Tang Wutong's Help

For some reason, Lin Xiuran suddenly felt that the hand gripping the hammer was exceptionally strong, as though it had become incomparably compatible with the hammer.

Feeling the surging power transmitted back from the hammer, Lin Xiuran abruptly opened his eyes, swung the massive hammer, and brought it crashing down.

"Bang!"

The massive hammer struck the metal with an exceptionally muffled sound. The metal, which had remained steadfast despite Lin Xiuran's repeated blows, seemed to tremble at that moment.

And with that strike, Lin Xiuran seemed to erupt with a burst of cosmic power, swinging the massive hammer with astonishing speed.

A dense barrage of blows landed upon the Dark Gold. The originally incredibly hard Dark Gold gradually began to change shape beneath the continuous hammering.

Lin Xiuran's hammer technique was no longer chaotic and unstructured. Instead, it was as though he had suddenly understood some kind of pattern, and he began exerting force and striking with a powerful rhythm.

Each hammer blow was stronger than the one before it, as though force was stacking upon force, power added to power.

With every strike, a phantom of another hammer seemed to appear over his ordinary forging hammer. As he continued swinging and striking, that phantom grew increasingly solid.

The hammer phantom was entirely black. Its handle was about half a foot long, and its head was cylindrical, looking much like a miniature forging hammer.

But it was obvious—this was the phantom of the Clear Sky Hammer!

The people on the judging platform had gathered around Tang Wulin and Mu Xi, examining the Sinking Silver that had achieved Spiritual Radiance Release.

Without question, these were two completed Thousand Forging products, and their quality had definitely reached second grade! Second-grade Thousand Forging Sinking Silver was normally something only a level-four blacksmith could create, yet these two little fellows had accomplished it.

The old men were utterly astonished. The white-haired elder was also arguing about something with Cen Yue, the representative sent by the Donghai Blacksmiths' Association.

No one knew what they were saying, but Cen Yue's expression was clearly unpleasant, even somewhat angry.

The white-haired elder, on the other hand, looked utterly unconcerned, behaving like a shameless rascal.

"Old Duan, Old Duan!"

Old Duan, the white-haired elder, stared at the perfect Sinking Silver in his hands and said unhappily, "What could be urgent enough to make such a fuss?"

"The Dark Gold is finished!" The staff member who ran over was clearly out of breath.

"What Dark Gold..." Old Duan thought for a moment, then froze as his expression abruptly changed.

"Dark Gold! It's finished!?"

"Yes, it's right over there."

Old Duan hurriedly led the other organizing committee members over, where they saw the Dark Gold resting on the forging platform.

Dark Gold had originally been yellow in color, though rather dim, which was how it earned its name. But the piece before them was now completely golden-yellow. Its volume had shrunk by about half, and it was square and neat, while the pattern in the middle had become exceedingly exquisite.

"The quality of this Dark Gold surpasses that of many veteran blacksmiths." Old Duan deeply admired the piece of Dark Gold.

"Unbelievable. This was forged by a child participating in the youth division."

They simply could not believe it. They had thought Tang Wulin's talent alone was shocking enough, yet now another youth, Lin Xiuran, had appeared—one capable of forging Dark Gold.

After examining the Dark Gold inside and out, Old Duan seemed to suddenly remember something and hurriedly asked, "Where is the child who forged this Dark Gold?"

The staff member beside him scratched his head and explained, "He ran off. It seems he has another competition."

"This child didn't even wait to collect his prize." Old Duan shook his head. Without question, even without the final scoring, Lin Xiuran's piece of Dark Gold would definitely win him the championship of the youth blacksmithing division in this Tianhai Alliance Competition.

This was practically a dimensionality-reduction strike.

Old Duan sighed softly and looked at Cen Yue. "I never expected Eastsea City to produce so many talents."

This completely overturned their previous impressions. In the past, aside from its strong economy, Eastsea City had always been rather weak, whether in soul master competitions or other events.

But this year's blacksmithing competition had truly exceeded everyone's expectations.

Cen Yue smiled as well, replying casually, though he was still thinking about recruiting Lin Xiuran into the Donghai Blacksmiths' Association.

Naturally, a gleam also flashed through Old Duan's eyes. Tang Wulin belonged to the Donghai Blacksmiths' Association, but Lin Xiuran did not.

Perhaps they truly had a chance to keep him in the Tianhai Blacksmiths' Association. As long as the treatment was generous enough, he was not afraid Lin Xiuran would not be swayed.

Lin Xiuran was pressed for time, so he rushed off to the soul master competition before the scoring was even finished. To him, the score did not matter anyway. The awards would be handed out together at the end, so naturally, he was in no hurry.

Though he was in a rush, his opponent was rather weak. Perhaps he had gotten lucky in the earlier rounds and faced even weaker opponents to make it this far. Thus, Lin Xiuran dealt with him with ease.

Xie Xie went on next. His opponent was about the same, still not very strong. After less than five minutes of fighting, he smoothly claimed victory.

However, Tang Wulin ran into trouble.

When Lin Xiuran returned after his match, he saw the two of them seeming to argue about something. Tang Wulin appeared calm, but Ye Xinglan was proud and aggressive.

"Oh, right. I have some good news to tell you. The opponent you drew today can't compete for certain reasons, so your opponent has been reassigned. Mm, it's me." The smile on Ye Xinglan's face grew even brighter.

Lin Xiuran heard only that one sentence, but he understood perfectly well what this girl had done.

At that moment, Ye Xinglan noticed Lin Xiuran as well. There was a hint of fighting spirit in her eyes. "You wait too. After Tang Wulin, you're next."

"You won't be able to avoid me."

She looked extremely confident, as though she was certain she could defeat Tang Wulin and then meet Lin Xiuran in the matches to come.

"I hope so." Lin Xiuran replied indifferently, then ignored her and returned directly to his seat to meditate and rest.

Ye Xinglan clearly felt as though she had punched cotton. She glared fiercely at Lin Xiuran before looking at Tang Wulin. "Let me see just how capable you are."

Not long after, both sides entered the arena. Ye Xinglan faced Tang Wulin.

Two rings against one—Ye Xinglan undoubtedly held a massive advantage. Moreover, she came from Shrek Academy, so her combat experience and other abilities were certainly no weaker than Tang Wulin's.

And that was indeed the case. Achieving unity of body and sword at the age of ten was absolutely the mark of a swordsmanship genius.

Ye Xinglan's pride did not come merely from being from Shrek Academy. More than that, it came from her talent and strength, which surpassed those of her peers.

She had never tasted defeat among those her age, and even against Tang Wulin, that remained true.

But this victory was not quite what Ye Xinglan had imagined.