Yuan Ming touched his nose and smiled bitterly in his heart.

Just the day before, he was still struggling to survive in the dangerous environment of the Ten Thousand Mountains, trying to escape from being a slave to the Beastman and join the Bi Luo Cave. He even faced a desperate situation. However, he never expected that just one day later, he would enter the sect directly in this way.

After sitting cross-legged, Yuan Ming took out the “Clear Heart Pill” given to him by the three cave masters. He opened the bottle and poured out a bright red pill with a faint fragrance.

After taking a quick look, Yuan Ming tilted his head back and swallowed the pill.

In an instant, a warm stream started to rise from his abdomen, gradually flowing towards his heart.

Yuan Ming felt his heart beating faster, as if it was about to burst out of his chest. His breathing became short and rapid.

Before he could react, he suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to vomit. He quickly opened the door and rushed to the stone wall outside, bending over and vomiting.

After spitting out a bunch of foul-smelling black mucus, the urge gradually disappeared and his heartbeat returned to normal.

After a moment of relief, Yuan Ming felt clear-minded and refreshed, as if all the pent-up frustration in his heart had been swept away.

“According to the instructions of the three cave masters, the medicine needs to be taken for three days to completely remove the toxicity of the Corroded Heart Pill. This clear-minded and refreshing feeling is not a sign of the toxicity being completely resolved, but the original effect of the Clear Heart Pill.” Yuan Ming thought to himself.

After feeling the changes in himself upon returning, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Yuan Ming suddenly relaxed, but he couldn’t fall asleep at all.

He knew in his heart that the Bi Luo Cave was not his home after all. The Central Plains, hidden deep in his memories, was his true destination. No matter what, he had to find a way to go back and figure out who he really was.

However, after stepping into the cultivation world and experiencing a series of events, he realized that he was too small and weak. He didn’t even know the identity of the person who had harmed him to such an extent. If he rashly went back, he might not even be able to protect himself if something happened.

Moreover, he had just officially entered the Bi Luo Cave, and there were still many things he needed to explore.

“At least I need to improve my cultivation and have some self-defense power before I can leave. Otherwise, it will be difficult to cross the thousands of miles.” Yuan Ming thought to himself.

Although he said that, he already had a rough plan in his mind about returning to the Central Plains.

After thinking for a while, Yuan Ming calmed his mind and sat cross-legged on the bed, continuing to cultivate the “Nine Elements Technique”.

…

“Knock knock.”

The next morning, Yuan Ming, who was immersed in cultivation, was awakened by a dull knocking sound.

He opened his eyes and couldn’t help but show surprise.

In such a state of deep meditation, where he forgot about himself and the world, it was rare to have any disturbances in the dangerous Ten Thousand Mountains.

Yuan Ming got up and opened the door, seeing a young man in brown clothes standing outside. He had ordinary eyebrows and eyes, and slightly thick lips, giving the impression of an honest and loyal person.

“Hello, I am the servant in charge of this place. I am responsible for the cleaning and daily chores here.” The young man lowered his head and held a stack of clothes in his hands, speaking.

On the clothes, there was a palm-sized white waist badge with the words “Bi Luo Cave” written in the Southern Region’s script.

Yuan Ming took it and found another row of vertical characters on the other side, which read “Named Disciple”.

“What is your name?” Yuan Ming asked.

“Bo Tu.” The young man replied.

“Just give me the clothes. You only need to clean once every three days here, no need to come daily, and don’t move anything in the room.” Yuan Ming nodded and instructed.

“Yes, Immortal.” Bo Tu replied.

Yuan Ming took the clothes from him, turned around, and was about to go back inside when he saw that the young man was still standing outside. He frowned and said:

“You can go now.”

“Immortal, when you change your clothes later, I will take you to the Fire Forge.” Bo Tu said.

Yuan Ming remembered that Chen Wan had also mentioned yesterday that he should go to the Fire Forge in the morning, so he nodded and said, “Understood.”

He closed the door, spread out the clothes in his arms, and found that there were two sets of blue short-sleeved shirts for changing. There was the words “Fire Forge” embroidered on the chest.

After changing his clothes, Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment, but still tied the white ape beast skin around his waist, hung the Named Disciple waist badge on the left side, and carried the Blue Fish Sword on the right side before leaving the room.

Guided by Bo Tu, Yuan Ming left the courtyard where the Named Disciples lived and headed towards the back mountain. After about the time it took to finish a cup of tea, he saw a building surrounded by red walls.

Arriving at the main entrance, Yuan Ming saw a stone standing by the door with the words “Fire Forge Restricted Area, No Unauthorized Entry”.

After dismissing Bo Tu, Yuan Ming walked alone and stepped into the Fire Forge.

As soon as he stepped onto the three steps and before entering the door, Yuan Ming felt a wave of heat rushing towards him. The air was mixed with the complex smell of sulfur and saltpeter.

He wrinkled his nose and walked in.

Passing through the gate and into the courtyard, various clanging sounds came from all directions.

Yuan Ming could already imagine the scene inside the Fire Forge, but because there was a front hall in between, he couldn’t see anything yet.

At this moment, the front hall was empty. Yuan Ming walked through it by himself.

The moment he walked out of the front hall, Yuan Ming was stunned.In the spacious courtyard behind, there were numerous independent open-door huts, looking like workshop sheds, arranged in an orderly manner, as many as fifty or sixty.

At this moment, most of the huts had a fire pit burning, with the furnace fire roaring, making a whooshing sound.

Busy figures moved around in the huts, some were melting metals, some were adding refining materials, and some were bare-chested, swinging hammers on the anvil, striking iron embryos, making a clanging noise, with sparks flying around.

Yuan Ming glanced over and saw that most of them were burly and rugged men, with few women like Chen Wan. Occasionally, he saw a few women, all busy, holding a slightly smaller hammer, knocking on the refining materials on the stone platform.

They smashed the palm-sized raw stone materials into pieces, then ground them with a stone mill, and then used sieves of different sizes to sift them over and over again.

On one side was the rough hammering, and on the other side was the delicate sifting, accompanied by the clanging sound of hammering and the constant splashing of sparks, forming a unique picture.

Everyone in the picture was immersed in their work, and no one noticed Yuan Ming’s arrival.

Yuan Ming looked at this scene, although it was somewhat different from what he had imagined, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of fondness.

At this time, a square-faced man, also dressed in short clothes and with a red headband tied around his forehead, finally noticed Yuan Ming. He walked through rows of casting huts and came towards Yuan Ming.

His body was robust, his muscles taut, outlining lines full of strength. His square face with short beard exuded a serious expression. He walked up to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming glanced at the green waist tag hanging around his waist, which was the same style as Chen Wan’s, seemingly unique to the inner disciples.

“Greetings, Brother Fang Ge.” Yuan Ming greeted with a fist salute.

Last night, Chen Wan had told him that the person in charge of managing the fire workshop and teaching the basic skills of refining to the registered disciples was this Brother Fang Ge.

Brother Fang Ge’s surname was not Fang, he was from the Southern Border, and his name was Fang Ge.

“You are the new registered disciple, called… Yuan Ming, right?” Fang Ge looked Yuan Ming up and down and asked.

His voice was deep and matched his overall image very well.

“Thank you for your guidance, Brother.” Yuan Ming nodded and saluted with his fist.

Fang Ge nodded secretly, seeing that although Yuan Ming’s physique was not robust, his skeleton looked sturdy, and he was quite polite, which made Fang Ge feel a bit of fondness.

However, his face still showed no smile, and he said:

“You’re late. Our fire workshop’s rule is to light the fire at the third quarter of the morning and keep it burning until the third quarter of the noon. After that, you’re free to continue casting or practicing on your own. Since it’s your first time, I won’t hold it against you. But don’t make the same mistake again.”

“Brother, you’re right. I’ll remember that.” Yuan Ming replied.

“Although our Fire Refining Hall is not the largest or the most populous, our status within the sect is second only to the Beast Taming Hall. Many of their spirit beasts need saddles, muzzles, or chains, all of which require our help in refining.” Fang Ge continued, his words full of pride.

Yuan Ming knew that the Bi Luo Cave was founded on beast taming, and almost all disciples of any hall took pride in having a spirit beast companion. However, not everyone had the ability to raise and train spirit beasts.

The disciples of the Beast Taming Hall were mainly responsible for mass breeding, reproduction, capturing, and taming of spirit beasts.

“In addition to these, we also need to refine weapons, hidden weapons, and even magical tools. The first two can be completed by ordinary registered disciples as long as they have standard patterns. As for magical tools… it’s too far away from you, you don’t need to know for now.” Fang Ge continued.

Magical tools, Yuan Ming had already learned about them from Zhao Tong, knowing that they could only be refined by a refiner at least at the Foundation Establishment stage.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to the fire pit to try your hand.”

With that, Fang Ge led Yuan Ming to an empty casting hut.

Upon entering, Yuan Ming finally saw the entire structure. On the left side against the wall, a fire pit was built, enclosed on all sides except for the front and back, which were left open for the fire and smoke channels, ensuring that the heat would not be lost.

Next to the fire pit was a forging anvil platform, and on the side shelf, there were piles of ores and metal powders on the upper layer, and stacks of wood and charcoal on the lower layer.

“The wood is used to start the fire, light the charcoal, and when the temperature rises, start melting the ore. These metal powders are already sifted refining materials, there are many types, you’ll recognize them slowly.” Fang Ge said.

Yuan Ming glanced over and found that he recognized many of them, one of the reasons being that many of them were ones he had sold to Zhao Tong.

“Today you don’t need to worry about anything else, just practice the most basic work, forging.” Fang Ge picked up the huge hammer on the anvil platform and threw it lightly to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming immediately caught it, although he was prepared, he was still pulled down by the weight of his arm.

The hammer was much heavier than he had imagined.