The other Golden Core experts were confident in Zhang Zhi. Even though Zhang Zhi might not be as good as Yin Wenbin in forging, material sourcing was Zhang Zhi’s forte.
To everyone’s surprise, Zhang Zhi said he had to go to the market to purchase materials for the competition. It rendered everyone speechless.
The Grand Elder was surprised but was the first to regain his senses. He asked, “You don’t have any material for the competition?”
Zhang Zhi was able to provide and cover all the required material for restoration and refinement, he should have some with him.
“They were used up.” Zhang Zhi did not overly explain himself. He wanted to walk but the Grand Elder stopped him.
“Friend, you won’t make it if you go to the market now. Here, I have something here suitable for a high-tier artifact, maybe it can be of help.”
The Grand Elder hesitated for a moment before he took a piece of dark green mineral out from his pouch.
Zhang Zhi did not say anything when he saw it but Yin Wenbin burst out in laughter despite the pain on his hand. “Jade Iron is a decent material but… Hahahaha!”
Yin Wenbin skipped the part about Jade Iron’s characteristics. A sword forged from Jade Iron could be invincible when controlled with spiritual power but the competition’s criteria was to test the sword’s integrity through brute force.
Without the enhancement from the spiritual power, Jade Iron was as brittle as normal jade, it might be even more fragile than normal iron.
The Grand Elder also knew that the Jade Iron was not the best material for the competition but he only had one suitable material in his possession. There was no time for Zhang Zhi to purchase new material in the market anymore.
The grand Elder looked at the other Golden Core experts and everyone shook their heads in denial, none of them had any materials suitable for high-tier artifact forging.
Zhang Zhi took the Jade Iron and said, “It’s a good material.”
“Zhang Zhi, this is a…” The Grand Elder felt embarrassed because the material was not ideal for the situation.
“It’s fine. Thank you Grand Elder for your help.” Zhang Zhi took the Jade Iron to the rear.
Yin Wenbin scoffed. Aside from the fact that Jade Iron could never forge a strong high-tier artifact, half of the competition time was gone. Zhang Zhi would never forge the flying sword in time.
After all, Yin Wenbin believed that a lousy blacksmith in a rural town should be using normal charcoal fire and it would take at least an hour to soften the Jade Iron.
He shook his head and scoffed harder. He somehow felt like he was bullying a mortal but it was amusing to him.
At the very next moment, Yin Wenbin almost hammered his hand off because he saw Zhang Zhi tossing the Jade Iron into the hearth, and it had turned red and soft before he could even blink.
“What the hell? What kind of hearth is that? How can he heat up the Jade Iron so fast?”
However, the most shocking scene was yet to come. Yin Wenbin saw Zhang Zhi simply hammering the softened Jade Iron and it turned into the rough shape of a sword; a few more hammer strikes later, the formation carving was done.
Zhang Zhi then proceeded into tempering the blade. Every single hammer strike on the blade changed its shape drastically.
Yin Wenbin got nervous. Even though the final test was about the sword’s integrity, he did not want to let Zhang Zhi beat him in the forging process because the process was also one way to show off his skills. He wanted to beat Zhang Zhi in every possible aspect.
“Junior sister!” Yin Wenbin bellowed.
The junior sister came over and stuck a piece of talisman charm on Yin Wenbin’s back. Then, she cast some kind of secret spell to further soften the blade for her senior brother to temper.
With his junior sister’s help, Yin Wenbin forged twice as fast as before and he managed to overtake Zhang Zhi for now.
“You are cheating!” The Golden Core experts criticized him for calling help.
Yin Wenbin grinned. “There’s no rule stating that I can’t call for help.”
“You shameless bastard!” bellowed the Golden Core experts. However, since the final test was about the sword’s integrity and not the speed, they should not jump to conclusions just yet.
Zhang Zhi was overtaken again but he was not in a hurry.
The Grand Elder looked at the burning joss stick and nodded happily. As long as Zhang Zhi could maintain his speed and be patient, he would make it within the time limit, being a little slower did not matter.
It was then that a ball-like animal rolled into the blacksmith, it looked like a pig but it was actually an armadillo. The fat armadillo was making its way to the rear and every step that it took looked exhausting but it was determined to make its way to the quenching pool.
“You might die from overeating.” Zhang Zhi suddenly stopped his hammering and looked at the armadillo with an interested gaze. The little guy would come into the blacksmith for a drink at the quenching pool when the sky turned dark.
Due to the last minute competition, Zhang Zhi closed shop later than usual but it did not affect the armadillo’s determination at all.
The armadillo looked askance at Zhang Zhi and swung its claws around, as if it was saying, “Life is precious, even if I die from overeating I’m…Ouch!”
Zhang Zhi was speechless but he was in the middle of a competition. He carried the armadillo and wanted to put it back in the backyard.
The Grand Elder was shocked. “Owner Zhang, you are not going to finish your forging?”
“I’ll be right back!” Zhang Zhi then carried the armadillo to the backyard.
Everyone was speechless, they instinctively looked at the burning joss stick, which had one small segment left.
He was in the middle of a forging competition but he was distracted by the armadillo, would he be able to make it in time?
In the backyard, Zhang Zhi put the armadillo down on its back. “You are already bloated, stop drinking for the night!”
The armadillo could not turn around because it was too fat. Its little claws struggled as it showed grievance. ‘You liar, you said I can drink as much as I like! I still can drink!’
Zhang Zhi returned to the blacksmith but the blade was cold already, so he had to toss it into the hearth again.
Yin Wenbin was finishing his forging. He could not help but laugh at Zhang Zhi, “Owner Zhang, I’ll be finishing my sword now.”
“Oh? Is the competition about speed as well?” Zhang Zhi was serious with his question.
Yin Wenbin was a little surprised because he said with a grin, “It’s not about speed but finishing first is also a way to display your forging skills. Besides, time is running out, can you even forge your flying sword in time?”
“Oh I see.” Zhang Zhi was thinking about something when he took the sword out of the hearth again. He lifted his hammer and hammered it once.
“It’s done.”
Yin Wenbin wanted to scoff in disdain but when he had a look at the sword in Zhang Zhi’s hands, his eyes almost fell out of his eye sockets. It only had the rough shape of a blade a moment ago yet, with a single hammer strike, it became a brand new flying sword?
“What the f*ck? Did he swap it out with a ready-made sword?”
However, the sword was obviously made from the Jade Iron Zhang Zhi got from the Grand Elder.
What kind of forging technique did it require to forge a flying sword with a single hammer strike?
Yin Wenbin might not be paying full attention to Zhang Zhi’s forging process because he was busy with his own but the Golden Core experts and the Grand Elder watched it from the start to the end.
The last hammer strike felt normal, Zhang Zhi did not use any special method to forge the sword but the normal strike transformed a rough blade into a perfect sword. It defied the laws of science!
Even though all the cultivators could fly and phase through the ground, it was still unscientific to them.
Yin Wenbin regained his senses from the shock. Even though he did not know what kind of magic Zhang Zhi used to transform his blade into a flying sword with a single hammer strike, he was embarrassed by it.
A moment ago, he was delighted that he was faster and better than Zhang Zhi but it turned out that Zhang Zhi was faster and better than him.
Embarrassed, Yin Wenbin got mad, he brandished his hammer furiously and the blade slowly turned into a flying sword.
“Grand Elder, what did Zhang Zhi do with that hammer strike?”
The Golden Core experts were utterly confused, they looked at the knowledgeable Grand Elder for answers.
The Grand Elder looked a little hesitant and embarrassed because he too did not know what happened. He had no idea where to get answers.
However, as the Grand Elder, he must have something to assure his juniors, so he prepared a lie. He might have lied countless times in his life but this one was probably the best one.
“During ancient times, when demons roamed the land, mankind was almost wiped out. In order to ensure the longevity of the race, two ancestors of man stood up to the challenge. One of them was Du Jie; one of them was Tian Gong.
“Du Jie taught mankind how to cultivate and made mankind stronger than the demons; Tian Gong taught mankind how to create, allowing mankind to forge weapons to pierce the demons’ armor and flesh.”
“Under the guidance of the two great ancestors, mankind grew stronger and chased the demons into the Chaos Land. From then onwards, the world returned to peace and mankind prevailed.”
“Du Jie’s cultivation method was vastly advocated and eventually divided into the countless sects we have now. In order to commemorate Du Jie, the final stage of cultivation was named after him: Du Jie, which also means Crossing Calamity.”
“As for the forging methods of Tian Gong, it was lost in the river of time but one term proved that it existed: Heavenly Forging Technique!”
The Golden Core experts were shocked when they heard the story, they had goosebumps all over their body. They regained their senses and said in awe, “So Owner Zhang’s forging method is actually Heavenly Forging Technique?”
“Owner Zhang, am I right?” Grand Elder winked at Zhang Zhi, attempting to signal him to go along with the story.”
Zhang Zhi was speechless. The reason why he was able to forge a sword with a single hammer strike was because of the special ability from the system.
The system was able to create things from thin air, so the theory behind the method was more or less the same. All he needed to do was simply hammer it and it could become an artifact.
Zhang Zhi usually said he needed one hour for a single artifact but it was because he was trying to lay low and he enjoyed the hammering process. Therefore, he never really used the instant forging ability until now.
He used it now because he disliked Yin Wenbin’s arrogance, so he wanted to teach the man a lesson.
As for the Grand Elder’s lies about ancient forging technique, it was funny but Zhang Zhi did not want to burst the bubble. After all, having the cover of Heavenly Forging Technique could give him more advantage in using his system in front of the public, he could also use it to boost his reputation, so why not?
“I originally wanted to lay low and become a normal handsome man but Grand Elder, you are able to see right through me. You have my respect.” Zhang Zhi almost burst out in laughter but he managed to pull it off.
With Zhang Zhi’s acknowledgement, the Golden Core experts admired the Grand Elder even more.
“Grand Elder is so knowledgeable that he knew about the Heavenly Forging Technique!”
“Owner Zhang, you are awesome! You have inherited the technique from ancient times, this will defy even the heavens!”
“No wonder he can achieve so much in his young age. I’m impressed.”
The Golden Core experts praised Zhang Zhi ceaselessly.
Both Zhang Zhi and the Grand Elder nodded together.
“You guys are being too kind, I’m just No.3 in the world…” said Zhang Zhi.
As for Yin Wenbin, he was utterly confused.
Heavenly Soldier Pavilion had a long history in inheritance techniques yet he had never heard of the so-called Heavenly Forging Technique.