The surge of Qi broke past the three thousand five hundred rotation limit, smashing toward three thousand six hundred! A low roar erupted from Qian Jin’s mouth—his body suddenly moved! He shot forward like a ferocious beast lunging from the undergrowth, covering seven meters in an instant. A deep, clear imprint, a full inch deep, was left where his foot struck the ground, accompanied by the sound of friction between his body and the air—a whistling roar like that of charging warhorses, kicking up waves of air and sharp edges. The dust beneath his feet was swept away!

In the blink of an eye, Qian Jin reached the Flame Demon. He brought down his Zanmadão (Horse-Slaying Saber) in a 'Chopping Tree' maneuver. Hiss! The air cracked sharply, as if thick fabric were being violently sliced by scissors.

Solid, fierce, and decisive! Even a man clad in heavy armor would struggle to withstand this strike!

The Zanmadão, due to its considerable size, eschewed finesse and tricky variations for a direct, overwhelmingly powerful approach, placing it among the top tier of brute-force weapons.

“Earth-Shattering Chop!”

The red egg-stone absorbed the impact, then swelled outward. The great saber thumped down heavily onto the thick, solid rock. The massive red egg immediately sank inward, appearing crushed, and the bedrock beneath it instantly fractured!

A shower of dazzling, brilliant sparks erupted where the gleaming saber scraped against the red egg-stone, accompanied by the harsh, metallic screech of grinding steel and flying shards of red debris.

A piercing shriek echoed from within the thick stone shell, immediately followed by superheated vapor jetting violently from the cracks—the sound was like the hiss of boiling water escaping a kettle.

The saber, imbued with the essence of two advanced metals and channeling the strength of the Nine Battles of Demon Subjugation, unleashed an unprecedented ferocity. The collision sent tremors through the ground.

The stone egg burst open completely, like a blossoming flower. The cooled stone fragments glowed as if they were white-hot iron. A grotesque face, composed of rolling magma, glared furiously at Qian Jin. Red flames spewed from its mouth, and a thick arm swept ruthlessly toward Qian Jin’s waist, colliding with the edge of the saber he was already drawing back!

Upon contact, Qian Jin’s body swayed slightly. He stamped his feet rapidly, keeping his saber moving relentlessly, meeting the Flame Demon’s arm head-on before immediately bringing the saber down again!

This strike was honed by two years of life-and-death combat in the Four Seasons Valley. It was a continuous, full-power flurry of thirteen chops, equivalent to thirteen experts of the same level attacking simultaneously.

As the saber cut the air, even the sheer pressure from the blade felt enough to scrape a person’s face raw! It was nearly generating invisible blade energy!

Clang... clang, clang, clang, clang...

Thirteen metallic collisions rang out, showering the battlefield with sparks and flying rubble, interspersed with the enraged roars of the Flame Demon.

“Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop!” Qian Jin saw only the Flame Demon. With every descending blow, the thick stone armor on the demon’s body cracked wide open, and white plumes of vapor visibly jetted out from between the fissures.

For a juvenile Flame Demon, this stone armor was its hide and flesh—both its protection and its weakness. While its hide was tougher than steel, daring any living creature to approach, injury still brought pain.

Only mature Flame Demons completely shed this stone casing to exist solely as pure flame bodies.

“Spray more! A little more!” Qian Jin pressed the attack relentlessly. The vapor ejected from beneath the demon’s stone shell was equivalent to human blood; this superheated gas could scald flesh, but excessive loss could also lead to the demon’s death.

The Flame Demon roared in fury. Its internal Demon Core had entered the growth stage, but its intense heat had not yet refined the demonic body—it hadn't truly entered maturity. Its body lacked the necessary hardening, and worse, the very first wound it sustained was exceptionally deep! Any movement squeezed out vast amounts of hot current!

And most infuriating was this enemy! The demon roared repeatedly in anger, unable to comprehend why the opponent before it seemed immune to the scalding heat jetting from its core.

The Flame Demon’s thermal gas jets possessed extreme temperatures. This inherent ability to harm pursuers after being wounded was a special self-preservation tactic employed by many young demonic beasts, discouraging others from engaging them.

But this enemy! Despite being struck several times, the Flame Demon deliberately blasted hot gas streams toward Qian Jin, hoping to scald or burn him to death! Yet, the searing airflow washed over him, and he showed no sign of discomfort.

“This temperature? It’s far too weak compared to the Blazing Lake in the Four Seasons Valley,” Qian Jin shook his head repeatedly, ensuring his eyes avoided the high-heat flow, letting the Wind-Cloud Golden Body deflect the Flame Demon’s intense heat.

“Suppress! Suppress! Suppress!” Qian Jin knew clearly that his sneak attack was effective. Otherwise, a straight-up confrontation would have made the outcome unpredictable.

“Roar!” The Flame Demon bellowed, raising an arm to brazenly block Qian Jin’s saber. Its other arm hammered forward like a battering ram used to breach a fortress.

Qian Jin’s body twisted and swayed like a snake, slipping past the demon’s arm to its flank. The Qi pattern on his Zanmadão shifted rapidly. The wide, thick blade swept horizontally toward the Flame Demon’s throat, burying itself half a foot deep!

The Flame Demon screamed, and visible white plumes of superheated gas erupted from its neck repeatedly.

“Still not dead?” Qian Jin accelerated his saber cuts, hacking through its body again and again, probing between the fissures to locate the Demon Core. He knew it would take a long time to exhaust all its thermal energy.

(Warrior’s Code: If a fight can end one second sooner, do not wait until the next. No one knows what the next second of battle might bring!)

With a heavy thud, the arm the Flame Demon had used to block the saber was completely severed. It let out a pained roar and used the momentum of its injury to rapidly retreat, covering ten meters in an instant.

Run! The Flame Demon knew it could not win; continuing meant death. Only flight offered a chance at survival.

“Trying to run?” Qian Jin unslung the powerful bow from his back, drew it back to a full moon, and loosed an arrow. The high-speed, spinning projectile, cutting through scattered pebbles, buried itself deep into the Flame Demon’s lower back.

The injured demon slowed instantly. Qian Jin caught up, his Zanmadão already swinging down again. Seeing the turning demon, he noticed a cold, faint smile in its eyes.

What was this? A flicker of confusion crossed Qian Jin’s mind. The Flame Demon opened its mouth wide in mid-air and sprayed downward. The leaves covering the area instantly turned to ash, revealing a small pool of water!

The water surface, which should have been calm, began to churn violently, bubbling like an overturned cauldron of boiling water! Deep within the water, one could faintly see rolling red thermal currents on the bottom.

A pool of magma water! The Warrior Academy geography textbook mentioned this: if you dropped a bird’s egg into it, retrieving it after ten to twenty seconds would yield a perfectly cooked meal.

In that instant, Qian Jin understood everything. The route the Flame Demon chose to flee was designed to lure him over the pool, intending to use the boiling water’s intense heat to scald his pursuer to death.

Plop... Plop...

Two huge splashes erupted in the pool. The fleeing Flame Demon turned and swam toward Qian Jin’s position, its eyes gleaming with the pleasure of imminent revenge.

Comfortable! Qian Jin plunged into the water and took a deep breath, the sensation immediately bringing back memories of his time in the Four Seasons Valley.

The Flame Demon’s massive body passed through the water spray and rising steam. Its flame-lit eyes widened in shock as it stared at the enemy—who should have been screaming in agony underwater, scalding to death—now looking perfectly at ease as he brought his saber down!

Fast! The Zanmadão struck with extreme speed! The Flame Demon froze in shock, forgetting defense. This time, the saber sank deeply into its skull. Its head, sturdy enough to shatter bedrock and impervious to ordinary blades, split open like a melon. The burning flames hissed audibly in the water, accompanied by a scream of agony.

In moments, most of the flames within the rock had died down. Qian Jin reached into the shell and found a red crystal, the size of an adult’s fist. Even in the scalding hot water, he could feel its astonishing heat.

Qian Jin’s tension eased, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him. His inner Qi showed signs of depletion; the instantaneous, extreme burst had been far more draining than any previous exertion.

“This is the Flame Demon’s Demon Core? It’s much larger than the pictures suggested. The juvenile stage doesn’t yield one this size,” Qian Jin gripped the core, feeling intense heat radiating into his palm—far hotter than the outermost layer of the Blazing Lake. “This must be a mid-growth stage core. Good thing I came early; if I had let it fully transform into the mature stage and unleash its innate magic, I’d probably be running ragged through the forest trying to escape the heat.”

“Uncle Black’s intelligence is unreliable as ever,” Qian Jin climbed out of the pool, shaking the water from his head. “With this, I’m only one step away from becoming a Forging Master and mastering Inscription arts.”

At dusk, wisps of cooking smoke curled up from the village, creating an atmosphere of profound peace and quiet. Despite being at the foot of the West Mountain teeming with demonic beasts, this village had never suffered a single attack, as if some unique power protected it.

Qian Jin stood before the village gates, shaking his head. There was no mysterious protective force; everyone inside was an eccentric and powerful being. Even the old auntie at the east end of the village—if she really rolled up her sleeves to fight, Qian Jin suspected he might not win against her wielding a rolling pin.

The man in Enrak’s Qi Hall had supposedly mastered the ‘Second Martial Body,’ a state only heard of in legends. Even a mature Flame Demon might not survive one punch from him.

“Uncle…” Qian Jin pushed open the courtyard gate and stepped in, pausing slightly when he saw the beautiful young girl sitting beside Uncle Black.

Though he had only seen her once two years ago, the profound and excellent skill in engraving inscriptions she possessed had been deeply etched into Qian Jin’s memory.

(Aknash’s Rune Shop)

That girl, who had looked barely seven or eight that day, had grown a bit taller—now appearing around ten—but her face hadn't changed much; it was still delicately cute. The only thing that clashed with this adorable aura was the presence she exuded.

This same air of confidence had appeared when Uncle Black picked up his hammer, when Oulala faced a mysterious potion, and when Adams held his newly mixed concoction.

Compared to those individuals, the only difference in Aknash’s aura was that hers possessed an edge, lacking a certain inward restraint.

“You brought back the Flame Demon’s core?” Aknash placed her small hands behind her back, lifting her porcelain-doll face. Her aged tone couldn't quite mask her bright, childish voice. “Let me see.”

Qian Jin looked to Uncle Black, who nodded gently. The scorching red Demon Core glowed with a faint, blood-red light in Qian Jin’s palm.

Aknash leaned closer to Qian Jin’s hand, wrinkling her pretty little nose, and nodded repeatedly. “It is indeed a mid-growth stage Flame Demon Core.”

Growth stage? Right! Uncle Black wasn't providing accurate intelligence for the first time! Qian Jin raised an eyebrow, looking toward Uncle Black nearby.

The old blacksmith was engrossed in puffing his pipe, completely ignoring the dagger-sharp glare Qian Jin shot him. Aknash pulled a pair of intricately articulated metal gauntlets from a ring on her pinky finger, and a trace of coldness emanated from the gloves.

“A Space Ring?” Qian Jin stared curiously at the simple-looking ring. This was the first time he had seen a storage item belonging to the mage class. It didn't seem as convenient as the warrior’s Qi Sphere; its only advantage seemed to be that it could be given to others.

Aknash slipped on the Hundred-Year Ice Iron Essence Gauntlets forged by Uncle Black. She lightly grasped the searing Demon Core. The air immediately produced a few strange sizzling sounds, like cold water being splashed onto scorching metal.

Qian Jin nodded in admiration. When Hundred-Year Ice Iron is refined into its essence, its body becomes intensely cold—holding it felt like grasping ice frozen for years, capable of stiffening a hand in seconds. Aknash showed no sign of coldness, meaning the interior of the gloves must employ a special forging technique that confined the chilling effect only to the surface.

“Seems there’s still much to learn about forging,” Qian Jin shrugged, his eyes fixed on the smoking Uncle Black, secretly guessing whether his master was at the peak of Forging Master or had already reached Forging Grandmaster. Could he possibly be the legendary Divine Artisan level?

Aknash flicked her wrist lightly. The Flame Demon Core flew out of the gauntlets, tumbling in the air before landing in the burning furnace. With the addition of the near-dead Flame Demon Core, the furnace instantly spewed flames far fiercer than if it had been fueled by oil—a twenty-foot spire of fire shot straight toward the sky.

Qian Jin raised an eyebrow, his pupils reflecting surprise. Adding the Flame Demon Core to the furnace could produce such intense flames? It seemed every profession utilized the same materials in vastly different ways. The Warrior curriculum only taught that Flame Demon Cores were materials for crafting superior fire-elemental equipment; even the notes from other warrior experts only detailed how to use the core in combat.

“A Flame Demon Core can accelerate combustion of materials, producing stronger heat,” Uncle Black stretched with a loud groan. “And it can alter the purity of the flame. Watch this.”

Uncle Black struck a piece of Hundred-Year Ice Iron heavily with his blacksmith’s hammer. The resulting sparks were far fewer than in previous strikes, despite using the same technique.

The second strike! Qian Jin’s eyes brightened. Uncle Black’s hammer trajectory and the force used had changed.

Boom! The entire forging platform shuddered slightly. It sounded like a thunderclap in the courtyard. Aknash frowned, pressing her small hands to her ears, watching as the Hundred-Year Ice Iron erupted with unprecedented sparks. A flame plume as thick as a finger shot straight upward three feet before finally extinguishing.

“Your Leveling Eighteen Hammers has upgraded…”

The emotionless voice of the System notification sounded again. Qian Jin opened his attribute panel and saw the data for the long-stagnant Leveling Eighteen Hammers finally showing change.

Leveling Eighteen Hammers: Level Three: Proficiency 1/600000 Blacksmith Title: Forging Master.

Forging Master! Qian Jin stared fixedly at the Forging Master title line—he had finally become a Forging Master! And perhaps the youngest Forging Master in the history of the Zhence Dynasty, the Lucifer Dynasty, and the Barbarian tribes!

Uncle Black set down his hammer and beckoned Qian Jin over.

No excessive conversation was necessary; this had become their primary means of communication. Qian Jin understood this meant it was time for him to take over striking the iron.

Lifting the hundred-pound hammer, Qian Jin recalled the way Uncle Black had delivered the third strike of the Leveling Eighteen Hammers. As the Hundred-Year Ice Iron met the hammer, it unleashed ten times the sparks of his previous attempts, accompanied by a flame jet over a foot high.

Uncle Black nodded in satisfaction. Forging was not just about brute force; it required intellect and keen observation. This child’s observational skills had improved significantly again.

After swinging the hammer over a hundred times, Qian Jin wiped the sweat from his brow. The eight-hundred-pound hammer shouldn't be this exhausting, but Uncle Black’s striking route, technique, and force application were incredibly demanding on both strength and control.

[Leveling Eighteen Hammers]: Level Three: Proficiency 2/600000

Qian Jin stared blankly at the proficiency meter. After striking so long, it had only increased by one point? Didn't Uncle Black say the second strike of the Leveling Eighteen Hammers was the hardest to learn? Why was this third strike proving more difficult than the second?

Sensing Qian Jin’s questioning gaze, Uncle Black took a few puffs on his pipe, saying without looking up, “Is there anything in this world that becomes easier the more you learn it? From now on, don't blindly trust what others tell you.”

Qian Jin managed a bitter smile. In the Zhence Dynasty, he wouldn't easily trust strangers, but Uncle Black was his forging master. Ah well! Being fooled was fine, as it was for his own good, right?

“Go study Inscription now,” Uncle Black waved his hand.

Aknash bowed ninety degrees to Uncle Black, then straightened up and beckoned Qian Jin with an aged, knowing tone. “Follow me.”

Qian Jin let out another wry smile. She was clearly a child, yet insisted on acting like an adult.

(Chapter end, manually updated by ShuShu members)