Hehe, just wait and see. At first you won't notice any problems, and even after forging is complete, there won't be any issues. In fact, the sword's performance will be slightly better. But as soon as it encounters a specific substance, the sword will immediately shatter.
Xiaoyao's knowledge of materials was unrivaled in this world. He could make just a small action, adding some completely unnoticed materials, and destroy your perfectly prepared alloy.
Xiaoyao was exploiting certain characteristics of the materials Li Cheng had prepared. If placed in someone else's molten iron, it wouldn't cause any problems. His action was targeted, based on the combination of Li Cheng's specific materials, providing a corresponding substance.
Even if this were revealed, no one would believe it. Who would believe someone could accomplish such a thing? Therefore, even when Li Cheng's sword eventually shattered, no one in the world would suspect Xiaoyao, because they would consider it impossible and wouldn't believe Xiaoyao had such capability.
Now that Xiaoyao had sabotaged the Greedy Wolf Empire, this mission was basically completed. Now he needed to deal with the Peerless Sword matter. Although Ning Zhiyuan's minimum requirement was not to let the Peerless Sword fall into the Greedy Wolf Empire's hands, he still hoped Xiaoyao could obtain the Peerless Sword for him.
Xiaoyao was now working for Ning Zhiyuan. Since he had agreed, he would do his utmost to get the Peerless Sword.
Now, to obtain this Peerless Sword, the first method would be to win over Princess Wen Ya and legitimately receive the Peerless Sword. Xiaoyao definitely wouldn't do this, so he could only choose the second method, obtaining the Peerless Sword through irregular means without attracting their attention.
As Xiaoyao had said before in the Great Tang Empire, he had a way to switch the Peerless Sword right under everyone's noses without attracting attention.
...
...
To accomplish this switch, Xiaoyao had to forge an identical replica. Now that Xiaoyao had seen the Peerless Sword, what remained was to forge a replica, and he only had half a month to complete it here.
This was unimaginable for everyone, because forging a replica of the Peerless Sword would take considerable time. If this replica could fool even the King of Bai Yue Kingdom and Princess Wen Ya, this would be an extremely difficult task requiring even more time.
Half a month, impossible no matter how you look at it.
If this succeeded, it would be both amusing and ironic, because Xiaoyao would be doing it in Bai Yue Kingdom's Royal Sword Forging Center, using materials provided by Bai Yue Kingdom. This sounded like a fantasy.
Moreover, Xiaoyao wouldn't just forge a replica that looked similar, he would create one with comparable toughness and sharpness. Simply put, even if someone used this Peerless Sword in battle, they wouldn't discover it was a replica.
This sword would also become a treasured weapon. Of course, reaching divine weapon status would be slightly more difficult, since Xiaoyao didn't have enough materials and insufficient time.
If he had enough time, Xiaoyao could forge a sword equal to the Peerless Sword. Even after switching it, others wouldn't have any problems, unless they knew the Peerless Sword contained secrets and its value might be more than just a sword.
Because of this, Xiaoyao would try his best to forge a supreme treasured sword, because even so, he would be taking great advantage and would owe them a debt.
"It's decided then. I'll melt down those swords found at the Sword Tomb. Those materials are all precious, and since they've already been smelted once, it can reduce a lot of smelting time," Xiaoyao calculated silently, searching nearby for the materials he wanted and smelting them according to proportions.
As for those swords, Xiaoyao could just have Chi Chi spit them out. Since Chi Chi had been carrying them, when no one was looking, he had Chi Chi spit out the swords.
As for removing other impurities, Xiaoyao didn't need to do this. Chi Chi could devour the impurities Xiaoyao didn't need. This was an interesting use for Chi Chi that Xiaoyao had recently discovered.
As Chi Chi grew, it seemed to develop some incredible abilities that Xiaoyao couldn't understand. Perhaps this was just a special case.
"Begin smelting! I'll prepare another batch, the blunt sword also needs to be made. Even if it's just perfunctory, I have to do it, or people will become suspicious." After smelting one batch of materials, Xiaoyao went to smelt another batch.
No one paid attention to Xiaoyao's actions, because each workshop was independent and could be closed to prevent people from seeing inside. This was because some sword smiths didn't want others to see their forging process and wanted to work in secret.
Because of this, Xiaoyao could boldly forge the Peerless Sword replica. While smelting, Xiaoyao immediately began replicating the Peerless Sword's scabbard.
Speaking of replication, this was also a skill, making newly forged items show traces of age while being identical to the original object. This required many processes, all detailed work. Even though Xiaoyao was proficient in this, he had to work intensively. Half a month was barely enough time, and he had to account for preventing unexpected situations.
Days passed one by one. These young talents spent their time in the workshops. Although Bai Yue Kingdom had prepared lodging for them, who would leave their workshop at such a time? Of course they would eat and sleep in the workshop to forge their swords to perfection.
During these days, Bai Yue Kingdom's impression of Xiaoyao was the deepest, but this impression didn't come from Xiaoyao's sword forging process, they couldn't see that.
Their deep impression of Xiaoyao was because he ate too much, consuming food for over a hundred people daily. This continued every day, making the palace kitchen complain bitterly. Fortunately, Xiaoyao wasn't picky and would eat anything, so they just cooked large quantities of food for Xiaoyao.
Even so, they expended considerable manpower and resources.
Soon, this matter spread throughout the palace. Because Xiaoyao was one of the candidates to be the future prince consort, this matter spread widely and created quite a stir.
Because everyone cared about Princess Wen Ya, they strongly opposed Xiaoyao becoming Princess Wen Ya's future husband, because he ate far too much. No matter how much family wealth there was, it could all be eaten up, and he seemed to be just a commoner, "Young Prince" was just a name, not a title.
They worried that if Princess Wen Ya married Xiaoyao, she might not even have enough to eat.
Because of this, the people delivering food to Xiaoyao seemed very displeased with him, showing poor attitudes and sometimes deliberately making sarcastic remarks. Xiaoyao completely ignored this, finding these people very boring, since he never intended to marry Princess Wen Ya anyway.
Xiaoyao's reaction made people think he was too ashamed to address the matter, making them feel even more that Xiaoyao was unsuitable for Princess Wen Ya.
Princess Wen Ya also heard these words, someone deliberately let her know, so how could she not know? Thus, Princess Wen Ya ordered that no one was allowed to discuss these matters. She had her own judgment and didn't need others' opinions.
At the same time, Princess Wen Ya seemed to have said that even if she chose him and he couldn't support her, she could support him. Forging one sword would be enough to feed him for a year.
Princess Wen Ya's words immediately silenced everyone. The smarter ones knew that if they continued to persuade her at this point, it might trigger her stubbornness, making her do the opposite of everyone's wishes and actually choose this person named Young Prince.
Therefore, they prayed that Xiaoyao absolutely must not forge a good sword.
If Xiaoyao heard their prayers, he would definitely say he would satisfy them, his blunt sword was very ordinary, just a bit hard, at most a famous sword, not even qualifying as a treasured sword.
At the same time, Xiaoyao would say that Chi Chi could actually eat leftovers and was very easy to feed. Since they insisted on making fresh food, how could he possibly refuse?
Time quickly reached the fifteenth day. Xiaoyao had been forging behind closed doors the entire time. In between, a master craftsman from Bai Yue Kingdom came to check progress several times. Xiaoyao showed him the blunt sword, and the master craftsman seemed somewhat disappointed but said nothing.
The master craftsman didn't only look at Xiaoyao, he also observed others' progress, such as Li Cheng, Tian He, and others. Among everyone, Li Cheng's and Tian He's swords were the best.
If Xiaoyao's sword remained like this, then the choice would be between Li Cheng and Tian He. Between these two, one was a commoner and the other a prince of the Greedy Wolf Empire, their statuses were vastly different.
In terms of appearance and temperament, Li Cheng was tall and handsome, while Tian He was ordinary. As for ability, that went without saying.
Simply put, Li Cheng was a premium tall, handsome, and rich specimen, while Tian He was just a common person.
This choice would naturally become simple, Li Cheng would win by a large margin, without suspense.
On the final day, everyone knew today was when results would be announced. Those who hadn't finished would be directly eliminated. The fifteen-day time limit was, in some ways, also testing a sword smith's control ability, being able to use these fifteen days well, controlling the steps to finish without wasting an extra day.
When results were about to be announced, the visiting delegations from various countries also arrived at the palace. Those with participants would cheer for their people, while those without participants or whose people had been eliminated came to see the results and offer superficial congratulations.
(End of Chapter)