In the bustling smithing area, every blacksmith was fully focused on completing their tasks. On the other hand, Ou Yangming and the other people gathered in the center to study a mold in front of them.

It was a big Fine Grade stone, which had clear veined patterns on its surface. The blacksmiths attached arm guards onto the stone, then they hit them hard. Half an hour was all it took for the patterns to be branded on the guards.

The completed arm guards were not immediately upgraded to Good Grade because according to Master Lu, the success rate for that was only about 50%. In other words, in half an hour1, half of the arm guards would slowly be improved to Good Grade while another half of them would still be in Common Grade Rank Two.

Nonetheless, the fact that an upgrade like that was possible after half an hour was enough to leave everyone in awe.

Despite that, there were not many molds as there were only ten of them. Hence, the total number of Good Grade arm guards was not satisfactory.

Old Craftsman furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Master Lu, why don't you smith more molds?"

Master Lu answered with a bitter smile, "I must personally carve the veined patterns on the molds before they can be smithed and baked into shape. Ah, I'm not a smith, and I need to study other runes, so how can I make it work!"

"There are ready-made ones here already, so why do you have to carry out the whole process yourself?" Old Craftsman was stunned.

"These veined patterns are closely related to Suit Runes. If one hasn't learned it, one wouldn't understand its logic, so it won't be effective if one engraves the veined patterns according to the model," Master Lu explained helplessly. He looked to the side and said, "It'll be great if the Ni family's Spiritual Fire Blacksmiths are willing to help."

Ni Yunhong responded snappily, "Master Lu, according to the agreement, we'll only teach you the Suit Runes Skill, but we won't help you forge models."

Master Lu sighed. "Your clan's study of Suit Runes is superior to mine, so if someone's willing to assist me, I'll definitely be able to create better veined patterns."

Nevertheless, Ni Yunhong shook his head without any hesitation. "Master Lu, you forgot that we're an aristocratic family."

The master was startled for a while, then he sighed as he felt at a loss.

Ou Yangming and the other people looked at each other, but they could not do anything.

The pieces of cheap equipment were most needed by the military, but even the most pathetic disciple from an aristocratic family would not attach any importance to the equipment set.

Assisting Master Lu in enhancing numerous pieces of cheap equipment for the military…

No disciple from an aristocratic family would be willing to see something like that happen. Not to mention assisting the master, one would be considered extremely benevolent for not ruining the operation.

Ou Yangming looked quietly at the mold. He could sense the endless mysterious content contained in the patterns on it.

That said, he was only a novice, so he could not figure out the content.

Upon hearing the conversation between Master Lu and Ni Yunhong, Ou Yangming stood up and said, "Brother Ni, you promised to teach me the Suit Smithing Technique."

"Brother Ou, if you'd like to learn, our clan will be willing to teach you without holding back." Ni Yunhong was struck dumb, but he quickly smiled. He added meaningfully, "But if you discover something new after learning the technique, it'll have nothing to do with the Ni family."

Master Lu's eyes lit up right away as he looked eagerly at Ou Yangming.

'This young fella must be a gifted genius to be able to smith a magic tool. If he learns the Suit Smithing Technique, perhaps he'll be able to help me design other runes.'

Old Craftsman nodded and agreed. "This will benefit everyone in the world, so go ahead."

Ou Yangming responded to him and left with Ni Yunhong.

As for the old man, he was asked by Master Lu to stay. They discussed so excitedly that they seemed to have forgotten about everything else.

Li Xinfan watched as Ou Yangming left. His eyes glowed unusually when he looked in the direction of the courtyard where Chen Yifan was at, and he mumbled, "A magic tool! If he participates in that…"

The general's eyes looked more hollow, and he began to look unpredictable.

※※※※

After Ou Yangming and Ni Yunhong left the military camp, they returned to the Ni residence in no time.

When Ni Yunhong reported to the three great ancestors, Ou Yangming found it strange that instead of stopping him, the Ni family's Three Great Ancestors agreed without any hesitation. The elders even faintly expressed that they were willing to fully support Ou Yangming if he could develop more rune models.

Ou Yangming was extremely confused about the great ancestors' reactions because it was an aristocratic family's practice to stop someone from doing this. The Ni family's elders handled the matter in a completely different way.

In any case, no matter what the elders were thinking, the young fellow was content as long as he could learn the top-notch Suit Skill.

Ni Xuehai, the Ni family's Great Elder, was naturally the one who taught Ou Yangming the Suit Smithing Technique.

The great elder led Ou Yangming into a room with four walls, then he pointed at a bookshelf inside. "Master Ou, every skill in the Ni family is stored here. You may slowly look around." He cast a rather strange look at Ou Yangming as if he felt sorry for or pitied the young fellow.

Ou Yangming was a martial artist who apprehended the integration of Heaven and man, so he had a sharp sense toward other people's looks.

He looked at Ni Xuehai and questioned seriously, "Senior, what's the meaning of this?"

Ni Xuehai sighed. "Master Ou, I know you have feelings for Yinghong, but some things are already destined."

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh when he finally realized why the elder looked at him oddly.

He already had another plan for that matter, hence he did not want to argue with Ni Xuehai.

"Thank you for your pointer, senior, but I already have a plan for that."

Ni Xuehai shook his head helplessly. "Forget it. Master Ou, study the Suit Skill well. If you're able to perform a full set upgrade, perhaps… You'll have some hope."

Ou Yangming voiced out when a thought crossed his mind, "Senior, I'd like to clear a doubt."

"Go ahead."

"From your point of view, I suppose you wouldn't want a cheap equipment set to be improved by a huge margin, am I right?"

Ni Xuehai pondered and responded, "You're right. The imperial family and the military are the ones who will benefit the most from it, whereas the Ni family's gain is insignificant and inversely proportional to theirs."

Ou Yangming raised another question, "If that's the case, why do the three great ancestors and you seem happy for this to happen? In fact, you're encouraging it."

"We're not helping Master Lu." Ni Xuehai laughed.

"But you're not restricting him too," Ou Yangming uttered sternly, "Master Lu learned the Suit Runes Skill from the Ni family, but he used it on pieces of equipment for the military. Heh, if the Ni family didn't help, I'm sure Brother Yunhong couldn't have brought more than ten sets of Good Grade arm guards to the Immense Forest Military Fire, right?"

"Master Ou, you're incredibly smart." Ni Xuehai looked at Ou Yangming in astonishment. He sighed and told the truth, "Honestly, Master Lu isn't the one who found a way to upgrade pieces of ordinary equipment from the Suit Runes Skill."

Ou Yangming laughed. "As I expected, it originated from your clan, but I'm curious—why are you doing this?"

Although Master Lu was also a powerful Military Fire Blacksmith, he couldn't suppress the generations of smithing experts from the Ni family.

The technique to refine pieces of ordinary equipment certainly did not exist ten years ago, but Master Lu was able to create it after he learned it from the Ni family. No matter how one looked at it, it simply seemed too coincidental.

After all, Master Lu was a normal person without assistance from the purple Military Fire.

"It's a long story, but you'll naturally find out in the future. You should start reading the Suit Runes Skill." Ni Xuehai sighed. He looked deeply at Ou Yangming before he left.

Ou Yangming frowned and grumbled, 'The Ni family has been carefully researching Suit Runes for generations, and they accidentally stumbled on the skill to upgrade a piece of equipment's grade and rank. From an aristocratic family's perspective, they shouldn't announce it to the world.

'But they did the opposite and led Master Lu to leak the skill to the military.

'I don't believe that they don't have other intentions.'

Ou Yangming could not figure it out despite having racked his brain.

He sighed and gave up helplessly because he could not infer what the clan was thinking.

When the young fellow took a glance at the bookshelf, his eyes slowly brightened.

At the end of the day, Ou Yangming was a blacksmith, thus he could not help but feel excited when the unique skill was right in front of him.

Many books were placed on the bookshelf, but they were arranged in order.

Ou Yangming retrieved the main book from the shelf, then he became immersed in reading it.

Just as he was fully focused on the Suit Skill, several horses galloped into the prefecture.

Ni Yinghong, He Liangce, and other people were riding the horses.

Once they entered the prefecture, Ni Yinghong nodded and said, "Elder Brother He, thank you for escorting me back, I'll make a move now."

He Liangce smiled gently. "Younger sister, please go ahead."

With that, Ni Yinghong sped back to her clan's residence. As soon as she met Ni Yunhong, she asked, "Elder Brother, has Lil' Ming come back?"

"Young Sister, don't worry, Brother Ou returned a long time ago, but…" Ni Yunhong answered and hesitated for a while before he continued, "The great ancestors sent him into the library to look at the Suit Secret Technique, so he probably won't be out soon."

Ni Yinghong gritted her teeth, but she was relieved.

"I'm going to meet the great ancestors!" Ni Yinghong was determined. "I want to ask what exactly is going on!"

Ni Yunhong was taken aback, but he decided to follow her. Nevertheless, before they left the room, a flash of a figure was seen at the door as Ni Xuetian showed up.

"Yinghong, it's time to let you know now. Let me take you there," Ni Xuetian said with a deep voice. He later reached out to hold Ni Yinghong's hand, then they soared into the sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Ni Yunhong was stupefied for some time. He mumbled, "Why? Am I not allowed to know?" He looked at his hands and eventually looked resolute.

Author originally wrote 'half a month', but as stated earlier, the process takes half an hour. We've corrected it for the context