Five extreme metals in a row,
each one Spirit-Forged with 100% success,
would be explosive anywhere!
Cen Yue stared at Mu Chen as usual.
Mu Chen's old face flushed red under his gaze.
But Cen Yue still wouldn't stop staring!
Just as Mu Chen was about to kick him in anger,
his daughter, Mu Xi, suddenly walked in.
In an instant,
Mu Chen froze completely!
"Xi'er, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you not to come?"
The moment Mu Chen saw his precious daughter, his heart seemed to skip a beat.
He hurried forward,
trying to shield Lu Chuan with his body,
not wanting to give the two of them any chance to get acquainted!
But Mu Xi's gaze had already passed him,
landing squarely on the five pieces of Spirit-Forged Metal freshly finished on the forging table.
The scarlet red of the Flame Copper,
the dusky blue of the Frost Meteorite Iron,
the golden yellow of the Thunderclap Gold,
the gray-black of the Shadow Steel,
the emerald green of the Life Crystal,
their five-colored radiance interweaving,
illuminating the entire Evaluation Room like a dream!
Mu Xi was captivated at a glance. "Dad, don't block my view!"
She pushed past Mu Chen and trotted over to Lu Chuan's forging table,
her gaze sweeping back and forth across the five pieces of metal.
The more she looked, the more astonished she became.
"Flame Copper, Frost Meteorite Iron, Thunderclap Gold, Shadow Steel, Life Crystal... All of them are rare metals with extreme attributes?"
"Judging by their temperature, they've only just been successfully Spirit-Forged.
There's nothing in the scrap bin, which means he succeeded with every piece on the first try!
Amazing...!"
Mu Xi's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she spoke.
She abruptly turned around,
looking at Lu Chuan, who stood beside the forging table.
The young man wore a black outfit,
the edges of his sleeves still bearing scorch marks from the Flame Copper.
The strands of hair at his forehead curled slightly,
and he still held a Forging Hammer in his hand.
His breathing had already steadied,
but a golden glimmer still lingered in his eyes, not yet completely faded.
Just his profile,
and Mu Xi's heart inexplicably skipped a beat.
"Did you do this?"
Mu Xi asked softly.
Actually,
she knew her question was rather pointless.
After all,
if the freshly forged metal hadn't been made by the blacksmith beside the forging table, who else could have made it?
But she still asked.
For no other reason,
she simply wanted to talk to Lu Chuan,
no matter what she said!
Lu Chuan had just finished forging and was still resting.
Rest breaks were allowed during the Level Six Blacksmith assessment,
but he couldn't understand
why someone had barged into the Evaluation Room while he was being tested.
It was disrespectful to him!
He shot Mu Xi a cold glance.
Remembering that she was the subject of those drunken rumors about him,
Lu Chuan ultimately held back his anger.
"I forged them! But I'm still taking my assessment, so sorry for the trouble, but please leave!"
Only then did Mu Chen remember
that Lu Chuan had already completed the Level Five Blacksmith assessment
and was now taking the Level Six Blacksmith assessment!
"Mu Xi, who told you to come in? Get out, now! No one is allowed to disturb a blacksmith during an assessment—not even me. That's the rule! Don't you know that?"
Mu Chen's tone was icy.
Although Mu Xi was his daughter,
and he currently disliked Lu Chuan intensely,
rules were rules.
Lu Chuan hadn't finished yet,
so no outsiders were allowed in the Evaluation Room.
"Ah, he's still being tested? Didn't he already finish Spirit Forging? Could it be that he's doing Fusion Forging...?"
Mu Xi stared at Lu Chuan in shock, nearly crying out.
Because in her mind, most blacksmiths capable of Fusion Forging were already in their forties or fifties.
Yet the young man standing before her was clearly about her age!
Still reeling from the disbelief,
she covered her mouth
as Mu Chen ushered her out.
At that moment, Elder Zhao pushed open the door and walked in apologetically. "I'm sorry. This old man must be getting senile! I forgot you were taking the Level Six assessment. I'm truly sorry!"
Lu Chuan's expression softened at last. "You're too kind, Elder Zhao. I decided to take the Level Six assessment on short notice, so it's only natural you forgot! Let's just continue!"
With that, he walked back to the forging table.
Seeing this, Elder Zhao finally let out a long breath of relief.
In fact,
he couldn't really be blamed.
Usually, Fusion Forging
began either before the metals had been refined or during Thousand Refinement.
But Lu Chuan was different.
He Spirit-Forged the metals first, then attempted Fusion Forging!
That did have one drawback:
if the Fusion Forging failed,
the loss would be enormous!
But it also had an advantage:
the Spirit Alloy made by fusing Spirit-Forged metals would be exceptionally high quality.
Even after Spirit Forging, Spirit Alloy made from ordinary metals
was still far inferior in quality to Spirit Alloy made from Spirit-Forged metals.
Lu Chuan laid out the five pieces of Spirit-Forged Metal in front of him, one by one.
He first picked up the Flame Copper and Frost Meteorite Iron, two metals with completely opposing attributes,
and placed them together into the forging furnace.
This move
startled Mu Chen, Cen Yue, and Elder Zhao outright.
Because in their minds,
ice and fire could never coexist,
and forcibly fusing two metals with completely opposing attributes
could only lead to an explosion!
But Lu Chuan didn't see it that way.
In his eyes,
opposition was relative.
Ice and fire countered each other,
but they also generated each other.
Just like yin and yang,
once the two were balanced,
they would become extremely stable.
Not only could they attack and defend,
they could also contain all things.
Lu Chuan wanted to use the Flame Copper and Frost Meteorite Iron to forge a stable foundation.
Then, no matter what other metals he added,
everything would fall into place!
"Who knows what Mang Tian taught him? Spirit Forging before Fusion Forging is bad enough, but now he's even choosing two metals with completely opposing attributes for Fusion Forging. Isn't that just misleading his student?"
Cen Yue muttered angrily.
His heart was filled with envy and jealousy.
He watched Lu Chuan wrap the two pieces of metal in Soul Power,
slowly bringing them closer together.
His heart trembled along with them!
Sure enough,
the instant ice and fire made contact,
a tremendous boom erupted in the Evaluation Room.
A shock wave like an explosion of steam swept across the room in an instant,
knocking the wall clock from its hook.
It crashed to the floor with a loud clang!
But at this crucial moment,
no one blamed Lu Chuan.
They were all waiting eagerly for a miracle!
The searing heat of the Flame Copper and the biting cold of the Frost Meteorite Iron clashed fiercely at their point of contact,
releasing a piercing hiss
like two beasts tearing at each other!
Lu Chuan clenched his teeth,
manipulating his Soul Power
to forcibly compress the two opposing forces into a confined space.
At this moment,
his Soul Power was draining rapidly.
Even though the Golden Dragon King's Soul Power was several times denser than ordinary Soul Power,
after six consecutive rounds of Spirit Forging followed by Fusion Forging,
he was gradually reaching his limit!
Fortunately,
hard work paid off.
At the boundary where ice and fire met,
A new substance began to appear.
It was a thin metallic film with a gradient of colors,
shifting from scarlet red to deep blue,
with a magnificent stretch of purple in between!
The two extreme properties reached a delicate balance within the metallic film,
restraining one another while also depending on each other.
"This is... it worked!"
"A new alloy!"
Cen Yue's eyes widened,
unable to believe that they had actually succeeded!
Mu Chen smiled and affirmed, "It worked. A new alloy formula! Hahaha!"
Elder Zhao's lips curled into a faint smile as he let out a long sigh. "I'm old, I'm old. The waves behind drive the waves ahead, and the ones in front die on the shore!"
The three exchanged glances,
each seeing relief in the others' eyes.
How could they not be excited? The world of forging had successors!
Next, as long as the fusion test passed, Lu Chuan's fusion forging would count as a success!
That was what the three of them thought,
but Lu Chuan didn't!
After successfully fusion-forging the two metals,
he picked up a third piece of metal,
Thunderclap Gold.
Without the slightest hesitation, he added it to the alloy in the middle of the fusion process.
The addition of Thunderclap Gold instantly shattered the balance between ice and fire,
and wild electrical charges began darting all over the inside of the alloy,
making the structure that had just stabilized begin to shake violently.
Lu Chuan's hands began to tremble,
and the web between his thumb and forefinger split open.
Blood trickled down the hammer handle and dripped onto the forging platform,
evaporating into a wisp of green smoke.
"I grabbed the wrong one. I should've added the life crystal to stabilize the balance!"
Regret surged through Lu Chuan's heart.
But now that things had come this far,
he could only keep going!
First, he gripped the Forging Hammer with his injured hand,
and struck the side of the alloy.
Then he gripped the hammer with his other hand and struck the opposite side of the metal.
Under the two opposing forces,
the metal began to spin instantly.
With Lu Chuan's rhythmic hammer blows,
it spun faster and faster.
The powerful centrifugal force quickly soothed the wild electrical charges,
distributing them evenly throughout the alloy.
Balance was thus established!
That meant the fusion forging of three attributes had succeeded!
"Keep going!"
Lu Chuan gritted his teeth and began fusion forging again.
Though his soul power was running low and his vision had grown hazy,
his body still remembered what to do next.
Mechanically, he grabbed the Shadow Steel
and pressed it against the still-steaming surface of the alloy.
The Shadow Steel's Devouring property immediately began absorbing the excess energy in the alloy,
like a greedy sponge,
sucking every unstable element into itself.
Under the Shadow Steel's absorption, the alloy's structure became denser and more stable,
and four colors of light flashed in turn across the metal's surface,
finally blending into a deep, dark shade that seemed capable of absorbing all light.
Fusion forging with four attributes had succeeded.
At that moment,
no one in the Evaluation Room could still stand and speak.
Cen Yue leaned against the corner, barely able to stay upright.
Elder Zhao sat right down on the floor,
while Mu Chen leaned against the doorframe, eyes wide, not daring to blink!
Four metals fused together—
in the entire world today,
only one person could do that: Godsmith Zhen Hua!
And judging by the way things were going,
Lu Chuan was going to fuse a fifth metal!
If he succeeded,
he would make history!
The three were incredibly excited,
but by then,
Lu Chuan's vision had blurred until all he could see was an indistinct shape.
His body was tottering on the brink of exhaustion,
but thanks to his tremendous willpower,
his hand still held the final piece of material steady.
The life crystal.
At last,
under the expectant gazes of the three elders,
he pressed the life crystal against the surface of the four-metal alloy!