‘’His talent in forging isn’t too bad.’’

The Imperial Ancestor stroked his beard as he observed each participant. Within his position, he gave adequate comments on everyone’s relatives or disciples, neither going too far or low.

‘’He is hardworking.’’ Fan Yueyin replied. She glanced at Li Ao’s swelled figure, trying to purify one of the ores under blazing flames.

‘’Who doesn’t work hard in cultivation?’’ The Imperial Ancestor shook his head. ‘’Effort is a given if you seek success.’’

‘’Of course, without talent, what can useless effort do?’’ Qin Tangshou spoke from the side. ‘’With his cultivation talent, it is a waste for him to practice forging.’’

Sun Zhongyan grinned at the old Grandmaster. ‘’A cultivator must not rely on anyone but himself. There is no wrong in him for bettering himself in other matters.’’

Xin Xiayou cast a sidelong glance at him. ‘’Heavens are just—where they give one, they take another. How can someone excel in everything and hope to be successful at every one of them? It reflects poorly on the master if their disciple gets false hopes as such and fails to accomplish anything.’’

Fan Yueyin laughed. ‘’If you have dogshit talent, just say so. Why are you so discreet about it?’’

Xin Xiayou snorted. ‘’A bull can’t raise a bird, they say.’’

‘’And dogs like eating shit of their own, did you know that old fogey?’’

‘’Fan Yueyin!’’

The Imperial Ancestor shook his head at the rising argument.

His eyes went over Su Jingpen, Qin Tangshou’s disciple.

The boy was black haired, quite short, too round—too fat for his age, and carried an arrogant air to him. However, he had great speed in everything he dealt with. While others were in the middle of laying out their shapes, the boy sent furious strikes of his hammer onto a hot piece of metal.

Speed didn’t really matter in a competition, of course, but the level of quality he kept at that speed did indeed amaze him. He could prove useful in a war to provide for the high-level soldiers.

Looking over, he inspected Ren Shuren, Xin Xiayou’s disciple. As if in stark contrast to Su Jingpen, he was tall, skinny, and walked with his back bent. His insecure aura, however, made his exquisite work even more impressive.

His fingers were a blur, each strike leaving impressive designs and grids on the molten metal taking shape. Again, he also worked quick, but Ren Shuren’s dexterity was on another level compared to Su Jingpen.

‘There are quite a lot of them using Physique.’

Perhaps that was a sign.

Perhaps it was not.

Now his gaze landed on Qing Yan, second-disciple of Fan Yueyin. Though the formations could block the Divine Sense of most people, The Imperial Ancestor was a Nascent Soul cultivator. Few things in this world could block his senses.

As such, he instantly heard the thunderous, wailing screams coming from her hill and choked on his saliva.

Face stern, his divine sense checked her entire being.

He found nothing wrong with her cultivation or body.

‘What is wrong with her disciples?’

One was a retarded troublemaker, other one a mental forger?

Why did she sound like she got stabbed to death?

Face dark, he moved on to Lei Jin. There was nothing too great about him, but his elegant and fine way of arranging the edge and materials made The Imperial Ancestor’s eyes shine.

Taking note of him for Empress Dowager, he looked over at Jie Mentai and Fan Yunghe. Former didn’t seem to be much skilled, though stood above a few other contestants. The latter seemed to be around Xu Liao’s level, but her technique seemed much inferior to his careful planning.

‘A heaven’s child is still impressive.’

To him, however, it seemed unconceivable that Xu Liao wasn’t a Heaven’s Child.

‘He has the talent, strength, and temperament of one.’

‘Is it his lacking fate?’

A heaven’s child wasn’t picked in a random manner. They would be born in accordance with the World's Will and Heaven’s Need. Former was the world’s ruling invisible hand, and the latter was the forbearance in communication with the fortunes of all beings.

Both were concepts not many could grasp before the Soul Formation Stage—The Imperial Ancestor was a special existence, however.

He had semi-frequent contact with Six-Fold Sect, Two-Fold Sect’s main school that governed the Higher Realm. As the previous emperor and current pillar of the Dynasty, he was privy to some secrets many in the same stage couldn’t even think of.

Hence, to have this many heaven’s Child appear, as well as the booming talents he witnessed this year made it clear to him there was trouble brewing.

‘I will have to grant an audience to that messenger as soon as possible.’

Eyes closed, thinking of the youngest Master Alchemist, the Imperial Ancestor smiled. The Zhu family either had no eyes, or regarded this matter with too much importance to send someone this talented to him.

In the midst of his thoughts, someone gasped in the audience. A murmur rose, and opening his eyes The Imperial Ancestor gazed at Sun Jian.

The boy was the only one who didn’t start his work.

He paced left and right on his hill, weighing each of the ores in his hand like an old sage appraising laws of the world. His tearful eyes, however, betrayed that aloof image.

‘’He—’’

‘’That boy is fine.’’ Fan Yueyin interrupted before he could say anything. ‘’Just watch him—Qin Tangshou! Don’t make me tell people about the loose holes of your reared chickens...’’

Ignoring her smooth transition back to bickering, The Imperial Ancestor noticed Sun Jian stop.

After spending thirty minutes considering what to use, the boy’s eyes brightened. His divine sense could pick up his mutters.

‘’Why do I torture myself like this? I’ll just all of them!’’

With a step, Sun Jian threw all three ores into the furnace. His Qi moved like a flood, throwing dozens of fire stones to flare up the flames. Half of his hill drowned in crimson light, then with a laugh from him further raged.

A minute later, Sun Jian shot his Qi-covered fist into the furnace’s opening and pulled out half-melted ores. He pried them away from each other, struck down with his hammer, then sent them back in.

This process continued seven times before he stopped to take a look at the ores.

‘’Thunder, Wind, and Chaotic?’’

Three ores he had contained these three attributes. Thunder was a solidary element, Wind was one of the Five Natural Elements, and Chaotic was just a mix of several different elements.

Sun Jian repeated his steps with the Chaotic ore three more times, at which time others began to work on the bodies of their weapons. Sounds of hammers and bellows’ raging winds echoed inside each hill, though no one heard the other beside them.

‘’Thunder, fire, wind...shadow?’’

Shadow wasn’t a true element, but a by-product of Dark Qi, Moonlight Qi, and Demonic Aura. It had few uses for orthodox cultivators, but it was in high demand for Demonic Cultivators.

Sun Jian’s eyes dimmed for a moment, and he started pacing again.

After a while, he stopped, and threw three ores back into the furnace. His pupils terrifyingly still, at a single instance his hand shot forward and cut through the molten ores.

His one strike separated fire and shadow Qi from the Chaotic ore. Such precision defied the limits of a Qi Condensation level Cultivator.

Smiling, he threw two pieces down and waited for a few more minutes. His hand struck again, this time separating Wind and Thunder.

He prepared two engravings for them, chiseled by his own hands as he waited, and poured the liquid inside. One was a large round shield, the other a handle for it.

The shield seemed too large for human use—it covered almost the entire body when held, and from a glance anyone could see that its weight would be too immense from the density. No Qi Condensation Cultivator could use such a shield.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Whistling, Sun Jian made a seal gesture and slapped his palm down on the shape. Qi turned into layers of imposed rings around his palm and pressed down.

A bang echoed, the shield shook, and caved. Turning it around, Sun Jian hammered parts of it back, then slapped it down again. With each strike, his legs turned left and right, bearing great burden of the rebounding force.

His face flushed, he repeated three hundred times, and each of his strikes condensed the shield smaller and smaller.

Once satisfied, he cut a crevice into it and refined the handle to a smaller shape with the same technique. He connected them, made a hand seal, and threw the semi-complete shield back into the fire before it condensed solid.

Instead of melting, the fires tempered the shield’s body, burning away the impurities still hidden within.

Sun Jian received it back, hammered it, slapped it, burned it away. Nine rounds later, both the shield and handle turned small enough to be considered usable by human standards. Still, it could cover half of a man’s body with no trouble.

As he fished it out, Sun Jian’s eyes contained a terrifying light that made the audience shudder.

Everyone on the arena felt a weird aura, but only few reacted to look at the sky.

Su Jingpei had an arrogant smile on his pudgy face. He made the finishing touches to a rainbow-colored long-sword with his hammer, putting its pommel and such ready. Its aura gathered much attention, and the boy, aware of it, flaunted his entire being with joy.

Ren Shuren planted his dark spear into the hill, eyes unreadable. Only, one could read traces of satisfaction within him as he inspected the tiny twinkles within the spear.

Jie Mentai raised a battle axe to the sky, shouting with mad glee at beating Xu Liao in speed when she froze. Eyes wide, she pointed at the sky and shouted, but no one could hear her frightened voice.

Yun Fanghe was one of the few who stood up at the peculiar aura alongside Li Ao, and both of them stopped working on their respective tools and cursed at the heavens. Former especially turned pale, and her petite frame shot back towards the other end of the arena where Li Ao was placed.

Li Ao was one thing. But both Yun Fanghe and Jie Mentai to make such exaggerated motions caused the audience to stare at the sky as well.

Then everyone noticed the dark clouds gathering over Sun Jian’s hill.

Something boomed within the clouds, and lightning crackled, lashes of its power sneaking like a dragon before the eyes of thousands of people.

‘’There you are!’’ Sun Jian smiled.

The Imperial Ancestor watched it all with his jaw on the floor.

‘Weapon tribulation...’

‘Is it that easy!?’

‘How does his process even make sense!?’

The argument around him died with the emergence of the terrifying rumbling. Now other contestants felt the Qi turn away from them in a vacuum and looked up at its source.

Seeing the dark gathering of clouds and the terrifying thunder dragon, everyone’s eyes burst out their sockets.

Li Ao stood rooted on the spot, cheeks twitching.

‘How the fuck does that make sense...’

‘Aren’t weapon tribulations for heaven grade weapons...’

How could this guy skip three stages of Spiritual Tools and jump straight to Heaven-grade?

There had to be a mistake.

Fan Yueyin frowned as well. However, her eyes glowed dark silver for a moment, then a cold smile returned to her face.

‘’This brat didn’t call a tribulation—he called for tempering. If it was heaven-grade, there would be Hell Thunder appearing right away.’’

‘’It is a first-grade Earth-quality shield for now.’’ Sun Zhongyan observed as well. ‘’This rascal, how did he think of it?’’

The Imperial Ancestor calmed down. Even though he observed the whole process, he still didn’t understand why Sun Jian’s shield could call thunder for tempering.

The trace of both Thunder and Wind Qi in his ores were just that—traces. They weren’t enough to call forth thunder and wind alone...

‘Unless he refined them?’

Thinking back, he caught Sun Jian’s smiling figure pointing towards the sky. A force within the shield got stimulated by his Qi, which in turn expanded the peculiar aura to the sky.

‘He didn’t refine the shield—he refined the Thunder and Wind Qi within their bodies.’

‘How is that conceivable at his cultivation, however? Just thinking of it is hard enough, how did he achieve it?’

Thunder crackled in the sky. The dark clouds gathered further in as Sun Jian waved the shield around him.

With each stroke in the air, the round shield left sparks in its wake, which seemed to attract more power of nature. Qi around the arena drained at a rapid pace, even robbing other contestants’ hills.

By now Su Jingpei and Ren Shuren were aware of the happenings. The former had a blank face.

His eyes went back and forth between the gathering thunder and his longsword. Face pale, throat red, he slammed the sword back into the furnace and began refining it again. Su Jingpei followed his figure, unwilling to stop at this point.

A few seconds passed as people comprehended the scene. Sun Jian’s laughing figure struck madness to everyone around him,

With another hand seal, the peculiar aura around him solidified, and the shield flashed with gold and green. The skies above churned in response. A heavy aura descended over the arena.

The formation lines flashed, unstable, and with a roar of thunder broke down. Walls of light shattered and turned into motes of bright ambient Qi that got sucked in, creating a terrifying and beautiful scene.

Laughing, Sun Jian planted both feet on the ground. In horse stance, he shielded against the sky.

‘’Come over! I don’t have much time!’’

As if responding, a single bolt of lightning appeared. It swirled, condensed, and shot down.

Its power cracked the sky and land, bringing a terrifying pressure upon the weakest of the audience. Several cultivators around them shielded both mortals and weaker cultivators from the aura, eyes wide.

Li Ao watched it all with worry. Only Qing Yan seemed to be oblivious to the scene, still screaming as she worked on something.

As if sensing something, Jie Mentai’s eyes widened, and she started running away. Su Jingpei and Ren Shuren shivered at the same time and looked up.

In that instant, the bolt of lightning crashed on Sun Jian.

With a boom, it exploded into thousands of tendrils like stirred serpents. The shield glowed gold and green, and Sun Jian’s feet further sank into the earth.

Each of these tendrils poured out of his hill to those next to him, wrecking both terrain and tools in great destruction. Earth started to burn and the hills quivered. Those who could no longer care started retreating, but a few persisted in staying.

Sun Jian let out a pained groan, balance disrupted, but still managed to hold on.

A faint aura escaped from the shield right then. As if a golden mist, it spread three meters around Sun Jian’s body and enveloped him.

His body turned stout and straight, his gaze steeled, and he shouted again. ‘’Once more!’’

Two bolts of thunder came into being, further sapping away at the ambient Qi around them. Earth quaked with their arrival, golden light flashed like a pillar, and struck down in a straight line.

Sun Jian roared and met it face-first. The round shield let out hundreds of sparks, trembling in the face of the heavy resistance, but did not yield. The aura around it expanded to ten meters, cloaking the surroundings in brilliant gold and green mist.

The second bolt exploded right then and cracked the hill. Furnace and forge and anvil, whatever they might be, shattered into pieces and flew out towards other hills in a shrapnel.

The momentum terrified the nearby contestants. People leaped left and right to avoid getting skewered, cursing and retreating at the same time. Su Jingpei started cursing at the judge.

‘’Why aren’t you stopping him, you useless old donkey!? He is sabotaging my work!’’

The judge remained silent to his curse and pleas. Su Jingpei punched the forge in anger but could do nothing else. Others soon echoed him, however.

‘’How is this not counted as sabotage!? He is doing this willingly to mess with us!’’

‘’Right, right! How is it fair when we can’t even focus on our own work?’’

‘’Is this competition rigged? Why is it Fan Yueyin’s disciples who always do this shit and get away free!?’’

The complaints grew larger and larger until the Judge felt the need to move. Just as he took a step forward, Fan Yueyin’s eyes flashed and her aura swept over him.

They exchanged two sentences. The judge paled, then retreated.

Qin Tangshou exchanged glances with the judge, but the latter shook his head. A clamor rose within high seats as well. Though people liked to make connections, no one would accept their disciples and children suffering such injustice.

Few among them chose to remain silent, and those were all knowledgable enough to know that one could not interfere in this matter.

The Imperial Ancestor raised his hand to halt the discussion.

‘’Interfering with him is no more unjust than not interfering. I shall make a count of the time and give others the same limit to further polish their creations.’’

‘’How is that fair, your highness?’’ Xin Xiayou shot to his feet. ‘’The problem is not time—after being interrupted in their flow, how could they regain their bearings so quickly? And who can say their works didn’t suffer a loss in grade after such great disruption? How could we compensate for it if their ranking suffered?’’

‘’I gave what is within the limits of my power, Xin Xiayou.’’ The Imperial Ancestor replied.

‘’Sir, I beseech you, that is not fair to these children. Such time is—‘’

‘’Such time is what? If you give them enough time, will they forge a Spiritual Tool? A Heaven-Grade tool? Are your children and disciples gods or slumbering dragons? They had a chance to prove themselves long time ago!’’

Fan Yueyin flared up as she kept speaking. ‘’By the time Sun Jian began, your precious little chickens were already finished with their work—how many of them are not holding their product, count it! Or are you people blind as well!?’’

‘’If you insist that time is too short still, I am willing to beg for thrice the length with you! But if your disciples are lacking, there is no helping it. If they can’t take such little setback and rebound with the grace they are given, it only reflects poorly on their masters to not have educated them in cruel ways of the world!’’

After her declaration, the sky boomed again. The contestants below shuddered at the sound, then began retreating in small steps, forgetting to protest. Few continued their attempts at delivering justice.

However, when they saw seven bolts of thunder form in the sky, even Su Jingpei and Ren Shuren paled. The short and tall duo deserted their hills to retreat further away, where they gathered into a crowd to watch the spectacle.

Only Qing Yan remained in the vicinity, ignoring everything around her to focus on her work. Spreading fire from the grass didn’t bother her one bit.

Coincidentally, those few geniuses all gathered around Li Ao’s hill since he stood the furthest away.

‘’She must be mad...’’ someone commented.

‘’That is your senior sister, right?’’ Jie Mentai pointed at Qing Yan. ‘’Is she also retarded like you two?’’

Li Ao smacked Jie Mentai’s head. ‘’Don’t talk rudely about my senior sister.’’

‘’You!’’ She tried to strike away at him, but her condition wasn’t that good even now. Li Ao evaded her strikes as he watched.

He had the mind to warn her for a few seconds, but in the end decided against it.

There was no true danger to Qing Yan's life, and so long as she wished to continue, he would support it.

However, while others were unaware, Li Ao began to circulate his Qi and Blood.