Li Qinghou was slightly pale, and his lips were somewhat dry. This was because the mental power consumption needed to use this appraising method of showing everyone a piece of equipment’s properties was extremely high. Despite his great mental power, it was also hard for him to bear it.
He gathered his thoughts before he probed the helmet with his mental power. A color light screen immediately floated above the helmet.
[Item: Cold Snow Helmet]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank Five]
[Attributes: Toughness +3, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability 35]
[Skill: Cold Intent Attack (Releases cold fog that can freeze air)]
When the equipment’s properties were shown to the people, Mount Wuzhi’s disciples sighed breaths of relief and thought, ‘Luckily, it’s also a magic tool of High Grade Rank Five, so there’s no gap between them for now.’
Ai Hongli’s eyes tensed up as he stroked his beard gently. “Tiandao the Venerable One, Master Ou also has an astonishing feat indeed.”
Tiandao the Venerable One’s sleeves fluttered in the wind as he responded, “Venerable One Ai, you’re right. It’s hard to tell which one of them is better in smithing art, so it’ll be up to how well they can improvise on the spot now.”
Yuqi the Venerable One also nodded in agreement. “Yes, the smithing tricks displayed by the 2 masters opened my eyes.”
Below the giant sword, Qu Zhengde cupped his hands and said, “Congratulations on your work, Master Ou!”
Ou Yangming shook his head and replied to him, “Master Qu, your Blood’s Shoulder Pad made me realize something, so I gained something fruitful after verifying it with my learnings.”
Without saying much, Qu Zhengde’s surging fighting spirit spread out. While it stirred up spiritual Qi, countless small cyclones gathered in the air and kept spinning around him. The cyclones were connected from end to end, hence they looked like a long dragon, which suppressed Ou Yangming with the momentum of a majestic mountain.
This was a spiritual explosive force that was naturally produced once a person’s spiritual will reached an extremity.
Qu Zhengde had superbly executed his smithing abilities, but Ou Yangming was not inferior to him at all.
This caused Qu Zhengde to be very much stimulated, causing him to activate his unparalleled, best mental state. When his powerful mental power gathered, he subconsciously wanted to compete against his opponent.
Ou Yangming instantly sensed the mental conception. He looked up calmly without feeling afraid.
This was a fight between momentums. If he intended to flinch at all, the outcome of this big competition would already be decided.
With a flash of thought, the young fellow’s momentum slowly sank inside his body. He was firm as though he had become a snow mountain amidst a storm and a tornado.
The mental conceptions of Qu Zhengde and Ou Yangming were similar to 2 mad winds as they confronted each other in the void without giving way to one another.
This was not a competition between their mental powers, but a contest between their spiritual wills and confidence.
Lingfeng the Venerable One, Ai Hongli the Venerable One, and the others looked at each other. Even they had not seen such a situation between blacksmiths in a competition.
This was an equipment smithing competition, but the blacksmiths, whose confidence and fighting spirits had reached the peak, somehow developed such a rare scene.
“Venerable One Ai, this…” Lingfeng the Venerable One asked in a deep voice, “What do you think?”
Ai Hongli the Venerable One pondered for a brief moment before he answered with a smile, “They’re only subconsciously unconvinced, but they don’t plan to attack each other at all. Hehe, let’s just continue to watch; there should be a fierce battle between the giants after this.”
Everyone else exchanged glances without saying a word. As said by Ai Hongli, the blacksmiths were at sword points, but their lives were not at risk at all.
Sure enough, after some time, Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde looked away and withdrew their mental conceptions at the same time. They redirected their vigors into their smithing processes.
“Boom…”
Next, 2 fires lit up at the same time, causing the respective air within roughly 3 meters above them to be distorted.
The spectators including Ai Honglie the Venerable One and the others, who were unconcerned earlier, were relieved.
After all, it would be a joke if the Big Smithing Competition suddenly turned into a martial arts feast.
Ou Yangming breathed out murky air. Tianhe Steel, Dry Water Ore… Numerous precious materials melted at the speed of light.
As soon as Ou Yangming put his thought to it, the spiritual Qi inside his dantian gushed into his Heavenly Phoenix Fire through his tendons and meridians.
1 breath, 2 breaths, 3 breaths…
‘It’s time.’ Ou Yangming’s eyes flashed as he incited the Heavenly Phoenix Fire to its maximum. While a green light circulated, a 0.96 meters long, 5.08 centimeters wide longsword slowly took form. The young fellow then thought, ‘As the materials are added into the fire in a different order, the changes that are derived are different too. There’s more than one timing to condense a spirit tool, but the most suitable time might not be when all of the materials have fused. This timing depends on my Heavenly Phoenix Fire, as well as my cultivation base. I have to perceive it myself, and it can only be sensed but not put into words.’
All of a sudden, a clear sound was heard coming from his wrist. The Cold Water Ore appeared once more.
As Ou Yangming probed the ore with his mental power, a roughly 3 meters round cold pond appeared in his spiritual world.
The cold lake was giving off a penetrating chill while a green mist surged tirelessly above it.
By using his mental power, Ou Yangming drew a quarter of the cold intent from the cold pond.
A white light shone on Ou Yangming’s fingertip as he gently pressed his middle finger on his right hand on the sword. Visible veined patterns of plum flowers in winter spread from both ends of the longsword. Moreover, a strong wind emerged, causing the spiritual Qi within about 33 meters from the equipment to be drawn toward it. It was worth noting that the plum flower patterns were incredibly condensed as if they were dancing on paper and could come to life at any time.
“This… This unusual phenomenon? In equipment smithing?”
“I wonder what the longsword’s equivalent rank will be. Is it also going to be a magic tool of High Grade Rank Five?” An unkempt man asked probingly.
“Hmph, don’t speak carelessly. Do you think that magic tools of High Grade Rank Five can be refined so easily? Besides, that’s a weapon!” A long-haired female disciple scoffed as she was displeased. She sneered at the man.
The unkempt man simply shrugged and smiled embarrassedly without saying a word.
Once Ou Yangming’s Heavenly Phoenix Fire went away, the intense fluctuation in the square dispersed.
Qu Zhengde was sitting upright at the moment. He had just melted all of the materials. In this round, Ou Yangming had fully displayed his Heavenly Phoenix Fire’s advantage—speed, unbelievable speed.
Li Qinghou had unknowingly approached Ou Yangming. He teased the young fellow, “Master Ou, isn’t your smithing speed too fast?!”
Ou Yangming blinked and replied to him, “I’m more adept in smithing weapons, so I was much faster this time.”
The elder cursed internally, ‘Who doesn’t know that you’re exceptionally fast in equipment smithing? Now, you’re saying that you’re more adept in smithing weapons? Weapons require the most painstaking effort among all of the equipment in a suit, okay?’
Nevertheless, he smiled amiably and asked, “Master Ou, you don’t mind me taking a look at it, do you?”
Ou Yangming was startled. He quickly stepped aside and said, “Great Elder Li, please.”
Li Qinghou had a strange look on his face, and he finally asked as he could not hold back anymore, “Master Ou, forgive me for being so bold. I noticed that the helmet that you smithed is delicate and has gentle lines. As for this longsword, it’s also fresh, elegant, and exquisite. Are you smithing this for a beautiful lady?”
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and did not answer Li Qinghou directly. Even so, the elder found his answer. Without hesitating further, he released his mental power into the longsword.
[Item: Cold Snow Longsword]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank Five]
[Attributes: Toughness +35, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability 35]
[Skill: Cold Intent Combo (Once activated, the winter plum flower patterns on the longsword will light up. One can slash 3 curved sword Qis in a row)]
The unkempt man glanced at the long-haired lady and mocked, “Who said that I was speaking carelessly just now?”
With that, the long-haired lady’s momentum was suppressed. She glared at the man without saying a word as she was mad.
Ou Yangming adjusted his Qi momentum. The Heavenly Phoenix Fire then burned once more without holding back at all. It was fully activated, and its flame was so bright that everyone felt warm.
After 15 minutes, a wonderful shoulder pad was formed inside the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. It flickered in endless cold light.
The Appraisal Light was released again…
When the crowd looked at the data that was displayed about the shoulder pad, they could not help but gasp once more.
“It’s another magic tool of High Grade Rank Five. This is the third now. Is the entire set going to comprise magic tools of this equivalent rank?”
Even Li Qinghou himself was shocked after he spoke. This was because it was such an unbelievable thought. After all, a suit that was made up of only magic tools of High Grade Rank Five was something that Venerable Ones coveted as well!
On the other side of the square, Qu Zhengde moved his fingers swiftly. Only his afterimage could be seen in the air.
When he clapped his hands in the air, it was as though a furious dragon was drawing up water. The forces eventually became heavier, and they overlapped until a violent force was released.
The precious smithing materials did not have even the slightest impurities. They somehow began to flow like colored glass.
This technique had a different approach from Yu Xiuming’s Heavy Pressure Circle Smithing but had the same outcome. Nonetheless, it was more overbearing.
Yuqi the Venerable One and the others gasped in amazement when they witnessed the technique. It was their first time seeing such a domineering smithing technique.
※※※※
After another 15 minutes, 5 pieces of equipment were placed in front of Ou Yangming. They released penetrating cold intents, and they were all magic tools of High Grade Rank Five.
Weak.
A mist that was known as cold intent—a white mist was released after the suit’s Suit Attribute was activated, by which it sucked all of the spiritual Qi within about 333 meters from the suit. The mist kept compressing and collapsing, then it finally exploded and could seal everything.
After another half an hour, Qu Zhende’s Blood Refining Suit was also successfully smithed, and it comprised magic tools of High Grade Rank Five.
Its Suit Skill was so notable that it was not outdone by the Cold Snow Suit; they were marvelous in their ways.
The Venerable Ones on the high platform fell silent. Tiandao the Venerable One pondered for some time before he spoke, “The Blood Refining Suit’s Suit Skill—Blood’s Illusion—can unknowingly set up a 3 kilometers Illusion Formation that can’t be broken free from. As for the Cold Intent Mist, it can seal things up to several kilometers. They’re both range skills, so it’s not easy to evaluate them…” He was pertinent and unbiased.
Every other Venerable One was also deep in thoughts.
Li Qinghou was the only one that looked troubled. He kept shifting his gaze between Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde.
After some time, Ai Hongli’s eyes gleamed as he suggested, “I heard that Master Kurong’s not only the greatest human powerhouse in Danzhou, but he’s also the best in equipment smithing. How about we invite him here to evaluate the suits? What do you think, Tiandao the Venerable One?”
Tiandao the Venerable One nodded after some thought, “That’ll be great.”
