This technique could significantly increase the success rate of Soul Weapon crafting! This technique could significantly increase the success rate of Soul Weapon crafting!

Briedas’s eyes were fixed only on that Fire Dragon; the same thought repeated endlessly in his mind. As for the promise he made to Dorata earlier about the Furious Lotus Fighting Skill, and the initial reason for coming to the Zhence Dynasty—to suppress the local Blacksmith Guild and teach the rapidly rising young Guild Master who the true strongest Forgemaster was—all of that had long been forgotten.

“Fine! I’ll make the wager!” Briedas’s eyes were scarlet, like a maddened bull. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out rare materials from his Dou Realm one after another.

Myriad Beast Bloodstone! Three-Star Heart Iron! Ten-Thousand-Year Steel of Ice and Fire Coexistence…

Several metallic materials, each worthy of being called a Sacred Artifact, materialized from Briedas’s Dou Realm. The few veteran blacksmiths instinctively raised their hands to cover their chests, terrified that the sight of these materials might shock them so severely they would simply drop dead.

The atmosphere on the usually somber high platform suddenly ignited upon Qian Jin’s appearance. The Guild Masters from all over looked at these materials and felt as if their entire lives spent forging had been in vain.

Many materials they had never even heard of before; now seeing them, they were ashamed to realize they couldn't even recognize them—only through their own forging experience and knowledge could they judge that every single piece before them was extraordinarily expensive.

“Good! Very good! Absolutely magnificent!” Qian Jin thrust his left hand towards the sky again. The flames in the furnaces, once again roaring, gathered together and shot straight up.

However, amidst these rising flames, there was not a trace of intense heat; instead, they carried waves of biting cold. Even those standing below the platform couldn't help but shiver, wrapping their arms around their chests in a gesture of seeking warmth.

Fire! What ascended was clearly fire, yet it only imparted a feeling of coldness!

Ice Flame Dou Qi! One of the flames from Qian Jin's Myriad Fire Source, along with the formation of his Dou Soul and the continuous rise in his strength, could now unleash power reaching a thousand degrees below zero.

Briedas, whose hands were already growing weary and sore from holding out materials, and who had been reluctant to produce more, now frantically tossed materials out again.

Cold fire! Cold fire!

As a top Forging Master, Briedas knew that possessing this ability meant he could advance further in his craft. Although he was still an immeasurably long distance from forging a Sacred Artifact, his authority in the realm of Soul Weapons could secure his place in the annals of forging history forever.

“Briedas, remember this! I am not a fool, and neither are you! I have a rough idea of how many materials you possess. If I feel you are deceiving me, I will simply kill you!”

Qian Jin’s words, coupled with the domineering aura of his upward punch, carried an indescribable, powerful presence, causing Briedas to nod instinctively.

The materials piled up like small mountains before Briedas. Several veteran blacksmiths with weaker constitutions were already foaming at the mouth and had fainted.

Exciting! This was truly too exciting!

No one expected a simple exchange among blacksmiths to escalate to such an intense level.

Qian Jin flipped his wrist and retrieved the Sacred Artifact Blacksmith Hammer from his Dou Realm. The colossal hammer’s Dou Soul soared into the air and fiercely merged into the Sacred Artifact Hammer. He plunged his left hand into the furnace, grabbing a piece of glowing hot Profound Cloud Iron, and the Sacred Artifact Hammer whistled down to strike it.

A thunderous roar immediately erupted. Those standing on the platform felt the very ground beneath them shake. Those below felt the surrounding air tremble.

The Profound Cloud Iron beneath the hammer let out a groan, spewing countless dazzling metallic sparks from its interior. The sparks resembled the roar of a giant dragon, or perhaps the furious blast of the greatest war drum on a battlefield. The sound of charging cavalry and clashing armor mingled with the scattered sparks, forming the endless smoke and haze of life and death on a battlefield.

Briedas’s hand, gripping the materials, suddenly trembled violently, his eyes widening to their limit. His two thick, heavy eyebrows shot up, and his not-so-large ears twitched incessantly.

A top Forgemaster, when crafting equipment, did not just observe the surrounding sparks and the metal’s reaction; they also listened to the sound of the metal striking and could even discern problems from the slightest changes in the surrounding air temperature.

One strike! With just a single blow! The damage inflicted upon the metal’s interior by the ferocious flame was completely hammered out! The violent flame, expressed through this strike, truly became the finest tempering agent.

At this moment, Briedas finally understood why Qian Jin had initially used such intense flames: it was to accomplish the fusion of several days' worth of high temperatures in the shortest possible time. While such a rapid process would normally result in numerous flaws, those flaws were entirely eradicated by the strike just delivered.

The competing blacksmiths stared blankly at Qian Jin’s forging process, momentarily unable to distinguish whether this was true forging or simply an act of battering iron with brute combat methods.

Metal fragments flew into the air. A hammer also materialized in Qian Jin’s empty hand, and his Dou Qi instantly surged into this new forging hammer. With a roaring whoosh, it forcefully slammed the flying metal fragments back down onto the forging table.

Bang! The hammer in Qian Jin’s hand shattered immediately. It could only withstand one use; a strike pushed to its absolute limit was not something an ordinary forging hammer could endure.

Briedas’s brow furrowed with even greater surprise. These blacksmiths who managed to qualify for the competition, although their forging skills hadn't reached the current pinnacle, were all seasoned veterans who understood how vital a good hammer was to a blacksmith.

Especially the primary forging hammer—it was the most crucial forging implement, not only intrinsically sturdy but also possessing special characteristics tailored to the blacksmith’s style.

Yet... such a hammer was used only once before it broke?

Qian Jin worked like an old chef who had spent decades around the stove, casually pulling out pieces of red-hot metal from the furnace and then meticulously placing them one by one onto the forging table.

Rumble! The forging table finally succumbed to the force of Qian Jin’s forging and exploded, scattering fragments everywhere. The metal Qian Jin controlled had already shifted to another forging table.

Briedas’s expression grew serious. To achieve peak quality in crafting any piece of equipment, one should ideally use the same hammer, the same forging table, and the same furnace from the very moment forging begins.

However, Qian Jin was not only failing to use the same hammer but was also destroying the forging tables and furnaces. Any slightest change would affect the final quality of the finished product. Moreover, these forging tables had been brought by the respective blacksmiths—tables they were accustomed to using.

A blacksmith using an unfamiliar forging table, and smashing it in just a few strikes—was this young man here to sabotage, or to forge equipment?

One strike, the hammer breaks! One strike, the hammer is shattered again!

Briedas could no longer focus on the repeatedly shattering hammers. His eyes were locked onto the one hammer in Qian Jin’s hand that remained unbroken. His expression gradually became grave, grave, grave. A Sacred Artifact? Briedas could barely trust his own judgment. Could a forging hammer actually exist at the Sacred Artifact level? And his Dou Soul—was it a forging hammer? The combination of the two was truly unleashing the full power of the Sacred Artifact hammer.

Three distinct flames, like coiling serpents around a tree trunk, continuously circled the forging hammer, and also revolved around every piece of metal being forged.

The three flames from the Myriad Fire Source twisted and churned, not only purging useless impurities from the metal but also serving as a veiled enhancement for the material itself.

Briedas finally began to grasp why Qian Jin possessed such confidence when he began. Any single one of these strange forging fires could make the resulting equipment remarkably different. Where did this boy find three different flames?

“Eighteen Hammers of Ascending Peak!”

Qian Jin suddenly spoke, his entire aura rising and escalating limitlessly. The surrounding blacksmiths, upon witnessing the motion of Qian Jin’s massive hammer, had only two reactions.

They retreated uncontrollably: back, back, back, back! It felt as if if they delayed retreat by even a split second, they would be crushed flat by the sheer oppressive aura!

Kneel! Yes! At least thirty blacksmiths immediately dropped to their knees with a thud, their expressions full of reverence, tears glistening in their eyes as they gazed at the hammer-raising Qian Jin.

In that instant, the blacksmiths kneeling on the ground had only one thought: they had witnessed the God of Forging!

The top-tier, judge-level blacksmiths, along with Briedas, were completely stunned. This... this hammer seemed about to merge with the stars; this hammer seemed to be articulating a truth—a truth that the forging world had pursued for many, many years, a truth that countless Forging Masters, even Grandmasters, sought their entire lives without achieving before death.

This truth had manifested in Qian Jin's hands! It did not glitter on its own, yet in everyone’s eyes, it shone brightly.

At this moment, in the eyes of all the blacksmiths, Qian Jin was like the God of Forging, the controller of all forging truths, who had descended upon the mortal world to impart knowledge and resolve confusion.

Eighteen Hammers of Ascending Peak—Five Hammers Fused as One! This was not merely a fusion of five strikes. This strike was no longer purely the Eighteen Hammers of Ascending Peak. Qian Jin’s continuous contemplation, consideration, and realization over these past days had achieved a perfect integration and fusion between combat and forging.

This single strike contained the five strikes of the Eighteen Hammers of Ascending Peak, and it also incorporated Qian Jin’s understanding of the Star Strike. Within this strike was concealed the cycle of life and death from the Life-Death Star Seal. All these insights coalesced into a new imprint. While this imprint might still be very nascent, it was brimming with infinite potential and might.

Dong!

The sound of the metal impact was no longer violent, nor did it resemble the war drum’s blast, nor did it resemble heaven-shaking thunder. It was like the sound made when a massive iron bell in a secluded mountain forest is struck by a thick wooden log—it was the sound of a bell cleansing the soul, the sound washing away the world’s filth.