Shattering the Stone!

The artifact crafting contest began. Yuan Gang had long decided on what magic treasure he was going to craft. Making the first move, he snatched several extremely precious crafting materials with lightning speed. Li Haoran closed his eyes, pondering hard over what kind of immensely powerful weapon he should forge. Meng Jingzhou solemnly and purposefully picked out a few items from the heap of crafting materials. Lu Yang glanced at the frantic Yuan Gang, gave a snort of contempt, and hoisted a log from the crafting materials pile onto his shoulder. News of the four-way contest quickly reached the upper echelons of the Five Elements Sect. The elders of the Five Veins and Qiu Jin'an all appeared at the competition venue, though they concealed their figures, and nobody noticed them. "Old Song, you arranged Yuan Gang's challenge, didn't you? It's a bit much," Qiu Jin'an said with a frown, looking at Fire Vein Elder Song Duantian. Song Duantian had a corpulent build and wore a bright red Daoist robe. His appearance was somewhat comical, but anyone who knew his temper and combat record wouldn't dare laugh out loud. "Sect Master, please don't talk nonsense. It's merely that the boy Yuan Gang is filial and took the initiative on his own. How did that turn into my doing?" Qiu Jin'an chuckled twice and said nothing more. Did he really think Yuan Gang had a guaranteed victory? The feud between Zhou Xin and Song Duantian was far more complicated than merely snatching True Fires. Over a thousand years ago, both of them had fallen in love with the same female cultivator and pursued her passionately. Under Daoist Buyu's guidance, Zhou Xin had successfully won her heart, and they eventually had a daughter named Zhou Lulu. The grudge between the two was not something time could dissolve. Of course, Zhou Xin parading his wife before Song Duantian every day to show off—and especially over the past several decades after Zhou Lulu was born, bringing the entire family over during New Year's—was admittedly going a bit too far. Time ticked by minute by minute. The scene was utterly silent; all four were wholly engrossed in crafting their magic treasures, with only the clinking of hammer strikes and the sizzling roar of True Fires filling the air. "Finished!" Yuan Gang exhaled in relief. When provoking others, he acted arrogant and overbearing, but when crafting magic treasures, he became completely focused and meticulous. Even while focusing all his attention on crafting this planned magic treasure, he still hadn't been absolutely certain he could pull it off. But now that he had successfully crafted it, victory was already decided. Appearing in his hand was a cylindrical object crafted primarily of bronze, hollow in the center, with inscriptions engraved across both its inner and outer walls. "What kind of magic treasure is that?" "It looks so bizarre." "Has anyone seen one before?" The Five Elements Sect disciples whispered among themselves, discussing this treasure they had never seen before. "I call it the Meteor Cannon Barrel." This was a devastating weapon he had personally developed, making its public debut today. Li Haoran seemed not to have heard Yuan Gang's voice at all, remaining wholeheartedly absorbed in crafting his treasure. The flames in his palm flickered like fire serpents, melting and shaping every inch of the magic treasure beneath their blistering heat. This was the Great Yan True Fire Li Haoran wielded. Its destructive power wasn't great, but it was indeed the most suited for artifact crafting; its fluid and versatile nature allowed him to forge his intended treasure to the utmost precision. Seeing that he hadn't distracted Li Haoran, Yuan Gang was a bit disappointed. He stood where he was, hoisted the barrel onto his shoulder, and steadily channeled spiritual energy into it. The runes inscribed inside and out flickered, gathering the spiritual energy and funneling it to the base. The cannon barrel's base shifted from bronze-green to red as a terrifying aura brewed within. Thirty breaths, forty breaths... ninety breaths, one hundred breaths! Standing off to the side, Bai Ming's hair stood on end as he felt the threat. If he took a direct hit from that, he would likely be gravely wounded. "Behold the power of the Meteor Cannon Barrel!" BOOM! As the Meteor Cannon Barrel roared like thunder, Yuan Gang's laughter was quickly drowned out. A scorching cannonball of spiritual energy blasted forth as if carrying the weight of ten thousand thunderbolts, slamming furiously into the lava essence stone! Cobweb-like cracks instantly splintered across the massive stone! Cries of shock rippled across the crowd. "Heavens above, what power!" "An early Nascent Soul cultivator can damage a lava essence stone?!" "What a formidable magic treasure!" "That kid Yuan Gang really didn't disappoint," Song Duantian chuckled smugly, the Meteor Cannon Barrel's might bringing him great pride. Yuan Gang cast a triumphant glance toward Li Haoran. By this time, Li Haoran had also successfully completed his magic treasure: an exceptionally slender needle, fine as an ox hair and virtually invisible to the naked eye. Beside it lay a millstone-sized circular disc engraved with intricate, complex inscriptions so dizzying that a single glance made Yuan Gang's head spin. Li Haoran placed the ox-hair needle on the edge of the disc and channeled spiritual energy into it to activate it. Ring after ring of inscriptions lit up. The ox-hair needle levitated above the disc's edge and began to orbit slowly. "That's it...?" Yuan Gang sneered. But before he could finish his sneer, he saw the ox-hair needle circling above the disc, held in place as if bound by an invisible force. The needle flew faster and faster. With every revolution, its speed leaped to another tier. After sixty breaths, it was moving so fast that its silhouette could barely be seen; by seventy breaths, Yuan Gang could no longer track where it was at all. Eighty breaths, ninety breaths, one hundred breaths! At the hundredth breath, the disc was cut off from spiritual energy. No longer bound, the ox-hair needle shot toward the lava essence stone at an imperceptible speed! *Chhh.* Only a faint sound rang out. The ox-hair needle pierced through three lava essence stones in succession and lodged firmly into a fourth, its tail not trembling in the slightest! It had pierced three lava essence stones straight through, leaving behind an ox-hair-sized hole through the center of each! "Senior Brother Yuan Gang, well fought," Li Haoran said with a faint smile, cupping his hands. Yuan Gang stubbornly refused to concede: "The contest is about who causes greater damage to the essence stone! I cracked it into a massive spiderweb, whereas you only made such a tiny puncture hole. You're inferior to me!" Just as Li Haoran was about to argue with Yuan Gang, Meng Jingzhou's laughter rang out from the side. "Comparing damage dealt to the boulder, is it? Then let me have a go. Don't go welshing this time." Yuan Gang frowned. What Meng Jingzhou held couldn't be considered a magic treasure at all—it was just a piece of rope. What was he trying to do? Meng Jingzhou didn't explain. He simply tied the rope around an essence stone, grabbed the other end, and flew higher and higher. Soon his figure vanished from sight, with only a faint voice drifting down from the sky. "Wonder how high I need to go to smash this rock to bits on impact." Yuan Gang snapped angrily, "You only have one hundred breaths!" He had never dreamed someone would try to smash the essence stone using pure manpower! Meng Jingzhou's unhurried voice drifted down: "But I'm not using a magic treasure. The one-hundred-breath limit is for magic treasures, not for me." Before long, a meteorite plummeted from the heavens, blazing with light and heat as it hurtled straight toward Yuan Gang—a visually shocking spectacle. Yuan Gang scrambled to dodge out of the way. BOOM! The essence stone crashed down, shattering into pieces and kicking up an immense cloud of dust. It blasted a massive crater into the Fire Vein's grounds, making Song Duantian wince in distress. Meng Jingzhou touched down, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. "Tsk tsk. Here I thought your treasure was called the Meteor Cannon Barrel because it could actually smash stars. I guess I overestimated you." Yuan Gang's face turned livid. This brat had deliberately hurled it right at him! Meng Jingzhou turned his head. "Lu Yang, are you done yet?" "Finished long ago. I was just waiting for the rock to drop." Lu Yang blew the wood shavings off his sword. What he had crafted was a wooden sword—one that would snap in two with a single bend. Yuan Gang, livid and baffled, frowned, unable to fathom what Lu Yang was up to. Lu Yang smiled as he strolled over to another essence stone. Raising his hand, he began dancing with the sword, his movements slow, graceful, and remarkably aesthetic. "I heard he's a sword cultivator. What is he doing? Going to shatter the essence stone with a sword?" "Impossible! This stone isn't something a Golden Core stage cultivator can smash, not even a sword cultivator!" Not only the Five Elements Sect disciples, but even the Five Veins elders and Qiu Jin'an couldn't tell what was happening—they merely felt the movements looked strangely familiar. Lu Yang brandished the sword with transcendent elegance and immortal demeanor, as if he had become an entirely different person, a smug grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Suddenly, a flash of sword light gleamed, and Lu Yang's appearance shifted into another form. "Haha! You fools of the Five Elements Sect, I borrowed my little disciple's identity and none of you even realized it?!" "With eyesight like that, you thought you could catch me? What's the point of cultivating Golden Fiery Eyes when you're all so blind!" Daoist Buyu chuckled mischievously, wielding the sword as he mocked the six people hiding in the dark. Daoist Buyu Imitation Fist! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! A colossal fireball appeared above Daoist Buyu's head like a second sun, while crisscrossing surges of the Qi of Metal Wu thrummed with the clash of iron weapons and armored steeds, poised to slaughter enemies and vanquish foes! The fiery-tempered Fire Vein Elder and Metal Vein Elder struck! The fireball and the Qi of Metal Wu blasted down, completely engulfing the essence stone. The essence stone didn't even have a chance to turn to dust before it was vaporized into nothingness. It wasn't that they couldn't tell this Daoist Buyu was fake—they simply couldn't hold themselves back. Especially that tone of voice... it was far too accurate.