As he spoke, the girl led the two of them toward one side of the hall. Soon, a metal door that was exceedingly familiar to Xu Qing appeared before them.
As the metal doors slowly slid apart, the three walked inside.
With a ding, the elevator stopped on the fifteenth floor, and the metal doors slowly slid apart.
Xu Qing and Tang Wulin looked around curiously. The walls were made entirely of silvery-white metal, while the ceiling and floor were pure white, all exceptionally clean and tidy.
A long corridor stretched ahead of them, with doors lining both sides, somewhat resembling the office buildings Xu Qing had seen in his previous life.
The girl led them to one side, stopped before a door bearing Cen Yue's nameplate, and pressed the doorbell.
"Grandmaster Cen, I've brought the two children."
A deep voice soon came from inside. "Come in."
The door opened in response.
The room was around thirty square meters, with a broad desk occupying almost a quarter of the space.
Behind the desk stood a burly, middle-aged man in his forties, his head lowered as he studied the drawings on the desk.
The girl led the two into the office.
She bowed respectfully and said, "Grandmaster Cen, I'll take my leave."
Cen Yue looked up and nodded slightly.
Seeing this, the girl withdrew, leaving only Cen Yue, Tang Wulin, and Xu Qing in the room.
Cen Yue's gaze settled on the two. After looking them up and down, he asked, "You two are that fellow Mang Tian's new disciples?"
Tang Wulin nodded and answered, "Yes, Grandmaster Cen. Our teacher asked us to come to you for a rank assessment. He also asked us to pass on his regards."
Cen Yue gave a soft snort. "That fellow Mang Tian has always had his eyes above his head, yet he actually took in two disciples this young. Forget it. I can't be bothered with his business. Come on, I'll take you to the blacksmith rank assessment first."
Afterward, Cen Yue led the two out the door and over to the soul elevator.
As the elevator reached the third floor, the clanging of forging rang out all around them, one sound rising after another.
Stepping out of the elevator and listening to the surrounding sounds, Xu Qing could not help marveling inwardly. The soundproofing really was good.
Cen Yue led Xu Qing and Tang Wulin to the reception desk and told the staff member, "Arrange two testing rooms and ask two assessors to come over."
"These two aren't your sons, are they?" The staff member's eyes filled with surprise as his gaze moved back and forth between the two children.
"My sons? You've got too much time on your hands. Do you want your pay docked?"
"Don't, brother-in-law! I was only joking!"
"Enough nonsense! Hurry up!"
"I'm on it!"
Cen Yue took two forms and handed them to Xu Qing and Tang Wulin. "Fill these out first. Write your basic information clearly."
"All right."
The two took the forms and lowered their heads, filling them out carefully. Before long, they handed them back, and the staff member quickly completed their registration.
"Brother-in-law, testing rooms three and four are ready."
Cen Yue nodded.
Of the two assessors who arrived, one was a middle-aged woman, while the other was a middle-aged man with a composed expression.
The female assessor took charge of room three to assess Tang Wulin, while the male assessor led Xu Qing into testing room four.
Inside forging room three, the proceedings unfolded exactly as they had in the original story.
As for Cen Yue, he went to the observation windows of the two testing rooms to watch. In all honesty, he was quite curious about how skilled that fellow's disciples could be.
Tang Wulin surveyed the various metals on the racks before finally choosing Deep Silver. He set the heavy metal block steadily into the forging table and began heating it at a high temperature.
At this sight, a trace of surprise flashed through the female assessor's eyes.
After all, such a large piece of Deep Silver weighed a considerable amount. An ordinary person really could not have lifted it.
Meanwhile,
Xu Qing chose a rare type of Cubic Copper. The metal was a perfectly square copper block, with excellent ductility and outstanding Soul Power conductivity.
The male assessor said, "You have one hour. Purify this piece of Cubic Copper as much as possible within the time limit. We'll score you based on the type of metal and the results of its purification. Sixty points qualifies you as a first-rank blacksmith."
"Understood." Xu Qing nodded slightly.
After the command, "Begin," rang out.
Xu Qing placed the Cubic Copper on the forging table and skillfully began heating it at a high temperature as well.
Afterward, Xu Qing waited quietly at the side.
Once the forging table reached the target temperature, Xu Qing took a deep breath, his gaze growing focused.
He raised his hand and activated the forging table, and the Cubic Copper slowly rose out.
Looking at the Cubic Copper before him, Xu Qing raised his hand and summoned a pair of Thousand Refined tungsten steel hammers.
Cubic Copper had a very peculiar composition. Once heated to a high temperature, even a slight error in controlling the force would cause its internal structure to crack, testing a blacksmith's control of strength far more than Deep Silver did.
In the next instant, Xu Qing moved!
His left hammer rose, and his right hammer fell. His right hammer rose, and his left hammer fell!
They rose and fell in alternation, so fast that only streaks of silver afterimages remained.
Every strike carried his full strength, the rhythm of the blows building layer upon layer as they continually compressed the impurities within the metal.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Heavy, continuous hammer blows exploded one after another through forging room four, their rhythm tight, with almost no pause.
Xu Qing's eyes remained firmly fixed on the Cubic Copper. His ears twitched slightly as he carefully caught the subtle vibrations fed back by the metal, constantly making minute adjustments to the placement and force of his strikes.
Beside him, the male assessor held his recording pen, its tip suspended above the paper, shaken by what he saw.
He had seen countless apprentices come for assessments, but this was his first time seeing a child of Xu Qing's age with such practiced hammer technique and such exquisite control of strength.
Cen Yue stood at the observation windows of the two testing rooms, listening to the steady, heavy, clearly measured hammer blows from room three and the rapid, unbroken thunder from room four that compressed the metal layer by layer. His face was filled with disbelief.
What?!
Were these really two nine-year-old children?
Such powerful concentration!
No, Mang Tian, you've struck it lucky. Where on earth did you find these two geniuses?
Xu Qing's twin hammers never stopped, their shadows whirling as they continued pounding the Cubic Copper.
It was as though he were performing a symphony full of soaring peaks and plunging valleys.
Under one precise strike after another, the impurities originally mixed into the Cubic Copper's surface were squeezed out bit by bit, and the metal's luster slowly grew pure and translucent.
Its volume also continued to shrink beneath the repeated hammer blows.
The male assessor unconsciously closed his eyes slightly, immersing himself in the ringing collisions of metal.
He seemed to be enjoying an incomparably beautiful piece of music.
Xu Qing was much the same. As he continued hammering, the Cubic Copper beneath his hammers seemed to cheer for him, expressing its closeness to him.
And Xu Qing was like a Western nobleman dancing gracefully with a woman at a ball.
One, da-da, two, da-da, three, da-da~ four, da-da~