Bai Zhiyi’s spiritual fire burned fiercely. Powers ores melted inside it one after another, and they were attached to the crude equipment.
By doing this, one would have been reprimanded by numerous people in the lower realm; even distinguished figures such as Wu Hongxi dared not waste such material without restraint.
After all, Power Ores were considered notably precious treasures in the lower realm. If one’s status had not reached a certain standard, one could not have had the chance to get in touch with such supreme treasures. On the contrary, Power Ores were simply ordinary minerals in the Spiritual Realm. Not to mention Extreme Grade powerhouses, even normal cultivators might not pay much importance to them. If not, Fox Yi could not have presented a big pile of them.
Needless to say, ordinary Power Ores were not a big deal. If it was a treasure ore such as the Tremendous Power Spirit Ore, which was a material for a piece of White Silver Equipment, it would be extremely valued by everyone.
Therefore, none of the Spiritualists minded when Bai Zhiyi wasted Power Ores on a piece of clearly useless equipment at the moment.
They concentrated on Bai Zhiyi’s smithing techniques.
Ou Yangming watched closely. When he activated both the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous state, even the slightest movement from Bai Zhiyi could not escape from his eyes.
He was incredibly grateful for Bai Zhiyi. The elder seemed to be explaining and demonstrating to his 3 juniors as he smithed, but everyone knew Ou Yangming was the one that truly benefited from this.
Due to the restriction of a certain rule, Bai Zhiyi could not openly teach Ou Yangming the Layering Secret Techniques, hence he adopted an obscure method to perform them. He did not explain them in detail, which was bound to reduce the effect. If a less talented blacksmith was present instead, perhaps he would be puzzled and did not know what was going on.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming had a solid foundation, which could not be compared by any blacksmith in this realm.
In the lower realm, techniques in the Spiritual Realm that require great spiritual power were not suitable at all.
Only the most basic Layering Technique would be effective in the lower realm, thus Superior Blacksmiths over there had studied it thoroughly, so much so that their painstaking effort was far from what blacksmiths in the Spiritual Realm could compare.
This was the exact reason Ou Yangming, who was born in the lower realm, had such a solid foundation in the technique. It was truly unbelievable.
Since Ou Yangming had such a strong basis, he could get twice the effect by putting in half the effort when he observed other techniques.
From Ou Yangming’s perspective, even though various oddities were happening inside Master Bai Zhiyi’s spiritual fire at the moment, at the end of the day, they were closely related to the basic Layering Technique. In a way, the different techniques performed by the elder were unconventional methods that branched out from the basic technique.
This was a redundant statement. Without a solid foundation, how could a skyscraper tower anyway?
Even so, very few people could see the plain and raw foundation below from the top of the gorgeous skyscraper.
Bai Zhiyi did not intend to fool Ou Yangming at all. His techniques were ever-changing, by which he had performed 10 different ones in total as his spiritual fire flickered. At last, he layered the normal equipment with 10 points of Power attributes.
By the time the elder exhaled deeply and looked up at Ou Yangming, he was stunned.
Ou Yangming had closed his eyes the moment Bai Zhiyi curbed his fire. A queer aura seemed to have appeared around him as though his mental conception was already inside his body.
Bai Zhiyi blinked and asked in shock, “When did he become like this?”
Fox Yi quickly answered, “Elder Bai, Master Ou became like this the instant you finished.”
“The instant I finished?” Bai Zhiyi’s face changed, and he said with a bitter smile, “Good fella, he actually achieved enlightenment like this. This is really, really…” He shook his head and realized that he could not express his envy at all.
As for the spirit beasts, they looked at each other and finally understood the change that happened to Master Ou.
It turned out that he achieved enlightenment.
Enlightenment was desired by every cultivator, especially powerhouses that had been stuck in their respective states for many years. In fact, they would be willing to exchange half of their fortune for a chance to achieve that state.
Nevertheless, the spirit beasts looked strangely and regretfully at Ou Yangming.
‘I’ve never heard of enlightenment in smithing art. Ah, it’s such a pity that it happened at this time.
‘One can only benefit the most from achieving enlightenment during a martial art cultivation.’
The spirit beasts respected blacksmiths very much, but they valued martial arts cultivation the most.
※※※※
Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness had almost been completely sealed.
10 illusory figures appeared in his sea of consciousness, and they were smithing using 10 different techniques at the moment.
The mysterious purple Military Fire in his sea of consciousness had also been divided into 10 parts as if they were playing with him. Having said that, Ou Yangming was the only one that knew the scene that looked like a child’s play was him replicating and learning Bai Zhiyi’s teachings.
For normal people, learning 10 entirely different techniques in one go was simply a nightmarish and hellish test.
One would be considered a top genius if one could remember 1 or 2 of the techniques, but it was not what Ou Yangming was going for; he wanted to learn everything.
The young fellow was similar to a dry sponge at this time as he continuously absorbed water and nutrients. He would not give up no matter what before he reached his limit.
Sure enough, the Spiritual Realm’s Layering Techniques were full of wonderful changes. Each time an illusory figure formed by Ou Yangming repeated a technique, he could sense different things and content from it, allowing his smithing skill to advance by leaps and bounds.
After studying the techniques for a long time, he vaguely arrived at a verdict.
The Layering Technique that he learned in the lower realm was the foundation of all foundations.
Taking the confrontation between 2 armies as an example, the foundation was the soldiers and the logistics. The more solid the foundation, the more the soldiers, and the more loaded the logistics.
Despite that, when the layerings began, it was when the army was tested on assaulting fortifications. No doubt, the soldiers could push ahead steadily by relying on their numbers, such that they would be able to destroy everything in their way.
With that, regardless of the number of soldiers sacrificed and the logistics wasted along the way, as long as there were sufficient backings and supplies, the army could still achieve their target.
If 10,000 people could not defeat their enemies, what about 100,000 people, 1,000,000 people, or 10,000,000 people?
As long as they were capable enough, they could destroy any target.
That was Ou Yangming’s method in the past. By relying on his exceptionally strong foundation and his Military Fire’s unique ability, he almost always succeeded.
However, when his enemies became more formidable, even with the Military Fire as his backing, Ou Yangming dared not say that he could surely defeat them.
He could layer 11 points of an attribute and could go on, but he was not omnipotent. Could he layer 20 points of an attribute? This time, even he was uncertain.
It was then when Bai Zhiyi suddenly showed up and gave him a solution.
The 10 different Layering Skills seemed to have opened a massive door in front of Ou Yangming, allowing him to see the infinitely beautiful world on the other side.
It turned out that the Military FIre’s command had endless changes. Instead of just pushing forward, many other tricks could be used.
Encircling an enemy post to attack reinforcements coming to its aid, slipping away by strategy, taking advantage of a situation to profiteer, and so on…
Of course, what Ou Yangming saw at this instant were not military strategies, but his Military Fire’s changing skills.
Instead of layering with force, he could simplify the processes through little tricks, which could also bring better effects.
Every skill seemed to have become a tactic to him, one that could help him achieve his target more accurately and easily.
Indescribable feelings rose from the bottom of his heart. He experienced an upsurge of intense emotions, and the emotional fluctuation was much stronger than when he realized that he had entered the Spiritual Realm.
This was because Ou Yangming finally felt like he had truly begun to integrate with the Spiritual Realm.
After taking a deep breath, Ou Yangming opened his eyes and looked up.
He bowed to the ground at Bai Zhiyi to express his gratitude from the bottom of his heart.
Bai Zhiyi waved his hand and noted with a smile, “Lil’ Ou, it looks like you’ve gained something.”
In actuality, the elder found it strange and was feeling rather helpless.
When he performed 10 Layering Techniques in a row, he was secretly scheming something.
It was worth noting that the techniques were from different inheritances, thus he could not anyhow pass them on to someone else without the sects’ permissions. That said, he had only displayed each of them once without explaining them, so he was somewhat making use of a loophole.
If the elder sincerely wanted to teach Ou Yangming everything, he could have shown the same technique 10 times. Nonetheless, he performed 10 dissimilar techniques and only executed each of them once.
While it seemed more generous, there was a much lower chance for others to actually learn something.
In spite of everything, Ou Yangming somehow achieved enlightenment after observing everything. Given that he arrived at that state, perhaps he could fathom one of the Layering Techniques.
Ou Yangming smiled and answered honestly, “Elder Bai, I understood already.”
“You understood?” Bai Zhiyi was startled, and his face changed. “How many did you… Understand?”
“Of course, I understood all of them!” Ou Yangming responded sternly.
Bai Zhiyi’s face twitched. He might believe it if Ou Yangming said that he understood 1, 2, or 3 of the techniques, but to say that he understood all of them…
It was rare for one to achieve enlightenment, but it did not mean that one would be invincible, omniscient, and omnipotent after entering the state.
The elder’s face darkened, and he felt like he had just been made fun of. He scoffed and commented, “You really understood all of them; you’re truly a peerless God-favored one. If that’s the case, show them to me.”
