The sword furnace's fire burned without cease, Lian Que watching in silence.
Methodically, he placed various precious materials into the flames.
Any keen observer would have understood the sacrifices Lian Que had made for this.
Among the materials were treasures like Flowing Gold Stone and Light-Drinking Clay — items of virtually incalculable value. In terms of sheer rarity alone, they were more than enough to match the life token Jiang Chen had returned.
The people of the Lian Clan were bound by life tokens from birth, and so they treasured freedom all the more.
Lian Que had said that even in death he would never surrender his life token, and that was no idle boast. Had there been any other way in the Celestial Residence Secret Realm, he would never have used it as a pledge.
Because only a life token could convey his true intent — that he owed nothing to anyone.
The moment he discovered the life token on Jiang Chen's person, he had roughly understood the choice Jiang Chen had made in the Celestial Residence Secret Realm.
Jiang Chen had not made him choose wrong, and he would not let Jiang Chen choose wrong.
The Lian Clan's direct bloodline was granted only three chances in a lifetime to forge a weapon in the Ancient Furnace — typically reserved only for breaking through a weapon forger's bottleneck. Yet he was willing to use one of these precious opportunities, solely to forge a sword for Jiang Chen.
Lian Que's strength was no small matter. Back in the Celestial Residence Secret Realm, had it not been for the endless conspiracies against him, he might never have been eliminated.
And in the art of forging weapons, he was particularly gifted. Otherwise, he would never have become one of the only ten members of his generation in the Lian Clan to hold his own life token.
The materials gradually melted within the sword furnace. Lian Que formed different seals with each step, every movement as precise as a Mo Family mechanism.
Throughout it all, Jiang Chen simply sat nearby in meditation, channeling his Dao essence.
Three days and three nights passed in the blink of an eye.
...
Jiang Chen's Dao essence was truly formidable! Lian Que was genuinely astonished.
Three days and three nights, and Jiang Chen showed no sign of running dry.
What he did not know was that Jiang Chen now possessed nine great Star River Dao Vortices, along with the Star-Coiling Spirit Serpent. Even without performing the meridian-nourishing cultivation, he could automatically generate eighty-four units of Dao essence every day — exceeding the sacred number of nine-times-nine.
If one treated Jiang Chen as a Dao essence mineral vein, he could produce roughly one hundred-unit stone every single day. And that was without mentioning his relentless cultivation — morning and evening sessions never missed.
Were it not for the Dao arts practice and the flushing of the Gate of Heaven and Earth both being major consumers of Dao essence, the Celestial Palace would have long been overflowing with surplus.
Lian Que still woke Jiang Chen from his meditation. "The ore smelting phase is over. You can rest now. I'll call on you again when I need you."
Jiang Chen immediately stopped.
In truth, three days and three nights of channeling Dao essence had not fatigued him at all. His spirit remained excellent thanks to the meditative state.
While Lian Que devoted himself to forging the sword, Jiang Chen was far from idle.
He resumed the meridian-nourishing cultivation he had interrupted for three days, making up for the missed practice. Then came the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art — accumulated over time, the Azure Dragon chapter and the Vermilion Bird chapter had long been perfected.
The Black Tortoise chapter had originally progressed slowly, but after witnessing that colossal tortoise beast in the State of You — its majestic, weighty aura, the powerful essence of Baxia bloodline — it had given Jiang Chen tremendous inspiration, bringing the Black Tortoise chapter nearly to completion in a single leap.
His current focus was the White Tiger chapter. With this last step, all four spirits would be perfected.
After completing the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art, he began practicing the three Dao arts that Chongxuan Sheng had found for him.
Tiger Bind had already been inscribed in the Celestial Palace, but Blossom Sea and Thorn Crown still needed more familiarization before he could wield them as he pleased.
Another three days passed.
Lian Que had been engrossed in refining and adjusting the molten ore. Only now did he relax slightly, glancing at Jiang Chen with undisguised surprise. "Have you always cultivated this hard? Don't you ever need to rest?"
"I'm used to it."
Lian Que nodded. "There's a reason you won the Celestial Residence Secret Realm."
After a pause, he added, "Your sword is nearly formed. Do you have any thoughts about it?"
Jiang Chen looked at him and said earnestly, "Thank you for your hard work."
This was not mere courtesy. While he himself cultivated relentlessly, he could see how much Lian Que was giving — body and soul. No exaggeration, but in that moment, Lian Que's ugly face, lit sharply by the furnace glow, actually looked rather endearing.
Lian Que glanced at the state of the sword furnace and replied, "I'm asking about your thoughts on the sword. Not on me."
Jiang Chen smiled. "You come from a clan of weapon forgers. You're a genius at the craft. I have no preferences — I trust you."
Lian Que shrugged and said nothing more.
Approximately half an incense stick's time later.
His hands shifted rapidly, forming a cascade of seals. At last, his right hand pulled outward, and a stream of scorching molten metal leaped from the sword furnace.
The instant it met the open air, it erupted in a crackling roar!
As if the very essence of heaven and earth had condensed into this substance.
The molten metal solidified into a crimson bar, then quickly turned a deep, dark black. Finally, Lian Que placed it on the anvil beside him.
"Come. Forge it yourself." Lian Que handed him an iron hammer the size of a man's head.
The moment Jiang Chen took it, the weight nearly dragged his hand down. He had to channel Dao essence just to steady it, secretly shocked.
With his current physique, his hands carried at least a thousand jin of force — yet lifting this hammer was still a struggle.
"I'll go make the final preparations. You're responsible for forging the blade blank. Five thousand strikes on the front, then five thousand on the back. Alternate like this. Don't stop until I say so."
After giving his instructions, Lian Que turned and walked into the sword formation.
Behind him, the sound of hammering on iron had already begun.
...
Jiang Chen had lost all track of time.
He was utterly exhausted.
His arms had gone completely numb — no sensation at all.
Though he knew many techniques for channeling force, in the end, it came down to nothing but his body and will.
He persevered on nothing more than sheer, extraordinary willpower, propped up by the steady stream of Dao essence produced by his Star River Dao Vortices.
Lian Que never appeared. He even suspected the man had snuck off to sleep at home.
But surely not for this long.
At first his mind wandered through idle thoughts. Later, there was nothing left but emptiness.
Since Lian Que said not to stop, then he would not stop.
After all, this was his own sword.
He had no one before him. No one behind him.
He was the only person he could rely on.
Endurance was the only thing he could depend on.
Through the countless hammer blows, he began to feel a faint connection with the blade blank beneath his hammer. It was an incredibly subtle sensation, but its sharpness made it impossible to ignore.
Before long, Jiang Chen unconsciously began circulating the White Tiger Body Refining Art.
The Four-Spirit Body Refining Art had originally been derived from the White Tiger Body Refining Art as its foundation — the White Tiger chapter was always the essential core.
Now, with the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art reaching its final chapter, and the sword itself resonating with the metal of the West...
As he hammered on and on, sensation slowly returned to his arms.
First came soreness, then searing pain. He endured every pang through gritted teeth.
At last, he felt his blood flowing through his arms — fierce and warm.
The White Tiger Body Refining Art surged forward.
Just as he had grown accustomed to the rhythm, even beginning to find his flow, he heard Lian Que's voice.
"Enough."
Lian Que's voice was exhausted.
Jiang Chen instinctively stopped.
The heightened state brought by the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art vanished, and exhaustion washed over his entire body.
Lian Que paid him no heed. His own hands were bright red from heat as he seized the repeatedly forged, scorching blade blank with his bare palms and thrust it back into the furnace.
"Three days and three nights — I fasted and purified my heart, employing the Lian Clan's secret arts. I am fully prepared."
So another three days and three nights had passed. Jiang Chen's muddled mind registered dimly.
"I had you enter meditation to empty your mind so I could receive your purest Dao essence — so the sword would sense you through that essence from the moment of its birth. And I had you forge the blade blank to imbue it with your spirit, your vigor, your will. That is the essence of it all."
Lian Que formed seals with blinding speed, his expression almost manic.
"So I need not ask you again. This is the sword you desire most!"
"Now — give it a name."
Jiang Chen forced his eyes open and looked.
Light blazed before him.
As if struck by something piercing, a single tear slid down his cheek.
Before Jiang Chen's eyes, the blade blank — its shape still indeterminate — rose from the furnace fire.
But that sharpness, that aura, had already seized him completely.
In that instant, a thousand images turned through his mind.
Like moonlight that cannot be avoided — once you see it, you are already bathed in its glow.
Throughout the channeling of Dao essence and the forging of the blade, he had emptied himself entirely.
This blade blank, in a sense, was a reflection from the deepest reaches of his heart.
And what lay buried in the deepest reaches of Jiang Chen's heart?
A bright moon he could never reach. An ideal that was drifting ever further away. A homeland he could never return to.
With a feeling beyond words, Jiang Chen spoke with deep emotion. "Call it Everlasting Yearning."
"Everlasting Yearning."
Lian Que murmured the name, staring at the blade blank.
No true weapon forger could be without feeling for what he had forged. And yet, in this sword — not yet fully shaped — he had truly felt something that stirred the depths of his heart.
...
On the original site of the Lian Clan's homeland now stood the State of Xia.
But Xia was not the state that had destroyed the Lian Clan's old kingdom. That nation — the one before Xia — had itself been conquered by Xia. The hatred could find no target.
When their old kingdom fell, the entire Lian Clan fled and scattered, eventually relocating to the State of Qi.
For years afterward, the Lian Clan were guests in a foreign land, the Lian family strangers among strangers.
At first, the Lian Clan received no recognition from the local Qi people and suffered constant exclusion. They earned no trust from the Qi court either — no matter how brilliant their members, none were entrusted with important positions.
Because they missed their homeland, and their homeland lay to the south, the city they built was named Nanyao.
Over the years, the old kingdom had long vanished into the dust of history. And the Lian Clan, through their ever-rising reputation among weapon forgers, gradually carved out a place for themselves in the State of Qi.
But the discrimination never disappeared. The divide never closed.
Back outside the Full Moon Pool, when Chongxuan Sheng told Jiang Chen he need not fear the Lian Clan — though it was support for a friend — it reflected this reality to some degree.
In the hearts of many Lian Clan members, there was also a homeland to which they could never return. They would always be strangers in a foreign land.
...
Lian Que slowly withdrew his seals.
He placed a sphere of light wrapped around the sword into Jiang Chen's hands.
It was as if he were handing over a beam of moonlight.
The light faded.
And there lay before him —
The hilt, slightly flattened. The crossguard, shaped like a full moon.
The collars bore engravings, like threads of yearning intertwined.
The spine was straight and upright, the edge sharp and thin.
From the blade's surface, cold light poured forth. At the tip, divine brilliance concealed itself.
In terms of color, the hilt was like ink, the blade like snow. Not a single flaw.
Upon the spine, near the crossguard, three characters of Qi script were inscribed.
They read: Swallows Return Home.
The sword was named "Everlasting Yearning." The inscription read "Swallows Return Home."
...
...
Everlasting Yearning — Written for Jiang Chen in Nanyao
Everlasting yearning, swallows return home. The frost moon stores wine; three months of drunken bloom, Flowers like ornaments, willows like a slender waist.
I would send the swallows with word of my return, But eastward and westward the journeys stretch on and on. (1)
Crossing a thousand mountains with a single heart, After the thousand mountains, two wings grow old.
I have searched every eave, and none are the one — The spring swallow flies home but finds no nest.
It lingers in the old city, crying in vain; The four seasons have ended; cold and heat have faded. (2)
I would ask the locals where their home may be — The one who lost his home is in Nanyao.
Everlasting yearning — forever like a blade.