Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
“Senior Uncle?” The 8-star blacksmith was stunned for an instant before a deep frown surfaced on his forehead. With a livid expression, he growled, “Friend, just who in the world are you? Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to say such a joke?”
How could he possibly not recognize his own Senior Uncle? He was certain that he had never met the person standing in front of him before, so it was obvious that the other party was teasing him.
“You said that I’m joking? Do you really not recognize me?” Zhang Xuan shook his head as he raised his hand.
Hong long!
A powerful might swiftly shrouded the 8-star blacksmith, threatening to crush him into bits.
After his cultivation had advanced to Dimension Sundering realm primary stage, his grasp over his strength had become further refined. In fact, he could already deal with most Saint 9-dan primary stage cultivators with ease. While the person before him was an 8-star blacksmith, his cultivation was only at Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle.
The 8-star blacksmith’s body instinctively tensed up in the face of the impending threat, and he hurriedly drove his zhenqi and launched a palm strike to counterattack.
But before his palm could strike, the crushing pressure that was pressing down on him abruptly vanished without a trace, as if it had never appeared in the first place.
Perplexed, he quickly looked at the young man before him once more, only to see that the latter had already placed his hands behind his back at some point in time. The young man was looking at him too, and with a slightly displeased look on his face, he asked, “Since you claim that you don’t know me, allow me to ask you then. Is your name Chen Mo?”
“Yes, I am indeed Chen Mo!” the 8-star blacksmith, Chen Mo, replied.
There was no one in the Blacksmith Guild who did not know of his name, so it did not come as a wonder to him that the young man knew his name.
“Your teacher is 9-star Blacksmith Lu Yang. You inherited the Lu Yang Forging Art from him, but you specialize in the Hong Dian Forging Art instead. The ring finger of your left hand was once scorched by earth flames while you were in the midst of smithing… I didn’t make a mistake, right?” Zhang Xuan asked calmly.
“T-this… You are right!” Chen Mo was stunned for a moment before shaking his head. “That information can easily be found by asking around in the Blacksmith Guild, so it doesn’t mean a thing at all…”
“I know that it can be easily uncovered, but… the Hong Dian Forging technique requires precise coordination of all ten fingers in order to bring out its full prowess. Back when you were studying the technique, due to a small error, you ended up hurting your ring finger. As such, whenever you are tempering a weapon, it will begin curling in uncontrollably. While it doesn’t affect the final product that you are creating too much, still, it does prevent you from achieving fine control over your strength. There aren’t too many people who are aware of this, right?” Zhang Xuan chuckled softly.
“Y-you…” Chen Mo’s body stiffened straight.
He did have such a habit in his smithing. While it was nothing major, there were not too many people in the Blacksmith Guild who were aware of this little quirk of his. So, for the other party to speak of it so decisively as if he had seen it with his own eyes, could the other party really be from the same lineage as him?
“Not only so, I also know that there are many flaws in your Hong Dian Forging Art. In fact, Senior Lu Yang instructed me to come here in order to correct your problems in the hope that you can push for a breakthrough soon. However, I’m also aware that I don’t have any token or the sort that I can use to prove my identity either, so if you still don’t trust me after what I have said, there’s nothing I can do about it!” Zhang Xuan said with a wave of his hand.
“You are here to correct my problems?” Chen Mo frowned doubtfully.
“Indeed. There are three major flaws in your forging technique. Firstly, you have a tendency to overcomplicate the forging process. You attempt to bring every single phase of the forging process to the level of perfection, refining every ore to the extremity, but ironically, your attempts to do so often end up affecting the fusion of the ores…” Zhang Xuan pointed out with a light smile.
Chen Mo’s body jolted upon hearing those words.
The other party was right; he did have such a habit. He had tried to get rid of the habit before, but whenever he tried to do so, he would end up missing the ideal fusing time for the ores, thus resulting in a failed product.
As time went by, he had eventually given up on it.
Smithing was an extremely complicated and delicate process, and even the slightest lapse could cause the greatest difference. Despite being an 8-star blacksmith, he was still unable to ensure perfection in his smithing.
“Secondly, your Hong Dian Forging Art is focused on searching for the crux of the material you are processing and hammering right on it so as to create an even more wholesome product. You have no trouble finding the crux of the ores that you are processing, but it’s a pity that you are slightly lacking in speed…” Zhang Xuan continued.
“I…” Chen Mo’s body jolted once more.
It was almost the other party had seen him forging with his own eyes. Astonishingly, every single point that the other party had raised was spot-on!
“Thirdly…” Zhang Xuan continued speaking.
By the time all three flaws were raised, Chen Mo’s body was already drenched in cold sweat.
Those were indeed the three greatest errors in his smithing. He was aware of them and had tried to change them several times, only to have failed. It was precisely due to those issues that his smithing had ended up meeting a bottleneck.
“Is there any way to resolve my problems?” Unable to remain calm any longer, Chen Mo clasped his fist and bowed.
He still was not too sure whether the other party was really his Senior Uncle or not, but one thing was for sure—the other party was far ahead of him in the field of smithing.
“Like I said, your teacher has sent me over to correct your mistakes. It goes without saying that I have my own ways to resolve your flaws!” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.
It was not convenient for him to take out his 8-star blacksmith emblem at the moment, but in terms of his knowledge in smithing, even 9-star primary blacksmiths would struggle to match up to him.
All it took him was a slight moment of contemplation after browsing through Chen Mo’s flaws in the Library of Heaven’s Path for him to come up with a solution to resolve those problems.
Zhang Xuan swiftly imparted several methods to Chen Mo that he could use in order to resolve those three major flaws in his smithing.
“I see…” After hearing Zhang Xuan’s pointers, Chen Mo could not help but widen his eyes in awe. The other party’s words had truly enlightened him. “Thank you, Senior Uncle!”
As he spoke, he kneeled down to the ground and kowtowed to Zhang Xuan earnestly.
Zhang Xuan glanced at the kneeling man before him and said, “You aren’t going to doubt me anymore?”
“No, no, of course not…” Chen Mo replied with an embarrassed chuckle.
Just the fact that the other party had pointed out the many flaws in his forging technique and even raised feasible methods to resolve them, even if the other party was not his Senior Uncle, he was already as good as a half-teacher to him!
“Good. To tell you the truth, other than to correct your smithing, I also have some business here that I will have to trouble your guild leader with. I’ll need you to bring me to him!” Zhang Xuan said.
“You wish to meet our guild leader? That won’t be a problem at all! This way, please,” Chen Mo said as he quickly led the way forward.
“This…” Having witnessed the entire scene, Zhao Ya was more awestruck than ever by her teacher.
She had known all along that her teacher was a very resourceful man, but she did not think that he would actually be able to win an 8-star blacksmith over with just a couple of words and turn the other party into his junior. Even when witnessing the entire process with her own eyes, she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
With an 8-star blacksmith leading the way, it did not take too long for them to meet the guild leader.
The guild leader appeared to be an elder in his sixties. His hair had already turned snow white, and with a swift examination, Zhang Xuan could tell that the other party was a Saint 8-dan pinnacle cultivator.
Chen Mo stepped forward and said, “Guild leader, my Senior Uncle has come to visit, and he wishes to have a word with you.”
“Your Senior Uncle?” Surprised by Chen Mo’s words, the guild leader swiftly got to his feet and clasped his fist. “Senior, may I know how I should address you?”
He was peers with Chen Mo, so that would make Chen Mo’s Senior Uncle his senior as well.
“I am Wu Zhangxuan, and this young lass beside me is my student. To be honest with you, my student got injured a while back, so I came over hoping to request your aid!” Zhang Xuan clasped his fist.
“Ah, so it’s Blacksmith Wu! May I know what you need my help on? As long as it’s within my power, I’ll definitely try my best to assist with your student’s treatment!” the guild leader replied with a kind smile.
“My student made a mistake in her cultivation, resulting in her meridians sustaining some damage. So, I have come to your Blacksmith Guild in hopes of seeing finding a material that I could possibly use to substitute her meridians in driving zhenqi,” Zhang Xuan said.
