Chapter 187: The Journey of Heaven Forging Lord

— Sometimes Later – Azure River Province Border —

On the main road, a young man in his late teens walked along, dressed in a ragged traveling cloak draped over his body. He looked like a wandering beggar or a refugee. His face was covered in dust and grime from the journey, and his bandana had been darkened by the dirt of the road.

This appearance made him inconspicuous. People ignored him, assuming he was just another refugee fleeing poverty from Jade Bamboo Province to the more prosperous Azure River Province.

The guards at the checkpoint paid him no attention. They were outer disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect. This was the last day of their shift, and soon they would return to the sect to use the contribution points they had earned from guard duty to train, study in the library, and exchange for cultivation resources.

Naturally, they had no interest in a refugee. As long as a traveler passing through was not too suspicious, they would not interfere.

The young man was Lian Cheng, a disciple of the Tiger Fist Sect from Jade Bamboo Province. He had come to Azure River Province because of a sect mission.

In truth, he had requested the mission himself. Unlike the desolate and resource-scarce Jade Bamboo Province, this place was filled with treasures and secret realms.

Even though many of these secret realms were created with malicious intent by their creators, those ancient monsters who refused to die in past eras had built them to prolong their lives and use their advanced knowledge and power to dominate once more.

Although Lian Cheng, the former Heaven Forging Lord, despised them, as someone who had benefited from regression, he had begun to understand their actions.

But understanding did not mean agreement.

They were parasites, clinging to the past, trying to reclaim their lost glory. Parasites that sought only to devour the bodies of geniuses. Nothing more.

“I’ve finally arrived,” Lian Cheng muttered, his voice deep with melancholy as he watched a merchant convoy heading toward the public flying ark station.

Lian Cheng took out a seal from the Tiger Fist Sect. This seal served as his ticket to board a flying ark and travel deeper into Azure River Province.

The world was vast. It was nearly impossible to travel across provinces without a flying ark, ancient teleportation arrays, or shortcuts hidden within forgotten ruins.

This seal had been given to him by the sect master of the Tiger Fist Sect, a rare and decent old man, especially in a place as resource-starved as Jade Bamboo Province.

Lian Cheng remembered that the old man had not cared about the Heaven’s Forge Lord Encyclopedia, the heaven-sent fortune he had obtained in his previous life. He had not tried to take it. Instead, he had helped conceal it and warned Lian Cheng that such fortune could bring calamity.

Lian Cheng remembered clearly that, in his previous life, if not for that old man’s protection, he might have already died. His life would have been cut short, and the world would never have known the greatness of the Heaven Forging Lord.

In this life, after his regression, he had forged a new gauntlet for the old man to protect himself. The old man had been astonished and praised him as a genius artifact forging master.

As for those who had wronged him in the past, he had already repaid them a thousandfold. Their clans had been annihilated.

As the Heaven Forging Lord, a man who sought to forge his own heaven, he would not tolerate even the slightest offense from those ants.

He would crush them and pour molten iron over their nest.

Lian Cheng turned the seal over, checking the departure time of the public flying ark.

“Hmmm… I still have a few days before it departs. I should check the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm first,” Lian Cheng muttered under his breath.

He remembered that in his previous life, he had accidentally fallen into the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm. Of course, it was one of the more dangerous secret realms, with the creator’s remnant soul still lingering within.

But this realm contained something he needed.

It held abundant forging materials, whether it was fire stones, flaming spiritual crystals, thousand-year flaming obsidian, and even tools that could help him forge superior artifacts.

He remembered that the walls of the tomb within the Flaming Lotus King’s Tomb had been extremely useful back then.

In his previous life, he had entered through a hidden passage nearby, not far from the public flying ark station at the border.

He could make a short trip there, gather the tools he needed along with some forging materials, and then leave.

Or better yet, he could seal the Flaming Lotus King’s soul and use it as a catalyst to forge his artifact weapon, the Flaming Lotus Seal. With such a powerful soul, he was certain he could create something capable of destroying an opponent a full realm above him.

With this in mind, Lian Cheng walked toward his destination, a dilapidated ruin hidden by an illusion array. He remembered that in his previous life, he had accidentally triggered the teleportation array there.

After entering the forest behind the public flying ark station, he quickly moved deeper inside. As a cultivator who had reached the Immortal King realm in his previous life, his memory was sharp, and he clearly remembered the path.

After a short trip of about an hour, he arrived at the location. The scene before him was exactly the same as he remembered.

Lian Cheng smiled and stepped forward. He touched a stone and a nearby tree, activating the code to open the illusion array.

A green light flashed, and the illusion dispersed like mist, revealing an old ruin with a teleportation array engraved on the ground. Lian Cheng walked over and stood on the array, stepping on specific points according to his memory.

A light began to glow from the formation, signaling that it had been activated.

“Hmph, it’s still the same as I remember,” Lian Cheng said with a confident smile.

A blinding white light engulfed him, and his body faded as the array transported him into the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm.

Boom. Whoosh.

Lian Cheng was greeted by the roar of lava and fire, a familiar sensation from his previous life. Back then, he had only managed to survive without having his body taken over by the old monster within the realm.

This time, he would take revenge. He would seal that old monster’s soul into a flaming crystal and use it to forge his weapon.

Lian Cheng slowly opened his eyes, but—

Clink. Clink. Clank. Cling.

The sound of pickaxes striking stone entered his ears, and the scene before him nearly made him forget how to breathe.

It was a mining camp, filled with people wearing the uniforms of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

“What!?” Lian Cheng exclaimed.

He clearly remembered that this place, the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm, had remained undiscovered for over two hundred years. So why were people from the Heavenly Sword Sect here, and why had they already set up a mining operation?

Wait. They were mining his thousand-year flaming crystal vein.

Wait… was this even the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm? Had he made a mistake and been sent somewhere else?

Lian Cheng quickly looked around. The surrounding scenery was unmistakably familiar. The cliffs, the molten river, the lava geysers. Everything was exactly the same as in his previous life.

As Lian Cheng stood there in shock, one of the overseers at the site turned toward him.

“Huh?”

The man was a chubby swordsman, the same one who had nearly killed Elder Dog. It was Pang Hu.

“Hey! You over there! Are you lost?” Pang Hu shouted.

His voice snapped Lian Cheng out of his daze. Even though he felt unwilling, the Heavenly Sword Sect was far too powerful for him to act recklessly.

Watching others benefit from what he believed should have been his alone felt like someone tearing flesh from his body and chewing it, but he had no choice but to endure.

For now, he would play along and see if he could at least obtain a few hundred kilograms of materials for forging.

Lian Cheng cupped his fists. “Greetings, senior from the Heavenly Sword Sect. I was caught in a strange array at a ruin near the border and was transported here. May I ask what this place is?”

“Oh! This place is the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm. Don’t worry, brother. This place has already been claimed and cleared of dangerous elements by the Heavenly Sword Sect. We will send you out safely,” Pang Hu said, patting his chest confidently.

Hearing this, Lian Cheng felt like screaming. How did these people discover this place? They had even claimed it.

But he quickly calmed himself and asked another question.

“Senior, may I ask who discovered this place? Was it you, senior?”

Pang Hu burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! How could I, a mere inner disciple of the lower ranks, discover such a place? Listen well!”

Pang Hu straightened proudly.

“The one who discovered this place was Young Master Wei Chen. The great adventurer and wanderer. The one who discovered the first Primordial Era realm ever found in this lower realm!” Pang Hu declared proudly. He was especially proud to know Wei Chen personally and had even borrowed his weapon, the Universe Suction Stick.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep