"Boom…"

As Ou Yangming's Military Fire scorched, something unimaginable happened.

His Military Fire was the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. Its full potential could not be unleashed because it was hidden inside the body of a small human, but the young fellow knew it was an intense fire that could burn even Heaven and Earth.

Nothing could resist the Heavenly Phoenix Fire.

Before this, Ou Yangming had smithed countless pieces of equipment, and he could always melt any material at lightning speed. Moreover, the melting processes would always come about as he wished; he could control their speeds however he wanted them to be.

This time, Ou Yangming came across trouble. The shield maintained its original state despite being burned by his Military Fire, where it did not show signs of being melted at all.

It was definitely his first time encountering this problem.

With a flash of thought, Ou Yangming focused his mental conception on the shield entirely.

Sure enough, he sensed that something was indeed strange about the shield. In particular, unique energy was released from the surface, and it resisted the fire's might.

Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows. He sensed the energy quietly and began to use the knowledge that he had learned about smithing art throughout these years.

After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes in shock.

'An outer guard!'

Yes, Ou Yangming finally understood why it felt so different to him.

It was because his Military Fire was not in contact with the shield's real body but a layer of a protective guard outside.

The smithing master that smithed the shield was unknown, but it was worth noting that an outer shell was added to it. Further, the shell was extremely hidden as it could not be pried at all. Ou Yangming, who possessed the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, had only uncovered the secret by burning the shield for an extensive period.

Without the Heavenly Phoenix Fire—if Ou Yangming had only used an ordinary fire—nothing would happen to the shield's outer shell even after 10 to 15 days, let alone being able to unearth the truth.

Ou Yangming's heart pounded as he was overwhelmed with intense emotion.

'If the outer shell is already a Good Grade magic tool, what will I find if I remove it?'

The young fellow rolled his eyes out of the blue as he recalled something. Tian Yinghao had told him that the ancient shield was initially not for sale, but it was eventually auctioned because 2 of the subsidiary clans were interested in it.

'Why are those 2 clans suddenly interested in this ancient shield?'

In actuality, if Ou Yangming had not realized that his Military Fire could not melt the shield, he would not be interested in something ancient but useless.

His Military Fire kept burning, but the outer shell seemed like an indestructible wall, which shut out all of the fire's powers.

After burning the shield for such a long time, Ou Yangming only sensed that something was off and found out about the outer shell. Even so, he still needed to put in a lot of effort as he was still far from burning the shell away.

Nonetheless, blacksmiths seemed to be born to be patient. Ou Yangming did not care about how long it would take, and he continued to work hard.

Ou Yangming's eyes suddenly lit up after 3 hours because he finally burnt off one of the shell's corners. His Military Fire was balanced and perfect under his control, by which the same burning power was exerted on every inch of the outer shell.

Nevertheless, even the most perfect thing could be flawed due to various accidents. Perhaps the shield's corner had been hit hard before this, there was a slight change in its outer shell. The change was the exact reason Ou Yangming spotted the secret. As he burned the shield for a long time with his Military Fire, that spot was also the first to reveal a flaw.

"Pow…"

Accompanied by an incredibly subtle sound, nearly invisible shards fell from the corner bit by bit and landed on Ou Yangming's hand, which was already in place for them some time ago.

Ou Yangming could not help but frown as he looked at the shards and pinched them. He vaguely felt that they were awfully familiar.

After pondering for a brief moment, Ou Yangming's eyes gleamed. He turned his wrist and retrieved from his interspatial bag a crock with some black soil inside.

It was something that Ou Yangming obtained from the coffin in the secret realm. At that time, this thing was accompanied by 9 Concentric Knots. He clearly remembered how Big Yellow, Far Antelope, and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard looked when he retrieved the soil that day.

The spirit beasts looked like they could not wait to feast on the soil as though it was a rare delicacy.

Ou Yangming was deep in his thoughts as he looked at the black soil and the shards from the outer shell.

He could not compare with those old pedants, who were potent blacksmiths, in terms of experience. Having said that, if he could not make out anything from a raw material and a finished product, everything that he learned throughout recent years had gone to a dog's body1. (Big Yellow wagged its tail indignantly and thought, 'What's this got to do with a dog?')

Nobody knew what the black soil was, but Big Yellow and the spirit beasts wanted to take forcible possession of it after they saw it. If Ou Yangming had not been reputable enough to stop Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard from acting rashly on that day, they would have snatched it from him already.

After wondering for some time, Ou Yangming waved his hand again and retrieved the giant coffin.

He did not know why he did that; perhaps it was a subconscious act.

That said, the instant the ancient coffin was retrieved, the round shield in the Military Fire made "woo, woo" sounds without warning and turned into a black light to hit the coffin.

There was no sound of a loud crash. The round shield was tremendously fast, but it touched the coffin as light as a feather, then they stuck tightly to each other like magnets.

The only thing was that Ou Yangming had a slight hunch that it would not be easy for someone with his capability to get to the bottom of it.

Ou Yangming gritted his teeth after a long time. He was about to spread his Military Fire to envelope the whole coffin when a loud bark was heard.

He raised his eyebrows a little and immediately curbed his Military Fire.

The bark came from Big Yellow, and it was a warning. Something must be happening in the courtyard, or the big yellow dog would not have anyhow barked knowing that the young fellow was in the process of refining something.

Ou Yangming cleaned up everything before he got up and opened the door.

This was the inner sect of the Beast King Sect, hence Ou Yangming believed that Big Yellow could hold on for some time regardless of the trouble. Sure enough, by the time he opened the door, the big yellow dog was only baring its teeth in the courtyard and had not attacked yet.

When Ou Yangming turned to look, he was surprised.

A white-haired elder was seen standing outside. He had seen the elder once.

Back at the square, when Tian Yinghao introduced to him the 2 clans that were interested in the round shield, he noticed that this elder was one of the people in charge from one of those clans.

The elder laughed out loud as soon as he saw Ou Yangming. "Master Ou, I'm Cheng Yuhong, and I've especially come to visit you."

Ou Yangming made way after some thought and responded, "Elder Cheng, please come in."

Cheng Yuhong's face changed. He quickly said, "Master Ou, you're being too polite. I don't deserve to be addressed like that by you."

Even Great Elder Mao Jianbi from the Beast King Sect had begun to address Ou Yangming as a brother, thus Cheng Yuhong dared not take advantage of the young fellow.

Ou Yangming grinned. "Come inside."

Once they were inside, he asked, "Elder Cheng, straightforward people don't resort to overtones. Have you come to ask about the round shield?"

Cheng Yuhong was lowering himself onto a chair when he heard the young fellow. He could not help but answer, "Yes. I know it's quite bold of me to do this, but please have mercy on me, sir."

Ou Yangming's eyes flashed as he questioned, "Why is your clan after this item? Are you aware of the hidden secret?"

The elder looked up abruptly with flickering eyes and replied to him after some time, "Master Ou, what hidden secret are you talking about?"

"What you're after is naturally the hidden secret." Ou Yangming sneered.

Cheng Yuhong twitched his mouth. He slowly looked fearful and uneasy.

'I've only found out about the round shield's origin by chance, but our clans are the only ones that know about it, so how did Master Ou find out?'

Ou Yangming became more curious as he looked at the elder.

He was not one to take advantage of his power to bully the weak, but he would not mind adopting some measures within boundaries to achieve his goal sometimes.

With that, he released his spiritual world and enveloped the entire courtyard.

Next, a wonderful power was released, and it filled the real world.

Big Yellow, which was in the courtyard, tilted its head for some time before it slowly lay prone on the ground but with a confused look in its eyes.

'What's Lil' Ming up to? Why is he making a big fuss over this?'

It was difficult and strenuous to release one's spiritual world to wrap up the real world, so even Ou Yangming would not anyhow release his.

That said, the young fellow had just released his spiritual world without any hesitation to probe the round shield's secret.

Needless to say, it was also because the elder was merely an ordinary Spiritualist, or Ou Yangming would not have been so unrestrained.

Cheng Yuhong slowly looked odd and dazed as if he was trapped in a dream and could not get out of it.

It was a world that had been meticulously built by Ou Yangming for him, causing him to fall deeper inside.

If Cheng Yuhong knew his visit would lead to this, he would not have dared to come so recklessly.

However, how many of such an unusual situation would he encounter in his life?

"What exactly is that round shield?"

"I'm not sure, but it could be the King of Water's shield."

"What do you mean?"

"I meant the shield that was said to have been refined by the Dragon God from a Black Turtle's carapace1."

"The Dragon God…"

This is a metaphor stating that one has learned a lot but didn't actually gain any knowledgeThe hard upper shell of a turtle