“Why is everyone making such a commotion?”

An angry-looking short old man with a stocky physique looked at a group of disciples shouting. The place they were in was below ground and many strange-looking furnaces filled with smoldering metal were seen everywhere.

“Elder! You came at the right moment, please look at that disciple there!”

“Junior elder… why are you like this?”

The old man raised his eyebrow while looking at the person he left in charge. This was one of the competitions for the outer sect disciples. This old man here was the most prominent blacksmith in the outer sect. His cultivation wasn’t great but he made up for it with his knowledge about metals and crafting techniques.

This was also the main reason that he was not allowed to venture into the inner sect part. His cultivation journey was cut short by a certain event. Without any prospects to gain further strength he was confined to the other sect even though he was more talented at the craft than some inner sect elders.

He was required to stay at this competition even though he thought that his skills could be better used elsewhere. Nothing ever happened here and the bad form that all of the blacksmithing disciples had just made him more cranky.

Thus most of the time he left at the start of the competition and returned later when it was mostly over. This year was the same, no one really showed promise and there was even some strange trial disciple buying their way in. Maddened by this fact he decided to get something to eat while the youths competed.

To his surprise when he returned there was some kind of uproar. The usually quiet peanut gallery was talking with each other while glancing in a direction of someone.

“You’ll have to excuse the disciples and other seniors but we think that the Hall might have found a prodigy?”

“A prodigy? Where?”

“That young man over there, look Elder!”

The old man looked to where this so-called prodigy was supposed to be and spotted the trial disciple that he previously saw. At first, he thought that he might be looking at the wrong person and the real genius was somewhere behind this youth but then he noticed it.

“That sword… that’s some good craftsmanship… Did that young man really make it?”

“Yes Elder, I’ve seen it with my very own two eyes! You couldn’t make a finer sword for a Martial Master even if you tried! A Martial Grandmaster wouldn’t feel ashamed when using one either!”

The secondary elder that was left to watch over the young men and women here looked ecstatic. His eyes were sparkling while looking at the youth that had finished the sword.

This experienced elder here could hardly believe it. Almost all of these young smiths here had trouble making a mortal grade item. The youth before him was able to fashion a higher grade one than some of the blacksmiths that were already working for years.

“You there…”

“Me, Elder?”

“Yes you, what’s your name, disciple?”

“It’s Dai Rong, Elder.”

The old dwarf-looking man walked up to this youth and grabbed the sword that he was making. After looking over the item it was hard for him to believe that it was a weapon made by a disciple, it was just too perfect.

It was as if someone maximized a weapon to be just a millimeter from reaching the Martial Grandmaster level. It was as if this young man was just half a step from reaching a point of a grandmaster-level blacksmith.

“Disciple… show me your crafting process!”

“You want me to craft another sword, was this one not good enough?”

The young man looked at the man with a somewhat annoyed look in his eyes but it quickly changed to one of neutrality.

“Not good? It’s more than good, it's great! This old man just wishes to see how this disciple crafts, if you show me this I will announce you the winner!”

“Can it be something smaller… like a dagger?”

“A dagger? That will be enough!”

The old man just wanted to see the young man’s hammering techniques. He missed the show and he would not have a chance to see this young man’s talent if he let him go now.

“You there, being over enough spirit metals for a dagger. It will be enough if you just make the blade young man.”

Dai Rong just nodded while grabbing the provided metal. The theme of this crafting competition was making swords and there was a limited amount of resources provided. With the metal in hand, Dai Rong got to work.

The old man started watching, from the process of heating up the metal all the way to the precise blows and till the sharp knife blade started taking shape, he didn’t miss a thing. Even some of the other elders and disciples that were taking part in this competition looked.

“T-this… how can one be so precise… the hammer blows… the Qi control… not even one wasted movement…”

The old man looked baffled, where did this young man come from, I must make him my disciple were the thoughts running through his head.

“Young man… where do you come from…”

“I’m a member of the White Tiger clan… will this be enough Elder?”

Dai Rong stood with a short blade that only needed a proper handle. Even without the handle, it was clear that this weapon would be deadly and could be sold for a big profit.

“Enough… yes… Listen here disciple would you like to become my…”

Before the man could finish Dai Rong spoke up.

“That’s great elder, does that make me the winner of the competition?”

The old man looked around and to the other blacksmiths that were keeping watch over the other disciples. They all shook their heads around to indicate that there was no one even close to this young man’s skill level. The old elder here also could not feel any strong Qi from all the other weapons.

“It does seem that you are the winner young disciple but wouldn’t you want to become my dis…”

“That’s great Elder! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the Pill Forging Hall!”

“Pill Forging Hall? What do you want with those old coots”

“I’m going to participate in their pill-making competition, Elder.”

“Pill-making competition? Disciple knows how to create pills?”

“Yes Elder, I don’t have much time so I should be leaving, could I take the bead as the winner?”

The old man was shocked that this smithing prodigy was on the way to the pill making elders. The blacksmiths and apothecaries didn’t like each other here. They were in a constant battle for more donations from the main sect. Each one wanted to prove themselves as the one that was more worthy than the other.

“Ah yes here you go…”

The old man took out a round bead with a character on it that proved that he was the winner of this competition. The other disciples after seeing how well this young man could craft could not even complain.

“Is that man also this good at crafting pills?”

Another elder asked while talking to this dwarfish-looking man that glanced towards his way.

“It can’t be, maybe the young man just wants to give it a try? It would be better if such a talented smith focused on one main craft!”

The elder started rambling a bit before turning back to the young man.

“Now then, young man, would you like to become my disciple?”

“Ah, he left already, Elder…”

“Huh?”

The old man’s eyes went wide as the young man slipped away while he was busy talking to one of the other elders. He didn’t even notice him leaving; it was as if the young man was able to hide his presence.

“Blast it, I must make him my disciple! What if he is good at pill-making as well! One of those old bastards could snatch him away! Everyone from the Blacksmithing Hall follow me, we must get that young man into our Hall!”

…

Zhang Dong slipped away from the third competition with now three beads in his spatial ring. He snatched the sword and the dagger he made as well, these items would aid his body refining later.

He made sure to produce an item that was at the limits of his recognized cultivation level. He could have easily made something a Martial Grandmaster could use but that would make it look a bit more suspicious.

The old elder made him somewhat mad as he left the spot, then he even had the gall to ask him for another item. Now there were two competitions left, the pill making one and then the battle.

Already he could tell that he was gaining attention. During his third competition, he noticed some people mentioning his previous wins at the appraisal competition and the formation competition.

Even now he could tell that some people were following him. He didn’t blame them, he was an unknown person that was showing a lot of promise. Now with a small crowd with him in tow he made his way towards the fourth competition, there he would try to stick out like a sore thumb.

Even as he moved through the sect, he could hear people whispering. People were surely using their communication jades to give others information. A young genius was spotted in the sect and all of the elders probably wanted to have him.

‘Good, the more popular I become the better chance of getting a good spot at the inner sect…’

The inner sect was locked away behind a separate formation and required a key to pass through. His chances of cracking this key and sneaking in were high but why would he put himself in danger? He could just walk in there as a proper inner sect disciple.

The plan was easy: get attention, make it inside the inner sect, and then find a way to access one of those lightning rods. After that, he would drain the whole mountain of its power.

From what he could tell, the stormy clouds above were formed due to this place's special location. Even if he sucked away all of the current lightning it had, the energy would reform itself later.

He was planning on offering some treasures to the sect elders in the form of pills or weapons that he crafted as an apology. After achieving core formation he didn’t feel like he would need to fear any of them. He felt bad about draining this place of its resources but he also needed to get home.

‘This is the place… wonder what pill they will want me to make…’

The pill hall was before him, even before entering he could already smell the herbs. With long steps, he entered with a large crowd following his footsteps. With now many people interested in his true abilities they were hoping to see a fourth win of this unknown prodigy.