Chapter 86: The First Step in Artifact Forging

The wager between Tongzhou Hall and other artifact-forging factions had always been the biggest talk in the entire Youhan Sect, with everyone speculating on who would win or lose.
Other artifact-forging factions, in addition to sending people to monitor Tongzhou Hall, also dispatched disciples to the headquarters of the Artifact Forging Academy to keep an eye on the actions of Tongzhou Hall’s disciples there.
At this moment, Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai all arrived together at the teleportation hall of the headquarters.
As soon as the three stepped out of the teleportation hall, they were spotted by disciples sent by other factions, and messages were sent out one after another.
“Ah, isn’t that Yun Zhouzi, the head of Tongzhou Hall?”
“It’s indeed people from Tongzhou Hall. That one is the steward Hua Hai—he was the one who took on the wager with Fire Lord last time.”
“Good heavens! Could it be that Tongzhou Hall has already forged 300 million immortal artifacts?”
“It seems there’s going to be some interesting action. It looks like other factions haven’t sent anyone to take over the task yet.”
“That’s fascinating. Let’s follow them to the Artifact Acceptance Hall to see if Tongzhou Hall has truly completed their task.”
“Good, let’s all go together. This is a wager involving nearly a hundred billion Origin Stones—a chance we rarely get in our lives. We must not miss this opportunity.”
…
With the arrival of the three, various people immediately began to express their reactions, and the noise quickly attracted crowds from the headquarters of the Artifact Forging Academy.
People flocked over in large numbers.
Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai flew there with beaming faces, full of pride, greeting everyone along the way before soon reaching the Artifact Acceptance Hall.
The ten elders of the Artifact Acceptance Hall, who had already been informed, were already at the entrance to greet them personally.
The three landed and arrived at the entrance.
“Ten elders, this is Yun Zhouzi, the head of Tongzhou Hall, and Zhen Nantian, the vice head. The three of us have come here to hand over the task,” Hua Hai introduced first.
The ten elders, including Hua Cheng’an, looked at the three happily.
“So it’s the head and vice head. Welcome! Since you’re here to hand over the task, please come in,” Hua Cheng’an said with a smile.
Just as Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai were about to step into the Artifact Acceptance Hall, another group of people arrived from the sky.
The heads of other artifact-forging factions, as well as sect leaders and pavilion masters, had arrived.
“Wait! Since Tongzhou Hall is handing over the task, we heads also want to witness it with our own eyes,” Gao Chenlin, the head of the Ancestral Fire Hall, shouted loudly.
As his voice faded, the nearly thousand people also landed on the ground.

Undoubtedly, upon hearing the messages from their subordinates, these hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads immediately arrived via space teleportation arrays and are now here to witness the handover task of Tongzhou Hall. One hundred billion Origin Stones is no small amount. More importantly, this is related to the reputation and honor of their respective branches; they would never be at ease without personally checking the quantity and quality of the immortal artifacts produced by Tongzhou Hall. Seeing this, the ten elders exchanged glances and then nodded in agreement. Hua Cheng’an spoke up, “Hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads, your requests are reasonable. Please enter the Artifact Hall to jointly inspect the immortal artifacts crafted by Tongzhou Hall.” Immediately, the ten elders entered the Artifact Hall first, followed by the three representatives from Tongzhou Hall, and then nearly a thousand hall masters entered one after another. Inside the entire Artifact Hall, all other people had been asked to leave, leaving only those involved in this bet. On the third floor, Hua Hai stood alone in the center, with all the registrars from each level of the Artifact Hall surrounding him, while the other hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads formed rows around those dozen or so people in the middle. Having experience, Hua Hai remained calm this time and had already taken out two hundred space rings, which he handed over to the registrars. Each registrar used their immortal consciousness to enter the space rings, check the number of immortal artifacts inside, and record everything. With the help of immortal consciousness scanning, the process was fast—just a few minutes were needed to register one space ring. Half an hour later, the entire registration process was completed. After a while, those dozen registrars finished their calculations and handed a jade slip to Hua Cheng’an. After scanning it with his immortal consciousness, Hua Cheng’an immediately showed a surprised expression. This expression made the hearts of the hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads sink. “Gentlemen, our staff in the Artifact Hall has completed the tally for Tongzhou Hall’s artifact-making task. We have recorded the quantity of all types of immortal artifacts, all of which are at the three-star Human Soul Immortal level,” Hua Cheng’an announced in a somewhat high-pitched voice. As soon as these words were spoken, Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai actually jumped for joy and hugged each other, completely disregarding their status as Earth Soul Immortals. Naturally, the hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads from other artifact-making branches showed a mix of disappointment, regret, and anger upon hearing this.

“We refuse to accept this. I demand to personally verify the immortal artifacts submitted by Tongzhou Hall,” suddenly shouted Le Liangyuan, the head of Jinghuatang, his body trembling.
“We must verify them personally before we can believe it,” Han Bojia, the head of Xinlutang, also cried out angrily, almost hysterically.
With these two speaking up, other hall leaders, sect masters, and pavilion heads also began to demand personal verification.
Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai immediately released their hold and stared in shock at these people.
The ten elders, seeing the situation, quickly exchanged their immortal senses and reached a consensus.
Hua Cheng’an stepped forward and said with a smile, “Dear hall leaders, sect masters, and pavilion heads, although your requests are reasonable, having each of you inspect them would be quite difficult. How about this: select three of you to check these immortal artifacts submitted by Tongzhou Hall.”
Hearing this, the nearly thousand hall leaders, sect masters, and pavilion heads quickly calmed down, then exchanged glances and rapidly communicated through their immortal senses.
“Since the elders have spoken so, I’ll count myself as one. For the other two, I propose Le Liangyuan and Han Bojia as hall leaders. What do everyone think?” said Gao Chenlin, the head of the First Branch of Artifact Forging, the Zuhuo Hall.
The other hall leaders, sect masters, and pavilion heads exchanged glances and agreed unanimously.
Seeing this, Hua Cheng’an smiled and said, “In that case, the three hall leaders should come to the center and inspect the immortal artifacts inside these space rings.”
Gao Chenlin, Le Liangyuan, and Han Bojia immediately went to the center of the hall, picked up the space rings one by one, and scanned them with their immortal senses.
All three were at the cultivation level of Earth Soul Immortals, so their scanning speed was much faster than that of the registrars from the Artifact Hall.
After scanning one space ring, Gao Chenlin’s expression darkened slightly. Unconvinced, he picked up another space ring.
Le Liangyuan and Han Bojia’s expressions were similar to Gao Chenlin’s—the more they scanned the space rings, the worse their expressions became. Undoubtedly, after their inspection, they confirmed that the number of immortal artifacts matched the records kept by the registrars.
The other hall leaders, sect masters, and pavilion heads, seeing the three men’s expressions, grew even more frustrated. They also knew that Tongzhou Hall had indeed completed its artifact-forging task.
They had lost the bet.
Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai watched the three men in the center with joy, laughing nonstop.

Before long, Gao Chenlin, Le Liangyuan, and Han Bojia stood up, clearly uncomfortable, and walked quietly, heading straight for the second floor.
“We surrender!” Gao Chenlin didn’t make the others wait long. As he turned to leave, he spoke out, his voice tinged with desolation.
Whoa!
Upon hearing this voice, the various hall masters, sect leaders, and pavilion heads immediately felt powerless. After declaring their surrender, they followed him to the second floor, seemingly too ashamed to resist.
Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai burst into wild cheers.
“We won!”
“Now, who would dare underestimate the crafting skills of our Tongzhou Hall?”
“A hundred billion Origin Stones! We’re rich!” …
The three laughed wildly.
Hua Cheng’an and the other ten elders simply watched the three from Tongzhou Hall with smiles, seeing no flaw in their behavior and fully understanding their situation.
“Guys, maybe keep it quiet for a while,” Hua Cheng’an said after a pause.
“Oh, oh…”
Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai finally snapped out of it and stood calmly, looking at Hua Cheng’an.
“According to the bet, your Tongzhou Hall has already produced 300 million immortal artifacts at the three-star Human Soul Immortal level, so you’ve won. For the bets related to other crafting branches, our Chengqi Hall will deduct those amounts from their task points and transfer them to your Tongzhou Hall’s task points,” Hua Cheng’an said with a smile.
Yun Zhouzi immediately replied, “Thank you, elders. Our Tongzhou Hall has finally lived up to your expectations.”
Hua Hai winked at the ten elders, conveying a look understood by all.
Undoubtedly, some of the winnings from this bet would also go to these ten elders.
Meanwhile, Yun Zhouzi thought to himself that after Tongzhou Hall received these winnings, he would also set aside some to give to Elder Han Lingqiu.
After more exchanges, Yun Zhouzi, Zhen Nantian, and Hua Hai left the Chengqi Hall.
At that moment, the entire Crafting Academy headquarters was filled with loud chatter.
“Tongzhou Hall has won the bet!”
“Good heavens! Tongzhou Hall is unbelievable—it really defeated all the other crafting branches.”
“300 million immortal artifacts at the three-star Human Soul Immortal level! In just three years, Tongzhou Hall accomplished this—it’s amazing.”
“Now, among all the branches of our Crafting Academy, Tongzhou Hall must be ranked first in terms of strength.”
“Yes, Tongzhou Hall—number one in crafting.”
……

Waves of sound rose and fell in succession, spreading through the mouths of various characters.
The reputation of Tongzhou Hall, the first branch of the Youhan Sect’s Weapon Forging Academy, also spread throughout the immortal realm.