Book 9: Chapter 36: Lightning Iris Blade
The interior of the blacksmith’s shop was hot. That was, no doubt, an effect of the forge that took up most of the space, even if it was hidden from view. Sen idly looked at the weapons and shields that shared space on the walls with the more mundane tools of farming, but idle interest was all that it was. While he suspected that most of those tools of violence were well-made, they were ultimately meant for mortal hands. Having recently tested and broken a jian meant for core cultivators, Sen knew that he needed something crafted for him specifically. So, he had gone to the only smith he knew that might be able to do the job on short notice. He had asked Master Feng.
“I thought you might be about there,” said Master Feng. “That’ll keep being a problem for you from here on in.”
Sen had suspected as much but it had still been a little disappointing to hear it confirmed. He'd been in the habit of replacing his weapons with ones he’d taken off dead enemies. The problem with that, of course, was that there were far fewer nascent soul cultivators around. While he imagined that he’d eventually come into conflict with some of them, he wasn’t going to find them lining up to be an easy source of resources for him. The only consolation there was that when he did kill one, he’d probably walk away with a lot of resources. After all, if someone managed to kill him, they’d pick up a fortune in unused alchemy resources, money, and elixirs.
“I’d worried about that,” Sen admitted.
“There just aren’t that many people who can forge weapons for people with your kind of strength. Then there’s the matter of the materials themselves. They’re rare and expensive,” said Master Feng before giving Sen a considering look. “Although, you’re probably better equipped than most to acquire them.”
“Why is that?”
“You aren’t afraid of the deep wilds. You’d be surprised how many nascent soul cultivators never manage to shake that particular fear.”
“Why? I mean, sure, there are powerful spirit beasts out there, but there aren’t many that could threaten a nascent soul cultivator.”
“You’d be surprised. The thing you have to remember is that not everyone is quite as good at fighting as you are. Normal alchemists at your level of development would only have a fifty-fifty chance of coming back from places that wouldn’t even give you pause, and that’s if they went as part of an expedition.”