He was born as a blacksmith, but he dominated the world

Chapter 86 How many people are stronger than you?
Yuan Bingqi's Hundred Refining Method was passed down from his master, a now deceased master chef from the East Blacksmith Camp.

Ordinary blacksmiths are reluctant to use it, simply because standard weapons do not need to be of very high quality.

The Hundred Refining Method is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and is not suitable for blacksmith camps.

Therefore, Yuan Bingqi practiced this method for many years and was often criticized.

It was not until he used ordinary iron to forge a weapon of the lower eighth grade, which attracted the attention of the master craftsman Yu Maoming, that the voices of opposition gradually disappeared.

Now, he is going to use the Hundred Refining Method to compete with Zhao Yankui for the position of deputy chief craftsman.

The entire East Blacksmith Camp is looking forward to his success, and hopes that after this regular test, the East Blacksmith Camp will have two deputy master blacksmiths.

By then, who would dare to say that they are not the first blacksmith camp of the Foundry Department?
Yuan Bingqi was focused and the hammer in his hand was steady and heavy.

He was immersed in the training of the Hundred Refining Method, with no other thoughts in his mind except a vague feeling that he would succeed this time!
With each blow of the hammer, the pig iron undergoes subtle changes.

Layer upon layer, impurities were constantly peeled off, and the piece of pig iron smoothly progressed to the layer where it did not belong.

It was not until a long time later that Yuan Bingqi completed the shaping, leveling, quenching and sharpening of the weapon.

The blade edge is extremely bright and sharp.

A dim entropy pattern appeared on the back of the blade, indicating that this was a lower-eighth-grade long sword.

A smile appeared on Yuan Bingqi's face. He wiped the sweat from his face and felt extremely relieved.

My feeling was right. I succeeded in forging an eighth-grade weapon using the Hundred Refining Method!

After being immersed in joy for a moment, Yuan Bingqi finally felt that something was wrong.

It's too quiet around here.

As the most popular blacksmith in the East Blacksmith Camp, or even in the entire Foundry Department, shouldn't people immediately exclaim in envy when he forged a lower eighth-grade weapon?

Why didn't such a sound appear?

Yuan Bingqi raised his head and found that the blacksmiths around him were all looking in the same direction.

What are they looking at?
Is there anything more worthy of attention than forging a lower eighth-grade weapon yourself?

Confused, he followed the direction these people were looking and soon discovered that was the location of the South Blacksmith Camp.

Not only were people from their own blacksmith camp watching, but even the chief foreman Yu Maoming, deputy chief foreman Yuan Gaohao, Qiu Weiren, Xu Wenhong, Lou Fangrong and others were also there.

Everyone looked solemn, as if something extraordinary had happened.

Then, Yuan Bingqi saw Zhao Yankui stand up from the whetstone and hand the long knife in his hand to the master craftsman Yu Maoming.

Yu Maoming held it in his hands and looked at it carefully. After a long time, he looked up at Zhao Yankui and made a shocking sound.

"Two entropy patterns, definitely lower seventh grade. If I can improve a little more, I might be able to enter the middle sixth grade!"

Yuan Bingqi listened carefully and was stunned. Lower seventh grade? Even touching the edge of the middle sixth grade?

But what surprised him even more was that the other deputy craftsmen just glanced at it and showed no sign of being excited about this lower seventh-grade weapon.

Instead, they stared at the weapons in the hands of the other blacksmiths, and examined them carefully after they were handed over to them.

After a moment, Qiu Weiren exhaled lightly and announced, "One entropy pattern, lower eighth grade."

Xu Wenhong followed up with, "This one also has an entropy pattern, lower eighth grade."

Lou Fangrong: "The same thing happened to me."

The last one was Yuan Gaohao. He raised his only long sword and shouted, "Eighth rank!"

This was not the end. Several deputy forgers immediately picked up the weapons made by other blacksmiths, and after checking them, they gave their final judgment.

"Lower eighth rank."

"Lower eighth grade." "Lower eighth grade"

……

Dozens of almost identical voices were heard in succession, until no one spoke anymore and the entire test field became unusually quiet.

There were no loud cheers, nor shocked discussions. It was as if everyone had thousands of words stuck in their throats, not knowing how to make a sound.

Yuan Gaohao seemed to remember something. He looked up at his nephew, then walked over and asked in a low voice, "How is your weapon making going?"

Then he saw the long knife in Yuan Bingqi's hand. Yuan Gaohao glanced at the dim entropy pattern and sighed softly.

Yuan Bingqi did not answer him, but just looked in the direction of the South Blacksmith Camp. His dark face actually looked a little pale.

"Uncle, South Blacksmith Camp..."

There was some reluctance in Yuan Gaohao's eyes, but he still chose to tell the truth.

"Zhao Yankui used ordinary iron to forge a lower seventh-grade weapon, which is almost close to the middle sixth grade. There are also fourteen people who forged lower eighth-grade weapons like you. Several others forged entry-grade weapons."

Dang clang——

The crisp sound brought everyone in the East Blacksmith Camp back to their senses. They turned around and saw Yuan Bingqi standing in front of the anvil with lifeless eyes.

After practicing the Hundred Refining Method for many years, he was blessed today. He and his hammer became one, and he once again used ordinary iron to forge a lower eighth-grade weapon.

This should have been the pinnacle of his glory, and he would have been promoted to the position of deputy master craftsman.

A moment ago, he was full of pride. In the entire foundry department, apart from the master craftsman, how many others could be compared with him?
Now, he knew the answer.

Fourteen people.

There is someone else who is stronger than him!
At this moment, Yuan Bingqi was on the verge of collapse.

After years of hard training, he thought he was the best among the four blacksmith camps, but in the end he couldn't even rank among the top?

Seeing him so distraught, Yuan Bingqi sighed again, patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be discouraged. Your Hundred Refining Technique is already quite impressive. There's no need to be too hard on yourself."

Yuan Bingqi looked up at him, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Yuan Gaohao immediately understood what he was thinking and shook his head, saying, "There were people watching the whole process, so it's impossible for cheating."

Yuan Bingqi's eyes suddenly dimmed. Yes, with the master craftsman and four deputy craftsmen watching, who could and who dared to do anything wrong?
But how could this be possible? I only heard that Zhao Yankui could use ordinary iron to forge low- and medium-grade weapons, so how could he suddenly jump two grades and reach the lower seventh grade?

Yuan Gaohao turned and left. The other blacksmiths from the East Blacksmith Camp looked in the direction of the South Blacksmith Camp, then looked at Yuan Bingqi, their eyes full of disappointment.

It's really weird that even the lower eighth rank couldn't win the first place.

After Yuan Gaohao returned, he bowed to Yu Maoming and said, "Lower eighth rank."

Yu Maoming nodded slightly, and after glancing around, he said in a loud voice: "Zhao Yankui's seventh-grade weapon should be the first of this year's regular tests! Do you have any objections?"

The whole place was silent. The blacksmiths who were too far away to see what was happening were now dumbfounded.

Lower seventh grade?
If Yu Maoming had not spoken personally, they would never have believed that there were people in the four major blacksmith camps who could use ordinary iron to forge such high-quality weapons.

You know, the lower seventh rank can only be obtained by a military officer like a captain-general.

Seeing that no one answered, Yu Maoming took a deep breath and then said loudly: "This year's regular test, the Southern Blacksmith Camp..."

"Zhao Yankui, the leader!"

After a few seconds of silence on the test field, earth-shaking cheers and shouts finally rang out.

All the blacksmiths and apprentices in the Southern Blacksmith Camp jumped up wildly, clapped their hands and stamped their feet, and yelled to the sky at this moment.

The whole world was shaken!
　Please read, vote, and collect
　　
　
(End of this chapter)