Collapse: Black Moonlight Turns White, Popular Four-Star Character

A few months passed quickly, and the Xianzhou Alliance Smelting Competition officially arrived.

The weather was clear. Since the first ray of sunlight penetrated the clouds and shone on the Zhuming Immortal Boat, the green lotus turned into a fiery red, and the flames in the row of cauldrons burned like bright lamps.

On the street, the shops have already opened, and the sounds of shouting, singing, cheering, the banging of iron tools, and the pounding of dough in the Hu pancake shop are noisy and bustling.

They looked at the young blacksmiths passing by, their eyes filled with passion and awe.

This day is destined to be a lively day, a day belonging to young craftsmen.

Jing Yuan and Bai Heng arrived at the competition venue early to get a good seat.

"I didn't expect it to be so spacious." Jing Yuan looked around and took a breath. As far as his sight could reach, he could only see a small part of the square.

The square is circular, with countless seats on both sides, which are the so-called audience seats. Opposite them are the luxurious VIP seats, which are specially prepared for generals and senior craftsmen.

There are thousands of red square platforms scattered across the square, each of which is filled with materials and tools forged by craftsmen, with a number displayed on the ground.

At this time, outside the square, a large number of cloud cavalry were maintaining order.

"Everyone, welcome to the Immortal Boat Alliance Smelting Competition hosted by Zhu Ming Immortal Boat. Today, nearly two thousand outstanding talents have gathered here, and they will shed their sweat and compete for the championship."

In the seats, Da Gongzheng stood up and used the loudspeaker to transmit his voice. As soon as his words came out, the people in the audience were excited.

"The rules of the game are simple. See that big hourglass on the opposite wall? That's the game time."

"Using the same materials and equipment, the forged items are designed and completed by the contestants themselves. The final product is placed in a large trough next to the furnace, which automatically scores the quality of the tool."

"If the scores of high-quality candidates are the same, they will enter the second round of screening with higher difficulty."

"Note: If you don't have a finished product before the end of the game, you will also fail."

"Now, all contestants, please enter!" The master craftsman waved his hand, and thousands of cauldrons and furnaces burned with raging fire, emitting a dazzling light.

The dense crowd of contestants responded like thunder, pouring in from all directions and standing on their own stages in an orderly manner.

Ying Xing found his position. He was No. 147. He stood in front of the stove, his eyes unconsciously looking for someone. After seeing that the other person was only a short distance away from him, he lowered his eyes.

Yannian looked at the cauldron in front of him calmly. He was No. 162 and very close to Yingxing, so he could naturally feel Yingxing's fleeting gaze.

Don't hesitate, Ying Xing, do your best to compete with him for the championship.

Let him see, let them see, as a short-lived person, how far can you go?

The square was unusually quiet, with people breathing heavily. Everyone was waiting for General Huai Yan to start, waiting for the hourglass to start ticking.

Huai Yan sat at the top of the VIP seats. Amidst the vast crowd, he locked onto Ying Xing and Yan Nian with one glance and spoke slowly.

"The smelting furnace refines thousands of stars, and the iron is endowed with heroic spirits. The fighting light inspires military might, and the sharp sword protects peace and tranquility."

"The competition has begun, everyone, create to your heart's content!"

With Huai Yan's order, a huge barrier separated the audience from the platform. All the contestants scanned the materials and began to design the best plan in their minds.

Ying Xing analyzed the materials on the table and sorted them according to quality. The first step in forging is to select the materials, which is also an important step.

Selecting the right blank by visual inspection and weighing it by hand can save burning and forging time.

In the square, out of earshot of the contestants, a group of workers began to passionately explain, "Number 162 has actually started forging. What a strong visual and design ability! I hope he's really prepared. Oh—Numbers 1234 have also started."

"It's almost forged. It's very simple!"

When Ying Xing heard Yannian's thoughts, a look of surprise appeared on his face. How could it be so fast?

No, stay calm, Ying Xing adjusted his breathing. He must not disrupt his rhythm because of others. The more he needed to stay calm at this time.

At this moment, you should stay out of everything.

"Since we have purple gold sand, let's make a sword." Ying Xing threw the stone into the cauldron, controlled the fire, clamped the blank and turned it over with a focused expression.

In the audience seats, Jing Yuan looked at Yan Nian. The other party was a whole stage ahead of Ying Xing and was about to be finalized.

"It's so fast, but I wonder what the quality will be like?" Jing Yuan looked thoughtful.

Before meeting General Huai Yan, he and Bai Heng visited some famous sights, and while talking to people, he learned that Yu Mo and Ying Xing had a gambling game.

Whoever loses will leave the company.

Bai Heng wanted to ask Ying Xing what was going on, but Ying Xing seemed to have disappeared and could not be found.

Bai Heng had no choice but to deposit a sum of money to Ying Xing to encourage the young man. Thinking that Yu Mo had a hard time too, he asked Jing Yuan to deposit a sum of money to Yu Mo.

Jing Yuan inexplicably did not refuse. If he had changed someone else, he would have definitely investigated the other party's background and strength in advance, analyzed each item, and ensured the winning rate. After all, he and Yu Mo were not familiar with each other, and he would not do business at a loss.

but--

Strangely, thinking about those eyes, Jing Yuan gave up thinking and made a bet on Yu Mo.

"Don't be indecisive, Jingyuan, it's still waiting for you in the fairy boat." Jingyuan kept repeating in his heart.

"Ying Xing, come on!" Bai Heng shouted excitedly. Although she knew Ying Xing couldn't hear her at all, it didn't matter, because the voices in the square were overwhelming, cheering for the people they cared about.

"Big Brother, come on, crush them, charge!"

Yudai and Yushuai shouted wildly, waving the small flags they made to cheer Yannian up.

In their eyes, the eldest brother is omnipotent and will surely return victorious.

Ding, a crisp sound was heard.

The scoring machine at No. 162 showed a high score of 99, which was almost perfect, causing an uproar in the square.

Yannian looked at the finished product in the trough and waited quietly for Yingxing to finish.

After a while, Ying Xing also put the finished product into the slot, and the machine showed 99 points. In addition to Ying Xing, dozens of people reached this score.

After one round, thousands of people were screened out, and most of them scored between 95 and 98.

Many people left the stage in disappointment.

Ying Xing wiped the sweat from his forehead and barely kept up with his senior brother.

"Very good, now we will start the second round. Please use materials such as Night-Shining Ore, Black Yellow Stone and Golden Flame Stone to work hard to forge the highest quality Di Ting." The master craftsman narrowed his eyes and glanced at the remaining hundreds of people.

As soon as this question was asked, anyone who knew a little about forging showed an expression of disbelief.

Night-shining ore, black yellow stone, etc. are all extremely difficult to forge materials. If you don't have the concentration and forging skills of a master craftsman, you will inevitably fail.

Faced with this test question, Yannian remained calm.

Ying Xing clenched his fists. This was a difficult challenge for him because he was currently forging tools at the forging level, which had a certain failure rate.

General Huai Yan announced the start again, and the contestants once again burned materials, forged, shaped, polished steel, quenched, tempered, and selected oil.

But this time, within a few minutes, more than a dozen people failed because they failed to control the temperature properly and burned a little too much or too little ore, and could only leave with disappointed looks.

The number of people continued to decrease, seventy, sixty, fifty, and so on.

Ying Xing was concentrating fully, his back was already drenched in sweat, and he took every step carefully.

After more than ten minutes, there were only five people left on the stage.

"My arms are so sore." Ying Xing tapped his arms, feeling as if they were about to lose feeling.

"Don't let up, keep up, Yingxing."

Ying Xing gritted his teeth and finally completed the last step before the hourglass ran out. The installed Xiao Diting barked a few times, automatically jumped into the slot, and displayed a score of 97.

Ying Xing raised his eyes. Among the five people, only he and the eldest brother got a score of 97, while the others were a little short.

The last match was his duel with the senior brother.

"Now, let me announce the details of the final match—we will provide the blueprints and raw materials for a large-scale "White Tiger." Participants will be required to forge and assemble thousands of parts on their own."

"There is no time limit. In the end, it depends on who has the highest degree of completion." The master craftsman was looking at Yannian and Yingxing with satisfaction. Both of them were Zhu Ming's apprentices, but unfortunately one of them was a short-lived person.

The master worker was sighing with regret.

The final race begins in an hour, and contestants can choose to rest.

Ying Xing sat on the platform, wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeves, and looked at his senior brother not far away.

The eldest brother sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed. He looked to be in much better condition than him and looked calm and composed.

"White Tiger", to complete such a difficult design by one person, is the top level in Gongzhengzhong. Ying Xing was unsure. He didn't know why the senior brother encouraged him just now. Was he trying to disgust him on purpose?

No matter what, he couldn't lose. Ying Xing's lips moved with difficulty, and countless thoughts were churning in his mind -

The finals were about to begin. In the audience, Bai Heng hadn't expected that the final match would be between these two. "How could it turn out like this?"

"I didn't expect that it would be a short-lived showdown in the end."

"Short-lived?" Jing Yuan was surprised. Are the two people standing in the finals both short-lived?

Seeing Yu Mo's relaxed look, he thought that the other party was an immortal.

The bustling square became empty, but the people in the audience were still cheering wildly. In the last few hours, they would witness the birth of this year's champion.

Ying Xing stood up shakily and picked up the White Tiger's blueprint. The intricate lines and symbols outlined the skeleton and veins of the machine, like a spider web. There were countless parts involved, some as small as a silver needle.

"This is the most complicated drawing I have ever seen." Ying Xing took a look at it and was confused. After reading it more than ten times, he finally understood some of the tricks.

The difficulty is definitely far beyond Xiao Di Ting.

On the other side, Yannian had already started a fire, which made Yingxing feel suffocated and felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.

But now, there is no turning back.

A hint of tenacity flashed in Ying Xing's eyes as he continued to analyze the blueprints, repeatedly simulating the structural structure in his mind.

Half an hour later, Yingxing started to catch fire.

"This is far beyond my level. It's worthy of being a question posed by Master Huaiyan." Yannian smiled faintly. He had already estimated his limit.

Without the help of Lihuo, only half of the work can be completed. After that, the failure rate will increase exponentially with each part produced.

Time passed minute by minute, and in the square, only the clear and powerful clanging sound resounded through the sky, like the sound of ancient bells echoing in the air, suppressing and oppressive, making people breathless.

"Quenching!"

"Quenching!"

Almost at the same time, Yingxing and Yannian used flames to burn the forged parts, but Yingxing's overall progress was still far behind Yannian.

In the VIP seats, Huai Yan glanced at Ying Xing's increasingly paler face and shook his head slightly. As an ordinary short-lived species, Ying Xing was about to reach his limit.

Forging only one foot of the white tiger is considered a very good achievement.

"Ying Xing can't hold on any longer." Jing Yuan said calmly.

"This kid must really want to win, so he's only created one leg at this point, while Yu Mo already has three legs - the gap is huge!"

Bai Heng suppressed the smile on his face and looked at Ying Xing's back, not knowing what mood he should be in at this moment.

Everyone thought Yingxing was going to lose, except Yannian.

Yannian was panting. As long as Ying Xing had not put down the hammer, was still standing there, and was still moving forward, he would catch up with him and he must not relax.

The second half of the white tiger gradually took shape, and beads of sweat flowed down Yannian's forehead. With a bang from the cauldron, the failure of a part meant that Yannian's progress came to an end.

The finished product of longevity: half of the White Tiger.

But the first half is much more valuable than the second half, because the first half also includes energy design, which is the heart, the core part, and it must be so precise that it is finer than a needle.

Yannian put down the hammer. At this moment, Yingxing was still forging and now had four legs.

"Still continuing?"

"Really... stubborn." Yannian curled his lips and smiled.

At this moment, Ying Xing had completely forgotten about the surrounding environment and the outcome. He had only one goal in his mind, which was to forge a white tiger.

Everyone in the square focused their attention on Ying Xing. Holding his breath, Ying Xing swung the hammer vigorously, slowly shaping the second half of the white tiger.

One hour, two hours...the boy still didn't fall down despite everyone's expectations.

The second half of the white tiger has taken shape, but Ying Xing is still not satisfied and begins to forge the heart of the white tiger, the gathering place of energy, even though his face has turned pale.

"Almost there, just a little bit more, it's almost done!"

There was desire in Ying Xing's eyes. He had suppressed it for too long, and now he could finally prove himself.

In the fire, a ball of energy gradually took shape.

But the next second, the cauldron trembled and the energy ball cracked, and Ying Xing was stunned.

In the VIP seats, Huai Yan's pupils shrank when he saw this, and he quickly shouted, "Everyone evacuate immediately, and quickly remove the barrier."

In an instant, there was a brilliant light and the explosion was like a thunder, instantly tearing everything apart. Ying Xing fell to the ground. Just as he was being engulfed by the flames, a strange voice echoed in his ears.

"Leaving Fire——"

Hot, familiar flames surrounded Ying Xing, blocking all damage for him.

Ying Xing raised his eyes and saw a young man with red hair and red eyes standing in the firelight in front of him. He was tall and slender and dressed in a red robe. As the flames at his fingertips evaporated, strands of his hair were dyed white.

"You did it, Yingxing."

"Surpassed me." The young man turned around, smiled slightly, reached out to touch Ying Xing's head, and then fainted in Ying Xing's arms.