Ou Yangming frowned and cursed, 'What's going on?'

Although he had temporarily absorbed the longsword's attributes through the Military Fire's power when he previously smithed it, he withdrew them all together and put them back accordingly.

As for the mysterious attributes, especially the Freeze Combo, he did not know how they could be released.

In a way, Ou Yangming's mental power was not that great yet at that time, hence he was not so ambitious. He never looked deeper into active skills even if he stumbled upon them, but it was different now. As the young fellow sensed the complicated and strange rune paths, his heart itched as though it was being tickled.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming was not confident about breaking the protective barrier on the rune paths. If he attempted it regardless of the costs, the longsword's active skill would likely be destroyed and could not be recovered.

Ou Yangming pondered for a long time before he was struck with an idea.

The young fellow would not get to the bottom of it since he could not do so. In any case, he had apprehended the natural smithing technique, thus he could utilize nature's power to learn the rune paths.

He looked up and asked the princess with a smile, "Your Highness, can you do me a favor?"

Wu Hanning asked him in return, "How would you like me to cooperate?"

"Your Highness, I upgraded your weapon to Fine Grade while retaining its original attributes, but a magic tool is different. I'm not absolutely confident that I can achieve the same result," Ou Yangming explained, then he continued after a pause, "I'd like you to perform your equipment's skill here so I can understand it better to solve the problem."

"You want me to do it here?" Wu Hanning asked without any hesitation.

"Yes."

"Okay." Wu Hanning stepped forward and grabbed her longsword in the Military Fire without any delay.

She was quick and did not dilly-dally at all.

Ou Yangming was taken aback. Fortunately, he had adjusted his fire's temperature, or the consequences would have been unbearable.

Nevertheless, he asked in shock when he realized that something was off, "Your Highness, have you perceived my Military Fire?"

Wu Hanning answered, "I've learned the path of equilibrium from Uncle Hongxi, so I know your Military Fire isn't at a high temperature."

Ou Yangming was puzzled. "You're not gifted in smithing art, so why did you learn the path of equilibrium?"

"The path of equilibrium is one of the ways of nature, so it's not only meant for blacksmiths. This was what Forefather told me, but I agree with it very much," Wu Hanning responded.

"Your Highness, please." Ou Yangming curbed his thought and inhaled deeply.

His energy, essence, and spirit were instantly increased to their maximums, and the incredibly mighty mental power in his sea of consciousness surged such that it was going to burst out.

Wu Hanning fixed her gaze on the longsword and released her essential Qi all of a sudden, causing a frightening cold-intent to be unleashed.

Ou Yangming widened his eyes. He knew the equipment's chillness would be unpleasant, but it was not until it was released he truly experienced how fearsome it was.

The cold intent could not only freeze his body but also his consciousness.

When a person was in an exceptionally cold state, one's body quality would decline as a whole, and one would not be able to think anymore.

If Ou Yangming was attacked by such an intense chill in the past, perhaps he would have been frozen right away and ended up in a vegetative state. However, he had now gained 99 points of mental power.

What kind of concept was that? It was an unimaginable height in this world.

The young fellow's surging mental power froze for a brief moment but quickly relaxed again. It eventually adapted to the chillness and returned to a normal state in a split second.

Ou Yangming dared not delay the matter, so he immediately gathered his mental conception and began to probe with his Military Fire.

Next, he sensed a set of lit-up rune paths in Wu Hanning's longsword. The runes merged with her essential Qi and achieved a mysterious yet indescribably change.

Ou Yangming could not be bothered to explore the theory behind it; he simply began to record the rune paths.

Before the Freeze Combo skill was performed, the right rune paths were hidden among more paths. They were interconnected, thus it would be impossible to separate them bit by bit.

Once the skill was incited, the changes and the functions of the paths became visible. With that, they could not be hidden from Ou Yangming anymore.

Two peculiar runes slowly took shape in Ou Yangming's sea of consciousness. One of them was, of course, the Freeze Combo Rune while the other was the disorganized yet orderly Concealing Rune.

Ou Yangming did not know where the Concealing Rune came from, but he realized that it was extremely useful. He had a habit of keeping useful things, so he could use them for his own in due course.

He had decided to always leave marks similar to the Concealing Rune on pieces of equipment with Skill Runes in the future.

That way, it would be difficult for anyone to learn the runes even if the magic tools were studied after a long time.

As for the method Ou Yangming adopted to crack the Concealing Rune… He did not believe that every blacksmith could fathom the natural smithing technique.

After all, he had only managed to comprehend it when his mental power increased to 99 points and with the purple Military Fire's help.

Even if other people possessed great mental power, it would be difficult for them to work out the method without the purple Military Fire.

"Cluck, cluck…"

At the spur of the moment, a weird sound was heard coming from Ou Yangming's mouth.

He was startled when he realized that his body had shuddered due to extreme cold, where his teeth chattered and made odd sounds.

Wu Hanning's face changed. She curbed her essential Qi at once, then the ice-cold chill in the room slowly disappeared.

Ou Yangming exhaled deeply. After withdrawing his mental conception from his sea of consciousness, he noticed that his body had almost become frozen. Needless to say, the damage level was not worth mentioning at all for a powerhouse at the peak of Yang Grade because one only could quickly recover by circulating one's essential Qi.

Without warning, a warm body embraced Ou Yangming, who had nearly become a frozen man. At the same time, a hand went around his waist and stopped in front of his dantian, where warm essential Qi was slowly channeled into his body.

Ou Yangming tensed up a little, then he nodded at Wu Hanning. With help from the essential Qi's power, his body became warm again.

Even though his body was harmed to a certain extent this time, it was not a big deal since he gained the Freeze Combo Rune and the Concealing Rune. Besides, his heart was somehow pounding when he sensed Her Highness's warm body and her essential Qi.

Wu Hanning gently let go of him after some time and withdrew her hand. On the other hand, Ou Yangming suppressed his urge and thanked the princess without turning to look at her at all, "Your Highness, thank you."

"Do you really have to be so polite?" Wu Hanning asked after some thought.

"Your Highness, I'm confident about upgrading your weapon into a magic tool now, so wait for my good news," Ou Yangming responded but avoided her question. Following that, the Military Fire burned again as he turned his wrist.

This time, the Military Fire was no longer at room temperature; it could instantly melt incredibly tough peculiar stones.

A peculiar stone was retrieved from Ou Yangming's interspatial bag, then he tossed it into the fire firmly. The stone jumped in the Military Fire several times before it melted and attached to the longsword bit by bit.

At this point, apart from the basic attributes, the other attributes on the longsword had been withdrawn by Ou Yangming into his sea of consciousness.

The longsword's quality underwent a drastic improvement due to the bizarre stone. When two different materials merged perfectly, the weapon's equivalent rank was successfully increased.

A light was released, causing the secret room to be as bright as the day.

Wu Hanning's eyes lit up because she knew the longsword had been successfully enhanced into a magic tool. Even so, when she shifted her gaze from the Military Fire to Ou Yangming's face, she did not look cheerful at all.

Ou Yangming exhaled and returned the Unique Attributes in his sea of consciousness to the longsword.

[Item: Icy Sword (Yellow)]

[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Common Grade, Rank Two]

[Attributes: Sharpness +22, Toughness +22, Power, +4, Ice Attribute Might +3, Durability 22]

[Skill: Freeze Combo (Rank Two)]

After Ou Yangming's mental power reached 99 points, he became capable enough to smith magic tools of Common Grade Rank Two.

Of course, Ou Yangming felt like he arrived at a huge bottleneck at the stage. Perhaps this was the limit of the world's power, by which he could not advance any further no matter how hard he tried.

Moreover, Ou Yangming had also added 1 point of Power on the longsword as a form of compensation for the princess.

When he handed the longsword to Wu Hanning, he looked everywhere but her eyes.

"Your Highness, I've completed the task. I'll move on to help the others now, hehe…"

Wu Hanning questioned in a deep voice, "Brother Ou, do you not dare to look at me in the eye now?"

Ou Yangming clearly tensed up. He replied to the princess with a bitter smile, "Yes, I don't dare to…" Subsequently, he swiftly opened the smithing workshop's door and left as though he was escaping.

Inside the room, Wu Hanning had a faint smile on her face.

'A spot in the upper realm and the temptation to go there.

'Nobody knows for sure who will have the last laugh.'