Of course, for Gu Zong, Fang Chen passing the basic test wasn't a big problem. The main problem now was that he wanted to see just how great Fang Chen's potential was in the refining path.
"The first test tests the strength of your physical body," Gu Zong slowly said.
Gu Zong said slowly, "However, the strength of your physical body has already reached a Two-Star Dao Body, so you passed this test directly."
"The second test tests one's control of the fire."
Just as Gu Zong finished speaking, a scorching flame suddenly appeared in front of him. This flame contained a majestic aura.
"You control this flame," said Gu Zong.
Hearing this, Fang Chen secretly activated the Concept of Fire and began to control the flames.
At the beginning, Gu Zong's expression was very calm. However, when Fang Chen controlled the flame to constantly flicker, his expression finally became serious.
"Are you sure you haven't learned refining before?" Gu Zong looked at Fang Chen and asked in a low voice.
Fang Chen shook his head slightly. Gu Zong was puzzled. Fang Chen's control of fire was much better than he had imagined.
"You pass the second test." After Gu Zong finished speaking, he began the third test.
The third test tested the strength of a cultivator's soul. Generally speaking, in the refining process, the spiritual cultivation process required a powerful soul to succeed.
"Release your soul," said Gu Zong.
Fang Chen followed Gu Zong's instructions and directly released his soul.
Immediately, a red illusory ball of Qi appeared around Fang Chen. This ball of Qi was Fang Chen's soul.
"This is red!"
When Gu Zong saw the red ball of Qi in front of Fang Chen, his face was filled with shock.
"It's actually a red grade soul!" Gu Zong cried out involuntarily.
Fang Chen's first two tests had already shocked him. He hadn't expected the third test to shock him even more.
"Genius, he's definitely a once-in-a-century genius." After a long time, Gu Zong laughed heartily. He felt that he had picked up a treasure this time.
He was not even 20 years old, but his physical body had reached the two-star Dao Body. His control of fire had reached the point of perfection. Even his soul was a red-grade soul.
Perfect, it was just too perfect.
Looking at Fang Chen, Gu Zong's eyes shone with golden light. He was pleasantly surprised.
"Master, did I pass the test?" Fang Chen looked at Gu Zong and asked.
At this moment, Gu Zong really wanted to give Fang Chen a slap. Showing off? This was blatant showing off. His talent was obviously outstanding, but he pretended that he didn't know anything.
"Initially, I thought that it would take some time for you to become a true Weapon Refiner. But now, it seems like I'll be able to make you a true Weapon Refiner in at most a month." Gu Zong grinned.
In the following time, Fang Chen followed Gu Zong to learn how to refine weapons. As Fang Chen had already firmly memorized the knowledge in the introductory books, Gu Zong asked Fang Chen to watch him refine weapons.
In Gu Zong's weapon refining room, Fang Chen stood quietly to the side. Gu Zong appeared on the refining table and started to refine weapons.
"Fang Chen, look carefully," Gu Zong said softly.
In front of Gu Zong was a refining table. On the table was a piece of black iron that Gu Zong had prepared beforehand. Beside the black iron was some water that Fang Chen didn't recognize.
Just as Gu Zong was about to start, a thick flame suddenly appeared on his palm. The moment the flame appeared, Gu Zong's hands pressed against the black iron.
Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss
The flame was extremely hot. In the blink of an eye, a hissing sound could be heard coming from the black iron. Seeing this scene, Fang Chen couldn't help but exclaim. Gu Zong was indeed a Weapon Refiner Grandmaster. Just this flame alone was extremely powerful.
Even if his Fire Concept had reached the second minor realm, he probably wouldn't be able to create such a flame.
The path of weapon refining started with Weapon Refiner Apprentices. Weapon Refiner Apprentices were unable to condense the Spiritual Energy in their bodies into flames. Hence, they could only use ordinary flames from the natural world.
As for Gu Zong, an expert like him could condense Spiritual Energy Flames as he wished.
At this moment, Gu Zong was using Spiritual Energy flames. Spiritual Energy flames were many times stronger than ordinary flames.
Under the refining of Gu Zong's powerful flames, Fang Chen soon discovered that the black iron on the refining table had begun to melt.
When the black iron completely melted into molten iron, Gu Zong's other hand suddenly picked up a bottle of water on the refining table and poured it into the black iron.
Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss
When the water entered the black iron, Gu Zong quickly used the scorching flame to refine the black iron.
Rumble Rumble
After the black iron and the water successfully fused together, the flame on Gu Zong's palm began to increase. Under the scorching flame, the liquefied water began to solidify.
Time passed bit by bit, and the black iron gradually solidified.
When the black iron solidified into a wrinkled shape, Fang Chen discovered that the weapon that Gu Zong was refining was actually a long saber.
"What a mystical refining technique." Fang Chen couldn't help but exclaim.
A piece of ordinary black iron was refined into a long saber in just a short while.
Buzz
A peculiar sound came from the wrinkled saber. At this moment, Gu Zong waved his palm, and the flame on his palm instantly disappeared.
Immediately after, Gu Zong's powerful soul instantly erupted and enveloped the wrinkled saber.
"This is Spiritual Cultivation." Fang Chen said in his heart.
However, what shocked Fang Chen even more was Gu Zong's soul. Surrounding the wrinkled saber, there was a yellow ball of air.
Yellow represented the strength of Gu Zong's soul. It had reached the terrifying Yellow grade.
"What a powerful soul!" Fang Chen exclaimed.
After a short while, Gu Zong's soul withdrew, and a brand-new saber appeared in front of Fang Chen.
"Take a look." Gu Zong handed the saber to Fang Chen.
After Fang Chen received the saber, he carefully examined it. He felt that this saber was extremely heavy, and there were some complicated patterns on the blade.
At the bottom of those patterns, there was a small ancient character. This represented that this saber came from Gu Zong.
"How do you feel?" asked Gu Zong.
"I feel quite deeply."
Fang Chen gave a simple explanation of his feelings. Next, Gu Zong explained to Fang Chen some things that he needed to pay attention to when refining.
After that, Gu Zong suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and he actually opened his mouth to ask Fang Chen to try refining a weapon.
The lowest level of a refiner was a refiner's apprentice, then a refiner's master, a refiner's grandmaster, and a refiner's grandmaster.
Of course, to be called a refiner's apprentice meant that you had already crossed the threshold. At the very least, you could refine ordinary weapons.
In truth, there was still a minor realm before the refiner's apprentice realm. That was the threshold realm.
Although Fang Chen was now a disciple of Gu Zong's Sect, he still hadn't crossed the threshold on the path of refining.
"Try to refine a weapon." Gu Zong grinned.
Fang Chen nodded and walked over to the refining table. At this time, Gu Zong had already placed an ordinary piece of brass back on the table.
That was because black iron was considered a middle grade material among refining materials. Gu Zong was afraid that Fang Chen wouldn't be able to handle it, so he gave him a piece of brass.
"You're still unable to condense spiritual qi flames, so you'll have to use the flame below the refining table," said Gu Zong.
Just at this time, Fang Chen asked, "Master, can I use flames condensed from the concept of fire to refine a weapon?"
Hearing Fang Chen's words, Gu Zong's expression changed slightly. "You can, but the consumption is extremely high. I'm afraid most people won't be able to handle it."
"You've comprehended the concept of fire?" Gu Zong couldn't help asking.
Fang Chen nodded. In an instant, a scorching flame appeared in Fang Chen's palm. Gu Zong's face was filled with shock.
"The second minor realm of the concept of fire!"
When Fang Chen had participated in the second trial, Gu Zong had guessed that Fang Chen had definitely comprehended the concept of fire. Otherwise, there was no way he could control the flame so well.
He had thought that Fang Chen had at most just comprehended the concept of fire. But who would have thought that Fang Chen's concept of fire had actually reached the second minor realm?
Gu Zong was delighted. This disciple of his was too monstrous.
"Good, good." Gu Zong was incomparably excited. Now that Fang Chen's concept of fire had reached the second minor realm, he didn't have to worry about controlling the flame during the refining process.
"First use the flame condensed from the concept of fire to refine a weapon. When you can't handle it anymore, switch to an ordinary flame," said Gu Zong.
He was becoming more and more satisfied with this disciple of his.
Fang Chen nodded. Controlling the flame, he began to refine the brass.
The brass was over a meter long. Fang Chen's refining process was relatively slow.
Hiss!
After a quarter hour, a hissing sound came from the brass. Fang Chen was pleasantly surprised to find that the brass was beginning to melt.
Gu Zong's brows were tightly furrowed. Looking at Fang Chen, he was filled with doubt. According to reason, after a quarter hour, Fang Chen shouldn't be able to handle it anymore. But why was Fang Chen still holding on? There wasn't the slightest pain on his face.
"Strange." Gu Zong shook his head slightly.
He was also a bit unable to understand this disciple of his.
In truth, Fang Chen had long since reached his limit. But each time he couldn't handle it, his golden heart would begin to rapidly beat. Clear streams of energy would appear, and those streams would spread throughout Fang Chen's body. He immediately felt much more relaxed.
Just like that, Fang Chen continued to control the flame condensed from the concept of fire to refine a weapon.
After an hour, the brass was finally completely refined. At this time, Fang Chen was still holding on. That scene caused Gu Zong to sigh endlessly.
"Just what kind of monster is he?" Gu Zong wondered inside.
Even Gu Zong, who had lived for over a hundred years, had never seen such a monstrous genius. At this time, Gu Zong made a decision.