Ou Yangming stood steadily. His eyes were piercing beneath his helmet, and he was overflowing with a strong fighting spirit.

Earlier on, he had not exchanged blows with Fang Kaiyou for a long time, but all of his fighting cells were triggered. Whether it was his body or mental state, they were extremely stimulated at this moment.

Nonetheless, just as he wanted to let go of all restraints to have a real fight against the formidable top-grade Spiritualist, Tiandao the Venerable One intervened and stopped the fight.

Ou Yangming looked away from his opponent and took deep breaths to calm down his agitated cells. This was an incredibly painful process for a true martial artist, but the young fellow suppressed his fighting desire without any hesitation.

He wanted to be a potent cultivator, not a weapon that was driven by combat instinct.

Fang Kaiyou composed himself earlier than Ou Yangming did. He had not attached much importance to the young fellow before the fight because he was also a God-favored one that was carefully trained by Mount Wuzhi. As such, he had his ego too.

Perhaps Ou Yangming was superior to him in certain aspects such as equipment smithing and the refinement of Eternal Pills, which were unreachable tasks for him. Nevertheless, he was confident in his combat power.

After all, how could an Intermediate Spiritualist, who was known for his smithing art, be mentioned on equal terms with Fang Kaiyou in terms of combat power.

Who knew, Ou Yangming's performance during the battle completely overturned Fang Kaiyou's knowledge of the world. He knew the young fellow could display such mightiness because of his suit. Even so, not to mention if a suit could allow one to challenge someone of a higher rank, the implication of path intent that Ou Yangming showed during their last confrontation was enough to captivate Fang Kaiyou.

Fang Kaiyou had a slight hunch that if Ou Yangming was not an Intermediate Spiritualist but a top-grade Spiritualist, he would not be able to resist the young fellow's spear attack.

It was worth noting that Fang Kaiyou was battle-season and was Mount Wuzhi's God-favored one with the hope of becoming a Venerable One. Given that he had such a thought, he was simply admitting his defeat.

At this moment, Fang Kaiyou cast a complicated look at Ou Yangming and seemed to be not resigned to the outcome.

Tiandao the Venerable One looked at his disciple and was secretly delighted.

This was because his disciple almost had a smooth journey throughout his martial arts cultivation. Due to Fang Kaiyou's outstanding talent and hard work, he was able to stand out from many others and became a top-grade Spiritualist, but a smooth sail might not be good for him.

Although the outcome of Fang Kaiyou's battle against Ou Yangming was not decided, it had unquestionably served as a sharp warning for the former. If Fang Kaiyou managed to become a Venerable One by luck one day, perhaps Ou Yangming would be the biggest contributor.

"Brother Tiandao, why did you intervene?" Yuqi the Venerable One was rather displeased. "Their fight hasn't ended yet."

Strange smiles could be seen on the faces of the old macaque and the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One. They looked at Tiandao the Venerable One as though they were waiting to watch a show.

They could naturally tell the path intent from the spear attack that was ready to be launched, but that was the exact reason they could not wait to watch what was about to happen. This was because they knew Ou Yangming would not be in danger as long as he had not stabbed with his spear.

On the other hand, Tiandao the Venerable One was afraid that Fang Kaiyou would be threatened by the spear's path intent, which was why he stepped in impatiently.

The more one cared, the more one would be entangled. If someone else was in Fang Kaiyou's shoes instead, Tiandao the Venerable One would have been glad to watch what would happen next. He would have wanted to experience the path intent eagerly, so why would he have cared if the person would be killed or not?

Tiandao the Venerable One scoffed as he was displeased. "Brother Yu, they were only battling so that Ou Yangming's suit could be tested. Since it's not meant to be a life-or-death fight, why should they continue?"

Yuqi the Venerable One forced a smile. "Oh, if that's the case, do you have a good idea of Master Ou's suit already?"

Tiandao the Venerable One responded coldly, "Yes, I've seen it now, so I have a good idea of it already."

Yuqi the Venerable One was not going to take a step back at all. He continued to ask, "In your opinion, Brother Tiandao, can Master Ou represent Danzhou in the competition then?"

Tiandao the Venerable One was slightly stunned. He instantly furrowed his eyebrows.

Master Kurong had been keeping quiet the whole time, but he finally sighed and spoke, "The suit's exceptional indeed, and it's enough to show Master Ou's abilities but…" He paused for a while before he continued, "I've also been preparing for decades for this upcoming Smithing Competition."

"You?" Yuqi the Venerable One was dumbfounded and in disbelief.

Not only him, but even the old macaque and the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One widened their eyes. No matter what they guessed before this, they could not have expected this answer.

Yuqi the Venerable One found it hard to bring himself to say this, "Master Kurong, I understand how you feel, but if you take part in the competition, I'm afraid that… It won't be appropriate."

He tried to be considerate, whereas the old macaque did not bother to be thoughtful at all. "Kurong, don't joke around. We couldn't have asked for more for you to represent Danzhou, but do you think that Zhangzhou will agree with it?"

Ou Yangming was also confused because he knew there were certain limitations for the Big Smithing Competition between Danzhou and Zhangzhou.

The candidates must be Spiritualists, and everyone would only be given a chance. This also meant that if one participated in the upcoming competition, even if one would still not be a Venerable One by the next competition, one would not be qualified to join anymore.

Ou Yangming did not know if Master Kurong had represented Danzhou in the past, but the elder was clearly not a Spiritualist anymore.

Master Kurong put on a smile that looked more awful than a cry on his thin face. "Don't misunderstand me—how can I join the competition?"

Yuqi the Venerable One frowned and asked, "Master, then what do you…"

"Hehe, I took in a last disciple 3 decades ago," Master Kurong explained, "The fella didn't establish much in martial arts, but he has impressive talent and level of attainment in smithing art. Ah, I've been spiritually inadequate these years, so I couldn't give him many pointers, but he worked hard and never let me down."

Yuqi the Venerable One and the old macaque exchanged glances. They were quite surprised.

Master Kurong made it sound simple, but they understood that his last disciple had probably inherited his legacy, which was why he had such an expression when he talked about the disciple.

Judging from the way Master Kurong spoke about his last disciple proudly, one could imagine the disciple's place in his heart.

Tiandao the Venerable One nodded as well. "It's not that I'm intentionally trying to make things difficult for Master Ou, but that junior brother of mine has an unordinary talent in smithing art indeed." He passed for a moment before he suggested, "In my opinion, since 2 smithing geniuses have emerged in Danzhou, why don't we let them meet and discuss this further another time?"

Yuqi the Venerable One and the others looked at each other. They did not want to decide for Ou Yangming, hence they looked at him and waited for his decision.

This was because everyone knew that a meeting was only a discreet way to put it.

Once Ou Yangming and the disciple met, there would probably be a real smithing competition between them.

Since they both had solid backgrounds, it would definitely be a fair competition, where the winner would take all.

Ou Yangming's smithing standard was clear to see for everyone, but neither Master Kurong nor Tiandao the Venerable One wanted to give up after seeing how mighty his suit was. This showed how confident they were about that disciple.

It would be delightful if Ou Yangming emerged victorious, but what if he was defeated?

Yuqi the Venerable One and the others were not willing to bear the responsibility.

Having said that, Ou Yangming was in high spirits. After hearing the news, instead of being fearful, he looked forward to it instead. The feeling he had was not inferior to when he exchanged blows with Fang Kaiyou earlier.

He was a cultivator but also a blacksmith. If he could meet well-matched opponents, they could better incite his passion and potential.

With that, Ou Yangming nodded hard and expressed without any hesitation, "Master Kurong, Tiandao the Venerable One, I'm willing to compete against that brother."

"Alright." Tiandao the Venerable One laughed out loud. "Master Ou, you're a straightforward person. Regardless of the outcome, I'm willing to have you as a friend."

"Pfft! Do you think that he cares? You're making it sound like he's begging you for it." The old macaque scorned.

Tiandao the Venerable One's face turned red and white. If anyone else had taunted him, he would have flipped or retrieved his saber to slash that person.

However, the old macaque had a special identity and high seniority, where it could even joke around with Master Kurong. As violent as Tiandao the Venerable One was, he could not attack someone like that.

Yuqi the Venerable One found it funny but noted, "Brother Tiandao, Master Ou has just reunited with his closed ones, so let's not make him run about."

Tiandao the Venerable One was relieved. He immediately responded, "Of course, I'll go back now and bring my junior brother here to meet Master Ou."

Ou Yangming nodded and was eager to meet the disciple.

Tiandao the Venerable One was an impatient person as well. To put it in another way, perhaps he did not want to stay in the same place as the old macaque anymore, so he quickly left with Fang Kaiyou and the others after he left a few words.

For some reason, Master Kurong did not follow them back to Mount Wuzhi. Instead, he stayed and had a pleasant talk with the old macaque. Moreover, no matter how the macaque provoked him, he simply smiled without saying anything as though he could not be affected by anything in the world anymore.