But what Bai Chen wanted was not merely to swing the hammer once.
What he truly wanted… was to recreate the beautiful rhythm he had just heard.
So after the first strike fell—
The second, and third hammer quickly followed.
"Hmm…?"
At first, Duan Xuan watched with a relaxed smile on his face.
But as the number of strikes increased, a trace of uncertainty slowly appeared in his expression.
Normally, beginners who first come into contact with forging will hammer randomly, rapidly exhausting all their strength.
Smarter novices, on the other hand, will adopt a steady rhythm, conserving energy to prolong their forging time.
Bai Chen's strikes were sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
At first glance, it seemed like he belonged to the first type.
But after observing for a moment, Duan Xuan slowly noticed something strange.
"…Could it be…"
"Is he imitating me?"
This astonishing thought gradually surfaced in his mind.
Bai Chen's irregular rhythm was not random at all.
On the contrary—
He was deliberately doing it.
He wanted to reproduce the "music" Duan Xuan had just created.
Of course, this was Bai Chen's first time touching a forging hammer.
Expecting to perfectly recreate Duan Xuan's technique immediately was impossible.
But that didn't matter.
So what if he failed?
Every technology ever created by humanity had been born from countless attempts and failures.
If people became discouraged after just a few—or even dozens—of failures, humanity would never have built such a brilliant civilization.
Sweat gradually formed on Bai Chen's forehead.
Droplets fell onto the forging table.
Yet he seemed completely unaware of them.
He simply continued swinging the hammer.
Meanwhile, the polite smile on Duan Xuan's face had completely disappeared.
What remained was pure shock.
"Clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—"
The crisp hammer strikes continued to echo.
The rhythmic and melodic pattern of the sound was unmistakable.
It was his own hammer technique.
Although the rhythm sounded somewhat rough and occasionally stumbled—
There was no doubt about it.
This was the very hammering technique he himself had developed.
How is this possible…?
This was no longer something that could be described as mere talent.
Even his most prized disciple was nowhere near this child's level.
At this moment, Bai Chen had completely entered a state of flow.
In his perception, everything around him seemed to disappear.
Even the metal on the forging table vanished from his awareness.
In his entire world, there was only the endless rhythm of hammer strikes.
Not right…
Still not right!
I still can't perfectly recreate that beautiful sound…
I can go further!
With that thought in mind—
He swung the hammer down again.
"Ding—!"
But this strike produced a completely different result.
A pale golden glow suddenly appeared on the forging table.
The light illuminated the entire forging room.
It startled Bai Chen, who had been fully immersed in his work, as well as the two stunned observers watching him.
Bai Chen snapped out of his focused state.
His first instinct was to continue forging.
But the moment he raised the hammer—
An overwhelming wave of exhaustion surged through his body.
He nearly collapsed under the weight of the hammer.
Fortunately, Duan Xuan quickly stepped forward and supported him.
"Relax," Duan Xuan said gently.
"The most important thing for you to do right now is rest."
Although Bai Chen had successfully replicated Duan Xuan's hammer technique near the end—
At the beginning, his strikes had been almost random.
A huge amount of strength had been wasted unnecessarily.
In truth, Bai Chen had already exhausted all his energy long ago.
He simply hadn't noticed because he was so deeply focused.
If this had been any other child, Duan Xuan would have already declared them unsuitable for forging.
But now—
He simply couldn't say such words.
With trembling hands, Duan Xuan walked toward the forging table.
He picked up the piece of metal Bai Chen had just worked on.
The metal looked completely different now.
Its surface emitted a clear metallic sheen, as if it had undergone a complete transformation.
"…Thousand Refinement."
Duan Xuan's voice trembled as he spoke the words.
Then he suddenly rushed toward Bai Jiaming, almost like a madman.
"Bai Jiaming!"
"Your son… had he really never touched forging before?!"
Bai Jiaming was startled by his sudden reaction, but he quickly recovered and nodded firmly.
"Yes."
"He had never even held a forging hammer before today."
"—!"
Duan Xuan looked like he had forgotten how to breathe.
Thousand Refinement.
This was Thousand Refinement!
For a Great Soul Master to achieve Thousand Refinement wasn't unheard of.
Many talented blacksmiths could accomplish it.
But the problem was—
Those blacksmiths had spent years mastering forging techniques.
And Bai Chen?
This was his first time holding a hammer.
How long had other blacksmiths practiced before achieving Thousand Refinement?
How long had Bai Chen taken?
In fact, Duan Xuan didn't even need Bai Jiaming's confirmation.
As someone who had watched the entire forging process, he knew Bai Chen was a complete beginner.
Bai Chen knew nothing about forging.
He had simply been imitating Duan Xuan's hammer technique.
Duan Xuan even had a rough idea of how Bai Chen did it.
Most likely—
He had used something similar to listening hammer techniques, mimicking the rhythm through sound.
Understanding it logically was one thing.
Accepting it emotionally was another.
"…A genius."
The words slipped unconsciously from Duan Xuan's mouth.
He sighed deeply.
"A true genius…"
To achieve Thousand Refinement at six years old was not merely unprecedented.
It might very well remain unmatched forever.
Because Thousand Refinement required more than simply striking metal a thousand times.
It meant gradually purifying the metal and removing impurities.
This required both immense strength and deep understanding of forging techniques.
A six-year-old child normally had at most Level 10 soul power.
Such a child would never possess the strength needed for Thousand Refinement.
As for forging skill—
That was even more impossible.
Yet Bai Chen somehow possessed both requirements.
And thus, he had created a miracle.
Bai Jiaming helped Bai Chen sit down and asked Duan Xuan:
"President Duan… what do you think about my son?"
Seeing Duan Xuan's reaction, Bai Jiaming already had a rough guess.
But some words had to come from Duan Xuan himself.
Hearing Bai Jiaming's voice, Duan Xuan finally snapped back to reality.
Reluctantly placing the metal back down, he said:
"I cannot teach this child."
"…What?"
Bai Jiaming froze in shock.
Then what were all those compliments and praise about earlier?!
Seeing his reaction, Duan Xuan quickly realized the misunderstanding.
"No, no—you misunderstood."
"I'm not saying he isn't suitable to become a blacksmith."
"On the contrary—"
"He is too suitable."
"So suitable that I am no longer qualified to be his teacher."
Duan Xuan took a deep breath and sighed.
"I'm going to invite the President of the Main Association."