The ambient heat of the private forging chamber was utterly suffocating, a localized inferno dominated by the roaring pillar of pale-blue earth-fire.
Yoriichi stood before the massive, star-meteorite steel anvil. He looked at the eccentric old man, acknowledging the weight of the elder's challenge. This was not a test of cultivation realm or combat prowess; it was a test of raw, unadulterated creation.
"Yes," Yoriichi replied, his voice calm, devoid of any arrogance or hesitation. "Then I am starting."
He stepped forward, closing the distance to the anvil.
With a smooth, practiced motion, Yoriichi reached for the dark sash of his training robes. He untied it, letting the upper half of his garment fall away, baring his torso to the blistering heat of the subterranean forge.
The Elder, who had been leaning casually against a nearby pillar with a critical eye, straightened his posture slightly.
Beneath the youth's pristine face lay a torso that had been subjected to severe tempering. His musculature was dense, carved like pale marble. But it was the scars that caught the old man's attention. A jagged scar rested over his heart, alongside dozens of faint, silvery lines crisscrossing his ribs and arms—the unmistakable hallmarks of someone who had danced on the razor's edge of life and death.
'Zhan Yue wasn't exaggerating,' the Elder thought, a quiet respect settling in his mind. 'This kid hasn't just been sitting in a meditation room. He has seen real combat.'
Ignoring the scrutiny, Yoriichi raised his left hand, his spatial ring flashing with a soft, silver light.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Three heavy, jagged chunks of raw ore materialized and dropped onto the steel table beside the anvil. They were pieces of Sun-Scorched Meteorite Iron—a rare, Yang-aligned metal renowned for its heat retention and durability.
Then, with another flash of light, Yoriichi produced a second item.
He placed a crystalline, spherical object next to the ores. It was roughly the size of a fist, radiating a deep blue light that immediately fought back against the oppressive heat of the room, emitting a dense, freezing mist.
It was a Rank 3 Abyssal Salamander Core, overflowing with high-pressure water attribute energy.
The Elder stroked his scruffy, soot-stained chin, a look of understanding washing over his face as he analyzed the materials. He knew from Zhan Yue's reports that Xiao Ning was an extreme fire-attribute user.
'I see his logic,' the Elder mused internally, a spark of approval in his dark eyes. 'He chose Yang-aligned meteorite iron to conduct his fire Dou Qi. But pure Yang metal is incredibly rigid and brittle. It snaps under excessive kinetic force. By introducing a Yin-aligned water core during the forging process, he intends to quench and temper the steel from the inside out.'
It was an advanced, difficult theory. Fusing opposing elements into a weapon was a known practice among high-tier blacksmiths to add grittiness, stability, and sheer tensile toughness to a blade, but it required an incredibly delicate balance. A slight miscalculation in the energy distribution usually resulted in the core shattering or the metal cracking. The Elder assumed Yoriichi was simply using the water core for this stabilizing effect, completely unaware of the youth's true, dual-attribute biology.
"Ambitious," the Elder muttered under his breath, crossing his thick arms. "Let us see if you have the control to pull it off, boy."
Yoriichi did not hear the muttering. His mind had already plunged into a tranquil void.
He closed his eyes.
Haaah...
He drew a slow, incredibly deep breath. The rhythmic, localized vacuum effect of Total Concentration Breathing oxygenated his blood, pushing his physical vessel to its peak.
When his crimson eyes snapped open, his Transparent World vision activated. The raw ores became semi-translucent, revealing their microscopic, molecular structures, the hidden impurities, and the natural carbon fault lines.
Yoriichi grabbed a pair of heavy iron tongs, picked up the first chunk of meteorite iron, and thrust it directly into the roaring pillar of pale-blue earth-fire.
The intense heat immediately began to work, turning the dark metal a glowing cherry-red. Yoriichi didn't use an Alchemist's soul power to manipulate the flame; instead, he routed his own Dou Qi through his arms, projecting a dense kinetic field that forcibly contained the heat, preventing the ore from melting into useless slag.
Once the metal reached the optimal temperature, he pulled it from the flames and slammed it onto the anvil.
He picked up a heavy, long-handled forging hammer.
CLANG!
The first strike echoed sharply through the private chamber.
The Elder nodded slightly, noting the heavy kinetic weight behind the blow.
'His physical strength is impressive,' the old man thought. 'Comparable to a Da Dou Shi specializing in body refinement. A solid foundation for a smith.'
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Yoriichi fell into a hypnotic, relentless rhythm. He wasn't just bashing the metal; he was performing a high-speed surgery. With every strike, his Transparent World vision pinpointed the microscopic pockets of slag within the steel. He angled his hammer strikes to a fraction of a millimeter, systematically forcing the weaknesses out, folding the steel over and over upon itself.
The chamber was bathed in a shower of golden sparks.
For the first two hours, the forging was purely physical. Yoriichi folded the meteorite iron dozens of times, creating a dense, unified billet of Yang-aligned steel. The ambient temperature in the room skyrocketed, the sheer friction of his hammer strikes adding to the geothermal heat.
Yoriichi's body glistened with sweat, the moisture evaporating into steam the moment it touched his skin. Yet, his breathing remained flawless, and his crimson eyes did not blink.
Then came the true test.
Yoriichi grabbed the Rank 3 Abyssal Salamander Core. He did not crush it into a powder as an Alchemist would to draw a superficial array.
Instead, he placed the glowing blue core directly atop the searing, red-hot steel billet on the anvil.
The reaction was immediate and hostile.
HSSSHHH!
A cloud of superheated steam erupted as the core clashed with the extreme heat of the metal. The Salamander Core began to vibrate, struggling against the massive thermal shock.