The Forty-Ninth Hammer

Penetrating Force...

Only true masters could see that the hammer strike, seemingly clumsy, had actually condensed the strength of his entire body into a single point, without the slightest leakage. The force pierced through the surface and exploded directly inside the iron ore!

This was destructive power, but it could also thoroughly remove the impurities from Profound Iron, from the inside out.

Ye Xingchen turned a deaf ear to the ridicule around him.

As the first hammer fell, the rebounding force traveled along the handle and into his arm.

A familiar sensation.

It was like the torrent of a waterfall crashing against his body.

There was no need to think. His body reacted on instinct.

His waist and abdomen twisted, borrowing that rebounding force as his body traced a semicircle where he stood. The massive hammer in his hand rose again with the motion.

This time, it was a fraction faster than before.

"You're still going to hammer it? Stop making a fool of yourself!" Zhao Kai mocked loudly.

The corners of Ye Xingchen's lips curved up slightly, revealing a flash of pale teeth.

"Too noisy."

The second hammer came crashing down!

Clang!

The third hammer followed close behind.

Ye Xingchen's movements were not fast; they could even be called slow. Yet every turn he made, every rhythm of his muscles, contained not the slightest wasted effort.

Borrowing force, storing force, unleashing force.

That eight-hundred-pound black iron sledgehammer seemed to lose all its weight in his hands, becoming a light conductor's baton.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The fourth hammer, the fifth hammer, the sixth hammer...

Zhao Kai, who had been laughing moments ago, had his laughter forcibly strangled in his throat as though by an invisible hand.

Because he discovered that the originally dull hammering sounds had changed.

They grew louder and crisper, even carrying a hint of the rhythmic resonance of clashing metal.

"This rhythm..." The cruel grin on Li Gui's face gradually froze, a bead of cold sweat seeping down his temple. "No, something's wrong. How are this brat's movements so smooth?"

Experts watched the technique.

Li Gui might have had poor character, but his attainments in artifact refinement were genuine. To his horror, he realized that every one of Ye Xingchen's strikes landed precisely upon the lingering vibration node of the last. Not only did the power not diminish, it rolled like a snowball, growing greater and greater!

Eighteen hammers!

Ye Xingchen's expression remained calm, and he even felt like laughing.

Compared to the waterfall at Black Dragon Pool, with its crushing thousand-ton pressure, this eight-hundred-pound hammer was light enough to be a joke.

The blood and qi within him surged, and his bones rejoiced. That power which had been suppressed for so long had finally found an outlet!

Whoosh—

The wind rose.

The flames within the Artifact Refining Hall seemed drawn by some force and began to sway wildly.

"Twenty-four hammers..." A disciple counted aloud without thinking, his voice dry with disbelief. "He... he hasn't stopped?!"

Twenty-nine, thirty!

Li Gui's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Thirty hammers was his limit, and the foundation of his pride. Yet when Ye Xingchen, wielding an eight-hundred-pound hammer, swung his thirtieth strike, there was not the slightest sign of exhaustion.

He was even accelerating!

"That's impossible! Did he take a Mighty Pill?!" Zhao Kai shrieked, utterly unable to accept the reality before him.

Yet no one paid him any attention.

Everyone's gaze was firmly seized by that whirlwind-like figure.

Thirty-six hammers!

That had once been Ye Xingchen's limit, the limit for which everyone had mocked him for "destroying both arms."

This time, there was no sound of bones cracking, no blood bursting forth.

There was only the howl of an even more violent wind!

Ye Xingchen's eyes shone frighteningly bright. His divine sense spread over the deformed crude iron ore like spilled mercury. In his perception, the textures within the ore were clearly visible. Under the terrifying vibrating force, those impurities were gradually squeezed out, crushed, and expelled!

This is... what control feels like.

Ye Xingchen muttered inwardly, a wild and arrogant curve lifting at his lips.

Forty hammers!

Boom!

The waves of air rolled out, whipping the robes of the surrounding disciples until they snapped loudly.

The crude iron ore, once black and dull, had now completely shed its mortal shell and transformed into a sword blank that was scarlet throughout and crystal clear. The sheen flowing across it was purer even than the carefully selected red copper Li Gui had used!

"Heavens... was that purification of raw ore?!"

"This purity... it has to be over ninety-five percent, right?!"

Cries of shock rose one after another, as if the entire place had become a boiling cauldron.

Elder Mo had already risen to his feet, his body leaning forward and his eyes filled with fervor. "Chaotic Cloak... the second realm! This boy... this boy reached it so quickly!"

Forty-eight hammers!

Ye Xingchen felt every muscle in his body tense to the limit. The spiritual power within him had been squeezed dry, yet his mind was more exhilarated than ever before.

The final strike!

"Become one!"

Ye Xingchen roared inwardly. His dragon-like spine gave a fierce shake, and the strength of his entire body gathered instantly at his waist and abdomen before traveling through his arms to the hammerhead.

At that moment, man and hammer became one!

BOOM!!!

The forty-ninth hammer fell!

This tremendous sound was no longer a simple hammer strike, but the roar of a dragon that pierced the clouds and split stone!

Clang------!

The terrifying sound wave swept across the entire hall in an instant, making the eardrums of many low-cultivation disciples ache as they covered their ears and crouched down.

The hard blackstone floor of the Artifact Refining Hall actually cracked, with the forging platform at its center, sending several fine fissures spreading outward!

A dazzling pillar of azure light shot into the sky from the forging platform, driving straight toward the ceiling!

The lingering echoes reverberated in the air, humming without end.

Ye Xingchen maintained his hammer-swinging posture, his chest heaving violently as sweat dripped from his chin and hissed upon the scorching forging platform.

He slowly lowered the hammer. Without even looking at it, he directly picked up the sword blank radiating terrifying heat with iron tongs and threw it into the quenching pool beside him.

Hiss—!

White mist rose and instantly enveloped the entire corner.

When the white mist dispersed, a longsword with a chilling gleam lay quietly in Ye Xingchen's hand.

Its blade was long and slender, its entire body a deep jade-blue, like a bottomless cold pool. Faint cloud patterns flowed over its edge, and with the slightest shake, muted sounds of wind and thunder could be heard.

It needed no appraisal. Its appearance alone was enough to crush Li Gui's so-called "mid-grade" weapon.

Ye Xingchen casually twirled the sword, its tip pointing directly at the already dumbstruck Li Gui.

"Want to appraise it?"

His voice was hoarse, yet it carried a chilling coldness that made hearts tremble.

A steward responsible for appraisals looked horrified. He stepped forward, swallowed hard, and lightly flicked the sword blade with a finger.

Hum—!

The clear sword cry lingered without fading, like a crane's call across the nine heavens.

The steward's eyes flew wide as he shouted, "Impurity removal rate... ninety-nine percent! Perfect structure! Spiritual resonance born naturally!"

He abruptly turned toward Elder Mo, his voice trembling. "Elder, this... this is a Yellow Tier high-grade weapon! No! This quality... is infinitely close to the Black Tier!"

Boom!

Those words were like a massive bomb, completely detonating the hall.

"Black... Black Tier?!"

"He refined a Quasi-Profound Rank spiritual weapon from a discarded piece of crude iron ore?! Did I hear that right?!"

"How... how did he do it?!"

The iron tongs in Li Gui's hand fell to the ground with a clatter. He looked at the Azure Cloud Sword in Ye Xingchen's hand, flowing with radiant light, then at the work he had been so proud of. His face felt as though it were burning.

How could the light of a firefly dare contend with the brilliance of the bright moon?

Ye Xingchen ignored the looks around him. He merely stared at Li Gui indifferently and extended his still delicate, fair hand.

Palm upward.

"Three Blood-Coagulating Pills."