Chapter 787: Fight For A Spot
Master Kurong settled down on a mountain behind the 10,000 Beasts King Sect. He would wake up every morning to look at the sea of mists below the mountain while he counted the days for Yu Xiuming—his beloved disciple—to arrive.
The Beast King Sect was considered one of the best earthly paradises in Danzhou. It was surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it was abundant in spiritual Qi, hence Master Kurong had a comfortable stay.
Nonetheless, he liked the roughly 5-kilometers-long river on his mountain the most. Whenever he had time, he would stare at the huge river as though he was spellbound. It was worth noting that the river was about 0.3 kilometers wide and stretched 5 kilometers to the east like a swimming water dragon.
When the Sun rose every day, the surging water in the river would stir the mists on its surface such that they would disperse outward and drift obscurely between the mountains. By looking from a distance away, the clouds and mists that lingered between the Beast King Sect’s mountains made it look like one had entered a wonderland.
On this day, a loud chime was heard coming from the distance. Master Kurong’s eyes lit up, and he quickly flashed down to a giant square at the foot of the main mountain.
By then, the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One, Yuqi the Venerable One, and the old macaque had arrived. They were looking into the distance as they quietly waited.
All of a sudden, a piercing sound was heard. When everyone looked, they saw a white stream of light approaching swiftly. It was a silver flying carpet.
Before long, the flying carpet was clearer to see, so the others could identify the 2 figures that were sitting with their legs crossed on it.
They were Tiandao the Venerable One, who had left and returned, and Yu Xiuming, who was Master Kurong’s last disciple.
Many disciples from the Beast King Sect looked up from the square. During this period, there was news that the person that would participate in the Big Smithing Competition between Danzhou and Zhangzhou would no longer be appointed by Mount Wuzhi but would be decided through competition. One of the candidates was Master Ou Yangming, who represented the Beast King Sect, thus the other disciples waited at the square as they wanted to witness the grand event.
In the square, Ou Yangming, who had followed the chime here, fixed his gaze on the fast silver flying carpet in the sky and glanced at the grey-clothed middle-aged man.
His eyes gleamed as he knew that was Master Kurong’s last disciple, who was a smithing genius.
He breathed out and thought, ‘Let’s see who’s the greatest smithing genius in Danzhou.’
The luster in his eyes grew brighter, and a mountainous momentum burst out from his body. At this point, his rather thin body seemed to be towering. Regardless of the difficulties and hardships that were going to be in the young fellow’s way, he would break through them without any hesitation.
“The Big Smithing Competition is held once every 3 decades. For the past century, other than the people from Mount Wuzhi, no outside has taken part in it. If Master Ou’s able to get the slot, the monopolization will be over.”
“It’ll be tough. After all, Master Kurong’s not only the greatest human powerhouse, but he’s also a Grandmaster in smithing art. Given that that person was taken in as his last disciple, how could he be insignificant?” A long-robed young man analyzed after some time.
“Hmph, even so, is Master Ou insignificant? He can refine even flying carpets, so what can he not do?” An Intermediate Spiritualist scoffed and refuted.
While the Beast King Sect’s disciples discussed with one another, Tiandao the Venerable One and Yu Xiuming jumped down from the flying carpet.
Tiandao the Venerable One later rolled his sleeve and kept the carpet.
He walked over to Master Kurong and greeted him with respect, “Greetings, Martial Uncle!”
Yu Xiuming also paced toward the master and bowed solemnly. “Greetings, Master.”
Master Kurong looked amiably at Tiandao the Venerable One and said, “Let’s drop the formalities.”
Afterward, he looked at Yu Xiuming and noted, “I took you in when you were younger, and you’ve been concentrating on studying smithing art since. 30 years passed just like that—it’s time to test you now.”
Rarely enough, Master Kurong looked like he was reminiscing about the old days. He was fond of Yu Xiuming from the bottom of his heart. One of the reasons was the man’s natural gift but most importantly, it was his temperament. Yu Xiuming had also kept in mind that diligence could make up for one’s lack of talent, and he was as graceful as jade. It was true that deep down he was arrogant but which God-favored one was not proud?
Yu Xiuming was clothed in grey, but it had been washed such that it had turned whitish. He replied to the master earnestly, “Being able to become your last disciple is my greatest blessing, Master.”
Master Kurong shook his head. His wrinkles were all squeezed together as he looked at the old macaque, who was next to him, and suggested, “Old Macaque, he’s here. Let’s let them compete for 3 rounds, what do you think?” Among the figures that were present, the old macaque was the only one with the same seniority as him. As such, he sought the macaque’s opinion, which was a respectful gesture toward the 10,000 Beasts Sect.
The old macaque tapped its finger on its chair and grinned. “Master Kurong, you’re a Grandmaster yourself, so you can make the call.”
“Okay, since you say that, I’ll take advantage of my old age this time.” Master Kurong then looked away from the old macaque.
He stood up from his chair and looked at Yu Xiuming and Ou Yangming with bright eyes as he stated in a deep voice, “The Big Smithing Competition that’s held once every 3 decades isn’t child’s play, so we must have a contest to see which one of you is better. You’ll be competing for 3 rounds, and the winner will get the slot to represent Danzhou in the competition.” His muffled voice sounded like a clap of thunder and stirred up the mists on the mountain.
With a flash of thought, 4 sets of ordinary materials flew out from his interspatial bag. They were piled up at the center of the square.
Seeing as everyone was puzzled, Master Kurong explained, “For the first round, you’ll be tested for your basics. A real smithing master is one that can smith a fine piece of equipment with excellent properties using ordinary materials! Mm, without further ado, you may begin now. There’s a 15-minutes time limit, where you’ll be considered to have admitted defeat if you’re still not done by then.” Following that, he lifted his right hand and pushed forward with force. An incense burner grew with the wind and landed from the sky, then black and red sandalwoods released purple smoke that rose into the sky.
“Hiss, hiss!”
A disciple from the Beast King Sect gasped and pointed at the materials in the square in disbelief. “Those materials are the most commonly seen in the Spiritual Realm. Isn’t it already pretty good for a normal blacksmith to smith an ordinary magic tool using them?”
“Of course, it’ll be pretty good if one can smith an ordinary magic tool, but don’t forget that those two figures represent the highest standard of the younger generation in Danzhou. Do you think that they can be judged conventionally?”
“The younger generation?” The long-robed man had a strange look on his face. He lowered his voice on purpose and said, “Yu Xiuran’s in his forties, isn’t he? As for Master Ou…” Before he even finished, everyone else knew what he meant. Master Ou was much younger than Yu Xiuming, who had been immersed in this field for 30 years, so he was less stable and would be at a disadvantage. After all, equipment smithing was a painstaking skill, by which one could not achieve much without practicing for a long time.
Yuqi the Venerable One sat upright and asked the old macaque softly, “Elder Macaque, judging from the ordinary materials that are provided, what do you think they’ll be able to smith?”
The old macaque glared at him with strong momentum and sneered. “You’re trapping me! I won’t be fooled!” It would not anyhow make guesses because Ou Yangming was an unpredictable person.
Ou Yangming was not affected by those words at all. He looked away from the materials and thought, ‘Sure enough, they’re the most common materials in the Spiritual Realm, but the order that they’re added will surely affect the equivalent rank of the magic tool that’ll be smithed.’ Instead of smithing in a hurry, the young fellow kept making deductions in his spiritual world. He started by adding a Green Fire Ore, then a Blood Refining Ore.
‘No, no, a Green Fire Ore has an extremely low refractory point so adding it first will ruin the structure, but adding the Blood Refining Ore first will make everything lose stability.’
Numerous arrangements and combinations appeared in Ou Yangming’s mind, but he denied them one after another.
One, twice, thrice—he kept deriving using an exhaustive method. The number of feasible formulas decreased in his mind but instead of giving up, his eyes glowed brighter.
While Ou Yangming was deep in his thoughts, a white light suddenly appeared in Yu Xiuming’s hand.
Yu Xiuming’s hands acted in concert with each other, and every muscle in his body seemed to have connected. Consequently, his movements were harmonious and smooth.
He looked at Ou Yangming and scoffed. “Hmph, acting all mysterious!”
Half of the sandalwoods were burned in the blink of an eye.
At the spur of the moment, an arrogant look appeared on Yu Xiuming’s face. He began to work his fingers faster as he grunted, “Condense!”
With that, he lifted his right hand and pressed down hard. The white light in mid-air heated up, to the extent that it outshone the rays of sunlight that shone down. While looking proud, the air began to vibrate slightly with his movements, and a helmet was condensed in the white light.
Veined patterns were carved on the helmet, and they were incredibly clear as if they were carved by a knife. Yu Xiuming was certain that he would be victorious in this round.
In actuality, the man did not expect to have outdone himself in the first round. Besides, smithing pieces of equipment using ordinary materials was his expertise, to begin with, hence, he was sure that he would achieve victory in this round.
Yuqi the Venerable One nodded when he saw Yu Xiuming’s coherent and unified movements. He remarked softly, “He’s worthy of being Master Kurong’s last disciple indeed. Whether it’s his control over his fire or the detailed adjustments that he made, they’re impeccable.”
“Yes, Master Ou encountered a tough opponent this time.” The 10,000 Beasts Venerable One agreed with him.
It frowned and casually glanced at Ou Yangming, then it lamented, ‘Master Ou, half of the sandalwoods are already burned. What exactly are you waiting for? If you don’t act now, you’ll really be defeated.’
At that moment, Ou Yangming finally found the perfect formula.
An electric arc flickered in his eyes. Without any hesitation, a white light flickered from his palm, and a suction force burst out to roll up the materials on the floor into the sky. Subsequently, they were melted in a unique rhythm.
As Ou Yangming’s Heavenly Phoenix Fire burned, heat spread out in all directions.
Ou Yangming turned out to be more than twice as fast as Yu Xiuming. What more, this was only because he was holding back on purpose. It was not that he underestimated his opponent, but he was taking the opportunity to find the best temperature to melt these materials. At the end of the day, a higher temperature did not mean a better result in equipment smithing. Instead, one should be finding an equilibrium point. Anything would break easily with too much rigidity—this could be applied anywhere.
“Wow, Master Ou’s smithing speed is too fast, isn’t it!”
“Yes, I’ve heard that Master Ou’s exceptionally fast in equipment smithing, but I thought that people were exaggerating it. Now… Motherf*cker, how can this be considered fast? It’s simply rocket speed!”
The Beast King Sect’s disciples stared at Ou Yangming without blinking as they were afraid of missing any detail.