204 Grade

While blue coppertite wasn’t the hardest of metals, the main reason it was soannoying to form was its constant transformations. As a result, Tang Wulin tookadvantage of his heavy silver hammer’s special ability: the Stacked Hammereffect. This way, he only needed a hundred or so strikes to finish hundredrefining it.

He put away his hammer and raised his hand.

The staff member in charge of supervising the competition ran over, stumblingover his own two feet.

“You’re finished?” The staff member retrieved Tang Wulin’s number plate.Disbelief clouded his face when he saw the blue coppertite’s reduced size.

Tang Wulin asked, “Can I leave now?”

“You can since you’re finished. But are you sure you’re done hundred refiningit? If you don’t succeed, you’ll be eliminated,” The staff member remindedkindly.

“I’m certain I succeeded,” Tang Wulin answered without a missed beat.Considering his current blacksmith rank, the Hundred Refinements was nothing tohim.

The white-haired old man was the first to speak out from the stage. “Bringthat child’s product over here. If he isn’t spouting nonsense, then he’s reallya terrifying genius.” At first, he thought Tang Wulin was rude and impetuous.However, as a Saint Blacksmith, he noticed the music in each strike of hishammer, the steady rhythm with which it beat.

It was the innate rhythm of a blacksmith. When a blacksmith became in tunewith their individual tempo, their forging efficiency would double. Bluecoppertite wasn’t easy to refine. Yet, Tang Wulin had still refined it. Assuch, wouldn’t the result be spectacular?

Afterward, the refined blue coppertite was brought onto the stage.

The people sitting on stage were all influential figures in the world ofblacksmithing. At that moment, their gazes converged on the chunk of metal likerivers to the sea.

“This…”

Blue coppertite was a beautiful metal. In order to judge its quality, one mustscrutinize how evenly its patterns were distributed and how close to the centerits rings landed.

That was as thorough of an inspection as it gets. As long as the ring wascentered, the hundred refining was a success; the reduction in size only servedas further proof.

The white-haired old man lowered his head, carefully examining the bluecoppertite. He held it in his palm and caressed it with gentle fingers, feelingthe grain of the metal. His eyes lit up.

“This is a high-grade hundred refined piece! Quickly, go find out whichassociation that child belongs to.”

By then, Tang Wulin had already left, feet in a blur as he hurried off toSkysea Stadium.

The gym wasn’t far from his next destination. H even planned out his route thenight before, all for the sake of not being tardy.

There was still time before the individual competition started. After all, hisforging went by without a hitch and he was the first one to finish. Moreover,according to his number plate, he would be participating in the third heat ofthe first round.

Due to the significant number of competitors, several heats were compiled witheach heat consisting of fifty contestants. Appearing in the third heat wouldmean he had at least an hour to relax. Like other event grounds, Skysea Stadiumwas holding separate yet concurrent competitions. Only in this way could theSkysea Alliance Tournament be finished within a reasonable amount of time andaccommodate its vast amount of competitors.

Once he reached the stadium, Tang Wulin headed toward the check-in area tobegin preparing for the competition, but a figure obstructed him.

“Hmph!” A cold snort sounded and Tang Wulin raised his head to see who stoodin his way.

It was a baleful Ye Xinglan directing a murderous glare at him.

Xu Lizhi stood beside her. To the untrained eye his aura exuded innocence, butunderneath the layers of good will and plump cheeks was a hint of bitterness.

“I’ve finally caught you! Do you have anything to say for yourself?” YeXinglan stood with her hands on her hips. Her long eyebrows stood erect as hereyes blazed with fury.

“Say what? I don’t really know you that well anyway.” Tang Wulin remarked withindifference, “Stop blocking the way. I need to go prepare.”

“You’re competing?” Ye Xinglan tried to shove Tang Wulin by his shoulder, butshe was unable to. She was astonished to find that his body was as heavy as astack of steel. He didn’t budge a single inch from her push.

When Ye Xinglan recalled the events of the night before, her eyes grew sharp,anger tinting them red. She had never felt so wronged before in her life.

That night, the shop owner had stopped them and demanded payment. Neither shenor Xu Lizhi had any money on them. In the end she resigned herself to callingfor help, teeth grinding together in frustration.

Adding to her indignance, the shop owner was convinced that they had plannedto dine and dash from the very beginning. In any case, the two children wereforced to wash dirty dishes until someone came to pay for their meal. The onlyother option was to continue until their debts were paid off.

The pitiful, delicate-skinned Ye Xinglan could only weep as she rubbed andlathered the dishes until they were squeaky clean. Not daring to break ShrekAcademy’s rules, she swallowed down her anger. Though hard to admit, paying forher meal was justified. They were in the wrong, so how could she make a scene?

Thus, two students of Shrek Academy ended up washing dishes in a seafoodrestaurant in Skysea City.

The very memory of it caused Ye Xinglan grief. She blamed the entire agonizingexperience on the boy before her.

First thing in the morning, she had dragged Xu Lizhi out to find Tang Wulin.Although at first they had no clue where to start looking, they soon realizedone important fact: Tang Wulin was a competitor. Therefore, he wouldundoubtedly be at one of the event grounds. Sure enough, they found Tang Wulinusing this method.

“Why wouldn’t I compete? What are you trying to do by blocking the way?” TangWulin frowned.

Ye Xinglan resentfully said, “Didn’t you say you would pay the bill yesterday?So did you? Did you pay the bill?”

Tang Wulin said calmly, “I paid for my share. Why should I have to pay foryours? It was Xu Lizhi who originally promised to treat me anyway. I just leftafter paying for myself. What’s wrong with that? Didn’t you eat too? Since youwere trying to take advantage of me, then why are you spinning it the otherway? Do you have a problem with me paying for my share of the bill? You don’teven want to be friends with me, so why should I pay for you?”

Tang Wulin’s words left her in a daze. He’s right! Why should he pay for meand the little fatty? I don’t really have much of a case here.

“You, didn’t you say it was an honor to eat with us?” Ye Xinglan quibbled.

Tang Wulin said, “Do I have to pay just because it’s an honor? I never said Iwould treat you. I wouldn’t have had a problem if we were friends, but youclearly didn’t want to be friends with me! I didn’t take advantage of you guysin any way!”

“B-but, you ate the most!” Ye Xinglan was nearly in tears. Her resentment andindignance rushed out of her heart like a roaring river, cheeks flushing like atomato..

“Who stopped you from eating more?” Tang Wulin took a step forward, moved heraside, and proceeded onward with large strides. He couldn’t delay any longer ifhe wanted to compete in the individual competition.

“You! Stop right there!” Ye Xinglan shouted.

Tang Wulin ignored her and continued straight ahead.

“You bastard!” Ye Xinglan angrily yelled.

“Big sister Xinglan.” Xu Lizhi pulled on her sleeves. “Wulin’s words makesense.”

“Are you on his side?” Ye Xinglan turned to face him, lips peeling back in asneer.

“I, I’m on your side of course!” The little fatty replied meekly.

“Tang Wulin,  just you wait.” Ye Xinglan narrowed her eyes and made a fierceproclamation.  She marched right into the stadium following him.

“Big sister Xinglan, what are you doing?”

“I’m signing up to compete! He was being reasonable, huh? Then I’ll beat somereal reason into him on the stage!”

Unaware of the powerful opponent he had created, Tang Wulin checked-in righton time. Now all he had to do was wait; his match would start in another halfhour or so.