Saint-Level Forgemaster

Faced with the absolute confidence and composure of the man who had captured her heart, and seeing the focused look in his eyes—as if he could shield her from every storm in the world—Lin Xiaoxiao felt her heart begin to pound wildly.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks.

The string in her mind called “reason” snapped in an instant.

Reason?

To hell with reason!

Lin Xiaoxiao clenched her teeth.

She swiftly pulled out the black card containing fifteen billion yuan and, without the slightest hesitation, slapped it into Su Yu’s hand.

“I believe you!”

Lin Xiaoxiao lifted her head. Her pure, beautiful face was filled with determination and bashfulness.

Whatever!

Even if Su Yu took all this money and threw it into the water…

Even if he ultimately failed to forge even a single piece of scrap metal…

She was still willingly letting him spend her money.

Su Yu took the black card.

Feeling the warmth it had retained, a trace of gentleness flashed through his deep eyes.

“Good.”

Su Yu nodded and put the card away.

“Let’s go buy the materials.”

With that, he turned and walked away. Lin Xiaoxiao immediately followed him.

The sales clerk stood rooted to the spot, completely dumbfounded.

Tiangong Pavilion, basement level one—the basic materials section.

Unlike the luxurious upper floors, this area was piled high with all kinds of unrefined ores and materials taken from vicious beasts.

Su Yu walked ahead.

His gaze swept across the piles of materials like a radar.

“Five hundred pounds of Mother Xuantie.”

“Two hundred pounds of Scarlet Copper Essence.”

“Take out the spine of a second-order Wind Demon Wolf.”

“And that Star-Patterned Steel ore in the corner—pack all of it up.”

Su Yu pointed at those basic materials, materials that could hardly be any more basic, as though he were ordering dishes from a menu.

Following behind him, Lin Xiaoxiao felt deeply uneasy.

But since she had already handed over the money, she decided to keep her mouth shut and firmly refrain from interfering.

After buying the materials, Su Yu paid directly with the card.

He then walked over to the intelligent floor-directory screen in the lobby and quickly scanned the layout of Tiangong Pavilion.

“Fourth to sixth floors: constant-temperature standard forging areas, equipped with conventional electromagnetic heating furnaces…”

“Top floor: Earthcore Forging Area, connected directly to the underground earthfire veins beneath Kyoto.”

Su Yu’s gaze quickly locked onto the most expensive option listed for the top floor—the Extreme Flame Forging Chamber.

According to the description, the Extreme Flame Forging Chamber possessed the purest earthfire energy. Its interior was also inscribed with temperature-gathering and flame-control formations left behind by top-tier formation masters from the military.

“We’ll go to the top floor.” Su Yu withdrew his gaze, already having made up his mind.

Next, he would use the Heavenly Art of Creation to reshape the materials in large quantities. The strain on his mind would be immense.

If he could make use of the earthfire veins and auxiliary formations in the Extreme Flame Forging Chamber, he could conserve a great deal of energy. That would allow him to focus all his concentration on engraving the formations, greatly improving the success rate and efficiency of the forging process.

“Let’s go.”

The two of them took a private elevator to the top floor.

The moment they stepped out, a wave of scorching heat surged toward them.

At the reception desk, an employee in uniform courteously stopped them.

“Hello. Please show me your smithing license.”

Su Yu shook his head.

“I don’t have one.”

“I want to rent the highest-grade Extreme Flame Forging Chamber.”

The employee froze for a moment before offering an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“The earthfire veins inside the Extreme Flame Forging Chamber are extremely violent, and the danger level is exceptionally high.”

“For your own safety, we cannot grant access to anyone without at least a basic smithing license.”

Lin Xiaoxiao tugged lightly at the corner of Su Yu’s shirt.

“Su Yu, why don’t we rent an ordinary chamber on one of the lower floors?”

Su Yu shook his head without agreeing.

The maximum temperature of an ordinary forging furnace was too low, and it could not provide sufficient environmental assistance. He had to finish forging the armor perfectly before heading to the darknet auction house that evening. The Extreme Flame Forging Chamber was currently his most efficient and safest option.

“How can I get a license?” Su Yu asked calmly.

The employee pointed toward a transparent glass room nearby.

“That’s the testing area.”

“If you can refine a piece of Star-Patterned Steel ore on the spot and raise its purity to above sixty percent…”

“Then you can obtain a basic smithing license and rent the Extreme Flame Forging Chamber.”

Refine Star-Patterned Steel?

To sixty percent?

Su Yu nodded.

“Fine.”

Although he had studied smithing for ten billion years through the system, this was still his first time forging in the real world.

To be honest, he was rather looking forward to it.

Su Yu turned around and strode directly toward the transparent testing area.

Lin Xiaoxiao hurried after him, intertwining her fingers tightly.

Her palms were drenched in sweat.

Inside the testing area, an elderly man with a full head of white hair and beard was dozing in a rocking chair.

He was Tiangong Pavilion’s resident senior smith—and the examiner here.

Hearing footsteps, the old man slowly lifted his eyelids.

After glancing at Su Yu’s absurdly young face, he stood up.

“You know the rules, right?”

“The Star-Patterned Steel ore is on the left, and the forging furnace is on the right.”

“Raise its purity to sixty percent within half an hour.”

Su Yu walked up to the forging furnace.

He casually picked up a chunk of Star-Patterned Steel ore roughly the size of a human head, its surface riddled with impurities.

The ore’s purity was only around ten percent.

Su Yu stood before the forging furnace, the fist-sized chunk of Star-Patterned Steel ore in his hand.

He did not act immediately.

In his deep, clear eyes, the constantly leaping crimson flames of the furnace were reflected.

Silence.

Deep within his mind, that long stretch of ten billion years seemed to awaken quietly at this very moment.

The Heavenly Art of Creation contained thirty-six thousand methods for processing Star-Patterned Steel.

How to swing the hammer.

How to find the weak points in its crystal structure.

How to shatter every impurity within it in the most effortless and flawless manner.

These things were no longer dry theories confined to the pages of a book.

They had long since become absolute instincts, engraved in the depths of his soul and woven into every fiber of his muscles.

He simply stood there in silence.

He made no deliberate attempt to release any martial energy.

Yet in that instant, the youthful immaturity belonging to an eighteen-year-old college freshman vanished without a trace.

In its place was an extreme air of vicissitude and composure, tempered by the passage of endless years and born from seeing through the essence of all things in the world.

The bearing of a grandmaster!

No!

It was the aura of an unrivaled divine smith—one who surpassed even grandmasters, and perhaps even exceeded the limits of what this world could comprehend!

That kind of presence was extraordinarily distinctive.

It was even somewhat glaring.

Outside the transparent testing area, an old man dressed in a loose gray robe, with white hair and beard, happened to be walking past with his hands clasped behind his back and his brows tightly furrowed.

Zong Yan.

One of only two Saint-level smiths in the Great Xia Kingdom!

The nation’s guardian armor maker, renowned throughout the world!

Today, he happened to be visiting Tiangong Pavilion for an inspection.

His mood was terrible.

The problem of declining talent in Great Xia’s smithing world had become extraordinarily serious.

In this era of flourishing martial arts, all those with genuine talent, perseverance, and the potential to become peerless prodigies devoted themselves wholeheartedly to martial cultivation.

Who would be willing to spend all day beside a blazing furnace, forging metal until they were covered in soot?

Most of those who came to study smithing were people with mediocre martial talent—those who had reached a dead end on the path of martial arts—or people who were simply trying to earn a living.

They had no talent.

There was a lack of spiritual aptitude.

This made Zong Yan, a Saint-level smith, feel unprecedented anxiety.

Talent!

The forging world was in desperate need of talent!

Even a young prospect with the slightest bit of spiritual aptitude was, in Zong Yan's eyes, ten thousand times more precious than those so - called rare treasures of heaven and earth!

Just as Zong Yan was sighing and about to leave,

Out of the corner of his eye, he casually glanced at the transparent assessment area.

His steps.

Suddenly came to a halt.

In Zong Yan's cloudy old eyes, a startlingly sharp glint suddenly shot out!

He stared at the young man in black standing in front of the forging furnace.

Unconsciously, he held his breath.

"That feeling..."

Zong Yan's dry palm suddenly clenched tightly.

Laymen watch the show, while experts see the essence.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Su Yu was just standing there stupidly, as if in a daze.

But in the eyes of Zong Yan, a Saint - level smith.

Su Yu's current standing posture, the frequency of his breathing, and even the angle at which his gaze fell on the star - patterned steel!

All of them subtly conformed to some ineffable principle of heaven and earth!

There wasn't a single superfluous movement!

It was as if he had completely merged with the forging furnace in front of him and the raw ore in his hand!

"What a terrifying level of concentration!"

"What a pure forging intuition!"

Zong Yan's heart pounded wildly.

He was 150 years old and had seen countless geniuses.

But he had never seen such a natural, almost "Tao - like" unique temperament in a young man!

"A great prospect!"

"An absolute peerless talent!"

Zong Yan was so excited that his beard trembled slightly.

He didn't make a sound to disturb.

Instead, he silently walked to the glass wall, placed his hands on the glass, and stared at Su Yu without blinking.

He intended to have a good look at this young man's performance.

If the young man really had talent.

Even if he could only purify the star - patterned steel to 50%.

He, Zong Yan, would break the rules today and directly take this young man as his last disciple and vigorously cultivate him!