Close to half a year quickly passed by as Jian Yu stayed cooped up at home studying and meditating in his room. It had become a routine to spend half the day reading through the book handed to him by Uncle Xie and the other half was spent on trying to sense the qi around him. However, half a year had passed and he had yet to sense the slightest hint of spiritual energy.

He had thought long and hard about the essence that is spiritual energy, trying to gain even a slightly better understanding of it.

"Even for my talent, this must be outrageous!" Jian Yu thought. "I already know all I must know about blacksmithing from the book. I'll just spend my time entirely on meditation then! I refuse to believe this!"

By this point of time, his father had come to realise that his son's newfound routine was due to him obtaining a cultivation technique 'by chance'.

"I found it just lying there," he said.

Shrugging his shoulders, Jian Yu's father was actually relieved that the heavens were fair to Jian Yu. After his misfortune at the Martial Stadium, he had technically cut off most of his ties to the city folk. The exceptions to that were his own father and Uncle Xie who took him in.

The next morning, Jian Yu notified his father that he was going to spend all of his time in his room meditating. His father dared not refuse when he saw that Jian Yu's eyes were fully bloodshot, radiating a madness he could not comprehend from his very son. Other than that, Jian Yu only came out of his room occasionally for meals and other necessities.

A month later...

Jian Yu was still sitting down on his bed in a lotus position, meditating and searching for enlightenment. Most of the time, he had starved himself as he completely engrossed himself in his search.

However, Jian Yu was not relaxed in any way. His eyebrows were furrowed and underneath his shut eyelids, his eyes were red. He had been at this for an entire month already and he was gradually accumulating an intense fatigue. Any more and he feels that he might faint from exhaustion.

"Spiritual energy is everywhere, Immortals make use of it to condense qi to be used in magical techniques. It is the most rudimentary form of energy in the world which can be changed into complex forms. Spiritual energy is the origin of Immortals!"

Miraculously, Jian Yu's entire body shook as he felt a strange brush against his waist. As he had mostly sat still in seclusion for an entire month, he was definitely more sensitive towards his surroundings. There was no way that the sensation he had felt was imaginary. Despite his shock, he continued to meditate and not allow it to disrupt his state of mind.

As time passed by, occasions such as these grew more frequent. Jian Yu was certain that he had successfully sensed spiritual energy and was eager to try out absorbing it into his meridians.

Following the method described by the technique handed down to him by the old man, he willed the spiritual energy to flow into him. Failed. Again and again, Jian Yu willed the spiritual energy to flow into his meridians.

Surprisingly, Jian Yu succeeded only after a few tries. He had thought that he was going to spend some more time in seclusion to achieve his goal. However, fate had proven him wrong.

Quickly, the spiritual energy cycled through his meridians and finally came to a rest near the navel. Before he could condense it into qi, it disappeared. Jian Yu took no notice of his first failure and cycled spiritual energy through his meridians again and again. Eventually, the spiritual energy condensed into a strand of qi in his dantian.

"Ha, haha, hahahaha..."

With bloodshot eyes and trembling shoulders, it was hard to disguise Jian Yu's excitement. After half a month of hard work, he had reached the 1st level of qi condensation!

The qi condensation stage was split into 9 minor stages ranging from the 1st to 9th level of qi condensation. It starts off at the 1st level when a strand of qi successfully occupies a space in the dantian region. To get to the successive stages, one must properly absorb more qi and accumulate it in the dantian region. To summarize it up, the total amount of qi that rests in the dantian is proportional to the stage of qi condensation.

Jian Yu's eyes closed again as he continued his secluded cultivation session.

Time quickly passed as Jian Yu stayed in his room. It was soon going to be the end of his resting period granted by Uncle Xie before going to work. By this point of time, Jian Yu had become very relaxed compared to before. He had thoroughly memorized everything he needed to know from the book handed to him by Uncle Xie. Furthermore, due to reaching the first level of qi condensation, his body felt stronger and his senses more sensitive.

Overall, he felt that he was now physically able to be a blacksmith. Previously, what he had done was crazy. A weak boy like him wanted to refine iron? That's never been done before in the annals of history.

Now, Jian Yu was whistling along the way to the Red Iron smithy. It was his first walk outside since half a year ago after all. He had to cherish the feeling.

Arriving at the Red Iron smithy, Jian Yu brushed his clothes and straightened his back before pushing open the door. Now, he was emanating an aura every bit like a professional blacksmith.

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"Ah, Jian Yu. About time you showed up. Don't you look enthusiastic? Come, I've got work for you to do. I'll watch as you work. I need to see how much you can improve on."

Just as Jian Yu walked past the door, he was greeted with work. He had expected a warm welcome for this new worker that would shed blood and tears for his upcoming work. However, reality struck hard as it shattered his expectations of a warm start to his working life.

"Aish, alright Uncle Xie I'll show you what's Yours Truly can do."

Putting up the familiar act of arrogance of the past, Jian Yu walked towards his workshop to start his first refinement.

*Whack*

"What do you want old man?"

"Nothing, go show me you can work here."

After hearing Jian Yu's arrogance, Uncle Xie could not help but whack his head for good measure.

Jian Yu stood before his personal workbench. Uncle Xie had prepared one for him before he came to work. He even prepared a pair of smaller hammers for Jian Yu to use. Clearly, he was quite fond of Jian Yu's character despite his rough attitude toward him earlier. All of these were noticed by Jian Yu and left a warmth somewhere in his heart.

After taking a chunk of metal off the corner shelf and placing it onto the anvil, Jian Yu began showing off his abilities with gusto.

"Flowing hurricane technique!"

Immediately, Jian Yu's arms flowed in a manner with a freedom much like wind as he hammered down on the metal.

"Flickering inferno technique!"

Then, he changed the movements of his arm to pound the hammer from various angles. It seemed random but there was an order to everything much like the flickering flames in the wind.

"Towering mountain technique!"

With that, his arms lifted up high and dropped them down on the metal one after the other. The immense force of his actions seemed much like the act of the heavens dropping mountains onto the land.

...

Time passed by as he continued showing off all he learnt from Uncle Xie's book of blacksmithing. Jian Yu also lasted longer this time as he had grown stronger from reaching the 1st level of qi condensation. Thus, he didn't stop hammering until a few hours later. Overall, he had refined a total of 3 chunks of iron. Of course, Uncle Xie was pleased but he dared not show it lest Jian Yu gets ahead of himself again.

At this moment, Jian Yu rested on a wooden stool placed in the smithy with a satisfied expression. Similarly, Uncle Xie was satisfied with the work done. Moreover, he was shocked.

His regular routine everyday was to refine 3 metals a day and that was already very exhausting. But to think that this boy had refined the same number of metals that he had. However, what he didn't know was that Jian Yu's fleshly strength was already stronger than his. All he was thinking of was how he could exploit this childish innocence.

A progidy!

As the one who had found such a treasure, Uncle Xie was naturally filled with pride. After all, who wouldn't not want such a child growing under their care.

"So lucky! I must not let my competitors know about this. If they find out, I'm afraid that a competition between us must be held to see who will keep him! I must also make him work harder. Money's essential to keep up and expand my business after all."

These thoughts were left in his mind, never to be forgotten. A fiery glint lit up in his eyes unknown to Jian Yu. If he knew that he was a golden goose treasured by all blacksmiths alike, of course he'd want to associate himself with the richest. After all, he was in it for the money too.

"Alright, Jian Yu. You are talented but have a lot to improve on. You can't just use all the techniques you know of. Instead, I need you to use what you've learnt to create your own personal technique. That's the true way to become a professional blacksmith."

All this was bullshit spewed out from Uncle Xie's mouth. He didn't know exactly how to improve his skills other than to carry out the same routine over and over again. However, he did have to assert a bit of superiority over Jian Yu as his senior blacksmith.

A pondering look appeared on Jian Yu's face. To him, those words had opened up a new path to him. Certainly, he felt that he enjoyed using different techniques to show off. But to show off a supreme technique that was purely his? It would be his big start to a climb back to fame.

His face turned solemn as his thoughts reached that point. No longer was he just taking this job for money. He had another objective now. Fame.

"Go back and think more on it. I'll refine more metals."

Uncle Xie waved his hand and told Jian Yu to leave under the cover of refining more metals. In reality, he just needed to release some of his excitement. His arms that hadn't worked yet were pumped up and ready to vent out his feelings on the metals.

After tidying up his workbench, Jian Yu informed Uncle Xie he was about to leave. But then, he recalled something.

"Uncle, when am I getting my payment?"

"Umm, you get 40 percent of what you refine. If you want bonuses you have to do better than today."

Thrilled that Uncle Xie had given his word on the topic, Jian Yu pushed the door open and skipped back home. His arms hanging loosely from his shoulders as he did so. A slight smirk could be seen as he recalled back to his performance in the Red Iron smithy.

Then, he realised what he was doing and stopped before walking slowly with his hands behind his back. An indifferent look emerged back on his face. He can't act childish in front of everybody. It's gonna be a stain on his future reputation after all.

"Oh look! It's the joke! The retard who doesn't even have any compatibility with an element!"

A voice echoed through the streets from behind Jian Yu. When he turned around, all he saw was a big head at the bottom of his eyes. It was Fatty. He was wearing the red robes of the Ferocity sect which meant that he was a disciple of the sect with some backing to his name. Beside him were two other disciples that were wearing red robes. Obviously, these were some silkpants that wanted to flaunt their status to everybody they had once known.

"Oh it's Fatty."

Despite the presence of the other two disciples, Jian Yu was entirely consumed by Fatty's appearance. His entire being shaken to it's core when he remembered the shame of that fateful day. The betrayal and backstabbing bastards that he called friends. Fatty even had ordered him to kowtow. All this fueled the fires of rage in Jian Yu. However, he did not let it show. An indifferent look stayed stuck on his face. He greeted Fatty and prepared to leave.

"Hey, where do you think you're going in front of me? You dare to leave?!"

Fatty did not want to let Jian Yu leave and this agitated Jian Yu even more. He wanted to rage out all he was feeling back at home but this guy who overeats wants him to grow insane?

"Look, I, Jian Yu, have nothing to do with you. Now, if I can take my leave, that would be great."

Fatty's eyes twitched as he heard Jian Yu.

"Heck, if I have some need of a stranger, then that stranger would be honoured just by looking at my robes. You want to mess with me?! You've got some balls in you don't you!"

For some reason, Fatty's temper had gotten worse from his recent time in the Ferocity sect. His foot swung forwards to meet with... Jian Yu's balls.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

Jian Yu's newly bloodshot eyes bulged out of their sockets and his hands clasped over his groin. His legs trembled and he fell on his knees. This new sensation... This pain... If any man can take it, that very man must have balls of steel.