1536 Crafting the Masterpiece

"Hold onto your anvils, folks! I've got a shocking revelation for you! The Exalted Blacksmith has been unmasked as a fraud! Don't miss this breaking news!" A streetwise informant bellowed, drawing a throng of curious onlookers.

"What? Exalted Blacksmith is a fraud? How is that possible?"

"It's true! The Ancient Anvil Association and even the revered God of Creation have already declared the Exalted Blacksmith to be a fraud! In fact, Exalted Blacksmith was never even an official blacksmith to begin with!"

"The Exalted Blacksmith not only committed blasphemy during the God of Creation Ceremony by cheating, but all of his creations are not even his!"

"What kind of nonsense are you sprouting? How can someone cheat in the God of Creation Ceremony? And many have watched him craft treasures."

"I heard about this. However, nobody at the ceremony could actually prove that the Exalted Blacksmith had cheated during his ceremony." Someone defended Tian Qiyuan.

"I was present at the ceremony, and I didn't notice anything unusual, let alone cheating. It's possible that the Exalted Blacksmith is being unfairly accused due to envy of his skills." Another voice chimed in, offering a different viewpoint.

"The Exalted Blacksmith called out the Ancient Anvil Association before the ceremony began, so they have a motive. As for the God of Creation, he probably just didn't want to hand over his title so soon after acquiring it."

Not everyone believed the rumors, but the God of Creation and the Ancient Anvil Association wielded immense influence. Challenging them meant risking their ire and losing access to their invaluable services, making it wiser for most to remain silent.

Because of this, most of the families and sects in the upper heavens remained silent, allowing such rumors to continue spreading like wildfire.

With nobody truly influential stepping forward to refute these rumors, more and more people started believing it. Eventually, the rumor was no longer just a rumor and turned into a fact.

The Ancient Anvil Association also invested tremendous resources and effort into ensuring that Tian Qiyuan became and remained a fraud.

With the God of Creation backing them, almost nothing could stop them from branding Tian Qiyuan as a fraud.

And in just a few hundred years, it'd become common knowledge that Tian Qiyuan was a fraud who managed to become a Divine Blacksmith by fooling the world.

"God of Creation… I am disappointed in you…" A face that the God of Creation hadn't seen in a while suddenly showed up to say such words in private.

"What are you talking about, Heaven and Earth Blacksmith?" God of Creation responded in a nonchalant tone.

"You know what I am talking about. For the sake of that title, you've forsaken your own dignity and collaborated with the Ancient Anvil Association to slander Exalted Blacksmith, who performed a flawless God of Creation Ceremony. Because of you, we've lost a prodigy that might never appear in this world again."

"You actually believe that he'd performed a flawless ceremony? It's impossible to have a 100 percent success rate for Celestial-grade treasures, not to mention the speed at which he was crafting them. Even if there is no solid evidence, the abnormal result is enough to convince me that he'd cheated. It's just common sense, plain and simple."

There was no change in his tone as the God of Creation remained adamant on his own beliefs.

"Since when did common sense apply to true prodigies—

monsters? Anyway, I have said what I wanted to say, so I am leaving now."

However, God of Creation stopped him and said, "If you're so convinced that he's legitimate, why haven't you said anything about it?"

"I am aware that I do not have the power to convince the public alone, hence why I am here speaking to you personally. I should've said something on that very day, but just like you, I was overwhelmed by his otherworldly performance and became blinded with envy."

"In truth, I have no right to say these things to you since I am just as guilty, and I can hardly raise my hammer nowadays because it carries the weight of my guilt. I wish the best of luck to you and your future endeavors, God of Creation."

Heaven and Earth Blacksmith left shortly after without looking back.

A few years later, Heaven and Earth Blacksmith shocked the world with an unexpected retirement announcement.

"Why did the Heaven and Earth Blakcksmith suddenly announce his retirement? He still has one more attempt at the God of Creation Ceremony, right?"

"It might have something to do with what happened to Exalted Blacksmith."

"Were they even close enough for Heaven and Earth Blacksmith to do such a thing for him?"

"Who knows, but we've lost two Divine Blacksmiths in less than a thousand years now."

After Heaven and Earth Blacksmith's visit and sudden retirement, the God of Creation began to come to his senses, and as if he had been cursed by Heaven and Earth Blacksmith, his hammer became heavier with each passing day.

"What have I done…"

God of Creation eventually realized his faults, but it was already too late to change anything, and the damages were already done.

Meanwhile, the Exalted Blacksmith hasn't made an appearance since his God of Creation Ceremony, almost as if he'd vanished from the world.

In reality, Tian Qiyuan was hard at work inside his own world, preparing for his masterpiece.

Zi Xuan visited him a few years after his ceremony. Although she had planned on visiting sooner, she had to deal with some problems first.

When she arrived at his world, she was surprised to see Tian Qiyuan working by the anvil as usual.

"Hm? Hello, Zi Xuan. It's been a few years. Am I a fraud to the entire world yet?" Tian Qiyuan asked her with a calm smile on his face.

Zi Xuan frowned at his question and said, "How can you act so calm in this situation?"

"And yes, the Ancient Anvil Association, God of Creation, and Fiery Heaven Blacksmith are hard at work trying to brand you as a fraud. They're even going as far as trying to destroy your creations. Why aren't you even attempting to defend your own image? Are you going to let them continue slandering you like this?"

"It's too much of a hassle. The Exalted Blacksmith was the perfect persona for me to collect the materials I needed for my true ambition. Now that I have collected everything I need for my masterpiece, I couldn't care less about what happened to it afterward. In fact, I intended to disappear from the world quietly after collecting the materials." Tian Qiyuan shrugged.

He didn't think it was worth it trying to save a persona he'd already intended to throw away.

However, Zi Xuan had a different thought in mind.

"No! You may not care about that persona, but it's important to me! It's the identity of my first love, and I will not allow anyone to trample on it!"

Zi Xuan did not stay for long and left in a hurry.

Tian Qiyuan didn't think too much about it and continued his preparations.

Several thousand years later, Tian Qiyuan was almost finished with his preparations.

He knew that Zi Xuan would want to experience the creation of his masterpiece, so he contacted her through her communication jade slip.

"I will soon craft my masterpiece. You know where to find me. I'll wait for you, but I can't wait too long since the materials are already prepared and will eventually start losing quality if I don't use them."

After sending her this message, Tian Qiyuan waited for her arrival.

One year… two years… five years…

Ten years… twenty years… fifty years…

A hundred years passed, but Zi Xuan never showed up.

Tian Qiyuan wanted to look for her, but he'd already wasted too much time and needed to craft the treasure as soon as possible.

'She's probably in seclusion or something. I'll look for her after I finish my work.'

"Feng Feng! It's time! Let's get started!" Tian Qiyuan called out to her.

Feng Tianru appeared shortly after, with her body raining flames.

"God of War's Astral Arts!" Tian Qiyuan summoned a massive avatar that wielded hammers in both hands, which he used to strike the anvil alongside his own hammer.

Even though it would only take him a month to craft a Celestial-grade treasure, Tian Qiyuan ended up spending over a hundred years straight hammering at the anvil.

All of the rare materials he'd painstakingly collected throughout the years, enough to buy an entire realm, were used for this one treasure.

Once he was finished with the treasure, which took the form of a greatsword, he left his world to find Zi Xuan.

The first and most obvious place he visited to find information on Zi Xuan was the Unrivaled Nine Swords Sect. However, when he showed up at the sect, nobody recognized him.

Since Tian Qiyuan had no intentions of continuing his persona as the Exalted Blacksmith, he no longer had any reason to hide his face and showed up to the sect without his mask.

"I'm a friend of Lady Zi Xuan. Do you know where I can find her?" he asked one of their disciples.

"You're looking for the Sword Goddess…?" The disciple suddenly wore a stiff expression after being questioned about her.

He then said, "I'm sorry, but the Sword Goddess hasn't been affiliated with the Unrivaled Nine Swords Sect since she was exiled from the sect several centuries ago."

"What? She'd been exiled from the Unrivaled Nine Swords Sect? How did such a thing happen?" Tian Qiyuan was greatly shocked by this news and immediately inquired for more information.