Chapter 580: Power 20
‘Understood all of them, a peerless God-favored one.’
They were obviously said in a mocking tone, which was clear to everyone present.
Ou Yangming chuckled; he did not think he was being offended. After all, he knew if it was not because he possessed remarkable mental power, had the unique Military Fire, achieved the integration of Heaven and man and the thoroughly meticulous states, learned the Simulated Spiritual Fist, and so on, he could not have comprehended the essences of the 10 Layering Techniques in such a short time.
It was only normal for Bai Zhiyi to doubt him. Instead, he would be questionable if the elder easily believed him, and he would wonder if the elder knew his background already.
The young fellow had experienced such a situation countless times, hence he was already used to it.
Ou Yangming turned around and asked Fox Yi, “Brother Fox, I’d like to use the next gauntlet for an experiment. What do you think?”
Fox Yi was slightly stunned, but it immediately flashed a smile and answered, “Master Ou, please go ahead.”
As long as it could obtain a piece of Half-Silver Equipment, it would not mind wasting the materials to fawn over Ou Yangming.
A piece of Half-Silver Equipment was much more high-ranking than a Good Grade magic tool. If the spirit fox had the opportunity to acquire one, it would be willing to pay enough price for it.
Ou Yangming nodded. He picked 4 peculiar stones again, as well as the Wish-fulfilling Clay.
The eyelids of every professional present flickered. It was not unprecedented for one to smith a Good Grade magic tool using only 4 peculiar stones, but it was extremely rare. Even so, it seemed to be something normal to Ou Yangming.
Being able to smith where something fortuitous and miraculous was regarded as conventional… Did it mean that Ou Yangming was a miracle himself?
As the Military Fire burned, the ores quickly merged inside and slowly formed a gauntlet.
This was the second time this process was carried out, thus it would not be odd if a Good Grade tool was also formed. As such, everyone including Bai Zhiyi was not bothered because they were waiting for the layering step that would follow.
Before Ou Yangming learned the Layering Skills, he could adopt the most basic Layering Technique to forcibly upgrade a tool to a piece of Half-Silver Equipment. If he were to utilize the Layering Skills too, what could he achieve?
At this moment, instead of Ou Yangming, Fox Yi and the simple-minded spirit bear were the most nervous ones.
When Ou Yangming waved his hand, a Power Ore was tossed into the Military Fire.
Through Ou Yangming’s skilled movement, the Power Ore transformed into a drop of liquid with intense energy. It was evenly spread on the gauntlet, and it successfully added 1 point of Power attribute to the equipment.
Nonetheless, Bai Zhiyi and the 3 human blacksmiths furrowed their eyebrows at the same time after they saw Ou Yangming’s smithing technique.
This was because they could tell that Ou Yangming was still using the most basic and ordinary Layering Technique; he did not employ any extra skill at all.
If it was not because Ou Yangming was still smithing, they would have asked how much exactly the young fellow had apprehended…
As Ou Yangming waved his hand again, the second Power Ore flew into his Military Fire.
Bai Zhiyi and the others thought, ‘You’re going to show us something now, aren’t you?’
Who knew, Ou Yangming still used the same technique after he melted the second Power Ore.
The same thing happened for the third, the fourth, and up till the tenth Power Ore; Ou Yangming did not perform any new skills.
Bai Zhiyi’s face darkened terribly, and he cursed internally, ‘Is this the result of you understanding everything?’
He was very optimistic about Ou Yangming’s future and wanted to rope him in, but he wavered a little at this moment. ‘Given that he speaks carelessly, will it actually be a good idea to let him join our sect?’
The eleventh Power Ore still flew up and entered the Military Fire.
Next, the eyes of Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths lit up.
This was because they finally noticed something unordinary—Ou Yangming had begun to use the skills performed by Bai Zhiyi.
The 4 of them exchanged glances as if they understood Ou Yangming’s intention.
It turned out that the young fellow regarded those skills as his trump cards, which was why he persisted in using the basic Layering Technique for the first 10 layerings. When there were 10 points of the Power attribute, he started to use the secret techniques he learned.
The skills, which were far from being deemed as lost studies in official sects, were so valued by the young fellow.
At this point, everyone including Bai Zhiyi did not know to laugh or to cry.
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire flickered such that the amplitude and the speed were the same as when Bai Zhiyi attached the first Power Ore when he smithed.
“Hey?”
Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths behind him suddenly had strange feelings.
If they only looked at the dancing flames and ignored the blacksmith and the fire’s color, they would even suspect that the person layering Power attributes on the high platform was not Ou Yangming, but Bai Zhiyi.
However, how was that possible?
Ou Yangming was a young man that had only learned smithing art for 3 years. As for the time that Bai Zhiyi had spent studying smithing art, it was far more than 30 years.
The disparity between the 2 was simply unimaginable, but they could not help but relate them together when they saw the fire’s familiar flickers.
Bai Zhiyi’s face looked as weird as it could be. ‘Did this young fella really learn how they should be after only observing everything once?
As the Military Fire burned, the eleventh Power Ore was finally melted and incorporated into the gauntlet.
Ou Yangming was secretly relieved, and he smiled gladly.
Sure enough, the skills that he learned were extraordinary and could allow him to successfully achieve a new boundary in the layering of an attribute.
Back then, Ou Yangming could also layer the Power attribute to the eleventh layer, but he had forcibly added it through his Military Fire’s special ability. This time, instead of cheating with his fire, he applied a newly-learned skill to layer the Power Ore’s power to the equipment.
As expected, the skill’s effect was incredible. As long as he could successfully release it, he could go around many restrictions and upgrade the Power attributes.
Needless to say, this was also because Ou Yangming had an exceptionally strong layering foundation, which allowed him to unleash the skill’s greatest effect.
Basic layering was one’s essential Qi while the skills were one’s martial arts tricks.
Pure martial arts skills were formidable but without sufficient essential Qi as backing, they would usually become showy without substance. If one encountered tricky situations, one would be knocked down the altar and become worthless.
If one’s skills had adequate essential Qi as backing, one would unleash powers that were typically several times or even tens of times greater.
As with Ou Yangming at the moment, owing to his incredibly solid foundation, his endless potential burst out once he learned more skills.
When the twelfth Power Ore landed on Ou Yangming’s hand, the Military Fire paused slightly as its drafting range changed drastically. Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths behind him recognized at once that the burning skill was the second technique shown by the elder just now.
Each of the techniques had its difficulty, so it would certainly take more than a day for one to fully grasp and practice all of them. In fact, it would be tough for one to fathom their essences even after years of cultivation.
Having said that, it was evident through Ou Yangming’s movements that he was already able to maneuver the skills as he wished.
It seemed as though the skills had already assimilated into his bones, by which he would not forget them at any time. With a flash of thought, he could naturally release them.
Bai Zhiyi and the others could not believe the way Ou Yangming was using the skills, to the extent that they suspected he had learned them before.
If not, given that he achieved such a standard from observing the skills once without being provided any explanations, would that not mean that his natural gift was shocking?
The thirteenth, the fourteenth… The twentieth.
When the twentieth Power Ore was also tossed into the Military Fire, even Bai Zhiyi’s face took on a ghastly expression.
This time, he did not know if he should hope for Ou Yangming’s success or failure.
The 3 blacksmiths looked at each other. They were familiar with the skills because they were juniors from Bai Zhiyi’s sect, and they had come to gain more knowledge.
Nevertheless, the Ou Yangming that they were watching at the moment had clearly exceeded their understanding.
They had learned the skills when they normally practiced the Layering Art. Despite that, if they were asked to display the skills on the platform right away, they would not be able to achieve what Ou Yangming did.
This was because the young fellow had performed 20 layerings.
At this point, even if Bai Zhiyi were to smith, he would shudder with fear and would have a high failure rate.
In actuality, the elder might not have executed the Layering Art to the twentieth level even if he went all-out.
He might have shown 10 different skills in a row earlier, but the gap between the difficulty levels for the first 10 levels and the next 10 levels was far beyond an ordinary person’s imagination.
“Woosh…”
Ou Yangming shook his wrist gently. He had displayed every skill and had upgraded the equipment’s Power attribute to a limit.
Power +20
A thought suddenly crossed his mind. ‘What if I use my Military Fire’s unique ability again and increase the Power attribute to 21 points?
‘Will this gauntlet become a real piece of White Silver Equipment?’
Ou Yangming was eager to try as soon as he had the thought.
That said, when he later looked up and unintentionally glanced at Bai Zhiyi and the others, he noticed how stunned they were. That was when he knew he might have gone overboard.
After a moment of hesitation, Ou Yangming forced himself to suppress his strong urge to continue layering.
He opened his eyes and curbed his Military Fire.
[Item: Power Gauntlet (Red)]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Good Grade, Rank One]
[Attributes: Sharpness +26, Toughness +26, Power +20, Durability 25]
[Wish-fulfilling Degree: 5]