Gift (Part 2)

Before he knew it, two hours had passed.

After finishing dinner and waiting for Qian Chaoguang for a long time without him coming, Huo Yutong gently opened the door to the Forging Room.

That wondrous rhythm, those hammering sounds like a symphony, shook her heart.

In Huo Yutong's senses, Qian Chaoguang seemed to have become one with that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron, like the closest of friends who could tell each other anything.

She did not disturb him. She knew very well that forging required absolute focus.

Huo Yutong quietly closed the door and simply stood behind her brother, watching in silence.

Two and a half hours had passed, and for the first time, Qian Chaoguang's complexion changed from rosy to pale. For him, someone brimming with vital energy, that was practically unbelievable.

His Soul Power Level was simply too low.

The little soul power in his body had long since been exhausted. For nearly the last hour, he had been forcing himself to keep going by consuming Bloodline Power.

A will as hard as iron made Qian Chaoguang grit his teeth and endure.

If he missed this chance, who knew when he would be able to touch the threshold of thousand refining again?

That feeling from somewhere beyond told him he was about to succeed.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Just as his body was already swaying on the verge of collapse...

Suddenly, when the Forging Hammer touched it for the last time, that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron trembled.

Immediately after, a streak of cyan light abruptly broke through the furnace fire's blockade and was reflected throughout the entire Forging Room.

The last stretch of a journey was the hardest. Qian Chaoguang drew in his final breath, brought both hammers down at once, and smashed them fiercely onto that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron.

The pair of Forging Hammers made from composite metal completely exploded into a pile of fragments at that moment, disintegrating in midair.

Whoosh!

The flames gradually weakened, and the cyan light grew even wilder.

Qian Chaoguang casually snatched up a shard from the ground and, amid Huo Yutong's startled cry, cut open his own wrist.

A gush of fresh blood sprayed out, landing precisely on that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron.

"Brother! What are you doing!"

Huo Yutong hurriedly took medicine out of her Storage Ring, wanting to bandage Qian Chaoguang.

"Don't panic. I'm fine."

Qian Chaoguang slightly circulated his breath, and the blood gushing from his wrist immediately showed signs of stopping.

The fresh blood scattered onto the Lapis Lazuli Iron, evaporating with hissing sounds as mist curled around it.

The firelight died down, and the blue color swiftly receded, revealing the metal's original appearance.

The Lapis Lazuli Iron, originally dark bluish-green, was now as emerald green as jade.

On its body, there was now an extra layer of fine hammer marks, stacked upon one another like the waves of the sea.

Qian Chaoguang smiled. He had succeeded!

Wave after wave of intense weakness surged over him like a flood, making him plop down onto the ground.

Only then did Huo Yutong hurry forward, using gauze and medicine to wrap several layers around his wrist and bandage it.

"Brother, what exactly were you doing?"

Qian Chaoguang forced out a smile with effort, supported himself on the table beside him, and barely stood up.

"This is the Spirit Forging method I've been pursuing all this time. Thanks to you, I finally succeeded today! Xiao Tong, look. I've named it Thousand Refined Metal."

He held that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron in his hand. It felt incomparably warm and smooth.

The cyan light came into contact with his palm and immediately sank inward, turning into a dark bluish-green like black jade.

Huo Yutong widened her eyes. Two yellow Spirit Rings appeared beneath her feet, and she gently stroked the surface with her hand.

The sensation that came back did not feel like metal at all.

"Why do I feel like it has emotions?"

Qian Chaoguang explained, "Of course. That's because it has already given birth to a faint spirit. Thousand refining is the process of a blacksmith communicating with metal. When that communication reaches its limit, that emotion is sublimated, transforming from quantitative change into qualitative change. Right now, it seems to have produced some sort of special effect, but that still needs to be explored."

This rare metal called Lapis Lazuli Iron had never appeared in the original work, so Qian Chaoguang also did not know what kind of sublimated effect would appear after it completed thousand refining.

He only knew that the first metal one thousand refined would gain a decent special effect after undergoing a Blood Sacrifice, roughly the same idea as a Beginner Guarantee.

Listening to her brother's endless explanation, Huo Yutong looked thoughtfully at that piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron. Then, under Qian Chaoguang's stunned gaze, she snatched it away and placed it on the storage rack to the side.

"No matter what, go eat first! It's already dark! Bad brother, the fish I carefully grilled for you has gone cold!"

"It's my fault, it's all my fault..."

Unable to win against her, Qian Chaoguang raised both hands in surrender, and Huo Yutong pushed him out of the Forging Room while he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

After eating, Huo Yutong went to cultivate, while Qian Chaoguang returned to the Forging Room.

The fully cooled Lapis Lazuli Iron had completely turned matte, deep and restrained.

When Qian Chaoguang held it in his hand and toyed with it, he could actually feel a strange sensation as if their flesh and blood were connected, as though it had always been a part of his own body.

The corners of his mouth curved up slightly.

Completing Thousand Refinement at ten years old—his talent in forging could hardly be called low, right?

Although he had done it a year later than Tang Wulin in the original work, he had no teacher guiding him and had relied entirely on his own exploration and understanding.

If not for the exceptionally high quality of the Mental Power cultivated through the Spirit Connection Art, who knew how much longer he might have been stuck before Thousand Refinement.

As the saying went: everything was hardest at the beginning.

Now that he had completed this Thousand Refinement, forging other metals in the future would be much simpler.

Qian Chaoguang placed this piece of Lapis Lazuli Iron over the furnace's outlet and gently stroked it, as if touching his lover's face.

"Now then, let me see exactly what special effect you've sublimated."

Over the next few days, Qian Chaoguang immersed himself completely in forging, and every day Huo Yutong could hear the clanging sounds coming from the Forging Room.

The sense of accomplishment from completing Thousand Refinement for the first time had ignited endless motivation in him.

Five days later, after exhausting every last bit of effort, Qian Chaoguang finally forged the birthday gift Huo Yutong had given him into a pair of Forging Hammers.

From the outside, this pair of Lapis Lazuli Iron Forging Hammers looked as if they had been carved entirely from fine black jade.

If one leaned in and observed carefully, it also seemed as though a faint spiritual light flickered within them, making them appear profoundly mystical.

Only now could Qian Chaoguang truly be considered to have completed his first Thousand Refinement work.

"Let's begin."

On the anvil, a piece of metal that was orange-yellow all over had already been heated to a temperature suitable for forging.

Qian Chaoguang took a deep breath and gripped the two Lapis Lazuli Hammers tightly.

The instant the hammer handles touched his hands, he immediately felt the Soul Power and Bloodline Power within his body surge forth, establishing a connection with the pair of Forging Hammers.

In his hands, the twin hammers clearly became somewhat lighter, and he lifted them steadily.

However, what he had not expected was that the moment he infused Soul Power into the hammers, something unexpected happened.

An ice-blue radiance wrapped around the hammerheads, forming a layer of Light Membrane on the outside.

Thanks to the three bosses, Tea Heavenly Emperor, Shimie i Anye Shang, and Osiris Obelisk, for their rewards.