ey must have been laying in wait already, and are only just starting to suppress our stock price now.""What are you panicking about There's nothing to be afraid of. Since they're suppressing us, we ju...As time went by, the bell on the field rang incessantly. Finally, after a hundred rings, the first round of the competition came to an end.

Of the thousand contestants who participated, only the top one hundred were selected. The rest were left with feelings of regret, frustration, and even tears.

But there's no way around it, strength is strength. It can't be changed by emotions alone.

After the top 100 names were announced, the second round of the competition quickly began.

Rude Ren addressed the one hundred disciples who had passed the first round, saying: "As I mentioned before, the second round is a test of how a blacksmith refines the core of an artifact."

This competition mainly assesses the ability to forge spiritual swords, so the standards for refining the sword embryo are also based on this.

To ensure fairness, this assessment will be conducted on an array, which anyone who has completed their training can test. Each individual gets only one opportunity to attempt the test.

If the test score exceeds the passing line of 60, it will be based on speed to be a hero this time, taking the top fifty.

Our rules for the competition are simple: no rules. It's all about winning and losing, speed and quality. Everything else doesn't matter. The second round is now starting!

Once he finished his announcement, staff members immediately led the one hundred qualifiers into the second level of the Alchemy Tower.

Although Ye Bufan came in first last time, according to the order of numbers, he is still the last one.

Standing on the second level, he surveyed the configuration before him.

On the left is an unrefined earthenware and a large iron hammer, while on the right is a small formation testing area.

To ensure fairness and impartiality, all of this was prepared in advance.

In Lu Chao's view, he could solve the young man in front of him just by making some adjustments to the artifact, so he didn't make any changes to these superficial things.

Ye Bufan glanced at the pottery and iron hammer in front of him, then looked at the equipment of other people nearby, a sneer curled up at the corner of his mouth.

With his current skill in refining artifacts, how could he not see that his own equipment had been tampered with But in the face of absolute power, everything is insignificant. He didn't care about these things at all.

Lu Zhaoyang glanced at Lu Youqin in the distance. The other party nodded confidently, and a sneer crept onto the corner of his mouth.

A mere fledgling dares to steal the limelight He's asking for trouble. I'll see how he fares this time.

After the players were in position, Rudeen's voice echoed from mid-air.

"All ready, the second round of the competition officially begins!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire arena was filled with the sound of clanging metal.

Generally speaking, the most time-consuming process in refining is forging the crucible. Many times it takes tens of thousands of hammer strikes to produce a masterpiece.

That is why everyone was seizing every opportunity, swinging their iron hammers non-stop.

Unlike the first round, the focus of the audience has now shifted from the Lu family to Ye Bufan. They want to see if this young man can create another miracle.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Ye Bufan calmly picked up the iron hammer beside him and swung it towards the artifact in front of him.

Only a dull thud was heard, followed by everyone's eyes widening in disbelief as they stared at the scene before them.

As soon as the hammer struck, the artifact before my eyes instantly transformed from its original oval shape into a flat, straight form.

Such immense force and speed, it completely blinded everyone's eyes.

You should know that those blacksmiths next to you clanged and hammered for ages, but the artifact's shape only changed slightly.

Compared to his speed, he's simply pathetic.

After a brief silence, the scene erupted in shocked gasps.

"My god, is this even human They just smashed the artifact to pieces with one hit!"

"Holy crap, in comparison to this everyone else is pathetic…"

"At this rate, they'll probably be first again…"

These people were buzzing with discussion, but the most stirred was Lu Youqin.

He was very clear about what he had done. This tire was reinforced with deep-sea Gengjing stones, and in terms of hardness, it was at least ten times harder than those of others.

In his view, this kind of artifact was not something the young man before him could possibly wield and refine.

Even if one reaches the level of a ninth-order alchemist, it would still take a considerable amount of time to hammer it out, and it would definitely be eliminated.

Kuo Ye's strike completely shattered his worldview. Had he not marked the object beforehand, he truly would have thought he had picked up the wrong one.

After the shock wore off, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Where on earth did this freak come from Good thing I rigged the hammer too, otherwise this would've been a real mess.

Then he glared back with malice, thinking to himself: "Kid, even if you have some mighty skills, how many more hammers can you swing"

Under the gaze of all, Ye Bufan once again raised the hammer in his hand.

What happened next stunned everyone. The sledgehammer slammed into the artifact, and with a sickening crack, it shattered into pieces, turning into a heap of metal shavings.

"Holy crap, what the heck is going on Why is the hammer broken"

"As a blacksmith for so many years, this is the first time I've seen something like this. Could it be that his power is too great"

"Is it because the force was too strong, or is there something wrong with the hammer How could this happen"

People started gossiping again, no one knew what was going on.

Several people on the judges' platform also changed their expressions. City Lord Guo Jing was already cunning and experienced, and since he wasn't a refiner, he just watched quietly without saying a word.

Wen Ding said, "What's going on There's something wrong with this hammer. How did it break after just two swings"

Lu De-ren shook his head. "It's not the hammer that has a problem, it's the person."

So many people, only his hammer was broken, it shows he doesn't control his strength at all. This kind of person hasn't truly grasped the art of forging.

Wen Ding's face was grim. As the grand elder of the Alchemist Academy, how could he not see through the underhanded dealings here However, there was no evidence to bring forward, and saying anything without proof would be useless.

At the very least, shouldn't we give them a new hammer

"Of course not!"

Rude said, "What we're competing in is fairness and justice. Everyone has one hammer, if you give someone else a different one, it wouldn't be fair to others."

"You..."

Wen Ding could see it clearly, this was obviously done by the Lu family to kick Ye Bufan out of the competition.

He originally didn't want to have a direct confrontation with the Lu family, but thinking of Ye Bufan's talent, he didn't want to be kicked out of the competition just like that.

"Elder Lu, what are we going to do without the hammer We can't just let people use their fists, can we"

His words now carried a clear hint of resentment.

"Haha, that's a way to do it. If he can use his fists, it's not against the rules, after all, nothing special about that..."

Rude Ren let out a burst of delighted laughter. In his eyes, this was a joke. But what happened next left him utterly dumbfounded.

His eyes were wide open, their eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.use of her.She pulled Ye Bufan behind her and whispered again, "Mr. Barkley, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. Please, can I apologize to you again"Barkley arrogantly snarled, "Bitch, your apology m...