Blacksmiths had always been judged by the quality of their forging.
Lu Chuan still couldn't perform Soul Forging,
so he couldn't compete with Mu Chen in that regard.
But there was one thing
Lu Chuan was confident
he could beat anyone at!
Without a trace of timidity,
without a hint of fear,
Lu Chuan stepped into the president's office with a broad smile,
his gaze sweeping over Mu Chen, seated at the head of the room,
and Cen Yue, leaning against the doorframe and watching the show,
his pace unhurried.
Since the two old men wanted to play,
he'd play along.
But who the real clown would be when it was over remained to be seen!
"By the rules, a Level Five Blacksmith examination requires at least three master-level judges to be present as supervisors."
Lu Chuan walked up to the desk,
braced both hands on it,
looked down at Mu Chen,
and grinned.
"Since the president isn't away on a business trip, that makes things easy. With Grandmaster Cen, that's two. We just need one more."
Mu Chen watched Lu Chuan's smile,
and the hand holding his teacup paused slightly.
He'd thought the kid would either turn tail and run
or lose his temper and slam the table, cursing at him.
He hadn't expected Lu Chuan to withstand the pressure and continue with the examination!
And he'd even dragged Mu Chen into it!
Seeing the tension in the air, Cen Yue's smile faded a little too. He cleared his throat, trying to ease things.
"Xiaochuan, there's no rush about the examination. Sit down and have some tea first—"
But Lu Chuan wasn't about to give him a chance to smooth things over!
If they wanted to make a clown out of him,
they'd have to pay the price!
"I'm in a hurry."
Lu Chuan cut him off,
his voice as cold as a stagnant pool.
"I'm in a real hurry. If I go even one day without forging, my hands start itching. I said that to Teacher Mang Tian, so I'm sure he passed it on to both of you."
Lu Chuan put heavy emphasis on the words "both of you"!
The distance in his tone was plain to hear.
Mu Chen set down his teacup
and narrowed his eyes as he studied Lu Chuan.
Just moments ago, the boy had seemed refined and sensible,
but now his sharp edge was fully exposed.
The keen glint in his eyes
reminded Mu Chen of himself in his youth!
In an instant,
Mu Chen suddenly couldn't help laughing.
He looked at Lu Chuan, then turned to instruct Cen Yue.
"Fine. If you want to take the test, I'll supervise it myself. Old Cen, go get Old Zhao."
Cen Yue looked at the atmosphere, taut as a drawn bow,
and opened his mouth,
wanting to say something.
But the words caught in his throat,
and he turned and went out.
He could see it now.
These two might not be as big and brawny as he was, but their hearts were both more reckless than his!
The moment they felt the slightest injustice,
they'd trample down nine towering mountains in their way!
In less than ten minutes,
the three examiners had gathered in the dedicated Evaluation Room next to the president's office.
Besides Mu Chen and Cen Yue,
the third was a white-haired old man
with the surname Zhao,
who had been at the branch for over twenty years
and was known for his strictness!
At the center of the Evaluation Room stood a standard forging platform.
Beside it were neatly arranged standard metal ingots for the examination:
ten pieces of Hundred-Refined iron and several rare metals with different properties.
"The core component of the Level Five Blacksmith examination is Spirit Forging."
"You'll have two hours. Choose any rare metal and complete a Spirit Forging. The three of us will vote on the finished piece. Two votes in favor means you pass."
Mu Chen stood five paces from the forging platform with his hands behind his back, his voice devoid of emotion.
Lu Chuan ignored him
and walked straight to the metal rack,
his gaze passing over the three rare metals in turn:
Red Copper, Star Iron, and Deep Sea Silver.
Of those, Deep Sea Silver was probably the metal he knew best!
It was perfect for warming up!
"Made your choice?" Cen Yue couldn't help asking.
"I have."
Lu Chuan picked up the fist-sized piece of Deep Sea Silver
and returned to the forging platform.
Mu Chen took in the scene, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
Although the first metal Lu Chuan had successfully Spirit Forged was Deep Sea Silver,
it was one of the hardest rare metals to imbue with spirit.
Soul Power passed through it easily, but it had an extremely low affinity for Soul Power!
That was why most blacksmiths chose Red Copper or Star Iron when attempting to reach Level Five.
Choosing the hardest material
meant either being so arrogant he didn't know the limits of heaven and earth,
or having real confidence.
Mu Chen actually leaned toward the former.
Lu Chuan had let his emotions get the better of him!
After all, the kid was only nine years old.
Even if he'd started practicing in the womb,
how much skill could he have possibly accumulated?
But Mu Chen's expression changed the moment the first hammer fell.
Lu Chuan hadn't warmed up or tested the metal. His very first strike came at full force.
Then came the second hammer,
the third,
The hammer struck the surface of the Deep Sea Silver,
sending out a deep, lingering clang.
For an instant, the entire piece of metal
seemed to have been awakened.
Visible ripples began to spread across its surface.
"What is this..."
Old Zhao stepped forward half a pace, his pupils contracting.
Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique!
And not the ordinary Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique,
but a modified variant, with the pauses between strikes compressed.
The interval between each hammer blow was impossibly short.
The force of the previous strike hadn't yet fully dissipated
before the next came down, layering on top of it.
This was one of the treasures the Silver Dragon King had left Lu Chuan
after killing Tang San's divine consciousness!
An ordinary blacksmith would be exhausted after seven strikes with Chaotic Cloak.
A naturally gifted one might manage thirteen.
But Lu Chuan
had already swung his hammer seventeen times without even realizing it!
Clang!
A crisp hammer ring rang out
as the seventeenth strike landed.
Cen Yue stared at the Deep Sea Silver,
and to his shock,
fine silver droplets had begun seeping from its surface.
It was a sign that impurities within the metal had been compressed to the extreme and forced out—
a phenomenon usually seen only when a metal's purity had reached the late stage of Thousand Refinement.
Yet Lu Chuan had achieved it with just seventeen strikes!
The hammering continued.
The twenty-first strike.
The Deep Sea Silver had shrunk by a full third.
Its surface was smooth as a mirror,
reflecting the three faces in the Evaluation Room, each wearing a different expression.
Mu Chen's Adam's apple bobbed. This was his first time seeing Lu Chuan forge, and only now did he realize that Lu Chuan's forging talent was far more terrifying than he'd imagined!
Old Zhao's lips moved faintly as he counted Lu Chuan's hammer strikes!
Cen Yue had completely lost his playful expression. Even as a veteran Level Six Blacksmith, he couldn't manage what Lu Chuan had just done!
The thirty-sixth strike.
The piece of Deep Sea Silver lay quietly on the forging platform,
its surface rippling with a strange silver sheen,
as though liquid light were slowly flowing through the metal.
Thousand-Refined Grade One, completed in less than four minutes!
The Evaluation Room
was so quiet that only Lu Chuan's hammer rang out!
After Thousand Refinement
came Spirit Forging!
The essence of Spirit Forging was to use a blacksmith's Soul Power and spiritual power to awaken or bestow a spirit upon the metal.
After two months of forging,
Lu Chuan had become thoroughly familiar with awakening Deep Sea Silver.
At first,
his method had been very crude,
Knock on the door,
Wake it,
Soothe it,
All of which consumed a tremendous amount of Soul Power.
But now,
Lu Chuan had found another simple method:
Awaken the spirit with mental power!
For him, who was in the Divine Origin Realm under normal circumstances,
This was practically a divine weapon descending from the heavens!
Lu Chuan's mental power spread like a finely woven net,
Seeping layer by layer along the molecular structure inside the Deep Sea Silver.
Deep Sea Silver was highly resistant to Soul Power;
The moment Soul Power touched it, it might be repelled.
But it showed no resistance at all to mental power,
So,
Lu Chuan's mental power entered the Deep Sea Silver
Like a fish returning to the sea,
Able to slip freely and without restraint into every gap between its molecules.
Before long,
The metal began to emit a low hum,
Answering Lu Chuan's call.
The teacup in Mu Chen's hand was finally set down,
Resting soundlessly on the table.
At that moment,
His gaze was fixed entirely on Lu Chuan's hands.
Those eyes of his, usually as still as an ancient well, once again flashed with astonishment at Lu Chuan!
Because
He recognized Lu Chuan's method of awakening the spirit—
The Spirit Folding Art!
An ancient forging technique that had been all but lost!
Legend had it that this technique could layer a smith's spiritual imprint deep within the metal,
Giving metal that had undergone Spirit Forging an almost living ability to repair itself!
Fewer than three people in the current forging world knew this craft,
And all of them were renowned Saint Craftsmen of rank eight or higher!
How could a nine-year-old boy know it?
Lu Chuan didn't give Mu Chen much time to recover from his shock.
Seeing that the moment had come,
He suddenly put all his strength into it,
His Soul Power and mental power both reaching their peak at nearly the same instant.
At the same time,
The Deep Sea Silver beneath his Forging Hammer burst into dazzling silver-white light,
And the entire Evaluation Room suddenly shone as brightly as the Far North at noon!
After a short while,
The light slowly faded.
Lu Chuan was panting heavily,
And on the forging table before him,
A piece of Deep Sea Silver, brimming with spirit, had come into being!
Countless fine, rippling patterns appeared across its surface,
As though countless silver streams were slowly flowing over it.
"Spirit Forging... complete!"
"Time taken... nineteen minutes!"
The old smith, Elder Zhao, announced Lu Chuan's result in disbelief.
At that moment,
His voice was trembling.
Cen Yue swallowed and instinctively looked toward Mu Chen.
He really wanted to say something right now:
Your daughter probably isn't worthy of him by a long shot!
This kid was ninety-nine percent certain to become a Godsmith!
Mu Chen's expression grew even more complicated.
As a rank-eight Saint Craftsman,
He could tell at a glance that the Deep Sea Silver Lu Chuan had forged was far beyond the standard of ordinary rank-five Spirit Forging,
And was even approaching perfection.
But before he could offer his assessment,
Lu Chuan spoke first.
"Gentlemen, I'd also like to take the rank-six blacksmith assessment!"