The Blacksmiths have always been meticulous.

But what was referred to as a miracle by the other party, an unprecedented Demon Weapon...

And, with utmost sincerity, they were invited to the mountain to forge together and witness a historical moment!

"Did they really say that?"

Many voices were hoarse, struck by the implications within.

The blacksmiths, who were already hesitant about exploring the mountain to seek the mysteries and improve their skills, were completely shaken.

As artisans, who wouldn't want to forge a great piece?

This was a fatal temptation.

Then the sound of disputes erupted.

"Impossible!"

Chief Blacksmith Zhang Jia angrily said, "I told you last time, they are Demon Cultivators. They might be using human lives in their forging. I don't know what means they have to gather so many scholars."

Zhang Jinseng retorted furiously, "Nothing is impossible. Don't use your narrow mind to speculate on the unknown; doing so only makes you seem ignorant... they must have mastered a brand-new technique."

The two stubborn old men quarreled again.

Zhang Jinseng suddenly bowed and said, "Chief Zhang Jia, I apologize... we have stayed together for three thousand seven hundred and twenty-one years, and argued for over three thousand seven hundred years... today, perhaps we will part ways."

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.

Zhang Jia's mouth opened wide, his eloquent voice stopped, "Part ways?"

"I won't argue with you here any longer. I am leaving this blacksmith shop."

Zhang Jinseng's gaze was on the blazing furnace, his old voice carrying a hint of longing and desire.

"Three thousand seven hundred years ago, we both followed the first generation of our exceptionally talented patriarch, witnessing the rise of the Zhang family from a small clan to one of the three great families, and now to the brink of annihilation. I've protected it for too long."

"I ought to pursue what I desire."

His voice carried determination, "I am unwilling for the rest of my life to end here."

"These days, the weapon blind boxes, painting cards, even the Ash Artifact from the Sword Fairy have shown me a raw yet unprecedented path."

His voice suddenly became firm and powerful,

"They are full of passion and vitality."

"The Sword Fairy told me, they are a group of blacksmiths who throw themselves into forging, pursuing the unknown path."

"I want to join them!"

He had lived for more than three thousand seven hundred years, but had long since stopped making progress.

The rigidity of thought and the technological barriers of the great family had kept him from breaking through the bottleneck for thousands of years.

A technological barrier can only be broken by a genius.

A mediocre person in this lifetime, what cannot be comprehended, cannot be comprehended.

"I agree as well!"

Another elderly blacksmith nodded, his expression excited:

"Cultivators have righteousness and evil, goodness and malice! But how can blacksmiths be divided into righteous or evil? To be able to forge weapons as beautiful as art, I am convinced they are filled with passion."

The surrounding old blacksmiths also expressed their intentions.

"You all..." Zhang Jia sighed.

He wasn't incapable of understanding.

They were all too old; when dreams are within reach, many were willing to take a leap of faith.

"Ah, you may go."

Zhang Jia seemed thoroughly aged, sighed, "I won't go, I must stay to guard the family till the last moment, but, be sure to be careful."

"At the same time, I will keep your journey a secret; the younger generation of cultivators will not know where you've gone."

Secretly collaborating with Demon Cultivators.

This news spreading could cause serious trouble.

...

...

The cold wind was biting.

Outside Pingchang City.

Listening to the howling wind, a secret team was leaving the city.

They were a group of elderly blacksmiths, cloaked in black, concealing their tracks.

They chose not to use the Teleportation Array.

If members of the Zhang family went this way, it would be too conspicuous, immediately revealing collusion with Demon Cultivators.

Vice Chief Zhang Jinseng was a tall and sturdy old man, with a soldier-like determination in his eyes, walking meticulously, appearing upright.

Six others went with him.

He and two other old blacksmiths were at the Four Viscera Realm, the rest were at the Five-Body Realm Great Perfection.

Although not a combat-type cultivator, and with almost no combat experience, he still didn't let anyone protect him.

Being so low-key is actually the safest.

"My dear granddaughter, we're leaving the city." Zhang Jinseng patted the storage bag at his waist, containing the hammer that had accompanied him for over two thousand years, "I'll go check on those people you mentioned."

"Mm." At this moment, the Sword Fairy's conscience pricked her painfully because their emotions and personalities were too real.

The Sword Fairy set aside her emotions and said, "I'll take you up the mountain."

The grandfather she recognized was Zhang Jinseng.

As she recounted the beauty of the manor again and again, the blacksmiths' passion and effort, the other party gradually developed a liking for the manor.

He was in the Four Viscera Realm, theoretically capable of living for 8,000 years.

He was only over three thousand years old now, and by this proportion, he should be in his prime.

But in reality?

His peers were basically all dead.

Zhang Jinseng smiled, "Our auxiliary professions live the longest."

"The combat cultivators I know, in the Zhang family, even in other aristocratic families, have all died. Even the Three Elements Realm Great Cultivators haven't lived as long as I have."

"They go out on adventures and battles, and there are always moments of failure."

His eyes flickered with remembrance, "You must remember one thing, when you pick up the butcher's knife, you'll inevitably die by the knife."

Thus, auxiliary professions might not be a bad thing.

Quietly cultivating, living worldly conflicts aside, researching what you enjoy.

Even outliving others.

Others vie for supremacy in the martial world, with waves of newcomers and old faces, but he remains alive.

"Then as a combat cultivator, should I cultivate to the Four Viscera Realm and hide away in retirement?" the Sword Fairy asked.

Zhang Jinseng suddenly laughed heartily:

"Hide away in retirement? As long as you're still in the Four Viscera Realm, there will always be unrefined internal organs. When their organs wither, and need to be replaced with magical artifacts, they'll become useless people! Constantly spending resources, with no source of income, their savings will deplete."

"Even families are unwilling to support these useless people, who can't help the family and incur huge expenses... When the organs wither, natural death is the best option."

"I am also a useless person, organs removed."

"But I can absolutely live for 8,000 years because of the knowledge, experience, technology, and insights in my mind... Every family will support me; I am a living fossil called 'legacy.'"

"Combat cultivators are too rigid and can easily break, their peak period short, while we become more valuable with age. That's the astounding allure of auxiliary professions."

He revealed a sigh, "Even now, the crisis of annihilation might not affect me. As long as I bow my head, kneel down, and bend over, countless families will tribute me, maintaining my huge daily consumption, allowing me to live until the 8,000-year limit."

The Sword Fairy remained silent, "You can't leave the family, otherwise, you wouldn't have risked coming to this Demon Manor."

"Too old." Zhang Jinseng sighed, "I've witnessed the whole rise and fall of the family, changed families no longer. I've lived enough."

Zhang Jinseng suddenly mocked:

"Being a useless person for over three thousand years, what joy is there in living? Maybe I've long wanted to die; it's for the family that I've persisted until now."

"Never underestimate any auxiliary profession's spiritual root, even a spirit farmer — if you're a master at cultivating advanced spiritual roots, countless people will seek you, support you to live, allowing you to live to the theoretical limit of lifespan!"

"You are the living tombstone of this family, even in death, they will try every means, increasing the probability, trying to turn you into Embers, into a living tomb, becoming a monument of family history."

"This is our world, a method for the continuation of family, Holy Land, and sect legacy."

The Sword Fairy was deeply touched upon hearing this.

Rustle, rustle.

A group of people trudged wearily outward.

"We've reached outside the walls."

"Safely left."

"Didn't arouse suspicion."

In the cold wind, outside the Pingchang City walls, the Sword Fairy suddenly felt something and turned to look.

Rustle, rustle~~

The cold wind blew over rows of solitary, unmanned gravestones within the walls, with endless ancestral incense burning, sending up wisps of smoke for miles, while paper money burned in front of the graves, billowing with thick smoke.

She suddenly understood what this city wall signified.

The growth of a family is built on the blood and tears of ancestors; every one of those monuments outside the wall was never obtained easily.

Even a seemingly insignificant Four Viscera Realm gravestone among thirty thousand, once contained a person's lifetime of joy and suffering.

The walls of Pingchang City are essentially towering pillars of civilization forged by human history, writing a hymn of human courage—a wall of sighs that safeguards the breeding and living of mortal beings.

"We're leaving!"

Zhang Jinseng turned back and waved, Zhang Jia also waved.

A friend of over three thousand years just left like that, Zhang Jia knew in his heart, that stubborn old man would never return.

"The wall is underfoot, and also in the future."

Walking in the wilds of yellowed grass, Zhang Jinseng looked distantly towards the mysterious manor in the mountains:

"I hope that by going there, I become a new wall for future generations."

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