The equipment in the Forging Pavilion could be easily forged with a single click as long as there were sufficient materials and flame source.

However, when Jun Changxiao forged the first Sturdy Iron Shield, it took half an hour, causing him to collapse in despair: “So slow!”

The System said, “If professional forgemasters on the Xingyun Continent heard this statement, they would definitely throw bricks at the host’s head.”

“Why?” Jun Changxiao asked.

The System explained, “A professional forgemaster forging the lowest-grade equipment, from smelting ore to repeatedly tempering it a thousand times, requires at least two days. The host completes it in half an hour and still complains it’s slow—this would definitely provoke them.”

“Oh, I see.”

Jun Changxiao murmured, “Compared to two days, it really isn’t slow at all.”

Not only wasn’t it slow, it was incredibly fast!

“Swoosh!”

With a thought, he retrieved the forged Initial-Grade Sturdy Iron Shield.

It was a fairly standard circular shield, similar in size to an ordinary pot lid. Though forged from iron ore, it was very light in weight.

The inner surface of the shield had a grip handle in the center.

The outer surface was pitch black with an indented groove at the center point.

Having had experience loading ammunition into magazines, Jun Changxiao immediately judged, “This shield can absorb crystal core energy!”

“Smart.” The System said.

Jun Changxiao continued having the Forging Pavilion forge the second shield, then took out a low-grade crystal core and infused its energy into the groove.

After the energy was fully loaded, streams of flowing light spread out from the center point, eventually outlining a pattern similar to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. At first glance, it looked as if fluorescent powder had been applied.

“Cool,” Jun Changxiao said.

Just as his voice fell, the flowing light suddenly weakened.

Though the pattern remained on the shield, the color had become dim and gray.

Jun Changxiao asked, “What’s happening?”

The System said, “The host can pick up the shield and channel intent into it to activate the defensive function.”

“Defensive function?”

Jun Changxiao slipped his palm through the grip handle on the inner surface of the shield and channeled his intent to communicate with it.

“Buzz!”

The moment contact was made, a circular barrier resembling a formation array appeared, closely hugging the front of the shield.

Looking at the flowing light barrier that completely protected him, Jun Changxiao exclaimed in surprise, “This is super cool!”

But!

How was the defense?

The System said, “The Sturdy Iron Shield’s activated defensive barrier has considerably high defensive strength.”

“Hm?”

Just then, Li Luoqiu walked in and said, “Sect Leader, what is this?”

“A shield,” Jun Changxiao said.

Li Luoqiu naturally knew it was a shield. She pointed at the seemingly real yet illusory flowing light barrier and said, “I’m asking about this. Why does it look a bit like a formation array?”

Jun Changxiao said, “It’s a defensive barrier.”

“Come here.”

He turned around holding the shield and said, “Take out the Desert Eagle and shoot at my shield once to test it.”

Li Luoqiu smiled and said, “What if it shatters and injures the Sect Leader? That wouldn’t be good.”

“It won’t shatter,” Jun Changxiao said.

“Really shoot?”

“Really shoot.”

“Alright then.”

Li Luoqiu raised her hand, and the Desert Eagle appeared out of thin air.

“Click!”

A bullet chambered. The gun barrel aimed at the defensive barrier, and without hesitation, she fired with a “bang.”

Hall Master Li, born an assassin, was clean and efficient.

However, after she fired the shot, her bright eyes filled with astonishment, because the flowing light bullet struck the defensive barrier without causing any damage whatsoever.

“How about it?”

Jun Changxiao said, “Not bad defense, right?”

Li Luoqiu said in surprise, “Sect Leader, could this shield of yours be a mid-grade high-tier defensive treasure?”

Jun Changxiao didn’t actually understand the quality grade of the Initial-Grade Sturdy Iron Shield, so he could only play along: “That’s right, it’s mid-grade high-tier.”

“No wonder.”

Li Luoqiu blinked and smiled, “Sect Leader, do you have many of these shields? If you have extras, could you give a few to our Drizzle Hall?”

Jun Changxiao withdrew his intent and the defensive barrier disappeared. “We’ll see about that later.”

“Alright then.”

Li Luoqiu shrugged.

“What brings you to see this Seat?” Jun Changxiao asked.

Li Luoqiu said, “Intelligence from Haoqi Sect reports that Qin Haoran has left Qingyang Commandery. From the direction, it seems he’s gone to Holy Spring Sect.”

Jun Changxiao stroked his chin and said, “This guy took a major fall. Could he be going to Holy Spring Sect to request expert assistance?”

Li Luoqiu said, “It’s possible.”

Jun Changxiao shook his head, overturning his own speculation. “We have a scheduled battle with Holy Spring Sect. If they claim to be a prestigious major sect, they definitely won’t dispatch powerful experts, because that would give people cause for criticism.”

“That’s true too,” Li Luoqiu said.

The battle agreement was established, and all of Qingyang Commandery knew about it.

Holy Spring Sect would definitely have concerns. Otherwise, after Lingquan Mountain, they would have sent people to continue causing trouble.

Jun Changxiao said, “In this Seat’s view, Alliance Leader Qin’s trip is to have Holy Spring Sect give our Tiegu Sect extra ‘special attention’ during the scheduled battle.”

“Would a fifth-rate sect listen to a sixth-rate sect?” Li Luoqiu asked.

“There’s a mouth beneath the nose—the content depends entirely on what you make up.”

Jun Changxiao said, “Moreover, if Alliance Leader Qin offers some additional benefits, Holy Spring Sect might be happy to accept.”

Li Luoqiu’s willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed slightly. “In that case, if we go to Holy Spring Sect, the situation will become even more troublesome.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Jun Changxiao didn’t care.

In his view, methods like Qin Haoran’s weren’t anything special. What was truly hateful and detestable was Lingquan Sect playing dirty tricks behind the scenes.

……

Over the course of one night, the Forging Pavilion operated continuously, forging another twenty-four shields.

The Sturdy Iron Shield was indeed quite good, but it required a crystal core to form the barrier, and after withstanding one strike from the Desert Eagle, one-tenth of the energy had been consumed.

This meant that once the energy was depleted, the defensive barrier would become ineffective.

Jun Changxiao murmured, “After entering the Valley of Death, the disciples can use these to withstand attacks from fierce beasts.”

The next day, he summoned twenty-five disciples.

Not counting the inner sect disciples and the ten with high-grade spiritual roots, the other eight supplementary disciples were Zhou Hong, Long Ziyang, Li Yuhua, Ling Yuanxue, and others.

Jun Changxiao distributed the shields one by one, then gave each of them a crystal core. After briefly explaining how to infuse energy, he said, “Unless it’s a critical moment, don’t casually activate the defensive barrier to block attacks.”

“Yes!”

The disciples shouted in unison.

He didn’t equip Zhou Hong with a shield, because this guy would definitely use a sword rather than a shield.

“Hmph.”

“I am a mighty Wudi—how could I use such a crude shield for defense?”

Ye Xingchen was extremely disdainful of the Sturdy Iron Shield.

After all, in his previous life, he had never used shields similar to those used by common mortal soldiers in warfare.

Just imagine—a Wudi who could fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, who could cover the sky with one hand, carrying an iron shield onto the scene. How much face would that lose!

Such a crude object—how could I ever use it!

Returning to his room, Ye Xingchen casually tossed the Sturdy Iron Shield into a corner.

Outside, Su Xiaomo infused a crystal core into the shield and activated the defensive barrier, exclaiming in surprise, “This shield is so impressive!”

“Hmph.”

Ye Xingchen snorted coldly.

But as he turned around, his peripheral vision caught sight of the defensive barrier displayed outside the window, and he said in astonishment, “This is a defensive treasure?”

Weapons were nothing more than sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. Treasures were more complex.

For example, prayer beads, seals, or even what appeared to be an ordinary bracelet—as long as it had special functions, it could be called a treasure.

Rings with storage space were also treasures.

The Sturdy Iron Shield could activate a defensive barrier function, which meant it was also a treasure.

On the Xingyun Continent, at the same quality grade, defensive and offensive treasures were valued higher than weapons.

Ye Xingchen hurriedly retrieved the shield he had tossed in the corner, then infused a crystal core into it. When the defensive barrier activated, he immediately exclaimed in shock, “A mid-grade high-tier defensive treasure!”

Defining the Initial-Grade Sturdy Iron Shield as mid-grade high-tier, in terms of value, it could definitely rival a high-grade initial-tier weapon.

What shocked Ye Xingchen wasn’t the quality grade—what shocked him was that the Sect Leader had actually produced twenty-four defensive treasures of this caliber all at once!

This kid really has the goods!