Chapter 17: The Gift (Part 2)
Unknowingly, two hours passed.
Huo Yutong, having finished cooking and waited a long time for Qian Zhaoguang who never came, gently opened the door to the forge room.
The wondrous rhythm, the percussive sounds akin to a symphony, struck her heart.
In Huo Yutong's perception, Qian Zhaoguang seemed to have merged into a single entity with that piece of Blue Gold Iron, like inseparable friends who shared everything.
She didn't disturb him, knowing well that absolute concentration was required during forging.
Huo Yutong quietly closed the door and simply stood silently behind her brother, watching.
Two and a half hours had passed. For the first time, the color drained from Qian Zhaoguang's face, shifting from flushed red to pale white – an almost unbelievable sight for someone usually brimming with abundant Qi and Blood.
His soul power level was simply too low.
The meager amount of soul power within him had been depleted long ago. For nearly the last hour, he had been relying solely on his Qi and Blood force to persevere.
An iron will allowed Qian Zhaoguang to grit his teeth and endure.
If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know when he might next touch the threshold of Thousand Refinements.
That vague feeling deep inside told him he was close to success.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Just as his body was beginning to sway precariously...
Suddenly, the piece of Blue Gold Iron trembled upon the final contact with the forging hammer.
Immediately following, an azure radiance abruptly broke through the confinement of the forge fire, reflecting throughout the entire forge room.
Ninety li is only halfway through a hundred-li journey. Qian Zhaoguang gathered his last breath, bringing both hammers down simultaneously, striking fiercely upon the piece of Blue Gold Iron.
The pair of forging hammers, made from composite metal, utterly disintegrated at that moment, exploding into a pile of fragments and breaking apart in mid-air.
Whoosh!
The flames subsided, and the azure light became even more unrestrained.
Qian Zhaoguang casually snatched a fragment from the ground and, amidst Huo Yutong's cry of alarm, slashed his own wrist.
A spurt of fresh blood sprayed out, landing precisely on the piece of Blue Gold Iron.
"Brother! What are you doing!"
Huo Yutong hastily pulled out medicine from her storage ring, wanting to bandage Qian Zhaoguang's wound.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Qian Zhaoguang slightly circulated his Qi, and the gushing blood from his wrist immediately showed signs of stopping.
The fresh blood splattered onto the Blue Gold Iron, sizzling and evaporating amidst swirling smoke.
The firelight died down, and the blue color rapidly receded, revealing the metal's original appearance.
The initially dark green Blue Gold Iron had now turned as emerald green as jade.
On its surface, a layer of fine hammer marks appeared, layered like the waves of the great sea.
Qian Zhaoguang smiled. He had succeeded!
Waves of intense weakness washed over him like a flood, causing him to collapse onto the ground, sitting down heavily.
Only then did Huo Yutong hurry forward, using gauze and medicine to wrap his wrist several times, bandaging it.
"Brother, what on earth were you doing?"
Qian Zhaoguang forced a smile and, leaning on a nearby table, managed to stand up with effort.
"This is the Spirit Forging method I've been pursuing all along. Thanks to you, I finally succeeded today! Look, Xiao Tong, I'll name it Thousand Refined Metal."
He held the piece of Blue Gold Iron in his hand; it felt incredibly warm and smooth to the touch.
As the azure light made contact with his palm, it instantly withdrew inwards, transforming the metal into an ink-jade-like dark green color.
Huo Yutong's eyes widened. Two yellow soul rings appeared beneath her feet as she gently stroked the surface of the metal with her hand.
The tactile feedback felt nothing like metal.
"It... why do I feel... like it has emotions?"
Qian Zhaoguang explained, "Of course. Because it has already birthed a faint spirituality. Thousand Refinements is a process of communication between the blacksmith and the metal. When this communication reaches its peak, this emotion is sublimated, undergoing a qualitative change from a quantitative one. It seems to have developed some special effect now, which still needs to be explored."
This rare metal called Blue Gold Iron hadn't appeared in the original works, so Qian Zhaoguang didn't know what sublimation effect it would exhibit after undergoing Thousand Refinements.
He only knew that the metal from the first successful Thousand Refinements, after undergoing a blood sacrifice, would usually gain a decent special effect, somewhat like a beginner's guaranteed bonus.
Listening to her brother's enthusiastic explanation, Huo Yutong looked thoughtfully at the piece of Blue Gold Iron, then, under Qian Zhaoguang's stunned expression, snatched it from him and placed it on a nearby storage shelf.
"Whatever you say, eat first! It's already dark! Bad brother, the fish I carefully grilled for you has gone cold!"
"My fault, my fault..."
Unable to win against her, Qian Zhaoguang raised both hands in surrender and was pushed out of the forge room by Huo Yutong, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
After eating, Huo Yutong went to cultivate, while Qian Zhaoguang returned to the forge room.
The fully cooled Blue Gold Iron had completely turned a matte color, deep and restrained.
When Qian Zhaoguang held it and played with it, he could actually feel a wondrous connection, as if it were inherently part of his own body.
A slight smile touched the corner of his lips.
Completing Thousand Refinements at the age of ten... my talent in forging can hardly be called low, right?
Although he achieved it a year later than Tang Wulin in the original story, he had done it without any teacher's guidance, relying entirely on self-exploration and comprehension.
If not for the exceptionally high quality of the spiritual power cultivated through the Spirit Refining Art, who knows how long he might have been stuck before reaching Thousand Refinements.
As the saying goes: All things are difficult before they are easy.
Having completed this Thousand Refinements once, forging other metals in the future would be much simpler.
Qian Zhaoguang placed the piece of Blue Gold Iron near the forge's air nozzle, stroking it gently, as if touching a lover's face.
"Now then, let me see just what special effect you have sublimated."
Over the next few days, Qian Zhaoguang became completely immersed in forging. Huo Yutong could hear the constant clang clang clang sounds from the forge room every day.
The sense of achievement from completing his first Thousand Refinements spurred him on with seemingly endless motivation.
Five days later, after exerting tremendous effort, Qian Zhaoguang finally forged the Blue Gold Iron birthday gift from Huo Yutong into a pair of forging hammers.
Externally, this pair of Blue Gold Iron forging hammers looked as if they were entirely carved from fine ink jade.
If observed closely, one could almost perceive a faint spiritual light flickering within, appearing exceptionally mystical.
Only now had Qian Zhaoguang truly completed his first Thousand Refined work.
"Starting now."
On the anvil, a piece of entirely orange-yellow metal had already been heated to the appropriate temperature for forging.
Qian Zhaoguang took a deep breath and firmly gripped the pair of Blue Gold Hammers.
The instant the handles made contact with his hands, he immediately felt his soul power and Qi & Blood force surge forth, connecting with the pair of forging hammers.
In his hands, the pair of hammers felt distinctly lighter, and he lifted them steadily.
However, what he hadn't expected was that as he infused his soul power into the hammers, something unforeseen occurred.
An ice-blue light enveloped the hammer heads, forming a layer of light membrane on the outside.
(End of Chapter)