Translated by: Ea

　　Edited by: Butter and Zryuu

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　　Several Bai family elders were present. They had originally intended to hold the fort for the Hundred Families Gathering and sit in the spectators’ platform for only a short while before leaving. However, no one expected that such a monster would emerge during this Hundred Families Gathering.

　　Lin Zezhi felt as though he was floating. He politely saluted the row of four Bai family elders. “Seniors.”

　　The youngest elder asked, “You are Bai Ling’s son?”

　　Lin Zezhi paused before replying, “Yes.”

　　The youngest elder nodded, “What’s your relationship with Lin Xuanzhi?”

　　Lin Zezhi thought, as expected, they want to ask about Lin Xuanzhi.

　　“He’s my cousin. His father is my father’s younger brother.” Lin Zezhi told them honestly.

　　The youngest elder’s eyes brightened. This feeling was good. Their relationship was quite close, and they’re both from the main branch, so Lin Zezhi’s words should hold more weight to Lin Xuanzhi.

　　“Since your relationship is quite good, you can go scout out his intentions later.” The youngest elder shook his head this way and that, as if he was enacting a play, “You saw that some unexpected accidents happened to the Bai family disciple just now, but, even though it was an accident, my Bai family is no shrinking tortoise. We are willing to give him some compensation to appease him.”

　　Lin Zezhi was finally able to understand what these Bai family elders actually meant.

　　Lin Zezhi didn’t see the younger generation Bai family disciple deliberately attack Lin Xuanzhi and really thought that an uncontrollable accident had occurred. He naturally nodded, “Later, when Xuanzhi comes down, I will pass on Seniors’ message to him. You can rest assured that Xuanzhi is not a petty and narrow-minded person. Since it was an accident, he naturally won’t dwell on it.”

　　However, this was not an accident, and those in-the-know all understand that. As the target of the malicious scheme, Lin Xuanzhi’s heart must be very clear on this—-

　　The Bai family elders also had this same thought in their hearts.

　　However, now that the matter had developed this far, they could only make up for it but couldn’t admit it.

　　The oldest elder spoke with profound meaning, “Our intention to compensate him must be properly conveyed. We are willing to give him more compensation.”

　　It was good as long as he doesn’t stir up trouble for the Bai family.

　　Zezhi felt that something was wrong, but since the Bai family was so sincere, he naturally nodded. “Then I would like to thank all Seniors in Xuanzhi’s place.”

　　Thus, the extremely sensible Lin Zezhi was highly praised by all four elders and they dragged him into a long-winded and pointless conversation about insignificant daily household matters, then generously gave him some life-saving magic treasures before finally letting him go.

　　Even when descending the mountain, Lin Zezhi still didn’t understand why those four main branch Bai family elders, whose pride were rumored to be higher than the sky and who never cared much about the younger generations’ affairs, were so amiable and down-to-earth today?

　　Before long, Lin Xuanzhi finished reforging his magic tool under the tempering of his soulfire.

　　He withdrew the soulfire back inside his body. Lin Xuanzhi had consumed a lot of soul force, so faint beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but his mental state wasn’t bad.

　　Lin Xuanzhi handed the longsword, which was repaired until no problem could be seen, to Huangfu Jin, who had reappeared on the competition stage. Huangfu Jin looked at Lin Xuanzhi with complicated eyes as he held the sword in his hands, then bowed his head and carefully scrutinized the sword from end to end. He then swung it a few times and even exerted his strength.

　　The wind blade swept out and cut down an ancient tree in the distance squarely the middle.

　　A thunderous cheer issued from the audience below, and even the Five Great Sects were influenced by the atmosphere as many disciples applauded. The result of the competition was self-evident.

　　Even if Huangfu Jin held some selfish opinions and ideas regarding Lin Xuanzhi, at this time, he had to admit that Lin Xuanzhi was a genius.

　　“How does it feel?” Lin Xuanzhi asked

　　“It feels more or less the same as when I used it in the past.” Huangfu Jin replied expressionlessly.

　　Lin Xuanzhi, however, remained calm and unruffled in the face of such chaos as he smiled. “Only ‘more or less the same’?”

　　Huangfu Jin, “….”

　　Damn it, why did he feel that launching his spiritual qi and sword techniques became much smoother and that the attack was also more concentrated and powerful than before?

　　Huangfu Jin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and grumpily admitted, “It’s stronger and easier to use.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded in satisfaction, “It seems that Huangfu Young City Lord has good eyesight.”

　　Huangfu Jin took a deep breath and stared at Lin Xuanzhi, “What are you going to do with this sword?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke with a smile that didn’t seem like a smile, “I plan to take it back and scrap it.”

　　“You dare!” Huangfu Jin’s expression suddenly changed, agitation clear on his face, as though he wanted to take a bite out of Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Lin Xuanzhi chuckled slightly, “Young City Lord, the fact that you dared to give me this sword to repair means that you gave it away with the expectation that it will be completely destroyed. Why should you care about how I deal with it?”

　　Huangfu Jin’s expression darkened. He endured and gritted his teeth, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled dismissively, “It’s fine if you don’t understand. The competition is over, and I should go down as well. Oh, right!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi pointed to the sword in Huangfu Jin’s hands and said with a small smile, “Not keeping your word, have you no shame?”

　　After saying that, Lin Xuanzhi went down.

　　Have you no shame?

　　Shame on your ancestors!

　　Huangfu Jin gritted his teeth and threw the sword in his hands at Lin Xuanzhi, “This honourable young lord always keeps my word. You fixed it, so naturally, it’s yours!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised his hand and caught the sword. He turned to Huangfu Jin and curled his lips upwards, “Public auction.”

　　Huangfu Jin almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt that the blood in his entire body was surging upwards and just wanted to take out that sword to cut Lin Xuanzhi with one slash.

　　However, how was he willing to let Lin Xuanzhi practice with this sword? Clearly, a bastard of unknown origins deliberately stabbed him in the back!

　　Bai Yichen couldn’t help laughing when he saw Huangfu Jin’s deathly-rigid face from afar. Once he smiled, Leng Jixue, who was sitting in Sky Peak Sect’s spectating area, also smiled gently. If one observed them carefully, then the two peoples’ expressions bore a striking resemblance. However, Bai Yichen’s smile was colder while Leng Jixue’s smile was very gentle and soft.

　　“He still has a child’s temperament.” Bai Yichen commented.

　　Bai Wuya, who was standing beside him, thought about it. “He’s still a child to begin with. He’s only twenty; how calm of a temperament could he possibly have?”

　　“That’s not true.” Bai Yichen’s smile faded a little. “Look at Lin Xuanzhi. How can a 17-year-old youth possess schemes and methods of that level?”

　　“Lin Xuanzhi……” Bai Wuya said with a wry smile, “This person can’t possibly be judged using normal people’s standards.”

　　From Bai Wuya’s point of view, Lin Xuanzhi seemed like an old spirit who had lived for thousands of years. He seemed to have intentions and schemes behind all his actions. This, combined with Lin Xuanzhi’s heaven-defying crafting ability, made it impossible for Bai Wuya to take Lin Xuanzhi’s actual age seriously.

　　Bai Yichen narrowed his eyes, “Now that I’ve seen Lin Xuanzhi’s hand seals today, I just found out the problem with them.”

　　“What is it?” Bai Wuya asked.

　　“Steady.” Bai Yichen only spoke one word.

　　Bai Wuya’s complexion changed, and hints of fear and astonishment appeared on his face.

　　For craftsmen, their internal soulfire, hand seals, sequencing, forged stones, materials, etc. were all particularly vital, but the most critical core component had only one word — and that was “steady”.

　　It was only by keeping a calm and leisurely pace, with hand seals as steady as a mountain, that the spiritual qi and soul force could evenly permeate the entire equipment, which would give the greatest possibility of the magic treasure advancing into a top-grade artifact.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s speed could be said to be very slow, but he never paused even once in the process of crafting. Even if he was met with unexpected situations and had to swap the actions of each hand, he still didn’t pause or deviate from crafting, which showed how incredible he was. In addition, this kind of steadiness wasn’t only about a steady technique, but also referred to the steady control of the internal soulfire, soul force, forged stones’ spiritual qi, as well as the temperature of the fire.

　　“How is he compared to Young Master?” Bai Wuya asked.

　　“He’s much steadier.” Bai Yichen spoke mildly. “At the very least, I absolutely didn’t have his level of ability when I was his age.”

　　Bai Wuya felt deep veneration for Lin Xuanzhi.

　　The competition among craftsmen ended in less than a day.

　　Lin Xuanzhi took the well-deserved first place, and his incredible reputation spread within the hundred families and Five Great Sects at once.

　　Most probably, before the end of today, Lin Xuanzhi’s name will reappear throughout the entire Five Continents.

　　Lin Xuanzhi stepped off the stage and returned to the Lin family. Before Lin Xuanzhi could even speak with Yan Tianhen, he was immediately surrounded by people from all the major families. The area that the Lin family used to watch the competition was packed to the brim with people.

　　Some people wanted Lin Xuanzhi’s help in crafting or repairing magic items, but there were also quite a few who didn’t need any new items for the time being. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop them from expressing their worship and admiration for Lin Xuanzhi while at the same time befriending him and deepening their relationship with him in order to make future dealings more convenient.

　　Lin Xuanzhi wasn’t actually in a hurry to take crafting commissions, but he still made skillful conversation with the young masters of the major families.

　　After quite a while, Lin Xuanzhi finally appeased those young masters eager to have him craft items for them and pulled Yan Tianhen along as they squeezed out from the sea of people, running down the mountain and disappearing like a wisp of smoke.

　　Yan Tianhen patted his chest with some lingering fear and spoke with a long sigh, “These people are really too enthusiastic; every single one of them seemed like they wanted to swallow you whole. They scared me to death.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi also breathed a sigh of relief, “Yeah, it’s true that ‘people fear fame just like pigs fear fattening up.’ People lose the freedom to act independently once they become famous.”

　　Duan Yuyang was also together with these two people and was besieged for half a day. He felt that he was about to be squeezed into a person as thin as a piece of paper.

　　“But, you’re really incredible enough.” Duan Yuyang sincerely admired him. “You can actually use high-grade forged stones and materials to craft a top-grade magic tool, and can even inscribe an illusion array within it. This really blinded my dog’s eyes — speaking of which, you shouldn’t actually have a hidden identity called ‘array master,’ right?”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Duan Yuyang, “Yuyang Gege, do you have a dog?”

　　Duan Yuyang, “…”

　　Why couldn’t this child take a joke?

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “Do you actually believe that I can craft such an incredible illusion array?”

　　Duan Yuyang and Yan Tianhen both looked towards him as they asked simultaneously in confusion, “Isn’t that right?”

　　“How can that be possible.” Lin Xuanzhi shook his head with a smile. “I do know some common knowledge regarding illusion arrays and can craft a few simple illusion arrays as well, but even if I engraved an illusion array into the compass, it would still be impossible to raise the grade of the compass. At most, it can only add more functions to the compass.”

　　“Then how…” Duan Yuyang stared blankly.

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