Chapter Fifty-Nine: Armory Manor, Divine Spear of the Fish!

Bai Xuan took a bit of the crimson ointment and applied it to his skin. Activating a secret art from the "Seven Seas Profound Gateway Life-Protection Method," he circulated his vital energy, allowing the red serpent poison to be gradually absorbed. Soon, the medicinal effect erupted, like a silver needle piercing an acupoint, locking down a portion of his vital energy!

"This toxin, even tempered as it is, can still immobilize my vital energy. If it were intensified, it could even kill a Grandmaster," Bai Xuan thought, secretly astonished.

His strength was formidable; even with his vital energy suppressed, his power was barely diminished. But for an ordinary martial artist, the sealing of their vital energy would render them utterly crippled.

Throwing knives, poison, and smoke—such tricks were useless at this level. But if it was the Red Serpent’s venom, the situation changed entirely.

Morning.

“Feed it a bit more.”

Bai Xuan cut off a pound of giant deep-sea squid and fed it to the red serpent by the water vat.

The red serpent had already awakened and was lazily swimming about. The moment it saw the roasted squid, it rushed up and swallowed it whole.

“Hiss, hiss…”

The serpent devoured greedily, then soon grew drowsy and curled up to sleep in the vat.

“Fortunately, as long as it’s fed, this red serpent shows no particularly fierce tendencies,” Bai Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

…

Two days later.

“We’ve arrived at the Weapon-Forge Manor!”

A sailor cheered.

In the distance, a grand manor sprawled across the coastal mountain. The buildings twisted and wound like a long serpent, forming an imposing sight.

A river flowed through the manor, with plumes of smoke rising from within—the water and subterranean fire used for smelting.

"At last," Bai Xuanji sighed in relief as he stood at the bow of the ship, dressed in a robe adorned with an azure dragon motif.

Throughout the journey, he’d feared an ambush by the Star Hunters; had that happened, the price would have been steep. But now, having arrived safely, he could finally relax.

“We’ve made it to Weapon-Forge Manor. Now I can finally go into seclusion and break through my limits.”

Bai Xuan disembarked from the Kaiyang, blending in with the crowd of sailors, his appearance unremarkable, though his heart brimmed with anticipation.

“But first, I must retrieve my harpoon.”

He had long awaited the reforging of his weapon, and now, the time had finally come!

…

Inside a smithy at Weapon-Forge Manor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A burly, towering blacksmith was swinging his hammer, forging a weapon bit by bit—the very harpoon that belonged to Liu Ruyi.

It was a long, slender, and simple spear, its bladed tip fierce and menacing, shrouded in flames, emanating a chilling cold.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With every swing, Liu Ruyi infused his powerful internal energy, and the harpoon gradually took shape beneath the repeated hammer blows.

“Whew… This Abyssal Sea Black Iron is truly difficult to smelt,” Liu Ruyi muttered.

Though he stood right beside the furnace, with the earth-fire roaring and the entire room sweltering at over fifty degrees, only a martial artist of his caliber could withstand the heat. Ordinary apprentices would have long since collapsed.

Yet his brows and lashes were rimed with hoarfrost—a cold that radiated from the harpoon itself, deep and terrifying.

“All this miscellaneous chill must be hammered out before it can achieve the perfect form… Then, it shall become a divine weapon!” Liu Ruyi’s heart surged with excitement.

He had been forging for two months, and the work was nearly finished. The biting cold still lingered, but once it was fully contained, with its spirit concealed, the weapon’s true power would be unleashed.

At that moment, fine details began to emerge on the spearhead, as he painstakingly carved out the blood groove.

Just then, as Liu Ruyi focused on his work, a silent breeze seemed to pass, and suddenly a figure appeared in the smithy without a sound.

“Who’s there?”

Liu Ruyi turned sharply, vigilant. This smithy was a critical location within the manor—only master smiths such as himself were permitted inside.

But on seeing the visitor’s battered shark mask, Liu Ruyi relaxed.

“You’ve come, as I expected.”

“This weapon is nearly complete. If you could wait, perhaps stay at the manor for a few days?” Liu Ruyi’s tone was full of delight.

To forge such a weapon was a milestone in his smithing career!

“What a formidable harpoon,” Bai Xuan murmured through his battered shark mask, his gaze drawn instantly to the chilling weapon.

Its design was much as before, but now it was deep as the sea and black as night, a terrible cold radiating from it, threatening to freeze all in its presence.

“This harpoon of cold iron has been completely transformed. Forged from Abyssal Sea Black Iron, tempered with fine gold, rhinoceros horn, and even the blood of a demon whale to refine its form,” Liu Ruyi declared with pride.

“It’ll be half a month before it emerges—a true divine weapon!”

“A divine weapon…” Bai Xuan’s eyes flickered.

He understood that a so-called divine weapon was one whose power far surpassed ordinary arms, worthy of a grandmaster’s hand.

With his current strength—capable of wielding forty thousand pounds—he could topple houses and tear steel with ease. Ordinary blades, even those of meteorite iron, could not withstand a grandmaster’s might.

Only those weapons that had been utterly transformed and surpassed the mundane could unleash terrifying power in a grandmaster’s hands. Hence, they were called divine weapons.

“How much is the forging fee?” Bai Xuan asked in a low, hoarse voice.

His first thought was always of money. He had a little over a thousand taels left, the rest spent on medicinal herbs. What went out far exceeded what came in.

For an ordinary weapon—a top-tier, hundred-fold-forged blade—the smithing fee was five hundred taels. But this? A spear of Abyssal Sea Black Iron?

Bai Xuan felt a pang of anxiety.

“If we include the Abyssal Sea Black Iron, it would be six thousand taels. But as it is, the black iron was already at hand. Forging a divine weapon is only possible thanks to your patronage. Two thousand taels of silver will suffice,” Liu Ruyi replied.

“Already at hand?” Bai Xuan was stunned.

Abyssal Sea Black Iron was a top-tier ore, worth thousands of taels for just ten or so pounds. How could there already be a supply on hand?

“Indeed. Do you know the previous owner of this harpoon, Lu Ming?” Liu Ruyi asked.

“Mr. Lu sought me out some time ago…”

He told the tale, a trace of genuine respect in his heart.

On the vast sea, where conflict and struggle were as ordinary as breathing, such chivalry was rare and worth recounting.

“So that’s how it is,” Bai Xuan mused.

This cold iron harpoon had traveled far, cast aside and reclaimed, honed by bloodshed, reforged, and now, with materials from its former master, was about to emerge anew—a peerless divine weapon.

“In that case, I’ll return in a few days. If anything arises, leave a message at the corner of the red building two streets east of this room,” Bai Xuan instructed in a low voice.

With a flash, he vanished from the smithy.

“What superb lightness skill—he’s become even stronger than before. Just standing near him makes my heart race,” Liu Ruyi reflected.

To forge a divine weapon, he himself was no weakling—capable of wielding a thousand pounds, his breath honed for hours on end, a match for a hundred foes on the battlefield.

Yet, faced with Bai Xuan, he felt only awe—the man’s martial prowess had reached the pinnacle.

After a moment’s thought, he left the smithy, released a carrier pigeon from its cage, tied a small scroll to its leg, and sent it into the sky.