Chapter 65: Layering Art

Soon after Old Craftsman and Ou Yangming left the courtyard, seeing that nobody was around, the old man quickly asked, “Young fella, when did you see him, and even compete with him?”

Ou Yangming scratched his head as he knew that he could not fool Old Craftsman anymore. In order to not let his body suffer, he could only reveal the truth that he was involved in a night battle. Of course, Ou Yangming did not disclose the part where Ni Yunhong defeated Yan Chengcai and the others, as well as when he did his best to save the situation and ended up being victorious.

He described the night battle vaguely, so it sounded like Yan Chengcai and the others played a bigger part, and they won the tangled fight by luck.

Old Craftsman frowned and commented, “Master Ni’s a blacksmith, after all. He’s not a pure martial artist, so it’s not surprising that he lost in that situation.”

Ou Yangming nodded, but said to himself, ‘If Ni Yunhong hears this comment, I wonder how he’ll feel.’

“Young fella, how confident are you about the challenge that’s happening in three days?” Old Craftsman sighed.

“Old Man, I won’t lose,” Ou Yangming answered seriously after some thoughts.

He spoke resolutely, which showed that his confidence was already unshakable.

“Forget it, come with me.” Old Craftsman exhaled deeply. Once they entered his smithing workshop, he looked at Ou Yangming sternly. “Your smithing art is quite good now, so you’re able to upgrade a piece of equipment or attach an attribute to it with ease. I’ll teach you my final trick, but it’s too rushed, so I’m not sure if it’s too late.” The old man shook his head.

Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up. “Old Man, tell me about it. Perhaps I’m extremely talented, and I’ll pick it up right away?”

Old Craftsman could not help but laugh. “B*stard, don’t reach for what’s beyond your grasp, you have a long way to go.”

“Yes, Old Man.” Ou Yangming immediately curbed his smile and sat upright.

Old Craftsman was cracked up by his reaction. “Okay, I’ll teach you the Layering Art. It’s my final trump card, so I have nothing else to teach you after this.”

“Layering Art?” Ou Yangming was stunned. “What’s that?”

“When you smith a piece of equipment and bind an attribute to it, do you only use one precious ore each time?” Old Craftsman asked.

“Yes.” Ou Yangming nodded in a daze, but wondered, ‘Oh, I can actually use more than one ore…’

Old Craftsman obviously did not hear his thoughts. He said, “Today, I’m going to teach you the skill to bind two precious ores to the same equipment.”

“Two precious ores?” Ou Yangming had a strange look on his face. He asked, “Old Man, only one precious ore can be fixed to each piece of equipment?”

The equipment set that he had smithed for himself had a total of 11 points and 4 points of Power and Agility, respectively.

Those points were distributed to different pieces of equipment, and the highest point achieved by a piece was 4 points of attributes. Ou Yangming initially thought that it was a matter of course for a piece of equipment to have more than one attribute attached, but judging from Old Craftsman’s tone, it was not as simple as it seemed.

“Naturally, it’s impossible that only one precious ore is allowed in a piece of equipment, but binding more ores increases the failure rate,” Old Craftsman explained seriously, then continued after a short pause, “The Layering Technique is valuable because it allows the same equipment to have more and stronger attributes, which in turn increases the equipment’s value.”

Ou Yangming nodded blankly but was actually feeling rather helpless.

‘How should I explain to Old Craftsman? If I directly tell him that I’ve grasped the Layering Art, the secret technique, is he going to hit me with a bamboo clapper?’

Ou Yangming decided as he touched his butt. ‘Even if I’m actually trying to avoid getting beaten up, I should listen to him and go with the flow.’

Old Craftsman picked a piece of steel. “Young fella, listen well, a material decides what attributes can be accommodated. Normally, it’s good enough for a featured iron ingot to hold a precious ore’s power, but it’s different for steel. If a piece of equipment at the peak of High Grade is made, a maximum of four precious ores can be accommodated.”

Ou Yangming nodded and thought, ‘Indeed.’

Among the pieces of equipment he had smithed, there were three that could contain the highest number of attributes, which were the armor, the military saber, and the helmet.

That said, the attributes stored in the three pieces of equipment were limited to 4 points. Ou Yangming had tried to increase the attribute points, but when he released his Military Fire, the pieces of equipment gave him the feeling that they were about to break, hence he gave up on the thought as he was afraid.

Old Craftsman thought that Ou Yangming was shocked as he looked absent-minded. The old man laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t be too strict with you. Hehe, the layering of four precious ores is only a legend. If such a High Grade Equipment actually exists, each of it will be considered a little top-grade item, and it’ll also be much more valuable than a normal Fine Grade Attribute Equipment.”

Ou Yangming’s mouth twitched a little and was feeling more alert. ‘Looks like I’ll have to be more cautious when I go out in the future.

‘It’s fine if I occasionally produce a little top-grade item, but if I suddenly have three of them, they’re likely going to attract attention.’

“I’ll teach you the Layering Technique now. As long as you can smith a piece of layered equipment during the challenge in three days, your victory is guaranteed,” Old Craftsman said with a deep voice.

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“Thank you, Old Man,” Ou Yangming replied him with a nod, but thought to himself, ‘But my victory is already guaranteed.’

Old Craftsman did not begin smithing right away. He broke down the skill instead and explained everything one by one. He passed on all his experiences that were accumulated over the decades to his chosen successor without any reservation.

In actual fact, according to the old man’s initial plan, it was too early to be passing on everything to Ou Yangming. However, since Ni Yunhong had suddenly proposed a challenge, he could only push Ou Yangming beyond his ability by teaching him everything first.

Old Craftsman took an hour to explain everything. Subsequently, the Military Fire burned in his hands, then the piece of steel slowly changed form like it was mud, and it finally transformed into a military saber. Next, the old man retrieved a Power Ore.

The instant he took the Power Ore, his energy and spirit changed wonderfully. His originally aged face suddenly became radiant as if he was full of vigor.

Ou Yangming thought about Squad Leader Jiang Chengwei from the Middle Camp. When the squad leader pulled the explosive arrows to aim at the half-spirit beast, he underwent the same change.

There were always some people who could release unimaginable abilities, perform what would be impossible for many, and achieve unreachable heights in their areas of expertise.

“Ding…”

The Power Ore melted very quickly, and the mysterious power that it contained was evenly distributed in the military saber according to Old Craftsman’s guidance.

Without carrying out an inspection, Ou Yangming could sense that Old Craftsman had succeeded.

The Attribute Military Saber was born.

Despite that, Old Craftsman did not stop. He retrieved another Power Ore to toss it into his fire and began shaking his hand in a certain rhythm.

Ou Yangming widened his eyes to observe the process closely.

Although Ou Yangming had achieved the Layering Art’s limit, he paid full attention without slacking at all when Old Craftsman was teaching him. This was because he knew that the skill might be useful for him in the future even if it would not be useful at the moment.

Every effort that Ou Yangming made would become a cornerstone for him to soar higher in the future.

Old Craftsman shook his wrist slightly, which was an incredibly mysterious feeling.

Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed. He suddenly realized that the way Old Craftsman shook his wrist was similar to Ni Yunhong’s fist technique, the one that he performed that night to defeat Yan Chengcai and the others.

Needless to say, it did not mean that both of them were directly related. Ou Yangming noticed something that allowed them to connect with Heaven and Earth, oh no, it was a feeling that they had merged with Heaven.

Ni Yunhong and Old Craftsman were fully immersed in the process whether they were performing the fist technique or using the Layering Art. They had even gone beyond themselves at that instant.

Ou Yangming was suddenly enlightened. Old Craftsman’s current state was when he was at the peak of his life.

Old Craftsman became dispirited as soon as his Military Fire dissipated, but his eyes were still full of life. The proudness that he felt when he looked at the military saber was indescribable.

Ou Yangming quickly approached him to support him by his arm, and advised, “Old Man, you’re tired, please take a rest.”

“Rest my *ss, I’ll rest when I’m in my coffin.” Old Craftsman glared at him.

“Old Man, you’ll live a very long life!” Ou Yangming’s face changed and he immediately expressed.

Old Craftsman laughed out loud. “Okay, since we have time now, you should give it a go.”

Ou Yangming responded to him. He initially wanted to avoid doing it to hide his inadequacy, but his heart ached when he saw Old Craftsman forcing himself to remain energetic.

As long as Ou Yangming could let the old man rest with ease, he would add four points of attributes through the Layering Art without hesitation, let alone just two points.

After picking a piece of steel, Ou Yangming’s Military Fire began burning fiercely. His Military Fire was slightly different from Old Craftsman’s because he incorporated it with a hint of mental power, thus he was also better at controlling the energy.

So long as Ou Yangming did not channel his mental power through the unique method, he would not produce an explosive item.

As the flame danced, Ou Yangming tossed the first Power Ore into the fire. The Power Ore turned into liquid under his control and was evenly distributed on the military saber.

Old Craftsman nodded as he watched, but began to look more serious.

The second precious ore was soon tossed into the fire, and Old Craftsman clenched his fists together. He was actually more anxious than Ou Yangming.