"All right, give it a try."
Mang Tian folded his arms and took a step back, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly as he waited for a good laugh.
Tang Wulin paid no attention to his expression.
The Heavy Silver was dark red throughout, fine patterns of light flowing across its surface like living metal.
Tang Wulin took a deep breath and tightened his right hand around the Clear Sky Hammer.
The first blow fell.
"Clang-!"
The hammer struck the Heavy Silver with a deep, lingering thud, utterly unlike the crisp impact of a hammer hitting an ordinary iron ingot.
The dark red surface of the Heavy Silver trembled slightly, and a layer of gray-black impurities was shaken out from within, rising to the surface.
Mang Tian's eyes flew wide open.
Tang Wulin's second blow fell.
"Clang-!"
This time, he borrowed the rebound from the first blow, making the second thirty percent heavier.
Most of the gray-black impurities on the Heavy Silver's surface were shaken off with a puff, revealing the silvery-gray metallic sheen underneath.
Mang Tian's jaw nearly hit the floor.
The third blow.
"Clang-!"
Tang Wulin's third blow fell with the combined force of the previous two. The instant the hammer touched the Heavy Silver, he turned his wrist slightly, applying an extremely subtle sideways force.
This was a technique Tang Hao had taught him, called Shaking Force, used specifically to strip away stubborn impurities inside metal.
The gray-black impurities on the Heavy Silver's surface vanished completely.
The whole ingot lay on the anvil, silvery-gray throughout and smooth as a mirror.
Mang Tian was dumbfounded.
He had been forging for twenty years and had seen geniuses and fools alike.
But refining Heavy Silver in three blows? He had never even heard of it, much less seen it.
And the rhythm, angles, and force of those three blows had clearly been practiced who knew how many times.
As the saying went, a layman watched for the spectacle, while an expert saw the skill behind it.
Every one of Tang Wulin's three blows had been executed with the utmost technique: the first broke the surface, the second shook the layer beneath, and the third stripped it away.
Each blow borrowed the force of the last, flowing like clouds and water, without a single wasted movement.
He had never seen this hammer technique before, but with his discerning eye, he could recognize its intricacies at a glance.
"Wait..." he murmured, his voice several degrees lower than usual. "Kid, are you really that talented? You're this good without anyone teaching you?"
He raised his head to look at Tang Wulin, his expression completely changed.
"And this hammer technique... it doesn't look self-taught, either. Borrowing force with each blow, one wave following another."
"All right, kid, I admit it. I misjudged you."
"Three blows to complete Hundred Refinement purification... and a high-grade result at that..."
He muttered to himself, his voice very low,
"Seven years old, with the skills of a second-rank blacksmith..."
"Seriously, kid, heaven itself is feeding you!"
Tang Wulin did not hear Mang Tian's exclamations.
He was looking down at the Heavy Silver on the anvil, his brow slightly furrowed.
In Mang Tian's eyes, this piece of Heavy Silver had already reached high-grade Hundred Refinement. Its purification was complete, and it was ready for the next stage of processing.
But in Tang Wulin's eyes, that was not the case at all.
His three blows had only shaken out the most conspicuous layer of gray-black impurities on the surface, like rubbing the dirt off a potato. He hadn't even touched what was inside.
The forging hadn't even begun!
He tightened his grip on the Clear Sky Hammer, and the fourth blow fell.
"Clang!"
The Heavy Silver gave a long ring, its silvery-gray surface trembling slightly as the fine patterns within began to flow.
Tang Wulin did not stop. The fifth blow followed immediately, then the sixth, the seventh...
Mang Tian was about to tell him to stop.
The Hundred Refinement purification was already complete. This greenhorn was forging for the first time and didn't understand a thing. He had no idea how heaven-defying those three blows had been. Mang Tian had to stop him quickly.
He opened his mouth.
Then he froze.
Thousand Refinement!
This kid was performing Thousand Refinement on the Heavy Silver?!
Thousand Refinement was a threshold for blacksmiths.
Hundred Refinement was purification and shaping on a physical level, whereas Thousand Refinement was forging on the level of intent. During the repeated hammering, a blacksmith had to infuse his Spiritual Power into the metal bit by bit and resonate with it to complete Thousand Refinement.
This process tested a blacksmith's Spiritual Power and perception of metal above all else.
For Mang Tian himself to complete a piece of Thousand Refined Heavy Silver, he needed an initial stage of at least half an hour to an hour communicating with it through intent before he could begin the actual Thousand Refinement hammering.
Tang Wulin, however, had not paused, communicated, or sensed it.
He had simply started Thousand Refinement.
"Did this kid understand the metal completely without even spending time getting to know it?" Mang Tian murmured, the beard on his chin trembling.
"How is that possible?"
Tang Wulin's hammer fell blow after blow with tremendous force, each strike carrying the distinctive might of the Clear Sky Hammer.
An authentic Clear Sky Hammer.
The authentic Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.
An hour and a half.
The Clear Sky Hammer in Tang Wulin's hand finally stopped.
The Heavy Silver on the anvil had completely changed. It was no longer the palm-sized rough ingot from before, but a piece of silvery-gray metal a third smaller than the original, with a regular shape and a flawless surface.
Most astonishing of all was its interior. Through the thin layer of silvery-gray metal on the surface, golden patterns could vaguely be seen flowing slowly within, like the meridians of a living creature.
First Grade Thousand Refinement.
Mang Tian stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly.
A blacksmith's first Thousand Refinement work was supposed to be blood-sacrificed as a lifelong keepsake and testament.
But he had long since been numbed by shock and had forgotten all about it.
In all of Aolai City, no more than five blacksmiths could complete Thousand Refinement,
and according to the continent's records, the youngest to do so had been eleven.
Tang Wulin: seven years old, first time forging, an hour and a half, First Grade Thousand Refinement.
Mang Tian murmured,
"He completed Thousand Refinement at seven, on his very first attempt at forging, and it only took him an hour and a half..."
"Heaven is chasing after him to feed him."
Tang Wulin plopped down on the floor, gasping for breath.
He withdrew the Clear Sky Hammer into his palm. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his soaked clothes clung to his body, but he was smiling.
He looked up at Mang Tian and caught his breath.
"Uncle Mang Tian, did I do an okay job purifying the Heavy Silver?"
He figured he had to be at least a half-rank blacksmith by now.
At half a rank, he ought to be able to do some simple work.
Like making tin buckets or repairing the bottoms of pots.
At least he could earn a little money to help support his family.
Mang Tian opened his mouth but could not get a word out for a long while.
"What do you mean, okay?!"
He finally roared, his voice so loud that the hammers in the shop trembled.
"It's far more than okay! Wulin, was this really your first time forging?"
Tang Wulin thought for a moment and nodded.
"I guess so."
It had indeed been his first time in reality, but in his dreams, he had lost count.
Over the course of a year, he had spent a third of his time in the forge.
And every time he finished forging and regained consciousness, his stamina instantly returned to full, and he continued practicing.
A few hours at Mang Tian's place would have been several times longer in his dreams.