Cultivation Daddy

Chapter 203: Chapter 202: The Ugliest Sword

The day of the crafting competition finally arrived.

Early that morning, Vermillion Sword Hall was livelier than usual. Students who were not participating still had to attend their regular classes, but many of them were reluctant and kept glancing toward the forging grounds.

Li Yuhan and Li Zhang were not participating, so after sending Li Jingxuan to the gathering area, they went to their own class.

Before leaving, Li Yuhan patted Li Jingxuan’s shoulder: "Xiao Xuan, do your best."

Li Jingxuan nodded seriously: "I will."

Li Zhang smiled: "That’s the spirit! Remember, even if you cannot make the prettiest sword, at least make one that looks like a sword."

Li Jingxuan froze: "Fourth Brother, what kind of blessing is that?"

Li Yuhan forced back his laugh and said: "Don’t listen to Fourth brother, just do as you practice. I’m sure you’ll do good."

After the two older brothers left, Li Jingxuan turned toward the forging ground with a serious face. Today, he had to do well. Not just for him but Shen Yang as well.

The forging competition was not only for beginners. At first, Li Jingxuan thought it would be a small challenge among students who had just started learning crafting, but after arriving, he realized there were older students too. Some of them had practiced forging for one or two years, and a few even carried their own tools.

Li Jingxuan looked around and clenched his fist. So many senior students. For the first time, he wondered whether he had been too confident.

Li Jingxuan stood before his designated furnace, his small arms crossed, trying his best to look like a grand master of the forge. Beside him, Shen Yang was practically bouncing on his heels.

Instructor Zhuang stood before the competitors and looked over everyone:

"Today’s crafting challenge will test material handling, flame control, forging stability, spiritual energy guidance, and final weapon structure. You will each forge a basic short sword using the materials provided. The sword does not need to be high grade, but it must be usable."

His gaze swept across the younger students and continued: "Some of you are new. Some of you have practiced for a while. Do not compare blindly. Focus on your own process. A beautiful failure is still a failure. An ugly success is still success."

For some reason, Li Jingxuan felt that the last sentence was staring directly at him. He coughed lightly and looked away.

Compared to Li Jingxuan, Liang Rui was much calmer. When the bell rang, the competition began. Immediately, the pavilion erupted into the sound of clanging metal and hot flames.

Liang Rui moved quickly. His actions were as perfect as written in the textbook. He placed his iron block in the furnace, stoking the coals to a precise heat. Every movement was clean, and efficient.

Then there was Li Jingxuan. The moment the timer started, Jingxuan’s process made several nearby students, and even Instructor Zhuang, blink in bewilderment.

While most students hammered the heated metal into shape first, Li Jingxuan stopped halfway and began adjusting the flame again. Then he removed the metal, tapped it lightly three times, placed it back into the furnace, drew it out again, changed the angle, and tapped it in a completely different way.

"Is he crazy?!" a senior student muttered: "He’s going to melt the crucible! You can’t put that much heat into raw iron all at once, it’ll crumble!"

"It looks like he forgot the steps."

Instructor Zhuang’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. He took a step toward Li Jingxuan’s station and watched him for a while. Li Jingxuan was too focused to notice.

His face was slightly red from the heat and sweat rolled down his forehead. He was not following the usual process completely. During the past three days of practice, he discovered that if he forged exactly like everyone else, his flame would often become too strong at the wrong moment. Father said it’s because of his bloodline; he hasn’t reached the right level to control it yet. So instead of forcing himself to match others, he tried to guide the flame into the metal in small sections.

Then, just as the core reached the right state, Li Jingxuan withdrew his spiritual fire. He grabbed his forging hammer which was a bit bigger than him.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The sound was shockingly deep. But unfortunately, his strikes were completely erratic. To others, it looked like a child who didn’t know what they’re doing.

"What in the world is he doing? It looks like he’s trying to flatten a piece of dough rather than forge a sword."

"He’s warping the metal completely out of shape!" another laughed.

Liang Rui glanced over and smirked: "I knew it. He has no foundation. He’s just playing around."

The outer shape of the sword slowly appeared. Unfortunately, the more the sword took shape, the uglier it became. The blade was uneven. The ridge was slightly crooked. One side was wider than the other. Li Jingxuan looks at the appearance of his sword and sighs: "Oh well..."

"Time is up! Put down your tools!" Instructor Zhuang shouted.

Everyone stopped working. Many students had already completed their swords.

The participants lined up, placing their finished weapons on the long wooden tables. The judges, consisting of Instructor Zhuang and Instructor Chi, walked down the row.

Some swords cracked during the test. Some looked pretty but could not hold spiritual energy. Some had good structure but poor flame refinement.

When the teachers reached Liang Rui’s sword, they nodded in approval. This kid is one of the youngsters here, but he was able to do such clean work.

Liang Rui’s sword appearance was ok. It was perfectly straight and polished neatly. The instructors nodded in approval, noting its balance and clean structure.

"Very good, Liang Rui. A solid, reliable blade. The spiritual energy path is a little stiff, but for your current level, this is beyond expectation." Instructor Zhuang praised.

Liang Rui cupped his hands and bowed in relief: "Thank you, Teacher." He glanced at Jingxuan provokingly from the corner of his eye.

When the instructors arrived at Li Jingxuan’s station, they froze.

Sitting on the anvil was a weapon that could barely be described as a sword. It looked as if it had just undergone a tribulation.

Instructor Zhuan picked it up, turned it over, then looked at Instructor Chi: "What do you think?"

Before Instructor Chi could respond, the students were talking about it

"Is that a sword or a piece of charcoal?"

"I’ve never seen any weapon so hideous in my life. It looks like it was chewed up and spat out by a spiritual beast!"

"That is definitely the ugliest sword in the history of Vermillion Sword Hall."

Shen Yang’s face fell, and he looked worriedly at Li Jingxuan. But Li Jingxuan didn’t look discouraged at all. He stood with his arms crossed with a smug on his face, as if he had just presented a legendary divine artifact and those complaining are just too blind to see its value.

Instructor Chi sighed, rubbing his temples: "Li Jingxuan... what is this?"

Li Jingxuan said proudly: "It’s a sword, Teacher! A very good one! "

Instructor Chi looked at the crooked blade, then the thick handle, and uneven body. His mouth twitched: "Li Jingxuan..."

Li Jingxuan answered immediately: "Teacher."

Instructor Chi sighed, and sent spiritual energy into the blade, it was surprisingly able to withstand his spiritual energy. The internal structure of the iron was so dense, so perfectly refined, that it surpassed even the weapons forged by some of the older senior students.

Instructor Chi was amazed: "This... this is incredible. The impurities are less than five percent! How did a beginner achieve this level of refinement with standard low-grade iron?"

"His flame control and internal structural alignment are flawless," Instructor Zhuang said, looking at Li Jingxuan, then at the ugly sword: "The technique is brilliant. It is a masterpiece of forging... but Jingxuan, why does it look like this?"

Li Jingxuan scratched his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed: "Well, I... for some reason can’t make it more goodlooking than this. Besides, what’s the point of a shiny sword if it breaks on the first hit? True strength is on the inside!"

Instructor Chi nodded: "Really. If your appearance and structure were cleaner, your rank would be much higher."

The instructors whispered among themselves for several minutes, calculating the scores. Finally, Instructor Zhuang walked to the announcement board and posted the official rankings.

Because the competition included older, more experienced students, the top five spots were swept by third-year seniors.

But when the crowd looked down the list, their jaws dropped.

Rank 7: Liang Rui (Eight Years Old. First-Year Class 1)

Rank 8: Li Jingxuan (Seven Years Old. First-Year Class 1)

"What the hell? They are so young!"

"A freshman got into the top ten of the forging challenge?!"

Liang Rui stared at the board, his face turning pale. He had placed seventh, just slightly ahead of Li Jingxuan. But he knew the truth. He had seen the judges’ expressions. He knew that the only reason Li Jingxuan ranked eighth instead of beating him was because of the massive penalty points deducted for the sword’s ugly appearance.

If it weren’t for the fact that it looked like a piece of burnt slag, Li Jingxuan would have easily swept the competition.

Liang Rui’s fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. The jealousy and frustration burned in his chest.

Li Jingxuan, meanwhile, was cheering. "Haha! Eighth place! I told you, Yang Yang, I’m a genius!"

"You are!" Shen Yang laughed, running over and throwing his arms around Jingxuan’s shoulders: "That was amazing! The judges were completely shocked!"

Liang Rui walked over, his face dark, his teeth gritting so loudly they could hear it. He stopped right in front of Li Jingxuan: "Don’t get cocky, Li Jingxuan. Your sword is still a hideous piece of garbage. A true craftsman balances both form and function. I only won this time because of your sloppy finish. We will settle the score another time!"

Jingxuan looked at him, completely unbothered by the harsh words: "Sure, sure. Next time, I’ll make sure to paint it pink, so you feel better about losing to me."

Shen Yang smiled, looking between the two of them: "You both did so well! Out of our entire first-year class, you two are the only ones who made the rankings! It’s already lunchtime, and my stomach is growling. We should celebrate!"

Shen Yang paused, then looked at Liang Rui. The jealousy and anger on Liang Rui’s face were obvious, but there was also a deep sense of loneliness. For months, Liang Rui had tried to join Shen Yang’s circle, but because Liang Rui was always mean toward Li Jingxuan, Shen Yang had kept his distance.

"Hey, Liang Rui," Shen Yang said: "Do you want to come eat lunch with us? We can all celebrate together!"

Liang Rui froze. He looked at Shen Yang, completely taken aback by the sudden invitation. Then he slowly turned his eyes toward Li Jingxuan, expecting to be mocked or told to get lost.

Li Jingxuan shrugged: "Yeah, why not? Forging is hard work, and I’m starving. Plus, my dad’s meat buns can cure any bad mood. Come along, Liang Rui. But you’re buying the spirit juice if you want a taste of the good stuff!"

The three of them walked toward the dining hall together to eat their lunch.

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