Chapter 388
You’re all about to turn into dried prunes! Those three suns don’t even have a three-body motion!
Just as he was contemplating whether to use the Tianming Divine Eye to take a look,
*Thud—*
With two dull thuds, the two elders rolled their eyes back and collapsed, unconscious.
“…”
Time passed, though how long, they couldn’t tell.
Elder Hanhe and Elder Zeng slowly opened their eyes, only to find that the deadly aura of the fire vein seemed to have vanished.
Yet the flames before them were so vivid that they couldn’t help but realize—
They were deep within the fire vein.
What on earth was happening?
*Bang—*
A thunderous sound erupted.
Elders Hanhe and Zeng instinctively looked up in the direction of the noise.
“Hmm?”
“Ah?”
*Bang—*
Another explosive sound roared, like mountains crumbling and thunder striking the ground.
Intense sparks flew, reflecting in the elders’ eyes, causing their gazes to flicker slightly, illuminating the figure of a young man wielding a hammer.
In the midst of the raging fire, beside the flowing lava, he stood bare-chested, breathing in the flames and wild winds, raising the scalding, crimson divine hammer high, striking down again and again with unwavering determination.
He resembled an ancient deity mastering fire and forging, crafting the first iron tool for humanity.
No, he wasn’t a god.
He was Li Mo.
---
**Chapter 428: Just Like Cooking!**
“What... kind of hammer technique is this?”
Elder Hanhe stared intently at the figure not far away, unable to pull himself away, even doubting if he had woken up too abruptly.
That was the anvil of the ancestor, the hammer of the ancestor.
After slumbering for endless years, it had reignited its original spark in the hands of a boy just past seventeen.
Why was it that, despite only being in the Divine Vision realm, he could achieve what countless master craftsmen had failed to do for thousands of years?
“The Divine Hammer of the Little Tyrant doesn’t refer to that weapon.”
Elder Zeng recalled the scene atop the Sword Tower and sighed:
“It’s his hammer technique that has reached the divine level.”
“I’m... so confused.”
Elder Hanhe murmured, finally understanding Xue Jing’s feelings.
Mastering a divine-level hammer technique and being able to wield divine weapons—no matter how he achieved it, the Panjie Meteor Hammer was indeed light as a feather in his hands.
Moreover, he was unafraid of the extreme heat, moving through the fire vein as if it were water.
He couldn’t imagine a future where such a person wouldn’t become a divine craftsman.
Not far away.
“The Divine Treasure of Hundred Refinements... is showing signs of coming to fruition?”
Li Mo looked puzzled, his movements gradually coming to a halt, as if a furnace had extinguished.
It was quite unexpected.
He hadn’t anticipated that his talent for forging would rival that of his hammer technique.
*Shen Zhen Bai Lian* (Divine Treasure of Hundred Refinements) was also a divine skill.
But he had merely wanted to test whether he could forge using the hammer treasure after enhancing it with the power of the world, and now he was almost at the threshold of mastery—considering he hadn’t even had time to strike iron yet.
What he had just struck was merely the anvil.
At that moment, he turned his head and found the two elders looking at him with complex expressions.
“You two are awake? Looks like the Seven-Pattern Cold Spring Pill worked pretty well.”
“??”
Elder Hanhe felt a chill run down his spine, sweating profusely even deep within the fire vein. No wonder he hadn’t felt hot; it turned out he had just consumed the Seven-Pattern pill.
Elder Zeng’s mouth twitched slightly: “Do you know how heavy a mountain of gold is? Even a body in the outer realm would struggle to move it.”
“How do you know?”
“At that time, Li Mo threw the mountain of gold onto the ground and told me to move it. I was exhausted.”
“…”
Elder Hanhe had never experienced such labor in his life.
“Alright, while the effect of the Seven-Pattern pill is still active.”
“I’ll teach you the secret forging technique of our Qingyuan Sect.”
As Elder Hanhe said this, he straightened his back.
“Don’t learn from that old fool Hanhe.”
Elder Zeng’s eyes sparkled, looking at Li Mo as if he were a rare treasure:
“The forging technique of Hengyun Sword City is more suitable for you. Besides, Hanhe can only forge practical weapons, while I can forge renowned artifacts. I’m a true master craftsman.”
Elder Hanhe was furious: “Old dog Zeng, you’ve gone too far! He’s a disciple of our Qingyuan Sect! What do you mean by butting in?”
Elder Zeng remained unfazed: “I can’t bear to see you mislead a disciple. Besides, Li Mo is a disciple of Shang Wu, not yours.”
“Hmph, what’s so great about being a master craftsman? Just a crafty one! Even a scallion wouldn’t want to dip in your sauce!”
“Ginseng rooster, you think you’re a ginseng rooster, huh? I’ll challenge you to a duel!”
“Come on! I’m scared of you!”
The two elders were like two bulls, heads locked together, ready to clash.
Their views on the path of forging had always been at odds.
Elder Zeng was a reformist, advocating the use of all available technological means, believing that if a good weapon could be forged, then it was a good forging method. The *Jinshi Yangjian* (Gold Stone Nurturing Sword Array) was one of his achievements.
He thought his opponent was stuck in the past, unable to adapt.
Elder Hanhe, on the other hand, revered ancient methods, believing that true weapons should be forged with precision, hammered out with heart and spirit, to have a chance of becoming a divine craftsman in the future.
He thought his opponent was all about technology and brute force, completely missing the essence of infusing soul into the craft!
“So how do the differences manifest?”
Li Mo, still unsure about this aspect, found it hard to choose.
And from a personal standpoint...
Elder Hanhe didn’t need to say much; the most precious treasures of the divine weapon master had all been taken away by him, a stubborn elder with a soft heart.
Elder Zeng... he had even donned a headgear and recklessly rushed to snatch a single hair from himself.
“Let’s take the simplest smelting process as an example. I’ll demonstrate it for you!”
Elder Zeng took the initiative, pulling out a large cauldron covered in intricate patterns from his storage, about the size of a military cooking pot.
He took some ordinary iron ore and placed it into the cauldron.
Then he set the cauldron over the fire vein and activated the patterns on it.
Soon, under the influence of the patterns, the iron ore began to glow red.
Elder Zeng stood by the cauldron, occasionally pouring in a material that made Little Li feel dizzy just by smelling it—Black Sha Wood Oil.
But that wasn’t all.
“This is called Stone Fire Powder, which can purify impurities.”
“And this is Gold Wind Rock, which makes the iron blocks more solid.”
He poured in many materials like an alchemist, and only then did he start hammering.
In no time, the steel was shaped.
“Wow, that was fast.”
Li Mo blinked, surprised at how convenient forging could be.
“How’s that?” Elder Zeng asked with a grin.
“Not much. This is just a shoddy product without the soul of a craftsman.”
Elder Hanhe snorted coldly.
He heated the ore, then placed it on the anvil, hammering it with a special technique.
The hammer fell like a storm, continuous and pleasing to the eye.
While hammering, he also heated it, folding it repeatedly, over and over again.
“The Qingyuan Sect’s disciples use swords forged through a hundred refinements!”
“Every inch contains heart and soul!”
This time, the process took longer.
But the iron block that emerged had layered patterns, looking exquisite.
Then Elder Hanhe spent more effort, directly forging the iron into a sword, casually striking it against the iron block forged by Elder Zeng, leaving a dent the size of a grain of rice.
Elder Zeng puffed up his cheeks: “You just struck my iron, didn’t you!”
The two elders began to bicker again, then simultaneously turned to Li Mo:
“What do you think is better?”
“Wait a minute…”
Li Mo, who had been deep in thought, suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
Little Li had always had plenty of brilliant ideas.
As he observed the two forging methods, a thought popped into his mind.
“Both of your methods have their merits. Why not combine them?”
“Hmm? How do we combine them?”
The two elders spoke in unison, exchanging glances and seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes, then huffed and turned away, quite proud.
“Just like cooking.”
“?”
“Controlling the heat is crucial in cooking, and it’s equally important in forging and smelting. So if we treat the ore like ingredients and stir-fry it, wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?”
Exactly!
This was the method Chef Li had come up with!
“????”
---
*P.S.: Dear audience, there really is a method for stir-frying steel; I’m not just making this up, -3-*
---
**Chapter 429: A Cool Touch Feels So Good**
Deep within the lightless fire vein.
“Stir-frying the ore like it’s a dish?”
“Exactly.”
“And stir-frying it explosively?”
“Right.”
Table of Contents
