How to Maintain True Neutrality
"You make me sound like some kind of mentally disturbed freak."
Su Tianxuan and the others followed Zhen Hua into a VIP Reception Room.
Hearing that, Zhen Hua looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he held his thoughts back.
He was afraid of getting beaten up.
"All right, all right. What do you want to see? I'll have someone arrange it for you."
Although the Mingdu Blacksmith Association wasn't his territory, he still had influence as a Divine Craftsman. Besides, since it was a favor for Su Tianxuan, Mingdu's blacksmiths certainly wouldn't give him a halfhearted performance.
"Spirit Forging and Soul Forging, just the most basic kind. They don't understand any of it."
Su Tianxuan thought for a moment and picked two types of forging that would make a good show.
Giving metal life and a soul—those miraculous feats were sure to astonish the two ancients.
"If they don't understand anything, why show them intermediate forging..."
Zhen Hua muttered, but didn't pay it much mind. Nothing the Time Douluo did would surprise anyone.
The blacksmiths who received word were all thrilled.
Who was Su Tianxuan?
He had reached the limit at twenty, a peerless genius and the strongest person alive, unmatched under heaven in his unfathomable mystery.
Most importantly, this peerless expert had never joined any faction and had always maintained a detached neutrality. That gave ordinary people, who were constantly exploited by major organizations, a natural fondness for him.
Ever since he settled in Mingdu, no one from Shrek had dared come here and make trouble. Whether old or young, if they annoyed Su Tianxuan, he really would kill them and hang their corpses at Shrek's gates.
That gave the people of Mingdu a chance to vent their long-held resentment. They had been threatened by Yun Ming and tormented by senior elders who came to bully council members and by students taking exams.
After a fierce struggle, two Level 8 Saint Craftsmen successfully fought their way to the front.
Considering that Qian Ye and her companion understood nothing, the two Saint Craftsmen took special care to explain more of the basics of Hundred Refinement and Thousand Refinement.
Even so, the two women were still lost in a fog.
But when they saw an utterly ordinary block of metal acquire the breath of life and intelligence after Spirit Forging and Soul Forging, able to change shape at will, merge into a Soul Master's body, and move like a living creature, everyone's jaws dropped.
In the Douluo I era.
Bang!
The rack in front of the "Divine Craftsman" Lou Gao was knocked to the ground, scattering the rare metals he treasured across the floor. But he paid them no mind, staring at the sky screen in bewilderment.
He could still understand Hundred Refinement and Thousand Refinement. They were merely purification and smelting techniques with better, more powerful methods; he could do the same if he worked hard.
But Spirit Forging and Soul Forging were completely beyond his imagination.
"Metal with life, metal with a soul... How is that possible? How is that possible?!"
Lou Gao shouted wildly.
He only regretted being too clever. If he had been stupid enough, he would have been shocked at most, but he had understood it—if only a little.
That feeling of being caught halfway was the most despairing of all.
He dazedly kicked the refined sunken silver on the floor away.
It didn't matter anymore.
Just as someone who had once had a real wife would find it hard to take an interest in artificial products again, he had now lost interest in this garbage without life or souls.
"I want to go to the future... I want to go to the future..."
Meanwhile, although Tang Hao was deeply shocked, he still maintained a disdainful expression.
He couldn't understand it, but the Clear Sky Sect of the future surely had something better. He disdained to learn this minor art, so he said to the Shrek students:
"When my Clear Sky Sect makes its appearance, you'll know what true forging is!"
On the sky screen, Su Tianxuan casually picked up several pieces of soul-forged metal. His carving knife flashed, engraving one Soul Guidance Array after another.
Relying on his strength as a Limit Douluo, he actually cobbled together two of the latest Soul Guidance Communicators by hand.
At the sight, the corner of Zhen Hua's mouth twitched.
"Did you steal the Tang Sect's technology again?"
"Can you call a scholar's business stealing? I learned it fair and square."
Su Tianxuan curled his lip.
He had clearly learned by directly reading the Soul Tools' pasts to see how they had turned themselves into what they were. The Soul Tools had taught him everything, so what did it have to do with the Tang Sect?
Besides, who on the Douluo Continent didn't know he could do this?
Did anyone dare stop him?
If they pushed him too far, he would simply make all the Soul Spirit and Soul Tool technology public and see who could stomach that.
So the Tang Sect had long since given up. Whatever he wanted, as long as Su Tianxuan didn't spread it far and wide, he could do as he pleased. They weren't going to bother anymore.
The greatest fighting strength, the most singular law of time, and the thinnest household register—all of these combined had given Su Tianxuan his incomparably detached neutral standing today.
In the Douluo II era, in the Sun Moon Empire.
Jing Hongchen and Kong Deming stared intently at the Soul Guidance Arrays in Su Tianxuan's hands, their brushes flying as they recorded all manner of details and calculations in scrawls only they could understand.
"How much did you learn?"
"One tenth."
"Not as much as me."
Jing Hongchen took a deep breath, his eyes fervent. Even though there was much he couldn't understand, the few minutes he had spent secretly learning from Su Tianxuan had already surpassed years of his own efforts.
If he too could travel to the future, then wouldn't he...
"I could make a Level 10 Soul Tool."
Hearing his unambitious words, Kong Deming smiled disdainfully.
"What's a Level 10? If you're going to make one, make a Level 11 or Level 12!"
His ambition was great, but as the strongest Soul Engineer, he had the confidence and ability to match!
"Oh, right. When Ye Guyi comes back, remember to send an army to protect her."
Kong Deming suddenly recalled something and hurriedly instructed his subordinates.
The first traveler to the future was one of their own from the Sun Moon Empire. They had to protect her, no matter what.
"Aren't you afraid of provoking those beasts?"
Jing Hongchen was somewhat surprised. He had thought he would be the one to stick his neck out, but he hadn't expected this senior, who had been in seclusion for so long, to step forward himself.
Kong Deming sneered.
"Heh, what is there to fear? I'd like to see whether their Evil Soul Masters' Martial Souls are more evil or our Sun Moon Empire's cannon fire more righteous!
"Angel, angel... Say, don't you think the Spirit Hall would make a better state religion than the Holy Spirit Cult?"
"..."
In the Douluo I era.
Tang San, who was on the run, heard that someone had secretly learned his Tang Sect's technology and was so furious he nearly ground his teeth to pieces.
What he hated most in his life was others secretly learning the Tang Sect's things.
He himself was the exception.
Fortunately, they were only some unimportant Soul Tools.
"If you dare secretly learn the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, I will kill you!"
Tang San silently swore to himself.
On the sky screen, Su Tianxuan tossed the two Soul Guidance Communicators to Qian Renxue and Ye Guyi.
"Here. If you have any questions, ask the Soul Tool. It can look anything up, so don't come bothering me."
The two women took them and saw several large words on the screens: "Foolproof mode enabled. Please press the button and state your request."
Qian Renxue frowned, feeling as though her dignity had been repeatedly insulted today!
She wanted to flare up, but when she remembered how he had shut her down at every turn earlier, she could only swallow her words and turn her head away, refusing to look at Su Tianxuan in a huff.
This guy doesn't have the magnanimity of an expert at all. I won't lower myself to argue with him!
Ye Guyi, on the other hand, didn't mind. Instead, she stared intently at the Soul Guidance Carving Knife in Su Tianxuan's hand.
"Your Majesty, can you teach me that?!"