Shi Fen used a pair of tongs made from Kro Alloy to pull a piece of Blue Gold, now glowing gold from the heat, out of the furnace and set it on a specially made anvil.
He set down the tongs, closed the furnace door, and raised the Kro Alloy Forging Hammer. He brought it down hard on the scorching piece of Blue Gold, beginning the initial purification, along with the "thousand hammerings" and "hundred refinements."
Standing far away, Luo Feng anxiously held up his phone. He was too far away to capture any of the details clearly. He quickly scanned the room and spotted a good place to film: a table directly across from Shi Fen.
Without a second thought, Luo Feng hopped onto the table. He adjusted his phone, and when he saw how clearly everything showed from this angle, without a single blind spot, a pleased smile appeared on his face.
Luo Feng stood on the table, quietly recording and not daring to disturb Shi Fen in the slightest. If he hadn't needed to keep his identity as a Spiritual Master secret, he would have loved to fly into the air and film from the best angle.
Fortunately, the view from the table was exceptionally good, so Luo Feng gave up on the idea.
Shi Fen swung the Forging Hammer, using Extreme Forging techniques to work the metal. His Spiritual Force continuously seeped into it, sensing every part of the metal.
The scorching metal couldn't interfere with Shi Fen's Spiritual Force at all. With his powerful ability to sense metal, he had a solid enough foundation that, even though this was his first time forging Blue Gold, it took only nineteen hammer blows to bring the metal to the peak of the Hundred-Refined God-Forging Steel stage. If he kept forging it, it would reach the "rope" pattern stage.
Shi Fen didn't continue forging the metal. He placed it in a specially insulated box beside him to keep it from cooling too quickly.
He took out another piece of Blue Gold and continued the "hundred refinements." Once all six pieces had been forged to the limit of that stage, Shi Fen returned them to the furnace and quietly waited for them to heat up to their peak temperature.
Shi Fen stood motionless in front of the furnace, like a wooden puppet. The other "puppet," Luo Feng, stood on the table, barely daring to breathe as he silently posed like a human statue with a camera.
When all six pieces of metal had turned gold again, Shi Fen took them out and stacked them neatly. He put his full strength into swinging the hammer vertically again and again. The column formed by the six pieces was compressed with every strike, the pieces pressing against one another until they gradually fused into a single whole.
Once they had completely fused together, Shi Fen used pattern-welded steel techniques to make simple adjustments to the arrangement of the atoms inside the metal, drawing them into a "coarse rope." At the same time, he adjusted the metal's grain toward the planned pattern, making a series of fine corrections.
Shi Fen swung the hammer continuously, beating the piece of metal in front of him as it changed shape again and again.
A rhythmic "clang, clang, clang" filled the Forging Room.
After completing the initial forging, Shi Fen cut away the excess and divided the metal into several pieces. He rearranged them to adjust the order of the patterns on the metal's surface. Once he had heated them and set them in place, Shi Fen continued forging.
Shi Fen forged with "difficulty," cutting and welding the metal together several times. It took nearly two hours before the rough blank of the War Blade was "finally" complete.
Looking at the weapon blank before him, Shi Fen felt rather frustrated. If Luo Feng hadn't needed to record him, forcing him to hold back his full strength, he could have finished in half an hour. Instead, he had used the strength of a Quasi-Fighter and dragged the job out for nearly two hours.
At least his technique was good enough that nothing went wrong.
He put down the Forging Hammer, picked up a "chisel" in his left hand and a small hammer in his right, and carefully carved a blood groove into the surface of the weapon blank.
A little over ten minutes later, the weapon blank was fully forged!
He placed the finished weapon blank in the furnace for the final, most crucial heating.
As soon as it reached the required temperature, he took it out and carefully spread a thin layer of special clay over the blade, leaving the edge uncovered. Shi Fen had done this countless times during the Qualification Trial, and the steps had become muscle memory.
He appeared to take great care with every step, but his hands moved quickly. Before the weapon blank had even had time to cool, Shi Fen had already finished coating the blade with clay.
Shi Fen used special clamps to grip the end of the blade blank's handle. Then he activated the hoisting device and quickly lifted the blade blank along the track in the ceiling until it hung above the quenching pool.
He stood beside the pool, carefully observing the blade blank's temperature.
Once the blade blank had cooled to a certain point,
Shi Fen immediately operated the hoist, slowly lowering the still-scorching blade blank into the pool. The moment it touched the water, a sharp sizzling sound rang out.
Luo Feng stared at the blade blank in the pool, feeling intensely nervous. He controlled his breathing with all his might, afraid that his heavy breaths might affect Shi Fen's judgment. The hand holding up his phone to record was trembling slightly.
Luo Feng was like a "performance art statue." His whole body was trembling with excitement and nerves, but he didn't dare move.
Shi Fen had told him that quenching was the most crucial step.
If Shi Fen could perfectly judge when to quench the blade, he could forge a flawless weapon that made full use of Blue Gold's properties and become a "divine weapon." If he got the timing wrong, the blade's power would be greatly diminished.
This was Shi Fen's first time forging Blue Gold, and even he wasn't confident. All he could do was give it everything he had!
After what seemed like an eternity, under their tense watch, the blade blank finally cooled completely.
Shi Fen hoisted the blade blank out of the water and moved it along the track until it was in front of him. He eagerly reached out. The moment the pad of his finger touched the blade, a pleased smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"It worked!" Shi Fen gave Luo Feng a thumbs-up, looking delighted.
Luo Feng froze, unsure what Shi Fen meant, and hurriedly asked, "How close is it to the perfect level you predicted?"
"I'd estimate it's at about ninety-four percent of perfection—much better than I expected," Shi Fen replied.
Luo Feng stared at him in disbelief. "Ninety-four? Isn't that even better than you expected?!" He blinked and broke into a grin.
Luo Feng forgot all about recording. He rushed over to Shi Fen, holding his phone loosely, and gave him a big hug despite his heat-insulation suit. Luo Feng's immense strength even slightly deformed the sturdy suit.
Noticing the deformation, Shi Fen's mouth twitched. He pushed Luo Feng away in annoyance and said with a pained look, "Easy! This heat-insulation suit costs a lot more than your War Blade. It was over eight million, and I can't afford to buy a second one."
At the words "over eight million," Luo Feng's heart jolted. His hands instinctively let go of Shi Fen, and he backed away several steps, on guard.
"Over eight million?" Luo Feng exclaimed.
"Mm," Shi Fen replied tersely. He felt the deformed part of the suit and channeled his Spiritual Force into it to check for any real damage. Fortunately, the suit was fine. It had only been slightly bent out of shape.
"It... isn't broken, is it?" Luo Feng asked cautiously, his voice trembling slightly.
Luo Feng was genuinely frightened. Although he had the million Zhou Huayang had given him and had moved into the Bright Moon Residential District, where he owned a detached villa, he couldn't possibly afford to pay for the suit.
"It's fine. The outer heat-insulating layer is just a little out of shape. It's within the normal range, so there's no problem." Shi Fen's words were like a reassuring pill, and Luo Feng's tense heart finally settled.
Shi Fen teased, "It really is worth over eight million. Even your ridiculous strength didn't damage it. Tsk, tsk. At this rate, it might actually last ten years."
Luo Feng let out a long breath and carefully looked the suit over. Once he confirmed that Shi Fen wasn't messing with him, he said, "Well, you get what you pay for. Still, you're really rich. Even if I become a Martial Artist, I don't think I'll earn as much as you."
Shi Fen smiled at Luo Feng. "Haha. If I really forged with all my strength, you might not be able to keep up with me."
"Not bad," Luo Feng replied.
Now that he knew he wouldn't have to pay for the suit, Luo Feng relaxed. He raised his phone and filmed the blade blank hanging beside the pool from every angle, then asked, "So, my blade's ready?"
"There are still a few steps left, but I can finish everything today. First, though, I have to reforge the Blue Gold I cut off earlier, or it'll go to waste. How about I use the scraps to make you a dissection dagger?" Shi Fen said.
Luo Feng's eyes lit up. A dagger sounded great. He could control it with his Spiritual Force and bring out his full strength as a Spiritual Master. The War Blade was already this impressive, so a dagger forged by Shi Fen would surely be just as good.
Luo Feng immediately stopped recording and chose an image of a throwing knife on his phone. After showing it to Shi Fen, he asked a little sheepishly, "Could you make one in this style? I don't mind what the pattern looks like, as long as it's good quality."
Shi Fen glanced at the picture.
Unlike an ordinary knife, this throwing knife was extremely short and slender, with both sides of the handle almost flush against the two sides of the blade. This design had very little air resistance, making it an excellent throwing knife.
Shi Fen knew Luo Feng had awakened his Spiritual Force, so it was no surprise that he had chosen this kind of knife.
"Easy. This little dagger can be used as a throwing knife or a dissection knife. It suits you well." Shi Fen quickly calculated how much scrap metal he had, then added, "But there's quite a lot of scrap. If I make just one, it'll be too big. How about I make two? They'll be easier for you to use."
Luo Feng was delighted and answered without hesitation, "Whatever you think. Anything's fine. I'll leave it to you."
Inside his heat-insulation suit, Shi Fen couldn't help rolling his eyes. With absolutely no conscience, he thought, You said to do whatever I wanted? I'll cover your throwing knives in chrysanthemums!
But on the outside, he smiled and said, "Sure."
Thinking about pranking Luo Feng, Shi Fen practically "bounced" all the way to the cutting table. He swept up all the scraps in one go, then "bounced" to the furnace and tossed them in to heat up, ready to forge them.
Around 4:30 in the afternoon.
After several hours of intense work, one War Blade and two throwing knives were finally complete.
The War Blade had a sleek, imposing design and was deep blue all over. Near the handle, each side of the blade had a dark-purple pattern resembling a spinning spring. The rest of the blade was covered in rippling, water-like patterns.
The two spinning springs looked like bottomless whirlpools, making anyone who saw them feel a chill.
The blade was eighty-eight centimeters long, six centimeters wide, and the entire weapon was 108 centimeters long. It weighed exactly 108 kilograms.
At Shi Fen's insistence, the blade was named "Deep Spring."
Having spent so long in God's World, Shi Fen needed to vent in secret, or he'd go stir-crazy.
The two throwing knives were much simpler. They looked exactly like standard-issue throwing knives, except for the bright blue "daisies" blooming across their blades.
When Luo Feng saw the neat rows of blue "daisies," he felt like his whole world had collapsed. He knew his brother had played a prank on him.
But Luo Feng wasn't angry. He was mostly just shocked.
He couldn't imagine that scrap metal could be forged into throwing knives this perfect. And it wasn't just the throwing knives. The patterns on both sides of Deep Spring looked almost identical at a glance. They were so perfect that, if he hadn't recorded the entire process and watched it from start to finish, he would have suspected that Shi Fen had used a machine to print the patterns.
In fact, Shi Fen had forged the patterns himself.
After Luo Feng tested the blade, he was even more shocked. It felt like the blade had become part of his body. It was comfortable in every way.
"A peerless masterpiece!" Luo Feng exclaimed sincerely.
Luo Feng was completely satisfied, but Shi Fen kept criticizing his own work, recalling the forging process and looking for where things had gone wrong, reviewing every shortcoming.
Overall, Shi Fen was quite pleased. After all, this was his first time forging Blue Gold in a real, hands-on setting.
"Deep Spring" was decent.
That was Shi Fen's objective assessment.
After all, Shi Fen hadn't used his full strength. If he had forged it to the Star Sea Pattern stage, Deep Spring could have been much stronger.
Luo Feng took his three new "toys" to show off to Wei Wen, who was cooped up in the Forging Room forging pig iron. Shi Fen, meanwhile, dutifully cleaned the room.
The three of them agreed to go out for a meal that evening.
After a round of carefree fun, they finally went their separate ways.
Under Shi Fen's forceful "threats," Luo Feng paid him 300,000 for the material-processing fee.
Shi Fen had, after all, benefited from Luo Feng's help and kept eighty kilograms of Blue Gold. He was too embarrassed—and too proud—to ask for more. The 300,000 was about what all the work had cost him that day.
There was no need to charge his brother any extra "processing fee" for forging him a blade.
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