In an instant, the dragon flame engulfed a fan-shaped area extending twenty meters ahead, where rocks, the ground, and walls disintegrated in the blaze of the sword's dragon flame.
Many onlookers, not even within the range of the Dragon Breath Slash, found their clothes and hair almost set ablaze by the scorching wave that struck them head-on.
Everyone gasped in shock, their faces revealing expressions of astonishment.
Su Muyu quickly raised her hand and cast "Prism Force Field" to block the waves of heat from the Dragon Breath Slash.
Even after the "Prism Force Field" dissipated, the torrential heat of the Dragon Breath Slash didn't cease, and other superpower users hurriedly employed their defense skills to withstand the high temperatures.
What shocked everyone was that the heatwave was not the full power of the Dragon Breath Slash but merely its residual impact.
Just the aftermath was terrifyingly hot—if someone had been within the Dragon Breath Slash's attack radius, wouldn't they have disintegrated like those stones?
The remnants of the Dragon Breath Slash's heatwave lasted for three minutes before a fierce wind conjured by superpower users managed to disperse it.
After the residual heat cleared, the entire courtyard in front of Quenching Castle had been utterly transformed.
Master Gulu, however, was not the slightest bit upset; instead, he clapped his hands in excitement, "This is great. The Black Iron Tribe has finally forged a divine weapon."
Some of the onlookers on the scene had been filming with their cell phones.
Once this news spread, Quenching Castle would surely become a global focal point once more.
Lu Heng, looking at the scorched remains of the castle's courtyard, frowned and said, "We should have tested this somewhere else."
Master Gulu didn't want to leave Quenching Castle, hence the choice to test there.
He waved his hand and said, "No problem, this damage is a minor issue for Quenching Castle."
Lin Zeyu quickly took up the conversation, "Don't worry, master. I'll find someone to repair it, and guarantee it'll look even better than before."
"Then I'll leave it to you. I'm going back to continue studying forging techniques," said Gulu, now brimming with confidence. He turned and trotted back, ready to pursue his studies and aim for even higher realms in forging techniques.
The next day, the news that S-level divine weapons had been forged at Quenching Castle spread like a storm across the globe.
Videos of the Dragon Breath Slash surfaced online, their display of destructive power surpassing even the abilities of superpower users with a Flame Series Class.
What was even more terrifying was that this was a divine attribute skill inherent to the weapon itself.
In other words, it didn't occupy a Class or Skill Slot but still possessed immense power.
The mere factor of the weapon carrying this feature made it an invaluable treasure.
For the oligarchs of the ASE All-Knowing Eye alliance, money was but a number, and any combat power that could be bought was immediate combat power.
If it were a Class or Skill Crystal Core, superpower users would face restrictions to acquire them.
For example, within a given Class, a superpower user could only possess one Class.
The Skill Slot was similar, limiting the number of skills a superpower user could attain.
But it was different with weapons—you could wield them as soon as they were in hand.
And a superpower user could have multiple weapons.
That's the unique characteristic of weapons and equipment.
After the news broke, world-class financial powerhouses began to seek channels to invest money into forging weapons.
This led to another sharp rise in the price of forging materials.
Yet these tycoons found that, even with their financial clout, forging S-level divine weapons—or even A-level ones—was extremely difficult.
It seemed as if only Quenching Castle could forge S-level divine weapons.
To forge S-level divine weapons, divine attribute materials were required, and even Master Gulu couldn't produce an S-level divine weapon without something like the Purgatory Sub-Dragon Horn.
Accordingly, these tycoons could pour in as much money as they liked, but the result would be the same.
This led more and more oligarchs to consider pouring money into the Flame Emblem Club.
Some even offered astronomical sums in hopes of acquiring the Flame Emblem Club.
Lin Zeyu was even thinking of selling; after all, what was being sold was the Flame Emblem, not Quenching Castle.
He discussed the matter with Lu Heng.
Lu Heng found it bothersome; selling the Flame Emblem would require starting another club from scratch, a time-consuming and laborious task.
Currently, with his hands on Quenching, Forging, and Engraving—three major vice professions—he was positioned to make more money than he could count. Saving time would allow him to focus on increasing his combat power.
Only by wielding strength could he safeguard this vast wealth.
If Lu Heng and his companions had been merely low-level flunkies around the Level 10 mark, Quenching Castle might already have changed hands.
"Are we still taking forging orders? I've increased the prices tenfold, and those tycoons wouldn't even bat an eyelid," said Lin Zeyu, who was from a decent background and had seen the world, but even he had never encountered such exceptional circumstances.
Lu Heng had thought about this matter.
"Bundle the forging orders with the quenching orders, allocating the forging and quenching on a ratio. If they don't agree, we won't take the order," suggested Lu Heng.
Lin Zeyu's eyebrows rose as he asked, "You mean...?"
"That's right, squeeze the Lion Heart Empire's quenching market," Lu Heng nodded in affirmation.
The Lion Heart Empire had forcefully taken their Quenching Furnace from the Black Iron Dwarves—a sensitive matter.
Since the Lion Heart Empire was a lackey to the White Eagle Federation, from their perspective, recovering the Quenching Furnace was a way to help human civilization progress.
This issue was a matter of perspective; the distinction between right and wrong was no longer clear.
Because from the standpoint of civilization, human and Black Iron Dwarf civilizations are distinct.
Thus, the pillaging actions of those nations received support from many individuals.
Setting aside right and wrong,
Lu Heng harbored no good feelings toward the commercial practices of the Western countries,
for in the past life, after the Lion Heart Empire got hold of the Quenching Furnace, it began deploying various tactics to seize the Da Xia quenching market.