Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 286 yielded considerable gains.

"This technique has truly broken the framework of the weapon-refining industry for thousands of years. It's simply a miracle! No wonder a place with only a dozen or so weapon refiners can be compared with those great families with hundreds or thousands of weapon refiners."

Standing before the towering blast furnace, the crowd watched in amazement as molten iron flowed continuously from it. After being poured into molds, the iron was automatically pressed into rough blanks by a water turbine-driven mechanism. Apprentice craftsmen then performed simple forging and shaping, transforming the blanks into qualified semi-finished weapons. The weapon refiner only needed to make slight adjustments to the semi-finished products and inscribe runes on them to create a powerful black iron weapon. The process was incredibly fast.

Tieqiao casually picked up a newly made Xuan Tie sword, and gently tapped the back of the blade with his hand, producing a clear, metallic sound.

"Indeed quite good, the quality is no worse than those mid-grade Xuan Iron treasures. To maintain a mid-grade quality under such a large-scale processing is truly impressive. It seems that the blast furnace's ore refining process is even better than that of ordinary weapon refiners. The purity is also higher."

Iron Bridge said with certainty.

“These Xuan Iron treasures are all made from ore, and the ore is all collected from your own mines. Can you mine Soul Iron?” Tieqiao suddenly thought of a question.

"It seems not. The workers mining the ore are all members of the Huo family. If they discover Soul Iron, they will naturally speak up," Elder Huo replied.

"Soul Iron is always found alongside Black Iron. It seems that all Black Iron mines produce Soul Iron, but in very small quantities. For a high-quality Black Iron mine like yours, there must be a significant amount of Soul Iron, at least one ten-thousandth. That means that mining 10,000 catties of Black Iron ore will yield at least one catty of Soul Iron ore. Judging from your output, you must be mining at least 10,000 to 20,000 catties of Black Iron ore every day!"

Iron Bridge said.

"Although I've heard that Soul Iron is a by-product of Dark Iron, we haven't actually mined any Soul Iron in all these years of mining. Our miners have never even seen a Soul Iron ore," Old Huo said.

"Come with me to the mine. I refuse to believe that such high-quality black iron ore doesn't contain soul iron ore." Tieqiao was surprised.

"I never imagined your ore-mining methods were so advanced! Who came up with this method?! What's in those holes?" As a top-tier family of weapon refiners, the Zhang family owned many large-scale mines. Naturally, Tieqiao was very familiar with mining. He was amazed to see that the miners here didn't use hammers to break the ore into pieces, but instead injected a powder mixed with water into small holes, causing the ore to crumble on its own. The miners could then easily collect the broken pieces. He was astonished by this fast and labor-saving process.

"This is the method the young master came up with. It reduces the labor intensity of the miners and greatly improves the mining efficiency. We only need about twenty miners a day to easily extract tens of thousands of kilograms of ore," Old Huo said with a smile.

"It's you again, kid. I really don't know what you were thinking."

Tieqiao glanced at Mo Yuming, shook his head, and said with a smile.

"I just like to tinker around! Grandpa Tieqiao, don't worry about it. Take a closer look, see if there's any Soul Iron Ore in this ore." Mo Yuming didn't want to explain too much about this kind of thing.

"Isn't this Soul Iron Ore?" Iron Bridge quickly picked out a small piece of ore from the pile.

"This is Soul Iron Ore? It seems no different from Black Iron Ore, except that the color is a little darker than other ores." Mo Yuming took the ore, looked at it, and then handed it to Elder Huo behind him.

"Isn't Soul Iron supposed to be gray? How come this ore is even darker than Black Iron ore? We thought it was just a slightly better quality Black Iron ore!" said the Huo family miner upon seeing the ore, which was less than the size of an egg.

"So you don't recognize Soul Iron Ore! No wonder, it's quite remarkable that your small mines can even mine a single piece of Xuan Iron Ore. If you didn't already have the strength to protect this mine, it wouldn't be yours anymore! So it's not surprising that you don't recognize Soul Iron Ore."

"So, our mine can extract at least several kilograms of Soul Iron ore every day? That means we've already extracted over a thousand kilograms? We haven't even processed it all; isn't that a complete waste?" Boss Huo exclaimed in surprise. Soul Iron is a treasure thousands of times more precious than Profound Iron!

“Even if you refine thousands of pounds of Soul Iron ore, you can only get a couple hundred pounds of Soul Iron ingots at most. Luckily, you didn’t sell your Xuan Iron ore, but refined it on the spot, so the Soul Iron won’t be lost, otherwise you would have suffered a huge loss! Hehe, I know where it is! Come on, follow me, I’ll go get it for you!” After Zhang Tieqiao finished speaking, he led everyone toward the factory.

"First, release all the black iron from the blast furnace, then continue adding fuel. Next, have a few fire-type martial artists surround the blast furnace—no limit on the number—and operate it together according to my instructions. It's best if they have higher cultivation levels. Mu Bai, don't be so aloof; you're the one with the strongest fire spirit here, so put in the extra effort, and you'll definitely get your share of the rewards!"

"Hey, you iron rod, when did I say I wouldn't fight back? Do you have to insult me ​​like that? Have you been spending too much time with Gan Ran and gotten infected by her?" Li Mubai didn't expect Zhang Tieqiao to lose all sense of decorum when he got excited. He even started to imitate Gan Ran and Sikong Nong's banter.

"It seems like I'm not involved... right?" Gan Ran felt a little wronged when she heard Li Mubai drag her into this for no reason, but she didn't dare to get angry at Li Mubai, so she could only complain in a low voice.

"Alright, everyone, focus your attention on the bottom of the blast furnace, then concentrate your fire elemental power and inject it into the interior of the blast furnace. Together, slowly bake the bottom of the blast furnace, making sure to maintain a steady rhythm and steadily increase the temperature inside. This process should last at least half an hour, raising the temperature inside the furnace by more than 15%!"

As Zhang Tieqiao acted, five or six Heavenly Rank Fire-type experts exerted their power simultaneously, causing the temperature to rise rapidly around the blast furnace. The surrounding area, spanning dozens of feet, became unbearably hot. Wood and Water-type cultivators immediately retreated; even without danger, the environment was extremely uncomfortable. Earth and Metal-type martial artists fared slightly better, but still consciously retreated several dozen feet to make themselves more comfortable.

Mo Yuming and some other fire-attribute cultivators with slightly lower cultivation levels didn't retreat much. Although the pressure emanating from the Heaven-rank expert made it difficult for Earth-rank martial artists to breathe, this environment was actually helpful for their cultivation. As fire-attribute cultivators, they naturally wouldn't give up such an opportunity. They all used their own techniques to sense the aura emanating from the Heaven-rank expert, using it to hone their will and cultivation.

Half an hour later, the blast furnace, which had previously only been scorching hot, now turned red-hot, like a burning fireball emitting a blinding red light. The entire factory was engulfed in intense heat; if the factory hadn't been constructed entirely of heat-resistant materials, it might have already burst into flames. This was the result of five or six Heavenly Rank experts working together. At this moment, inside the factory, apart from Mo Yuming and several high-level Earth Rank fire-type martial artists who continued to cultivate dozens of feet away from the blast furnace, everyone else had already moved far out of the factory.

"It seems we're almost there. Everyone, get ready to exert your strength, sense the molten iron inside the blast furnace, and work together to peel it out of the furnace. Soul Iron is different from Dark Iron. Even in its molten state, it is a viscous paste that does not flow, so we can only use our spiritual power to lift it out!"

Fortunately, the powerful individuals standing around the blast furnace were all at least at the second level of the Heavenly Rank. Therefore, with everyone's cooperation, the nearly 300-pound molten soul iron was compressed into a long strip and lifted out of the blast furnace mouth, placed on a large anvil.

After the iron ingot was taken out, Zhang Tieqiao showed no sign of stopping. Instead, he ordered six large iron hammers to be brought out and distributed to the six Heavenly Rank experts present, instructing them to hammer the soul iron ingot rhythmically. Originally, iron forging was the work of weapon-refining apprentices, but Tieqiao didn't want to waste this opportunity and used these experts as laborers. The effect of a Heavenly Rank forger was something that ordinary apprentices could not achieve.

Although all six were fire-element cultivators, only Zhang Tieqiao was a weapon refiner; the other five were not. However, this didn't mean they were unaware of the rules for weapon refiners. It was clear they were being used as apprentices, but having boarded this pirate ship from the start, it was too late to get off. They couldn't bring themselves to do it, so they could only grit their teeth and hammer away at the iron blocks.

"It's almost done! A master is a master indeed! In just half an hour, this 300-pound soul iron blank has been forged into high-quality soul iron. If those apprentices were to forge it, who knows how long it would take!"

Upon hearing this, none of the five showed the slightest joy; instead, they all glared at Zhang Tieqiao with annoyance. If they didn't need his help in the future, they might have already become quite arrogant.

That being said, the entire process was under Zhang Tieqiao's control, proceeding step by step. He had a perfect grasp of the target and the force of each strike. It wasn't just random hammering; his unique weapon-forging skills broadened the horizons of the weapon-forging masters watching, who benefited greatly from the experience.

For half an hour, six Heavenly Rank experts hammered tirelessly, forging a Soul Iron ingot weighing over three hundred jin into an iron bar about three feet long, two fingers wide, and two fingers thick. By this time, the Soul Iron had completely cooled, and the originally golden-red ingot had turned a dull, dark gray, devoid of any metallic luster. It resembled a dull, grayish-blue stone.

"How come there's only this much left? Not even enough to forge a short sword." Mo Yuming was somewhat disappointed upon seeing this. It was quite disappointing that only this little bit of material could be refined from thousands of kilograms of ore. No wonder soul weapons were so expensive; there was a reason for it.

"This is already more than enough. The entire Zhangjiabao's annual output of Soul Iron is not much more than this."

Iron Bridge said.

"Doesn't that mean the entire Tianxuan Continent can only produce a handful of Soul Weapons each year? Isn't that too few?!"

"No, that's not it. Soul Iron isn't used directly to forge weapons. A Spirit Treasure-level Soul Weapon only requires adding about one or two ounces of Soul Iron to the tool. That's about an inch from this iron bar. Soul Iron is different from Xuan Iron and other irons. The more refined it is, the heavier it becomes. Soul Iron is the opposite; when refined to its extreme, it becomes lighter and lighter, but its size doesn't decrease. This piece of Soul Iron currently weighs less than a piece of ordinary iron, only about three pounds. But the volume of these three pounds of Soul Iron is equivalent to three hundred pounds of Xuan Iron essence. These three pounds of Soul Iron can forge at least thirty Spirit Treasure-level weapons!"

Soul Iron is called Soul Iron because its properties are similar to those of the human soul; no matter how high one's cultivation level or how strong one's soul power, the weight of the soul body will not increase. Soul Iron is the soul carrier of a spiritual weapon. When a Xuan Iron weapon is infused with Soul Iron, although its strength does not increase much, it gains sentience and advances to the Spirit Treasure level. Spirit Treasure level weapons can form a soul bond with their users. Through the nurturing of a martial artist, under specific conditions, they can develop a weapon spirit and then advance to the Acquired Spirit Treasure level.

When soul iron is added to a meteorite artifact, it can be directly forged into an acquired spiritual treasure. Once a spirit is generated, it may be upgraded to an innate spiritual treasure.

Therefore, no matter what materials are used to forge a weapon, without the addition of soul iron, the weapon is like a body without a soul. Although it may be very powerful, it can never become a divine weapon with a spirit.

Although Elder Huo and his ilk have been weapon refiners for decades, they only learned today what so-called Soul Iron weapons are all about. No wonder that in the entire Tianxuan Continent, only Zhangjiabao, the headquarters of the Weapon Refiners Association, and the Dao family of Dan Kingdom are capable of refining Soul Weapons.

Seeing everyone listening intently, and coupled with the unexpected acquisition of so much Soul Iron, Zhang Tieqiao was in high spirits, temporarily forgetting the frustrations of the journey. He cleared his throat and continued:

"Although Zhangjiabao is large, it only has less than a thousand weapon refiners, and there are only about ten weapon refiners at the Grandmaster level or above. Compared with the huge Weapon Refiner Association, it is not even in the same league. So why can it be on par with the Weapon Refiner Association?"

This is mainly because, throughout the entire Tianxuan Continent, only Zhangjiabao possesses a unique weapon-refining technique, with many distinctive aspects inherited from its predecessors. Take the forging of soul weapons, for example. Although the weapon refiners at the headquarters of the Weapon Refiners Association and the Dan family can also refine them, no matter how skillful their techniques are, they cannot reach the level of Zhangjiabao. The highest quality spiritual treasures on the Tianxuan Continent undoubtedly originate from Zhangjiabao.

Although the old guys in the Dan family have improved their cultivation levels quite a bit in recent years, and are showing signs of surpassing the ones at the headquarters of the Weapon Refiners Association, their weapon refining skills are all inherited from the same lineage, so no matter how strong they are, they can't be considered truly unique.

Although they were fully aware of the problem, at their level, they were unwilling to admit their shortcomings, much less acknowledge that Zhangjiabao's tradition was superior to theirs.