Published at 24th of August 2024 9:42 am

Chapter 1238 A Talented Ally

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Wang Wei followed the Sky Pavilion Master to a sun in a cosmic star area of the Lawless Zone. At the center of the sun was what Wang Wei would describe as a smithing house that used the sun to create Samadhi Flames for weapon refining.

Wang Wei walked into a room with a muscular elderly man in a simple black robe, a long white beard twisted in a braid, and using a hammer on the mold of a sword. The sight was odd because the elderly man had the aura of an Everlasting Empyrean, but his way of refining weapons resembled a blacksmith instead of a cultivator.

The blacksmith did not pay attention to their presence and continued hammering. Once he finished, he used his fingers to draw a simple rune on the air that fused with the sword, releasing a golden light indicating its complexion. The blacksmith looked at the sword briefly and shook his head in disappointment. He threw it to the small weapon pile next to him before finally focusing on the people present.

"Pavilion Master? Are you here for another unreasonable request? I told you there is a limit to even my skills."

"No, no, that's not why I'm here," the Sky Pavilion Master swiftly said. "This is Empyrean Wang, and he is…well, the new leader of the pavilion. I brought him to make your acquaintance."

The blacksmith was not stupid and understood the situation, so he gazed at Wang Wei. His eyes were weird; it was as if he was appraising a weapon. Wang Wei was slightly surprised by this man's detection technique, so he did not resist much.

"With such a unique soul and sub-Dao of Refining, it's a shame you're a combatant," the blacksmith uttered.

"Thank you for the compliment," Wang Wei replied. "But how do I address you?"

"You can call me the Flame Blacksmith, and as long as you accept the same terms I had with the pavilion master, I don't care who the new leader is."

Wang Wei already learned the relationship between those two was not of servitude but more of an equal partnership. "I have no problem with keeping the previous agreement, but my goal is not to be caged in this small place. I have goals and ambitions I must accomplish in the outside world.

"So, can you leave this place and be more active?"

The Flame Blacksmith looked at him briefly. Then, his eyes suddenly turned fiery red. "You are…So, that's how it is — that time has already arrived." He looked at the Pavilion Master. "Give us a moment to talk." The latter looked at Wang Wei, who nodded to him.

"Do you know my identity?" the Flame Blacksmith asked.

"I do not."

"I'm the direct disciple of Paragon Blood Rune."

"Paragon Blood Rune? One of the 2 Primals of the Skill Dao Association?"

"That's right."

"From what I know, he only had 2 direct disciples, and they were all Paragons," Wang Wei stated.

"My master left his inheritance scattered all over the world to find disciples, and I only passed the test after he died," Black Flame explained. He's met his teacher a handful of times from Limbo, but despite such an odd situation, he was acknowledged as the third direct disciple and received Paragon Blood Rune's teaching.

"That explains it," Wang Wei nodded. "But why are you telling me such sensitive information?"

"For many reasons, but primarily, I want us to be straightforward with our identities or backgrounds to ensure a better alliance or cooperation."

"Background? You seem sure that I'm not a simple loose cultivator," Wang Wei stated.

"These people have erased, twisted, or hidden history, so only a few top lineages still have perfectly intact records. The fact that you recognized my master's name and knew how many disciples he had proved you're not from an ordinary background."

"Fair point," Wang Wei nodded. "My name is Wang Wei, from the Dao Opening Sect."

"Them? My master did say the chances of the destined one having a deep connection with them were very high," the Flame Blacksmith uttered.

"Oh? What else did he say?"

"He said that if I have a chance to participate in the closure of this era, I should take it. The blessings from my achievements will help me tremendously in the next era — an era which will be even more brilliant than the Golden Era."

"Your master is wise," Wang Wei said, but his mind was thinking of something else.

'Based on the information the sect gave me, the Blood Rune Paragon's goal was always to get his hands on the Refiner Dao Position. However, he also accepted his limitations, thus focusing on cultivating an apprentice to accomplish his dreams.

'His other two apprentices have great achievements, but they did not meet his expectations. Could he be trying again with this Flame Blacksmith? Does he have this much potential?'

If his deduction is true, then an alliance with the Flame Blacksmith will not only help him in his fight against the parasites but also be a perfect opportunity to expand the Dao Opening Sect's alliances. With this mindset, Wang Wei had a deep conversation with the blacksmith, laying out the groundwork for their alliance/cooperation. Finally, he left with the Sky Pavilion Master.

"By the way, what was the unreasonable request you asked of him?" Wang Wei casually asked after returning to the Azure Sky Pavilion.

"I wanted him to refine an artifact with lawless iron that was as small as sand, maybe even smaller."

"That is unreasonable," Wang Wei agreed. "But why would you want something like that? No, he said it was a customer request. Who would want such a thing?"

"My apologies, I can't say."

"Excuse you?"

"No, don't get me wrong," Azure Sky swiftly said. "It's not that I don't want to say, but I can't. The customer made me sign the most restrictive contract not to reveal their info. I couldn't even keep any records of this request."

"Why all the intense secrecy?" Wang Wei complained, feeling something was odd. "Why did you even entertain such a request in the first place?"

"I had no choice," Azure Sky declared. "These parasites crippled my family's connection to the outside world, and it was that person who reinstated it. In fact, this person basically controls our lifeline when it comes to accessing resources from the outside. Although they never interfered or made things difficult for us, it does not change the fact how much power they secretly held in our pavilion."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that from now on," Wang Wei reassured. Now that he was in control, the pavilions could go through him to get resources. In fact, they will start to operate on a large scale in the outside world while the branch in the Lawless Zone will become less important.

Wang Wei detected Mongke and Dulgun had returned, so he went to meet the demons since these people would be underneath him. He needed to assess their potential and know what to expect of them in the upcoming struggles. As such, he gathered all five of them, including the Poison Demoness that he had already met.

He sat on a throne, observing all five of them. Wang Wei read their fate lines to have a better understanding of their personality, experiences, and capabilities.

'The Poison Demoness is an excellent Poison Cultivator. She's efficient and ruthless in her approach while also keeping a more experimental mindset. However, she becomes useless once her poison does not work. Maybe she should add Gu Dao to expand her repertoire.'

His gaze turned to the Puppet Demon.

'Another ruthless bastard. I guess all of them are ruthless, hence the demon in their name. However, this one even abandoned his flesh and turned himself into a puppet. However, he's too confident in his work as he made such a stupid mistake of leaving his puppet core where his heart was. Once he fixes that and I help him condense the other runes for his Myriad Dao Core, he will be a force to reckon with. Plus, I can take all his knowledge and experience as a gift for Cai Song.'

Wang Wei frowned as he looked at the Flesh Demon.

'This grafting technique is quite unique, but this bastard went the wrong way. He acquired the body of an Indestructible Empyrean but not the strength of one. He used his grafting method to avoid the tedious and painful process of body refining, but that only made his flesh full of flaws and his willpower extremely weak."

Despite his potent flesh, this demon did not even achieve Willpower Manifestation.

'He even avoided the True Power Dao Realm tribulations by taking body parts from people who succeeded. Such an act ruined his luck as he achieved strength without paying the price.'

Wang Wei could tell this bastard would probably be the first to die in the outside world with how terrible his luck and destiny was.

'So, I must shield this bastard with my own luck and turn him into a genuine body refiner — starting by tempering his willpower. Once he meets my requirements, I can give him my and Mongke's body parts to turn him into a top expert.'

Wang Wei was satisfied with this plan, especially after realizing the Flesh Demon was the most cunning of these five individuals. He will be an excellent pawn if used correctly. He turned to the Curse Demon, a young man with a morbidly pale complexion and tattoos of black rose that ran from his neck to his back.

'He looked nothing extraordinary from the surface. However, it seems he was born with a terrifying bloodline curse. The origin of that curse will probably lead to something interesting, but for now, this is not something I can deal with.' Wang Wei pondered.

'However, if we can find a way to use that bloodline curse as his power, he will be a great asset.'

Finally, he looked at the Ghost Demoness. She was an ugly elderly woman dressed in a dark purple robe. Cultivators can change their appearances at will — unless something unexpected occurs — but she chose that ugly appearance despite having no extenuating circumstances.

Through the Fate Line Reading Technique, he knew it was due to a heartbreak she suffered in her youth, so he no longer cared.

'If I can fuse her Ghost Army with the Puppet Demon's puppet army, I can cultivate a ferocious legion.' He knew how deep the parasites' background was, so he needed all the help possible.

Now that he had a better understanding of his team, Wang Wei prepared to finish conquering this place by targeting the four gangs. He wanted to be as swift as possible since he sensed that time was not on his side.

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