() Just as there are sword-forging masters in the Qinglong Continent, there is no shortage of sword-casting masters in the Skyflame Continent since ancient times. But there are only three people who can really be called "divine craftsmen" in the history of the Heavenly Flame Continent: "Golden Drums Ringing" Ruan Yuandi, "One Go" Jia Wanjun, and "Swimming Dragon and Phoenix" Ye Congyun.

Ruan Yuandi has cast no less than 100 top-grade magic knives in his life, including four high-quality top-grade magic knives. You must know that as long as you reach the Mahayana realm, you can cast the best magic knife, but the scope of "superb" is too broad, so people call the highest quality superlative magic knife "super-super", that is, the meaning of exceeding the superb. The super-best magic knife is second only to the existence of the peerless magic knife, even if it is a knife casting master, it is difficult to forge one in his lifetime. And Ruan Yuandi actually cast four handles in less than a hundred years of demon cultivation after the Mahayana period, and this good achievement is enough to go down in history. As for the title of "Golden Drum Ringing", it is because when he casts the knife embryo, he must first forge it with the usual method of cast iron, one monotonous beating can stabilize the mentality, and the other is one more process can better remove the impurities in the material. When he forges, he beats the material with one hand and pulls the wind drum with the other, hence the name.

Jia Wanjun is also a legendary knife casting master, famous for casting the best magic knife in the Cave Void Realm. He is not only a genius of sword forging, but also a genius of demon cultivation. It's a pity that later, because he was involved in the grievances of the rivers and lakes, he was killed by the enemy before he cultivated to the realm of the Tribulation. From the time when the first superb magic knife was cast in the late stage of the cave void to the fall of the middle Mahayana period, Jia Wanjun cast a total of dozens of superb magic knives, including two super superb magic knives, and the level of such superb casting knives was not below Ruan Yuandi at all. The name "all in one go" describes the speed of the casting process.

Ye Congyun is the most mysterious and strangest of the three legendary swordsmiths. Although she possesses an impressive skill in casting knives, she rarely casts knives. It is rumored that she only cast two magic knives in total, one for her own use, and the other for her younger brother, and the two sisters and brothers also dominated the Heavenly Flame Continent with their superb cultivation and these two super-grade magic knives. At that time, there was an endless stream of people begging her to forge knives, but no matter how generous the reward was given by the knife seeker, Ye Congyun was just a refusal. Later, shortly before the outbreak of the Immortal and Demon War, Ye Congyun's sister and brother disappeared together with many demon cultivators, and it was definitely not a successful escape from the sky, nor did it be a failure of the catastrophe and fell, as if they had evaporated from the world overnight, missing and never returning. This is the biggest mystery in the Sky Flame Continent since ancient times, and no one knows the answer to it yet. As for how magical Ye Congyun's sword-casting level is, it only exists in people's rumors. In addition, it is worth mentioning that it is said that her self-created "Dragon You" body technique is extremely exquisite, and she is given the title of "Dragon and Phoenix", but unfortunately, this wonderful body technique and the magical knife casting technique have been lost with the disappearance of Ye Congyun.

At Xiao Tianhe's reception banquet, Nangong Xu excitedly mentioned the names of these three sword-casting craftsmen, and excitedly waited for Zhang Dongzheng's evaluation.

"I don't dare to say for sure. Zhang Dongzheng shook his head, "The age of the three divine craftsmen is too long ago, most of the superb magic knives left by Master Ruan and Master Jia have been damaged or lost in the years of robbery, and the few remaining ones have also been stored by the owner, I have never seen them." As for Master Ye, not to mention, when she was alive, she didn't even form the pattern of the four major families, and the two magic knives she forged had long since disappeared. Sometimes I even wonder if she's really a swordssmith or if she's exaggerated, but in any case, it's not appropriate to speculate about a past master of the Tribulation. ”

Nangong Xu sat down slowly: "That's true." But how did Mr. conclude that Xiao Gongzi's mother's knife casting level was above that of Tu, Deng, and Du?"

Zhang Dongzheng put down his chopsticks, stretched out three fingers and shook them, and said leisurely: "It can be concluded from three o'clock." First, the material, second, the technique, and third, time. After saying that, he picked up the chopsticks again and ate them, as if he was selling guanzi.

Nangong Xu naturally knew that this was Zhang Dongzheng's old mistake again, and he liked to listen to others say some compliments. "Little Brother Xiao, I haven't looked carefully, can I borrow the magic knife again?" Nangong Xu said politely to Xiao Tianhe. After learning that Xiao Tianhe's mother was a master of knife casting, he changed his title to Xiao Tianhe from "Xiao Gongzi" to "Xiao Little Brother".

Xiao Tianhe stared at the table as if he hadn't heard.

"Brother Xiao?" Nangong Xue gently pushed him.

Xiao Tianhe came back to his senses from deep thought and asked Nangong Xudao: "Nangong senior, I don't know what the highest-quality magic swords forged by the three sword-casting masters are called?"

"Ruan Yuandi has forged four super-grade magic knives, I have only heard that two of them are called 'Dragon Teeth' and 'Dog God', and the other two are unknown. I only know that one of the two superlative magic knives cast by Jia Wanjun is called 'Five Colors'. As for Ye Congyun, she only cast two magic knives in her life, one is called 'pulling out the mountain' and the other is 'covering the world'. Little Brother Xiao, can you borrow the magic knife again?" Nangong Xu asked again.

Xiao Tianhe breathed a sigh of relief, he was right. That legendary sword-casting craftsman, Ye Congyun, was his mother-in-law, Mrs. Xiao! At the beginning, when his mother-in-law was dying, he couldn't finish his name, but now Xiao Tianhe finally knew that his mother-in-law was so famous in the Heavenly Flame Continent! Recalling that when she was cultivating on a small island in the sea, Mrs. Xiao once said: "I think back then, how many masters asked me to cast a knife, I didn't agree, and the pair of treasure swords I forged, 'Bashan' and 'Gaishi', always occupied the throne of the strongest blades in the Heavenly Flame Continent. At the beginning, Xiao Tianhe thought that it was a down-and-out sword demon who boasted a little proudly for the sake of his only remaining dignity, but it turned out that what his mother said was true, and the eighteen peerless demon knives had not yet been born

At that time, the two super-best magic knives she forged were definitely the top of the blades.

"I'm sorry, but I just heard my senior compare my mother to the three swordsmiths, and I was distracted. Xiao Tianhe took out the Heavenly Feud Demon Knife and handed it over with both hands.

"I was also shocked by Mr. Zhang's assessment. Nangong Xu took the magic knife, flipped it over and over again, and flicked the blade with his fingers, listening carefully to the slight echo. Zhang Dongzheng squinted his eyes and watched Nangong Xu's every move with interest.

Nangong Xu was slightly puzzled: "Sir, forgive me for not having a high level of identification, but in my opinion, this magic knife is not a super best magic knife! ”

"Heh, who said that this magic knife is a super magic knife? In terms of quality, this magic knife is about the same as yours at best. The key is not to look at the surface, but to look at the connotation through the surface. Zhang Dongzheng stroked his beard and shook his head.

"Sir is a master of knife casting, and my level of discernment is naturally not the same as that of Mr. I beg your advice. Nangong Xu said with a smile. In fact, what he said just now was deliberate, in order to draw out the words of flattering Zhang Dongzheng later.

Sure enough, what Zhang Dongzheng was waiting for was this sentence "Please give advice." He took a sip of wine, smacked his lips, and talked eloquently: "I'll talk about the first material first." To evaluate the level of a person's casting knife, we should not only look at the quality of the finished product, but also look at the quality of the material. In the case of a good magic knife of the same quality, if a good quality magic knife is forged from the top material of a caster, then this person must be a waste in terms of knife casting, because he wastes excellent materials, on the contrary, if he is given a poor material, he can forge a good magic knife, then he can still be called a master of knife casting. Look at this magic knife," he took the Heavenly Venguity Demon Knife from Nangong Xu's hand, "The materials are easy to identify, they are all materials that are very easy to find in the Heavenly Flame Continent, even the most precious of them can be collected with a little time and effort." But Xiao Gongzi's mother used such an ordinary material to cast a superb magic knife, which is admirable. If it were me, it would be good to be able to forge a medium-grade magic knife with these materials. ”

Everyone nodded frequently, all with a look of "I see". Seeing this, Zhang Dongzheng became even more proud, shook his two fingers and continued: "Let's talk about the second point, technique." The term 'technique' is too broad to encompass, and here I am referring only to the aspect of refining. If you look closely, you can see that the material of this knife is not forged for the first time, that is, the knife is made from a knife that has already been cast and re-smelted. Xiao Gongzi, am I right?"

This is not something that ordinary people can see, Nangong Xu set his eyes on Xiao Tianhe.

"Seniors have good eyesight! That's true, my mother didn't collect good materials, so she put a few good fairies ...... Well...... The good magic knife melted down and was reforged into two superb magic knives......"

"Oh, there's another one, where is that one now?" asked Zhang Dongzheng.

Xiao Tianhe almost said the word "fairy sword", but fortunately stopped in time, but in a panic, he still made a mistake and said the secret of another magic knife.

But fortunately, the Heavenly Enemy Knife and the Heavenly Killing Knife are not super-superb magic knives, and they are not very rare things. Xiao Tianhe stabilized his mind and replied in a sad tone: "The other knife has been destroyed in the battle between my mother and the enemy, and my mother was also killed by the enemy. ”

"Well, I'm sorry to mention your sadness. ”

Nangong Xu asked: "Sir, I don't understand, is there any essential difference between casting this time and casting again after melting?"

"Absolutely. The most taboo thing when casting is interruption, which not only affects the mentality of the caster, but also affects the quality of the material. After refining and casting the materials after others, when they are cast again after returning to the furnace, the quality of the materials will decline a lot, not to mention that several magic knives with different materials will be purified again, with this skill alone, Tu Lingchun, Deng Xianjue and Du Huairou They are far behind. Zhang Dongzheng explained.

Nangong Xu nodded: "Indeed, Tu Lingchun and the three of them cast their knives for as little as ten and a half days, and as many as months and years, and I have never heard of a break in them. Now that I think about it, it's no wonder that Master Jia Wanjun is known as 'doing it in one go', and it seems that casting knives is also a one-shot thing. ”

"One last point, time. The time it took for Tu Lingchun and others to forge a better magic knife was generally more than three months. If you want to forge the best magic knife, it will take a lot of time, and it may not be successful. Judging from this magic knife that was cast in the furnace, it took only ten days at most from the moment of smelting to the time the knife was completed. Tsk, that's amazing!" Zhang Dongzheng exclaimed.

Nangong Xu was taken aback: "Sir, can you even see the time consumed by casting?"

"I don't dare to say anything else, but I guess this knife should be right. It is important to know that the longer the time is spent smelting, the better it is, no matter what material has an optimal time to cast, once this time is exceeded, the quality of the material will only get worse and worse. Therefore, the truly great caster must not only fully consider the best casting time of various materials before casting, but also have the ability to grasp that opportunity and forge all materials to the purest state. Therefore, this requires the knife caster to have a very high level of cultivation and very high skills. This is also the reason why Jia Wanjun, who can forge the best magic sword in the realm of annihilation, is famous. Like Tu Lingchun, even if they know the best time to cast the material, they can't quench the material to a suitable state for casting, so they retreat to the next best thing, give up the best time, and only pursue the purity of the material, so there is a situation of casting a knife in 'months' or even 'years'. Zhang Dong is gushing

endlessly, telling a few people about the knowledge of casting.

"I roughly get it. The best time to cast the material for this knife is about ten days after smelting, so Master dares to conclude that the casting time is within ten days, is that true?" Nangong Xue asked.

"That's right. Generally, the more advanced the material, the shorter the optimal time for casting. In fact, no matter what kind of material, the best time to cast it will not be months or years. Since most of the world's best magic knives were made after the best time to cast the material, I can't tell how long it took to be cast. But this magic knife is clearly cast in the best casting time of the material, which makes the refurnace material achieve the best quality. As I said before, if it were me, it would be good to be able to forge a medium-grade magic knife from the same material, but now you know why. ”

"Thank you, sir, for explaining in such detail. All in all, Xiao Xiao's mother is definitely a top master above the three major swordsmiths in the world today. Today, it is a great blessing for my Nangong family to be able to get to know Xiao Xiao through my child and daughter. Come, little brother Xiao, I'll toast you!" Nangong Xu was so excited that his face was red.

"Nangong seniors are polite, I should respect my seniors first. Xiao Tianhe hurriedly raised his glass.

"Brother Xiao, have you thought about joining my Nangong family that I mentioned to you before?" Nangong Xue sent out an invitation again.

Nangong Ting also helped: "Brother Xiao, as soon as you and I see each other, don't hesitate!"

Indeed, Nangong Ting and Nangong Xue are both pure-hearted people, and Xiao Tianhe is willing to make friends with such people. But after joining the Nangong family, there may be many other things involved, and he was a little hesitant.

After listening to Zhang Dongzheng's evaluation of the Heavenly Enemy Demon Knife, Nangong Xu naturally would not let go of the opportunity to win over Xiao Tianhe: "It turns out that Xue'er and Ting'er have already invited Xiao Xiao's little brother, I don't know if you have any doubts?

Xiao Tianhe said: "Nangong seniors misunderstood. I just don't know much about 'joining the family'. I don't know what kind of obligations I have to fulfill after joining the family? To tell you the truth, I have just set foot in the rivers and lakes, and I don't know much about the grievances and disputes in the world, and I am not interested, I just want to be able to cultivate in peace somewhere. ”

"Little Brother Xiao, I understand what you mean, but there are still some differences between the 'rivers and lakes' in your imagination and the 'rivers and lakes' in reality, let Xue'er and Ting'er tell you slowly in the future. Nangong Xu put away his smile and said solemnly, "I really like the calmness of Little Brother Xiao, and I also admire Lingtang's knife casting skills. I can assure you that joining a big family will never be beneficial to you, on the contrary, there are many others who will not be able to benefit from cultivating alone. I don't know about the other three major families, but after joining my Nangong family, it will definitely not restrict your freedom. In addition, will the other three families treat you sincerely, or do they have other plans...... In this way, you will join my Nangong family first, if you have other plans in the future, my Nangong Xu will not stop you. How?"

Having said that, Xiao Tianhe was embarrassed to refuse. Thinking about the attitude of the Ximen family towards themselves, it is really incomparable with the Nangong family. Zhang Dongzheng has a strange temper, but judging from his words, he is a sincere person. Although Nangong Xu can't see through it, judging from the temperament of his children, he should not be a vicious person with two faces. Xiao Tianhe first set foot in the Heavenly Flame Continent, it was necessary to find a place to stay, and the Nangong family was the ideal choice.

"Since Nangong's predecessors are so gracious, I won't shirk anymore. Just take this glass of wine as an appointment, thank you Nangong seniors. Xiao Tianhe raised his head and drank the wine in his glass.

"Okay! Take wine as an appointment! On behalf of the Nangong family, I welcome Little Brother Xiao!" Nangong Xu also drank his glass.

"Great, Brother Xiao, I never drink alcohol on weekdays, make an exception today, welcome to you!" Nangong Xue's face was slightly red, and she drank it all after a full cup.

Nangong Ting smiled "hehe": "Brother Xiao, your face is really big, sister, this is the first glass of wine that I have drunk since I was a child!"

"Since you're happy, why not have a drink?" Xiao Tianhe poured another glass of wine and took it, "Nangong Gongzi, for the chance meeting between the two of us, a toast!"

"Don't call me 'Nangong Gongzi', just call me 'Brother Ting' like my sister. As soon as I saw Brother Xiao's appearance, I felt that you must be no ordinary demon cultivator, and it turned out that my vision was right. Thank you Brother Xiao for helping my sister and brother get ahead yesterday, and welcome you to join my Nangong family!

Nangong Xu saw that the three of them had a harmonious relationship, and a smile rose on the corner of his mouth. In fact, he also had a purpose in wooing Xiao Tianhe.

Among the four major families in the Heavenly Flame Continent, in addition to the Nangong family, the other three families each have a sword casting master.

The knife casting master of the Dongfang family is Tu Lingchun, Deng Xianjue is from the Ximen family, and Du Huairou, who has the highest level, works for the Beitang family, but the Nangong family does not have a powerful knife casting talent. The magic knife, like the fairy sword, is also a necessary item for cultivation. It is not only a tool for cultivating swordsmanship to improve the realm, but also a blade to protect oneself. For a family, the more high-quality magic knives they have, the more masters they can match, which is equivalent to improving the strength of the entire family in disguise.

"I can't imagine it, I can't imagine it, there is still such a hidden cultivation ...... sword casting master" Looking at Xiao Tianhe, who was talking to Nangong Xue and Nangong Ting, Nangong said in his heart, "Perhaps, this is an opportunity for God to give me the Nangong family......"

On top of the harmonious banquet, a discordant voice suddenly appeared, which also interrupted Nangong Xu's thoughts.

"What are you excited about?"