Certified Saint-Level Blacksmith

Then—

One hammer blow came crashing down!

BOOM—!!!

There were no unnecessary movements.

It was simply the most basic, beginner-level technique in the forging world.

The Tremor Hammer!

The instant the massive dark-gold hammerhead came into contact with the raw Starpattern Steel ore—

Time itself seemed to freeze.

There was no deafening clash of metal.

Only an extraordinarily crisp, strange hum, like a dragon’s roar!

Hummm—!!!

A visible transparent ripple burst from the point where the hammer struck, instantly sweeping across the entire chunk of raw Starpattern Steel ore!

Crack, crack, crack!

The rock-hard layer of impurities coating the ore’s surface—

Under that utterly flawless vibrational force—

Instantly crumbled into incredibly fine powder!

Like gray snowflakes, it drifted gently down!

Then—

Light.

A dazzling, magnificent radiance so bright it was impossible to look at directly—

Erupted from within the Starpattern Steel after its stony outer layer had been stripped away!

It shot skyward!

One inch!

Two inches!

Three inches!!!

A full three inches of brilliant radiance illuminated the entire transparent examination area as brightly as day!

The once dull, gray lump of ore had now become an exquisite jade-like treasure, crystal-clear throughout and radiating enchanting starlight!

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Even the sound of breathing vanished completely.

The elderly examiner’s legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground. He stared foolishly at the three-inch radiance, utterly unaware that drool was running down his chin.

And Zong Yan—

A Saint-tier forgemaster.

The foremost authority in Great Xia's forging world.

At this moment, he seemed to have been struck by a paralysis spell, rooted rigidly to the spot.

He was stunned.

Completely and utterly stunned.

In Zong Yan’s mind, every detail of Su Yu’s hammer strike replayed frantically, as if on film.

“His force application… from the waist to the spine, then to the arm—there wasn’t the slightest loss of power! Flawless!”

“The point of impact… it was precisely the resonance point at the core of Starpattern Steel’s crystal structure! Off by a hair, and the result would be worlds apart! Flawless!”

“His control of force… a hammer weighing tens of thousands of tons came down, yet it didn’t damage even a trace of the Starpattern Steel’s inner spiritual essence! Flawless!!!”

Zong Yan analyzed wildly in his heart.

The more he analyzed, the more his scalp tingled!

The more he analyzed, the more his very soul trembled!

At last—

Zong Yan arrived at a conclusion so absurd that even he found it hard to believe.

“This kid’s forging ability…”

“Isn’t any weaker than mine?!”

“What?!”

Zong Yan’s eyes flew wide open as he stared in disbelief at the three-inch radiance shooting into the air.

No!

It wasn’t that he wasn’t weaker than him!

This kid was freaking more monstrous than he was!!!

In the ironclad rules of the forging world—

Sixty percent purification of Starpattern Steel was considered a pass. Eighty percent was excellent. Ninety percent made one a master!

And only when the material had been purified one hundred percent completely, without a single trace of impurity—

Would it trigger a heavenly phenomenon and burst forth with three inches of radiant light!

This kind of absolute, one-hundred-percent purification.

Even for a Saint-tier forgemaster like him, it would take several hours of painstaking work—thousands upon thousands of hammer strikes, carefully removing impurities bit by bit—to achieve such a result!

Yet this eighteen-year-old kid before him—

had done it with a single blow!

Just one hammer strike!

And he had fucking refined star-pattern steel to the absolute limit of one hundred percent purity?!

Zong Yan felt his entire worldview shatter beneath that strike.

Three inches of radiant glow shimmered within the transparent testing area.

The light was not dazzling, yet it carried a purity that struck straight at the soul.

Zong Yan stared at that peerless, jade-like piece of metal gleaming with starlight. It was as though every ounce of strength had been drained from his body; even breathing had become extraordinarily difficult.

One hundred percent!

An absolute, perfect one hundred percent refinement rate!

As one of Great Xia's only two Saint-tier forgemasters, Zong Yan understood better than anyone what those three inches of radiant light signified.

And what was the most absurd part?

This kid only had a blood vitality level of one thousand!

Zong Yan roared soundlessly in his heart, his blood seeming to surge backward through his veins.

I am a dignified Martial Saint!

Ten billion blood vitality!

And on top of that, I have more than a century of mastery in Saint-tier forging!

Even so—

if I want to refine a piece of star-pattern steel to the ultimate limit of one hundred percent purity, I have to first adjust myself to peak condition.

Then, before a furnace blazing at several thousand degrees, I must spend more than ten minutes—

using the Mountain-Shaking Hammer to deliver tens of thousands of strikes, each precise to the smallest fraction, painstakingly stripping away every trace of impurity.

Only then can I barely manage it!

But this kid?!

One thousand blood vitality!

He had only just crossed the threshold of a Martial Master!

He had not even preheated it!

He simply raised his hammer as if it were nothing and casually brought it down once!

One strike to settle it all!

This fucking defied the common sense of martial arts! It defied the iron laws of the forging world!

“This kid’s intuition and control over power…”

Zong Yan’s withered hands clenched tightly.

“‘Genius’ is no longer enough to describe him.”

“He’s a fucking monster wearing human skin!”

Shock.

An unprecedented shock churned through Zong Yan’s mind like raging waves.

He even began to feel as though Su Yu’s seemingly casual strike contained some supreme principle that even he, a Saint-tier forgemaster, could not comprehend.

Inside the testing area—

the deathly silence continued to spread.

The old man originally in charge of the examination was still slumped on the floor, his eyes vacant as he muttered nonsense like, “Impossible,” and, “This has to be a nightmare.”

Lin Xiaoxiao stood outside the glass door, both hands tightly covering her mouth, her beautiful eyes filled with shock and admiration.

She did not understand forging.

But she understood how to read people.

Even the mysterious senior, who could casually produce a nation-defending colossal hammer, had been frightened senseless by Su Yu’s single strike.

What earth-shattering thing had Su Yu just done?!

Just as everyone remained frozen in stunned silence—

Su Yu slowly put away the Mountain-Shaking Hammer.

He glanced at the crystal-clear piece of star-pattern steel on the forging table, and not a ripple disturbed his deep eyes.

After a hundred billion years of simulations—

if he could not refine even a basic piece of star-pattern steel with a single hammer strike, he might as well smash his head into a block of tofu and die.

Su Yu turned his head.

His gaze fell on the old examiner, who was slumped on the floor.

Then he glanced at Zong Yan, who stood nearby, rigid as a stone statue.

He scratched his head.

His tone was calm.

“Examiner.”

“So… did I pass the assessment?”

The seemingly ordinary question.

To Zong Yan, however, it landed like a thunderclap out of nowhere!

Did he pass the assessment or not?!

Zong Yan’s entire body shuddered violently, and he finally snapped out of his overwhelming shock.

He looked at Su Yu’s cold, composed young face, which even carried a hint of someone who simply couldn’t be bothered to show off.

The old man’s face instantly flushed bright red!

“You passed!”

“You passed!!!”

Zong Yan could no longer maintain the lofty bearing of a senior expert.

With one stride, he rushed straight in front of Su Yu.

He seized Su Yu by the shoulders with both hands, gripping him with astonishing strength!

“What the hell are you still taking the assessment for?!”

“With talent like yours, why would you take the junior blacksmith exam?!”

“That would be an insult to your talent! It would be blasphemy against the very word ‘blacksmith’!”

Zong Yan grabbed Su Yu by the wrist and immediately turned to leave.

“Come on!”

“Come with me!”

“I’ll take you to the headquarters of the Blacksmith Association right now!”

“I’ll personally vouch for you!”

“I’ll have you certified as a Saint-level blacksmith on the spot!!!”

The moment those words were spoken,

Lin Xiaoxiao, standing outside the door, sucked in a sharp breath and nearly fainted on the spot.

A… Saint-level blacksmith?!

There were only two of them in the entire Great Xia Kingdom!

Su Yu was only eighteen, yet he was going to be certified as a Saint-level blacksmith right away?!

If word of this got out, the entire Great Xia Kingdom would be rocked by an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude!

At that moment, she finally understood just how terrifying Su Yu’s talent truly was.

And yet,

when faced with Zong Yan’s near-maniacal attempt to recruit him,

Su Yu remained rooted to the spot like a steel nail driven into the ground, completely unmoving.

He frowned slightly and gave his wrist a shake.

A subtle yet irresistible force instantly knocked Zong Yan’s hands away.