The mountain's cheers gradually subsided, yet the passion remained unabated.
As the night deepened, the crowd refused to disperse.
Using a single piece of immortal gold to forge a longsword, the process had been as smooth as flowing water, captivating the gaze of ten thousand people.
The sword embryo took shape...
The spirit infusion was performed...
The blade was quenched...
The sword body was sealed...
In the remaining time, Xu Xian’s speed increased. For someone who could refine a pile of spirit ore into immortal gold, performing the spirit infusion for a sword became exceptionally simple.
The details. The force. The nurturing of spirit. It was all effortless.
As the Hour of the Dog drew to a close and the Hour of the Pig approached, Xu Xian channeled his own extreme cold qi into the quenching water, completing the final step for the blade.
Quench!
Tempered by the cold...
Accompanied by a series of sizzling sounds and the rising mist under the moonlight, the youth finished his work. He placed a brand-new three-foot azure blade onto the forging table.
Taking a half-step back, he made a gesture of invitation and smiled. "Please, evaluate it!"
The Elders who had been surrounding Xu Xian, their eyes never leaving him, looked at one another in silence. Finally, one of them stepped forward.
Descending from the sky, he gave Xu Xian a slight bow before walking to the forging table. He cautiously picked up the longsword and examined it closely in his hands.
His pupils constricted slightly, and his throat bobbed. Moving his gaze from the sword, he looked first at Xu Xian, then at his colleagues, then at the surrounding crowd, and finally at the group of powerhouses on the high platform.
Amidst the absolute silence, he spoke four words clearly: "Low-tier earth weapon!"
What did a low-tier earth weapon signify?
It was the standard of a fourth-rank spirit forge master. However, in the eyes of the Wendao Sect disciples, their Little Grand-Uncle's level was far beyond a mere fourth-rank spirit forge master.
Compared to the shock earlier, this result was within expectations.
The mountain-shaking cheers didn't erupt again; instead, an intense wave of discussion broke out among the crowd.
Some said it was expected. Some said he simply ran out of time, otherwise it would have been even better. Some said this wasn't the Little Grand-Uncle's true strength.
And of course, some claimed that from now on, the forging world of Fanzhou would be ruled by the Little Grand-Uncle alone.
In short, the opinions were varied and colorful.
On the high platform, Elder Yao was the first to stand. With his hands behind his back, he walked away triumphantly, humming an unknown little tune, looking completely unfazed by honor or disgrace.
Ye Xianyu had also vanished at some point.
Next was Li Qinghan, who cursed the 'brat' with a smile. He cast a wary glance at Elder Yao, and seeing that the other wasn't paying attention to him, he breathed a sigh of relief and left.
The Elders dispersed one after another.
Han Yi announced the end of the competition. Based on the time taken and the results, he declared the top three winners of this Spirit Forger Certification Competition.
Xu Xian was the well-deserved champion, taking first place.
There was no doubt about it.
His reward was a piece of top-grade immortal gold.
However, during the award ceremony, Xu Xian was nowhere to be found.
No one knew when he had left. They only saw Zhang Yang running onto the stage with a foolish grin, claiming he was there to accept the prize on behalf of the Little Grand-Uncle, managing to show off his face once more.
The protagonist was gone.
The disciples who had watched for the entire day also returned to where they came from.
An annual forging competition had turned into a grand event because of one person, and it concluded with that same person's departure.
Perhaps many years later, people would still mention it.
That year's forging competition, where the disciples of the entire mountain waited from dawn till dusk to witness the birth of a legend.
Of course, those were stories for the future.
For now, across the Seven Peaks and Thirteen Halls, men and women, young and old, could be heard talking in pairs or groups. Out of every three sentences they spoke, at least one was about today's events.
"The Little Grand-Uncle is a beast. Six hours... he hammered for six hours straight. If it were me, I would have dropped dead from exhaustion long ago."
"Exactly! I heard from the Forging Hall guys that the hammer in the Little Grand-Uncle's hand was Elder Yao's prized Star-Forging Hammer. It weighs a full 100,000 jin!"
"100,000 jin? My god! It seems I was too conservative; the Little Grand-Uncle is even fiercer than I imagined."
"He only apprenticed under Master Ruan around this time last year. In less than a year, he's already a fourth-rank spirit forge master. Honestly, his forging was probably delayed by his cultivation, otherwise he'd be at the ninth rank by now."
"I don't like how you put that. What do you mean 'delayed by cultivation'? Clearly, his cultivation was delayed by forging! The Little Grand-Uncle broke through four stages in two years, averaging two stages a year. If he hadn't spent this year forging, he'd be at the sixth stage by now!"
"If you're going to calculate it like that, if he had started forging from the beginning, wouldn't he be at the twelfth rank? He'd be a second-rank immortal forger! He'd be the number one master forger in the world!"
"If you guys are going to be that unreasonable, I'm not even going to argue!"
Where there was a topic, there were differing opinions and debates. The disciples, having nothing left to argue about, began discussing whether the Little Grand-Uncle's talent for cultivation was stronger or if his talent for forging was superior.
But after all the arguing, it seemed he was incredibly powerful in both.
An eighteen-year-old in the nascent soul stage. The only master forger to have ever forged immortal gold.
Because of this, Xu Xian gained a resounding new title: the Forging Saint Body.
Meanwhile, Xu Xian, the man himself, had already returned to Zuiwan Residence.
Lin Qianqian, Yao Xiaoxiao, Wen Qingxue, Hao Ren, and the others followed him, insisting on celebrating this historic moment.
Unfortunately, Xu Xian had no interest in that at all. After politely declining, he returned to his room and collapsed onto the floor, limbs sprawled out.
His legs were shaking. His hands were trembling. His eyelids drooped, and the light in his eyes was dim.
He had hammered for six hours straight before, and he had even done it for a day and a night. But swinging the Star-Forging Hammer for six hours like he did today was a first.
To say he wasn't tired would be a lie. Looking as if nothing were wrong earlier was entirely an act.
He had been in a hurry to leave not because he was being humble. He was genuinely afraid that if he stayed to receive the award, his legs would give out and he would kneel right there. If that happened, wouldn't his reputation from the entire day be ruined?
The reward was a small matter, but face was everything. This was no joking matter.
Fortunately, his plan had succeeded, which was something to be happy about.
A fourth-rank spirit forge master was tonight's result. Xu Xian was confident that if he used immortal gold for the entire forging process, he could directly produce a high-tier earth weapon.
As for heaven weapons, it wasn't possible for now. Not because his technique was lacking, but because his strength was insufficient.
His cultivation realm was too low. Even if his details and force were perfect, he still lacked a bit of 'heat.'
It was just as Ruan Hao had said. A powerful cultivator might not necessarily know how to forge, but a powerful master forger must be a powerful cultivator.
To a certain extent, cultivation and forging complemented each other.
Ruan Hao often nagged Xu Xian, saying that the reason he couldn't break through to immortal forging was largely because his cultivation had stalled at the great ascension stage.
Xu Xian understood the connection even if others didn't. A fourth-rank spirit forge master wasn't his limit, but it was the upper bound for his current nascent soul stage.
Still, the fourth rank wasn't bad. In the entire Fanzhou, it was considered top-tier.
Furthermore, his short-term goal wasn't to produce heaven weapons or immortal weapons; that would be too ambitious. His ultimate goal had always been to forge an earth weapon out of mortal iron.
Now, he had achieved forging an earth weapon from spirit ore. It was a solid first step.
There was still a long road ahead of him.
"The road is long and the responsibility is heavy!"
However, this success had given him a sense of direction while also resolving many difficulties he hadn't been able to solve before.
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