After hearing those words, Zhang Xuan was certain that the Blacksmith Sun Jin whom the other party spoke of had no intention of taking him in as his disciple at all. Instead, he was treating him as a tool to search for ores!
Rare ores were usually formed from the fluctuations of the earth's crust, and they would be born alongside the earth flames. As such, where the latter gathered, there was bound to be an abundance of ores.
Sun Jin had instructed the other party to cultivate a zhenqi that was compatible with the earth flames, allowing him to easily sense where the earth flames were concentrated, thus making it easier for him to search for ores. On the other hand, if he were to cultivate such a zhenqi cultivation technique, it would be impossible for him to control the earth flames, thus making it impossible for him to smith!
In other words, from the very start, the other party had never intended for him to become a blacksmith.
There were many rare ores in Firesource City, and no matter how much money a blacksmith could earn, it was still far from what he could earn by selling the ores.
"To think that a teacher would actually do such a thing …"
Zhang Xuan's hair stood on end in rage.
It was one thing if he hadn't met the other party, but since he had, how could he possibly let the other party off?
Scum like him deserved to be punished!
Even though the other party wasn't a master teacher, he had used the guise of passing down his heritage to mislead his students. He was even more detestable than those irresponsible teachers.
Putting everything aside, the other thirty apprentices who had received the personal guidance of a 6-star blacksmith had thought that they would be able to make a name for themselves. Yet, who could have known that all of them would end up dying while searching for ores? Even if the middle-aged man managed to survive, he was still unable to become a blacksmith, leaving him so depressed that he wanted to commit suicide.
And to Sun Jin, all he had done was accept a bunch of apprentices. He wasn't imparting his knowledge to them, nor was he teaching them … Even if they were unable to become blacksmiths, his reputation wouldn't be affected too much. On the contrary, if news of this matter were to spread, it would only make others think that they were the ones who had failed to learn their craft and achieved nothing despite following behind a 6-star blacksmith …
Most likely, the middle-aged man was unable to accept such criticism, and that was why he had committed suicide …
If not for Zhang Xuan hearing it personally, he would have never imagined that there would be such scum in the Firesource City Blacksmith Guild.
Imparting knowledge and dispelling doubts were all teachers.
As an Upper Nine Paths blacksmith, if Zhang Xuan really wanted to recruit death soldiers to search for ores, he should have been able to do so as well. However, if he were to be caught doing so, his reputation would be tarnished. On the other hand, if he were to recruit some apprentices and offer them guidance in name, not only would his reputation be tarnished, he would also be able to use them more effectively... But when he was done using them, he would kick them aside as though they were nothing more than weeds.
"I have studied under a 6-star blacksmith for so many years, but I can't even smith a Mortal weapon of the lowest grade. No matter where I go, I am ridiculed by others, and even my family members are implicated. Since that's the case, I might as well just die!"
Seeing the elder who stopped him from committing suicide lowering his head in contemplation, the middle-aged man thought that the other party was also at his wit's end, and disappointment filled his eyes.
It would have been fine if he had only been ridiculed, but the most important thing was that his family had been implicated. This was something he could not bear.
"Don't be discouraged, I've already found the root cause of your inability to forge weapons! As long as you believe in my words, not only will you succeed in forging a weapon, you will even become a 5-star blacksmith or even a 6-star blacksmith! "
Seeing that he had lost all will to fight and was about to die at any moment, Zhang Xuan consoled him.
It was not that he was spouting nonsense to console the other party, but that he had the ability to do so.
It might be difficult for others to alter their cultivation technique, but with his eye of discernment and knowledge, it wasn't impossible for him to create a new cultivation technique for the other party to learn and correct the flaws in it.
But of course, the prerequisite was that he had to know what kind of cultivation technique the other party was cultivating.
Zhang Xuan had used his Eye of Insight to observe the other party's forging process, and the cultivation technique that the other party was cultivating was probably incomplete. Even if he knew about it, he wouldn't be able to resolve the issue.
"Become a 5-star or 6-star blacksmith?"
The middle-aged man was taken aback. He shook his head, and the disappointment in his eyes deepened.
He had thought that the young man before him was powerful enough to help him, but who could have thought that he would spout nonsense right from the start?
If he couldn't even become a 1-star blacksmith, how could he possibly become a 5-star or even 6-star blacksmith?
Was he joking?
"Do you think that I am a joke, and you want to mock me before I die?"
The middle-aged man looked at Zhang Xuan with a feeble voice, as if he had lost all will to fight.
"Mock me?"
Not expecting the other party to say such words, Zhang Xuan was taken aback for a moment before coming to a realization.
The other party was a trash who couldn't even clear the 1-star blacksmith examination. It was indeed going too far for him to say that he could become a 5-star or 6-star blacksmith.
It would seem like he was mocking the other party instead of helping him.
"Don't worry, since I said that I can do it, I'll definitely be able to do it!"
Not bothering to explain, Zhang Xuan's face was brimming with confidence.
At the very most, he would just have to cripple the other party's cultivation and impart the simplified Heaven's Path Divine Art to the other party. The other party was only at Transcendent Mortal 9-dan, so it shouldn't take long for him to cultivate from scratch.
"You'll definitely be able to do it? If even Blacksmith Sun Jin can't do it, how can I trust you? Are you really a blacksmith? "the middle-aged man asked doubtfully.
Only a true blacksmith would understand the difficulty of smithing. Given how the other party spoke so confidently, could he be bragging?
"Of course!"
Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out his blacksmith emblem, and the six stars on it shone brilliantly.
"6-star blacksmith?"
The middle-aged man took a look at the emblem, and he shook his head. "I don't believe you. The emblem could be someone else's, or it could even be a fake. Unless you can forge a Spirit pinnacle weapon for me to see, I'll only believe that you are a 6-star blacksmith!"
The other party was too young, only in his early twenties. He had seen many 6-star blacksmiths before, and even the youngest among them was in their fifties. Naturally, he dared not believe the other party's words.
He had to verify the other party's name before he could verify whether the emblem was genuine or not. Given that he wasn't even sure who the other party was, he wouldn't be able to tell the other party's identity even if he were to take out someone else's emblem.
"This …" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
He had passed the blacksmith examination at the Master Teacher Academy not too long ago, so it wasn't a big deal for him to show it to the other party.
What he needed to do now was to convince the other party to trust him. Otherwise, it would be futile for the other party to believe him.
"Why? You can't forge it? If that's the case, what you said earlier was also fake, and you were just trying to comfort me? "
Seeing Zhang Xuan's hesitation, the middle-aged man's face grew darker and darker.
"Of course not! Smithing means nothing to me at all!"
Seeing that the other party had already lost his confidence, Zhang Xuan knew that if he did not show off his strength, all of his previous efforts would have gone to waste.
"Let me borrow your ores!"
Walking up to the rack by the corner of the room, Zhang Xuan picked out four ores and tossed them into the forging cauldron.
He drove his zhenqi, and a moment later, the earth flames surged into the cauldron. The four ores began to melt under the heat of the flames, revealing the gleaming metal within.
These four ores were extremely rare in the outside world, and every single one of them was worth a fortune. Only a place like Firesource City was capable of taking out four of them at once.
With a flick of his fingers, the four ores came into contact with one another and slowly fused together. With a light chuckle, Zhang Xuan turned to Zhang Xuan and said, "The simplest step in smithing is to temper the base of the weapon. This step is the most time-consuming, but it doesn't showcase one's smithing ability.
As Zhang Xuan spoke, he gathered zhenqi at the tip of his finger and flicked it toward the searing earth flames. The fused ores flew out and landed in the lake not too far away.
Tzzzzzzz!
A cloud of dust rose into the air, and with a flick of his hand, a huge lump of metal appeared before his eyes.
"This is … a weapon?"
Upon seeing the lump of metal, the middle-aged man's lips twitched.
Putting aside an apprentice, even a pig would be able to smith something better than this...
With a bizarre look on his face, the middle-aged man took the lump of metal, and just as he was about to take a look at what the other party had forged, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
His smithing mastery might not be too high, but having followed a 6-star blacksmith for more than twenty years, he still had a decent eye for smithing.
Even though the lump of metal before him was extremely ugly and disgusting, it was a Spirit pinnacle artifact.
To casually pick up an ore and forge a Spirit pinnacle artifact in less than a minute … Wasn't that a little too fearsome?
If the other party could forge such a formidable artifact without even forging it carefully … just how formidable could the weapon he forged be?
"I have eyes but failed to see …"
Thus, he hurriedly kneeled down and kowtowed sincerely.
At this moment, he was utterly convinced!
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
Even though he was a true 6-star pinnacle blacksmith, he was only skilled in the field of fusion and quenching. As for the most basic of forging, he was completely clueless about it.
Given his current proficiency, he was only able to forge a lump of metal. Anything beyond that was beyond his capabilities.
However, just this feat alone was more than sufficient to convince the other party.
"Alright, since you have already confirmed my identity, you'll have to listen to my instructions. As long as I succeed, not only will I help you become a true blacksmith, I'll even tear apart a certain person's mask of hypocrisy!"
Seeing that the other party had complete trust in him, Zhang Xuan nodded.
"Tear apart a certain person's mask of hypocrisy?" the middle-aged man asked in confusion.
"That's right!" Zhang Xuan nodded. "May I know where the Blacksmith Sun Jin you spoke of is?"
"He's at … the Blacksmith Guild!" the middle-aged man replied.
"Bring me to him. Later on, no matter what I say or do, don't interrupt me. Just listen to my instructions!"
Zhang Xuan instructed.
As a master teacher, he couldn't tolerate a scum like Sun Jin. He had to expose the other party's true colors before the world. Otherwise, if he was allowed to continue wreaking havoc, who knew how many more people would be blinded by him?
Master teachers not only had to protect mankind, they had to uphold the reputation of the 'teacher' as well. They couldn't allow a single rat to taint the dignity of their heritage.
"Yes!"
The middle-aged man nodded.
Just as the other party had said, he would just die at the very most. There was nothing for him to be afraid of. If the other party could create a miracle and solve his problem, he would really be saved.
"Bring this ore with you. It'll be useful in the future!"
Just as they were about to walk out of the room, Zhang Xuan pointed to the Violetgilt Gold on the shelf.
The middle-aged man nodded before stowing it into his storage ring. Then, he walked forward to lead the way.
The Blacksmith Guild wasn't too far away, only three streets away. It didn't take them too long to arrive at their destination.
Even though the sky had already darkened, as the most popular occupation in Firesource City, the Blacksmith Guild was still brightly lit.
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