The Difficulty of the Thousand Refinement Method

Since they were in the Sun Moon Empire, Xiao Hongchen and his sister were naturally considered one of their own.

Xu Tianming had always been extremely generous toward his own people.

After just a few cups of Hundred Fruit Brew, the atmosphere between the three of them heated up.

What grudges could young people possibly hold overnight?

After nothing more than a meal, Xiao Hongchen was already laying his heart bare to Xu Tianming.

From the looks of it, he practically wanted to burn yellow paper and swear brotherhood with Xu Tianming over a chicken's head.

In the end, the thoroughly drunk siblings even alerted Jing Hongchen.

"Look at what you've done—you got them completely drunk!"

Seeing his grandson and granddaughter sprawled across the table in a state of utter drunkenness, even Jing Hongchen, who had rushed over after hearing the news, could barely keep it together.

"Dean, I had no idea their alcohol tolerance was this poor."

Xu Tianming, who had also drunk quite a bit of Hundred Fruit Brew, had only slightly flushed cheeks.

"Besides, I won a piece of Soul Forging Secret Silver from Brother Hongchen today, and the two of them treated me to a meal."

"That was why I took out this fine brew I had on me, which can condense Soul Power, and shared it with them."

Xu Tianming put away the wine gourd on the table and gave Jing Hongchen a slight shrug.

Jing Hongchen's eyes widened as he immediately caught the key point in Xu Tianming's words.

"H-He gambled away the Soul Forging Secret Silver I only gave him today?"

"Heh, Senior Xiao Hongchen asked to spar with me, but unfortunately, he lost to me by a single move."

Xu Tianming took out the piece of Soul Forging Secret Silver he had won from Xiao Hongchen and waved it before Jing Hongchen's eyes.

"Speaking of which, Senior Xiao Hongchen truly deserves to be your biological grandson, Dean. After losing, he did not make a single excuse and simply handed the Soul Forging Secret Silver over to me."

"That kind of bearing alone is enough to earn one's admiration."

The corner of Jing Hongchen's mouth twitched slightly. For a moment, he did not know what to say.

In just one day, this brat had won a Secret Method Spirit Bone from him, then won a piece of Soul Forging Secret Silver from his grandson.

Naturally, he did not care much about a Secret Method Spirit Bone.

But Soul Forging Secret Silver—even with his status, taking out a piece like that still hurt a little.

However, he was not particularly surprised that his grandson had been defeated by Xu Tianming.

After all, he had personally witnessed Xu Tianming split a five-thousand-year soul beast in half with a single slash without using his Martial Soul or soul skills.

He knew his grandson did not possess such ability.

"Since he lost it to you, then keep it."

Though somewhat reluctant, Jing Hongchen still nodded and said so.

"Thank you, Dean."

Xu Tianming grinned and cupped his hands toward Jing Hongchen.

"I happen to want to reforge my long saber. May I ask if there is a place in the academy where I can do that?"

Hearing Xu Tianming's words, Jing Hongchen finally remembered the peculiar long saber in Xu Tianming's possession.

"I thought your blade seemed rather unusual before. May I take a look?"

"If the Dean wishes to see it, of course there is no problem."

Xu Tianming did not hesitate much. He took the long saber from his Storage Soul Guidance Device and handed it to Jing Hongchen.

The instant Jing Hongchen took the long saber from Xu Tianming, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"This is Qingjingang... But why is this Qingjingang so strange...?"

As the head of Mingde Hall, Jing Hongchen had encountered more kinds of metals than Xu Tianming had ever seen.

Qingjingang was not particularly precious and could not compare to Soul Forging Secret Silver at all.

Yet the sensation this long saber gave Jing Hongchen surpassed that of every metal he had encountered before.

"This long saber... is alive... It feels as though it is breathing."

As his hand stroked across the blade, the astonishment in Jing Hongchen's eyes grew stronger and stronger.

"How exactly did you do this?"

Only after a long while did Jing Hongchen turn his gaze toward Xu Tianming beside him.

"This is a secret forging technique passed down to me by a senior."

Xu Tianming glanced around and spread his hands.

"Dean, are you sure you want me to say it here?"

Only after Xu Tianming reminded him did Jing Hongchen realize that he was still in the academy cafeteria.

Quite a few students and teachers nearby were also secretly watching him.

Jing Hongchen frowned slightly. With one hand, he lifted the still-hungover Xiao Hongchen and his sister, while with the other, he grabbed Xu Tianming by the shoulder.

The next moment, Xu Tianming's vision blurred.

By the time he came back to his senses, he had somehow returned to Jing Hongchen's office.

"It is merely a Soul Tool capable of short-range teleportation. There is no need to be so surprised."

Seeing the surprise on Xu Tianming's face, Jing Hongchen tossed Xiao Hongchen and his sister onto the sofa before explaining.

"Tell me, what exactly is going on with this long saber?"

A probing glint flashed through Jing Hongchen's eyes.

"Dean, what do you think forging truly is?"

Rather than answer Jing Hongchen's question, Xu Tianming asked one of his own.

"Forging... Come to think of it, this craft truly is not valued in our Sun Moon Empire."

After pondering for a moment, Jing Hongchen said:

"After all, most rare metals are extremely hard, and forging them takes time and effort."

"It is far simpler and easier to use a carving knife to cut them into usable sizes, then inscribe the Core Array."

Xu Tianming was slightly stunned by those words.

He had never considered the decline of Forging Technique in the Sun Moon Empire from that perspective.

Take the Qingjingang he had forged as an example. Just performing Thousand Refinement had ruined a forging hammer Mu Ye had found for him.

In contrast, using a carving knife to directly cut the metal into a suitable size was indeed much easier.

"This long saber was indeed forged from Qingjingang."

"And during the forging process, I used a forging technique known as Thousand Refinement."

Xu Tianming had no intention of concealing it.

"With this technique, a Blacksmith must use spiritual power while forging to guide out the spirituality within the metal."

"Metal that has undergone Thousand Refinement will be reduced by half in volume, while its quality will improve by roughly thirty percent."

"Most importantly, the metal's inherent properties will be enhanced."

Xu Tianming took his long saber back from Jing Hongchen and pointed at the blade as he continued:

"Qingjingang's property is hardness, so the property brought out by the Qingjingang I refined through Thousand Refinement is even greater hardness."

Jing Hongchen did not yet fully understand the purpose of the concept of metal developing spirituality.

But he understood that Thousand Refinement could improve a metal's quality.

"Is this technique difficult?"

If it could improve metal quality, then the development of Soul Tools in the Sun Moon Empire would undoubtedly advance even further.

"Difficult. First of all, anyone who performs Thousand Refinement must be a Spirit Master with extremely powerful spiritual power."

"Moreover, drawing out the spirituality within metal through forging is no simple matter."

Xu Tianming shook his head.

If Forging Technique were so easy, there would not have been only a few Divine Craftsmen even ten thousand years later.