“This…” Yuan Ming was at a loss for words when he heard Fang Ge’s evaluation of him.

“But…”

At this moment, Fang Ge suddenly changed the topic. Yuan Ming thought he was going to talk about his strengths, and his spirits lifted, feeling like he could finally regain some face and confidence.

“However, the starting point does not determine future achievements. Among the 183 named disciples, only five of them have been able to continuously forge qualified weapon prototypes by hammering a thousand times. Whether you can become the sixth one or more depends on your diligence and perseverance,” Fang Ge continued in a serious tone.

Although he didn’t hear any praise, the phrase “the starting point does not determine future achievements” truly touched Yuan Ming’s heart.

His starting point as a “beast slave” was already as low as it could be. Now that he had passed the first hurdle and become a named disciple of the Biluo Cave, he would take becoming a weapon refiner as the second hurdle to overcome.

“Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother,” Yuan Ming took a deep breath and bowed to Fang Ge.

“Practice on your own… You are still in the apprentice stage for now, so you don’t need to take forging tasks. By the way, don’t forget to have lunch at the canteen,” Fang Ge said.

“Forging tasks?” Yuan Ming asked in confusion.

“After you can hammer five hundred and sixty times continuously, you can take some basic forging tasks. Help the senior brothers and sisters of the sect refine some ordinary weapons, hidden weapons, or saddles needed for riding spirit beasts,” Fang Ge casually replied.

Yuan Ming remembered that the smoke bomb he had used before seemed to have come from the Fire Refining Hall.

“Understood,” Yuan Ming nodded.

“By the way, this is the basic textbook for learning weapon refining. Take it back and study it. After half a month, I will come to check your progress, including the situation of your weapon prototypes,” Fang Ge said.

“Thank you, Senior Brother,” Yuan Ming received a blue book from him and put it in his embrace.

After Fang Ge left with the refined iron embryo, Yuan Ming started a fire and continued his practice of swinging the hammer.

…

After a while, the sound of a golden gong rang out.

The disciples in the Fire Forge, who had been busy for most of the day, began to stop forging one after another.

At this time, someone noticed that there was a newcomer in the Fire Forge who had a decent appearance but not a very strong physique.

However, seeing that he was still working hard, no one bothered him.

After a quarter of an hour, Yuan Ming finally stopped forging, drenched in sweat. After having a meal at the canteen, he took a bath and returned to his residence with a tired body.

After sitting down in his room, he took out the book from his embrace. On the cover, it was written in the Southern Region’s script, “Essentials of Weapon Refining.” He opened it and started reading.

As he flipped through the pages, his vision blurred, and he couldn’t resist the drowsiness. He fell asleep on the table.

After an unknown amount of time, a cool breeze blew, and Yuan Ming woke up suddenly, instinctively reaching for the green fish sword at his waist.

Unconsciously, he thought he was in the middle of the Ten Thousand Mountains. He felt a sense of fear for sleeping so soundly.

But when he saw the surroundings clearly, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of confusion.

At this moment, a bright moonlight poured in from outside, like a light veil spread on the table in front of him.

Yuan Ming was no longer sleepy, so he sat down on the floor and formed hand seals, starting to cultivate the “Death Moon Method.”

On a branch of a pine tree outside the window, a silver cat lazily lay down.

Its head rested on its front paws, its eyes half-closed, and the moonlight flowed on its silver fur, reflecting a shimmering light.

…

Time flew by, and half a month passed.

In a forging room in the Fire Forge, the sound of hammering resounded continuously. Yuan Ming held a forging hammer and hammered a piece of iron embryo.

Fang Ge and several disciples from the Fire Refining Hall watched from the side, and Chen Wan was also here.

“Two hundred and eighty-one, two hundred and eighty-two…” a disciple counted.

Yuan Ming swung the iron hammer with all his strength, matching Fang Ge’s previous demonstration in both strength and speed, without any mistakes. However, as time went on, his strength gradually depleted, and his face turned pale.

Just as the person finished counting to three hundred, his arm went numb, and the iron hammer couldn’t be lifted anymore. It made a “clang” sound as it hit the anvil.

“Three hundred and fifteen hammer strikes, assessment failed,” Fang Ge shook his head, his voice devoid of any emotion.

The onlookers burst into laughter, and some of them wore mocking expressions. They didn’t know how many times they hammered each day, yet Yuan Ming couldn’t even reach five hundred hammer strikes.

Yuan Ming wasn’t too frustrated. He had already given it his all, but it seemed that there was still a gap between him and the people from the Southern Region in terms of physique.

Fang Ge frowned. Yuan Ming’s physique was clearly not suitable for blacksmithing, but he had seen his diligent practice during this period.

“How is the book ‘Essentials of Weapon Refining’?” Fang Ge asked.

“I have basically memorized it,” Yuan Ming replied.

“Memorized? Then tell me about the origin, characteristics, and properties of Wuting Iron Stone!” Fang Ge’s face turned serious, and his voice suddenly became stern.

He asked how well Yuan Ming had understood it, not whether he had memorized it or not. The book “Essentials of Weapon Refining” was the foundation of the Fire Refining Hall’s weapon refining. It had a lot of content, and even senior disciples of the Fire Refining Hall wouldn’t dare to claim that they had memorized half of it.

Yuan Ming recalled for a moment and recited the content about Wuting Iron Stone.

Fang Ge paused for a moment and continued, “What about Broken Gold Jade?”

“Broken Gold Jade is produced in the Golden Lake of the Southern Region. It is extremely hard and suitable for forging knives and swords. However, this material is easily corroded by Yin Qi and needs to be carefully preserved,” Yuan Ming answered without hesitation.

This time, not only Fang Ge, but also the others were surprised.

Chen Wan looked at Yuan Ming, a hint of curiosity flashing in her eyes.Fang Ge asked about several other types of spiritual materials and the furnace temperatures required to smelt them. Yuan Ming answered each question accurately.

“It seems you really have remembered everything. Good, from today on, you will be in charge of sifting materials.” Fang Ge nodded slightly, his tone much softer.

“Yes.” Yuan Ming nodded in agreement.

The male disciples who were watching showed disdain in their eyes at Yuan Ming’s response.

Sifting materials was usually a task for female disciples with weaker strength. In the smelting hall, male disciples who sifted materials were considered weak and useless. Yuan Ming’s acceptance of the task was seen as shameless in their eyes.

Yuan Ming knew that the male disciples in the smelting hall had some prejudice against the task of sifting materials, but he didn’t care. He had gradually adjusted his mindset and planned to establish himself among the registered disciples first.

“What kind of look is that? There is no distinction between high and low in the tasks within the smelting hall. It seems that my previous words have been taken as wind passing by your ears?” Fang Ge looked sternly at the group.

“Brother Fang is right, we always remember your teachings and dare not have any prejudice.”

“Yes, we think Junior Brother Yuan has an excellent memory and is intelligent. He is perfectly suited for the task of sifting materials. Brother Fang’s arrangement is quite appropriate.”

“Brother, I suddenly remembered that I have some urgent matters to attend to, I will take my leave first.”

“Oh, I also have something to deal with, I almost forgot.”

Seeing Fang Ge’s anger, the group hastily made excuses and scattered.

Fang Ge sighed and said to Chen Wan, who was still there, “Junior Sister Chen, I have something to deal with here. Could you please take Yuan Ming to Wu Ri’s smelting room? They are always short of hands there. Please explain the key points of sifting materials to Yuan Ming.”

“Okay.” Chen Wan nodded and walked in another direction.

Yuan Ming followed her, looking back at Fang Ge who was walking away, and asked, “Senior Sister Chen, why did Brother Fang sigh just now?”

“In your opinion, is there a hierarchy in the tasks within the smelting hall?” Chen Wan glanced at Yuan Ming and asked.

“If we talk about the difficulty level, forging is the hardest, and sifting materials is simpler. However, whether it’s forging or sifting materials, each is just a step in the process of refining tools. If any step is not done well, it will affect the final result. So, there is indeed no hierarchy.” Yuan Ming answered without hesitation.

“It’s rare that you have such insight. But the people in the smelting hall don’t think so. As you said, among the tasks in the smelting hall, forging is the hardest, and the sect values the forging disciples the most and provides them with the most resources. Because of this, the forging disciples have become more and more arrogant and look down upon the sifting and smelting disciples. The conflicts between them are getting more and more serious, which is not conducive to the development of the smelting hall. Since Brother Fang took over the smelting hall, he has been trying to adjust this prejudice. But as you saw just now, the effect is minimal, so he naturally sighed in disappointment.” Chen Wan explained.

“I see, Brother Fang really has a tough job.” Yuan Ming suddenly understood and his impression of Fang Ge improved a lot.

“Let’s not talk about this. You must have seen the sifting process over the past few days. It’s a simple task. Just follow the instructions of the forging disciples, smash the required ores, and sift them finely. The only thing you need to pay attention to is not to mix up the ores. Since you are familiar with the ‘Basics of Refining’, as long as you are careful, there should be no problem.” Chen Wan explained as they walked.

“Yes, thank you for your guidance, Senior Sister Chen.” Yuan Ming responded.

While they were talking, they arrived at a small smelting room.

There were only four people here. The leader was a tall young man with a broad body, thick limbs, and hands that were scorched yellow from the heat, clearly a seasoned forging disciple.

There were also two female disciples sifting materials. One was tall with slightly dark skin, and the other looked like a young girl with a round face and some baby fat.

The last person was a bald male disciple in his early twenties, who was working hard to operate the bellows to maintain the temperature of the fire in the furnace.

Compared to other smelting rooms, there were fewer people here, and everyone was extremely busy. Especially the two female disciples sifting materials, they were almost running around, their clothes and cheeks covered in dust, looking quite disheveled.

“Wu Ri, this is Yuan Ming, a new disciple in the smelting hall. He will be helping with sifting materials here from now on.” Chen Wan said to the tall young man who was hammering a casting block.

Wu Ri didn’t respond. He was focused on the red-hot casting block in front of him. His hand rose and fell like a whirlwind, hammering nearly a hundred times before stopping.

After putting the casting block into the furnace, he turned his body, glanced at Chen Wan, and then looked at Yuan Ming with a skeptical gaze. “Newcomer? Are you familiar with ores? We are short of people here, but we don’t need anyone who will make things worse.”