Chapter 1454 - First Attempt
The blazing hot Heavy Silver rose from the melting pot a dark red. Tang Wulin waved his hammers together and pounded on it repeatedly like a meteor chasing after the moon.
“Boom, boom!” There were two loud rumbling noises. Zhen Hua could clearly hear a deep dragon’s roar coming out of Tang Wulin’s body.
Faint golden radiance burst out from his spine, creeping along his arms before channeling into the pair of Heavy Silver Hammers and finally infusing into the metal he was forging.
At the sound of the two loud booms, a stream of silver light suddenly arose from the Heavy Silver over a few hundred meters into the sky! A Grade One Thousand Refined metal was produced!
Even though Tang Wulin did not manage to carry out One Pound Thousand Refined, having relied on multiple blows from his forging hammers, only a few Saint Craftsmen were capable of producing a Grade One Thousand Refined metal! Tang Wulin had fully mastered the application of his forging skills.
Zhen Hua’s face cracked into a smile at once. As a Divine Craftsman, he had incomparably sharp vision such that he could tell that Tang Wulin had always put in great effort in his forging technique simply by seeing this move. Tang Wulin had vastly improved since he saw him last. It was obvious that he had been painstakingly cultivating the whole time.
In reality, Tang Wulin was the one that made all his companions’ three-word battle armor. Moreover, the battle armor was made of soul-forged spirit alloy of the highest standards. Other than cultivation, he spent most of his time forging. His soul-forging success rate was so high that even Zhen Hua might necessarily have been able to rival him. After all, Tang Wulin’s upper hand when it came to their cultivation bases and strength was quite apparent.
There was a silver glow and the faint roar of a dragon was heard in between Tang Wulin’s breathing. It produced a peculiar feeling.
Tang Wulin took a deep breath and raised his pair of Heavy Silver Hammers once again. His eyes were getting increasingly clearer while his body exuded a unique aura.
Zhen Hua trembled ever so slightly because he could clearly sense the transformation in Tang Wulin. The surrounding air seemed to have warped a little, like an illusion. It was obvious that Tang Wulin was unleashing his spiritual power.
Such formidable spiritual power! Zhen Hua gasped in admiration, though he was also filled with envy.
Besides soul power, spiritual power was a soul master’s most important attribute. The higher a soul master’s cultivation base was, the more important his spiritual power was as well. It was the foundation to the soul master’s future elevation. Moreover, spiritual power was widely applicable and it had a tremendous effect in the soul master’s sub-professions too. It was just the same for forging. The requirement for spiritual power was greater for the higher levels of forging. It allowed the soul master to sense the change in the metal in a more detailed manner.
Tang Wulin’s twin hammers pounded once again. However, this time, he was no longer pounding heavily but knocking gently on the metal. He relied purely on the strength of his wrists. The hammers knocked at high frequency like a drum beating onto the piece of Grade One Thousand Refined Heavy Silver from all directions.
The dense knocking sounds had a pleasant rhythm akin to the sound of raindrops falling on banana leaves. It sounded charming and joyous to ears.
The Heavy Silver was also giving out a continuous humming sound during the knocking process as if it was responding to Tang Wulin’s forging.
The smile on Zhen Hua’s face grew wider. The boy had already grasped the essence of forging, and nothing could please Zhen Hua more than this.
“Ding ding ding!” With a series of crisp sounds, the Heavy Silver’s glow dimmed. There was a soft hum as something odd occurred. A faint silver glow appeared on the surface of the metal. It looked as if there was a dragon floating through the light.
The Spirit Forging was completed successfully!
The newly created spirit-forged metal was just like a newborn baby. It gave out waves of humming sounds, and the silver light circulating on its surface made it appear especially magnificent.
Without stopping, Tang Wulin continued to knock with his double hammers. He controlled his tempo, slowing down and speeding up occasionally to soften and harden the metal. The rhythm of the knocking was constantly changing while a faint white glow began to emerge from his body as well. That was the infusion of his soul power into the metal.
His soul power was so thick it felt solid. The white radiance emitted from his body made the pair of soul-forged Heavy Silver Hammers glow brightly. With every knock he made, he guided his spiritual consciousness into the metal, making the entire piece of Heavy Silver undergo minute changes.
If Zhen Hua’s Soul Forging skill was described as earth-shattering and heaven-battering, Tang Wulin’s Soul Forging was smooth as silk and silent as a mouse. The process was not ostentatious, but it improved the metal decisively while it built its intelligence little by little.
Such dense and thick soul power! Zhen Hua realized that Tang Wulin’s cultivation base had already surpassed his own. Being able to rely on himself completely when cultivating to the rank of Title Douluo was truly exceptional!
Zhen Hua gasped as he admired Tang Wulin’s forging process as if he was looking at an art piece.
Of course, Zhen Hua could tell that Tang Wulin would definitely succeed in soul-forging this time, no matter how the final product of Heavenly Refinement would turn out. Moreover, the quality of the product would be relatively impressive. Even though there was only one type of metal used in this process, Zhen Hua was still thoroughly satisfied with Tang Wulin’s incredibly stable success rate.
Tang Wulin was still so young. If another blacksmith had had his skill, they would have certainly displayed some fancier techniques while forging. However, Tang Wulin did not do so. He only cared about successfully completing the soul-forging process. The entire time, he would never allow himself to make even the slightest mistake. Moreover, his spiritual power was infused into the metal meticulously.
It could be said that Tang Wulin had already broken many records in the world of blacksmithing on this day. One of them was that he was the only blacksmith in possession of spiritual power that had reached the rank of Spirit Domain.
Thus, even Zhen Hua had yet to figure out how helpful spiritual power of such a rank would be in the forging process.
Judging from the current situation, Tang Wulin’s spiritual power certainly aided his soul-forging process. Tang Wulin infused his dense spiritual power through the knocks he delivered onto the metal. The process was utterly infallible. His tremendous spiritual power was highly effective in awakening the metal. Moreover, he was truly skilled in forging Heavy Silver as well.
The glow coming from the surface of the Heavy Silver grew brighter and brighter. The baby seemed to be growing slowly, and the soft dragon’s roar was gradually growing louder. Even more amazing was that the glowing form of a dragon contained in the silver light was becoming clearer and clearer. Eventually, one could even see its scales.
Tang Wulin’s soul forging process lasted fifteen minutes. He seemed to be working slower than Zhen Hua’s earlier speed. However, there was a pleasant dragon’s roar after his final knock landed on the metal and his hands stopped moving.
The piece of Heavy Silver floated into the air. The tiny dragon that was circling around it turned from the colour of the Heavy Silver into a light gold. It cruised back and forth inside the metal. It hovered in front of Tang Wulin’s body occasionally showing a great deal of affection.
The soul-forging process was a success! The metal’s intelligence was birthed.
It had only been twenty minutes since he began forging and he had forged a piece of soul-forged metal successfully just as such. Most importantly, Zhen Hua could not sense Tang Wulin’s exhaustion at all, and he could tell that Tang Wulin was still in fine form.
His physical capabilities and spiritual power were so formidable!
He quieted down once again. He was recalling the feeling he had when he watched Zhen Hua engaged in Heavenly Refinement earlier.
Zhen Hua did not disturb him for there was no need to consider the success or failure of the product during the first attempt at Heavenly Refinement. The most important thing to do now was to feel and experience the process and find the right course for Heavenly Refinement first without deviating from the path.
Thus, he hoped that Tang Wulin could slow down as much as possible at this point in order to experience the depth of the Heavenly Refinement process.
Heavenly Refinement was just like a martial soul awakening, which would decide whether the bearer’s soul power could be triggered and whether they could cultivate into a soul master. On the other hand, Heavenly Refinement bestowed metal with its true abilities such that it could genuinely gain control of its intelligence.
One of the sources of four-word battle armor’s potency was the overall combination of every piece of metal equipped with powerful abilities in addition to the guidance from the soul circuit. The power of four-word battle armor surpassed a divine mecha on its own. When fully unleashed, its power could almost double the cultivation base of a Limit Douluo-ranked powerhouse.
Had it not been for the creation of battle armor, soul beasts would never have gone extinct so quickly. Thus, the value of four-word battle armor was apparent, and Heavenly Refinement was the foundation of four-word battle armor.
It has been said that four-word battle armor should not exist in the mortal world as its power was something that should belong to the Divine Realm.
When Tang Wulin was ready, Zhen Hua would turn on the Heavenly Ascension Platform to guide the heaven and earth power in for him. Tang Wulin would be able to sense the change in the laws of heaven and earth during the process of Heavenly Refinement. This was the toughest part of the process. Zhen Hua spent a year just to learn how to smoothly guide in heaven and earth power for his own use. He was already the paragon of the forging world at the time.
Meanwhile, Tang Wulin suddenly opened his eyes, which shimmered with golden light. Glowing sparkles emerged in the air and swirled about before surging into the metal from all directions. Those were elements of different types of attributes.
Four types of elements including water, fire, earth and wind entered the Heavenly Ascension Platform and spun around the forging table.
Zhen Hua could not help being stunned upon witnessing the scene for he had not turned on the Heavenly Ascension Platform yet! How did this origin energy come inside by itself? Could it be that it was guided in by Tang Wulin himself?
He watched as a large pink flower bloomed behind Tang Wulin. More and more elements of all attributes gathered in the air. Moreover, there were already more than just water, fire, earth and wind elements. There were also faint golden hues and a thick purple-black color seen in the air. The presence of these colors represented light and darkness. Finally, even a flickering silver color appeared. It was the most miraculous-looking silver color.
There were seven types of elements in the air!