"You found… Your path!"

Ai Hongli mumbled. He looked blankly in front, where his eyes were not focused on anything at all.

After confirming the news, he became absent-minded as though he was somehow stimulated.

Lingfeng the Venerable One and the others were slightly distressed as they watched the top-grade Venerable One acting this way. Nonetheless, they did not intend to ridicule him at all. Instead, they were envious.

Finding one's path sounded simple, but the content that it contained was so rich that one could have countless imaginations about it.

This was because it was something that could only be dreamed of by top-grade Venerable Ones. Although there were many Venerable Ones present, Ai Hongli the Venerable One was the only one that was qualified for this. As for the others, before they could even have extravagant hopes about taking the step, it would be best for them to first pray for a smooth cultivation path to become a top-grade Venerable One.

After a long time, Ai Hongli finally sighed and expressed, "Master Kurong, congratulations."

When he congratulated the master, it was evident that he sounded slightly bitter.

After all, it was incredibly difficult for one to find one's path. Ai Hongli was a top-grade Venerable One that came from an influential sect, but his hands were also tied. He could not stop thinking about this matter even in his dreams.

Nevertheless, centuries passed just like that. Not to mention having found the path, he had not found even the slightest trace of where the path could be.

Therefore, after hearing what Master Kurong said, Ai Hongli's lament was truly not worth talking about to the others.

Master Kurong shook his head and said, "As long as you don't give up, you'll have a chance."

Ai Hongli nodded. "Yes, thanks for your auspicious words, Master."

Even so, deep down he was not confident about this at all.

Ai Hongli the Venerable One had searched hard for many years and had failed numerous times during isolated cultivations, where he did not gain anything in the end. As such, the Venerable One lofty aspiration had long been dampened down. At this moment, the only thing that he could hope for was probably a miracle.

Yuqi the Venerable One and the other Venerable Ones from Mount Wuzhi exchanged glances. They were the only ones that knew Master Kurong's ability to incite his life force had nothing much to do with him having found his path. It was the Eternal Pill that actually made the master look radiant and allowed him to gain a new lease of life.

Everyone simply misunderstood Master Kurong when he explained implicitly.

In any case, Yuqi the Venerable One and the others were not going to take the initiative to correct the misunderstanding. In fact, they even thought, 'Since there's already a misunderstanding, the deeper it is, the better.'

At the end of the day, Ai Hongli was a formidable top-grade Venerable One. He quickly curbed his thoughts but only sighed internally.

'Master Kurong found his path, so no wonder Li Xin's devouring power was helpless against his life force. It looks like Li Xin won't be able to take his revenge any time soon.'

Ai Hongli then shook his head and noted in a deep voice, "Master Kurong, let's get back to business. We've invited you here to appraise 2 equipment sets." He looked at Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde before he continued seriously, "Judging from your character, I believe that you'll surely make a fair judgment."

Master Kurong grinned. "Venerable One Ai, since you've decided to have me take up the task, I can only tackle it as best as I can."

Instead of refusing to do the job, the master strode toward the center of the square.

Over there, Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde were standing opposite one another. The equipment sets that were meticulously refined by them were laid out in front of them.

Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde cupped their hands and greeted the master, "Greetings, Master Kurong."

It was Qu Zhengde's first time meeting the legendary figure, but he was much more respectful than Ou Yangming was.

Master Kurong nodded with a smile. "The both of you smithed… A suit each. Hehe, did you name them?"

Qu Zhengde immediately replied to him, "Master, I've smithed a Blood Refining Suit, where a Blood Condensation Ore was embedded to it. It has a unique skill of confusing others through illusion."

The master looked deeply at him and remarked, "Given that you found a Blood Condensation Ore, you must've really set your mind on this competition."

Qu Zhengde blushed right away. He explained, "Master Kurong, I found the Blood Condensation Ore from the Beyond Heaven Pavilion on Mount Wuzhi."

"Oh, then you're quite lucky." Master Kurong chuckled. "Even I am envious of your good luck."

Qu Zhengde was a cultivator from Zhangzhou, but Master Kurong's reputation in the smithing industry was not only limited to Danzhou. Hence, Qu Zhengde flushed when he was praised by the master.

Ou Yangming cleared his throat and stated, "Master Kurong, I've smithed a Cold Snow Suit. As its name suggests, its main property is the Ice Snow attribute." He paused for a moment before he continued, "I've also embedded a Cold Water Ore to it, so it has the wonderful effect of freezing the universe."

"A Cold Water Ore?" Master Kurong was surprised. "You were actually willing to use it?"

The young fellow smiled and responded, "Materials can only be turned into pieces of equipment if they're used. Besides, just like Master Qu did, I only found the Cold Water Ore from the Beyond Heaven Pavilion. It's just right to be used for the competition today."

Master Kurong was not busy with a host of affairs every day, but he could not always pay attention to these juniors.

This was why he was indeed clueless about them finding treasure ores from the Beyond Heaven Pavilion.

He shook his head and commented with a smile, "It's mischief that such precious treasure ores are used in a competition." He said that it was mischief, but his eyes slowly took on a grave look.

At this point, he finally understood why nobody could decide on the outcome when many Venerable Ones and blacksmiths from various sects were present.

If it was just like what they said, where both suits were extremely precious treasures, it would be difficult to evaluate them indeed even if one was slightly better than the other. This was because they had dissimilar properties.

Master Kurong pondered for a brief moment before he raised his hand. With that, the suits flew slowly toward him as though they had wings on them.

He later spread out his hands and grabbed one of the suits on each hand.

The suits comprised several pieces of equipment, but those pieces were connected as if there were invisible threads between them.

Next, the suits were standing up like humans.

There was nothing inside them, but they stood up with the help of magical powers as though invisible people were inside them.

Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde looked at each other in shock. They were astonished.

They were the ones that smithed those pieces of equipment. While the suits' properties were just simple words to other people, they knew the changes of those properties so well that they had probably understood them to the extreme.

This was why they noticed something as soon as the suits stood up; the suits' properties had been stimulated.

It would not be difficult for them to support the pieces of equipment without touching them. Not to mention Master Kurong, who was a top-grade Venerable One, even they could have done it easily. However, stimulating the properties of pieces of equipment at a distance away was a peculiar thing that had never been heard off.

Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde suddenly had the same thought at this moment.

If Master Kurong could use this technique without a limit, would it not mean that he could form a big army that consisted purely of pieces of equipment? Moreover, there would be no living beings involved in the army. Even if it was destroyed by an enemy, only the pieces of equipment would be lost.

The 2 blacksmiths shook their heads and got rid of the unrealistic thought.

If Master Kurong could do that, he would have been invincible long ago.

Soon enough, the 2 equipment sets swayed in the wind, but their movements were coherent and reasonable. It seemed like 2 people were fighting against each other by controlling the suits from the inside.

Everyone was dumbfounded as it was an unusual appraising method.

In actuality, Master Kurong would not have used such a weird technique under normal circumstances. After seeing the many powerhouses that were present, as well as the works of Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde, he knew he could not get an accurate answer if he adopted a normal technique.

Being a potent smithing master, from his perspective, there was a standard for the qualities of pieces of equipment, but what would test them would be real combat.

Only the pieces of equipment that would receive a better appraisal from real combat would be the best.

"Ding, ding, ding…"

The suits kept dancing in the void and clashing with each other.

Whether it was the armors, helmets, or even the weapons, none of them could avoid the collisions.

The faces of Ou Yangming and Qu Zhengde changed. They had strong confidence in their suits, but they could not feel happy when they saw those pieces of equipment, which they had smithed through hard work, being abused like that.

As for the other Venerable Ones, they also furrowed their eyebrows deeply while they watched.

It was true that this method would be able to test the real qualities of the suits, but would it be good to knock those precious pieces of equipment against each other without holding back?

The Venerable Ones looked at each other and felt that it was such a pity. Some of the young blacksmiths from the various sects even wondered as they were dubious, 'Given that this elder's using such a rough method, is he really the renowned greatest smithing master in Danzhou?'

"Boom…"

Following a deafening sound, the suits suddenly retreated under Master Kurong's control. They looked like 2 top-notch powerhouses confronting each other from a distance away.

Everyone else knew the suits were empty inside, but they somehow felt like they were looking at 2 peerless masters giving each other tit for tat.

Master Kurong scanned the suits back and forth for a long time before he nodded and said, "Not bad—they're not bad indeed."

Zhiming the Venerable One could not hold it in anymore, thus he asked out loud, "Master Kurong, which one of the suits are more valuable?"

The square fell silent at once. Whether it was the powerhouses that traveled far from Zhangzhou or the people from Danzhou, they subconsciously held their breaths as if any sound they would make would disturb Master Kurong.

Everyone waited quietly for his answer.