socalfunplaces Page 186
Page 186
That's why there's this saying: "Well, since you've come all the way to Tiandou City, even if you don't try Yuhao Grilled Fish, trying this place would be a good idea."
Upon hearing Dang Hongchen's words, Lu Fa quickly shook his head. Others might not know the details of this shop, but he certainly did. He immediately declined, saying, "Forget it. Master Zhenhua told me I can go to his place for dinner later."
“That’s true.” Dang Hongchen nodded. The food that the master craftsman Zhenhua eats is definitely more delicious and nutritious than what’s served in these street restaurants.
Next, Lu Fa and Dang Hongchen wandered around other places, but unfortunately, apart from Chang Gongyan at the beginning, they did not encounter any other Soul Masters with high cultivation.
Just then, Lu Fa's soul-guided communicator rang. Lu Fa put down the communicator and saw that there was only one message from Zhen Hua: The association has something to do, return immediately.
"Let's go back."
……
"What's going on here?"
When Lu Fa and Dang Hongchen returned to the Blacksmith Association, they were taken aback to find the hall packed with people.
"Hello, is something wrong? Why is it so lively here?"
Dang Hongchen casually grabbed a staff member who was hurrying by and asked directly. He remembered that when they came at noon, the place was quite lively, but surely it shouldn't be so crowded that it's packed with people so soon after they left?
Is the Blacksmith Association in Tiandou City this lively? Don't the blacksmiths need to accept forging tasks?
The staff immediately noticed the badge on Dang Hongchen's body and said respectfully, "Respected Master Forging, it's like this, someone just came to challenge the Forging Master Association of Tiandou City, so President Zhenhua is currently dealing with them."
"A challenge?!" Dang Hongchen exclaimed in surprise. "Someone's come to challenge Shenjiang Zhenhua? Who is this person?"
The staff member patiently explained, "Yes, the other side is a combination of an old man and a young girl, but they are not here to challenge President Zhenhua. Instead, it is the old man's disciple, a girl of about fifteen years old, who is here to challenge all the blacksmiths under the age of twenty in the association."
Upon hearing this, Dang Hongchen raised an eyebrow. An old man and a young man? And they've come to challenge the association's blacksmiths under twenty years old. This means they must be very confident in their disciple's blacksmithing skills, otherwise they wouldn't have come to challenge them.
For some reason, Dang Hongchen recalled his earlier encounter with Chang Gongyan. In the Douluo Continent, no one would casually come to the Divine Craftsman Zhenhua's place to challenge him; after all, it's very offensive. Unless the other party simply doesn't care.
At this moment, the staff member continued, "Respected Master Forging, if you are interested, you can go to the center of the hall to watch. The association's forging masters are competing with that young girl, and President Zhenhua is also there."
"Okay." Dang Hongchen waved for the staff member to leave, then looked at Lu Fa, "Want to go take a look?"
“Of course.” Lufa nodded, clearly having already guessed who would be challenging the Blacksmith Association.
The two walked towards the center of the hall, which was now surrounded by blacksmiths from the association. Clearly, the fact that someone had come to challenge them was something they took very seriously, and they had even temporarily ignored the blacksmithing tasks.
Dang Hongchen released a small amount of soul power, cleverly pushing aside the surrounding blacksmiths to create a passage for him and Lu Fa, thus successfully squeezing into the front row.
"Om-"
Before the two could even see the game clearly, a buzzing sound rang out, followed by a soft blue light that instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.
On the forging platform to the side, Lin Yuhan, the girl Lu Fa had met earlier, was holding a pair of spirit-forged blue copper hammers and placing them on a piece of blue copper.
In an instant, Lin Yuhan's body suddenly erupted with bolts of lightning as thick as an arm. The lightning flowed through her hands and into the pair of spirit-forged blue-copper hammers, and then into the blue-copper metal.
The blue-copper metal trembled violently, crackling with electricity and radiating a blinding blue light, emanating a life force. A swirling halo appeared around it. A low, mournful groan followed.
A metallic lament, a new life begins!
Spirit Forging Successful!
The lightning infusion into Lin Yuhan lasted for several minutes before slowly subsiding. The blue copper, now only a third of its original size, emitted a crystal-clear blue light, its internal patterns coming to life and operating rhythmically, with faint flashes of electricity within.
At that moment, opposite Lin Yuhan, a young man who looked to be around twenty years old was also intently forging a piece of blue-colored copper.
Five minutes, ten minutes, a full twenty minutes passed.
The blue-tinged bronze in front of the young man also emitted a dazzling blue light. However, compared to Lin Yuhan's, the blue-tinged bronze forged by the young man was noticeably dimmer, and in terms of quality, it was undoubtedly inferior to Lin Yuhan's.
Moreover, he spent more time forging than Lin Yuhan.
"President Zhenhua, it seems the result of the first match is already decided."
Chang Gongyan, who was standing to the side, said to Zhenhua with a smile.
Chapter 300 The Grandeur of Zhenhua?
Upon hearing Zhenhua's words, the surrounding crowd fell into a deathly silence, followed by a burst of noisy discussion.
The blacksmiths from the association who had come to cheer him on all looked increasingly grim. Some stared wide-eyed, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing; others hung their heads in dejection, their faces etched with deep disappointment.
The young man who had competed with Lin Yuhan was also pale-faced, his lips trembling slightly, and he was tightly gripping the forging hammer that had been with him for many years.
Upon hearing this, Chang Gongyan looked at Zhenhua with some surprise. He had considered that Zhenhua might give him a cold shoulder because of their loss. But he didn't expect Zhenhua to admit defeat so readily.
"As expected of a grandmaster, the master craftsman Zhenhua."
Thinking of this, Chang Gongyan couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for Zhenhua. Just the fact that he could admit defeat so readily showed that the master craftsman Zhenhua was also a man of character. At least in the field of blacksmithing, Zhenhua's mentality was worthy of the name of master craftsman.
Faced with Zhenhua's straightforwardness, Chang Gongyan couldn't adopt the posture of a victor. He smiled slightly and said, "In this competition, Yuhan only managed to subdue your genius by relying on his advantage in forging hammers. The next competition may be different."
Indeed, the forging hammer Lin Yuhan used was a Spirit Forging Blue Copper Hammer, so it did have an advantage in forging blue copper.
They agreed with Zhenhua to hold two forging competitions. In the first competition, Chang Gongyan's team would choose the metal, and both teams would then refine it.
In the second round, Zhenhua will choose a metal and have both sides refine it. The resulting refined metal will be the best indicator of the two sides' skill levels.
In the first round, Lin Yuhan chose the blue-coated bronze, and now it was Zhenhua's turn to choose.
"No." To everyone's surprise, Zhenhua shook his head. "In terms of the final quality of the metal, our side is clearly inferior to your apprentice's. Moreover, we also took longer to forge. So this victory is by no means a fluke. Rather, it is because your apprentice's forging skills are indeed superb."
Zhenhua could tell at a glance that Lin Yuhan's skill was among the highest even for a level five blacksmith. The blue-coated copper she ultimately forged was not only of the spirit-forging grade, but also possessed special properties due to the characteristics of her martial soul.
This is no ordinary spirit forging; this blue-infused copper, in addition to its original properties, has been imbued with lightning properties. Its value is at least three times that of a similar spirit-forged blue-infused copper.
Hearing Zhenhua's words, Lin Yuhan's lips couldn't help but curl upwards slightly. Even though they had indeed come to challenge the master craftsman, receiving praise from the master craftsman Zhenhua still made this calm young woman feel pleasantly pleased.
After all, this is the approval of the master craftsman Zhenhua!
Chang Gongyan couldn't help but smile, and then said with a smile, "Then in the next round, it will be Brother Zhenhua's turn to choose the metal."
Zhenhua waved his hand, "No rush. Your disciple has just finished forging the spirit metal. It's better to let her rest first. After all, the person she will be competing against next is my disciple."
Chang Gongyan was taken aback. "Brother Zhenhua's disciple?"
Before coming to challenge the Blacksmith Association, the apprentice of the master craftsman Zhenhua had no idea that Zhenhua had an apprentice. Wasn't Zhenhua supposed to have no successor?
Zhenhua smiled and then walked up to the young man who had just lost to Lin Yuhan.
"President." The young man lowered his head in shame, not daring to look at Zhenhua.
"It's alright." Zhenhua patted his shoulder and smiled, "This wasn't your fault. I hope that this competition will motivate you to work harder and go further on the path of forging."
The young man before them was the most outstanding young man under twenty years old in the Blacksmith Association. Although his talent was not as good as Lu Fa's, Zhen Hua had always been cultivating him as the next Saint Craftsman, and naturally did not want his spirit to be hurt.
Upon hearing Zhenhua's words, the young man was immediately moved to tears and nodded hurriedly, saying, "Yes, I understand, Chairman."
"Alright." Zhenhua said with a smile, "Then you can go down and observe first. The rest of the matches will be handled by others."
"Hmm." The young man nodded and left the forging platform. After the competition, he understood that even though they were both level five blacksmiths, there was still a significant gap between him and Lin Yuhan. He knew he wouldn't be able to beat her if the competition continued.
After watching the young man leave the forging platform, Zhenhua immediately waved to Lu Fa, signaling him to come over. He had already sensed Lu Fa and Dang Hongchen when they arrived at the competition venue.
In an instant, everyone around turned their attention to Lu Fa. Could it be that the person the guild leader called a disciple was...?
Many people immediately guessed Lu Fa's identity, and those around him spontaneously stepped back, leaving a large empty space around him.
Lu Fa walked up to Zhen Hua and said helplessly, "Teacher, you don't need to do this. Now, I can't use this disguise next time."
"Then stop pretending." Zhenhua laughed heartily. "Anyway, you're not young anymore, it's good to find a girlfriend. Young people shouldn't always be so mature. When it's time to shine, don't be timid."
Then, he whispered to Lu Fa, "By the way, give that old man over there a good slap in the face. How dare he come to the Blacksmith Association to cause me trouble? Does he think I'm made of clay?"
"Let that old bastard see what the Blacksmiths' Association is like. He can't just come here and cause trouble. I'll make him lose everything."
Suddenly, Zhenhua's voice turned somewhat lewd, "See that little girl over there? She's pretty, isn't she? I'm very good at judging people, and she's definitely the type who's obsessed with forging and has a very strong competitive spirit."
If you can defeat her in forging, you'll definitely leave a deep impression on her. Add to that your looks, and wow, this little girl will absolutely become your little fangirl, completely at your mercy.
Upon hearing Zhenhua's telepathic message, Lu Fa's lips twitched slightly. "Teacher, your persona is about to collapse! If I remember correctly, you should be a single dog, right? How come you're talking like you have so much experience?"
"I'll try my best," Lu Fa replied dismissively to Zhen Hua's words.
Fifteen minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Soon, Lin Yuhan had regained her composure and was now standing on the forging platform, looking curiously at Lu Fa.
That's...? The helmeted weirdo I encountered on the road? It turns out he's a disciple of the master craftsman Zhenhua!
Chang Gongyan asked Zhenhua, "So, what metal will President Zhenhua choose?"
Lufa took off his helmet, revealing his striking platinum blonde short hair, and smiled slightly, "I choose Blue Pregnant Bronze."
"It really is Master Lu Fa!" "I didn't expect the master to be right next to me just now." As Lu Fa took off his helmet, some whispers could be heard around him.
"What?" Chang Gongyan looked at Lu Fa in astonishment, and even Lin Yuhan stared at him in surprise. Hadn't he seen the spirit-forged blue-copper hammer she used during the forging?
"Are you sure?" Chang Gongyan frowned as he looked at Lu Fa.
If it were forged again, there wouldn't even be a need to be familiar with the metal-making process. If this metal were to be refined again, Lufa would be naturally at a disadvantage.
"I am sure."
Chang Gongyan looked at Zhenhua, only to find that the other's expression remained unchanged. Was he really that confident in his disciple?
Furthermore, why did everyone around Lufa call him "Master" when he took off his helmet? And why did they seem to have such great faith in him?
"Could he be a level six blacksmith?"
Chang Gongyan shook his head. So what if the opponent was a level six blacksmith? He just had the added skill of fusion forging. This competition was only about purifying a single metal, not about processing the metal itself.
Lin Yuhan possesses the Blue-Pregnant Copper Hammer, giving her a natural advantage in forging Blue-Pregnant Copper. Even if the opponent is a Level 6 blacksmith, they might not be able to surpass her in spirit forging.