Thousand Refinement, Zhen Hua's Surprise

Following Zhen Hua's footsteps, Jiang Yi arrived at a forge room downstairs.

The forge room contained many parts and metals.

Zhen Hua selected ten types from a pile of metal.

"Xiao Yi, before you came, I made an agreement with your teacher. If you can complete Hundred Refinement on any one of the ten metals I selected, I'll take you as my disciple," Zhen Hua said directly.

When Mu Ye had asked him to take Jiang Yi as his disciple, Zhen Hua had investigated Jiang Yi's background and confirmed that this truly was Jiang Yi's first time learning forging.

After confirming that, the only question was whether Jiang Yi could complete Hundred Refinement on his very first attempt.

It was not as though he had never seen someone complete Hundred Refinement on their first try.

However, those people all possessed profound cultivation and exceptionally high Spiritual Power.

After living through long years, their control over power had reached perfection. For such people, Hundred Refinement naturally came with ease.

But that did not prove that their forging talent was particularly high.

Jiang Yi was still young and had never come into contact with forging before. If he could truly complete Hundred Refinement on his first attempt, then he would be a genuine peerless genius.

Looking at the metals Zhen Hua had placed in front of him, Jiang Yi had seen all of them in books, and he had personally forged several of them yesterday.

Jiang Yi directly picked up a piece of Deep Silver and chose it as his forging metal.

"Use this pair of forging hammers first." Zhen Hua thoughtfully took out a pair of Heavy Silver Hammers. Their weight was just right.

Clearly, Mu Ye had told Zhen Hua everything that had happened yesterday.

Picking up the forging hammers, Jiang Yi stepped up to the Forging Table and began adjusting his state.

Golden light lit up in his eyes as he focused completely on the piece of Deep Silver.

Hundred Refinement did not require him to assume such a stance. He was concentrating so intensely because he intended to attempt Thousand Refinement.

Yesterday, in Lin Ming's workshop, he had already attempted Hundred Refinement on eight types of metal.

Every attempt had succeeded in a single try, and the purity had been extremely high. If Hundred Refinement metals were also ranked by grade, then the ones he forged would undoubtedly be first-grade.

Under those circumstances, Jiang Yi had sought guidance from Lin Ming about Thousand Refinement and learned quite a bit through books as well.

The greatest difference between Thousand Refinement and Hundred Refinement was that Thousand Refinement required one to gain an understanding of the metal—or, rather, communicate with it.

During the forging process, one had to treat the metal as a living being, gain its recognition, discover its mysteries and patterns, and only then could one truly complete Thousand Refinement.

After Thousand Refinement was completed, the metal would also undergo a special sublimation effect.

And in Jiang Yi's view, the requirements for Thousand Refinement were not particularly difficult.

Ordinary blacksmiths had to forge for a long time and become extremely familiar with metal before they could possibly communicate with it.

But Jiang Yi did not need to do that.

His Spiritual Power had reached thirteen hundred points, and he was already not far from the Mid-Level Spirit Sea Realm.

Such Spiritual Power would also be greatly helpful for higher-level forging.

It was even more helpful for Thousand Refinement, because he could grasp every minute change during the forging process.

If he could achieve that, then ordinary Thousand Refinement would no longer pose any problem.

As for higher levels of forging, he would still need time to gain insight into them.

However, for a beginner like Jiang Yi to attempt Thousand Refinement so quickly was already enough to shock anyone.

At the side, Zhen Hua secretly nodded when he saw Jiang Yi enter such a focused state.

For a blacksmith, focus was an extremely important ability.

The next second, Jiang Yi fiercely raised the twin hammers in his hands. The sound of ding ding dang dang rang out without end as his hammers flashed like lightning, repeatedly striking the piece of Deep Silver.

With every hammer strike, Jiang Yi sensed the characteristics of the metal from the rebounding hammer.

Then, based on those characteristics, his body began making adjustments at an astonishing speed.

His speed, strength, and the point where his hammer landed changed rapidly within a single second, becoming the forging method most suited to this piece of metal.

The sight brought a look of amazement to Zhen Hua's eyes.

Such rapid adjustment, and with one hundred percent accuracy—even with all his vast experience, he had Never Before seen anything like it.

And this was someone who had only come into contact with forging a day ago.

He now completely believed Mu Ye's words. Jiang Yi absolutely had the ability to complete Hundred Refinement.

Jiang Yi's twin hammers moved like the wind. In less than forty minutes, he had already delivered one hundred strikes.

The Impurities within the piece of Deep Silver had been completely removed.

A smile appeared on Zhen Hua's face. Jiang Yi had completed Hundred Refinement and passed the test.

Moreover, he had exceeded the requirements of the test. Completing Hundred Refinement with Deep Silver was several times harder than with other metals.

To complete Hundred Refinement in such a short time and achieve such high purity was already enough to prove Jiang Yi's ability.

Having witnessed Jiang Yi's talent, Zhen Hua naturally could not wait to accept this disciple.

Ever since learning that Mu Chen had a genius disciple like Tang Wulin, he had wanted to take in an extraordinarily talented disciple to inherit his legacy.

He had even called Mu Chen and wanted Mu Chen to give Tang Wulin to him, but unfortunately, he had ultimately failed.

Junior Brother Mu Chen, I have a genius disciple now too, Zhen Hua thought proudly.

He had lost to Mu Chen when it came to women. Perhaps he could win back a round when it came to disciples.

Just as he was feeling proud, he discovered that Jiang Yi, who had already completed Hundred Refinement, had not stopped. Instead, Jiang Yi continued hammering that piece of Deep Silver.

Jiang Yi's hands continued forging without pause as he rapidly came to understand the metal's characteristics.

Golden light shone in his eyes, and he caught every change.

"This child is performing Thousand Refinement." Shock could not help but appear in Zhen Hua's eyes.

The difficulty of Thousand Refinement was completely incomparable to that of Hundred Refinement.

The vast majority of blacksmiths needed at least five years to learn Thousand Refinement. Even genius blacksmiths needed a minimum of three years.

It was only Jiang Yi's second day, and he was already going to attempt Thousand Refinement?

Can he really succeed? Zhen Hua felt a trace of anticipation.

Unaware of what Zhen Hua was thinking, Jiang Yi was At This Moment completely immersed in forging.

Feeling the metal's feedback and responding to it in time truly made him feel as though this piece of metal had come to life.

Surging flames burst forth as the hammers continuously fell. The sounds of ding ding dang dang rang out in a steady rhythm, like a perfect melody.

Time passed second by second. Gazing At Jiang Yi, who was still continuously swinging his hammers inside, Zhen Hua could not help but feel a hint of nervousness.

He was a Divine Craftsman. He had experienced countless Thousand Refinements and witnessed countless others, yet he had Never Before been as nervous as he was this time.

Because standing before him might be the most talented blacksmith in the history of the forging world.