"Everyone!"
The host of the competition sent by the Luo family was a middle-aged man with a ruddy face. Ye Li knew him. He was Luo Kui's uncle and his name was Luo Lishi.
Norris called out to everyone and made a "quiet" gesture, indicating that the onlookers should remain calm.
After the noise in the venue died down, he said to everyone with a smile on his face: "I think everyone knows that Qishan Town has been a place where foundry shops are concentrated since 20 years ago.
During the past twenty years, competition among the foundry shops in Qishan Town has always been very fierce.
In the past twenty years, most of the shops that were not good enough or whose prices were not affordable enough have been eliminated, and now there are only six time-honored shops left.
The Luo family and the Ye family in our Dahuang City are two new competitors.
Originally, we should have waited for time to test each other's strength, but my Luo family has always liked to overcome difficulties and take the initiative, and we don't have the patience to slowly endure.
Therefore, we held this casting competition here today to challenge the other seven new and old shops to prove our strength..."
Hearing what Luo Lishi said on the stage, Ye Li couldn't help but snorted coldly, and Ye Huaicang beside him also said angrily: "The damn Luo family, when they sent us the invitation to the competition, they didn't say that they were challenging the other families, but that they hoped that the other families would communicate and make progress together.
Although everyone knows their purpose, some words still need to be spoken politely. They are saying this now, clearly showing that they don’t take everyone seriously at all.”
Ye Li nodded and said, “Uncle Huai Cang, they have tied up with the Panshan family in the weapon casting business, so they naturally feel that their own strength far exceeds that of other shops here.
After all, the other shops were opened by small families in the three counties and small chambers of commerce. In terms of background and strength, they were indeed far inferior to the Panshan family, a fourth-grade weapon-casting family.
I guess their purpose is to promote themselves through this casting competition. Until now, they have not officially acknowledged their cooperative relationship with the Panshan family.
They must be planning to wait until the competition is over and win first place, then take the opportunity to announce their cooperation with the Panshan Family, so as to greatly increase the weight of their own brand. "
Ye Huaicang also nodded in agreement, and then showed a look of sarcasm. Although the Luo family had a good plan, they did not expect that Ye Li would become Ou Qianxie's disciple. The difference between his Ye family's cooperation partner and the Panshan family was like the difference between an adult and a baby.
After Norris spoke a lot of clichés on the stage, he began to introduce: "Now we would like to invite the representatives of the eight casting shops participating in the competition.
First up are the weaponsmith representatives from the Treasure Refining Pavilion opened by the Huangji Chamber of Commerce in Yeyu City. Their position is number one..."
Eight areas had already been fenced off on the stage, with number plates hung next to them with the names of the shops written on them.
After all, the contestants are not new to casting, so they don’t care too much about the surrounding environment. Even if they are in the square with people watching around, they will not fail in casting.
On the platform, Norris first arranged the locations of the six old shops, and finally it was the turn of the Ye family and themselves.
"The next person to come on stage is the weaponsmith representative from the Ye Family's Gold Forging Pavilion in Dahuang City. Their position is number seven."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Li saw Niu Qianjin walking into the fence of area seven with a calm look on his face.
After standing still, Niu Qianjin glanced in Ye Li's direction and smiled at him with a wink.
Next, it was the turn of the Luo family's weaponsmith to take the stage.
Luo Lishi's face suddenly changed to a respectful look, and he said, "The next person to come on stage is the representative of the weaponsmiths from Luo's Baolaixuan—Panshan Qingsong. His position is number eight."
After he finished speaking, a middle-aged man with a long face in his thirties came up with a smile on his face.
He also looked very confident, as if he didn't take this competition seriously at all.
Although his seat was number eight, it was not in the corner, but rather in the center close to the stage.
The Luo family deliberately built the meeting platform in such a way that positions one to seven were arranged in a circle around the platform, and position eight was at the center of the circle, as if the moon was surrounded by stars.
This arrangement naturally caused dissatisfaction among the old shop casters, and they all showed more or less indignation on their faces.
However, when they heard the name Panshan Qingsong, doubts welled up in their eyes. Obviously, they all knew the Panshan family, but they were not sure whether the person in front of them was from the Panshan family thousands of miles away.
After all the weapon casting masters entered their respective areas, Norris said, "I will now announce the rules of this competition. In order to ensure the fairness of the weapon casting competition, all contestants will use the furnaces and materials we have prepared.
All the materials we prepared for the competition this time are of Xuan level, and there is a time limit. All weapon forgers must forge their own talismans within three hours."
The faces of the people present did not change much after hearing his words. Ordinary people had no idea how much time it took for a weaponsmith to cast a talisman, while the participating weaponsmiths were all experienced. It was not impossible for them to complete the casting of a Xuan-level talisman in three hours.
However, Ye Li knew that the time arrangement was very clever. This kind of time, which was not too long, would bring some problems to the contestants.
The contestants will hesitate whether they should strive for excellence in the quality of the talisman, or choose a more conservative approach and just ensure that the casting of the talisman is completed within the time limit.
The contestants seemed to have gradually started to think about this problem, and the expressions of some of them changed slightly and they began to hesitate.
Three hours seemed to be a perfect step. The weaker the people were, the more obvious the hesitation on their faces, because they could not guarantee that they could perform at their best within the time.
On the other hand, Niu Qianjin, Panshan Qingsong and the two old men looked completely indifferent.
After explaining the rules, Norris continued, "In order to ensure the fairness of the competition results, we have specially invited three judges.
They are Senior Yuan Bugui from Guili Villa, Senior Wang Yuezhi from the Wang Family in Pinghu City, and Senior Jin Tianya from Dashu Mountain.
The three seniors are all veterans who are proficient in casting. They are also highly respected and well-known in our three counties.
They don't run a foundry shop, nor do they have any vested interests in the shops present, so they are the most suitable judges for this competition."
As he spoke, Norris nodded to the audience, and three old men slowly walked up from the side.