Translated by: Ea

　　Edited by: Butter and Zryuu

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　　Wasn’t this re-inspection critical? The gray-robed Taoist almost lost his grip and threw out the compass.

　　He quickly grasped the compass firmly and inspected it again, only to get the same result.

　　But…How was this possible?

　　The gray-robed Taoist seemed to feel the Dao of Heaven’s malice. With a complex expression halfway between astonishment and confusion, he asked carefully, “This little friend, how did you do it?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “You may as well inspect the pattern on this compass again.”

　　The gray-robed elder immediately looked down at the heavy compass in his hand.

　　The compass was made using sunken stone as the basis. Although it was only the size of a palm, gold and silver lines were scattered on the surface like stars in the sky, criss-crossing each other. It looked like a series of lines made by the stars and had an air of otherworldly exquisiteness.

　　These lines contained powerful soul force within them, but what shocked the gray-robed Taoist even more was that the composition and arrangement of the lines formed an array diagram that could break through illusion arrays!

　　“You…” The gray-robed elder remained speechless. He looked at Lin Xuanzhi incredulously, his eyes full of disbelief.

　　The spectators couldn’t help but issue a rustle of voices.

　　“What happened on the stage? Why is that elder motionless in front of Lin Xuanzhi?”

　　“I don’t know, it’s too far away to see.”

　　“Maybe there’s something wrong with his compass?”

　　Onstage, Bai Susu asked, “Honghu Gege, what happened? Could there be some problems with his compass?”

　　Bai Honghu frowned. He suddenly had an ominous sense of foreboding.

　　The gray-robed Taoist levelled a complicated gaze at Lin Xuanzhi, “Have you learned forged engraving and upgrading via fusion forging?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “Elder is indeed experienced and knowledgeable. It is indeed forged engraving and fusion forging upgrade.”

　　The gray-robed Taoist asked, “Who did you learn from?”

　　“This……” Lin Xuanzhi answered with some embarrassment, “The person who taught me is unwilling to let others know his identity.”

　　The gray-robed Taoist didn’t make things difficult for him either. He nodded, “I understand.”

　　There were always hidden great powers unwilling to let others know of their identities. They did high-profile things in a low-profile manner.

　　Baili Yunshan, who was beside them, kept peering over with his head and eagerly asked, “What happened? What’s the grade of this compass?”

　　The Taoist in a gray robe swept a glance over Baili Yunshan and glanced down at the crowd of spectators under the stage. He announced, “Lin Xuanzhi’s compass is a top-grade magic tool.”

　　The audience under the stage suddenly became dead silent.

　　After the silence, an uproar erupted.

　　“How’s that possible? Those forged stones were all high-grade ones. Theoretically, it’s impossible to craft a magic tool that’s a higher grade than the forged stone!”

　　“Yeah, I still know the most basic principles of crafting even if I’m not a craftsman.”

　　“It shouldn’t be that everyone actually used different forged stones?”

　　“Did they find the problem?”

　　All kinds of doubts were voiced out from all directions. The gray-robed Taoist gave a cold hng and raised his voice, “All of you can send someone to check the true grade of the forged stones. As for the grade of this compass–”

　　The gray-robed Taoist turned to all the sect elders in the spectating seats. “This should not be a problem with the forged stone. Moreover, an array that can reverse the flow of illusion arrays was engraved onto the surface of this compass. This, in addition to the pure soul force and special crafting methods, allowed the compass to surpass the limits of the forged stones and jump a grade to become a top-grade item.”

　　All the people from the Five Great Sects were extremely astonished, but this gray-robed Taoist was a very authoritative treasure appraiser who had never made a single mistake.

　　Not just the audience members who were eating melon seeds and watching the good show, but even the craftsmen of the Five Great Sects were all dumbfounded.

　　“What in the world is this?”

　　“An illusion array was added to the compass? Did I hear wrong?”

　　“How could this be possible? To add an illusion array, the craftsman must be an array master as well, and his soul force must reach a certain level…”

　　“It can’t be……that Lin Xuanzhi himself is actually an array master as well?”

　　Once this remark was made, the entire audience fell into a confused silence.

　　It can’t be……that Lin Xuanzhi’s mother was an array master?

　　If that was really true, then the Dao of Heaven was too unreasonable!

　　“It shouldn’t be?” The person who spoke carried a strong sense of self-doubt at those words.

　　“It should be…impossible?”

　　Outside, Lin family’s people all stared at Yan Tianhen with searching eyes.

　　Duan Yuyang hooked his arm around Yan Tianhen’s neck in one go. “Good brat, your Dage is an array master. You actually hid this kind of important information from me for this long? Are we still brothers?”

　　Yan Tianhen also had a dumbfounded expression and said innocently, “But I also didn’t know that my Dage has talent in crafting arrays either. He never told me about it and never showed any talent in this field either.”

　　“That’s strange.” Duan Yuyang frowned, “Lin Xuanzhi probably wouldn’t hide it from you.”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi and thought that he looked taller than he did this morning. He blinked, “Just ask when my Dage comes down from the stage.”

　　Bai Honghu’s face became ugly to the extreme as he watched Lin Xuanzhi effortlessly grab everyone’s attention.

　　Using high-grade forged stones to make top-grade magic tools, this was already an unreasonable occurrence, but Lin Xuanzhi actually accomplished this within the short span of two hours, and even had time to engrave an illusion array onto the compass with his forged engraving pen.

　　However, no matter how much he wanted to deny the situation, the reality was right in front of him. The magic tool that Lin Xuanzhi had crafted indeed had the highest grade out of everyone here.

　　Lin Xuanzhi firmly won the first round of the competition.

　　In the instant when the result was announced, Bai Honghu clenched his fist tightly as blue veins bulged from his head. He gnashed his teeth in hatred and felt deeply humiliated.

　　A no-name newbie craftsman actually dared to suppress him, a person ranked within the top ten in the line of Bai family’s successors and the leader of his generation, in such a public competition and steal his limelight. It was a direct insult and provocation to him!

　　Bai Susu bit her lower lip in jealousy, “This Lin Xuanzhi is really too fond of showing off. Crafting is crafting, why did he need to add more unnecessary embellishments? We’re competing in crafting, not crafting arrays…”

　　Bai Honghu lightly swept her a glance, “From now on, his limelight will be exhausted.”

　　Bai Susu was stunned and spoke happily soon after, “Does Honghu Gege have any ideas?”

　　Bai Honghu coldly curled his lips, “You’ll just have to wait and see. How can our Bai family be oppressed by a no-named generation from a third-class family?”

　　Bai Susu’s envy abated a little, “Yeah, Honghu Gege must not underestimate Lin Xuanzhi. In the past, when he was in the Lin family, he was very skilled in resorting to dirty tricks and malicious schemes in the dark.”

　　The second round immediately began as soon as the first round concluded.

　　The first round’s compass was a defensive item used to break through illusion arrays, but the second round had higher standards and required the craftsmen to craft attack weapons instead.

　　Attack weapons were the hardest to craft for craftsmen because they had to possess a sharp soulfire and powerful soul force in order to craft the most lethal and destructive attack weapon.

　　However, all the craftsmen were stunned when they saw the materials presented to them.

　　Right next to the materials needed to craft attack weapons were some broken attack weapons– there were broken swords, polearms with pissing pieces, and even an iron fan with a broken bamboo strip.

　　A longsword that had already lost its luster was placed in front of Lin Xuanzhi.

　　The previous owner of this sword was unknown, and it was actually broken in the middle. The sword edge was lined with little nicks caused by intense clashes of weapons in close-quarter combat. They were in all shapes and sizes, deep and shallow, thick and thin. The sword looked scarred and pitiful.

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised his hand and gently stroked the body of this longsword.

　　Top-grade magic tool.

　　Lin Xuanzhi had already judged its grade with ease when his soul force scanned the sword’s body.

　　To be able to wear out a sword until it looked like this, Lin Xuanzhi admired the original owner.

　　“Let’s try something new for the second round of the competition.” Huangfu Jin, who doubled as both the second round’s host and judge, stood in the center of the platform. He looked around at the remaining twelve craftsmen and curled his lips upward. “The past Hundred Families Gatherings have asked craftsmen to craft a new magic tool, but this time, we hope to see craftsmen repair and reforge these treasures, which are already broken and can no longer be used properly.”

　　“Reforge them?” Baili Yunshan couldn’t help furrowing his brows. “I haven’t learned that yet. That’s usually a subject that only craftsmen above the teal soul level can touch. You’re joking, right?”

　　The crafting process can be divided into three types — first crafting, then forging and upgrading, and lastly reforging. Among them, crafting was the easiest and most simple. Forging and upgrading meant using the original item as the base to add new features to the item or further stabilize its properties.

　　On the other hand, reforging was used when the treasure was damaged, eroded, or turned into a pile of scrap metal. The craftsman would use some new materials consistent with the weapon’s original style and attributes in order to turn this trash into a treasure again.

　　However, this situation rarely occurred. After all, the requirements for craftsmen were very high because craftsmen needed to have a complete understanding of the treasure’s attributes and structure, then send their soul force and spiritual Qi into the item, which was equivalent to understanding another person’s style using the item as basis and imitating it.

　　Secondly, the majority of treasures that have been reforged would not have higher levels than the original. Therefore, unless this magic weapon was of vital importance to someone, no one would ever reforge abandoned magical weapons.

　　As a result, beginner craftsmen will rarely come into contact with this crafting method at the outset.

　　The remaining twelve craftsmen all looked towards Huangfu Jin.

　　Bai Honghu felt reluctant, “Even when I was in the Bai family, I seldom came into contact with reforging.”

　　Bai Susu nodded, “Isn’t this too difficult?”

　　Huangfu Jin, however, grinned with deep meaning, “Don’t look at me. This wasn’t my idea but a suggestion put forth by your Bai family’s Young Master.”

　　Bai Honghu only felt that that disabled young master of theirs, whose shadow couldn’t even be seen usually but could always find ways to make things difficult for them at critical moments, loved to screw with people.

　　It really was whatever he thinks, goes. He really was too unbridled and wanton in his actions.

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