At the center of the square, Ou Yangming scanned every casting table.
He suddenly fixed his gaze on a certain table because he noticed it did not have any materials on it but a large red flower was hung on it. What surprised him more was his fresh memory of it.
The young fellow used that casting table during the Blacksmiths Assessment.
Seeing as Ou Yangming had a strange look on his face, Chen Yihe immediately explained, “Brother Ou, this was the collective decision of all blacksmiths.”
“Brother Chen, it’s too exaggerated,” Ou Yangming remarked while shaking his head, then he added after a pause, “Even Senior Jin Shengjie and the others didn’t receive such a treatment.”
“Brother Ou, it was the few Superior Blacksmiths who suggested this honor,” Chen Yihe responded softly after some thought, then he continued, “One who can smith magic tools individually deserves this honor.”
Ou Yangming was stunned. He later nodded and stopped feeling bothered about it.
He approached another casting table and retrieved some materials from his interspatial bag.
Chen Yihe widened his eyes when he watched Ou Yangming taking materials out of thin air. He stared at the interspatial bag in disbelief.
“Master Ou, i-is that an interspatial bag?”
“Yes, it is. Have you not seen one before?” Ou Yangming replied to the blacksmith master.
Chen Yihe smiled bitterly and shook his head. “How am I qualified to see such a treasure?”
Ou Yangming was shocked. “I remember Her Royal Highness has one.”
“Brother Ou, it’s easy for you to meet the princess, but unless I become a Superior Blacksmith, how can I meet Her Royal Highness?” Chen Yihe had a stranger look on his face.
It was then that Ou Yangming recalled his identity as the consort. Nonetheless, he was not conscious of that identity at all.
Ou Yangming shook his head and got rid of the distractions, then he sighed and painfully retrieved the materials he acquired from the imperial family. The young fellow had initially planned to keep them for his collection but given that he had almost finished using the materials given by the Yi Pavilion to smith arm guards, he could only use the ones from the imperial family. Ou Yangming began to smith as the Military Fire burned in his hands.
Chen Yihe quickly shut his mouth and stopped talking. He was afraid of making Ou Yangming unhappy or causing the young fellow to miss out on something important.
When Ou Yangming asked the Yi Pavilion for the materials, he had planned to prepare small gifts for the powerhouses at the peak of Yang Grade who fought him. While there were various raw materials, most of them were gems from the same batch and of equivalent value.
As the Military Fire burned, soon enough, greaves made of Eminent Golden Ore were formed in his hands. He glanced at the greaves and found their nodes right away due to the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous state, which gave him an acute observation skill. The Military Fire flickered on the nodes, where suitable holes were chiseled. Following that, two clear gems, which were not of the highest grades but were quite remarkable, were embedded in the greaves.
It was worth noting that the Gem Embedding Art was rather complicated, but the process was somehow simplified by Ou Yangming’s Military Fire.
After just a brief moment, the gems and the pieces of equipment resonated, allowing the greaves to carry unique Power Accumulation attributes. The attribute had extremely broad functions, where power could normally be accumulated in the gem and could be unleashed during a crucial moment. Although it could not increase one’s victory rate, it could be unbelievably useful if one used the accumulated power in it to escape.
Chen Yihe was dumbfounded as he watched from the side. He was an Advanced Blacksmith who did not know much about the Gem Embedding Art, but he had heard a lot about it. The blacksmith master had the impression that the art was incredibly complicated, by which perfectly releasing energy from a gem was as difficult as smithing a suit.
As such, blacksmiths who were adept in embedding gems and smithing suits were somewhat superior to ordinary blacksmiths.
Now, Ou Yangming made it seem like the Gem Embedding Art was unusually simple as he successfully embedded gems to pieces of equipment without effort. Moreover, it was evident from the delightful smile on his face that the gems’ special effects were activated.
Unknowingly, the square was filled with people.
There were more guards around too, but they dared not be rude to the spectators because they recognized that the onlookers were blacksmiths. Even though the blacksmiths were of different ranks, owing to their profession, the guards could not offend nor obstruct them.
Furthermore, the blacksmiths had a mutual understanding where they did not clamor at all. They stood a distance away as they observed Ou Yangming’s every move. Even from afar, they widened their eyes as they did not want to miss any detail.
In particular, when the gems were successfully embedded, the professionals could not help but exclaim.
They had not touched the greaves and were clueless about the gems’ functions, but none of them doubted Ou Yangming. Deep down they had a preconception that the young fellow, who could smith magic tools, could not have falsified anything at this moment.
Ou Yangming casually tossed the greaves aside and picked up another material.
This time, he refined a helmet, arm guards, and armor by pairing featured steel with the rare material.
He did not employ the Gem Embedding Art for the three pieces of equipment, but he drew wonderful veined patterns on them at the speed of light.
“It’s the Suit Skill!” A soft voice was heard in the crowd.
Everyone else was surprised when they turned to look. They made space for the person who spoke, and many people were even bowing at him from afar. Needless to say, the crowd did everything without a sound as they dared not distract Ou Yangming, who was still smithing. The person who spoke was a middle-aged man, but his face was covered with wrinkles as though he had gone through many hardships in life. He looked much older than normal middle-aged men. He was also an Advanced Blacksmith and had a noteworthy prestige among his peers because he was adept at the Suit Skill. The man would certainly be above others if he and other people were to smith a suit.
Xing Zhengyang was publicly acknowledged by all Advanced Blacksmiths in the capital as one of the masters closest to becoming a Superior Blacksmith.
Even Tan Yangping-Wu Hongxi’s first disciple-was inferior to him.
Xing Zhengyang had subconsciously taken a few steps forward, and his body was almost getting beyond the border. He stared at Ou Yangming without blinking, and his eyes were filled with excitement and admiration.
The Suit Skill was incomprehensible for most people present.
However, from a professional’s point of view, the skill had too much content. Through Xing Zhengyang’s eyes, Ou Yangming’s constantly-burning Military Fire and the mysterious veined patterns on the pieces of equipment were like a huge and fascinating design as a whole, so much so that he was getting immersed in it.
Ou Yangming had a certain understanding of the Suit Skill and had practiced it in the past, but he was still far from a powerhouse like Xing Zhengyang, who devoted his life to the skill.
That said, Ou Yangming possessed the unique Military Fire and had great mental power, hence the Spiritual Power Formation Map was naturally constructed in his sea of consciousness.
Through the peculiar formation map, Ou Yangming had not only derived in reverse the rune to upgrade pieces of affordable equipment, but he also apprehended many of the world’s contents, which had not been perceived or simply could not be understood.
The contents were unremarkable for ordinary blacksmiths because they would still be baffled even if Ou Yangming explained them in detail.
Besides, Ou Yangming was also not an expert yet. He could vaguely sense the veined patterns’ functions, but he only knew the hows and not the whys.
Despite that, Xing Zhengyang was like a gobbler at a full banquet or a pervert seeing bare long legs when he saw the mysterious yet unpredictable patterns; he could not resist them.
Xing Zhengyang mumbled to himself, and his eyes were gleaming. He would have run toward the casting table had he not been afraid of distracting Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming was smithing speedily because he had to complete 30 pieces of equipment in the shortest time.
Therefore, he finished smithing three pieces of equipment swiftly.
Through the Military Fire, their attributes were displayed in his mind.
The pieces of equipment were ordinary on their own, but the three combined into a suit resulted in an attribute that could disregard 10% of attacks.
Ou Yangming did not know how the attribute was born. He carried out the process accordingly and extracted parts of the veined patterns that he derived in reverse to upgrade pieces of economical equipment. When the young fellow merged the parts, the magical change happened.
He had a faint feeling that the veined patterns were related to space.
Even so, he could not yet comprehend how exactly the change occurred.
At last, when Ou Yangming curbed the Military Fire and set the three suits aside, Xing Zhengyang could not hold it in any longer. He jumped down and called out, “Greetings, Master Ou. I’m Xing Zhengyang.”
Ou Yangming looked at the person in shock.
Xing Zhengyang approached them and said to Chen Yihe, “Brother Chen, you’ve assisted Master Ou for two rounds, so you should be tired. It’s my turn now!”
Observing from the high platform was a completely different experience from watching up close, especially the atmosphere change during a smithing process, which could only be sensed clearly from a close range.
Chen Yihe expressed with a bitter face, “Brother Xing, I’m not tired yet.”
Xing Zhengyang waved his hands and stressed, “You’re tired! You’re definitely tired! Let me be Master Ou’s assistant instead.”
The other people looked at each other and thought, ‘Two Advanced Blacksmiths are actually fighting to be Master Ou’s assistant without bothering about their reputations. He’s so awesome!
