Chapter 2517: New Stairway to Heaven

One... ten... a hundred—after nearly two hundred failed attempts and destroyed materials, Yuan finally began gaining a deeper understanding of his affinity.

However, even with his monstrous level of comprehension talent, he still could not grasp it quickly enough to finish before the banquet.

As a result, he ultimately decided to stop his experiments for the time being.

Afterward, Yuan stored the Void Fragment back into his spatial ring, along with the hammer, the anvil, and the golden wheel.

"Are you finished?" Zi Xuan asked him.

"For now, yes," Yuan replied. "If I continue working on it, I’ll definitely gain enough understanding of my affinity to properly refine materials with it. However, at the current pace, it would take far too long."

He then continued in a defeated tone, "And even if I somehow managed to succeed, I still wouldn’t dare use it on Number One Under Heaven until I’m completely confident in my ability to control it."

"Sorry, but your upgrade will have to wait a little longer."

Zi Xuan shook her head and responded, "It’s fine. If I’m going to receive an upgrade, then I want it to be something truly worthwhile—not just some insignificant improvement."

"Who knows? You might find something even better to use on my upgrade than the Void Fragment by then."

Yuan nodded, "Not to mention, I am still lacking their crafting technique."

Zi Xuan returned to Number One Under Heaven shortly after.

"I am going to take a nap. Staying outside for so long is more tiring than I anticipated," she said.

"Let’s go," Yuan said to Mu Xuelian a moment later.

"Where to now?"

"To partake in a banquet, but I have one more thing to do before then..."

A week before the Divine Paragon’s banquet was scheduled to begin, something completely unexpected occurred within the Nine Heavens, causing widespread commotion.

The Stairway to Heaven, which had mysteriously vanished for many years, had returned just as suddenly.

"I heard the Stairway to Heaven has returned!"

"No, it’s not the original Stairway to Heaven, but something that merely resembles it!"

However, those who went to inspect the treasure immediately realized that something was different about this new Stairway to Heaven, as its appearance was entirely unlike the original.

"Huh? If it’s not the original Stairway to Heaven, what is it? And who does it belong to?"

"Probably the Celestial Emperor. After all, His Majesty did mention that he was working on replacing the Stairway to Heaven."

"Believe it or not, it wasn’t the Celestial Emperor’s doing," said someone more knowledgeable on the subject. "According to those who went to examine the treasure, a certain name was engraved into it!"

"What name?"

"The Exalted Blacksmith!"

"...Who?"

Most ordinary people were unfamiliar with the title Exalted Blacksmith, but when blacksmiths across the world heard that name, they were shaken to their very core and immediately rushed over to examine the treasure for themselves.

"You don’t know who the Exalted Blacksmith is?!" A passing blacksmith who happened to overhear their conversation immediately interjected before proudly explaining, "He is none other than the most influential and experienced blacksmith in all of history!"

"Listen carefully! The Exalted Blacksmith crafted over thirty percent of all existing Celestial-grade treasures in existence—over seventy percent in his era! Not only that, but during his God of Creation Ceremony, he forged one hundred Celestial-grade treasures back-to-back without a single failure in less than a week!"

"In the world of blacksmithing, the Exalted Blacksmith is a true god! There isn’t a single blacksmith alive who doesn’t know his name!"

"If he’s really that incredible, then how come I’ve never heard of him?"

The blacksmith released a deep sigh before responding, "Because the Exalted Blacksmith suddenly disappeared shortly after becoming the God of Creation, and nobody has heard a single thing about him ever since..."

His eyes then widened with excitement as he continued, "Until today!"

"How can you be so certain it’s genuine and not some impostor? There have been plenty of people like that appearing lately."

"Well... we’re currently trying to verify it ourselves," the blacksmith replied. "In fact, the current God of Creation has already announced that he’ll personally examine the treasure later today."

"If the Exalted Blacksmith has truly returned... then I wonder what kind of masterpiece he will bestow upon this world next. His abilities were already far ahead of their time before he disappeared millions of years ago. I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying his craftsmanship must be now."

Sure enough, later that same day, the current God of Creation personally arrived at the newly appeared Stairway to Heaven in the Ninth Heaven to examine it.

By the time he arrived, the area surrounding the treasure was already packed with countless people, the majority of them being blacksmiths.

"Welcome, God of Creation!"

The crowd enthusiastically greeted the God of Creation the moment he arrived.

He quickly recognized many familiar faces among the gathering. In fact, every single Divine Blacksmith in the Ninth Heaven was present as well.

After speaking with some of the blacksmiths, the God of Creation got a rough idea about the situation.

Even before the God of Creation had arrived, several Divine Blacksmiths had already carefully examined the engravings on the treasure, comparing them to the works the Exalted Blacksmith had created in the distant past.

And every single one of them had reached the exact same conclusion... it was authentic.

However, despite being almost completely certain of its authenticity, they still had to wait for the current God of Creation to personally examine it before officially announcing the news to the public.

Some time later, the God of Creation retrieved several treasures from his spatial ring before approaching the stairway.

He then carefully compared the engravings on his already authenticated treasures crafted by the Exalted Blacksmith with the engravings carved onto the stairway itself.

Meanwhile, everyone else watched with nervous expressions, silently waiting for the God of Creation to announce his conclusion.

Several minutes later, the God of Creation took a deep breath and announced the results.

"It’s real."

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