Hualala!
Dust rose rapidly from the ground. The master teachers who had been spectating the sight abruptly backed away in fear.
Peng peng peng peng!
Consecutive collisions sounded as dozens of master teachers were slammed violently against a wall.
Quickly stabilizing his posture, Zhang Xuan gazed at the sight before him, and his lips began to twitch.
Not only had the Passageway of Records collapsed entirely, half of the Blacksmith Guild’s main hall had also collapsed, leaving behind a cloak of dust in the wake of its former glory. The entire area screamed of a disaster, as if it had been bombarded.
If Zhang Xuan’s action of collapsing the Chamber of Earth Flame had sent everyone into a frenzy a moment ago, this was at least ten times worse!
The Passageway of Records and its mechanisms and formations along with half of the main hall had been completely wrecked. Even if it is fixed eventually, the Blacksmith School would still become a laughingstock for the entire Master Teacher Academy.
There was probably no one who would have thought that a mere record challenger would end up reducing the entire branch into such a state!
It was fortunate that most of the master teachers in the Blacksmith Guild possessed incredible cultivation. Protected by their zhenqi, they sustained minimal injuries, but… considering how a Chamber of Earth Flame was worth 20 high-tier spirit stones, how much will all of this cost?
Zhang Xuan’s lips twitched as he saw the sight before him slowly turning dark. At this point, he was already on the verge of tears.
There was nothing wrong with the Earth Flame which he had tempered to replace the Earth Flame Heart, and the formation had been reinforced to be extremely stable as well.
It should be impossible for anything to go wrong, but something still did. The mistake lay in the formation plate used to draw earth flame from the ground. The Verdantrise Rock and Furnace Crystal were valuable ores, but they were susceptible to heat under extreme conditions.
Typically speaking, those ores should be able to endure the heat from Earth Flame, but there was one thing Zhang Xuan had neglected.
The formation in the Chamber of Earth Flame was crafted in the manner such that it would emit varying degrees of heat depending on the cultivation of the person who stepped in. When Yuan Hong stepped into the formation, the temperature began rising swiftly, eventually exceeding the melting points of those ores. Naturally, it began to lose its shape.
This was similar to delivery trucks from his previous life.
If one were to follow the weight limit, it could last for a very long time. However, if one were to overload it, it could be damaged very easily.
If that formation plate to retrieve Earth Flame from the ground was crafted of better materials, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, that wasn’t the case.
As the formation plate began to melt, the stability which Zhang Xuan had created with great difficulty was shaken, resulting in the violent Earth Flame running amok… As a result, a calamity occurred.
In other words…
If it wasn’t Yuan Hong who entered, such a problem would have never occurred!
It was due to the formation plate being too weak and Yuan Hong being too strong that such an accident happened.
This was something Zhang Xuan hadn’t expected to happen.
Even the elder who had come up with this solution probably couldn’t have imagined that the complex compound formation he came up with would fall apart due to inferior quality material.
“This isn’t my fault…” With a tearful face, Zhang Xuan’s lips twitched uncontrollably.
While that was what Zhang Xuan believed, the others didn’t share his thoughts. As the shaking ground calmed, Luo Yan and the others stood up and glanced at the ruins around them before turning to him. Their eyes were filled with so much fury that it seemed as if they would devour him alive.
This was the core of their Blacksmith School! How were they supposed to smith weapons now that it had been reduced to ruins? How could they raise their heads proudly before the other schools?
“What did you do…” Luo Yan spat through clenched teeth.
At this moment, he felt so angry that his hands were dying to rip the fellow before him apart. In the end, he still chose to suppress his anger, and turning to the side, he instructed, “You two, keep a close eye on him, don’t let him escape. As for the rest, follow me. We’ll go and save my teacher!”
This wasn’t the time to deal with that fellow yet. His teacher’s safety was the current priority.
“Yes!” Two master teachers stepped forward and stood by Zhang Xuan’s flanks, sealing his path of escape.
On the other hand, the others swiftly rushed to the ruins of where the Chamber of Earth Flame once stood.
The explosion had caused the entire Passageway of Records and the branch to collapse. Considering how Vice School Head Yuan had been standing at the center of the explosion, he was probably in a worse state than everyone else.
But just as they were about to start digging through the ruins, “huala!”, a figure suddenly emerged amidst the dust—Yuan Hong.
At this very moment, a huge portion of his hair had been burnt away. His face was livid, and flames of rage were burning in his eyes, and it seemed as if he was on the verge of going on a rampage.
“Cough cough!”
As soon as Yuan Hong rose from the dust, he began coughing violently, and fresh blood spewed from his mouth. His body wobbled feebly.
“Teacher…”
“Vice School Head Yuan…”
Everyone immediately rushed up to him in worry.
The person before them was a 6-star pinnacle master teacher, a Saint realm expert. How wounded must he be to be in such a state?
“I’m fine!” Yuan Hong waved his hands as a sharp glint flashed across his eyes.
“Where’s that fellow?”
Had he not used his full strength to suppress the explosion, perhaps half of the entire Blacksmith School might have been reduced to ashes by now.
Didn’t you declare confidently that there wouldn’t be any problems?
Didn’t you reassure me time and time again that it would be fine?
Tell me what is this then!
Why was I so foolish as to listen to your lies…
The more he thought about it, the more furious Yuan Hong felt.
“He’s over there…” Luo Yan pointed to the side, only to see the young man walking over under the “escort” of the other two master teachers.
“Who in the world are you? What do you intend to do here?” Yuan Hong roared furiously.
He was beginning to suspect that the fellow might have been sent by the other schools to wreak havoc here.
Otherwise, how could a simple record challenge cause such a huge stir? Wasn’t the very notion of it inconceivable?
“All I wanted was to take the 5-star blacksmith examination…” Zhang Xuan sighed.
His goal was that simple, but who could have thought that he would require Academic Credits for even that. Left with no choice, he could only seek a way to earn some… He thought that it should be a walk in a park, but in the end, not only did he fail to earn his Academic Credits, he even got himself in such a huge mess!
“Take the 5-star blacksmith examination? You call this taking the 5-star blacksmith examination? Admit it, you’re here to tear down our school!” Yuan Hong said as he gritted his teeth furiously.
When other students take the examination, we earn Academic Credits and money, but when it comes to you… Are you sure you aren’t trying to slaughter us all!
If not for my swift reaction and high cultivation, I would have died in there!
Have you ever seen anyone who tore down a guild while trying to take an examination?
“I… really didn’t do it intentionally. How about this, I’m willing to compensate for this…” Zhang Xuan’s face reddened.
While everything that had happened felt like a cruel prank from the heavens, the issue still ultimately originated from him, so he had to carry the responsibility for everything that had happened. The only thing he could do now was to offer compensation.
“Compensate? What are you going to compensate us with? Can you even afford to compensate us?” Yuan Hong was so angry that his body began shaking in fury.
Gathered in the Passageway of Records is the achievements of countless predecessors before them, how are you going to compensate for that? Besides, you can’t even fork out ten high-tier spirit stones, what can you offer us?
Even if we were to sell you, we won’t be able to earn that much!
“Why don’t you tell me… how much spirit stones do I need to compensate? I’ll try my best to earn that sum and repay it to you…” Zhang Xuan said through clenched jaws.
At the very most, he would just have to do more part-time work and have Yang shi appear to treat patients and offer guidance. In any case, he would repay this debt.
While he couldn’t be entirely blamed for this incident, it wouldn’t be fair to the other party if he were to try to shrug off responsibility. Thus, he could only clench his jaws and shoulder it.
“Repay?” Yuan Hong sneered.
You sure know how to talk!
As a mere 4-star master teacher, even if you were to work your life away, you won’t be able to repay this!
“Do you know how much damage have you caused?” With a sharp glint in his eyes, Yuan Hong bellowed. “There are a total of 37 challenges in the Passageway of Records, each of them containing the blood, sweat, and tears of countless predecessors, as well as innumerable precious artifacts and ores that couldn’t be bought with money! Furthermore, adding in half of the guild branch into the mix, even three thousand high-tier spirit stones wouldn’t be enough. Given so, you still dare to talk about compensation? Tell me! How do you intend to compensate?”
Blacksmith was an extremely money-consuming occupation. Amenities required for smithing wasn’t cheap, especially for advanced facilities to process high-grade ores. It wouldn’t be a joke to say that every inch of the Blacksmith Guild was worth gold.
To cause such immense damage to the Blacksmith Guild… Even a 7-star low-tier master teacher would find it hard to compensate all of this, needless to say, you!
“Three thousand high-tier spirit stones?” Zhang Xuan’s body wobbled weakly.
He only had a high-tier spirit stone in possession at the moment. Even if he were to sell all of his possessions, he would only have at most ten. Three thousand… how could he possibly afford such a sum!
Even if he were to disguise as Yang shi, he wouldn’t be able to earn so much within a short period of time.
“What are the other record challenges here? Why don’t I… try fixing them?” Zhang Xuan asked.
Since he couldn’t possibly fork the bill, he could only offer to help fix as much as he could to lower his debt.
“You…”
Yuan Hong nearly died of anger after hearing those words.
That fellow arrogantly promised that he would be able to fix the Chamber of Earth Flame, but what happened afterward?
From the collapse of a single chamber, the destruction extended to half of the entire branch!
Furthermore, the damages increased by ten high-tier spirit stones to three thousand. That was an increase of three hundred folds!
He thought that the other party should at least comprehend what kind of situation he was in and take a humbler attitude, but to think that he was so brazen as to continue shooting his mouth here…
Repair your head!
If I were to allow you to continue acting as you please, the Blacksmith School or perhaps even the entire Master Teacher Academy would be destroyed by you!
Furthermore, the Passageway of Records wasn’t something that a blacksmith could fix by his own. There were also many mechanisms involved, so the expertise of a celestial designer was required as well.
No matter how skilled you are at smithing, you won’t be able to fix them on your own as long as you are ignorant of mechanical engineering!
“If it requires expertise on mechanical engineering as well, I can go and take the celestial designer examination first…” Perhaps realizing what Yuan Hong was thinking of, Zhang Xuan quickly added.
“…” Yuan Hong body shook feebly once more.
Aren’t you getting more and more arrogant?
Take the celestial designer examination first? Do you think that the examination will be so easy that you can pass it as and when you like?
“Keep a close eye on this lad…” With his cheeks crimson with rage, Yuan Hong felt that he might die from anger if he were to continue speaking with the other party. Thus, he waved his hands and turned his head away.
“Yes!” Luo Yan and the others hurriedly nodded.
“I’ll go and consult the school head on this matter. In the meantime, make sure that he doesn’t get away…” Yuan Hong instructed.
The current situation was already beyond his control. He had to report it to the school head.
The school head would then decide on what to do with this fellow!
“Yes!” the crowd answered.
“Vice School Head Yuan, the school head asks for you to go to his office as soon as possible!” At that moment, a master teacher suddenly rushed into the room anxiously and reported.
“He wants me to go to his office?” Yuan Hong was taken aback.
“Could he be aware of what is going on here?”
While there was a huge commotion here, considering the immense size of the Blacksmith School, and the far distance between the school head’s office and here, the school head shouldn’t have received the news yet. But if that wasn’t the case, why would the latter be asking for him?
It might be confusing for some, but the Blacksmith Guild has a branch inside the Blacksmith School. They are currently inside the Blacksmith Guild as they are considered as the official authority in determining the promotion of its members, and they are the only ones allowed to distribute rank emblems.
Also, the branch of the Blacksmith Guild is called the Blacksmith Guild as well.
