Chapter 72: Fire-resistant Arm Guard

“Attribute Equipment!”

The crowd widened their eyes. The ordinary soldiers in particular, who knew about Attribute Equipment but had never seen one being smithed, were extremely attentive so as to not miss the process.

It was a piece of Attribute Equipment, after all, which could not be possessed by ordinary soldiers. Hence, they were thrilled about being fortunate enough to watch the smithing process. Even though they knew that they could not obtain such a piece of equipment, it would become a common topic between them, and the other soldiers would look at them enviously if they talked about it after their meals.

In the next instant, Ni Yunhong’s spiritual fire suddenly raged and became scorching hot. It completely enveloped the greave.

Ou Yangming and the other professionals frowned because they knew Ni Yunhong was doing it on purpose. Based on the way the spiritual fire was enveloping the greave, any mysterious tricks used by Ni Yunhong could not be perceived.

As such, Ou Yangming was moved, but he quickly got rid of the thought to peep after looking around him.

Ni Yunhong exhaled deeply after a brief moment. His face had reddened, but his eyes were sparkling, and he was high-spirited.

One could tell from his expression at that moment that he had succeeded very well.

Sure enough, once Zheng Ziwen and Ni Yinghong went forward to inspect the greave, they instantly announced that it was of High Grade Rank Four with an Agility attribute attached.

The crowd was in an uproar after hearing the announcement.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming observed quietly. Except for the commanding generals and their personal captains from the Guards, the other squad leaders were envious. It was evident that a High Grade Attribute Equipment was able to attract squad leaders very much.

He walked forward leisurely. If that was Ni Yunhong’s only trick, Ou Yangming was confident about being the challenge’s winner.

He had smithed a similar High Grade Attribute Equipment numerous times and was able to control his Military Fire smoothly without being obstructed at all.

His burning Military Fire was somehow captivating.

Once the greave took form, Ou Yangming tossed an Agility Ore into it.

Earlier when Ni Yunhong arrived at this stage, he activated the mysterious energy of his spiritual power to hide the remaining process. On the contrary, Ou Yangming’s Military Fire remained the same, hence the crowd could clearly see the Agility Ore being melted by the Military Fire, which was then equally distributed in the greave.

Ni Yunhong’s face finally took on a ghastly expression.

He knew very well that Ou Yangming’s smithing method was not uncommon at all as it was the most basic skill in smithing art.

There was a success rate in equipment smithing, which would be reduced by a lot if an attribute was being attached.

Ni Yunhong only succeeded in a spurt of energy earlier partly because of his personal strength and luck, but mainly because of the skill that was hidden when his spiritual fire suddenly burst.

Nonetheless, the skill was a family secret that was never taught to others, and it complemented especially well with his spiritual fire.

Therefore, while it was incredibly difficult for ordinary blacksmiths to bind an attribute to a piece of equipment, Ni Yunhong succeeded in one shot.

That said, he was dubious when he saw Ou Yangming’s smithing method. ‘Does this fella think that he can defeat me with the simplest and most basic technique?’

Soon enough, Ou Yangming’s Military Fire dissipated, and he wore a straight face. Nobody could read his expression.

He put down the greave and stepped back calmly.

Zhong Yunda, Wang Zhongtong, and the others looked shaken. They subconsciously thought that Ou Yangming had definitely failed this round.

After all, it was the binding of an attribute, something that even the elders dared not guarantee a success rate, let alone Ou Yangming.

Old Craftsman looked at them and remarked, “Why are you looking like that? Stick your chests out.”

Li Shunfeng nodded. “That’s right, we mustn’t lose disposition even if we’re defeated, we can’t let them underestimate us. Hmph, Ni Yunhong picked on a weakling instead of challenging us, he’s not a good man at all!”

The other Military Fire Blacksmiths looked at each other as they dared not respond to him.

Ni Yunhong had visited them one by one in the past few days. Although he did not challenge them, they knew very well that they were inferior to him. In fact, even Old Craftsman, the chief of Military Fire Blacksmiths, might not be able to defeat him.

Hence, even though Li Shunfeng sounded very strong-willed, nobody dared to respond to him.

Zheng Ziwen and Ni Yinghong had gone up the platform to inspect the greave. While they tried their best to keep a straight face during the appraisal, there were slight changes in their expressions, thus the crowd was secretly making guesses.

However, the appraisers soon became expressionless, and Zheng Ziwen announced loudly after a short discussion, “A High Grade Rank Five Attribute Greave, Master Ou wins this round.”

“What?”

“An Attribute Greave?”

“A High Grade Rank Five Attribute…”

The Military Fire Blacksmiths clamored after hearing the announcement.

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They questioned loudly as they feared that they had heard it wrongly.

On the opposite, the soldiers were very calm. After all, a High Grade Attribute Greave was already produced earlier, so when another one was made, it was not enough to cause a clamor. They looked at the joyful Military Fire Blacksmiths strangely, ‘What are they doing?’

Nevertheless, amateurs obviously could not understand real professionals’ thoughts.

Only real experts understood how exactly difficult it was to smith a High Grade Rank Five Attribute Equipment.

If the other blacksmiths had been on the platform instead, they would not be confident in succeeding even if they were given ten opportunities, let alone a single opportunity.

On top of smithing a piece of Attribute Equipment, the fact that it had to be of High Grade Rank Five was suicidal.

They turned to look at Old Craftsman one after another but noticed that the old man was composed without feeling excited at all. Only when they recalled what Old Craftsman had said earlier, they realized that he had expected this from the beginning, which was why he was calm throughout.

“Old Craftsman, tell me the truth, which level exactly is Lil Ou at now?” Li Shunfeng asked softly.

The other Military Fire Blacksmiths pricked up their ears and dared not make a sound so that they would not miss a single word.

Old Craftsman responded, “I’ve taught him everything I know, but there are things he knows that are beyond my capabilities.”

“Ah, that’s… That’s impossible…” Li Shunfeng mumbled. “How long has he been learning? How could he have actually inherited your legacy?”

“Anything is possible for a genius.” Old Craftsman laughed.

The rest gasped. They finally understood that the pieces of Attribute Equipment submitted by Ou Yangming in the last two months were truly smithed by him, and were not made by Old Craftsman.

That being said, the young fellow improved so quickly that it was too shocking.

Ni Yunhong paced forward. He had a grave expression on his face after being defeated in the round.

There seemed to be an uncontrollable deviation in his original plan that he was so confident about, which left a tiny weak point in his heart. Nonetheless, being a big family’s disciple, Ni Yunhong quickly calmed down and refocused his attention on the piece of equipment in front of him.

After taking a glance at the greave that was appraised to be more inferior, Ni Yunhong decided not to put any more effort into it. This was because a High Grade Rank Four Attribute Equipment was already his limit. Unless he had a stroke of nature-defying luck, it would be impossible for him to improve it to Rank Five.

Hence, Ni Yunhong tossed the greave away and took another steel ingot.

Before long, the steel ingot took the form of an arm guard, and he threw a Power Ore into it.

Subsequently, his spiritual fire burned vigorously again to hide the secret within.

Wang Zhongtong and the others cursed. Although they would have done the same if they were in his shoes, watching someone else do it was a totally different feeling.

Ni Yunhong was fully focused on the smithing process. His spiritual will was exceptionally concentrated, and he vividly executed his family’s skill.

Just as he was about to complete the final step, the scene where Ou Yangming attached an attribute earlier suddenly appeared in his head. The plain and ordinary process crossed his mind in a flash.

Ni Yunhong questioned himself, ‘How exactly did that smithing method guarantee the success of an attribute attachment?’

Consequently, his energy dispersed for a split second without him knowing.

‘Oh no!’

Ni Yunhong instantly curbed his thoughts, but it was too late.

In actual fact, he might not actually succeed even if he had paid full attention to bind the attribute, but now that he was also distracted, the result was clear.

Ni Yunhong’s spiritual fire suddenly disappeared, and his face was green with anger.

He knew that his mentality changed a little after his failure, which was why he made such an unacceptable mistake.

Most of the spectators had guessed the outcome based on the look on his face. Wang Zhongtong and the others were even smiling brightly because they knew that Ou Yangming had won the round.

Zheng Ziwen approached Ni Yunhong and nodded apologetically to express that his hands were tied. Honestly, given that the challenge was being held so openly, the likeliness of an appraiser pulling strings from behind was close to zero.

He inspected the product carefully and announced, “This is a High Grade Rank Three Arm Guard…”

Ni Yunhong was becoming more grim-faced. The short distraction had caused the arm guard’s rank to drop so drastically, which was truly a bloody lesson for him.

However, Zheng Ziwen’s voice suddenly became loud and sonorous. “No, this isn’t a piece of normal High Grade equipment, it’s, it’s… A piece of Attribute Equipment!”

“What?”

The crowd instantly yelled. They could tell through Ni Yunhong’s expression that he had definitely failed to fix the attribute to the arm guard, so they had no idea why Zheng Ziwen was covering it up for him.

Ni Yinghong flashed forward to inspect the equipment too, and announced in delight, “This is indeed a piece of Attribute Equipment, and it’s a rare fire-resistant equipment!”

At the spur of the moment, the square was dead silent, and a strange atmosphere filled the air.