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nOu Yangming looked at Jiang Chengwei snappily. The man’s impoliteness was truly infuriating.

n“Squad Leader Jiang, there’s no harm.” Yu Hailiang chuckled. “He can stay since he’s here, but he can only watch from afar to broaden his experience.”

nJiang Chengwei sighed. “Captain Yu, you’re too kind and generous.”

nYan Haobo and Ou Yangming looked at each other, and were both filled with pent up anger.

nBased on Jiang Chengwei and Yu Hailiang’s tone, it was clear that they treated Ou Yangming as a young fellow who was here to freeload.

nWhen Ou Yangming looked around him, he noticed the soldiers looking at him scornfully without hiding their expressions at all.

nJin Tao and the two archers looked at each other. In actual fact, if they had not seen the dagger’s powerful might, as well as Ou Yangming’s miraculous performance throughout their journey, especially his accomplishment of stabbing the forest leopard through the rear with his saber, they would not have obeyed him.

nAdditionally, they had progressed from knowing Ou Yangming to getting more familiarized with him, thus they accepted him.

nHowever, it would simply be nonsense for the other soldiers present to respect a fifteen-to-sixteen years old teen.

n“It looks like Captain Yu doesn’t need my help. Okay, I’ll be leaving!” Ou Yangming scoffed as he was furious, then turned around to leave without hesitation. Though he was really eager to see what exactly a half-spirit breast was, he hated the feeling of being treated coldly. After all, he was no longer the little helper he once was, and had become an official Military Fire Blacksmith.

n“Master Ou, wait!” Yan Haobo’s face changed right away. He quickly pulled Ou Yangming’s hand to beg him, “They only misunderstood because they don’t know your identity. It’ll be fine once I explain everything.”

nYu Hailiang and the others were slightly startled. Upon seeing Yan Haobo’s behavior, they realized that they might have made a mistake.

nThe seemingly young teen was not Yan Haobo’s junior, and was not here to gain credit by doing nothing.

nNevertheless, Yu Hailiang and the others could not figure out how the young fellow could contribute in any way against the half-spirit beast. Ultimately, it was a half-spirit beast that they were facing.

n“Master?” Jiang Chengwei smiled disdainfully. “What master? A boasting master?”

nYan Haobo turned around to reprimand him, “Squad Leader Jiang, if you’re still going to be so disrespectful, I have no choice but to withdraw from the hunt!”

nJiang Chengwei’s face reddened as he quickly replied, “Squad Leader Yan, I was just being frank and outspoken, it’s nothing personal. Please don’t misunderstand.”

nYu Hailiang cleared his throat. “Squad Leader Yan, this is…”

nYan Haobo answered, “Captain Yu, this is Master Ou Yangming, a Military Fire Blacksmith from the Armament Camp. He followed us into the forest because he wanted to find some rare ores.

nHe dared not mention that Ou Yangming’s purpose was to hunt, so he made an excuse that the master was here to look for rare ores.

nSure enough, Yu Hailiang and the others did not suspect anything because such cases were not rare in the military camp. Nonetheless, there were very few who entered so deep into the dense forest.

n“Oh, so it’s Master Ou…” Yu Hailiang pondered for a while. “Master Ou’s indeed an excellent logistics member. How about we let him stay here, so he can restore our pieces of equipment if they’re damaged.”

nOu Yangming raised his eyebrows. “Captain Yu, thanks for your kind words, but I’m not here to restore any equipment.”

nYu Hailiang was a little displeased but he was shrewd enough to keep a straight face. “Oh, why did you come then?”

nOu Yangming turned to scan Yan Haobo from head to toe.

nAfter a brief moment, he mentioned, “Squad Leader Yan, remove your armor for me.”

nYan Haobo would not have bothered if anyone else said something like that without rhyme or reason. While he had many comrades around, it was a dangerous place in the forest, hence it was not wise to remove his armor.

nDespite that, Yan Haobo, who knew Ou Yangming very well, was elated, so he removed his armor without any hesitation.

nYu Hailiang and the others quivered a little. A squad leader was not an outstanding figure in the military, but one was a basic-level officer. As such, they knew that the teen was not as simple as he seemed since Yan Haobo trusted him so much.

nOnce Ou Yangming accepted the armor, he turned his wrist to activate his Military Fire, instantly engulfing the armor.

n“Refining with the Military Fire?” Yu Hailiang and the others looked at one another, and noticed that they were not very impressed.

nIt was true that refinements done using the Military Fire were rare, but it was a compulsory ability for Military Fire Blacksmiths. Even though the soldiers could not do it, they more or less knew the reason behind it.

nNot only did Ou Yangming not impress them by doing what he did, but he also disappointed them.

nOu Yangming suddenly mentioned, “Squad Leader Yan, your armor is of Good Grade Rank One, am I right?”

nYan Haobo nodded. “Yes.”

n“There aren’t any materials here, so I can’t upgrade your armor’s quality,” Ou Yangming responded.

nYu Hailiang and the others thought to themselves, ‘You don’t say! Keep boasting if you can!’

nThe upgrading of an armor’s quality was a change made with the precondition that the armor’s exterior and its other aspects were unaffected. It was worth noting that it was a much more difficult process than smithing armor from scratch.

nThat being said, the crowd was in an uproar after hearing what Ou Yangming said next.

n“But I have a few precious ores with me, so I’ll attach a random attribute on it for you.” Subsequently, Ou Yangming retrieved an ore, then tossed it into his Military Fire casually.

n“What? Attaching an attribute?”

n“Precious ore?”

nCountless exclamations were heard from the others and even Yu Hailiang and Jiang Chengwei looked at each other as they could not believe what they heard.

nIt was already tough to upgrade an armor’s quality, but attaching an attribute to it? That was ten times harder than a quality upgrade.

nIn their opinion, Ou Yangming, who was a Military Fire Blacksmith at his age, was considered great because he was able to smith qualified and complete pieces of equipment. They thought that it would take a few more years for him to upgrade equipment qualities.

nAs for attaching attributes, was that not something that was only possible for experienced Military Fire Blacksmiths?

nAlthough nobody believed Ou Yangming, when they saw that the precious ore that was thrown into the Military Fire slowly melted due to the flames, they held their breaths subconsciously as though heavy breathings would distract him.

nYan Haobo was the only one who was elated. He never expected such a huge blessing to fall from the sky, and it was a blessing for him!

nHe wondered, ‘Attribute Equipment, this is a piece of Attribute Equipment!’

nHonestly, after seeing his old friend, Sui Hezhi’s Attribute Military Saber, as well as the two pieces of Attribute Equipment given to his nephew, Yan Chengcai, Yan Haobo knew that he could acquire one someday as long as he served Ou Yangming well.

nHowever, he did not think that his dream would come true so soon.

nWhile taking quick glances at Yu Hailiang and Jiang Chengwei, he thought, ‘Angels, they’re my angels!’

nNonetheless, he did not realize that while Ou Yangming was doing this partly because he felt wronged, it was mainly because he wanted to show his worth.

nSince Ou Yangming decided to enter the forest alone in the future, it was best that he learned the dangers as much as possible.

nThough he seemed like he was going to leave earlier out of anger, he would not have actually left even if Yan Haobo did not make him stay.

nAs Ou Yangming’s Military Fire flickered, the precious ore disappeared completely. Following that, he exhaled deeply, and turned his wrist again to curb the fire.

n“Squad Leader Yan, put it on to try it.” Ou Yangming looked at Yu Hailiang and Jiang Chengwei indifferently.

nThe two men turned a blind eye on him because they were fully focused on Yan Haobo.

nThey were certainly not going to be nice to Ou Yangming if he failed to refine an Attribute Armor and wasted a precious ore, but what if he succeeded?

nIf a Military Fire Blacksmith who had the ability to attach Unique Attributes wanted to join them, they would happily allow him to regardless of his attitude earlier.

nAfter all, they were the ones who had treated him lightly first.

nIt would be very dumb of them to offend a Military Fire Blacksmith who had a bright future.

nYan Haobo reached his hands out, which were trembling due to overexcitement. Without being bothered if the heat on the armor had dissipated, he put it on right away.

nNext, he channeled a hint of his essential Qi into the armor.

nYan Haobo’s eyes glowed, and he looked very delighted when he clenched his fists.

n‘Okay, there’s no need to ask…’

nUpon seeing Yan Haobo’s reaction, Yu Hailiang and the others had their answer.

nThey could not help but feel regretful.

nWhile they did not fear Ou Yangming, they were dejected when they thought about how they had offended him earlier.

nThere was a perfect explanation as to why Yan Haobo respected Ou Yangming so deeply.

nJiang Chengwei suddenly bowed to Ou Yangming. “Master Ou, I was as blind as a bat. Please forgive me for offending you earlier.”

n“Yes, we neglected you earlier!” Yu Hailiang apologized with a fist salute. “Master Ou, we’re very impressed by your wonderful skill!”

nAfter witnessing Ou Yangming’s skill, the others began treating him differently.

nOu Yangming smiled. “You’re being too polite, hehe. I’m just curious about the half-spirit beast, so I wanted to come to take a look, please forgive me.”

nYu Hailiang laughed out loud. “Master Ou, we welcome you!”

nYan Haobo finally calmed himself down, so he mentioned, “Captain Yu, Master Ou has a way to increase the might of our arrows by ten times, which is why I invited him here.”

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