The crafting competition commenced. Yuan Gang already had his magic artifact planned, and was the first to act, quickly snatching away some extremely precious crafting materials.

Li Haoran kept his eyes closed, pondering hard on what kind of powerful weapon he wanted to craft.

Meng Jingzhou meticulously picked several materials from the stack meant for crafting.

Lu Yang glanced at the agitated Yuan Gang, sneered, and hauled a piece of raw wood from the crafting material pile.

News of the competition among these four quickly reached the top echelon of the Five Elements Sect. The elders of the Five Veins, and Qiu Jin’an, appeared at the competition venue. However, they concealed their presence, unnoticed by all.

"Elder Song, Yuan Gang is your arranged contender, right? It’s a bit too much," Qiu Jin’an frowned and turned towards the Fire Vein Elder, Song Duantian.

Song Duantian was plump, dressed in a bright red robe, and looked somewhat funny. But, those aware of his temper and achievements wouldn’t dare to laugh.

"Sect Leader, you shouldn’t make random assumptions. It’s just that the child Yuan Gang is filial and made a self decision. How could that be my arrangement?"

Qiu Jin’an chuckled twice and didn’t say anything else.

Did he really think Yuan Gang would certainly win?

The feud between Zhou Xin and Song Duantian was not just about who got the True Fire. More than a thousand years ago, both men had fallen for the same woman and pursued her passionately. With guidance from Daoist Buyu, Zhou Xin had successfully won over the woman, and they had a daughter named Zhou Lulu.

The grudges between the two couldn’t be easily dissolved over time.

Moreover, Zhou Xin, who flaunted his wife in front of Song Duantian every day and even brought his family to visit during the New Year, was indeed a bit over the line.

As time ticked away, the venue became extremely silent. All four participants were absorbed in crafting their magic artifacts. The only sounds were the ringing of their projects being hammered, and the crackling sound of the True Fire.

"Done!" Yuan Gang relaxed, his shoulders drop with relief. When he was crafting his magic artifact, he became wholly focused, leaving no room for sloppiness.

Even as he devoted his full attention to creating the artifact he had planned, there was still no guarantee of success.

Now that it was done, victory was practically assured.

What materialized in his hands was a hollow, cylindrical-shaped artifact, primarily made from bronze. Both the inner wall and the exterior were covered in inscriptions.

"What kind of artifact is that?"

"It looks so weird."

"Has anyone seen it before?"

The disciples of the Five Elements Sect whispered amongst themselves, discussing this never-before-seen artifact.

"I named it the Meteor Cannon." This was a major weapon he had researched and developed, and it was its first public appearance.

Li Haoran acted as if he hadn’t heard Yuan Gang, and continued crafting his magic artifact wholeheartedly.

The flame in his palm slithered like a fiery snake. Every inch of the magic artifact was being melted and reshaped under the heat of the flame.

This was the Dayan True Fire that Li Haoran had mastered. Although its power was not immense, it was the most suitable method for refining magic artifacts. Its flexible and versatile nature allowed him to craft exactly what he planned.

Seeing that Li Haoran wasn’t distracted, Yuan Gang felt a bit disappointed. He stood there, holding the cannon, continuously infusing spiritual essence into it.

The inscriptions inside and outside the cannon pulsed with light as they gathered the spiritual essence, transmitting it to the bottom. The base of the cannon changed from green to red, emitting a terrifying aura.

Thirty breaths, forty breaths, ninety breaths, a hundred breaths!

Bai Ming, standing nearby, felt his hair standing on end, sensing the threat.

If he took a direct hit, it would likely result in serious injury.

"Let me show you the power of the Meteor Cannon!"

Bang!

As the Meteor Cannon let out a sound like thunder, Yuan Gang’s laughter was quickly drowned out.

The blazing spiritual essence shell was fired, striking the lava stone like a thunderbolt with an incredible force!

Cracks appeared on the large stone instantly, spreading like a spider’s web!

Surprised gasps kept sounding from the audience.

"Good heavens, what a potent power!"

"Can a practitioner at the early stage of the Nascent Soul destroy the lava stone?"

"What a formidable magic artifact!"

"This kid Yuan Gang really does me proud." Song Duantian chuckled with satisfaction. The power of the Meteor Cannon had brought glory to his face.

With a victorious look, Yuan Gang glanced at Li Haoran. At this point, Li Haoran had successfully crafted his artifact. It was an extremely thin needle, fine as cow hair, almost invisible to the naked eye.

Besides that, there was a disc as large as a grindstone, with meticulously complex inscriptions etched upon it, which made Yuan Gang feel dizzy just by looking at it.

Li Haoran placed this cow hair needle at the edge of the disc, then infused the spiritual essence into the disc to activate it.

The inscriptions lit up in rings, the Cow Hair Needle floated above the edge of the disk, slowly flying.

"Just this..." sneered Yuan Gang. Yet before he could finish, he saw the flying Cow Hair Needle as if it was bound above the disk by an unseen force.

The Cow Hair Needle speed was accelerating; for each loop it flew, its speed increased by one level. After sixty breaths, it was flying so fast that it was almost invisible, and by the seventieth breath, Yuan Gang fully lost sight of the Cow Hair Needle.

Eighty breaths, ninety breaths, one hundred breaths!

At the hundredth breath, the disk lost its spiritual essence, the Cow Hair Needle was no longer bound, and flew towards the Fine Stone at an invisible speed!

Shhh.

Only a slight sound was heard. The Cow Hair Needle penetrated through three Fine Stones in a row, and nailed onto the fourth Fine Stone, its tail not showing even a hint of trembling!

It left Cow Hair Needle-sized holes right in the center of the three consecutive Fine Stones!

"Brother Yuan Gang, thank you for your concession." Li Haoran smiled faintly with his fists cupped.

Refusing to concede defeat, Yuan Gang retorted, "The contest is about who can inflict more damage to the Fine Stones. I have created such a large web, while you only made a small piercing, you are not better than me."

Just as Li Haoran wanted to argue, he heard Meng Jingzhou’s laughter, "Are we comparing the damage inflicted on the huge stone, right? Then it’s my turn. Don’t complain about it."

Yuan Gang frowned. What Meng Jingzhou had in his hand was not even a magic artifact, just a rope. What was he planning to do?

Meng Jingzhou did not explain, instead he simply tied the Fine Stone with the rope and flew higher and higher until he was out of sight, only faint sounds could be heard from afar.

"I wonder how high I must fly to smash the stone."

Yuan Gan snapped, "You only have one hundred breaths of time!"

If flown high enough, the Fine Stone could certainly be shattered.

Meng Jingzhou’s voice floated down, unruffled, "But I didn’t use a magic artifact. One hundred breaths is the time for using the magic artifact, not my time."

After some time, a meteor fell from the sky, carrying light and heat, aiming straight at Yuan Gang. The sight was visually shocking just to look at.

Yuan Gang hurriedly darted away.

Boom!

The Fine Stone crashed, splitting into pieces, stirring up an endless cloud of dust. A huge pit was formed in the Fire Vein which pained Song Duantian just by looking at it.

Meng Jingzhou landed, shaking his head and clucking his tongue, "Oh no, I thought your magic artifact, Meteor Cannon, could actually destroy stars. I overestimated you."

Yuan Gang’s face turned ashen. The little fellow had clearly aimed that at him on purpose!

Meng Jingzhou turned his head, "Lu Yang, are you ready?"

"I’ve been ready for a while, waiting for the stone to fall." Lu Yang dusted off the wood chips on his sword. The artifact he had refined was a wooden sword, which would break with a snap.

With an ashen face, Yuan Gang frowned, struggling to understand Lu Yang’s intentions.

Lu Yang walked over to another Fine Stone with a smile. He lifted his hand, his sword-dancing movements slow and graceful, presenting a unique beauty.

"I heard he practices swordsmanship. What does he want to do? Break the Fine Stone with his sword?"

"Impossible, this stone isn’t something one at the Golden Core Stage could break, not even those who practice swordsmanship!"

Not just the disciples of the Five Elements Sect, even the elders of the Five Veins and Qiu Jin’an couldn’t figure it out. They just found his movements familiar.

Lu Yang’s sword-dancing stance was elegant, with a celestial demeanor, he looked like a different person altogether, wearing a pleased smile at the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly, the sword light flashed, and Lu Yang turned into a different appearance.

"Ha ha, you fools of the Five Elements Sect, you didn’t even recognize me when I used this little apprentice’s identity?"

"You want to catch me with those eyes? You’re practicing your eye technique for nothing. You’re all as good as blind!"

Daoist Buyu chuckled, his sword-moving mockery was directed at the six people in the shadows.

Daoist Buyu’s Imitation Fist!

Boom! Boom!

A huge fireball appeared above Daoist Buyu’s head, looking like a second sun. The energies of Metal Element intercrossing, a mighty army with massed ranks, killing enemies, and breaking illusions!

The hot-tempered Elder of the Fire Vein and the Elder of the Golden Vein took action. The fireball and the energies of Metal Element rained down, engulfing the Fine Stone.

The Fine Stone didn’t even get a chance to turn into dust, it disappeared into thin air.

They didn’t fail to recognize that this Daoist Buyu was a fraud, they just couldn’t hold back.

Especially his tone, it was too similar.