Immortal Path to Heaven
chapter-789

Chapter 789: Combination Skill

The autumn wind blew the mountain mist away. Yu Xiuming no longer looked confident, and he was rather dispirited.

He suppressed the bitterness in his heart and forced a smile as he said, “Congratulations, Master Ou, but the second round won’t be testing our foundations. You need to be careful, Master Ou.”

Ou Yangming was dressed in white clothes without any dust at all. He expressed sincerely, “Master Yu, please advise me.”

His fighting spirit soared into the sky. Ever since he debuted, he never lost in equipment smithing. The strong confidence that was a result of the young fellow’s accumulated glories and victories made him radiate magnificently, such that every move he made was indescribably charming.

Old Craftsman was deeply moved. His arms shivered as he remarked, “That b*stard was an orphan since young, but he ended up learning smithing art for me for 2 years in the military camp. Now, he’s my pride. Look, he’s so charming!”

Bai Shixue nodded. “Yes, he’s too charming!” She covered her mouth and chuckled while tapping her chest. Indeed, she was stunning as though she could captivate one’s soul.

Ni Yinghong’s eyelashes curved as she smiled sweetly like the most gorgeous red flower. “Haha, I knew Lil’ Ming could win.”

Master Kurong took a deep breath on his chair, then he turned to look at Ou Yangming and asked, “Master Ou, can you tell me how you managed to break through the materials’ limits? The characteristics of these ordinary materials would’ve been fully unleashed if one used them to smith a piece of White Silver Equipment. If one pushes further, the materials’ structures would be ruined, and they’ll become useless. Even I haven’t found a solution for this, so I hope that you’ll be able to clear up the confusion for me, Master Ou.” The master’s eyes looked fervent as he stared at the young fellow. He was afraid that he would miss any detail.

At that instant, everyone looked at Ou Yangming and waited for his answer.

He was radiating like the blazing sun.

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrow and chuckled before he answered, “Every material has a different melting point, which is known as the equilibrium point.”

Master Kurong questioned hesitantly, “This is related to equilibrium points?”

The other people listened quietly. In particular, great elders with levels of attainment in smithing art even pricked up their ears. After all, Ou Yangming was teaching by example and was about to give verbal instructions.

While the square was dead silent, Ou Yangming opened his mouth and responded with extremely bright eyes, “Of course, it’s related. First of all, one must find every material’s equilibrium point.” There was an uproar as soon as he spoke.

In terms of finding the equilibrium points of all of the materials alone, out of the people that were present, less than 5 of them could do it.

“Master Ou has a well-deserved reputation indeed. He made it sound like finding equilibrium points is as easy as eating and drinking.”

“Yes, that’s how a true master should be.”

Ou Yangming remained calm when he heard the praises. He later opened his mouth and flashed his neat teeth as he put up a finger. “That’s only one of the points. As for the other point, the order of the materials being added has to be paid attention to. Earlier on, I had to make thousands of derivations before I found the most perfect order.”

As soon as he finished, everyone exclaimed. His words had truly shocked everyone!

Yu Xiuming pondered for some time and sighed. ‘No wonder I always sensed a slight incompatibility whenever I smithed pieces of equipment. It turns out that I’ve been using the wrong orders.’ Once he realized his mistake, he cupped his hands at the young fellow. “Master Ou, I learned something from you.”

Ou Yangming jumped away to dodge the salutation. “Master Yu, it takes a fight for us to become friends. After 3 rounds, regardless of the outcome, let’s make time to have some drinks together while we talk about smithing art. What do you think?”

Yu Xiuming’s eyes lit up. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Master Kurong clapped his hands and took over. “Master Ou, I’m afraid that immense mental power is needed for this method, am I right?”

Ou Yangming nodded after some thought. “Yes, this method requires incredibly strong mental power as support. For a normal blacksmith, one might’ve consumed half of one’s mental power from finding equilibrium points alone.”

After hearing what he said, the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One felt deeply that Multi-armed King Kong would have a promising future and might even enter that realm by following such a master. Feeling impassioned, it tapped its chair gently and lamented, “Elder Macaque, you were right—Ou Yangming really gave everyone a huge surprise this time.”

Master Kurong inhaled deeply and looked at the sky as he stated, “Alright, I hereby announce the commencement of the second round. This time, there are no limits to the materials and smithing technique. You may begin.” His voice spread far and wide, causing the atmosphere in the square to reach a greater height.

“Woosh, woosh!”

Following Master Kurong’s order, Ou Yangming’s Heavenly Phoenix Fire lit up once more.

The red flame danced regularly, then a rattle was heard coming from Ou Yangming’s wrist as he retrieved numerous precious materials and tossed them into his fire. His technique was ordinary, but he paid attention to detail and looked like he was going back to basics. Whether the young fellow was pressing, pushing, fast, or slow, they were done just right. He was neither slightly faster nor slower, and his movements were smooth as if he did everything in one go.

“Pow, pow!”

A Power Treasure Ore suddenly flew up as Ou Yangming turned his palm.

It looked like a red stream of light with wings had blended into the Heavenly Phoenix Fire directly.

Soon enough, a 2.6-meters-long spear was formed. Lights were seen circulating as the spear’s tip and handle integrated and released a killing intent.

Ou Yangming focused and moved his fingers swiftly. Consequently, a peculiar veined path appeared on the spear to connect the tip and the handle, causing a flash of red light to be seen. It looked mysterious as if it was a maple leaf that had been elongated countless times. Especially when the veined path lit up, the red light on the spear flowed as though it had come to life.

When Ou Yangming’s Heavenly Phoenix Fire went away, the heat in the air slowly dispersed.

Lu Jinfeng walked over with a smile and congratulated him softly, “Master Ou, congratulations for smithing another piece of High Grade equipment. This is worthy of celebration indeed.” He was not only an appraiser, but he also had an outstanding level of attainment in equipment smithing, or he would not be in charge of appraising the pieces of equipment on this occasion.

Ou Yangming waved his hand, then he handed the spear to the appraiser and uttered in a deep voice, “Please.”

“I wonder what properties will Master Ou’s equipment have this time.” A disciple stared eagerly at the center of the square without blinking at all.

“It’s hard to say, but since Master Ou did his best, its equivalent rank wouldn’t be low.”

Even the Venerable Ones looked fervently at Lu Jinfeng.

At the spur of the moment, an Appraisal Light appeared, and a light screen floated above the spear.

[Item: Blood Condensation Spear]

[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank Five]

[Attributes: Toughness +31, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability (1 point will be recovered every day)]

[Skills: Bloody Combo (Activates Bloody Power and makes 3 continuous stabs through a violent combo), Twilight’s Sound (Instantly doubles combat power, which will last for 15 minutes) Note: A special effect will be triggered if both skills are executed at the same time]

The second the spear’s properties were revealed, Yu Xiuming’s body trembled. He screamed, “This… Is this a Combination Skill?”

“What’s a Combination Skill?” The Beast King Sect’s disciples looked at Yu Xiuming.

Yu Xiuming felt like his brain had just been stirred. He cast a complicated look at Ou Yangming.

Peng Yanbing took a deep breath and explained, “Combination Skill is of a higher level than Dual Skill. 2 skills will complement each other and when released together, their mightiness will increase by 60% up to 70%, which will be decided based on the user’s state.” He looked passionately at the spear and was also envious.

“What? That property’s simply absurd!”

“And don’t miss a detail—the Twilight’s Sound can already double one’s combat power. If they’re stacked…”

He did not finish, but everyone could tell how shocked he was.

When Ou Yangming held the spear, he was struck by a warm feeling, and it felt like he was connected to it by blood. After fiddling with the Blood Condensation Spear for a brief moment, he kept it in his interspatial bag while the others watched enviously.

Yuqi the Venerable One sighed. “Even I’m envious of Master Ou’s blessing. Given the Blood Condensation Spear’s properties, I suppose that it can be considered one of the top 3 magic tools in the Beast King Sect?”

The old macaque squinted its eyes and remarked softly, “It’s hard to explain blessings.”

It focused on Yu Xiuming after some time and praised, “He’s worthy of being Master Kurong’s last disciple indeed for having such an unordinary temperament. I wonder if he’ll end up evolving into something new or fall and wither under the pressure. This is becoming more interesting.”

In the square, Yu Xiuming chose to refine a longsword. His movements were big, which was a special smithing technique. He formed circles with both his hands, where the circles almost turned into afterimages and looked like 2 spinning wheels.

“Master Kurong, you hid that really well. The Heavy Pressure Circle Smithing’s the lost art that made you famous. This young fella has mastered it to perfection.” The old macaque had a strange look in its eyes as its muffled sound was heard.

“Even with the Heavy Pressure Circle Smithing, this round’s still hanging!” Master Kurong smiled bitterly.

“Talking much won’t benefit us in any way—let’s continue to watch!” With that, he focused on his last disciple again.

All of a sudden, Yu Xiuming’s eyes tensed up and flickered as he shouted, “Combine!” He began to move his hands faster, causing the air to vibrate and numerous afterimages to be seen each time he waved. The fire in his hand was as clear as colored glass. At last, he slowed down.

When his fire went away, the square was quiet again.

Lu Jinfeng entered the square with a pale face and dried lips. It was worth noting that the spiritual consumption for this appraisal technique was too large, such that he almost could not bear it anymore.

As he held his breath and concentrated while probing the longsword with his mental power, a light screen appeared above the equipment.

[Item: Fallen Dust Sword]

[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank Five]

[Attributes: Toughness +31, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability 31 (1 point will be recovered every day)]

[Skill: Fallen Dust’s Light (Emits a holy light that’ll drive away the darkness. Within the light’s range, one’s courage, confidence, and power can be increased by 30%), Fallen Dust Sword Qi (Transforms 10 meters of sword Qi, and the attribute will be doubled if used together with the Fallen Dust’s Light)]

“There’s actually a Combination Skill too. This is brilliant—it’s hard to tell who’s better!”

“Mm, this is amazing.”

Lu Jinfeng had a bitter feeling in his heart, and he was about to cry.

While he shifted his gaze between Ou Yangming and Yu Xiuming, his head went “thud, thud”. ‘What should I do? Both pieces of equipment have Combination Skills. I’m only a small shrimp, and I can’t offend either side. One’s the disciple of the greatest human powerhouse in Danzhou while the other’s even more influential—the Phoenixes’ messenger!’ He was as restless as an ant on a hot pan at the moment.

At that time, Lu Jinfeng was suddenly struck with an idea. He asked in a deep voice, “Master Kurong, how should I judge this?” Since he could not make the decision, he decided to leave the decision to someone else.

Master Kurong pondered for some time before he noted calmly, “Master Ou and Xiuming have their strengths, so this round will be a tie!”

Both parties could accept the outcome, and the evaluation was pertinent and unbiased.

Lu Jinfeng sighed a breath of relief. “For the second round, it’s a tie.”