94: Chapter 94 Ancient Martial Arts Refining Methods, Let's Take a Look

The noisy cheers were enough to blow the roof off the arena.

On the podium, the spotlight was dizzying.

Lin Qi stood at the highest point, the pure gold trophy symbolizing the championship at his feet, but he didn't even glance at it.

His attention was entirely on the black lump he held in his hands.

It was an irregular metal block, pitch black throughout, with a pitted surface, radiating a bone-chilling cold that warned people to stay away.

Although it was only the size of a basketball, it was terrifyingly heavy, weighing over a hundred jin.

"Extraterrestrial Meteorite."

The school leader presenting the award introduced it with a smile:

"This is an S-grade Material dug out from the Abyss Rift. It has extremely high hardness. It was originally intended to be left for Li Qingxuan to forge a staff, but now it belongs to you."

Lin Qi weighed it in his hand, feeling quite satisfied.

If this thing were smashed against someone, it would be much more effective than a brick.

Besides this piece of iron, there was also a black card with 500,000 academic credits, and a key to access the top floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

For the current Lin Qi, these were tangible resources.

As for honor?

That stuff couldn't be eaten, nor could it be used to kill enemies.

Li Qingxuan stood at the runner-up position, covered in bandages. His stylish white windbreaker was gone, replaced by a standard hospital gown.

He looked at Lin Qi, his gaze complex.

There was no previous arrogance, nor the expected resentment; instead, it revealed a stubbornness of someone digging into a dead end.

"I don't accept this." Li Qingxuan suddenly spoke.

Lin Qi switched the meteorite to his other hand: "That punch just now didn't scramble your brains, did it? Losing is losing."

"I lost to your brute strength, not to ancient martial arts." Li Qingxuan gritted his teeth, "When I develop the second phase application of spatial folding, I will come looking for you again."

"Fine."

Lin Qi turned and shouldered the meteorite, "As long as you aren't afraid of flying again, I'm ready anytime."

After saying that, he jumped off the podium.

The surroundings were full of students holding up phones to take pictures, and several bold female students tried to rush up for autographs.

Zhang Wei had long since brought several burly men who looked like bodyguards to push through the crowd, clearing a path for Lin Qi.

"Brother Qi, this way!"

Zhang Wei's face was greasy, smiling so hard his eyes disappeared, "Several guilds contacted me just now, wanting to sign you. The offer has already reached this amount..."

He held up five fingers.

"Not interested." Lin Qi kept walking, "Help me decline them. I have more important things to do now."

"What's more important than counting money?"

"Forging iron."

...

Half an hour later, abandoned warehouse.

Old Mo circled the meteorite placed on the table three times, his magnifying glass almost touching it.

"Good stuff."

Old Mo took off his reading glasses, clicking his tongue in wonder, "The density is fifty times that of ordinary steel, and it comes with a frost attribute. If this thing were made into a weapon, hacking through a tank would be like cutting tofu."

Lin Qi sat on the side drinking water: "Can you refine it?"

"Difficult."

Old Mo knocked on the black iron, making a dull sound:

"The melting point of this thing is ridiculously high. Our little furnace wouldn't even turn red after burning for a month. To melt it, you need Earth Fire."

"Earth Fire?"

"Longya Academy has an Earth Vein Fire Fiend channeled underground, specifically for the Artifact Refining department." Old Mo pointed to the floor, "It's right underneath."

Lin Qi stood up and shouldered the meteorite:

"Then let's go to the Artifact Refining department."

He currently lacked a handy weapon.

That edge-less heavy sword was already full of notches. In this school where S-grade items are everywhere, having poor equipment makes one prone to losing.

Since he had the best Materials, he had to match it with the best craftsmanship.

Artifact Refining department building.

The temperature here was more than ten degrees higher than outside, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur and metal.

Lin Qi carried the hundred-jin meteorite and strode into the hall, startling the teacher in charge of registration.

"I want the best Artifact Refining Room."

Lin Qi slammed his championship gold card onto the counter, "Give me the one with the strongest Earth Fire."

That teacher was a middle-aged balding man. He pushed his glasses and recognized Lin Qi's face.

No one in the school didn't recognize this face now.

"So it's Champion Lin." The balding man was a bit troubled, "The best 'Heaven-grade' Artifact Refining Room is indeed empty, but it is reserved for high-level instructors."

"The Earth Fire there is too violent. Ordinary students can't control it and are prone to furnace explosions."

"If it explodes, I'll pay for it."

Lin Qi was concise and comprehensive.

The balding man didn't dare say more; after all, this guy was someone who dared to beat up Li Qingxuan. He could only obediently hand over the access card.

The news spread quickly.

Not long after Lin Qi entered the Artifact Refining Room, seven or eight instructors from the Artifact Refining department arrived upon hearing the news.

They weren't here to chase stars; they were here to watch a joke.

"Simply absurd!"

An old man in gray work clothes blew his beard and stared, "Artifact Refining is delicate work that relies on Mental Energy to guide the flame. A Martial Artist who only trains muscles, what does he know about controlling fire?"

"Exactly, ruining the Materials."

"S-grade meteorite, if he ruins it, it's simply a waste of heaven's gifts."

This group of instructors lay against the one-way glass, shaking their heads and sighing, as if they had already seen the tragic scene of Lin Qi's furnace exploding.

Inside the Artifact Refining Room.

Lin Qi ignored the gazes outside.

The layout here was simple: a huge bronze tripod furnace in the middle, connected to the Earth Fire vent below, and a forging table made of black iron on the side.

He threw the meteorite into the furnace and pressed the start switch.

Boom!

Red flames surged from the ground, instantly swallowing the black lump.

Heat waves rushed towards his face, scorching his eyebrows yellow.

Lin Qi stared at the furnace for ten minutes.

No reaction.

The meteorite remained motionless in the raging fire, not even changing color; one could even see a faint layer of white frost on its surface.

"Truly hard."

Lin Qi took off his top, revealing his muscular upper body.

Since ordinary fire didn't work, he would add some ingredients.

He walked to the side of the furnace, took a deep breath, and the True Qi seed in his Dantian operated wildly.

His right hand pressed fiercely against the scorching furnace wall.

"Rise!"

The True Qi in his body flowed along the Meridians in his arm, continuously injecting into the furnace fire.

True Qi is the refinement of life energy; for flames, it is the top-tier combustion improver.

Whoosh—

The originally red Earth Fire seemed to have been splashed with a bucket of gasoline, suddenly shooting up three feet.

Immediately after, the color of the flame changed.

From red to a dazzling cyan!

That was a sign that the temperature had broken through the limit.

The instructors outside were dumbfounded.

"Cyan? That's the prototype of Samadhi True Fire!"

"How is this possible? He doesn't have Mental Energy, how did he do it?"

"Look at the data sheet, the furnace temperature has broken three thousand degrees!"

Fine beads of sweat oozed from Lin Qi's forehead, but he dared not stop.

The massive consumption of True Qi made him feel a bit dizzy, but he could feel that the hard bone in the furnace was finally starting to give in.

The surface of the meteorite began to turn red, gradually softening into a lump of dark red gelatin.

"Now!"

Lin Qi was quick-eyed and nimble-handed, using special tongs to clamp out the scorching molten iron and throwing it directly onto the forging table beside him.

He didn't use the electric air hammer of the Artifact Refining department.

That was for ordinary people.

He picked up the eighty-jin manual sledgehammer, True Qi infused into his arms.

Muscles bulged, veins popped.

Clang!

The first hammer fell.

The entire Artifact Refining Room shook.

This hammer wasn't brute force, but used the power-generating technique of "Thunder-Shock Slash".

The power penetrated the surface layer and exploded directly inside the meteorite.

Sparks splashed two meters high.

Clang, clang, clang!

Lin Qi didn't give anyone a chance to breathe.

The sledgehammer in his hand turned into a black afterimage, the dense clanging sound connecting into one, like a violent heavy metal rock song.

With every hammer fall, the Impurities in the meteorite were shaken out by a fraction.

With every hammer fall, the shape of the iron block became more regular by a fraction.

The instructors outside were completely stunned.

"This... is this the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique?"

"Bullshit! Look at that oscillation frequency, that's hitting the power into the iron block!"

"Is he using martial arts methods to do Artifact Refining?"

Lin Qi didn't know what the people outside were thinking; he had already entered a wonderful state.

This wasn't just forging iron.

This was also tempering himself.

Every swing was a mobilization of the True Qi in his body.

The recoil force of every impact was washing over his bones and muscles.

The Realm that was somewhat floating due to that great battle just now, actually began to slowly settle down amidst this continuous hammering.

The meteorite was deforming.

The prototype of a long blade was slowly being born amidst the sparks.

But this wasn't enough.

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Lin Qi's eyes.

He wanted to add something to the blade.

Add something that only an ancient Martial Artist could add.

He threw away the sledgehammer, turned his palm into a blade, and slashed directly at the scorching iron embryo.

Inch Power · Mountain Crushing!

This palm strike didn't break the iron, but instead left a deep palm print pattern on the blade body.

That was the vein of power.

It was also the groove for this blade to drink blood in the future.

"Succeed for me!"

Lin Qi roared, pouring True Qi inside as if it cost nothing.

The temperature in the Artifact Refining Room soared again, even the special glass began to get hot.

But this was just the beginning.

To completely tame this hundred-jin meteorite, it would take a longer time of polishing.

Lin Qi grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

The thing he lacked the least was patience and strength.