Eternal Heavenly Emperor

After Chu Hao had mounted the horse, Guo Zhen let out a light shout, and the two Fiery Flame Horses darted out like lightning, their speed astonishingly fast.

This was a speed no Eighth Tier Peak Martial Artist could catch up with.

Too fast.

Chu Hao sat on the horse's back, the oncoming air slashing at him like knives, chafing his skin painfully, enough to reveal just how fast the two Fiery Flame Horses were.

"Master Guo, where are we actually going?" he asked again.

"You'll know when we get there," Guo Zhen replied.

Well, another pointless question.

Both men rode the Fiery Flame Horses at a breakneck pace, and these ferocious beasts were not only fast but also had terrifying endurance. They ran continuously for two days and nights, only stopping a few times during breaks for Chu Hao and Guo Zhen to eat.

On Earth, traveling a thousand miles by day and eight hundred by night was considered the level of a precious horse, but these two Fiery Flame Horses easily broke that record.

In two days and nights, they had covered at least five thousand miles—this was even though they sometimes passed through towns where the roads were crowded, preventing the Fiery Flame Horses from fully unleashing their speed.

Finally, they reached their destination.

The headquarters of Bingyuan Pavilion, Guangyuan City.

Guangyuan City was under the control of the Sky Heart Sect and was only about a dozen miles away from the sect's gate, practically neighbors. Thus, the gates of Guangyuan City were wide open, without any guard or vigilance.

Who would dare cause trouble here?

Upon entering the city, they quickly arrived at the headquarters of Bingyuan Pavilion.

Founded by the Grand Tool-Forging Master Feng Yezi, even though it hadn't been long, its branches already pervaded Tianhe County. It was the foremost Tool-Forging Master in Tianhe County and was well-known throughout Cang State, easily ranking among the top ten.

Such a figure, not only would the Sect Master of Sky Heart Sect not dare to neglect him, but even War Venerate level warriors would show him great respect upon meeting.

Thus, having such a figure like Feng Yezi in Guangyuan City was both a joy and an honor for the Sky Heart Sect, but it was also a trouble, fearing that they might inadvertently offend him.

Feng Yezi was currently 132 years old, but his Cultivation as a Warrior meant just his lifespan alone could approach 300 years, let alone his status, which would not lack access to precious life-extending Treasured Medicines.

His maximum lifespan was at least 500 years!

Thus, he still had many, many years ahead, and the Sky Heart Sect must continue to handle this pleasure and anxiety.

Feng Yezi had taken a total of three indoor Disciples and five nominal Disciples, with Guo Zhen being one of the nominal ones because he was not suitable for learning the inner core embedding technique, unable to create Treasure Artifacts.

However, solely based on his ability to forge weapons, Guo Zhen was absolutely among the best.

Only now did Chu Hao realize the reason Guo Zhen had brought him here: Feng Yezi had taken on a job to forge a Treasure Artifact for someone. If successful, the Rank would be extremely high.

Because of the high rank, the difficulty of forging was also high, with a great chance of failure.

Guo Zhen could have returned a month earlier, but it was this business that had made him stay an extra month—he was the highest skilled in working with Thousand-layer Iron, so he had to take the first step, forging the iron.

But the problem was, to forge a Treasure Artifact of such a high rank, 32 layers were merely adequate; reaching 64 layers was necessary to ensure it could withstand the force erupting from the Treasure Artifact without disintegrating on its own.

Guo Zhen had tried for a month and could not forge past 64 layers, but then he had a flash of inspiration and thought of Chu Hao.

He had brought Chu Hao here precisely to introduce him to his master, Feng Yezi, hoping that Feng Yezi would take Chu Hao as a disciple and personally guide him on the path to becoming a grand Tool-Forging Master.

Four months had passed since Chu Hao had achieved 16 layers, so how much more had he advanced? With a bit more effort, could he reach 64 layers?

"Right, how many layers can you forge now?" After explaining the situation, Guo Zhen couldn't help but ask.

"32 layers," Chu Hao honestly replied.

Puff!

Guo Zhen burst out involuntarily, his face a picture of shock.

He hadn't doubted that the genius would have improved after four months. Each advancement in Thousand-layer Iron was doubly difficult, and Chu Hao had not even learned the Star Force circulation method of the Mad Demon Hammer Technique yet he had reached 32 layers.

Once he fully mastered the Mad Demon Hammer Technique, wouldn't just a bit of practice bring him to 64 layers?

A genius, a true genius.

"You, you really are—" for a moment, Guo Zhen didn't know how to describe Chu Hao, the word genius was simply not sufficient anymore.

Chu Hao smiled and asked, "Master Guo, what exactly is the Treasure Artifact we are supposed to forge?"

"The customer requested confidentiality, I only heard Master mention it occasionally; the material is Third-Rank Treasured Material, Mysterious Yin True Gold, to be forged into a sword," replied Guo Zhen.

Third-Rank Treasured Material!

Chu Hao couldn't help but show a look of envy; the solidity of a weapon was largely determined by the material itself—though the forging technique of Thousand-layer Iron could indeed transform the material, even turning Fine Iron into true Thousand-layer Iron couldn't match the hardness of Mysterious Yin True Gold.

Such treasures were divided into nine grades, with First Grade being the highest and Ninth Grade the lowest.

And the most stark contrast was that the material for the Red Shadow Sword was merely Ninth Grade.

The gulf was as wide as that between a Martial Disciple and a War Emperor.

A weapon crafted from Third-Rank Treasure Material, even without embedding the inner core of ferocious beasts and upgrading it into a Treasure Artifact, was inherently precious enough to make people break their heads over it. After all, such a Divine Weapon could pierce through the Star Force defense of a martial artist of the same level.

To match the Third-Rank Treasure Material, the inner core of the beast had to be at least of the War Venerate level.

War Venerate-level martial artists and beasts possessed the ability to fly and burrow, and the difficulty in hunting such beasts was exceedingly high. Moreover, these inner cores were too precious to be bought with Star Stones, let alone needing more than one for embedding.

That meant the client's power must surpass that of a War Venerate.

War Emperor? War Emperor? War God?

Could it be commissioned by a top family from the Upper Three Counties?

Chu Hao couldn't help but feel curious, but since even Guo Zhen didn't know, there was no point in asking.

"If you can forge 64 layers of Thousand-layer Iron, you will qualify to participate in the forging process, and you might even get a chance to meet the client," Guo Zhen said with a smile.

Chu Hao nodded, then asked, "How long will it take? I must get back before New Year's."

It wasn't that he regarded the Ling Family's New Year Festival too highly, but if he didn't return for the New Year, he would miss the timing to take his antidote. If the poison took effect then, he would die a most unjust death.

"It depends on how long it takes you to forge the 64 layers of Thousand-layer Iron," Guo Zhen said.

Chu Hao thought it over; after all, he had the Flame Horse, so he just needed to set off three days earlier.

The two entered the shop, and Guo Zhen immediately took him to meet Feng Yezi.

Chu Hao was also a bit excited. He had previously seen a piece of Feng Yezi's work at an auction, which sold for nearly 200,000 jin of Fifth Grade Star Stones. Although Feng Yezi's martial arts prowess wasn't top-notch, his skill in Tool-Forging was such that even a War Venerate-level powerhouse would act extremely politely around him.

A true big shot.

Knock, knock, knock, Guo Zhen knocked on the door first, and after a while, an aged voice came from inside, "What is it?" Guo Zhen quickly replied, "It's me, Guo Zhen, I've brought Chu Hao."

"Oh, come in," the person inside said again.

Only then did Guo Zhen push the door open, signaling Chu Hao to enter.

This was a study, but it was incredibly messy; paper was scattered everywhere across the floor like engineering drawings, filled with various weapon designs and annotated lines. Sitting across the desk was an old man with white hair, dressed in coarse linen, still busily writing.

This was Feng Yezi.

Chu Hao couldn't help but rise with admiration. How lofty a status must one have to command such respect from a War Venerate? Yet here was the old man, tirelessly devoted to designing weapons, clearly wholly immersed in this pursuit.

Such dedicated elders deserved respect.

Truthfully, Chu Hao held no animosity toward the people of Tianhe County; the only thing he disliked was the Yunliu Sect.

"I pay my respects to Master Feng," Chu Hao bowed deeply. Regardless of his own lower status, the sheer age of the other was reason enough to offer respect.

"Hmm," Feng Yezi responded with a hum, still not looking up.

Chu Hao and Guo Zhen remained silent, quietly waiting.

After a long while, Feng Yezi finally raised his head with a satisfied expression, clearly very pleased with his design. He then turned his gaze to Chu Hao and said, "Young man, I have seen your Thousand-layer Iron. Although it's a bit rough, you already show the essence of a craftsmanship."

He smiled, took a sip from his cup, and added, "To forge 16 layers at your age is truly commendable."

Guo Zhen coughed and said, "Master, Chu Hao has now reached 32 layers."

Splash!

Feng Yezi suddenly turned his head, and a mouthful of water sprayed out. Fortunately, he ducked quickly; only his trousers got somewhat wet. The old master couldn't help but cough repeatedly, his eyes wide, "What did you say?"

"32 layers now."

Feng Yezi's mouth twitched repeatedly as if he had a stroke.

Though he was a Grand Tool-Forging Master, his craftsmanship in forging didn't even compare to Guo Zhen, but that was not important as long as it didn't affect the performance of the Treasure Artifact.

However, among his disciples, the most outstanding in forging was Guo Zhen, yet even this disciple could only forge 32 layers so far.

Such a young man.

Hiss!

Although Guo Zhen was splashed on the pant leg, he felt truly happy inside because he was no longer the only one startled by Chu Hao; it seemed right that this superb event was shared with others.

Moreover, seeing Master Feng Yezi lose his composure like that wasn't something everyone could witness.

It was truly rare.

"Moreover, Chu Hao hasn't really learned the Mad Demon Hammer Technique yet. Since he was just a Martial Disciple before, I didn't impart to him the method of circulating the Star Force," Guo Zhen added.

Feng Yezi's twitching mouth stopped momentarily, then started again as though he was struck by wind.

Goodness, he was shocked.