Chapter 123

If Only I Weren’t Distracted

The next day, the kids were stuck in their temporary classrooms learning about classification of spell casting. Desks hadn’t been made yet but the teachers were well on their way to finishing them. While that happened, the materials Chu Shen sent for had finally arrived.

Chu Shen wasn’t actually going to be making them though. That was Lucas’ job. Using the fabricator, Lucas was able to make standardized swords, spears, shields, and armor. The materials they had brought included black iron, bowstring, and leather, enough to finish all of the tools.

Chu Shen, however, was focused on making more money. In order to let the kids spend their contribution points, they needed more items at the store. Right now, they didn’t have any money to stock their store; not that they had the store built yet either.

His job was to use his artificing skills to make some weapons he could sell. Fortunately when they were in the previous dimension, Chu Shen had kept all of his forging tools in his spatial ring. His whetstone, fuller, anvil, tongs, inscription ink, and hammers. He also had the materials to forge six swords.The only thing he didn’t have was a forge.

Without a forge, Chu Shen couldn’t heat up the metal to work with it. Luckily, Chu Shen had picked up a martial art that he could use in place of the forge. Remember when Chu Shen was forced to fight the pillar warriors for two weeks straight by Master Ti Wu in the Black Night Sect? Master Ti Wu only let Chu Shen go because he had managed to beat the seventh pillar.

Because of him being able to beat the seventh pillar, Chu Shen was able to receive a seventh martial art. The one he chose was <Stellar Flame>. It was one of the martial arts that Master Ti Wu had chosen for him when he first entered the Void Sect. It was a martial art that allowed one to use fire to burn their enemies. It was only suitable for those who used void, or null qi.

One must remember that null and void Qi was a combination of everything in the universe and it’s opposite. It means that everything is contained inside null Qi. The <Stellar Flame> was a martial art that isolated the fire portion of void and null Qi. With that, Chu Shen could harness the power of the universe’s flames.

Even the most heaven defying flame belonged to the universe because it was the universe itself that birthed it. As for the void and null Qi that represented the universe? Of course it could recreate such terrifying flame. The only difference was that one needed sufficient strength to recreate them.

Right now, with Chu Shen’s strength, he could only create flames that were suitable to forge. As for attack? Chu Shen hadn’t even started training <Stellar Flame>. He had been busy forging and cultivating in the previous dimension. Much too busy to practice the new martial art.

Him using <Stellar Flame> to forge was a win-win for all. It let Chu Shen forge the things he needed and allowed him to practice the martial art. The only one who didn’t like it was Master Ti Wu.

As a matter of fact, he was actually enraged by it. ‘You brat! So disrespectful! Don’t you know that is one of the best martial arts in the library?! To think that you would use something that others would kill for to simply, simply….ARGH!’

‘To sully a martial art like this and use it to forge! Where is its dominating image! Don’t you remember it’s introduction?! (Burn the universe to nothing. Incinerate your enemies and let nothing stand). That was <Stellar Flames> introduction and yet you still seem to fancy using it as a fireplace!’

Chu Shen mentally shrugged. ‘I don’t see what the big deal is master. A martial art is supposed to be used however the user wants. If a martial art is used simply to fight, then don’t you think it’s beauty is lost? Maybe the creator of this martial art never intended it be used as a forge fire but it could also be true that he would be grateful that I am using it for creation and not just destruction.’

Master Ti Wu would have none of that. ‘Bah! Using honeyed words to try and coax me. You shameless disciple! Huff. You know what? I think you only picked that martial art because you needed a fire for your forge.’

Chu Shen eyes glanced away real quickly at that. ‘A-anyways master, I still need to forge these weapons so…..’

‘Of course. Forget about your master. Humph. I’ve never had such a disrespectful disciple. Go on then! Sully that martial art and get forging. I’m taking a nap!’ Master Ti Wu left in a huff. Or at least, he stopped talking to Chu Shen.

Chu Shen decided to continue with his plan to forge. It was worth Master Ti Wu’s disapproval. He brought out his tools and started laying everything out. Setting up a small table, he set his forging hammers and other hand tools on it. Placing the anvil beside the table, Chu Shen was ready to start forging.

He brought out the black iron and placed it on the anvil. He backed up slightly and then pointed his palms at the material. He took a deep breath before activating the <Stellar Flame>. Qi flowed from his dantian and into his meridians.

 It flowed in a specific pattern inside his body, going into his chest before traveling into Chu Shen’s arms. If one could see his meridians, the Qi would form the image of a fire, forever frozen in time. The Qi surged forth from his arms before coalescing into his palms. There, the Qi emerged. Unlike all the other times before, it was not a gray color but rather a pure bright white.

Why was it white? Most people think of fire as red or orange colored. However, even a mortal knows that the hottest fire is not such colors but rather white. How could null Qi contain such awful fire like red or orange flame? This white fire did not have any special properties and Lucas’ world would have deemed such fire as actually being on the cool side.

To a blacksmith however, this fire was the hottest one could have for mortal metals. If Lucas was struck with this fire, it would soften the Dragon Iron but wouldn’t melt it. From that it could be seen how tough Dragon Iron was but also how useless this fire was as well.

 For combat capabilities, this flame truly was useless in it’s current stage. However, Chu Shen had only just started to practice <Stellar Flame>. If he had some time to practice it, then it would soon become much stronger. This was his whole reason for practicing <Stellar Flame> by using it to forge.

The white Qi emerged from Chu Shen’s palms. When it did, the surrounding temperature immediately shot up by a few degrees. With a thought on Chu Shen’s part, the white Qi transformed into white fire and covered the black iron. As the black iron started to heat up, it turned a beautiful cherry red.

As soon as it reached this temperature, Chu Shen tried to stop the flame. It didn’t work. Panicking slightly, Chu Shen stopped circulating his Qi. When he did, the white flame was suddenly enveloped by gray colored energy that continued coming from his palms. The white flame disappeared without a trace as Chu Shen’s null Qi devoured it.

Chu Shen shrugged. Looks like he still needed to practice a bit more with <Stellar Flame: Flame Blower>. This was the first stage of <Stellar Flame> which required one to blow fire from their palms.

 There were stages to <Song of The Universe> as well. Chu Shen had completely mastered the first stage, <Song of The Universe: Celestial Weapon>. It was where one applied the vibrations to their weapon, like Chu Shen had with his hammer. Currently he was working on the second stage, <Song of The Universe: Solar Vibrations>, which was when one could send vibrations with their Qi, allowing their Qi to gain the quality of vibration. Chu Shen couldn’t even make his twitch so far but he had only recently gained mastery over the first stage.

He had also stepped into the 3rd stage of the <Void King: Bones of Null> technique. This stage was basically the tempering of one’s bones where the previous two stages were the tempering of muscles and skin. Chu Shen still only had 60.25 tons of force from the 30th circulation of the <Void King> technique.

Remember, it might have seemed like a long time since coming to this world but it hadn’t even been a month yet. Chu Shen had been busy the entire time with research, hunting, or protecting the kids. He just hadn’t had a whole lot of time to actually cultivate.

Chu Shen had almost mastered the first stage of <Comet Travels Through: Booming Step> and <The Stars Dance: Light Step>. If Chu Shen actually mastered Vapor Trail then he would leave a sonic boom behind him when he used this technique.

If Chu Shen mastered light step, he would be able to condense his Qi and appear to walk on light. With this his agility would soar since he would be able to travel in the air. Of course, the cost would be enormous amounts of Qi since he would have to condense it into thin, solid layers in midair.

This was the power of martial arts. This was the reason why Master Ti Wu scoffed at those warriors when Chu Shen asked about their martial arts. Honestly, if Chu Shen wasn’t so distracted with forging and researching technology, he would be far stronger than he was now. The only thing holding him back was his constant curiosity about the things in new realms.

Chu Shen continued forging new blades. Only four swords were successfully made. The others were ruined by his learning experience with <Stellar Flame>. Upon forging them, Chu Shen went to the hunting town and sold them. Using the money, he had the teacher go back for more materials. He repeated this for the rest of the week. After that, Chu Shen started to stock the store, which was now built, while the kids were equipped and sent hunting.

1. N/a