What Can This Bone Stick Do?

"Can I borrow it to take a look?"

Before the student could finish speaking, Bai Cheng reached out and snatched the Canaan Times. He quickly flipped through a few pages, then pushed open the door and left.

"Hey, you still haven't paid me back—"

The noise from Black Grade Class Three classroom still seemed to echo in his ears as Bai Cheng returned to his dormitory with a gloomy face. He clutched the Canaan Times in his hand, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

Lin Xiuya, Yan Hao, and Han Yue —their silhouettes were somewhat blurry in the newspaper, but Bai Cheng recognized them.

"Boss, what are you spacing out for?" one of his henchmen asked, coming over.

Bai Cheng ignored him, his thoughts still focused on the words "frequent visits to the Library Pavilion," especially the possible rewards they might receive. He slammed the newspaper on the table, his voice filled with suppressed frustration. "Lin Xiuya and his gang—they got lucky and won the academy's rewards! I'm afraid I won't even make the top five in this Inner Academy assessment!"

The follower was startled by Bai Cheng's sudden outburst. "Then... what do we do?"

"What to do?" A ruthless glint flashed in Bai Cheng's eyes. He strode to his desk and pulled out a blank scroll. "The Inner Academy Examination forbids the use of elixirs. To defeat them, we can only rely on secret techniques!"

He picked up his pen and began to write rapidly on the scroll, his words urgent. "Send a message home, telling them to spare no expense to find me a secret technique that can greatly enhance my combat power! The sooner the better!"

"Boss, I have an idea!" The henchman's eyes lit up, and he pointed to the magazine featuring Huo Yuhao and his friends. "Boss, you can ask some people to spread rumors among the classmates that these guys got the rewards by using connections, which will stir up resentment among the other students."

"What's the use of this?" Bai Cheng didn't even look up, still writing furiously.

"There's no guarantee that some hotheads won't cause them trouble." The henchman leaned close to Bai Cheng's desk. "If things go well, we could even isolate them from the entire academy!"

"Boss, think about it. With all this commotion, how will they have time to cultivate seriously? Even if they have Earth Grade Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills, they probably won't achieve anything significant!"

"Hmm----" Bai Cheng stopped writing and placed the pen steadily on the table. "Alright, I'll leave this to you."

"Ah! Me?" The lackey stared blankly, his mouth agape, pointing his index finger at his own nose.

In a secluded clearing on the back hill, sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light.

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged, with several thick animal bones bearing primitive patterns scattered around him, as well as a piece of ore that emitted a faint earthy yellow glow and felt warm to the touch. Yan Hao, Han Yue, and Xiao Yi Xian stood around him, watching curiously.

Yan Hao squatted down and poked a beast bone about the thickness of a thigh bone with his finger, making a dull sound. He grinned and said, "Old Huo, you really know how to forge weapons? You're not kidding us, are you? What can you do with this bone stick?"

Han Yue frowned slightly, her cool eyes filled with confusion. "Huo Yuhao, the weapon forging I know mostly involves hammering refined steel a thousand times and then embedding a suitable Magic Core. Yours—seems a little different?"

She looked at the rough bones and ore, and simply couldn't associate them with "weapons".

"Indeed different." Huo Yuhao picked up a leg bone shaped like a hammer handle, a faint icy blue light emanating from his fingertips, and began carefully polishing the edges and burrs at the joints. "I'm refining a Spirit Artifact. Like elixirs, it's classified from first to ninth grade. Its core power isn't Magic Core, but rather the spiritual energy inherent in the material itself, and the Spirit Runes inscribed upon it."

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao took out two Spirit Artifact from his storage ring: a longsword about three feet long with a water-like luster flowing across its blade; and a short-handled, earth-yellow warhammer with an ancient design and mysterious patterns engraved on its head. These were the two Third-Grade Spirit Artifact he had previously crafted.

"Give it a try." Huo Yuhao handed the longsword and warhammer to Han Yue and Yan Hao respectively.

Han Yue took the longsword; it was very light and agile in her hand, with a warm and smooth feel. She tried to infuse it with a trace of Dou Qi, and the sword hummed and trembled slightly. The surrounding air seemed to become slightly more humid, and water-attribute energy spontaneously gathered, condensing into tiny droplets of dew on the sword.

A hint of surprise flashed in Han Yue's beautiful eyes. "Completely different from Magic Core! It can actually draw upon the energy of heaven and earth?"

Yan Hao was even more direct. He gripped his warhammer, let out a low shout, and smashed it violently against a rock about half a person's height! He didn't use any Dou Technique, but simply poured in his Dou Qi, combined with his physical energy.

The moment the hammerhead struck the rock, the patterns on the hammer suddenly lit up with an earthy yellow light!

Boom!

With a muffled thud, the rock didn't shatter into pieces. Instead, it was as if it had been crushed by an invisible weight, its surface instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Then, the entire rock was smashed flattened by half a foot! Shards of stone tumbled down. Yan Hao felt an energy flowing into his arm from the hammer as he swung it, amplifying his power.

"Holy crap!" Yan Hao's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the hammer in his hand, then at the rock embedded in the ground. "This—it's awesome! The power has increased by at least 60%!"

Xiao Yi Xian wasn't surprised by their reactions. She casually asked, "By the way, why isn't the class monitor here?"

"It's a pity it's a bit short!" Yan Hao carefully placed the hammer on the ground, afraid of damaging it. "Old Lin is fulfilling his duties as class monitor, keeping an eye on our class's practical lesson. He should be finished soon and will be here in a bit."

Under Huo Yuhao's intervention, the monster's leg bone was transformed into a straight bone rod; the yellowish-brown ore also revealed its original form, a crystal containing a small amount of earth power.

Huo Yuhao picked up the polished leg bone and crystal, his expression focused, and covered them with both hands.

"Animal bones and crystals possess inherent spirituality, so there's no need to worry about imbuing them with spirit. However, unlike metal materials, the difficulty lies in shaping and connecting them." Huo Yuhao began his mini-lesson again.

As soon as he finished speaking, Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and joined the two pieces of material together, forming a hammer shape. Then, he simultaneously channeled his Dou Qi into the hammer. Under Huo Yuhao's control, the spirituality and energy contained in the animal bone and ore were guided by his Dou Qi, intertwining and fusing at the junction of the two materials.

At the same time, the Nine Li Ice Flame emerged from Huo Yuhao's body, emitting a clear phoenix cry. It spat out a ball of flame, evenly enveloping the junction of the two materials.

"You're planning to melt them down before connecting them?" Yan Hao felt he had discovered a problem. "Will that be sturdy? Is it reliable?"

"That's not the case." Huo Yuhao smiled slightly, handling the matter with ease, and even had time to explain to Yan Hao and the others, "I thought about it for a long time yesterday. It can't be welded like metal, or forged into an alloy."

So how exactly do you connect different materials?