Chapter 86 “Super iron: Moon Iron”
The first reaction Song Guang Zhi and Master Lian had was that the results were fishy.
“Impossible, it is absolutely impossible. Everyone saw it, the Ye family can’t even produce a seventy percent bar and the last half was also done by this little bitch here. I refuse to believe this, they must have cheated!” Song Guang Zhi went on the offensive immediately.
“The Alchemist Association is favoring the Ye family because they offered up the Xuan Yin Jade vein. Governor Lan, you must give everyone here justice.” Master Lian also threw this secret out.
The other teams were also starting to murmur between themselves at this point. They aren’t blind. The raw ore the Ye family picked was clearly rusty on the surface and Ye Huang Cheng also had to step out halfway through the hammer process.
Honestly, none of them would believe it if someone told them the young girl before them could forge a piece better than eighty percent. She’s younger than their own granddaughter!
“Impudent!” The words from the two have completely angered the president.
Like a symphony to his anger, the entire building trembled vigorously like a giant howling roar.
As for the crowd, all of them found themselves suffering from an intense thorny pain in their ears like their bodies were thrown into a giant gong and had it rang with them inside it. And due to being the one to shout the loudest here, Song Guang Zhi was also hit the hardest in this shockwave. Feeling the fluid moving up his throat, he spits a mouthful of black blood out like he just suffered a major blow to his heart.
Silence plagued the hall.
That is the strength of an eight cauldron alchemist?
Ling Yue also felt her blood boiling at the sudden blow. If not for the fact that she had the spirit smoke to adjust her pulse, there’s no doubt she would also incur some sort of injury from the president’s sudden release of his spirit aura.
Sweeping his gaze over to Ling Yue, President Liao was even more certain of his speculations now after seeing the girl’s very different reaction from the rest.
“This is the Yuan Iron forged by the Ye family’s team. If there is any doubt then feel free to come up and see for yourselves. As long as someone in the crowd can forge something of similar quality then they can enjoy the same treatment as the champion in this smelting conference.” Not wasting anymore words, the president pulls out the piece in question.
It was spherical in shape. Unlike all the others though, it’s like a ball, smooth and flawless. What’s more, the sheen coming off of the surface was a beautiful silvery white, something that can’t be found in any other piece so far.
“Moon Iron?” The second this Yuan Iron was displayed before the crowd, everyone, including Master Lian, was speechless afterwards.
Moon Iron, also known as perfect Yuan Iron.
To get something like this, it’s only possible by refining an ore to its limit, thus creating a super Yuan Iron ore.
Although Moon Iron can’t be compared to the big three alloys in existence, but this was something reserved solely for the military, mainly the armaments used by the middle or senior class generals.
The Ye family can actually produce a perfect Yuan Iron bar, that’s simply too unbelievable.
“Impossible, this Moon Iron cannot possibly be made by the Ye family. They must have swapped the real one out with this. My fellow masters, we all know Moon Iron can only be forged by using raw ores with a purity rate as high as ninety percent. Don’t forget, the ore this little brat picked was a rusty rock that no one wants. At most it can only be a fifty to sixty percent after forging.”
Even when things have come this far, Master Lian still didn’t give up.
If there were a ninety percent Yuan Iron ore in those piles, how can he himself not notice it?
“You are right, the majority of the alloy inside that rusty rock is sixty percent. However, the innermost part is a ninety percent iron core.” In face of Master Lian’s constant questioning, Ling Yue stepped forward to throw this out.
Iron within iron?
“That is correct, of the thousand pieces of raw iron ore we brought out for the competition, there is one special piece I threw in to test everyone’s eyesight. This ‘iron within iron’ piece is something the Alchemist Association only recently got. Honestly, I didn’t expect any of you to see through this, but I’m pleasantly surprised that one of you not only saw through the ore, but also managed to process it perfectly.”
When he saw the Ye family picking out the “iron within iron” ore, he only took it as Ling Yue being a child and became intrigued by the rusty appearance.
After all, the hammering made by Ye Huang Cheng was only at the decent level, far from the strength needed to process the core.
But who would’ve guessed, after Ling Yue took over the forge, her incredibly slow hammering would not only remove the outer sixty percent layer, she also reached the center where the Moon Iron was located.
“Therefore, the champion of this year’s smelting conference is the Ye family of Autumn Maple Town. I believe no one is going to object to my decision now right?” President Liao and Governor Lan exchanged a mutual nod to get each other’s approval.
“Yes, I agree with the president’s view. I like to also announce that from today onwards, the Ye family’s forge will become the sole iron supplier of Glass City’s garrison force.”
Compared to Master Lian and Song Guang Zhi that’s being backed by the Mountain Sea Gang, Governor Lan would be much happier to see the Ye family become the military’s supplier.
Seeing the title of the champion falling into the Ye family’s lap like this, everyone on the Mountain Sea Gang’s side went dark in their faces. Despite their unwillingness to accept reality, they simply can’t do anything about it because this was the Alchemist Association’s turf. Fuming, they can only leave without making a scene.
Now that the Moon Iron was right in front of their faces, the other metalsmiths knew then it was them misunderstanding the Ye family’s team. Not shying away, they all went up to apologize and to congratulate the winner.
Who wouldn’t understand this simple fact. Once the Ye family establishes a relationship with the military, they are no longer just some common merchant family.
“Fourth brother, we’ve won!” Ye Huang Xuan cries out in disbelief.
Now that the celebratory atmosphere was hitting these two brothers, they finally came out of their dazed mindset.
“Win, we really won. Ling Yue… what is this all about, how did you see through to that ‘iron within iron’, and how did you manage to forge that Moon Iron?” Ye Huang Cheng was still a little dizzy from the joy of victory like it’s some sort of unreal sensation.
“Haha, little friend, so I was right, you’ve long learned how to control your spirit force.” President Liao also came over at this moment.
The moment he saw that Moon Iron, President Liao already knew the girl’s cultivation in the spirit force wasn’t shallow. If anything, it should be at least be that of a regular alchemist’s.
“President is appraising me too much. I only grasped a little bit after you handed me that booklet that day. Then on the birthday feast, you managed to enlighten me to a lot of things after our short chat. Actually, I have a small request for the president. Would it be possible for me to join the Alchemist Association and test my spirit force?” Ling Yue humbly states this.
“The Alchemist Association branch in Glass City would very much welcome a talented person like yourself.” As the president of the branch in Glass City, he would naturally be very happy to see another young talent join the association through his door.
“May I ask, which one is the person in charge of the Ye family? The governor wishes to meet that person,” a guard of the governor asks.
Not waiting, both brothers of the Ye family followed the guard away to discuss the matter of supplying the military. And since Ling Yue herself intends to join the Alchemist Association, she went along with the president to the fourth floor of the building where the testing site was located.