Bai Zhiyi and the spirit beasts around looked at each other. Although deep down they did not want to believe what Ou Yangming said, they knew better that nobody would have the guts to make a joke out of it in this place. If the young fellow was lying, he would probably be mercilessly suppressed by the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One right away.
The 10,000 Beasts Venerable One had always been very polite to human blacksmiths and alchemists, but it did not mean that human cultivators could use its name without any condition.
Bai Zhiyi took a deep breath and said, “Lil’ Ou, since you were invited here, you must have your forte in smithing art.” He asked after a short pause, “What are you adept in? Can you show us?”
After knowing that Ou Yangming was personally invited by the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One, even the elder dared not treat the young fellow impolitely.
Nonetheless, they did not know that this was nothing but a beautiful misunderstanding.
The 10,000 Beasts Venerable One did not expect too much from Ou Yangming when it let him join the Trading Meet. Since he was merely a blacksmith from the lower realm, it would only be unreasonable for the Venerable One to expect something from him.
Even so, Ou Yangming always played his card untypically and had legitimate skills. As such, he borrowed the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One’s name and stirred up a storm here.
Ou Yangming chuckled and expressed after a moment of hesitation, “I haven’t learned smithing art thoroughly yet, and it’s still quite strenuous for me to smith Good Grade magic tools, but I have some personal views on the attachment of Unique Attributes.”
He was being rather polite. What did he mean by personal views? It was simply his mighty natural gift and ability.
“Okay.” Bai Zhiyi nodded and turned around as he uttered loudly, “Come inside. Let’s try it.”
The elder was quite reputable in this area. Since he entered the room, the other people naturally followed suit.
When he went up to the high platform and opened his interspatial bag to retrieve a piece of equipment, Fox Yi jumped out abruptly and asked, “Elder Bai, how can we use your materials? Use mine, use mine!” It presented a pile of ores and put them on the platform.
The other spirit beasts were stunned at first, then they could not help but curse, ‘What a sly fox!’
Even though nobody witnessed Ou Yangming’s ability, he must be unordinary to have been invited by the 10,000 Beast Venerable One. Besides, since he revealed that he had some achievements in the attachment of attributes, the spirit beasts were even more drawn to him.
Bai Zhiyi was giving the young fellow a test, but if a piece of equipment was successfully made, it would certainly belong to the cunning fox.
The elder could not help but laugh. He could see everything, but he was too lazy to care. “What would you like to be smithed?”
Fox Yi immediately answered, “The dumb bear lacks a suitable gauntlet, so…”
Bai Zhiyi turned to look at Ou Yangming, who noted without any hesitation, “I’m willing to try.”
With that, the young fellow went up to the platform and smiled faintly when he glanced at the ores presented by the spirit fox.
Fox Yi flushed and said embarrassedly, “Master Ou, there’ll be sufficient rewards for you if you succeed.”
It implied that it would not offend the young fellow over some rewards if he succeeded but if he failed, they would not collaborate anymore.
Ou Yangming was not bothered about the spirit fox’s little thought because he was absolutely confident in himself. As remarkable as one was in smithing art, one would still make mistakes, but the young fellow would not make any slips as long as his Military Fire still existed.
He pondered for a brief moment and drafted a plan in his mind.
In the Spiritual Realm, smithing art was indeed from that in the lower realm.
One of the biggest points was there were no publicly acknowledged special materials in the upper realm, such that materials similar to steel or featured steel were nowhere to be seen. In a way, it was evident that such materials did not exist on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge. Instead, they were replaced by various peculiar stones. Every blacksmith here had undergone systematic learnings, hence they understood those ores very well and had full sets of preferences to refine them.
Blacksmiths that indulged in this aspect for a decade or a few decades were naturally as familiar with it as they could be. On the other hand, Ou Yangming did not have a solid foundation. He had learned basic knowledge from Lin Feifeng, but he had not mastered them yet. In particular, this was more so the case when he smithed Good Grade tools.
After looking at the different ores on the ground, Ou Yangming picked 4 of them and slowly burned the Military Fire on his hands.
Nevertheless, he did not notice that the faces of Bai Zhiyi, the 3 human blacksmiths, and Fox Yi, changed subtly after he was done choosing the materials. They seemed to be disappointed.
Fox Yi was not a blacksmith, but it was incredibly smart. After meeting so many blacksmiths, while it could not smith pieces of equipment, it had made deductions of what kind of materials should be prepared.
It had retrieved a total of 8 types of material, and they were all essential to smith a piece of Good Grade equipment. If Ou Yangming wanted to smith a Good Grade magic tool, he would definitely select at least 6 of the ores.
Who knew, Ou Yangming only chose 4 of them.
According to Fox Yi’s usual observation, only a piece of equipment at the peak of Common Grade could be smithed once the 4 materials merged, and it would be far from the Good Grade magic tools that it was hoping for.
Most of the other spirit beasts were not interested in smithing art, but they roughly knew the difference between the smithing of a Good Grade tool and a Common Grade tool.
They whispered to one another at the moment and basically lost confidence in Ou Yangming. Despite that, for fear of Sir Venerable One, which was the one that invited Ou Yangming, they dared not clamor because they would be easily crushed to death.
If the spirit beasts opened questioned Ou Yangming, would that not mean they were questioning the Venerable One too? As long as they had not lost their minds, they would not dare to do that.
Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths tried their best to stay calm, but they secretly shook their heads and did not put much hope into Ou Yangming’s result.
Having said that, Ou Yangming seemed to not notice what was happening around him as he was fully focused on the Military Fire in front of him.
Inside the MIlitary Fire, the 4 materials and the Wish-fulfilling Clay slowly softened and fused. Back then, he would have done his best to smith a piece of equipment in the shortest time possible. However, after smithing together with Lin Feifeng, the young fellow knew that he would attract too much attention if he went all-out.
Therefore, he simply slowed down. He would still seem extremely fast to the others but at the very least, it was an acceptable speed.
“Hey?” Bai Zhiyi suddenly exclaimed and relaxed his eyebrows as he was puzzled.
“Elder Bai, what did you see?” One of the blacksmiths asked carefully.
Given that Bai Zhiyi was surprised, it was surely not a trivial matter.
Bai Zhiyi responded after some thought, ‘This young fella has some tricks up his sleeves indeed. He has quite a solid foundation in melting ores, and…” He shook his head and stopped talking.
When Ou Yangming melted ores with different properties, his fire’s burning range, stability, as well as his technique, were all on point and were textbook classics. Those were basic techniques, which must be done by every blacksmith after they acquired the spiritual fire.
Moreover, Bai Zhiyi felt that Ou Yangming’s Military Fire was as natural as drifting clouds and flowing water. Even when the young fellow melted ores with different properties together, there were no flaws at all.
Not to mention blacksmiths that had practiced for 3 years, even blacksmiths that had training for decades or a century could not have mastered the technique. Furthermore, though Ou Yangming had deliberately slowed down, he was clearly much faster than normal blacksmiths. The 3 other blacksmiths could not tell the wonder behind it, but Bai Zhiyi knew the young fellow’s fire was unordinary.
That said, he could not reveal it here.
Nonetheless, Bai Zhiyi would not have known that while Ou Yangming had only learned smithing art for 3 years, his Military Fire was truly unbelievable.
When one adopted other smithing techniques to melt ores, one must always grasp the melting degree. On top of that, it would be more than 100 times more difficult if one melted ores with different melting points at the same time. On the contrary, those were not issues for the Phoenix Fire.
Ou Yangming could easily grasp their melting points. After cultivating the path of cold and heat and by utilizing the thoroughly meticulous state, he could control disparate temperatures in different areas with ease.
This was the exact reason Bai Zhiyi made an error of judgment and found Ou Yangming’s melting technique unbelievable.
The Military Fire continued to burn, and it still attracted many spirit beasts. In spite of that, they were very relaxed as if they were waiting to see Ou Yangming make a joke out of himself.
At last, Ou Yangming was done melting the ores and the Wish-fulfilling Clay. He was highly-spirited as he released 1 point each of Sharpness and Toughness, which represented a magic tool’s standard, into his Military Fire.
The fire flickered slightly, but once it became stable again, a peculiar light could be seen on the gauntlet inside.
As soon as the light was emitted, it could not hide from the people and the spirit beasts present.
Bai Zhiyi and the 3 human blacksmiths raised their eyebrows at the same time, and they had the same thought.
‘How’s this possible?’
Ou Yangming exhaled deeply and curbed his Military Fire. A gauntlet was instantly seen on his hand.
He grinned and handed the equipment to the elder, “Elder Bai, please appraise it.”
Bai Zhiyi suppressed his shock and quietly accepted the gauntlet, then he released a light that enveloped the equipment.
After some time, he looked up and stared at Ou Yangming as he uttered word by word, “A magic tool, of Common Grade, Rank One.”