"I could make a thicker-style gun, like a Desert Eagle or a .357 Magnum, or I could even attempt to invent a unique gun that's never been seen before. There's no way I'm going to build assault rifles or shotguns, though—they just don't fit the aesthetics I'm going for." Jin Shu sat at his worktable with the destroyed remnants of his M1911 in front of him, contemplating what kind of weapon he was going to create.
He scratched the back of his head and then exclaimed, "Ah, fuck it! I'll just rebuild my 1911. It was the longest-serving pistol in my past world's military—over 129 years. Plus, I just like the clean design of it the best."
---
After a few hours of work, Jin Shu had created the molds necessary for rebuilding his M1911. "Now I just need a stronger metal to withstand the power of the Explosion Rune. And what better metal do I have than the Living Metal inside me?"
Jin Shu once again cut his hand open and let his silver blood pour into the molds he had prepared. He was making a brand new gun completely out of his Living Metal blood, including the screws and springs that held the pieces together.
A few minutes passed, and the pieces were finished. Before he put them together, he decided to inscribe some runes onto them.
Because the gun was made from a collection of parts rather than one whole piece, like the blade of a sword, he could inscribe runes on each separate piece without affecting the others. Normally, when Runesmiths inscribe runes onto weapons, the weapon can only have one of any particular rune. Otherwise, the second rune will have zero effect and will just be a waste of both Qi and space.
Previously, on his original gun, he had only inscribed a Durability Rune on the grip, which is probably why the grip survived the explosion, and a Silence Rune on the slide. Now, he was going to inscribe Durability Runes and Qi Circulation Runes on each piece. The Durability Runes would increase the strength of each piece, so it hopefully wouldn't explode next time. The Qi Circulation Runes would increase the effectiveness of the Durability Runes, further enhancing the strength of each piece.
After each piece was inscribed with runes, he set them aside and made some extra bullets. He also used some leather to craft a holster to wear inside his robes. Additionally, he painted the grips of the pistol black so it wasn't so ostentatiously silver.
"Time for round two, hopefully I keep my hands this time." Jin Shu pulled his shiny new 1911 from the holster inside his robes and aimed at the steel block.
Bang!
A gunshot echoed inside the forge, a new hole appeared in the steel block, and Jin Shu's hands miraculously stayed intact.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Jin Shu glanced down at his hands to ensure all of his digits were in place. "Phew! Kept all my fingers this time."
Jin Shu collected everything and stepped out of the forge. He had completed everything he came for, with a few fortunate and unexpected twists.
---
Back at Jin Shu's courtyard, Yin'er was playing tag with Su Bing. When Jin Shu walked in, Yin'er gave an excited yelp and flew into his arms. Su Bing, who was happily chasing Yin'er, hurriedly put on a cold, emotionless expression and bowed. "Welcome back, Young—er... Jin Shu."
Jin Shu nodded and walked past her into his room. He turned around midway. "I'll be cultivating; don't disturb me unless it's urgent."
---
Drip... Drip...
Rainwater was falling off the eaves, forming small puddles on the ground.
Splash!
A small silver tiger jumped into the puddle, sending water droplets flying everywhere.
"Yin'er, don't jump into the puddles; you're going to get muddy!" Su Bing grabbed Yin'er out of the puddle, getting mud all over her yellow robes. "Now look at what happened—we're going to have to go take a bath now."
Yin'er struggled free from Su Bing's grasp and flew up to the rooftop. "Nuh-uh, Yin'er doesn't like baths!"
A door opened, and Jin Shu stepped out, calling for Yin'er. "Yin'er, come here."
Yin'er jumped off the roof and attempted to dive into his arms. However, Jin Shu quickly caught her by the scruff of her neck. "Time for a bath, young lady."
Yin'er drooped her ears and looked at him with a sad twinkle in her eyes. "B-b-but I don't wanna! Pwease? I'll eat my veggies if I don't havta take a bath."
Jin Shu gave her a dubious look. "You are a tiger; you don't eat veggies to begin with."
He proceeded to drag her inside for a bath while she shouted in horror, "Noooo! Not the baaath!"
Su Bing blinked disbelievingly, then looked down at the paw prints on her robes. "What about me?"
---
Jin Shu sat down in meditation with a slightly damp Yin'er in his lap. "It's time to cultivate, Yin'er. We are on the verge of a breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm. After we break through, we can go out on an adventure."
Yin'er huffed while pouting and refused to respond. She was still angry from the forced bath.
Jin Shu and Yin'er had both reached the 9th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. With their dantians fully saturated with Qi, it was now time to break through to the Core Forging Realm.
In the Core Forging Realm, cultivators harness the Qi they've accumulated and forge it into a core within their dantian. This transformative process not only expands their capacity to store Qi but also enables them to efficiently channel and utilize Qi outside of their bodies. As cultivators progress through each stage, they must forge a new core at each stage.
The process would be different for both of them. For a human to break through, they need to take all of the Qi in their dantian and rotate it, compressing it into the shape of a ball. With each rotation, the Qi is slowly solidified until the core is forged. However, for a Demonic Beast, this process is more crude—they take their Qi and crush it until a vaguely spherical ball is formed.
Since Yin'er has a higher intelligence compared to normal Demonic Beasts, due to her rare bloodline, and Jin Shu also suspected that the Living Metal may have heightened her intelligence even further, he decided to try to have Yin'er form her core in the same way he did his.
---
Boom!
Qi burst out of the bodies of both Yin'er and Jin Shu. This was a sign that they had both successfully forged their cores simultaneously.
They were now ready to set out for the Eastern Region.
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Sorry this Chapter is on the shorter side. But this is to give me more time to write the next Chapter, which should be longer :)