1534 Exalted Blacksmith's Ceremony

"Disagreement? What kind?" Zi Xuan asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I'm glad you asked." Tian Qiyuan said, seemingly eager to expose the Ancient Anvil Association.

"When I was still young and inexperienced, I went to register at the Ancient Anvil Association. However, when they saw the treasure I crafted, they claimed I was too young to have such skills and called me a fraud, even stealing the first treasure I ever created from me that day."

The audience was left speechless by this unexpected experience Tian Qiyuan had with the Ancient Anvil Association.

"I-I understand your frustration, but the Ancient Anvil Association is a massive background with hundreds of thousands of workers. You cannot hold a grudge against the entire faction over a single bad individual…" God of Creation tried to reason with him.

"Indeed, they are, and I gave them another chance a thousand years later. Although I was no longer called a fraud, they tried to swindle me by making me sign some nonsense contract that would give them a large portion of my future sales as a blacksmith. When I refused, they threatened to end my career as a blacksmith." Tian Qiyuan sneered, his voice dripping with resentment.

In order to receive a license from the Ancient Anvil Association, every blacksmith must sign a contract that would give the association a small portion of their earnings. This contract varied depending on the individual and their background, so everyone had different experiences.

When the blacksmiths heard about Tian Qiyuan's experience, some felt his pain because they also had to give more than others.

Tian Qiyuan was not finished speaking and continued, "In fact, the person who branded me as a fraud and stole my treasure is the current head of the Ancient Anvil Association, so I will never associate myself with them even if I will never be recognized as an official blacksmith."

The entire place was dead silent as they listened to Tian Qiyuan, and many blacksmiths sympathized with him.

"Anyway, I don't care about the Ancient Anvil Association. So what if they're not here to witness my God of Creation Ceremony? Why is their presence necessary for the ceremony to become authentic? Are the people here watching not enough to authenticate the ceremony? Is the ceremony itself not good enough? Then we might as well rename it to Ancient Anvil Association's God of Creation Assessement!" Tian Qiyuan sneered.

Eventually, someone from the audience shouted, "Yeah! Since when did the Ancient Anvil Association become so powerful that they can determine the authenticity of the ceremony?!"

"Fuck! Why do we have to register at the Ancient Anvil Association to be recognized as an official blacksmith?! And why do we have to give them a portion of our income just for their recognition?! That's plain robbery!"

After Tian Qiyuan revealed his strained relationship with the Ancient Anvil Association, the audience, filled with blacksmiths, erupted in curses directed at the association. It was obvious that the Ancient Anvil Association had wronged many people, but they were too afraid to speak up due to the association's immense influence.

However, now that Tian Qiyuan, a renowned Divine Blacksmith, had openly criticized them, it opened the floodgates, with wronged blacksmiths rushing forward to voice their grievances.

Although the Ancient Anvil Association wasn't present physically, they witnessed the spectacle through a treasure that allowed them to see events from afar, typically used to observe crowded gatherings from the comfort of their own homes.

"Damn it! Is this why Exalted Blacksmith refused to register at our Ancient Anvil Association?! Leader, please tell me he's lying!" The elders at the association turned to their current head for answers.

None of them knew of the drama between Tian Qiyuan and their association because it was never mentioned until today. However, they always found it weird that Exalted Blacksmith never tried to register at their association.

Some had even personally gone to recruit him, but they were all turned away without explanation. Ashamed, they kept this quiet, leading the public to believe Tian Qiyuan was already with them. However, if what Tian Qiyuan said was true, it clarified everything.

The current head of the Ancient Anvil Association, Yao Tao, had a dark expression on his face as he tried to recall the past.

After thinking for a long moment, he could vaguely recall calling some young brat a fraud before taking away their weapon.

'Fuck! That darned brat was the Exalted Blacksmith?!' he cried inwardly, his back soaked in sweat when he realized his own fault.

Tian Qiyuan was only a teenager when he tried to sign up at the Ancient Anvil Association, bringing with him a peak- quality Spirit-grade treasure. Yao Tao, however, didn't believe a teenager without any background or master could possibly craft something even a Master Blacksmith would have trouble creating.

Therefore, Yao Tao kicked Tian Qiyuan out, but not before confiscating his treasure.

"What should we do now, leader? Should we show up for his ceremony?" One of the elders asked in a worried tone.

"After everything he's said about us? Not a chance!" Someone else said.

"Let's refute his claims and then call him out for slandering us with lies. Even if what he said is true, there's no way for him to prove it." Another suggested.

After a long conversation, Yao Tao came to a decision.

"We will refute his claims and go after him for slandering us. As Elder Li said, there's no way for him to prove his claims, something that happened thousands of years ago. Our Ancient Anvil Association has existed for millions of years. We'll not allow a single individual to run our reputation to the ground."

"He'll soon make a fool of himself with the God of Creation Ceremony, too. Once the ceremony ends, we will confront him together."

Sometime later, Tian Qiyuan prepared to begin the God of Creation Ceremony. Even though it was not official and without the presence of the Ancient Anvil Association, nobody wanted to miss this occasion.

As of this moment, countless people from around the world were spectating Tian Qiyuan's ceremony.

"I will now begin my God of Creation Ceremony. Thank you all for being here." Tian Qiyuan gave the audience a quick bow before retrieving a large mountain of materials and placing them on the ground.

Typically, the Ancient Anvil Association supplied the materials for the God of Creation Ceremony and kept every treasure crafted during the event. However, without the association present, Tian Qiyuan had to use his own materials. Fortunately, there was no limitations on the type of materials used for the ceremony as long as the results created from it was Celestial-grade.

After taking out the materials, Tian Qiyuan immediately started refining them, leaving the spectators speechless.

"W-what the hell? He's going straight into it without any mental preparations?! I've never seen anyone do this before!" Relentless Blacksmith exclaimed in a shocked voice.

"Did he forget? I also made many mistakes during my first ceremony…" Silver Flame Blacksmith muttered.

"Hahaha! What a fool! I'll definitely win this bet!" Fiery Heaven Blacksmith laughed out loud, even slapping his thighs.

"I am… truly speechless…" Heaven and Earth Blacksmith sighed.

The whole audience was left bewildered by Tian Qiyuan's actions. Nobody knew if it was a mistake or done on purpose, but they were certain that he'd messed up severely by not taking the time to prepare for it.

As Tian Qiyuan neared his first month of the ceremony, he started forming the shape of the weapon.

"What?! He's already almost done?! Impossible! It's only been a month!" Star Forging Blacksmith stood up in shock.

"Looks like he's craft swords first." Yin Yang Blacksmith mumbled.

After another week, Tian Qiyuan finished his first treasure.

"Heavens… he really crafted a Celestial-grade treasure in a month. Even the God of Creation requires half a year to do so…" The other blacksmiths muttered to each other.

Tian Qiyuan immediately moved on to his second treasure. Another month later, he began forming its shape.

"Huh? He's crafting a dagger this time?"

Once again, Tian Qiyuan's unpredictable actions left the audience confused and speechless.

"He's done it! He's successfully crafted two treasures in a row!"

"In two months, too! How long will he be able to continue at this pace?!"

A month later, Tian Qiyuan crafted his third treasure, a bow.

Then, in another month, he crafted a spear for his fourth treasure.

For the fifth treasure, he crafted a fan.

In less than half a year, Tian Qiyuan successfully crafted 5 treasures with 5 attempts.

The audience was so shocked that they could only silently watch him continue with wide eyes, their body numb.

"T-this can't be… He's definitely cheating somehow! There's no way he crafted 5 Celestial-grade treasures in a row, much less in five months!" Fiery Heaven Blacksmith suddenly blurted out loud.

However, God of Creation responded in a serious tone, "Can you prove that he's cheating? With so many people watching his every move, wouldn't someone have already noticed it if he was cheating? Or are you saying that he's skillful enough to cheat in front of so many people, including me?"

"That's exactly what I am saying! There's no way he's able to achieve this legitimately!"

"Then shut your mouth and keep watching closely. Since you're so confident he's cheating, prove it." Star Forging Blacksmith said without taking his eyes off Tian Qiyuan.

It was inevitable that some people would think Tian Qiyuan was cheating. However, without any proof, they can only continue watching until they can expose him.

Zi Xuan was the only one in the audience who watched with a calm expression, free of any suspicion in her gaze.

"Welcome back, Exalted Blacksmith…" she mumbled.