Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

Lin Su has advanced to the Grandmaster level in weapon crafting, marking the successful conclusion of this assessment. The War Puppet Mansion now needs to clean up the assessment venue.

Xue Lan didn't plan to watch the assessments for Groups B and C. After politely bidding farewell to Zhu Lingzhi and Chu Yutian, the two returned to the courtyard arranged by the War Puppet Mansion.

The peach trees in the yard had fallen peach blossoms all over the ground, and Ji Jinjin was sweeping them up with a broom.

When Ji Jinjin was little, she was quite clingy and liked to stick to her senior sister who was the best to her at the time, but the senior sister's kindness was only superficial.

Xue Lan was actually quite annoyed by the children, so she sent Ji Jinjin to sweep the yard.

In the small bamboo grove courtyard, Ji Jinjin had just finished sweeping the first half when, as she turned around, the scattered bamboo leaves were blown away by an unusual breeze.

Xue Lan kept playing tricks on her until Zhu He couldn't stand it anymore.

Ji Jinjin still doesn't know that her second senior brother went to provoke Xue Lan with his greatsword, and was then knocked down by Xue Lan with a bamboo stick.

After that, Xue Lan never teased Ji Jinjin again.

Ji Jinjin heard footsteps behind her and was about to greet them when a gentle breeze swept past her ear, blowing away the pile of peach petals on the ground and scattering them all over the courtyard.

Xue Lan acted foolishly for a moment, and the next second she reaped the bitter fruit of her own actions.

Ji Jinjin raised the broom in her hand, and spiritual energy turned into wind, sweeping up the scattered petals on the ground and scattering them all over Xue Lan. Even Yin Shishi, who was standing to the side, was not spared.

Yin Shishi raised her hand and slapped Xue Lan: "I should have poisoned you to mute you earlier and cut off all your hands and feet."

Xue Lan clutched her chest and coughed repeatedly: "This can't be blamed on... cough cough!"

Seeing that she didn't seem to be faking it, Ji Jinjin asked, "Are you injured?"

I'm sick!

Ji Jinjin absolutely refused to believe that a Golden Core cultivator would say he was sick. Nevertheless, she put down her broom and dragged Xue Lan to check on him.

"You've spent decades in the weapon-refining room, and you possess both metal and fire spiritual roots. Surely you wouldn't fall ill just because of Xie Cuicheng's slight enthusiasm?"

Hearing her say that, Xue Lan remembered what she had done three days ago, and casually remarked, "It seems hotter outside than before."

“Three days ago, there was a strange noise within the War Puppet Mansion. It sounded like the cries of birds, echoing through the heavens. Since then, the entire Xie Cui City has become like a furnace on earth, and the peach blossoms have withered like this in just two days,” Ji Jinjin said, looking at Xue Lan.

Yin Shishi quipped from the side, "The restriction array in the weapon-refining field of the War Puppet Mansion is really useful."

It blocked out the sound that resounded through the heavens.

"Xie Cuicheng is probably in trouble." Xue Lan added, "What did the War Puppet Mansion say?"

With such a commotion, the War Puppet Mansion must provide an explanation.

"I sent an inner disciple to say that there was something unusual about the underground mine, but it was nothing serious."

Xue Lan thought that the War Puppet Mansion wasn't exactly lying, they just hadn't told the whole story.

"Xie Cuicheng is not a place to stay for long. We'll leave immediately after you finish the weapon-refining assessment." Yin Shishi made the final decision, and Xue Lan had no objections, obediently agreeing.

Xue Lanzi stayed in her small courtyard for several days, spending her days either looking at the blueprints on the Chonglou Illusionary Treasure Map or tending to a small medicine stove in the courtyard, brewing bitter medicinal soup for herself.

The medicine was prescribed by Yin Shishi, who said that her illness was mostly self-inflicted and that taking some bitter medicine would help her remember.

Xue Lan couldn't refute it, because it was simply the truth.

As for avoiding bitterness by blocking the sense of taste, Yin Shishi had anticipated this and added a herb called Julan root from Siyaochuan to the medicinal materials.

It has little medicinal effect, it just tastes bitter.

It's the kind of suffering that makes your very soul ache.

After drinking the medicine for six consecutive days, Xue Lan felt that she should think twice before using the Demon Soul Dharma Form again.

On the seventh day, Xue Lan was freed because it was her turn to take the assessment.

[You're leaving after this assessment. When are you going to retrieve the Golden Crow Essence? And that demon, there's still no sign of him. Are they afraid to make a move in Xie Cui City?]

Xue Lan examined the materials provided by the War Puppet Mansion on the refining platform, placing a red Heavenly Origin Crystal that looked like a chick in the upper right corner of the platform.

"I'm not in a hurry. As long as I get the Golden Crow Essence before entering the Myriad Crafts Workshop, that's enough. As for the Demon Clan, I'm someone they're eyeing, so why would I hesitate to take action?"

The system thought about it and agreed, so it escaped without any psychological burden.

After half an hour of familiarizing herself with the materials, Xue Lan first used her forehead ribbon to tie up all the stray hairs on her forehead, and then sorted the materials one by one. From them, she picked out a piece of copper that looked like a little rabbit and a piece of driftwood that looked like a little dog.

System: [Are you running a zoo here?]

Xue Lan: "Look how cute they are."

After the assessment began, the system watched as Xue Lan tossed the remaining materials into the smelting furnace, where they were instantly devoured.

Let's take another look at the few small animal materials left on the smelting table.

System: Reason for survival: Cute.

The materials floated and sank in the smelting furnace. Xue Lan lit an incense stick and glanced down at the audience as she did so, noticing that there were quite a few people there.

Not only was Zhu Lingzhi, the little princess of the Phoenix Clan, present, but Lin Su, who had just advanced to the Grandmaster of Weapon Refining, was also there.

But looking at Lin Su's expression, and then at Yan Chengxue beside him...

Xue Lan: He didn't come here voluntarily, did he?

At the very back of the group stood an elderly man wearing a dark red vest and sporting a short beard. This was Wu Yijun's master, Master Hengyang.

Seeing Xue Lan looking in his direction, the old man smiled kindly.

Xue Lan immediately turned her head away, afraid that this senior would do something incomprehensible again.

Lin Su glanced at the girl's actions on the stage, then subtly rolled his eyes at her. He looked at Yan Chengxue beside him and said, "You don't understand the properties of the materials, you just throw everything down in one go. Senior brother, can I stop watching?"

The ruthless senior brother merely glanced at him and uttered two words: "Stay put."

Lin Su stayed there reluctantly, but his mind was clearly not on the stage; he was practically dozing off.

Xue Lan inserted the incense stick into a small crevice on the refining platform, and then found an iron rod from the tools on the side.

"What is she going to do?" Yan Chengxue heard the disciples around her whispering, because Xue Lan had inserted the iron rod into the smelting furnace and started stirring it frantically.

It looks like they're not very skilled at it.

Lin Su was also startled awake by this scene, jumping up from his seat like a startled monkey. He stared at Yan Chengxue beside him, unable to utter a single word.

But at this moment, silence spoke louder than words. He saw Yan Chengxue's expression change.

"So you were really using her to humiliate me, weren't you?" Lin Su asked with a bitter face.

Yan Chengxue was a little flustered. Xue Lan had kept a low profile in the past few years, partly because she was lazy and partly because she was prone to causing trouble.

It wasn't an alchemy furnace that exploded, it was a smelting furnace.

Yan Chengxue wanted to instruct the disciples of the War Puppet Mansion to prepare, but just as she was about to leave, Lin Su grabbed her sleeve.

Lin Su: Senior brother, are you going to run away? I won't allow it!

Xue Lan stirred things around in the refining furnace, and the fire elemental power at her fingertips flew into the furnace to envelop the piece of forest sandalwood that was relatively easy to break.

Just as I raised my head to stretch my neck, I saw Yan Chengxue and Lin Su pulling and tugging at each other below.

Because Lin Su was missing an arm, it was very difficult for him to pull Yan Chengxue with one hand, so he also stretched out one foot to hook Yan Chengxue's foot.

Xue Lan felt that she was really not suited to refining weapons in front of so many people; what was about to happen seemed more interesting than refining weapons.

What did Master say again?

By the way, the formation of Daoist couples is not only due to men and women who admire each other. If they cultivate the Great Dao together and support each other...

Just as Xue Lan was lost in thought, Yan Chengxue kicked Lin Su, knocking him to the ground.

Having finally managed to escape, Yan Chengxue flew back a few steps. She pulled over a disciple from the War Puppet Mansion and instructed him, "Go and ask the Seventh Elder to set up a small formation around Xue Lan. Senior Sister Xue's weapon-refining is quite a spectacle."

Xue Lan, with her keen senses, heard every word Yan Chengxue said. Her bared teeth immediately disappeared.

"Host, your furnace is about to explode!" the system, which had been staring at the smelting furnace, suddenly said, its voice filled with fear.

Xue Lan glanced at the restless smelting furnace behind her and said calmly, "No rush, no rush. The Heavenly Origin Crystal is too hard, and the fire in this furnace isn't some kind of extraordinary fire. Let it burn a little longer."

"But the copper is about to explode!" the system exclaimed impatiently. It watched as the once gleaming silver-white copper inside the furnace bulged, soon doubling in size.

"Oh!" Xue Lan replied perfunctorily, putting all the chicks, rabbits, and puppies on the smelting table into her storage bag.

With a loud crash, Xue Lan pushed all the tools on the smelting table into a box to the side.

The girl took a huge hammer out of her toolbox, weighed it in her hand, and said, "I haven't forged iron myself in many years!"

As Xue Lan took out the hammer, the elder who presided over the weapon-forging assessment set up a formation around her, with two circles of magical light flowing around her, one called "Panju Xuanwu" and the other "Distant Peaks and Mountains"!

"See, it's safe now!"

[They're safe, you're still inside!] The system emitted a sharp, explosive sound, as if it was about to scream for its father at any moment.

"I'll tell you a story!" the girl rambled on, sounding to outsiders like she was talking to herself.

“Three years ago, Master took Aunt and Zhuhe to visit the Spirit Gate, and I was the only one left on the whole mountain.” Xue Lan poked the bulging piece of copper in the smelting furnace with an iron rod.

"I tend to be rebellious when I'm alone. When I'm forging weapons, I'm willing to invest a lot, thinking that it's just blowing up the top of Jiyuan Peak! It's not a big deal!"

Under Xue Lan's manipulation, the copper in the smelting furnace swelled larger and larger until it finally reached the critical point.

"Chonglou!"

With a soft shout, a blur flew out from the girl's sleeve and covered the smelting furnace.

With a muffled boom, the entire forging field shook, but the forging furnace in front of Xue Lan did not collapse on the spot.

It cracked after Xue Lan unveiled the Chonglou Illusionary Treasure Map.

Molten iron from the furnace spilled all over the floor. It almost set Xue Lan's shoes on fire as it flowed past her feet.

The girl channeled her magic power through her fingertips, and three pieces of material enveloped in spiritual energy flew out of the smelting furnace.

"That was the first time I fried something in the oven by myself. It turned out well, but I was a little off-center."

Disciples from the War Puppet Mansion came up to clean up the mess on the ground, and the system gave Xue Lan a perfunctory response.

What went wrong in terms of direction?

"The flying fragments of the furnace burned down the medicine garden on Qingyu Peak, and I lost an arm in the explosion. My master beat me up in front of all the other teachers and elders. Afterwards, I was exiled to Grandmaster Qingyin."

The girl revealed a set of pearly white teeth.

"After that, I was banned from weapon crafting for a year, and Jiyuan Peak never let me go alone again!"