16: Chapter 16 This kid is simply a genius!

Elder Fu Gao's hand stroking his beard stopped in mid-air.

According to the normal path, shouldn't a spoiled Genius like this shut himself behind closed doors, refuse to turn back even after hitting a stone wall, and finally scurry away in disgrace?

How come he was actively asking for guidance instead?

And his attitude was so humble and sincere, without any airs at all.

"This…" Elder Fu Gao was momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

He had originally prepared a stomachful of sympathetic words, but now they were all stuck in his throat.

"If it is inconvenient for the Elder, this Disciple will not disturb you any longer." Seeing that he didn't react and thinking the other party was unwilling, Zhao Ruoan moved to close the door.

"Wait!" Elder Fu Gao blurted out.

The trace of curiosity in his heart was hooked.

"Cough, since you sincerely ask for guidance, this old man has nothing to do today either, so I will stay and take a look."

Elder Fu Gao found a way out for himself.

"This old man wants to see just what you have managed to understand in these three days."

Duan He nodded desperately on the side, his face filled with the excitement of someone watching the fun without fearing it being too big.

Zhao Ruoan turned sideways and invited the two into the Artifact Refining Room.

This Grade-B room was specially prepared by Tianhuo Peak for Inner Sect Disciples with a certain foundation; the space was spacious, and all kinds of basic tools were readily available.

When Elder Fu Gao and Duan He walked in, they originally expected to see a messy dog kennel.

As a result, the room was in good order.

Those piled-up mountains of books had been neatly stacked in the corner.

The ground was spotless, and apart from a futon and a low table, there was nothing else.

Zhao Ruoan walked to the side of the low table, opened the food box, and quietly began to eat his lunch.

Elder Fu Gao and Duan He exchanged a glance, and their inner evaluation changed a bit more.

An ordinary teenager, having gone without sleep for three days, would have long been restless and impetuous.

This kid could still calm his mind to eat.

This kind of composure did not look like a fifteen-year-old youth.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Ruoan finished his lunch, packed up the food box, and placed it by the door.

He walked in front of Elder Fu Gao and bowed again.

"This Disciple is ready to begin."

Elder Fu Gao crossed his arms.

"Mhm, what do you plan to refine?"

"You couldn't possibly want to refine a Spiritual Artifact right off the bat, could you?"

In his view, for a beginner to successfully smelt a piece of iron Ore would already count as entering the threshold.

Zhao Ruoan shook his head.

"As a beginner, this Disciple does not dare to aim too high."

"I only plan to refine a most ordinary Low Grade Profound Weapon short sword to familiarize myself with the process."

This answer caused Elder Fu Gao's tense face to relax slightly.

Not bad, he has self-awareness.

He knows his own weight and was not blinded by those theoretical knowledge.

This Heart-Nature is indeed not bad.

"Then go choose your Materials." Elder Fu Gao pointed to another pile of Materials stacked in the corner.

That was specially used for Disciples to practice, consisting of the most basic Ores and auxiliary Materials.

Zhao Ruoan walked to the front of the Materials pile without the slightest hesitation.

He bent down, picked out three fist-sized black Ores from it, picked up a palm-sized dark red metal, and finally picked a dusty piece of wood.

He placed the Materials on the forging table and said to Elder Fu Gao: "Elder, this Disciple selects century-old black iron ore as the main material, star-patterned copper as the auxiliary material, and the powder of earth fire rock as the smelting catalyst."

"The sword hilt will use the most basic fire birch wood."

The expression on Elder Fu Gao's face froze.

Duan He also opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Because these few items chosen by Zhao Ruoan were precisely the most classic and safest formula for refining a Low Grade Profound Weapon short sword.

Not a single bit off.

A beginner was able to accurately and flawlessly pick out the correct combination all at once from among hundreds of basic Materials.

This showed that in those three days, he really wasn't just spacing out.

He had truly memorized all those hundreds of books!

"You… you begin." Elder Fu Gao felt his throat was a bit dry.

Zhao Ruoan nodded.

He walked to the front of the earth fire Artifact Refining furnace and took a deep breath.

Immediately after, he extended his right hand, pressing his palm onto the Qi input array pattern on the furnace wall.

Hum——

A wave of Qi poured in.

At the earth fire vent at the bottom of the furnace, an orange-red flame suddenly surged up.

Elder Fu Gao subconsciously tensed his body.

Fire control was the first step of Artifact Refining, and also the most important step.

The mastery of the heat determined the purity of the Materials smelting, and was directly related to the grade of the finished product.

The easiest mistake for a beginner to make was unstable Qi output, causing the flame to suddenly become big and small, either failing to burn through the Ore or directly burning the Materials into waste.

However, the flame under Zhao Ruoan's palm was incomparably stable.

The temperature of the orange-red flame slowly climbed under an extremely exquisite control.

"This… this stability of fire control…" Duan He, beside Elder Fu Gao, couldn't help muttering softly.

Elder Fu Gao did not speak.

All his attention was focused on that flame.

Too stable.

So stable that it didn't look like a beginner!

Zhao Ruoan ignored the astonishment of others.

He was fully focused, sensing the changes in temperature inside the furnace.

When the temperature reached a critical point, he grabbed a piece of century-old black iron ore and threw it into the furnace without hesitation.

"Hiss——"

The Ore contacted the blazing fire, making a slight sound.

The surface of the black Ore was quickly burned until it was glowing red.

Zhao Ruoan was not in a hurry to raise the temperature, but instead maintained a constant firepower to "preheat" and "calcine" the Ore.

Wisps of black Impurities were forced out of the Ore, turning into green smoke and drifting away from the furnace mouth.

This process lasted for a full incense stick's time.

Elder Fu Gao watched with his eyelids twitching.

Such patience!

Ordinary Disciples, in pursuit of speed, often skipped this step and directly smelted with fierce fire, causing a large amount of Impurities to remain in the spiritual liquid.

This kid actually dared to spend time doing the most boring and most basic Impurities elimination.

After an incense stick's time, the volume of the black iron Ore shrank by nearly thirty percent, and its color became even more pure.

Only then did Zhao Ruoan slowly increase the Qi output.

The flame in the furnace turned from orange-red to scarlet-red, and the temperature rose abruptly.

That calcined black iron turned into a pool of bright red molten iron almost instantly, flowing quietly at the bottom of the furnace.

The surface of the molten iron was as smooth as a mirror, without a single trace of Impurity bubbles.

Perfect!

Elder Fu Gao's heart jumped heavily.

From fire control to calcination to smelting, every single step could be called textbook-level.

Not a single flaw could be picked out.

Is this fucking beginner refining an Artifact for the first time?

Who are you trying to fool!

Just when Elder Fu Gao was still shocked by this perfect smelting technique, Zhao Ruoan's next action made his entire person dumbfounded.

Zhao Ruoan did not follow the conventional process to pour out the smelted molten iron.

Instead, he directly grabbed another piece of Materials—star-patterned copper.

Then, he threw it in.

"Holy shit!"

This time, even Elder Fu Gao couldn't help but curse out loud.

Duan He was even more frightened into a shudder, almost sitting down on the ground.

What is he going to do!

Is he crazy!?

century-old black iron ore and star-patterned copper are two completely different metals!

Their melting points are different, and their spiritualities conflict!

Burning them together in the furnace, isn't this equivalent to pouring ice cubes into boiling water?

At best, the two Materials would contaminate each other and be completely scrapped.

At worst, their spiritualities would conflict, directly blowing up the furnace!

"Stop right now! Kid, do you want to tear this place down?!" Elder Fu Gao subconsciously wanted to step forward to stop him.

But the moment he took a step out, he was nailed in place.

Because he saw an unimaginable scene.

In the furnace, Zhao Ruoan's Qi actually split into two.

One stream of Qi formed a qi cyclone, enveloping that pool of molten iron and maintaining its temperature and form.

Another finer stream of Qi transformed into an invisible net, holding the newly thrown star-patterned copper in mid-air, conducting independent calcination and smelting with another cluster of flames at a different temperature!

What kind of divine operation is this?

Elder Fu Gao's beard was trembling.

This kind of exquisite and meticulous Qi manipulation, let alone a beginner, even he himself would need to concentrate fully and expend a huge amount of mental energy to barely accomplish it!

And the success rate could not even be guaranteed!

This kid... is he even human?

Duan He felt that his worldview was being pressed to the ground and rubbed repeatedly.

Next, a scene that made him doubt life even more occurred.

While simultaneously smelting the two metals, Zhao Ruoan actually still had spare capacity.

With his left hand, he formed an incantation seal, using a clever force to evenly sprinkle that portion of earth fire rock powder into the churning molten iron below.

Hiss hiss hiss...

The molten iron boiled violently, and the very last trace of deeply hidden Impurities was also completely stimulated, turning into wisps of green smoke.

The entire process was smooth and flowing like floating clouds and flowing water.

Three kinds of Materials, two temperatures, multi-line operation, simultaneous execution.

In no more than half an hour.

In the Artifact Refining furnace, a pool of bright red molten iron and a pool of dark golden copper liquid were distinctly separate, each suspended independently, both reaching the most perfect and purest spiritual liquid state.

"Gulp."

Elder Fu Gao swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty.

He looked at the teenager standing in front of the furnace, with a focused expression and a slightly pale face.

There was only one thought left in his mind.

This kid is simply a Genius!