Chapter 1152: Initiation into the Dao of Blacksmithing

Unaware of the conversation that had taken place between the three Earth Immortals of the Blue Shore Kingdom following them entering the forge together with Gong Cheng, Xuan Hao and Yi Min arrived at the core of the forge where a giant furnace far larger than any furnace either of them had seen before. Even from a quick glance, it was obvious that the furnace was not a normal furnace, but instead a spiritual artifact that had at least reached the Transcendent Rank. Indeed, worthy of being the furnace used by a Grandmaster Realm Blacksmith who was only a step away from forcibly breaking through to the Saint Realm.

"Given that the spiritual metal available is not of that great quality around this place and I already used up most of the higher quality spiritual metal I could get my hand on, I will use most of the time over the next two months teaching you. If you want to try and attempt forging yourself, you are more than free to do so and can even use my furnace if you want. The only thing is that I can only provide spiritual metal at Spirit Rank..." Showing a slightly embarrassed expression on his face as he said this, Gong Cheng allowed Xuan Hao and Yi Min to take in what he said as he glanced towards the piles of spiritual metals located around the core compartment of the forge.

Although there was quite a bit of spiritual metal present, it was mostly Earth Rank spiritual metal, with a small part of it having reached the Spirit Rank. In a corner of the core compartment of the forge, a single piece Mystic Rank spiritual metal could be seen leaning up the side of an anvil made out of far higher quality spiritual metal.

Given his identity as a Grandmaster Realm Blacksmith, it was quite embarrassing that the spiritual metal in his forge was so low quality. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it when living so far away from the core region of the continent where the spiritual qi was abundant and capable of nurturing large quantities of spiritual metal.

""...""

Silently looking around the forge as they heard what Gong Cheng said, both Xuan Hao and Yi Min could not help feeling bad for him after seeing just how bad his current situation was. "Senior, I brought a bit of spiritual metal with me for practicing. If you don't mind, you can have some..."

"Me as well, I have a bit of spiritual metal as well!"

Not able to endure the sad sight of Gong Cheng who was looking around at the spiritual metal in his forge with a depressed expression on his face, Xuan Hao, and Yi Min both decided to take out some spiritual metal before handing it over to him. Among the spiritual metal Xuan Hao and Yi Min handed over, Xuan Hao decided to include a piece of spiritual metal in the Transcendent Rank that he had belonged to one of the three demonic cultivators he had killed when they passed through the Frozen Wasteland.

"This is... Thank you! Haha, I will make sure both of you comprehend the Dao of Blacksmithing over the next two months!" Seeing the large amount of Mystic Rank spiritual metal and the piece of Transcendent Rank spiritual metal, Gong Cheng froze for a short moment before loudly exclaiming in a joyful tone.

Whoosh~

At the same time, he didn't miss a beat as he put away the spiritual metal in his interspatial ring for safe keeping.

Although it wasn't befitting of his current status as the senior, he also understood that the amount of spiritual metal was far too good to refuse. Not to mention the Mystic Rank spiritual metal, with the help of the Transcendent Rank spiritual metal that Xuan Hao gave him, he would be able to forge an artifact befitting of his skill. Possibly even helping him further increase his understanding of the Dao of Blacksmithing in the process.

No matter how unfitting it was, there was no way Gong Cheng would give up a chance to increase his understanding of the Dao of Blacksmithing.

On the other hand, after being given the large amount of spiritual metal by the two, Gong Cheng decided to teach both of them with all of his might over the next two months. Intending to help both of them comprehended the Elementary Realm of the Dao of Blacksmithing before the two-month period was up!

"Thank you in advance senior."

"Thank you..."

Seeing this scene, Xuan Hao and Yi Min decided not to say anything and just went with the flow.

"Hehe, no need to thank me yet. For now, how about we get started with the basics of the Dao of Blacksmithing? After that, both of you can try and use my furnace to get more familiar with the dao through more practical means." Smiling happily as he heard what Xuan Hao and Yi Min said, Gong Cheng pretended like nothing had happened. "Now then, let's get started..." And before Xuan Hao or Yi Min had a chance to respond, he officially began teaching both of them about the Dao of Blacksmithing.

Keeping it simple as he slowly starting to talk about more and more profound things, Gong Cheng observed Xuan Hao and Yi Min silently listening to him while siting down on two cushions that both of them had brought out the moment he had started to preach the Dao of Blacksmithing.

As a few hours passed by like this, Gong Chen realized that both Xuan Hao and Yi Min's were able to easily comprehend everything he said. Leaving him dumbfounded as to how high their affinity for the Dao of Blacksmithing was. Especially Yi Min, who had only reached the Soul Ascension Realm and had a far weaker soul than someone like Xuan Hao.

Of course, he had no idea that Xuan Hao had only reached the Artisan Realm in Blacksmithing and thought that he was also a Master Realm Blacksmith like Yi Min, who had specifically come to him for a chance to breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm.

If he knew that Xuan Hao was just an Artisan Realm Blacksmith yet was able to comprehend the Dao of blacksmithing with such ease without even reaching the Master Realm, it was unknown what he would think.

Even if the powerful soul of an Earth Immortal was able to make it far easier to comprehend the dao, there was still limitations. After all, someone in the Master Realm was already close to reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Blacksmithing, while someone in the Artisan Realm hadn't even taken the first step in comprehending the Dao of Blacksmithing.

For Xuan Hao to be capable of comprehending the Dao of Blacksmithing at this stage essentially meant he would be able to directly skip past the Master Realm and reach the Grandmaster Realm by comprehending the Dao of Blacksmithing, the unique domain that would normally appear at the Master Realm would show up on its own after his breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm...

Hm... If they can still keep up and stay relaxed? What if I increase the difficulty a bit more...

Unaware of this, Gong Cheng decided to start increasing the difficulty of what he taught the two. Curious about how much the two could comprehend and if they could grasp the opportunity to directly comprehend the Dao of Blacksmithing and reach the Elementary Realm through the first session.

In the end, because of this, the first session that Gong Cheng had only intended to last for a few hours and serve as an introduction to the Dao of Blacksmithing ended up lasting far longer than expected as he continued trying to test Xuan Hao and Yi Min to see how much they could comprehend from him.

For the first time in a long time, he also experienced the joy of teaching a talented student who could soak up everything he taught them.

More importantly than all of that, he also felt the barrier to the Perfection Realm starting to show signs of loosening as he continued teaching Xuan Hao and Yi Min. In the end, he unknowingly slipped into a enter a state of enlightenment a week after he had begun preaching the Dao of Blacksmithing to Xuan Hao and Yi Min. However, this enlightenment didn't stop him from preaching the Dao of Blacksmithing. Instead, the difficultly of what he preached increased rapidly. Reaching a point where Xuan Hao and Yi Min could barely understand what he was saying.

But even with this, both of them still benefitted immensely from what little they understood, causing Yi Min to reach the Grandmaster Realm by the second week, while Xuan Hao entered the Grandmaster Realm a bit later. Successfully breaking through by the third week.

Both of them officially reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Blacksmithing through the single lecture. At the same time, it was also at this point that they noticed that something was odd about Gong Cheng...