Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 175 Blacksmith
Thirty years passed in a flash, and one genius after another began to travel in different spaceships to the four secret realms under the control of the Virtual Universe Company.

By the time of departure, among the members of this year's Genius Battle, one person had passed the fifth level of the Bridge to Heaven, one person had passed the fourth level, and four people had passed the third level.

To be honest, even the host of this year's Genius Battle, 'Yanxuan Venerable', was somewhat surprised by this result.

After all, when this year's Genius Battle just ended, many executives from Virtual Universe Company who were paying attention to the matter generally believed that it was a Genius Battle of relatively low quality.

No particularly outstanding geniuses emerged in this year's Genius Battle.

Even Sarom, who ranked highest among them, was quite ordinary compared to the champion of previous genius battles. Many high-ranking officials even believed that he might not be able to pass the fourth level of the Sky Bridge before leaving Chaos City.

However, the final result was that not only did Sarom pass through the fourth level, but an even more outstanding Deer Cry unexpectedly appeared, directly shocking everyone and passing through the fifth level of the Sky Bridge.

This was an unexpected surprise for 'Yanxuan Venerable' and other high-ranking executives of the virtual universe company who were paying attention to these genius battle members.

While they were pleasantly surprised, they also became curious about the 'mastermind' behind this unexpected situation.

"That little guy who was crowned king more than two thousand years ago? How did he manage to find such an outstanding disciple from the secret realm of heaven and earth?"

Venerable Yan Xuan couldn't help but ask curiously, "And his past information... cultivating in seclusion in the Giant Axe Universe for over nine million years? Is there really such a person?"

Regardless of the outside world's attention, Qi Yuan's cultivation and life continued as usual.

Lu Ming and Vittorio, the two newest disciples, have arrived at the Heavenly Secret Realm by spaceship and, after an initial period of adaptation, have begun to carry out cosmic-level cultivation missions.

The other disciples also went off to gain experience and explore on their own. Since the system was upgraded, functions such as imparting experience and bestowing secret techniques can now be carried out in the virtual universe, so he no longer restricts the disciples' actions.

These disciples followed their own hearts, some choosing to stay in their hometowns like Cang Fan and Yuan Mu, others choosing to hone their skills in cosmic secret realms or extraterrestrial battlefields like Liao Li and Long Ji, and still others simply wandering around the universe, experiencing its vastness and wonder.
In this state of 'freedom' that allowed them to return to their natural instincts, the disciples' cultivation progress was even slightly faster than when they were with Qi Yuan.

Currently, the only people serving Qi Yuan Taiqing's avatar in Chaos City are the two Realm Lord-level disciples, 'Aotun' and 'Walker,' who successfully became disciples after passing the trials of the Qiyuan Tower in the last two thousand years, and 'Flodis,' a Golden Hammer Dwarf disciple who recently broke through to the Realm Lord level and returned to Chaos City.

Qiyuan Mansion.

Florides, a Golden Hammer Dwarf disciple who was less than 1.4 meters tall but had an extremely robust physique, strode into the room where Qi Yuan was.

"teacher!"

Florides bowed to Qi Yuan in a loud voice.

"How long do you plan to stay in Chaos City this time?" Qi Yuan asked with a faint smile.

"Teacher, it will probably take quite a while."

The burly dwarf Florides replied honestly, "It should continue until I can forge the most suitable fifth-tier weapon for myself."

"Oh? So you can forge ordinary fifth-tier standard weapons now?" Qi Yuan asked curiously.

"Teacher, I can already forge ordinary fifth-tier weapons and armor, but I cannot yet forge extremely exquisite ones like the Nine Divine Weapons."

"Flodis replied."

"Not bad, not bad, it seems you really have some talent in this area."

Qi Yuan smiled and praised.

Fifth-tier weapons are normally used by realm lords. They are extremely difficult to make and are usually crafted by immortal-level blacksmiths.

After all, even a World Lord might not be able to understand the various powerful solidified runes that need to be imprinted on a fifth-tier weapon, so how could he possibly imprint them onto a weapon?

Florides' ability to create standard fifth-tier weapons at the World Lord level indicates that his understanding of the laws far surpasses that of ordinary World Lords, and he must also have his own unique insights into weapon forging.

"Now that you have broken through to the Realm Lord level and are preparing to cultivate in Chaos City for a long period of time, I will give you a truly useful gift."

Qi Yuan smiled faintly, "Let's go, into the virtual universe!"

The villa belonging to Florides in the Rain Mountain region of the virtual universe.

Florides stood in front of the villa, looking up at the sky. Soon, a figure flew through the air, which was Qi Yuan, who had flown down from the Thunder Island Palace.

Although in principle members of the four secret realms of Rain Mountain cannot communicate across regions, and immortals on Thunder Island cannot fly around at will, that mainly applies to ordinary geniuses and immortals.

For a grandmaster like Qi Yuan, who can establish a sect in Chaos City, such restrictions are naturally more lenient. Apart from not being able to fly randomly towards Thunder Island, the other restrictions are minimal.

"Teacher, please come in!"

Florides quickly led Qi Yuan into the villa's living room. "Teacher, what's this?"

His gaze fell on the enormous silver-white suitcase that Qi Yuan was carrying, which was more than two meters long and nearly one meter wide.

"Haha, let me show you!"

Qi Yuan threw the huge suitcase directly onto the living room floor.

"Crack!"

The suitcase opened under his control, revealing a series of books inside.

"A Realm Lord needs to create their own secret techniques, and since you are a blacksmith, it would be best if you could forge the most suitable weapon for yourself based on your strongest secret technique. Therefore, you need to have sufficiently profound and rich secret technique manuals as references! So, your master has exchanged a batch of secret technique manuals for you."

Qi Yuan smiled and pointed to the numerous secret manuals inside the huge briefcase.

"For the basic application of the laws, you can refer to the 'Secret Manual of Fire' that I gave you before. For more advanced secret techniques and weapon forging methods, you can refer to these."

Upon hearing this, Floridus looked into the huge suitcase and saw that it was filled with thick books. The thinnest books were 20 centimeters thick, and the thickest book was nearly 1.5 meters long, 80 centimeters wide, and almost half a meter thick.

There are two such books, both made entirely of dark gold metal. These two books alone occupy more than half of the space, along with numerous other books densely packed together.

"There are a total of 96 common secret manuals and a set of precious manuals here."

Qi Yuan smiled and said, "Those 96 sets of ordinary secret techniques books are cheaper, but they are all basic secret techniques in various categories such as research, weapon manufacturing, and self-created secret techniques. Only by mastering the basics can you have the capital to build a tall building from the ground up. These secret techniques should be able to provide you with a lot of reference and guidance."

Upon hearing this, Floridus's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly, clearly finding these secret techniques extremely appealing.

"There's this set too!"

Qi Yuan pointed to the two thick, dark gold books that were neatly arranged.

"Based on your situation, this is the most suitable secret manual for weapon forging that I found in the treasure vault for you. It contains everything you need, including material identification, matching, forging techniques, secret rune imprinting, and more, enough for you to learn and use to a very high level."

One set, consisting of two volumes.

Each book is 1.5 meters long, 80cm wide, and half a meter thick.

"Teacher, how expensive is this book?" Florides asked somewhat nervously.

"This? 800 billion points." Qi Yuan smiled faintly.

"Eighty billion!"

Frodis's eyes widened instantly.

Even though he was a rough and rugged Golden Hammer Dwarf, and even though he had witnessed his teacher's grand gestures many times over the past two thousand years, he was still somewhat stunned when he heard his teacher casually utter that number!
day!
800 billion points!
Not 800 million, it's 800 billion!
What does this mean?!
A spaceship made entirely of F9-grade metal normally costs only a few million points. With 800 billion points, you could directly buy tens of thousands of such F9-grade metal spaceships!
Such a fortune is enough to bankrupt even the most powerful immortal god among the kings!

"Teacher, this...this is too much!"

Frodis was somewhat uneasy.

Good heavens, 800 billion points! That's enough to buy countless mid-level civilizations of the Golden Hammer Dwarves! How could he not be anxious?

"Haha, no need to refuse!"

Qi Yuan smiled and waved his hand, "No matter how much money you have, it only has meaning when it's truly put to good use. In my opinion, using 800 billion points to exchange for a secret technique suitable for you is a perfect amount of money!"

"Teacher, it's me, it's me."

The short, stocky, and somewhat unshaven Golden Hammer Dwarf, Frodis, had a slightly reddish nose.

"No need for thanks."

Qi Yuan smiled faintly and said, "If you are truly grateful to me, then cultivate diligently and comprehend this manual. If one day you can grow into a forging master capable of creating 'supreme treasures,' that will be enough to make me proud!"

"Yes! Don't worry, teacher, I will certainly live up to your expectations!"

Floridus bowed deeply to Qi Yuan in gratitude.

At the same time, a pleasantly surprising notification quietly appeared in Qi Yuan's mind.

(End of this chapter)