we left the apartment complex for the Blood Blades to walk toward the main sect hall. Lady Hai Rong stayed true to her word and reserved the entire place for us. I later learned that she was part of the Blood Blades as well.

Was it my imagination, or were all the wives of the legendary blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect powerful warriors? If that was the case, then the example of me and Tang Qi Hong would be an anamoly because we were the direct opposite of that. Not that we were officially a couple, but I could hope. Maybe.

Still, this was quite the surprsing pattern. Or perhaps it was normal for this world, and I was too hung up on toxic masculinity from my previous timeline. Damn it, and I was supposed to be an advocate for gender equality.

No, I am an advocate of gender equality. Just because I acknowledged that gender inequality and discrimination existed didn't mean I didn't advocate gender equality. Particularly because Tang Qi Hong revealed to me the existing patriarchal prejudices of the male Great Elders against having a female blacksmith take over as the Sect Leader..

"How did you know?!" Tong Xue was demanding. I shrugged, trying to resist the mischievous smile that was threatening to spread across my face.

"I just do."

"Come on! I'm supposed to be the one who gathers intelligence here! That's my role!"

"Then I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later."

"Ugh..!"

Ignoring Tong Xue's howl of frustration, I proceeded across the open plaza in front of the main sect hall and toward the huge entrance.

However, before I could cross more than ten paces..

"!!!"

I suddenly sensed an aggressive surge of qi. Someone struck me from above, to the right, and I spun around and parried his punch with my palms. The ground beneath my feet shattered from the impact, but I dug my feet in firmly, refusing to budge.

My assailant suddenly twisted around to kick my head, but I immediately ducked, allowing his foot to sweep past above my back. My opponent then spun around in midair before delivering an axe kick, but I was already moving, my legs vanishing into a blur as I executed a footwork technique.

Boom!

His kick pulverized the plaza, driving a crater in the formerly pristine marble ground.

"!!!"

He then whirled around and brought his arms up, crossing them defensively before I kicked him. The moment my foot collided with his forearms, a maelstrom of qi erupted around us and we were consumed by a golden conflagration.

Flipping myself up, I landed on my feet a few meters away. My opponent lowered his arms and shook them as ice began to rapidly freeze over them. With a yell, he shattered the ice that encased most of his body.

I was about to dash forward with Jin, but he quickly held up his hands in surrender.

"You win," Pang Feng told me hurriedly.

"That remains to be seen," I replied coolly as I massaged my leg. "Your Golden Indestructible Body Formula is as impressive as ever. I almost broke my leg kicking you."

Pang Feng grimaced. "I could say the same. It's clear that you've gotten a lot stronger again. My arms are numb just from blocking your kick."

"Are you sure it's not just from the cold?" I teased with a grin. Pang Feng smiled wryly.

"It's both. That's why it's my loss. Your technique clogged up my qi circulation..I expended a lot of qi just to expel the ice – otherwise I'll only be able to fight with half my power. Even then, I don't think I have enough qi to fight you in a battle of attrition."

"I'm sure you do," I assured him. Pang Feng laughed.

"Perhaps, but I can't waste too much qi on exchanging moves with you. Don't forget we have Spirit Engraving lessons after this. First Elder seems to want us to do our best in learning how to control battle-automata today."

"Ah, yeah..that's right." I nodded. Tong Xue quickly stepped in.

"Yeah, so let's leave it at that for today." He turned toward Pang Feng and shook his head. "Though, that was one hell of a greeting."

"Is it? I thought it was normal." Pang Feng scratched his head, looking a little sheepish.

"It is," I assured him.

Pang Feng had joined the Blood Blades shortly after me and Tong Xue. With his talent and immense power, he had no difficulty in passing the examination for the Blood Blades. Similar to Tong Xue, Pang Feng had joined the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect solely to protect his younger sister, so that she could forge Spirit Artifacts at east while he watched over her to ensure no danger befell her. And the best way to do that was to be a Blood Blade.

Tong Xue and Lian Rou. Pang Feng and Pang Yun. Tang Qi Hong and me. Every one of us had our reasons for taking on whatever role we did in the sect.

In any case, Pang Feng and I surprisingly hit it off when he joined the Blood Blades. Probably because we were closest in age and power levels. No, I don't know what stage or realm he was in, and I didn't care, but we could have close exchanges and balanced duels without one-sided results. As such, Pang Feng regarded me as a valuable sparring partner. I was flattered, but I would very much prefer not to get attacked every time he saw me.

Nonetheless, I knew that he held no ill will against me. Come on, dudes. I'm a nice guy. Why the hell would people hate me for no reason? This wasn't a xianxia story where every single character the protagonist ran into would hate him for some inexplicable reason and try to kill him just because he "offended" them or "didn't know his place." Yes, Pang Feng attacked me, but that was because he knew I could take care of myself and block his attacks. He sparred with me in order to improve his skills, not because he intended to kill me or "teach me my place."

In reality, nobody attacked others for ridiculous reasons like that. Yeah, bullies existed, but even bullies picked on people they know to be weak, and not attack some random stranger for "offending" them or "not knowing hs place." And often, it was only the protagonist these characters attacked. I hardly thought the protagonist was the only one who offended them or not know his place, but for some reason they were obsessed with the protagonist and only the protagonist. And even though they were potential enemies, they would gang up and attack the protagonist because..well, he was the protagonist.

Just look at the Heavenly Fiend Sect, Violent Saber Sect and Spirit Hidden Sect from Eternal Reverence. Even though they were hostile toward each other and practically enemies, they practically forgot about their enmity toward each other and ganged up to kill Li Fu Chen just because..well, he was the protagonist. Honestly, there wasn't any real reason for them to gang up and try to kill him – he didn't do anything significant until they attacked him for no reason other than because they were the antagonists. And when he repelled them effortlessly like the God Mode Mary Sue that he was, they all decided to gang up on him because he was "too strong" and they were too worried about him becoming a massive threat in future, and so were determined to "eliminate" him before that happened. Never mind that Yan Qing Wu was also a Six Star Bone Frame who posed the same amount of threat. But no, nobody cared about her because she was not the protagonist.

The lack of logic was baffling.

Ahem..in any case, what I meant to say was that Pang Feng and I got along very well and were actually good friends. Expecting him to be yet another arrogant young master who was hostile and jealous of me for no reason other than because I was a protagonist was downright unrealistic and ridiculous. Besides, I wasn't the protagonist. Zhu Jiao was.

Furthermore, it wasn't as if I went around "offending" every single character in a story just so they had an excuse to "kill" me to the point where they mobilized their entire sect and all of their resources just to eliminate an insignificant guy like me, which in turn justified me razing their entire sect with my super-thick plot armor. Again, that was just absurd.

"So it's just us Blood Blades who's learning how to control battle-automata? What about the inner sect disciples? Wouldn't it be more convenient if the inner sect disciples had a battle-automata or two standing by as their bodyguards?"

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

Pang Feng sounded confused as the three of us approached the main sect hall together. I shook my head.

"Battle-automata require a lot of qi to maintain. Unless we have a limitless supply of qi, or can freely get artificial qi for cheap from Wu Ling Academy, they make poor bodyguards. Trying to keep them activated and active 24/7 is a good way of bankrupting yourself."

"Yeah, I heard that they use Pure Yuan Pills to power themselves," Tong Xue added. "We can replace that with modern artificial qi, but even synthesized artificial qi is not cheap. We can't just keep buying it from our academy."

"I see." Pang Feng looked disappointed for a moment, but he then brightened up. "That means Liang Shao Yang won't be getting any then. That's good."

Pang Feng didn't get along with Liang Shao Yang. I remembered how the latter ticked off the former about a year ago. With his arrogant, callous attitude and habit of looking down on others, Liang Shao Yang made very few friends in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Actually, besides Hu Mei Er, I doubted he had any friends at all.

In fact, Liang Shao Yang made a lot of enemies during his time in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which was another reason why he shouldn't be the next sect leader. But most of the Great Elders were blind to that.

And Hu Mei Er counted as his lover rather than his friend. Given her character, though, I wouldn't be surprised if she was with him more because she received benefits from being in a relationship with him than any real love on her part.

Furthermore, with his brutal murder of Hao Ying – or at least the rumors – everyone stayed far away from him as possible. Too proud to approach others of his own accord (except Hu Mei Er), he kept to himself most of the time. Well, to be more accurate, he spent most of his time with Hu Mei Er, and Hu Mei Er alone.

There were rumors that the two of them had quite the active..sex life, spending most of their days practicing double cultivation. Since that actally boosted their cultivation and made them both stronger, the sect elders actually encouraged it instead of disapproving it.

Seriously, though, it was none of my business what the two of them did in their private time together. I was vaguely curious as to why Hu Mei Er had yet to get pregnant, but that was the extent of my interest. Well, she'll only become pregnant when the plot needs her to be, but not before then.

"Yeah." Tong Xue shuddered at the thought. "I don't want to imagine what Liang Shao Yang will do with them if he gets his hands on them."

"No doubt use them for nefarious purposes," Pang Feng muttered darkly.

"Oh! You guys are here too! You're early!"

Just before the three of us stepped through the automatic sliding doors, a familiar voice called out from behind. We turned and caught sight of Tang Qi Hong running up to join us. She beamed cheerfully, which caused Pang Feng to blush a little.

The guy also viewed me as a love rival, but he was never overt about it or gave me any trouble over that. Instead, he treated it as friendly competition. As I said, he was a decent person and a good friend.

"Eh? What are you doing here?" he asked nervously.

"Same reason as you! For the battle-automata lessons!"

"Huh?" Tong Xue looked confused. "I thought the battle-automata are only for the Blood Blades. How did you get in?"

Tang Qi Hong smiled mischievously. "Wu didn't tell you? I bought a few battle-automata from him, and I asked Elder Hai for permission to join the lessons so that I can control them."

"Bought..from him?" Tong Xue turned to m-->>

next page