Chapter 4

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Feeling someone secretly watching him, Kong Fang knew without a doubt that it was Zhao Yong's people. After all, Zhao Yong was the only one who had a grudge against him and threatened to eliminate him.

"Stalking me so quickly, it seems they're worried I might run away early. Hmph, I won't run. If I run, who will come to settle accounts with you?" Kong Fang's face turned cold.

Looking at the short sword in his hand, Kong Fang decided it was best not to let Zhao Yong and his people know about it yet. He immediately turned back into the house, found a piece of old cloth, and wrapped the short sword tightly. Only then did he go out again, heading straight for the Huoyun Hall.

After Kong Fang left, Qian Ziguang, who had been hiding behind a small hill, came out.

"Putting on quite a show, really thinking you're a skilled weapon forger. Hmph, let's see how long you can keep up the act." Qian Ziguang sneered and secretly followed him.

About half an hour later, Kong Fang arrived at the Huoyun Hall on another mountain peak.

The Huoyun Hall was built inside the mountain, with most of the area consisting of independent forging rooms made of Cold Obsidian Stone. These rooms had underground fire drawn up to supply the weapon forgers. Apart from these rooms, the rest of the area belonged to the Huoyun Hall, and ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter.

Kong Fang went straight to the forging area, walking along the Cold Obsidian Stone floor and observing the forging rooms on both sides of the corridor.

It was almost time for the biennial assessment, so many people had come to the Huoyun Hall to forge weapons and armor, which meant that every forging room was occupied as Kong Fang walked through.

However, this was normal. Those who were more confident in their forging skills usually started early, while those who started now, like Kong Fang, were mostly unsure of their abilities. After all, the forging materials in hand were limited, and once they failed, they wouldn't pass the assessment.

"New disciples can only use the lowest-level Yellow-grade forging rooms. It's no wonder good weapons can't be forged there." Kong Fang muttered helplessly, "Although I can't control fire, the tempering liquid in the Mystic-grade forging rooms is much better than that in the Yellow-grade rooms. If I could use a Mystic-grade room, I would have a better chance of passing this assessment."

The tempering liquid was formulated by the weapon forgers, and the levels of the underground fire and tempering liquid in the 'Heaven, Earth, Mystic, Yellow' grade forging rooms were different, with the Yellow-grade being the worst.

"Junior, what you just said is not quite right," a voice from behind interrupted Kong Fang's thoughts.

Kong Fang was startled. His soul had just formed, and his perception had greatly improved. Yet, he hadn't noticed someone approaching him.

Kong Fang immediately stopped and turned to look behind him.

Two young men, around eighteen or nineteen years old, were walking towards him. Both looked very ordinary and were dressed simply, but the one in front had a special aura that made people unable to ignore him.

"Who are the two seniors?" Kong Fang asked, puzzled.

The young man with the special aura hadn't spoken, but the one behind him quickly said, "This is Senior Sun Hao from the Huoyun Hall, and I am his follower, Zhang De."

Although Zhang De spoke very politely, Kong Fang noticed a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

Zhang De, though just a follower, could obtain cultivation techniques and soul forging methods from the weapon forgers, thus embarking on the path of cultivation. His status was far above that of a new disciple. If not for Sun Hao's sudden words, Zhang De wouldn't have bothered with a new disciple like Kong Fang.

"Is this the Sun Hao who forged a low-grade spirit treasure?" Kong Fang was startled and began to carefully observe Sun Hao.

Seeing that Kong Fang was silent and just staring at Sun Hao, Zhang De became somewhat dissatisfied. "A new disciple with no status doesn't bow to an inner hall disciple but just stares. Truly, he doesn't understand the rules." Zhang De snorted heavily.

Hearing Zhang De's snort, Kong Fang finally reacted. However, he didn't bow as Zhang De expected but changed the topic, saying, "Senior Sun Hao, you said I was wrong. I am dull, and I hope Senior Sun Hao can enlighten me."

Kong Fang came from Earth, and his mindset was different from that of the people in this world. If other new disciples met an inner hall disciple who could forge spirit treasures, they would either flatter or show great respect.

Sun Hao didn't mind Kong Fang's lack of respect and explained with a smile, "The tempering liquid in the Mystic-grade forging rooms is indeed better than that in the Yellow-grade rooms, but forging isn't just about the tempering liquid. Removing impurities, combining various materials to form the weapon's core, and finally activating the spirit, these three steps are also crucial. Relying solely on tempering won't forge a spirit treasure."

Zhang De sneered inwardly, extremely disdainful. "Not many inner hall disciples can forge spirit treasures, let alone a ragged new disciple who is doing poorly. Talking about spirit treasures to such a person, I'm worried he won't even understand." Zhang De thought maliciously.

"Better tempering liquid should improve the weapon's quality, right?" Kong Fang asked in surprise.

Sun Hao smiled and shook his head, "Junior, you are both right and wrong. If the steps of removing impurities and forming the weapon's core are not done well, the tempering liquid won't fully activate the characteristics of the materials. At that point, a regular tempering liquid might only activate a small part of the material's characteristics, while a high-grade tempering liquid might activate slightly more. But you must understand that the characteristics of the materials in a spirit treasure should complement each other and be in balance."

"If this balance is not achieved, the weapon is considered a failure. Regular tempering liquid activates fewer characteristics, so it causes less imbalance. In this case, a high-grade tempering liquid might actually be worse than a low-grade one. Do you understand, Junior?" Sun Hao asked with a smile.

Kong Fang's mind suddenly became clear. "Thank you, Senior, for your guidance." Kong Fang sincerely thanked him.

Although Sun Hao didn't say much, it was very helpful to him.

Sun Hao smiled, said nothing more, and continued forward with Zhang De. The forging rooms twenty meters away were all empty, so Sun Hao and Zhang De chose one and entered.

Kong Fang, pondering what Sun Hao had said, entered the forging room next to Sun Hao's.

"Truly, those who can forge spirit treasures are remarkable. This principle seems simple, but without guidance, most people wouldn't think of it." Kong Fang couldn't help but admire Sun Hao.

In the forging room where Sun Hao was,

Zhang De stood at the door and closed the heavy Cold Obsidian Stone door after seeing Kong Fang enter the adjacent room.

"Senior, you are too kind. He is just a regular new disciple, yet you spent your precious time guiding him." Zhang De pouted.

Sun Hao glanced at Zhang De and smiled, shaking his head, "My time isn't as precious as you say. Besides, it's just a few words, how much time does it really take?"

Zhang De was dissatisfied but didn't dare to say it directly. He hoped Sun Hao would use his free time to guide him in forging, not waste it on a new disciple with no future.

"Alright, let's not talk about that. I'll guide you in forging." Sun Hao said with a faint smile.

...

In the adjacent forging room, after closing the Cold Obsidian Stone door, Kong Fang quickly went to the stone pond containing the tempering liquid. Unwrapping the old cloth from the short sword, Kong Fang, with excitement, plunged the sword into the pond.

Then, Kong Fang waited. The tempering liquid needed time to activate the characteristics of the materials in the short sword.

"Through tempering, the short sword's quality should improve somewhat." Kong Fang was somewhat hopeful, as this was his first attempt at forging.

After a while, Kong Fang pulled the short sword out of the tempering liquid.

Kong Fang, full of hope, carefully examined the short sword in his hand. Suddenly, his face changed dramatically.

"How can there be no change at all? It shouldn't be like this. Even if the quality doesn't improve much, there should be a slight improvement." Seeing the unchanged short sword, Kong Fang became anxious. He had little confidence in passing the assessment, and now the tempering step had no effect, making his chances even slimmer.

"It shouldn't be like this," Kong Fang muttered, "Because of my natural talent, I can't control fire, so I had to use other methods to remove impurities and form the weapon's core. I wasn't sure about the results. If the tempering step can't improve the short sword's quality, my forging attempt will fail."

Kong Fang, anxious, started to ramble. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him, making him freeze.

"The problem... might be in the steps of removing impurities and forming the weapon's core. Others use underground fire, but I accidentally used earth energy. Maybe, the problem is here." Kong Fang's eyes focused, and a glimmer of hope arose in his heart.

Now, no matter what, he had to try. Even if it failed, it was better than not trying at all.

Kong Fang walked to the side, activated the array, and the underground fire immediately surged from the ground, forming a raging flame covering an area of about seven meters.

The underground fire was extremely destructive, but under the array's control, it became very gentle.

Kong Fang threw the short sword, which drew an arc and fell into the underground fire. Although Kong Fang couldn't control the fire, the array had some control over the underground fire, allowing him to perform simple tasks.

In the Yellow-grade forging rooms, which were usually used by new disciples, the disciples couldn't obtain soul forging techniques and thus couldn't directly control the underground fire. They could only guide the fire using their fire affinity, which had limited effect on forging.

Therefore, the weapon forgers set up arrays in the Yellow-grade rooms to assist in forging.

Kong Fang threw the short sword into the underground fire and used the array to control the fire, preparing to redo the step of forming the weapon's core.

Suddenly, the raging underground fire stopped, as if it had turned into a flame sculpture, solidifying instantly. The sudden change startled Kong Fang, who didn't know what had happened.

However, the underground fire soon resumed its raging, but this time, its power was ten times more intense. Moreover, the fire surged towards the short sword, which seemed to become a bottomless pit, rapidly consuming the fire.

Kong Fang watched in shock, forgetting to control the array.

At the same time, in the dozen or so forging rooms around Kong Fang, the people who were forging weapons suddenly let out heart-wrenching screams. They had been carefully forging weapons, but the underground fire, controlled by the array, suddenly became extremely unstable, and its power surged, turning their forging materials into ashes.

"How can the underground fire, controlled by the array, suddenly become unstable? I've never heard of such a thing." In the adjacent forging room, Sun Hao looked at the ashes of the materials, his expression full of shock and confusion.

Zhang De, who was observing beside him, turned green. These forging materials were the result of his hard work. At this moment, his heart was bleeding.

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