"Old Craftsman?"

Everyone else looked at each other in disbelief.

There were not many blacksmiths in Changlong County, but Master Lu was the only one who Jin Shengjie and Wu Hongxi attached importance to.

It was because they had a deep impression of Master Lu, who studied the Runes Secret Technique to upgrade inexpensive pieces of equipment on his own.

As for the other blacksmiths, even if their standards were superior, Jin Shengjie and Wu Hongxi did not pay much attention to them.

"Ah…" Jin Shengjie sighed. "There are really hidden talents in the wilderness!"

On the other hand, Wu Hongxi seemed disapproving. He laughed and remarked, "Lil' Friend Ou, you must have a deep understanding of the path of equilibrium to be able to smith five pieces of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade in the assessment."

Ou Yangming was moved. 'The path of equilibrium.'

He seemed to have comprehended something from the four words, and he looked surprised and overjoyed.

Wu Hongxi was known as the Fine Grade King because he had a knack for smithing pieces of Fine Grade equipment. In fact, he was known for having an incredibly high success rate in smithing pieces of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five.

Ou Yangming perceived something when he previously studied Master Wu's work, and the four words finally clinched the point for him.

Needless to say, this only meant that Ou Yangming figured out the key to Wu Hongxi's lost study, and it would be another thing to be able to achieve equilibrium.

The young fellow cupped his hands at Wu Hongxi and stated seriously, "It's not equilibrium that I'm adept in, but the path of layering."

"Layering?" Wu Hongxi was surprised. "Big Brother Jin, that's your expertise."

Jin Shengjie laughed. "I'm superior to you in the Layering Art, but I'm not as steady as you are; my success rate in smithing pieces of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade is far from yours."

"Big Brother Jin, you're being too polite." Wu Hongxi could not help but laugh. He asked after some thought, "Lil' Friend Ou, if it's possible, can you give your all and smith something that you've mastered?"

Tan Yangping asked in shock, "Master, are we not going to study the magic tool anymore?"

"An extra person means more help and more ideas," Wu Hongxi responded snappily. He gently tapped the casting table and said, "Lil' Friend Ou, please."

Ou Yangming chuckled. He could tell that Wu Hongxi wanted to test his smithing skills.

It turned out that the Fine Grade King did not fully believe the rumor from the assessment yesterday. Nevertheless, if Ou Yangming was in his shoes, he might not necessarily believe the absurd rumor too.

"Okay, since that's the case, I'll show off my skills, and I hope you'll give me some pointers." Ou Yangming stepped forward and rummaged through the items on the table, but he felt rather strange.

Five different metals were laid out on the casting table, but none of them was featured steel, which was a commonly used material.

He realized after some thought that Wu Hongxi and his people must have a special requirement for the magic tool that they were smithing, hence the raw materials used were distinctive too.

Nonetheless, it was normal because even Ou Yangming used peculiar stones when he smithed magic tools in the past. If that was not the case, he could not have smithed the treasures even if he was able to break through the world's barrier.

Although the unique metals on the table were not featured steel, they were superior in terms of value.

Just as Ou Yangming casually picked up one of the metals and was about to begin, Tan Yangping commented, "Have you used black steel1 before? Don't waste it if you haven't!"

Ou Yangming was stunned. He picked a piece of black steel, and it was true that he had never smithed with it before, but it was quite impolite of Tan Yangping to speak like that.

Wu Hongxi smiled bitterly. "Lil' Friend Ou, please forgive Yangping. He's a smithing genius, but apart from smithing, he's not good at trifling matters like getting along with others."

"I understand." Ou Yangming chuckled when he looked at Tan Yangping, who did not seem to be convinced. He later raised the black steel in his hand and expressed, "Brother Yan, I've never used black steel before, but I roughly know its properties. It shouldn't be a problem for me to smith something at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five."

Following that, he enveloped the material with his Military Fire.

After hearing what Ou Yangming said, not only was Tan Yangping furious, but Jin Shengjie and Wu Hongxi seemed uneasy too.

Ou Yangming made quite a big statement. If he had not used black steel before, it meant that he knew nothing about the material's uniqueness, but he boasted on his first time smithing with it.

If the young fellow could accomplish the task, the two Superior Blacksmiths would humble themselves in front of him.

This was because one had to know the raw material inside out if one wanted to smith a piece of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade. If one had no understanding of the material at all, one would not be able to solve the various problems that would arise during the process.

Despite that, Ou Yangming's Military Fire was different. To him, the type of material was unimportant because a material's quality and its withstandable limit played the biggest role.

Even though black steel and featured steel were quite different, it would not be a big issue because they were materials on the same level.

"Hey?"

Next, the faces of Wu Hongxi and Tan Yangping changed all of a sudden.

They saw the black steel being melted in a flash in Ou Yangming's hands.

The Military Fire and the spiritual fire could melt metals, and they had the unique ability to shape metals according to one's wish. Even so, the flames' effects were completely different when they were used to melt different types of metal.

For instance, the black steel in Ou Yangming's hands is greater than featured steel for most of the indexes. Therefore, a piece of equipment smithed with black steel would be superior to one that was smithed with featured steel. However, black steel had a near-disastrous shortcoming—its melting point was too high.

Plenty of energy and strength had to be consumed to melt black steel. In fact, even Jin Shengjie and Wu Hongxi, who were Superior Blacksmiths, could not underestimate the task at all.

That said, the black steel melted smoothly after Ou Yangming released his Military Fire.

If they were not certain that the metal was black steel, they would suspect if the material was secretly substituted by iron ingot. In spite of that, even ordinary iron ingot could not be melted so easily, could it?

Since Jin Shengjie had witnessed Ou Yangming's Military Fire's ability, he was able to accept the outcome calmly though he was also shocked. On the contrary, Wu Hongxi and Tan Yangping, who were watching this for the first time, were stupefied.

The master and the apprentice exchanged glances and shut their mouths. In addition, there was a subtle change in the way they looked at Ou Yangming.

'This young fella is truly quite special.'

In actuality, Yuan Lexin did note that Ou Yangming's Military Fire was out of the ordinary, but the listeners and he were drawn by the fact that the young fellow could smith a full set of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five. As such, the fire's other properties were briefly mentioned, causing them to be shocked at this moment.

Ou Yangming was unquestionably the most familiar with military sabers, but just as he wanted to smith a saber with the black steel, a longsword's image crossed his mind.

It was the weapon that he saw when he first entered Wu Hongxi's residence, and it was at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five.

Subconsciously, Ou Yangming kept changing the black steel's shape, and the material was transformed into a sharp longsword.

While the Military Fire continued to burn, Ou Yangming noticed the black steel and featured steel were not much different. In a way, the black steel's properties were better than featured steel, and greater pieces of equipment could be smithed if black steel was used.

Once the longsword took form, the Military Fire clearly displayed its properties.

[Item: Extraordinary longsword]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Fine Grade, Rank Four]

[Attributes: Sharpness +19, Toughness +19, Durability 20]

By using the same smithing technique, the same energy, and the same concentration, the longsword arrived at Fine Grade Rank Four and had 19 Points of Sharpness and Toughness each. Most importantly, it has 20 Points of Durability, which was the peak for Fine Grade.

Ou Yangming took a deep breath, and his eyes glowed in an unusual light.

It was true that black steel's quality was inferior to the peculiar stone's, but it was indeed much better than featured steel. No wonder Wu Hongxi and his people gave up using featured steel; the best material had to be used to smith a magic tool.

Nonetheless, while the longsword's attributes were great, Ou Yangming still felt like something was lacking.

A thought crossed his mind, and he attached the shining purple lights in his mind to the weapon.

Next, cold lights circulated around the longsword. While they could not be clearly seen due to the Military Fire, they could be spotted by the naked eye.

The eyes of Jin Shengjie and the other people lit up. They naturally noticed the abnormality, thus they wondered, 'Could this be the unique technique that allowed Ou Yangming to continuously smith pieces of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five?'

Ou Yangming focused on his Military Fire once more. After he added 1 Point of Sharpness and Toughness each, the longsword became a perfect Fine Grade weapon.

Subsequently, the young fellow turned his wrist and curbed the fire.

"Senior, please give me some pointers." Ou Yangming smiled.

He placed the longsword on the casting table and took a step back.

Unknowingly, everyone in the room began to slow down or simply stopped smithing.

They were astonished and shocked, which was evident that they were subdued by Ou Yangming's peculiar Military Fire.

The young fellow melted black steel like he was melting ordinary iron ingot; his Military Fire was never seen before nor heard of!

Wu Hongxi looked deeply at Ou Yangming and remarked, "You're truly amazing to have finished so quickly!"

Given that he had such a reputable status, it was rare to see him praise someone openly.

The faces of the Advanced Blacksmiths beside the casting table changed. They had just been reminded that not only did Ou Yangming melted the black steel with ease, but his smithing speed was also phenomenal.

If they had carried out the same process instead, they would need at least half an hour to smith a weapon by using featured steel, let alone black steel.

After all, the longsword was the most important weapon among pieces of Fine Grade equipment!

'What about Ou Yangming?'

'He didn't even spend... 8 minutes, did he?'

The other people looked pale upon thinking about that, to the extent that they had an illusion that they had just seen a ghost.

Author made a typo on the type of steel. We've corrected it from the context