139: Chapter 139 The Fifth Life, The Blazing Sun Illuminates the Martial Path (Eighty-Seven)

Chu Shi ignored their exclamations.

Identifying the ore was only the first step.

What followed was the true test: smelting.

He selected ten pieces of the highest quality magnetite and carried them to the furnace he had used the day before.

Shi Tie and the other two had already stoked the furnace until it was roaring, and had thoughtfully prepared charcoal and a crucible.

Chu Shi crushed the ore, mixed it with charcoal according to the ratios in the booklet, placed it into the crucible, and then set the crucible in the hottest part of the furnace fire.

He worked the bellows, controlling the heat.

With his Blazing Sun Body Casting Method pushed to its limit, he could clearly sense every minute change in temperature inside the crucible.

An hour later.

Chu Shi carefully extracted the crucible from the furnace.

The glowing red molten iron was slowly poured into the pre-prepared mold.

After cooling, a blackish pig iron billet appeared before his eyes.

Chu Shi picked up a hammer and tapped it.

A dull "clang" rang out.

He frowned.

The fluidity of the molten iron was poor, and it was filled with countless air bubbles and slag.

This pig iron billet was simply not up to standard.

The first smelting attempt had failed.

Chu Shi did not lose heart.

He analyzed the cause; the heat was likely insufficient, and the ore had not fully melted.

The second time, he increased the heat.

As a result, the molten iron burned too hot, and a portion turned directly into iron slag, leaving him with only half a pig iron billet.

The third time, the heat was just right, but he was a second too slow when pouring the iron, and it cooled inside the crucible.

The fourth time, the fifth time...

For an entire day, Chu Shi failed twelve times.

The ground was piled high with discarded pig iron billets.

Shi Tie and his companions watched with growing anxiety.

In the evening, while Chu Shi was taking a break, Shi Tie approached him again.

"Senior Brother, I have a clumsy method, though I don't know if it will work," he whispered.

"When we usually smelt ore, we add a bit of limestone to the crucible. The limestone reacts with the slag, turning it into dross that floats on top of the molten iron, which makes the purified molten iron much cleaner."

"Also, when pouring the iron, you must be quick. It's best to pour it when the molten iron is at its reddest and most fluid. Pour steadily and don't shake it, otherwise air bubbles will get inside."

Chu Shi looked at him, pondered for a moment, and nodded: "Thank you."

He decided to give it a try.

With Shi Tie's experience, combined with Chu Shi's own aptitude and precise control over the heat, the success rate of the smelting increased significantly.

Three more days passed.

Chu Shi could now steadily refine qualified pig iron billets from the ore.

Next was forging the pig iron billets into refined iron.

Chu Shi was already very familiar with this process.

But using the pig iron billets he had refined himself felt completely different from using the ones with uniform specifications provided by the sect.

The billets he refined had more impurities and a less uniform texture.

Forging them was more than twice as difficult.

With the first pig iron billet, Chu Shi hammered it over five hundred times, but because his force was uneven, it split into two.

With the second, when he reached eight hundred strikes, the impurities inside hadn't been fully forged out, rendering it a piece of scrap iron.

The third, the fourth...

Chu Shi hammered over and over again.

Sweat ran down his cheeks, dripping onto the scorching anvil and making a "hissing" sound.

His arms were incredibly sore, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

With every strike, he could clearly feel the changes inside the iron billet.

Impurities were being squeezed out bit by bit, and the texture of the iron became increasingly dense and pure.

On the evening of the seventh day.

As the final hammer fell.

A piece of refined iron, the size of a palm, snowy white throughout, and without a single speck of impurity, lay quietly on the anvil.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the refined iron, casting a warm, lustrous metallic sheen.

Chu Shi picked up the refined iron and weighed it in his hand.

The weight, texture, and purity all perfectly met Elder Jin's requirements.

He let out a long sigh of relief; it was secure.

From identifying the ore to smelting, and then to forging into refined iron.

He had basically completed the assessment, which was originally supposed to take half a month, in just seven days.

The next morning, Chu Shi did not get up before dawn as he usually did.

He lay quietly on his bed, stretching lazily for a rare moment.

He was in no rush to complete the assessment; after all, artifact refining was merely a secondary profession, while the Martial Path was the foundation.

He decided to take a day off and properly explore this artifact refining workshop.

After breakfast, Chu Shi, having changed into a fresh blue martial outfit, strolled leisurely toward the artifact refining valley in the back mountain.

Soon, he entered the valley with practiced ease.

It was currently the Hour of the Dragon, the busiest time of day in the artifact refining valley.

A familiar wave of heat rushed toward him, and the deafening sound of hammering iron roared like a stampeding army.

The sound of countless hammers striking iron, the crackling of burning charcoal, the hissing of flowing molten iron, and the whooshing of bellows all intertwined, forming a massive wave of sound that made one's eardrums buzz.

The air was thick with an inseparable scent of rust, sulfur, and charcoal, mixed with the unique charred aroma emitted when metal is heated to a glowing red, along with a faint trace of sweat.

Chu Shi took a deep breath. Unlike when he first arrived, he did not raise his hand to block the sparks but instead stepped forward into this world of steel and fire.

He walked slowly along the path at the edge of the valley.

The entire artifact refining valley was shaped like a giant vase. On both sides of the valley were steep cliffs, carved with countless caves of various sizes, which served as warehouses for storing ore and fuel.

Some Utility Disciples wearing grey short tunics were carrying heavy lumps of coal and ore, scurrying up and down the steep stone steps. Sweat soaked through their clothes, leaving dark stains on their backs.

At the bottom of the valley, thousands of black iron furnaces were densely distributed.

These furnaces were clearly divided according to grade and area.

Closest to the entrance was the ordinary artifact refining area.

The furnaces here were the most rudimentary and the most densely packed, almost one right next to the other.

Hundreds of bare-chested Lieyang Peak disciples wielded hammers, busy in front of their respective furnaces.

Most of their movements were still raw, and their force was not uniform; every swing of the hammer sent up a shower of sparks.

As Chu Shi walked past them, most were immersed in their own worlds and did not even look up at him.

In their eyes, there was only the glowing red iron billet and the hammer in their hands, their faces filled with focus and exhaustion.

Only a few younger disciples, in the intervals between hammering, curiously snuck a few glances at Chu Shi.

But when Chu Shi's gaze swept over them, they immediately lowered their heads, daring not to look again, and swung their hammers even harder.

No one came forward to salute, and no one whispered.

Here, everyone was equal.

No matter what your status was, as long as you stood in front of the furnace, you were just a blacksmith.

Chu Shi was very satisfied with this.

He liked this feeling of being left undisturbed.

Walking further in was the elite artifact refining area.

The furnaces here were significantly better than those in the ordinary area; each furnace had a separate bellows and workbench, and the spacing between them was larger.

There were far fewer disciples refining artifacts here, but everyone's aura was clearly much stronger than that of the Outer Sect Disciples.

Their movements were steady and powerful, each hammer strike was just right, and the range of sparks was very small, clearly indicating that their control over force had reached a very high level.

Chu Shi saw a tall, large-built young man swinging a hammer with his eyes closed.

His movements were not fast, but each strike carried a peculiar rhythm, and the sound of the hammer falling on the iron billet was dull and heavy.

At his feet were scattered many formed weapon billets, each one sharp-edged and well-crafted.