"This ......" Yuan Ming heard Fang Ge's evaluation of himself, and he was speechless for a while, a little speechless.

"But ......"

At this time, Senior Brother Fang Ge's words suddenly changed, Yuan Ming thought that he was going to say something about his advantages, and his spirits perked up, and he felt that he could finally regain some face and confidence.

"However, the starting point does not determine future achievements. Until now, among the one hundred and eighty-three registered disciples, there are only five people who can swing the hammer a thousand times in a row and forge a qualified magic weapon iron embryo. Whether you can become the sixth depends more on whether you are diligent enough and whether you can persevere. Fang Ge continued to say with a blank look.

Although he didn't hear the words praising himself, the sentence "The level of the starting point cannot determine the future achievements" still really touched Yuan Ming's heart.

His starting point is the "Furry Beast Slave", which is already so low that it can't be lower, and now he has just climbed the first hurdle and become a registered disciple of Biluo Cave, so he will become a refiner as the second hurdle to cross.

"Thank you for your teachings." Yuan Ming took a deep breath and bowed to Fang Ge and hugged his fists.

"Practice on your own...... You're still just an apprentice, so you don't need to take on the blacksmithing task for the time being. By the way, don't forget to go to the dining hall for lunch. Fang said.

"Forge mission?" Yuan Ming wondered.

"Once you've been able to swing the hammer five hundred and sixty times in a row, you'll be ready to take on some basic forging tasks. Help the sect masters and brothers refine some ordinary sharp weapons, hidden weapons, or saddle sheaths needed to ride spirit beasts. Fang replied casually.

Yuan Ming remembered that the smoke bombs he had used seemed to come from the Fire Refining Hall.

"Understood." Yuan Ming nodded.

"By the way, this is the basic textbook for learning alchemy, you take it back and study it. Half a month later, I will come to test your learning results, including your refining results. Fang said.

"Thank you, brother." Yuan Ming took a cyan book from his hand and put it in his arms.

After Fang Ge left with the refined piece of embryonic iron, Yuan Ming began to light a fire and continued to practice hammering.

……

After a while, the sound of a golden gong sounded.

The disciples who had been busy in the fire workshop for most of the day began to stop forging and leave one after another.

At this time, someone noticed that there was a newcomer in the fire workshop who looked good and was not very fit.

But seeing that he was still beating hard, he didn't bother.

After less than three minutes, Yuan Ming stopped forging soaking wet, found the canteen and ate food, went to take a shower, and dragged his tired body back to his residence.

After returning to the house and sitting down, he took out the book from his arms, and saw that the book on the cover had the southern Xinjiang script "The Essentials of Refining Instruments", so he opened it and began to read.

After looking through it, he found that it was all about the basic knowledge of refining weapons, detailing such as the identification of various basic refining materials, and the temperature of the fire pit required to smelt different materials.

Yuan Ming flipped through it, and felt that his eyes were blurry, and he couldn't bear the sleepiness, so he fell asleep on the table.

I don't know how long it took, a cool breeze blew, Yuan Ming suddenly woke up, and subconsciously touched the herring sword on his waist.

Unconsciously, he thought that he was in the middle of a hundred thousand mountains, and immediately felt afraid that he had slept so dead.

But when he saw the surrounding scenery clearly, he couldn't help but be in a trance.

At this moment, a bright moonlight poured in from the outside, spreading it like a light veil on the table in front of him.

Yuan Ming had already eliminated his sleepiness, so he simply sat down on the ground, pinched the magic technique with both hands, and began to practice the "Dark Moon Formula".

Outside the window, on a branch of the pine tree that he could not see, a silver cat lay lazily on its side.

Its head rested on its front paws, its eyes unsquinted, and the moonlight flowed like water on it, reflecting sparkling waves in its silver hair.

……

Time flickered, and half a month passed.

In a casting room in the fire workshop, the sound of forging "bells" was endless, and Yuan Ming held a forging hammer and hammered an iron embryo.

Fang Ge and several disciples of the Fire Refining Hall were watching from the side, and Chen Wan was also here.

"Two hundred and eighty-one, two hundred and eighty-two......," one disciple counted.

Yuan Ming swung the hammer vigorously, both in strength and speed were exactly the same as the previous demonstration of Fang Ge, without the slightest mistake, but as time went by, his strength continued to be consumed, and his face gradually turned pale.

Not long after the man had counted three hundred, his arm was so sore that he couldn't lift the hammer, and the "bell" struck on the anvil.

"Three hundred and fifteen strokes of the hammer, the assessment failed." Fang Ge shook his head, and his voice sounded without a hint of emotion.

Everyone in the audience laughed, and a few of them showed sarcasm, they didn't know how many times they could forge every day, and Yuan Ming couldn't even swing the hammer five hundred times.

Yuan Ming didn't have much annoyance, he had done his best, it seemed that there was still a gap between himself and the physique of Southern Xinjiang.

Fang Ge's brows were tightly locked, Yuan Ming's body was not the material for striking iron at first glance, but he saw it in his eyes after practicing hard every day during this time.

"How did you read the book "Fundamentals of Refining"?" Fang asked.

"I've basically memorized it." Yuan Ming replied.

"Remember? Tell me about the origin, characteristics and properties of the dock ironstone! Checker's face sank, and his voice suddenly became stern.

He asked how he had seen it, not whether he had memorized it, the "Fundamentals of Refining Weapons" was the foundation of the refining tools of the Fire Refining Hall, and the content was so many and miscellaneous that even the senior disciples of the Fire Refining Hall did not dare to say that they had memorized half of the content.

Fang Ge is in charge of the fire workshop, has a steady temperament, and hates frivolous words and bragging.

"Dock iron stone is produced in the Heifeng Mountains in the northwest of southern Xinjiang, with cold texture and good toughness, suitable for forging bows and arrows, soft whips and other magic weapons." Yuan Ming thought about it for a while, and recited the content of the dock ironstone.

Fang Ge paused slightly, and continued: "Broken gold jade. ”

"Broken gold jade is produced in the gilded lake in southern Xinjiang, and the texture is extremely hard, suitable for forging swords and other magic weapons, but this thing is easy to be eroded by yin qi and needs to be carefully preserved." Yuan Ming said without thinking.

Not only the squares were surprised, but the others were also surprised.

Chen Wan looked at Yuan Ming, and a hint of strangeness flashed in her eyes.

Fang Ge asked about several other spiritual materials, as well as the temperature of the fire pit required to smelt them, and Yuan Ming answered them all accurately.

"It seems that you really remember, very well, from today onwards, you will do the sieving work." Fang Ge bowed slightly, and his tone softened a lot.

"Yes." Yuan Ming nodded in agreement.

Several male disciples on the lookers saw Yuan Ming's reaction, and their eyes showed disdain.

The sieve material is generally made by female disciples with weak wrist strength, and in the Fire Refining Hall, the sieve material of male disciples will be regarded as soft-footed shrimp, and Yuan Ming accepts it calmly, which is a shameless performance in their opinion.

Yuan Ming also knew that the male disciples in the fire workshop were a little prejudiced against the sieving work, but he didn't care, during this time he had gradually adjusted his mentality, and planned to gain a foothold among the registered disciples first.

"What kind of eyes are you, there is no distinction between high and low work in the fire workshop, it seems that what I said before was taken by you as the wind in your ears?" Fang looked at the men with a calm face.

"Senior Brother Fang is right, we have always kept in mind Senior Brother's teachings and dare not be biased."

"Yes, we think that Senior Brother Yuan has an excellent memory, and he is smart, which is suitable for sieving work, and Senior Brother's arrangement is quite appropriate."

"Senior brother, I suddenly remembered that I had some urgent matters to deal with, so I retired first."

"Ah, I also have something to deal with, and I almost forgot."

Seeing that Fang Ge was angry, several people hurriedly confessed a few times at random, and then dispersed in a hurry.

Fang Ge sighed and said to Chen Wan, who was still left: "Senior Sister Chen, I still have something to do here, so please take Yuan Ming to the casting house in Wuri, he has been short of people there, and by the way, explain to Yuan Ming the key points of the sieving material." ”

"Okay." Chen Wan nodded and walked to the other side.

Yuan Ming followed, glanced back at Fang Ge who was walking away, and asked, "Senior Sister Chen, why did Senior Brother Fang Ge sigh just now?" ”

"In your opinion, there is a difference between high and low work in the fire workshop?" Chen Wan glanced at Yuan Ming and asked.

"If you talk about the degree of difficulty, forging is the most difficult, and the sieving material is simpler, but whether it is forging or sieving material, it is just a step in refining, and any step that is not done well will affect the final result, and it is indeed not high or low." Yuan Ming said without thinking.

"It's rare for you to have this insight, but the people in the Fire Refining Hall don't think so, as you said, among the several jobs in the Fire Workshop, forging is the most difficult, and the sect also attaches the most importance to forging disciples, and gives the most resources. Because of these, the forging disciples became more and more arrogant, looking down on the sieving disciples and smelting disciples, and the contradictions between each other became more and more serious, which was not conducive to the development of the Fire Refining Hall. Chen Wan said.

"So that's the case, Senior Brother Fang is not easy." Yuan Ming suddenly felt that his personality had changed a lot.

"Don't talk about this, you have seen sieving materials these days, this job is very simple, according to the instructions of the forging disciples, crush the required ore, and use a sieve to sift finely. The only thing to be careful about is not to get the ore wrong, since you are familiar with the "Essentials of Refining", as long as you are careful, there should be no problem. Chen Wan said as she walked.

"Yes, thank you Senior Sister Chen for your advice." Yuan Ming responded.

As they spoke, the two of them came to a forge.

There were only four people here, and the leader was a tall young man, with a wide physique, thick limbs, and the skin of his hands was burnt yellow, and he knew at a glance that he was a senior forging disciple.

In addition, there are two female disciples sifting materials next to them, one of them is tall and has a slightly dark complexion, and the other looks like a girl, with some baby fat on his round face.

The last man was a bald male disciple, who looked to be in his early twenties, struggling to pull the bellows to blow the air and keep the flames in the fire pit warm.

Compared to the other casting houses, there were fewer people here, and everyone was extremely busy, especially the two female disciples who were barely touching the ground, their clothes and cheeks were covered with dust, and they were a little disgraced.

"Wu Ri, this is Yuan Ming, a new disciple of the Fire Refining Hall, and I will help you sieve the materials here in the future." Chen Wan said to the tall young man who was tempering the casting block.

Wu Ri did not respond, his eyes were focused on the red-hot cast in front of him, and between the rise and fall of one hand, he hammered nearly a hundred times like a whirlwind before stopping.

After he stuffed the casting block into the fire, he turned around, glanced at Chen Wan, and then turned his gaze, looked at Yuan Ming with suspicious eyes, and said, "Newcomer? Are you familiar with ores? I don't have a lot of people here, but I don't need to help them. ”