Bi Ji wasn't foolish. Hearing Gu Yuena's explanation, she immediately understood just how terrifyingly powerful the Longevity Pill was.
"I'll learn to refine it as quickly as I can," Bi Ji promised solemnly.
"Today, memorize the formula thoroughly," Yun Ze instructed. "Then prepare some herbs. Tomorrow, when I refine pills, you'll work alongside me—I'll guide you directly."
"Thank you, young master!" Bi Ji's eyes lit up, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. To receive Yun Ze's personal guidance—her alchemy would surely advance by leaps and bounds.
After assigning a few more tasks, Yun Ze dismissed the others and went upstairs to the very top floor.
He swiped a card—the door split open silently to both sides, revealing the chamber within.
The entire floor had been cleared and opened up, covering more than seven hundred square meters. The layout was divided into four distinct areas:
a pill-refining area, nothing but an open space,
a forging area, with a massive forge table,
a mecha workshop, filled with mechanical components,
and a soul-tool section, stocked with delicate parts.
Scattered across the room were piles of rare metals—plundered straight from the Star Dou Great Forest. That place brimmed with ores; species of metal unseen on the open market were found there by the ton. Acquiring them had been laughably easy.
As Yun Ze walked in, the lights flickered on automatically. The heavy door closed shut behind him.
He strode directly to the forging area and picked up a block of blazing red metal. Holding it in his palm, flames surged out from his hand, wrapping around it completely.
He didn't need a furnace. His Phoenix Flames alone were hotter than any fire. In moments, the metal's temperature had soared past a thousand degrees, softening even this fire-attribute ore—Blazing Flame Gold.
The flames didn't just heat it; they purified it. Impurities burned away into ash, erased even from the deepest layers of the metal.
After more than ten minutes of smelting under his soul power and spiritual perception, Yun Ze confirmed that no trace of impurity remained.
He placed the purified Blazing Flame Gold onto the forging platform. The flames didn't vanish—they continued to burn, fusing themselves into the very essence of the ore.
Clang! Yun Ze lifted a forging hammer from beside him and brought it down. A crisp, ringing note echoed like music, sparks scattering, the metal denting deeply under the strike.
Flames seemed to burst out from the hammer itself, pushing the refining even further.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Three more blows fell, and the hammer's stacked-strike effect activated. One swing carried the weight of four blows—first full strength, then seventy percent, fifty percent, and thirty percent in sequence.
Ordinary hammers only carried up to three stacked strikes. Yun Ze's hammer, however, bore four levels—a weapon beyond even the finest of the finest.
And it wasn't just the stacked-strike effect. This hammer also carried a refinement effect: every strike released flame energy, tempering the metal and amplifying its fire affinity.
The hammer had been forged through the Thousand Refinements, awakened with his own blood. Even diluted a hundred times, his blood was extraordinary—too pure and potent. Undiluted, a single drop would have blown the metal apart.
With just that single diluted drop, this Thousand-Refinement Hammer gained two supreme attributes, raising it far above ordinary tools.
Yun Ze swung his arm fluidly. Despite being only six years old, his body contained power that far surpassed his peers. The hundred-pound hammer moved in his grip as lightly as a toy.
Clang! Clang! Clang! A dense flurry of strikes resounded, rhythm sharp and crisp, like a beautiful symphony played across steel.
He had no fixed technique. No rigid sequences or master's guidance. He simply followed his own rhythm. And yet, the metal obediently shifted into the form he envisioned, its hardness increasing, its fire attribute intensifying.
Chaotic, yet harmonious!
The Blazing Flame Gold seemed to dance with each strike, carrying a joyful liveliness, as though it had grown emotions.
After hundreds of blows, Yun Ze lifted the hammer with his right hand while his left pulled out a bottle of diluted blood-water. The once-clear liquid now glowed scarlet, as though a flame burned within.
In truth, there really was fire inside—Phoenix Fire—but its temperature was suppressed under Yun Ze's control, keeping the water from evaporating.
He unsealed the bottle, and a single droplet floated out, drifting with his soul power until it landed on the metal.
Boom! The Blazing Flame Gold trembled violently, erupting in a torrent of flames like a bomb detonating.
Yun Ze only cast it a casual glance. At once, the berserk flames collapsed, as if cowed into silence, vanishing in an instant.
The diluted blood fused with the metal, transforming it. Its spirit blossomed—an evolution almost akin to a rebirth.
Yun Ze raised his hammer again. His soul power had long since been exhausted; now he was relying purely on his blood and qi to continue.
On the platform, the metal leapt and danced like a lively child, full of joy.
Clang! The final strike fell. Yun Ze lowered the hammer.
Before him lay a piece of refined metal in the rough shape of a chestplate, no larger than two palms. Yet it pulsed with vitality, hopping lightly upon the forge table.
Yun Ze casually set aside his hammer, leaving the living metal to itself, and walked over to the pill-refining area. Sitting cross-legged, he began recovering his soul power.
Yes—living metal. His forging had awakened spirit within the ore, elevating it beyond the category of ordinary matter.
This was Spirit Forging—something that only a fifth-rank blacksmith could hope to achieve. Yun Ze had done it as though it were nothing, encountering no resistance, no difficulty.
Though his soul power was only at the twenty-second rank, his forging skill was already fifth-rank.
Just days ago, his cultivation had broken through another level, reaching Rank 22. His progress was astonishingly fast.
He had never bothered registering with the Blacksmiths' Association. Titles and recognition meant little to him. That was why he had no official fifth-rank certification.
Over an hour later, his soul power and blood energy were fully restored.
The Blazing Flame Gold on the forge radiated intense fire. When Yun Ze approached, its flames grew hotter, as if welcoming him, joy radiating from its aura.
He smiled faintly, picked up the living metal, and carried it into the soul-tool section. Sitting down at a workbench, he took up a flame-etched carving knife and began inscribing arrays across the metal.
His plan was to engrave six core formations and thirty-two auxiliary formations—a colossal project, rivaling the complexity of crafting a fourth-rank soul tool.
The blade moved like an artist's brush, tracing elegant, flowing lines across the glowing surface, as if painting a masterpiece.
When his soul power ran dry, he simply sat to cultivate, restoring it before resuming work. He continued until deep into the night—past three in the morning—before the last array was etched.
Exhausted, Yun Ze fell asleep, not rising until nearly ten the next day.
Forging and inscribing formations together had drained his mental strength heavily, so he had slept longer than usual. Normally, a few hours of rest was more than enough for him.
(End of Chapter)