Death... and me

Hearing those words, the other blacksmith disciples in the area immediately offered their help.

"Let me learn it!"

"No, let me!"

"Me too!"

"I'll even pay you if you teach me!"

However, Rean immediately raised his hand, telling him, "Not gonna happen. This is my source of income. If I show everyone how to do it, how do you expect me to make money after that? There will be a lot of competition, and the price will plummet. I'm sorry, but I have no intention of revealing my methods."

Grabol then gave him a suggestion. "Why don't you sell the method, then? As you probably know, there are many of our elders trying to figure it out. They will eventually find out how to do it, and you won't get a single Divine Stone for that."

Rean laughed inside as he thought, 'Sure, if they came from modern Earth, then they might indeed find out how to do it. Hahaha!' Of course, he didn't show that on his face. "It's fine, Senior Grabol. If it happens, then it happens. Until that day, I will try to make as much profit as I can. I know that with the seniors' blacksmith level, this day will definitely come, but I think I can make a lot more until they find it by themselves than if I sell it straight away."

Grabol sighed but decided to not force it. He obviously knew who was backing Rean up, not to mention he wouldn't do anything shady even if Etherian wasn't there. "Sigh...whatever. Don't say I didn't warn you. I will also join one of them as I'm curious as to how your equipment can gather elements on their own, so I'll take my leave. Just make sure you get these people sorted before you leave." After saying his piece, Grabol left.

Nevertheless, his intervention was enough to at least give Rean some breathing space to talk with the rest of the disciples. "As I've mentioned before, we will draw lots. That way, everyone will have an equal chance of being selected. If you want to buy or sell your position after that, that's your problem."

Everyone nodded. Some of them had big backgrounds, so they were pretty sure they could get those positions from those who didn't have as many contacts. For example, the new disciples from outside countries.

There were a total of 378 disciples waiting there, and they were quickly set to have their equipment forged one after another. Only then did they let Rean leave, but not before asking, "When will you start forging the weapons?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "I'm not sure, but I'll let you know."

Obviously, the first people in the queue weren't happy, let alone the ones far away. However, before they could say anything, Rean cut them out. "I don't want to hear any complaints. Did you just see what happened? I spent eleven days forging weapons nonstop. One for Hura and another ten for the elders. During this time, I wasn't able to train, cultivate, study, or anything like that. There are more than 300 people here. Do you think I will spend an entire year only forging? You all know very well that the most important moment for a cultivator is the time when they're young. Every single day is extremely important, especially to people of our level of talent. I'm not here to work for you but to gather resources for myself."

With that, Rean turned around and left the vicinity. Sure enough, there wasn't a single person there that could blame Rean for what he was doing. They were all geniuses who had a lot invested in their future. How could they not know how important each day of their youth was?

Rean then went straight to the teleport formation building. He needed to go fetch Kentucky, after all. As for fear of someone following him, he didn't care about that. He simply used the same method as before and teleported somewhere far away first. After changing his appearance and making sure no one was watching him with his Divine Sense bending skill, he took another teleport formation before heading back to the Lukimira Sect.

While Rean was gone, Roan looked at Kihin, who seemed to still be looking for his own compatible star. He thought that the Demising Catacombs would open before Kihin was back. However, it turned out that Kihin opened his eyes again on that day.

"Oh! So you're finally back," Roan could not help but say, a little surprised. "Did you find your star? No, first of all, did you pass through the barrier?"

Kihin nodded, saying, "You were right. The solution was enough to break through the barrier when fused with the foreign Starlights. However, I kept moving everywhere on the other side of the barrier but couldn't find the star I was compatible with at all."

Roan had warned him about that. "It's like I told you, the sea of stars is just too big. I was just lucky to have been close to my own. First of all, we don't even know if everyone really has their own compatible star or if I'm just an exception."

Kihin knew that. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. "If it doesn't work, I will have to use my own cultivation method. At the very least, now I know it works as I already used the solution myself."

Roan agreed with him on that. "It's not a bad thing. Now that you have already passed through the barrier, you won't need to do that again. You will appear in the exact same place when you enter the mental sea of stars. All the stars beyond the barrier have much better Starlight, so it's not a loss."

Kihin hadn't given up just yet, though. "I just came back because I felt my mind was becoming strained. Once I rest, I'll go back and continue my search."

"That's good and all," Roan told him. "However, don't focus too much on it. Don't forget that while you're looking for it, you aren't doing anything else. No cultivation, no training, nothing. You're still young, so you should carefully ponder as to how long you wish to continue the search."

Kihin couldn't help but comment, "Why do I feel like I'm talking with my grandfather or someone older?"