"A thousand forgings... he's done it!"
On the judges' platform, the white-haired elder shot to his feet, his voice shaking with barely contained emotion.
"This quality is first-grade Thousand Forging! And on Starfall Gold, no less! Nine years old, and he's actually done it!"
The starburst radiance of the first-grade Thousand Forging had yet to fade. The entire arena was still reeling from the shock of witnessing the youngest person in history to achieve a Thousand Forging, but Arthur showed no sign of stopping.
His arm barely slowed as he drew back the hammer. The soul power in his palm surged again.
The forging hammer, already glowing with golden light, now became wrapped in a faint shimmer of starlight.
It was the stellar energy seeping outward from within the Starfall Gold itself, drawn by his soul power and fused seamlessly with his own strength.
"He... he's still going?"
A master on the judges' platform cried out involuntarily, his finger frozen in the direction of Arthur's forging station. "The Thousand Forging is complete. What is he trying to do?"
The white-haired elder's pupils contracted sharply. His clouded eyes filled with disbelief. "Is he... attempting a Spirit Forging?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."
Spirit Forging was not merely a step beyond Hundred Forging or Thousand Forging.
It was a transformation of an entirely different order, a realm above Thousand Forging where the smith fused their own soul power with the very essence of the metal, awakening within it something like a living spirit.
Breaking through from first-grade Thousand Forging to Spirit Forging was harder than going from nothing to first-grade Thousand Forging in the first place.
Master Cen Yue watched everyone around him unravel with visible delight, shaking his head with a soft sigh. "Inexperienced, the lot of you." Inwardly, he was gloating enormously.
He had been just as stunned when he first saw it himself.
Ting, ting, ting.
The strikes rang out now with a clarity that replaced the earlier dull resonance, bright and pure as jade beads rolling across a plate.
With each blow, the aura around the Starfall Gold deepened.
The stellar energy within condensed into a flowing current, circulating through the metal in an unbroken loop, twisting tightly around Arthur's soul power.
Every other competitor had stopped forging. They stood motionless, staring at Arthur with wide eyes.
Tang Wulin, Mu Xi, and the others quickly wrapped up their own work and turned to watch, readying themselves to witness something historic.
They could feel it: the presence surrounding Arthur was growing stronger with every passing second.
It wasn't the pressure of raw soul power. It was something else, a resonance born when a metal's latent spirit stirs to life and answers the call of its forger.
The air itself seemed to thicken.
The Starfall Gold's glow intensified. Across the surface of the deep, ink-dark metal, a layer of luminous white began to emerge.
The silver veining within came fully alive, surging like a genuine river of stars flowing beneath the surface.
A wave of pure, immense energy radiated outward, and every person in the arena felt their hearts clench involuntarily. It was the breath of an awakening spirit.
Arthur's face had gone slightly pale. Spirit Forging Starfall Gold drained soul power far beyond any other metal, and even he was beginning to feel the strain.
Ting.
A single, sustained note rang out across the entire arena.
The final hammer blow landed. Its sound was clear as struck jade, and yet it seemed to carry within it the rhythm of the world itself.
In an instant, the Starfall Gold's radiance erupted to its peak. Its unearthly glow washed over the whole arena, bathing everything in silver-white light.
The river of stars woven through the metal suddenly converged, coalescing into a tiny silver star that hovered motionless at the very center of the piece, radiating a gentle but formidable spiritual luminescence.
The Starfall Gold was no longer cold metal. It trembled faintly, as though breathing, resonating with Arthur's very presence.
"A Spirit... Spirit Forging!"
A master on the judges' platform shrieked, his voice cracking completely.
The white-haired elder's body trembled with the force of his emotion, tears shimmering in his clouded eyes. "A Spirit Forging! It truly is a Spirit Forging! A nine-year-old Spirit Forging Master! Nothing like this has ever happened in all of history! Never, not once!"
The arena fell into total silence for a single breathless moment.
Then it erupted.
Every spectator rose to their feet, clapping and shouting in a frenzy, their eyes filled with reverence and awe.
Most people who attended spirit master competitions came for the spectacle.
The audience at a forging competition was different: fewer in number, but every one of them understood and loved the craft.
Even the forgers who had been quietly intimidated by Arthur throughout the competition put down their tools, turned to face him, and bowed deeply.
In that moment, there was nothing left in their hearts but profound admiration.
From somewhere in the shadows, a pair of eyes watched the scene with trembling excitement. It was Zhen Hua, who had slipped in without anyone noticing.
"That's my boy!" This was the second time he had watched Arthur complete a Spirit Forging, and on Starfall Gold, of all metals.
He was overcome, feeling as proud as if the one standing at that station were his own disciple.
In his mind, Arthur had been his disciple since the day he was born.
"Hey, hey, hey, that's my disciple you're getting worked up over. I haven't even said anything yet." Mu Chen, who had also snuck in beside him, gave Zhen Hua a pat on the arm.
Zhen Hua's eyes went wide on the spot, his voice pitching upward. "What do you mean, your disciple? That kid has always been mine!"
"Shameless!" Mu Chen's temper flared. He jabbed a finger into Zhen Hua's chest. "Arthur came to take me as his master the very day he awakened his spirit soul at age six. What grounds do you have to compete with me? Ever heard of first come, first served?"
"First come, first served can go take a hike!" Zhen Hua stuck his neck out stubbornly, nearly spitting in Mu Chen's face. "Forging is about lineage! Lineage! You understand? With me, the boy can observe Heavenly Forging right now and start preparing to one day challenge the rank of Divine Smith!"
"And what exactly can you teach him that I can't? Can you even do Heavenly Forging? You useless old dog!"
Mu Chen spluttered with rage and reached up to grab Zhen Hua's beard. "The nerve of you!"
"You dare pull my beard?!" Zhen Hua seized Mu Chen's wrist, and in an instant the two of them were tangled together in an undignified scuffle.
Mu Ye, who had come along to keep an eye on Zhen Hua and catch a glimpse of Arthur, watched from the side with an amused grin and made absolutely no move to intervene.
Mu Chen gave as good as he got, one hand gripping Zhen Hua's sleeve and the other going for his ribs, all while cursing under his breath. "You shameless old man! So what if you can do Heavenly Forging?"
"Heavenly Forging is absolutely worth bragging about!" Zhen Hua declared triumphantly. "Jealous, are you?"
Two pillars of the forging world were bickering like children.
The Sect Master of the Body Sect stood to the side, thoroughly entertained.
When the competition concluded, Arthur had achieved a Spirit Forging, while Tang Wulin and Mu Xi had both reached second-grade Thousand Forging.
Tang Wulin had originally intended to try for first-grade, but wanting to free up his attention to watch Arthur forge, he had picked up his pace and settled for second-grade instead.
Elder Duan turned to look at Cen Yue, his tone carrying a shade of envy he couldn't quite suppress.
"Xiao Yue, your Eastsea Blacksmith Association really knows how to find talent. Mu Chen is remarkable. Aside from Arthur, you've got two more young forgers at the Thousand Forging level."
"The registration records say Arthur is nine years old. Where on earth are you finding these prodigies?"
Cen Yue smiled pleasantly. "We've simply been fortunate. Arthur has been learning under our president since he was very young, and the boy's natural gifts are extraordinary to begin with."
Elder Duan's breathing quickened slightly. He fixed Cen Yue with a pointed look, skepticism edging into his voice. "Funny, I've never once heard that Mu Chen had taken on a disciple. Has anyone here heard anything about that?"
The masters of the Skysea Blacksmith Association standing nearby all shook their heads, chiming in one after another. "Not a word! An event as significant as President Mu taking a disciple, how could there be absolutely no rumor of it?"
Mu Chen and Arthur had always kept to Eastsea City, living quietly. Before this, no one beyond its borders had known Arthur's name.
But from this moment on, Arthur was a seal of the highest order in the forging world.
And everyone wanted to claim him.
From their shadowy vantage point, Mu Chen and Zhen Hua immediately dropped their quarrel and turned identical cold stares toward the judges' platform.
With their level of cultivation, every word being discussed up there reached them perfectly clearly.
They said in unison: "Forget about Mu Chen (Zhen Hua), what makes you think you're in the same league to come and poach my student?"