Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows and came to a sudden realization.

It turned out that Master Wu Hongxi had not practiced the coupling of hardness with softness to a perfect state, and his path of equilibrium was flawed. Although Ou Yangming and the other amateurs could not tell the imperfection, Master Wu was well aware of it.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming could not help but feel shocked after some thought.

Wu Hongxi was already a top-notch Superior Blacksmith before he truly perfected the path of equilibrium. By relying on his title as Fine Grade King, he was equally famous or even slightly superior to Jin Shengjie and the other blacksmiths in the capital. If the master eventually fully grasped the coupling of hardness with softness and derived the path of equilibrium to a perfect state…

Perhaps he could break through the world's barrier and smith the magic tool as he said.

Apart from his purple Military Fire, it was Ou Yangming's first time encountering a situation where the world's barrier might be broken through.

Seeing the look of regret on Master Wu Hongxi's face, Ou Yangming sincerely respected him.

Ou Yangming could smith magic tools because of his unique Military Fire. In terms of his knowledge, experience, and even his intelligence, he felt inferior to Master Wu Hongxi.

"Lil' Friend Ou, I'm teaching you everything not because I hope you'll inherit my knowledge, but because I hope you'll advance further on my path of equilibrium's foundation," Wu Hongxi expressed in a deep voice as he looked up with bright eyes. He pondered before he continued, "If I'm able to know while I'm still alive that the path of equilibrium can get past the world's barrier, allowing one to smith magic tools, I'll die in peace."

Ou Yangming felt a chill in his heart because the inauspicious words were somewhat hair-raising.

He smiled bitterly and replied, "Senior, you have extremely high hopes for me…"

Wu Hongxi shook his head without saying a word, but he thought, 'You're the first person who can fathom the Military Fire's natural change between hot and cold. Based on that speed alone, I can place all my hope on you.'

"Okay, I'll teach you the way to refine cloaks and boots, and you can try it here later," Wu Hongxi stated seriously, "If you're able to refine High Grade Rank Five cloaks and boots one day, I'll… Let you pass."

It was worth noting that High Grade Rank Five was more than just a grade away from Fine Grade Rank Five.

Even so, at that stage, one could attempt the path of equilibrium.

Ou Yangming nodded in excitement and began to learn from Wu Hongxi the way to produce cloaks and boots.

The two types of equipment were not ordinary pieces of equipment and were not mandatory for official blacksmiths to learn. Normally, only special blacksmiths, who changed their paths, would refine them.

Needless to say, since not many people made cloaks and boots, they were more expensive than other pieces of equal-ranked equipment.

Despite being tempted by the money, there were only a few blacksmiths who were willing to change their careers.

If it was possible, most blacksmiths would stick to smithing with iron and steel.

Nevertheless, under Master Wu Hongxi's guidance, Ou Yangming slowly realized that it was not easy to make cloaks and boots. There was plenty of knowledge that needed to be grasped, so much so that there was more to be learned than smithing with iron and steel.

In particular, it was also much tougher to produce cloaks and boots of high grades and ranks.

Of course, it was not because the smithing techniques were difficult, but the raw materials could not be found and obtained easily.

Even though there were not many featured steel and black steel as well, there were still more of them in this world. Besides, many people were in the mining industry, thus the materials could be gathered through combined efforts.

On the other hand, high-quality cloaks and boots required furs from half-spirit beasts.

Ou Yangming was disheartened after he heard Wu Hongxi's statement.

The values of featured steel and half spirit beasts' furs were Heaven and Earth apart.

It was no wonder the prices of high-quality cloaks and boots were much higher than other pieces of equipment; there was an inevitable reason behind it.

Once Wu Hongxi told Ou Yangming everything, he left the young fellow in the room.

Ou Yangming had shown great potential, but unlike smithing with iron and steel, it was difficult to yield the desired effects in the production of cloaks and boots.

Especially for an ordinary person who had never stumbled on the materials, one must practice for some time before one could make qualified pieces of equipment.

Since Ou Yangming was given the right to use the materials in the room, he picked up a piece of silk cloth without further ado.

The silk cloths in the room were distinctively tailored to be similar in size, hence they were great materials for cloaks.

Ou Yangming's Military Fire instantly burned as he turned his wrist, and it enveloped the entire cloth.

The Military Fire had no temperature, causing it to feel like a breeze. It blew the silk cloth such that it fluttered, but the cloth was not damaged at all.

Ou Yangming became incredibly focused because the next step was crucial.

The edges of the Military Fire changed color all of a sudden, and its temperature increased abruptly, to the extent that it could melt metals. As a result of the temperature, the silk cloth began to burn as it could not resist it.

This was one of the steps in the production of a cloak where the extra corners were removed through a special technique. Following that, its essence would be mixed with mysterious powder, and they would attach to the cloak's body. While the technique was tedious, the cloak's equivalent rank could be increased if the process was successful.

According to Wu Hongxi, it was an exclusive technique that he came up with.

Ou Yangming was dubious about it, but he would spare no effort in practicing it since it could promote a better effect in the coupling of hardness with softness.

Some smoke quickly gathered and spread toward the center of the cloak.

Everything seemed like a reproduction of Wu Hongxi's performance earlier.

Just as everything seemed smooth, Ou Yangming's face changed, and he shouted, "Oh no!"

Next, a scorching flame burned on the silk cloth, and it made the material disappear in an instant.

That said, Ou Yangming reacted fast enough to curb the Military Fire before it spread further.

This was another one of the Military Fire's unique abilities, which he discovered when he almost destroyed Elder Universe's vegetable farm back then. With this ability, the young fellow could protect himself even if he was up against a huge fire, let alone a small flame in the room.

Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows and carefully recalled the change that took place.

Sure enough, Wu Hongxi's special refining technique could not be imitated with ease.

It was true that Ou Yangming could change his Military Fire's temperature, but it was an overall change. When he refined the cloak, he needed to display two different temperatures in the fire.

One was no temperature or room temperature—a temperature that would not give off a hot or cold feeling.

Another one was a high temperature that could burn the silk cloth to ashes in an extremely short time. The two different temperatures had to appear concurrently during the process, and it was so difficult that it exceeded Ou Yangming's control.

Even so, since Wu Hongxi could do it, it only made sense that Ou Yangming could accomplish it too.

However, Ou Yangming needed time to try and practice it as it could not be achieved in one move.

When the young fellow thought about how Wu Hongxi simply left after guiding him, he knew that the master foresaw this already.

Ou Yangming sat down, then he retrieved a rune paper and gently tore it.

A peculiar and mysterious power was released at once. It did not spread far away as it only lingered within 3 meters from him.

Subsequently, Ou Yangming closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Consequently, his physical and mental exhaustion slowly disappeared. He felt like he had just taken a hot spring bath, which was so comfortable that he wanted to moan.

The Mental Power Rune was one of the biggest benefits that he gained from his journey.

After being nourished by the rune, his energy, essence, and spirit rose back to the top.

Although Ou Yangming had not consumed much energy these few days, he needed to maintain at peak condition if he wanted to learn a new ability.

Later, Ou Yangming became immersed in his sea of consciousness once more. Having more than 50 Points of mental power was unquestionably his greatest backing.

Other than the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous state, he was able to communicate with the purple light so quickly because of his unbelievably mighty mental power.

The light and his mental power were both indispensable.

Eventually, Ou Yangming's consciousness underwent a subtle change.

As he explored with an intention, he somehow became connected with the purple light. On top of that, he also applied what he learned from Wu Hongxi to the fusion at the moment.

After witnessing Wu Hongxi's integration of Heaven and man, Ou Yangming gained a new understanding of the state.

He was hoping for a complete merge because that was the only way he could generate fire with different temperatures within a short time.

Wu Hongxi thought Ou Yangming had ample time to explore and practice because he was young.

That being said, Ou Yangming was the only one who knew his time was exceptionally precious, so he could not waste even a little bit of it.

Nobody knew when Changlong County's beast tide would happen, and he needed to kill the spirit beast before it was too late.

Therefore, every minute and second was precious to him.

An intense flame emerged when Ou Yangming opened his palms. When the fire spread half a meter away from his body, a bizarre change occurred.

The corners of the flame began to glow bit by bit, and its temperature gradually increased as it became brighter. Strangely enough, the center of the flame remained the same as though the burning sides were not part of the fire anymore.

Ou Yangming opened his eyes and stared at the fire, which carried completely different temperatures. He curled his lips into a bright smile.

'I understand what softness means now!'

He was glad not only because he grasped the soft aspect, but also because he surprisingly arrived at the threshold to refine an interspatial bag!