Testing the Blade

After feeling out and calibrating the examination mechanisms, Lu Li turned his gaze toward a young woman at the edge of the testing grounds. She was lovely, with well-proportioned features, dressed in a simple gray-blue Daoist robe. A hooked-moon emblem was embroidered over her left breast, while a small wooden plaque was pinned over her right, carved with the three words: "Blade Tester."

Lu Li had long familiarized himself with the rules for the Earth-grade Pincersmith examination. The organizers would provide specific spirit materials and tools, and the examinees had to forge a weapon of a designated type from those materials and tools.

The organizers only specified the type; the exact design was left to the examinees. Throughout the process, they were not permitted to use any spirit materials or tools they had brought themselves.

Once the forging was complete, the weapon had to be handed over to a blade tester for various trials. Its handling, appearance, and power would determine its final ranking, and only the best would pass.

The Earth-grade examination was scored in three parts.

The first part was an inspection by White Moon Palace disciples, mainly assessing whether the examinees' operations and techniques were proper and practiced.

The second part was a live trial by the blade tester, who would use the weapon to attack designated targets and evaluate both the experience of using it and its power.

The third part was an overall evaluation of the weapon by the sect's stewards themselves.

Of these, the third part carried the greatest weight in scoring, but the second was the most important, because the sect stewards' assessments were largely based on the practical results of that trial.

Lu Li walked straight up to Miss Blade Tester. Puffing out his cheeks, he extended a hand with a hint of bashfulness and took out a carving knife and wooden board he had prepared beforehand.

"I've long heard of White Moon Palace's great name. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to join White Moon Palace and cultivate there. Now that I've seen you today, this immortal sister of White Moon Palace truly is extraordinary. Could you give me an autograph? Just carve a few words on this—right here will do."

Lu Li pointed to the center of the board, then handed over the carving knife with its blade facing himself. The disciple did not refuse his abrupt request, though she did not say much either. She took the knife and was about to carve when her brows suddenly drew together.

She spread open her palm and examined the knife handle. It was actually wrapped in a layer of Soft Soil.

Soft Soil was a standard spirit material provided for every examination. Its hardness could be easily adjusted depending on how much water was mixed into it, and it did not stick to the hands at all.

The blade tester seemed to understand something. She carved her name onto the wooden board Lu Li had provided, then handed the carving knife and board back to him.

Lu Li carefully pinched the blade of the carving knife as though it were a priceless treasure and returned to his station.

Naturally, such a scene did not escape the eyes of the others present, including those midstream disciples who had been paying particular attention to Lu Li. The contempt in Zou Bufan's eyes deepened.

"Those bumpkins from the lower reaches really have never seen the world. That blade tester may have some ability, but she's only at the Yan Master realm. Getting this excited over something like that—she's truly nothing to fear."

At the same time, Zhong Wenbai, standing in the pavilion above, had a sharp gleam flicker through his eyes.

"That girl at number thirty-one is rather interesting. What's her name?"

The disciple beside him checked briefly and soon gave an answer.

"Reporting to Steward Zhong, her name is Deer Pear."

"Deer Pear? Is she the Deer Pear who took first place in yesterday's Human-grade Welding Master examination?"

"That's right. It was her."

"Good, very good. I'd like to see just how far she can go among this crowd of midstream disciples. It's about time. Let them begin."

"Yes."

The disciple bowed and withdrew. Before long, three deep bell tolls rang out. A disciple recited the examination rules, followed by another three tolls. The examination officially began.

For this Earth-grade Pincersmith examination, the designated weapon type was a dagger. The materials were a batch of casings discarded by the stamping workshop. Since these casings had failed to meet process standards, they could no longer be used and could only be melted down and reforged.

Moreover, the shapes of those casings were awkward and tricky, leaving many people at a loss.

Lu Li had spotted this pile of materials during the pre-examination preparation phase and had long decided which pieces to use. He snapped off a wooden rod to forge into a handle, then picked up a metal casing to forge into the blade.

Lu Li first ground off the rustproof paint on the metal casing, then threw it into the furnace for forging.

He had used this furnace back at the stamping workshop before, but he had not had much contact with the anvil-hammer mechanism or the milling mechanism. The Earth-grade Pincersmith examination tested a pincersmith's use of mechanisms, as well as their understanding of materials and fundamental techniques.

Lu Li planned to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, focusing on hammer forging. He still had to use the stamping mechanism, since it was one of the evaluation criteria.

When it came time to shape the metal using the anvil-hammer mechanism, Lu Li moved very slowly. After all, he had only been familiar with it for three or four days. His goal was simply to do neither well nor poorly, leaving the disciples in charge of scoring with no fault to pick at.

Two hours were far too limited. On top of that, the materials provided were not high-quality, neatly shaped steel billets, making this examination far more difficult than ordinary work.

With even the slightest misstep, if the steel billet was hammered full of cracks, all previous effort would go down the drain, and the score would plummet.

Just like Lu Li right now...

Crack—

Under the anvil hammer's blow, Lu Li's heart lurched. He cursed inwardly that what he feared had come to pass, then focused his eyes on it. A tiny crack had appeared at the metal handle.

Huff—

Lu Li let out a long breath. Fortunately, the crack was on the handle rather than the blade. This section would be wrapped in a wooden grip; as long as no one noticed it, then there was no crack.

At that moment, the disciple happened to be looking at another pincersmith nearby instead of this way. Lu Li silently clamped the blade blank with iron tongs and secretly flipped it over.

Fortunately, Lu Li's understanding of the Stamping Art was deep enough, and he had handled these tools quite often in the stamping workshop. Once he had completed the mechanism operation stage, the remaining steps became exceedingly smooth.

Forging, shaping, annealing, rough grinding, coating with soil... Just as Lu Li spread Soft Soil over the blade's surface and prepared to selectively quench it, a cry of surprise rang out from behind him.

A young man strode out in a single step, a knife cradled in his hands and a confident smile on his face.

The youth made a circuit through the aisles between workstations, seemingly going out of his way to pass in front of Lu Li. He smugly smoothed back his hair, shot Lu Li a look, and waved the gleaming blade in his hand.

Lu Li curled his lip, his face full of the disgust one reserved for garbage. He only regretted that his learning was too shallow for him to compose a poem expressing his overwhelming desire to strangle Long Yang.

You dead gay, who are you putting on this show for?!

Blech—just thinking about it made him want to puke.

Lu Li truly wanted to jump out and shout, "I'm a man!"

But in order to conceal his identity, he couldn't do that.

Meanwhile, Zou Bufan swiftly forged the dagger and was about to submit the finished product, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

Some cried out in alarm.

"Damn, that was fast! He's already finished? As expected of Young Master Zhongyou—his forging techniques are so skilled that just watching from the side makes one's blood boil!"

Others were utterly pessimistic.

"Sigh, we're destined to be no match for them. What's even left to say? We might as well hand them the Earth-grade Pincersmith seal directly. How can the gap between people be this huge?"