The Competition Begins

Afternoon sunlight streamed through the lofty skylights of the Artifact Refining Hall, interweaving with the crimson glow of the earthfire furnaces.

Today, the Artifact Refining Hall was more than three times as crowded as usual.

Besides the hall's own disciples, quite a few idle outer sect members who loved a spectacle had come running at the news.

The most conspicuous among them were none other than Zhao Kai and his group.

"It's already quarter past three in the afternoon, and Ye Xingchen still isn't here?"

"Could he be so afraid of losing and having to kneel and call us grandpa that he packed up and fled overnight?"

"Senior Brother Zhao is right. That brat is all bark and no bite."

"I'd say he's scared out of his wits. With Senior Brother Li Gui's display, who wouldn't be left dizzy?"

At the center of the grounds, Li Gui stood with his arms folded, like an iron tower.

He had deliberately changed into a brand-new dark-red artifact refiner's outfit today, his sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms as hard as rock.

On the forging table beside him lay a personal heavy hammer forged from purple copper. A simple Force-Gathering Rune was carved into its head, flowing with an icy gleam beneath the firelight.

On the elevated platform, Elder Mo sat in the seat of honor, his eyelids half lowered, seemingly deaf to the clamor below.

Yet the stewards at his side were whispering among themselves, their expressions largely filled with dissatisfaction toward Ye Xingchen.

"No more waiting." Li Gui snorted coldly, his voice booming like a great bell. "Elder Mo, since that brat has chosen to be a turtle hiding in its shell, this match..."

"Who said I wasn't coming?"

A calm voice abruptly sliced through the noisy tide of people.

The crowd instinctively parted, opening a path.

When they saw who had come, the entire hall fell silent for an instant, only for even fiercer laughter to erupt the next moment.

Ye Xingchen strode over step by step, his long robe soaked and plastered to his body, water still dripping continuously from his hair. A clear trail of wet footprints was left behind him.

"Ha ha ha ha... Ye Xingchen, did you know your temper was too fiery, so you specially took a bath to cool yourself down?"

A trace of contempt flashed through Li Gui's eyes, and his lips curled in disdain. "What, afraid you'll lose too badly, so you jumped into a river beforehand to clear your head? If you kneel and admit defeat now, then call me grandpa, I can spare you some physical suffering."

Ye Xingchen ignored the fly-like buzzing around him.

He casually wiped the water from his face, his expression indifferent. He had spent the past three days being battered senseless beneath the waterfall, and the moment he climbed ashore, he had rushed here without stopping. Where would he have found the time to change clothes?

He walked straight to his own forging table and gave Elder Mo a slight bow. "This disciple arrived late. I ask Elder Mo's forgiveness."

Elder Mo slowly raised his eyelids.

His clouded old eyes swept over Ye Xingchen. His previously careless gaze suddenly sharpened, and then he spoke.

"Since you're here, let's begin."

"The rules remain the same. Choose your own materials. You have one hour to forge an Azure Cloud Sword. The higher-quality sword wins."

"Yes!"

Li Gui gave a savage grin and made the first move.

With one hand, he grabbed a chunk of crimson refined iron and tossed it into the furnace. The bellows howled, and flames instantly swallowed the iron block.

Once the iron had been heated until it glowed red-hot, Li Gui shouted, "Up!"

Iron tongs drew out the metal block, while the purple-copper rune hammer rose high overhead.

Clang!

The first hammer fell, scattering sparks in every direction. The sound was crisp and pleasant, like jade beads falling onto a tray.

"Good!" The knowledgeable disciples around them could not help cheering.

"Listen to that sound—the force penetrates cleanly through it, shaking out the impurities in an instant. Senior Brother Li Gui's skill has improved again!"

Li Gui's face was solemn as the sledgehammer in his hand flew up and down in an extremely rapid rhythm.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The hammer shadows merged into one, every strike landing precisely on the point of force. The red-hot iron block behaved like obedient dough in his hands, quickly stretching and changing shape.

Thirty strikes!

Li Gui delivered the final decisive blow. A faint sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead, but his breathing remained steady.

Sizzle—

The sword blank entered the water, and white mist rose.

A moment later, a longsword gleaming with cold light was lifted out. Its blade was smooth and flowing, with faint streams of azure light circulating over it. Its edge carried an especially sharp aura.

A steward stepped forward and flicked the sword blade with a finger.

Hummm—

The sword's cry rang clear and pure, its lingering notes curling through the air.

"Impurity removal rate: seventy percent. Heat was evenly controlled, and the structure is stable." The steward announced loudly, "Mid-Grade Yellow Tier! A superior work!"

Whoa!

Applause thundered through the hall.

For the standard Azure Cloud Swords commonly used by outer sect disciples, forging one at Mid-Grade Yellow Tier was already an extremely high standard.

Li Gui basked in everyone's cheers and cast a provocative look at Ye Xingchen. "Brat, it's your turn. Don't say I'm bullying you. If you can forge even a Low-Grade Yellow Tier sword, I'll count it as your win."

Everyone's eyes instantly focused on Ye Xingchen.

Zhao Kai loudly egged them on even more. "Stop struggling and just admit defeat! Don't waste everyone's time!"

Ye Xingchen acted as though he had heard nothing and slowly walked to the materials rack.

He did not choose any of the fine refined iron. Instead, he casually grabbed a pitch-black chunk of crude iron ore covered in rust.

"Has he gone mad? That's unrefined raw ore!"

"Forging a sword from raw ore? That's something only second-rank artifact refiners dare do! Just removing the impurities would exhaust someone to death!"

Before the crowd could finish being astonished, Ye Xingchen made another move that left them dumbfounded.

He ignored the several exquisite refined-steel hammers on the rack beside him. Instead, he bent down and dragged a pitch-black giant hammer from the deepest corner beneath the forging table.

This was a communal sledgehammer weighing eight hundred jin. It was normally used to smash large chunks of ore and was never used for fine forging. It was too heavy, too clumsy, and lacked any rune enhancement.

"That's... a stone-crushing hammer?"

"Is this kid here to make us laugh? That's something laborers use!"

Ye Xingchen gripped the rough hammer handle with one hand and weighed it in his palm.

Too light. He sighed inwardly.

Having grown accustomed to the crushing impact of the waterfall's thousand-jin pressure, this eight-hundred-jin lump of iron felt almost weightless in his hand.

He tossed the crude iron ore into the furnace.

Unlike Li Gui, who controlled the temperature precisely, he merely stared fixedly at the color of the flames.

The instant the fire shifted from orange-red to bluish white, Ye Xingchen moved.

He gripped the iron ore with tongs and tossed it onto the forging table.

He spread his feet apart, his toes gripping the ground. His spine suddenly straightened, and his entire body became like a fully drawn bow.

"Whew..."

He exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Ye Xingchen closed his eyes, and the ceaselessly surging waterfall of Black Dragon Pool appeared in his mind.

He raised the hammer.

To the others, this movement seemed exceptionally slow, as though a child were struggling to lift an adult's weapon, trembling and unsteady, without the slightest grace.

"Pfft, look at how hard he's struggling." Zhao Kai laughed so hard tears nearly came out.

Just then, the hammer fell.

Boom!

A dull thud sounded.

The crude iron ore did not scatter sparks everywhere. Instead, as though some terrifying force had compressed it in an instant, one portion of it caved in. Its surface did not change much, yet a chain of fine, dense cracking sounds seemed to come from within.

"Ha ha ha ha! What kind of hammering technique is that? Is he playing whack-a-mole?"

"He can't even knock out a single spark. Is that force supposed to tickle the iron?"

"It's over, it's over! He can't even hold the hammer steady! I think he's about to smash that iron to ruin!"

Li Gui also sneered, completely putting his mind at ease. This technique was worse than an outsider's—it was simply an insult to the profession of artifact refining.

However.

Up on the elevated platform.

A brilliant light burst from Elder Mo's clouded old eyes as he stared fixedly at the black-iron giant hammer in Ye Xingchen's hands.

"Something's wrong..."

"That is... Penetrating Force?!"