Mu Chen's Favoritism

This forging technique was highly unusual, and Mu Chen immediately lowered the arms he had been holding crossed before his chest.

He took two steps forward, staring directly at Li Moxun as he sensed every hammer strike he made.

The sight of him treating everything around him as nonexistent, with only the metal reflected in his eyes, left Mu Chen somewhat entranced.

Mu Xi was equally startled. Half an hour passed, and the Hundred Refinement was completed. Then came the next stage, steadily beginning the Thousand Refinement until finally reaching Thousand Refinement First Grade.

The forging process lasted a little over an hour, already far faster than normal forging speed.

Normally, a standard Thousand Refinement process took around two hours, sometimes even longer.

That was why most Thousand Refinement blacksmiths used finished Hundred Refinement products before conducting Thousand Refinement.

For someone like Li Moxun, starting with Hundred Refinement and completing Thousand Refinement First Grade in one go was extremely difficult.

Watching the standard glow of First Grade Divine Light flicker over it, Mu Chen's expression became complicated.

At this age, with this talent.

Tang Wulin was the most astonishingly gifted person he had ever seen, yet Tang Wulin had still studied for four or five years before reaching the Thousand Refinement level. Even then, he remained a long way from Thousand Refinement First Grade.

Yet Li Moxun had already become a true Thousand Refinement First Grade blacksmith. Such talent and brilliance left Mu Chen utterly shaken.

However, Li Moxun paid no attention to the astonishment in their eyes.

Looking at the metal, he raised his hand and directly grabbed the piece he had just forged.

Seeing this, Mu Chen instinctively wanted to raise his hand, but in the next instant, he saw—

A gentle chill emerged, rapidly cooling the metal without causing it to collapse from the abrupt shift between heat and cold.

Instead, the metal was suffused with that chill, making it appear even brighter.

After being infused with Li Moxun's cold aura, the metal's quality had instead been indirectly improved by a small degree, barely reaching the level of Quasi-Spirit Forging.

Holding the completed Dragon Blood Iron forging in his hand, Li Moxun calmly looked at Mu Chen before lifting the metal with one hand.

Normally, when handing something to a senior, he would use both hands. But toward Mu Chen, who clearly held no goodwill toward him, Li Moxun could not be bothered to show any respect.

Of course, Mu Chen had no mind to concern himself with that now. He accepted the metal, examining the patterns on its surface and sensing its differences.

Compared to ordinary Dragon Blood Iron, this metal contained an additional trace of chill. It was not the kind of cold energy with intense destructive power, but rather a mild cold force.

This power could help Soul Masters clear their minds, even heightening their sensitive touch and improving their vitality, energy, and spirit. It was a very peculiar support effect.

It would clearly grant the metal an additional bonus—or rather, raise its value. It had a similar effect to Tang Wulin forging metal with his own blood.

Many high-level blacksmiths also produced special effects when using certain forging hammers, and the metals they forged would have distinctive characteristics of their own.

However, such effects or characteristics generally only appeared in Spirit Forging, or even Soul Forging.

Seeing such an effect appear on ordinary Thousand Refinement metal was still a great surprise to Mu Chen.

But before Mu Chen could examine it closely, Li Moxun's calm, even voice rang out.

"Senior, may I ask whether you can assess me as a Level 4 Blacksmith and give me a Level 4 Blacksmith Certificate?"

As Li Moxun spoke, he looked at Mu Chen with neither arrogance nor servility in his expression.

Mu Chen fell silent for a second as he looked at Li Moxun, then nodded.

"Yes. I'll have someone bring it over now. The Level 4 Blacksmith Certificates were prepared in advance. Our Eastsea City Blacksmith Association still has several, so we'll just bring one over for you."

Mu Chen did not waste any time. He picked up his Spirit Guidance Communicator and immediately made a call.

While Mu Chen called for someone to deliver the item, Mu Xi stared deeply at Li Moxun and took two steps forward.

Two yellow and one purple Spirit Rings descended around the girl as she fixed her eyes on Li Moxun.

"Your forging talent is indeed strong, but don't forget our match. I won't bully you. As long as you can last five minutes against me, we'll consider this matter settled."

Mu Xi spoke while staring intently at Li Moxun.

Yet when Li Moxun met Mu Xi's gaze, his eyes held nothing but disgust.

After all, he and Mu Xi had no grievances against each other. They did not even know one another.

She had relied on being Mu Chen's daughter to stand up for Tang Wulin, which had already disgusted him. Now she was even saying something like this.

He had become a Soul Master at the peak of the Third Ring at this age only because his own talent was sufficiently high.

If it had been an ordinary Second Ring Soul Master facing a Third Ring Soul Master like her, lasting ten minutes would mean getting beaten black and blue, perhaps even worse.

Mu Xi's threat meant nothing to him. Whether in talent or strength, he far surpassed her.

So let alone lasting five minutes, he was confident that he could kill her within a minute.

But if this had happened to an ordinary Soul Master, it would have been outright bullying.

Facing Mu Xi's self-righteous expression, Li Moxun's face suddenly turned cold.

He stared fixedly at Mu Xi, already prepared to teach her a lesson.

Li Moxun calmly nodded, and three purple Spirit Rings descended around him as a force of extreme cold surged forth.

Mu Xi showed no courtesy at the sight. She gave a low shout and shot forward, her third Spirit Ring lighting up as several massive fireballs came crashing down.

It happened very quickly. Mu Chen naturally noticed it from the side, but he had no intention of stopping her.

He merely stood there calmly, pretending he had only just reacted. Then he stepped forward and grabbed Mu Xi's hand, but the fireballs had already fallen and struck Li Moxun.

A warm sensation spread through him. Honestly, having those fireballs hit him did not feel nearly as pleasant as a breeze brushing against his face.

Still, Li Moxun calmly took two steps back, then clutched his chest and put on an act of barely holding on.

Seeing Li Moxun's appearance and the pain on the boy's face, Mu Xi snorted coldly, her expression filled with disdain.

"You have no grudge against him, so what right do you have to attack him!? Wulin's grievance should naturally be settled by Wulin himself. This matter had nothing to do with you in the first place."

"Go back now and write me a two-thousand-word self-criticism. I want it tonight!"

Mu Chen spoke as he helplessly glared at his daughter.

However, at that feigned expression, a cold glint of killing intent flashed through Li Moxun's eyes before they abruptly returned to calm.

Seeing Li Moxun clutching his chest, Mu Chen looked at him and sighed.

"I'm sorry, student Li Moxun. Mu Xi has a hot temper and injured you."

"How about this? I'll transfer twenty thousand Spirit Coins into your Blacksmith Savings Card later as compensation for your medical expenses."

Mu Chen spoke with an apologetic expression as he looked at Li Moxun, but his face showed little genuine emotion. It was even filled with blatant favoritism toward his daughter.