Yan Haobo and the others surrounded Ou Yangming to please him in every possible way. Ou Yangming naturally knew their motives, they wanted to ask for a piece of decent equipment. That said, unless it was necessary, it was impossible for him to smith divine weapons or sharp tools for them just because they were flattering him.

Suddenly, a noise was heard outside all of a sudden, and the crowd moved aside for Liu Zhengye to enter the barrack.

He smiled at Ou Yangming. "Master Ou, you're here. The general is looking for you, come with me!"

Ou Yangming responded to him, then stood up and left with him. He could not help but lament.

Just a month ago, Liu Zhengye addressed Ou Yangming as a young fellow, like Chen Yifan and Old Craftsman did, but this time, he was calling him a master.

It seemed like the only way to gain someone else's respect was to become more powerful. Only when he became powerful enough to not be neglected, would he receive his well-deserved treatment.

They arrived at the general's residence after a brief moment.

Chen Yifan's eyes glowed when he saw Ou Yangming, and he smiled. "Ou Yangming, you really became famous this time!"

Ou Yangming laughed embarrassedly. "General, you're overpraising me. I only smithed some pieces of equipment for them, it was the brave soldiers who used them."

Chen Yifan nodded and responded, "It's great that you think that way, but Yu Hailiang from the South Camp and Jiang Chengwei from the Middle Camp admire you so much that they insisted on granting you the most credits. In the end, General Deng made the decision and approved it."

Ou Yangming obviously knew that General Deng was the Middle Camp's commanding general, and was also the real commander-in-chief of the military camp. Since the general had made his decision, it would be pointless for the other people to object.

"General Chen granted you a thousand credits, are you satisfied?" Chen Yifan informed.

"Thank you, general!" Ou Yangming's eyes lit up.

"You should thank General Deng, not me," Chen Yifan waved his hand and replied to him, then continued after a short pause, "Actually, since you refined explosive arrows, which were used to defeat the enemy, it's reasonable that you're given the most credits."

Ou Yangming smiled brightly as it was a delightful surprise that he was given credits.

Chen Yifan suddenly changed the topic. "I heard that you'll be challenging Master Ni in smithing art?"

"Yes," Ou Yangming nodded and answered.

"Master Ni is a reputable Spiritual Fire Smithing Master from the prefecture, whereas you've only controlled the Military Fire for a few years, so how can you compare with him? Aren't you overestimating yourself?" Chen Yifan remarked.

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. "General, although Master Ni has learned smithing techniques for a long time, it doesn't necessarily mean that he'll defeat me."

Chen Yifan and Liu Zhengye frowned and looked at each other.

They had actually summoned Ou Yangming to ask him to cancel his challenge against Ni Yunhong.

In actual fact, based on the short duration of time Ou Yangming had controlled the Military Fire, nobody would rebuke him even if he withdrew from the challenge. This was because everyone knew that smithing art could not be grasped overnight.

However, Ou Yangming had just been given the most credits for slaughtering a half-spirit beast, and he had gained a high reputation as a result.

The fact that Ni Yunhong agreed to the challenge at this moment showed that he had other motives.

"Ah, Master Ou, do you know that our general isn't really on good terms with General Tian from the East Camp?" Liu Zhengye cleared his throat and asked.

Ou Yangming replied to him without any hesitation, "I've heard that."

"Okay, I'll be honest with you then. Master Ni's a smithing expert, invited by General Tian from the prefecture with the intention of going against Old Craftsman. Now that you've suddenly become famous, he's making a move on you instead," Liu Zhengye nodded and explained, then added after pausing for a while, "It'll be great if you win the challenge, but if you lose, our general's reputation will be ruined!"

Chen Yifan waved his hand and expressed, "It's fine if it's my reputation, but I'm afraid that people will criticize Old Craftsman, saying that his smithing art is not that great after all. If that's the case, Ni Yunhong can easily take advantage of the situation by challenging Old Craftsman. Heh, it's true that the old man is skillful, but he has aged, so he might not be able to take it!"

Ou Yangming had a serious look on his face. The thought had not crossed his mind.

He clenched his fists together, and was determined to not make any mistake during the challenge.

"Master Ou, you can actually turn down the challenge with the excuse that you've only used the Military Fire for a short span of time," Liu Zhengye suggested with a smile, then assured seriously, "I guarantee that nobody will rebuke or belittle you."

Ou Yangming was stunned as he had just understood what they meant.

He pondered for a while, then suddenly asked, "General, what's the spiritual fire?"

Chen Yifan answered after some thought, "Powerful blacksmiths are either bestowed with the Military Fire by the imperial family, or inherit the spiritual fire passed down through their family's clan. Ni Yunhong's a genius from the Ni family. He has a noble background, and extraordinary talent, so he's definitely not someone whom you can fight against."

He exaggerated Ni Yunhong's strength as much as possible to persuade Ou Yangming to retreat.

Despite that, Ou Yangming smiled instead and reassured, "General, I've defeated him once, I'll defeat him again. Don't worry, he's definitely going to lose!"

"What? You've defeated him before?" Chen Yifan asked as he was shocked.

Ou Yangming chuckled. "General, you know of the military camp's night battle, am I right?"

Chen Yinfan and Liu Zhengye looked at him and mumbled at the same time, "The fop and the masked man…"

Ou Yangming giggled. "Yes, it was Ni Yunhong and me."

"Ni Yunhong's very knowledgeable because of his family, so it's not surprising that he defeated Yan Chengcai and the others, but as for you…" Chen Yifan frowned and scanned Ou Yangming from head to toe, then exclaimed, "Good fella, what… What class are you at now?"

Ou Yangming answered proudly, "Force Grade Class Four."

He was only at Force Grade Class Three before he entered the dense forest, but advanced by leaps and bounds after absorbing the half-spirit beast's flesh and blood. Not only did Ou Yangming achieve Force Grade Class Four, but he was also close to the peak as he almost entered Class Five.

"Force Grade Class Four, Force Grade Class Four!" Chen Yinfan repeated and clearly looked frightened.

He was not the only one who reacted that way because Liu Zhengye was equally terrified too.

Chen Yifan and Liu Zhengye had seen Ou Yangming when he first began practicing martial arts. Back then, Ou Yangming was like a blank sheet, and Chen Yifan even had to teach him the martial-art squat. They knew that the young fellow was abundant in Qi and blood, had potential in martial arts, and cultivated his way to Force Grade Class One in the speed of light. All of which had truly surprised them.

But Force Grade Class Four…

How long had it been? If a finger represented a month, the duration could be counted without using all five fingers on one hand.

Nonetheless, given that short span of time, a young fellow, who had just begun practicing martial arts, had already cultivated to Force Grade Class Four.

Chen Yinfan shouted with a fierce look, "Zhengye!"

Liu Zhengye understood him right away as he had served the general for years, hence he warned, "Master Ou, be careful." Before his voice had died down, he had already taken a step forward to charge at Ou Yangming.

He swung his palm to attack Ou Yangming's face directly.

Ou Yangming heard whistles from the wind, and felt a surging force that approached him like a sharp blade, causing him to feel pain.

It was a strong power. A power that was so strong that it was impossible for him to defend against.

Even so, Ou Yangming squinted his eyes and emitted through the gaps rays of light that caused one to palpitate with fear.

Following that, he swayed his body as though he was falling to his left, and the fist wind and force missed him.

"Eh?" Liu Zhengye expressed dumbfoundedly, and felt extremely flustered when Ou Yangming shifted. He could have very well taken out his opponent with one hit, but it was as if his opponent had moved to the side, where he could not reach, and his punch missed as a result. Moreover, based on where Liu Zhengye was standing at that moment, he needed to put in a lot of effort to change his fist force halfway.

Nevertheless, there was a huge disparity between Liu Zhengye and Ou Yangming's strengths. Thus, Liu Zhengye halted and forced himself to turn around.

Just as Liu Zhengye turned around, he noticed through the corner of his eye that a familiar figure had appeared behind him.

'When did that fella get behind me?' Liu Zhengye instantly broke out in a cold sweat, then kicked backward without any hesitation. However, he did not manage to kick anything as he felt like he had kicked the air instead, which caused him to lose balance.

Liu Zhengye shouted and found his footing, but before he gained a firm foothold, a leg took the opportunity to kick his ankle.

If Liu Zhengye was in a martial-art squat, or was prepared for this, he would not be easily shaken even if Ou Yangming kicked with full force.

Since Liu Zhengye had just turned around and missed a kick, his body was unstable, hence he lost balance and fell to the ground after being kicked. That being said, Liu Zhengye reacted very quickly by supporting his body with his hand before he hit the ground, and did a backflip to get back up again.

The exchange of blows happened in a flash. Instead of using techniques, both sides simply attacked spontaneously.

Nonetheless, Liu Zhengye, whose cultivation base was already at the peak of Yin Grade, had not defeated Ou Yangming yet. On top of that, it was evident from his reddened face that he had even suffered a small loss.

It was worth noting that the gap between Force Grade Class Four and Yin Grade Class Five was more than one grade.

When Liu Zhengye suddenly turned around, he no longer looked like he was underestimating Ou Yangming. Instead, he stared at Ou Yangming seriously as if he was a wild beast that was ready to devour its prey, and released an extremely threatening aura.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming simply stood in front of Liu Zhengye, and his body was so light that it seemed weightless. Additionally, he completely disregarded Liu Zhengye's fearsome aura.

After all, Ou Yangming had encountered a half-spirit beast at a close range. Even though the beast was dead, its mightiness was nothing Liu Zhengye could compare to.