When the three old men appeared on the stage, there was a sudden cheer from all around. It seemed that just as Norris said, the three men had a very high prestige among the people.
Ye Huaicang said to Ye Li: "Ye Li, these three are the best among the three counties' independent cultivators.
Although Yuan Bugui and Wang Yuezhi both have their own families, their families cannot be called aristocratic families today. Most of them are just ordinary people and only barely have the rudiments of aristocratic families.
Jin Tianya is completely alone. The three of them are all at the Descending God Stage, and are also Xuan-level weaponsmiths. They have helped many independent cultivators, so they are considered to be influential figures in the independent cultivator community of our three counties."
Ye Li had only heard of these three people, but did not know their background. Now, after Ye Huaicang's introduction, he had a better understanding of them.
After the three of them came on stage, they smiled and clasped their fists at the cheering crowd around them, then walked to the seats set up next to the podium and sat down.
Chuck Norris continued, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's bring the materials up and let the judges check them first before giving them to the contestants.
Each person has 40 choices of Xuan-level materials, which contain various properties. Participants can freely choose the combination, and there is no limit on how many materials can be used. The final victory or loss depends only on the judges' comprehensive evaluation of the talisman. "
After Norris finished his speech, he waved to the audience, and immediately rows of servants came up to the stage carrying trays, which they took turns passing in front of the three judges to show them for inspection.
The inspected materials were then handed over to eight weaponsmiths respectively, with each of them receiving the same forty types of materials, no more and no less.
The materials were placed in front of eight weaponsmiths. Some of them looked at the materials with a thoughtful look on their faces, while others just glanced at them and didn't look at them any further.
Niu Qianjin is the kind of person who would not look at something again after just one glance. For him, just one glance and he would already have an idea of the talisman he was going to refine next.
The same was true for Panshan Qingsong. After taking a look at the materials, he looked confident.
Luo Lishi waited for a while before continuing, "Okay, I believe all the contestants have already decided on the talismans they will refine next, so our competition will officially begin from now on!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a furnace rose from under the stage in front of the eight contestants.
This kind of furnace is the standard furnace used in general foundry shops. It is about half the size of a table, square, gray-black in color, and covered with various rune marks.
The color of the flame is just green with a slight hint of blue, which is much more advanced than the flame in the fire box and can melt various materials more quickly and stably.
Soon, the eight casters had lit up the fire in front of them, and then each of them put in the casting materials in front of him one by one.
Generally speaking, the materials for a Xuan-level talisman are no more than twenty kinds, and most people probably use fifteen kinds of materials at most.
Although the more materials there are, the greater the talisman's tolerance for runes of various attributes, this also means that the patterns will become more complex, and it will be much more difficult to guide the engraving of the original runes and subsequent talismans.
Therefore, in order to ensure the success rate of their own casting, ordinary Xuan-level weaponsmiths will not use too many materials. Fifteen to eighteen kinds of materials are enough.
When Ye Li stood on the stage and looked at Niu Qianjin, he suddenly realized that the other party had thrown twenty-one materials into the fire one after another.
Although Niu Qianjin only threw in a very small piece of the last material, this number indeed exceeded the limit of the Xuan-level talisman, and there was one more type.
On the other side, Panshan Qingsong threw twenty different materials into the furnace without hesitation. He wanted to challenge the maximum value of the materials directly.
Ye Li knew that as the organizer, the other party must have gotten a great advantage because he already knew what the forty kinds of materials were in advance.
Maybe they have already practiced how to complete the refining of twenty kinds of materials within three hours.
However, he was not worried about this at all. With Niu Qianjin's strength, there was no way he could lose to the opponent.
Ye Li's current task is to watch Niu Qianjin casting the weapon and observe his technique. Although he cannot observe how Niu Qianjin handles the patterns on the weapon, he can learn some empirical things from some external manifestations.
The competition lasted for a long time, three hours from noon to dusk.
Niu Qianjin moved very quickly, worthy of being a top-level earth-level weaponsmith. The entire casting process was flawless. The mass of liquid in front of him, which was made up of various materials, quickly turned into a round shield.
On the other side of the Panshan Green Pine, a crescent-shaped hook was cast, and it seemed that the movement was also quite fast.
The level of the other weaponsmiths was also pretty good. No one encountered any unexpected situations. Even in a noisy situation like the square, they were able to perform normally.
Soon, the sun was about to set completely, and the lights around the venue were lit.
Luo Lishi's voice sounded, saying: "Everyone, the competition time is about to end. Please prepare to extinguish the stove."
Panshan Qingsong finished casting earlier than everyone else, but Niu Qianjin seemed to have completed his talisman at the last moment.
And from Ye Li's point of view, Niu Qianjin's expression changed from being relaxed at the beginning to being a little tired, but he didn't know what the reason was.
According to Niu Qianjin's strength, how could he look tired and over-exerted after casting a Xuan-level talisman
As Ye Li thought carefully, he couldn't help but recall the twenty kinds of casting materials that Niu Qianjin had put into the furnace before.
"Could it be that Second Senior Brother used some special method to refine the talisman, which resulted in such a huge consumption?"
Ye Li couldn't help but guess in his heart.
When he looked at Niu Qianjin again, he found that Niu Qianjin had picked up the cooled talisman and was looking at it carefully, with a look of great satisfaction in his eyes.
Ye Li's curiosity was aroused by Niu Qianjin's actions. He really wanted to know how his second senior brother exceeded the limit of the Xuan-level talisman and used twenty-one kinds of materials to enter it.
And what kind of changes can these twenty-one casting materials bring to the talismans he refines.
Panshan Qingsong glanced at Niu Qianjin intentionally or unintentionally, and then a hint of contempt flashed in his eyes. After all, what Niu Qianjin showed was that he completed the refining of the talisman at the last moment. Compared with others, this strength was not outstanding, and he was even weaker than several old casters who completed the casting slightly ahead of time.