There were many passages around the main hall, each one had separated rooms inside.

Every room was a smithing workshop, which could be used by blacksmiths from the Beast King Sect to smith at any time.

Nonetheless, the smithing workshops vary according to grades. In particular, those that were specially provided for elders from the sect were particularly luxurious, such that ordinary blacksmiths were envious.

Needless to say, there were 2 other especially spacious smithing workshops inside this giant building.

Each of them could accommodate hundreds of people.

Normally, the smithing workshops would not be opened. If smithing masters opened classes or if there were sensational challenges, they would be the best venues.

Ou Yangming and Xu Guangji were not masters, but they represented Bai Zhiyi and Xu Feiyu, respectively.

Besides, Xu Guangji was also a powerhouse that rose to fame in the Beast King Sect, and he was also known as the greatest rising star in terms of smithing talent specifically.

Therefore, when people heard that Xu Guangji was involved, more people hurried to the enormous smithing workshop.

Bai Zhiyi and Xu Feiyu went up to the high platform. They first inspected the workshop, then they went back to their corners after making sure that there were no abnormalities.

Following that, Ou Yangming and Xu Guangji went up to the platform one after another.

Xu Feiyu stated in a deep voice, "If a blacksmith wants to smith a good piece of equipment, first of all, one must control the heat during the process." He paused for a while before he continued, "You'll choose a gild ore1 and a black grindstone each then merge them."

Xu Guangji responded to him and walked to the side of the smithing table, then he chose 2 stones from the pile.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming widened his eyes as he was at a loss.

Bai Zhiyi flushed and quickly said, "Brother Xu, Lil' Ou's from outside of this county, so he doesn't understand our rules too well." He waved at Ou Yangming and explained, "Lil' Ou, our assessment here requires one to select 2 fixed ores and merge them with one's fire. In this case, the more thorough the merge, the better it is."

Ou Yangming understood him right away.

The merging of 2 ores was the most basic technique in smithing art. If one could not even do that, one would not be qualified to be a blacksmith.

Nevertheless, the merging standard could be high or low, where the most important differentiating method was the merging degree.

The merging degree did not mean the proportion of the ores, but the extent of the blending between ores according to a proportion.

To smithing experts, if the merging degree for ores was lower than 80%, it would be below grade. Given such a merging degree, even if the best materials were used, the equipment smithed in the end would only be junk.

Normally, magic tools could only be smithed if the merging degree was 85% and above, but a merging degree of 90% and above was every blacksmith's target.

Ou Yangming nodded and expressed, "I understand. Don't worry, Elder Bai."

He glanced at the ores in front of Xu Guangji, then he picked 2 similar ones from the pile of ores.

Xu Feiyu and Xu Guangji looked at each other and grinned.

'Turns out that Ou Yangming doesn't recognize these ores. Great, the outcome of this challenge is almost set already.'

Gild ores and black grindstones were not rare items, but they both had unique features, hence it would be much more difficult to merge them than ordinary ores.

Without having studied them for a long time, many unexpected problems would arise if one melted them for the first time. Consequently, the melting process would fail or the merging degree would be far from the passing standard.

Bai Zhiyi backed away and sneered as he noticed the expressions of the 2 men from the Xu family.

Normal blacksmiths would definitely be confused when they suddenly came into contact with 2 unknown materials. As such, they would not be able to do much.

However, Ou Yangming was a freak. He was someone that could smith items a half step to White Silver and was a genius that could repeat the smithing process for Good Grade magic tools after only observing it once.

How could someone like him be troubled by the most basic melting process?

Even if Ou Yangming had never seen the ores to be melted, Bai Zhiyi did not think that he would be defeated.

Xu Guangji scoffed and waved his hand, then a black figure jumped up to the platform.

It was a spirit beast similar to a large domestic dog, but it looked extremely odd as it had an especially sharp mouth and perceptive eyes. The beast approached Xu Guangji and rubbed its head against the bottom of his pants affectionately.

"Stop playing, we need to start working." Xu Guangji chuckled.

The weird spirit beast nodded then turned around and opened its mouth to spit out fire, which enveloped the 2 ores on the smithing table.

Xu Guangji had a grave look on his face. He also reached out his hand, where his blazing fire stretched into the spirit beast's fire. With that, the fires released by the human and the beast fused and burned brighter with a much greater aura.

Ou Yangming looked in shock as he was in disbelief.

Bai Zhiyi went forward and whispered to him, "Lil' Ou, this is the joint cultivation technique that I mentioned before. Xu Guangji's natal spirit beast is a rare fire-series spirit beast, which is incredibly beneficial in equipment smithing."

"Is this allowed too?" Ou Yangming twitched his mouth.

The elder giggled. "This is the Beast King Sect, so one can naturally seek help from one's natal spirit beast."

Ou Yangming nodded. He could tell that Xu Guangji's natal spirit beast was rather bizarre. The fire that it spat out was not as exaggerated as his Military Fire, but it was certainly one of the rare spiritual fires in the world. If blacksmiths were assisted by such a spirit beast, they would surely be able to yield twice the result by doing half the work.

Even so, Ou Yangming smirked and thought, 'So what if you have a spirit beast's help? Can you be better than my Military Fire, which has become one with me?'

As he extended his wrist, his mental power gushed and turned into a scorching fire that enveloped the 2 ores on the casting table.

This time, Ou Yangming chose to conceal his fire from the public. Hence, the people could only see the fiery fires in front of him and Xu Guangji but did not know what exactly was going on inside.

Needless to say, those with rich experiences could make some guesses according to the way the fires flickered.

After some time, the crowd could not help but whisper to one another.

Xu Guangji and his spirit beast cooperated perfectly as the fire between them flickered frequently, which proved that there were intense changes inside.

On the contrary, Ou Yangming's fire was also burning fiercely, but it was exceptionally stable. Even if the tongue of the flame flickered, it only happened within a normal range. Given this situation, even God would not be able to deduce anything from the outside.

All of a sudden, the spectators exchanged glances as they were puzzled.

Those that were here were either blacksmiths or had some understanding of smithing art; even if they were ordinary helpers, they also had the most basic knowledge in this aspect. Thus, they cast strange looks at Ou Yangming and wondered, 'This fella isn't just impressive on the outside, is he?'

'His fire' burning, but it's only burning on the surface. As for the ores inside the flame, they're not merging at all.

'Mm, this must be it, or how can his fire be so stable?'

The people turned to look at Bai Zhiyi as they were hoping to find some answers from his expression, but the elder kept a straight face. Despite that, a look of ridicule could be seen in his eyes as if he was not worried about Ou Yangming's situation at all.

In actuality, the elder did not need to worry indeed.

Ou Yangming was controlling his mental power, which had transformed into a fire that wrapped around the ores. Although his Military Fire and mental power had merged, their wonderful effects were not reduced at all. In fact, it was more convenient for him to control them now.

The young fellow melted the ores almost with a flash of thought, and he began to fuse them.

Throughout the process, he was sharp enough to spot some subtle differences.

Between the ores, one of them had a tremendously high melting point while the other's was not worth mentioning.

This was a test for a blacksmith's control over the fire. If one could not control one's fire carefully, one would not be able to merge the ores.

Of course, this was only a small issue for Ou Yangming, who had practiced the path of cold and heat before.

Having said that, once Ou Yangming began to bind the melted ores, he realized that the liquids seemed to naturally resist each other, so it would be difficult to combine them through a normal melting technique.

At this point, Ou Yangming knew it was a trap set up by the 2 men from the Xu family.

Without the right technique and ability, it would be impossible for one to merge the ores.

Ou Yangming could guess why Bai Zhiyi did not warn him before this. Perhaps his previous performances had exceeded the elder's bottom line, so the elder blindly trusted him.

That said, Bai Zhiyi guessed it right because the trivial matter was not a problem for Ou Yangming.

Being burned by Ou Yangming's Mental Fire, the resistances between the ores were destroyed. The fire's forceful power affected every inch of the ores' liquid, then they started to agglomerate and merge with the help of the fire's drive.

It was a natural process, and it was finished quickly in Ou Yangming's hands.

This was not much difficult from smithing an ordinary piece of equipment for him. In any case, he had melted and combined materials too many times.

Nonetheless, after he was done, he realized that Xu Guangji was still trying.

Ou Yangming pondered seriously and decided not to withdraw his fire. Instead, he waited and waited quietly...

Please note that this isn't a typo. A gild ore means an ore covered thinly in gold