Chapter 321: Iron Shroud

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: VindiFan#1 & Juicetin

Proofreader: Arya

As Gu Qing Shan was pondering, his Holo-Brain lit up.

“Your Highness, what’s the matter?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[First of all, I’m only telling this to you alone for now, don’t let anyone else know about it] the Empress spoke in a really low voice.

Her side was completely silent, the only thing he could hear was her voice.

It seems she had purposefully avoided everyone else to talk to Gu Qing Shan alone.

“Please go ahead” Gu Qing Shan answered.

[Iron Shroud has closed off my authority] the Empress’ voice appeared frightened.

Iron Shroud is the name of the f.u.xi Empire’s ultimate AI, but the Empire doesn’t use it for non-military purposes.

Iron Shroud has but a single purpose, that is to control and arrange the military strength of the country.

The Empire’s royalty controls the Empire’s three armies for the sake of war.

Once Iron Shroud is activated, all military personnel is to obey its command without question, otherwise they’ll be charged with treason and killed.

“Apart from you, what about the authority of others?” Gu Qing Shan immediately asked.

[Apart from him, everyone’s authority has already been retracted, no one else can use it now] the Empress answered.

“Him” refers to the f.u.xi Emperor.

Gu Qing Shan’s heart sank.

Iron Shroud’ highest authority lies with the f.u.xi Emperor, and the Emperor had just used his highest authority to remove the authority of everyone else.

Which means, at this time, he is the only person capable of commanding the entire military might of the Empire.

“We’ll keep in touch, tell me if anything else happens” Gu Qing Shan said.

[I heard your relations.h.i.+p with the Confederate’s President is quite good?] the Empress asked.

“It’s not too bad”

[If anything happens, you definitely have to help me] the Empress said.

“I will, don’t worry” Gu Qing Shan said.

They hung up.

Even if the Empress wasn’t Anna’s aunt, Gu Qing Shan still would’ve done his best to help her.

Unlike the belligerent Emperor, the Empress is a pro-peace person, she will be crucial to stabilizing the strength of f.u.xi later on.

Gu Qing Shan quickly left Ye Fei Li’s room.

He went out of the mountaintop mansion, standing in the empty yard in front of it.

Both repairing and forging a weapon requires stove, a pneumatic pick, a forged hammer, an anvil, pliers, and a grindstone.

Thanks to his completion of the Apocalypse Quest from before, he can now use Soul Points to quicken the repair process for the Chao Yin Sword.

I’ll take to take advantage of this rare period of free time to see if I can repair the Chao Yin Sword.

[Sword Manipulation] requires the use of two swords to combine offense and defense into one.

Literal h.e.l.l was about to break loose, Gu Qing Shan must do everything he can to power himself up.

Taking the 7-colored fragrance bag in hand, Gu Qing Shan scanned it with this inner sight.

There were a lot of miscellaneous things in the storage section of Bai Hua sect.

A few of them even had clear personal marks.

A few furnaces and formation plates even had names and sect’s names carved on them.

He’s unsure if Bai Hua Fairy defeated these people to get them, or she just “borrowed” them, either way, these things were randomly placed inside, cluttered and chaotic.

It took quite a while to search for even one thing in there.

Gu Qing Shan always felt a headache coming up whenever he wanted to find something.

If I have the time, I’ll definitely have to tidy up the mess in here, he silently swore.

After a while, he finally managed to get all the necessary smithing equipment out.

He already comprehended the sword repair method before this.

Everything had been prepared, let’s begin the repair.

Not even waiting for Gu Qing Shan to call it, the Chao Yin Sword automatically jumped out from the void of s.p.a.ce and laid next to the furnace, clearly excited.

It rolled back and forth nervously.

“Don’t be rushed, stay still” Gu Qing Shan said.

The Chao Yin Sword stopped.

But while it stayed still, there was a small clanging sound next to the steel furnace.

Gu Qing Shan looked back carefully only to see that the Chao Yin Sword laid a bit too close to the steel furnace and couldn’t help but be a bit shaken.

“Really, don’t be so nervous, there’s no problem” Gu Qing Shan could only sigh.

I didn’t comprehend all those complicated Smithing techniques for nothing.

Gu Qing Shan formed a hand seal, infused spirit energy into the furnace to light it up.

The dozens of materials were taken out and floated in the air.

When the heat inside the furnace reached an appropriate height, Gu Qing Shan followed the repair process he learnt and placed the first 7 materials inside.

What he needs to do now is to patiently wait for these materials to be liquefied.

A few flowing letters suddenly appeared on the War G.o.d UI.

[The user can now use Soul Points to quicken the repair process]

[Detected that user is currently refining materials, would you like to speed up the material melting process?]

“Yes” Gu Qing Shan instantly said.

[3 Soul Points to speed up by 1 hour; 5 Soul Points to speed up by 2 hours; 10 Soul Points to instantly melt everything]

“Instantly melt everything” Gu Qing Shan answered.

Inside the furnace, the heat suddenly burst as the 7 materials were combined and formed a 7-colored liquid.

Gu Qing Shan then put the Chao Yin Sword into the furnace.

Very carefully, he controlled the liquid with his inner sight to coat every nook and cranny on the Chao Yin Sword’s shaft.

Another notification popped up from the War G.o.d UI.

[Material merging process will take a total of 3 days, would you like to speed up the process?]

“Yes” Gu Qing Shan answered.

[10 Soul Points to speed up 1 day; 20 Soul Points to speed up 2 days; 3 Soul Points to instantly cause the liquid material to finish merging]

Gu Qing Shan replied: “Instantly”

[Soul Points spent] the System responded.

In the furnace, at a pace the eyes can see, the liquid material quickly got absorbed into the Chao Yin Sword’s shaft.

Next is to deal with the rest of the materials.

[Would the user like to…]

“Wait a minute” Gu Qing Shan stopped the System.

“Can’t you take all the Soul Points at once or something? Using a knife to cut it off piece by piece is really affecting my mood” he complained.

The System went silent for a second, then replied: [Seeing how generous the user is right now, a one-time payment of 560 Soul Points will be enough to speed up the entire repair process]

“How will you speed it up?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[Whenever you reach the next step in the repair process, it’ll be instantly completed] the System responded.

Gu Qing Shan glanced at his Soul Points.

[Current Soul Points: 5560/30]

“560? Not too bad, you’ll leave me with a round number” he said.

[Would the user like to spent 560 Soul Points to speed up the repairing process?]

“Yes”

…

Sure enough, after spending 560 Soul Points, the speed at which the sword was being repaired reach ludicrous rate.

Fifteen minutes later.

While the Chao Yin Sword at the final few steps in the repair process, Gu Qing Shan’s phone rang again.

Gu Qing Shan ignored it and wanted to finish the Chao Yin Sword repairing process before worrying about anything else.

The phone rang 4-5 times in a row, but he ignored it every time.

Suddenly, Impartial G.o.ddess spoke up.

[Sir, you have to pick up this phone call]

“Why?” Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised to hear that.

[The world situation has changed greatly; this is the f.u.xi Empress’ emergency call]

Gu Qing Shan had no choice but to stop his hands.

The Chao Yin Sword in the furnace let out a small pitiful cry.

Gu Qing Shan pretended he didn’t see that and picked up.

[You finally picked up!] the Empress’ voice came from the other side.

“Your Highness, what exactly is the matter?” Gu Qing Shan recognized a sense of unease got a bad premonition from her voice.

The Empress explained: [The Empire’s Mobile Mech department is moving towards the border, they’ll soon reach the junction between the Confederate and the Empire]

[Furthermore, the Empire’s 7 fleets have also begun to a.s.sembled!]

“Why don’t you…” halfway through his question, Gu Qing Shan realized.

Iron Shroud.

Only the Emperor can command Iron Shroud.

At this emergency crucial moment when the Frozen h.e.l.l is about to spread all over the world, the f.u.xi Emperor actually wishes to declare war!