A Forging Encounter

The little girl with pale blue twin tails innocently waved the Poké Ball in her hand, its surface dotted with a starry sky, and spoke the most innocent words in the purest tone.

"H-how... how many years?! Ninety thousand?!"

That shattered all four of them. They had thought their families' ancestral elders were already powerful, but there was someone even stronger!

"Don't get cocky! Once I become a Soul King and fuse with my ancestor, I'll definitely be able to raise his cultivation to ninety thousand years too!"

Xie Xie's face flushed red. Being slapped in the face in public like this left him feeling as though he had lost face. He immediately resolved that once he could fuse with his ancestor, he would raise his cultivation to ninety thousand years!

"Oh? Then shouldn't you be calling me boss now?"

Xu Xiaoyan flashed a sweet smile, but her words struck right at their hearts. Xie Xie and the others clenched their fists, but in the end, they all lowered their heads.

"Hello, boss!"

The four had no choice but to bow their heads and shout their greeting together. Only then did Xu Xiaoyan nod in satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Chen Jianshu looked away from their antics. Unfortunately, he was just an ordinary commoner and had no such thing as a Soul Spirit passed down through the generations.

Of course, if he brought out Na'er when the time came, he didn't care whether they had a flood dragon, a dragon, an eagle, or a starry sky beast. They could all sit down!

Just like that, the simple day of lessons soon passed. The first lessons were mostly theory, so there wasn't much to say.

When school let out, Chen Jianshu saw many parents waiting at the school gates to pick up their children.

"Brother, where's my grilled cold noodles?"

Xu Xiaoyan came up to a blue-haired man. Seeing that he was empty-handed, she puffed out her cheeks and demanded an answer. Xu Xiaoyu, who had been quite happy to see his little sister, immediately froze.

"Uh... I was afraid they'd get cold... Come on, let's go buy some now."

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"No! Absolutely not! How could I possibly forget?"

The brother and sister left Eastsea Junior Academy together in a private car. Even Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi had people come to pick them up.

Xie Xie attracted the most attention. He threw himself onto a ten-thousand-year-old Emerald Swan and called out:

"Godmother, you came to pick me up today?"

"Yes. Your mother is still undergoing treatment and shouldn't be moving around. She was worried about you, so I came to pick you up in her place."

The Emerald Swan gave two honks, and the translator around her neck produced an electronic voice.

The gist of it was that when Xie Xie was five, his mother had fallen gravely ill from longing, while his father was a very busy man who gave his wife and child too little care.

At the time, the best healing-type Soul Master in Eastsea City was a Soul King with the Jadeite Flower Martial Soul, but even that Soul Master had been unable to cure her.

Eventually, Xie Xie had persisted in his search and found the doctor in the Eastsea City Spirit Pagoda's infirmary, the Emerald Swan—this very ten-thousand-year-old Emerald Swan.

Once the Emerald Swan stepped in, his mother's condition began to improve. After all, she was a professional. Every city's Spirit Pagoda was equipped with healing-type Soul Beasts or healing-type Soul Masters.

After she successfully cured his mother, Xie Xie had taken the Emerald Swan as his godmother.

In short, it was all pretty absurd. Chen Jianshu soon looked away and headed to the Blacksmith Association alone.

After arriving at the Blacksmith Association, he showed his rank-two blacksmith badge and took on a few commissions.

When the receptionist saw a six-year-old rank-two blacksmith, she immediately wanted to notify the higher-ups at the Eastsea Blacksmith Association.

However, all the higher-ups had gone to a lecture. Apparently, Tower Master Di Tian had honored Eastsea City with his presence and was giving a lecture on forging.

It was said that Beast God Di Tian was the strongest blacksmith alive. He had already been an eight-star Saint Craftsman ten thousand years ago, and over the past ten millennia, who knew how many Divine Craftsmen he had trained?

If the Plane Master of the Douluo Continent had not forbidden the Soul Beasts from producing a Divine Craftsman, Beast God Di Tian would have become one long ago.

Back then, Spirit Transferring Douluo had selflessly shared forging techniques, but unfortunately died young. The second Divine Craftsman capable of Heaven Refinement was Hongchen Douluo, Xiao Hongchen, who was also the first Level 11 Soul Engineer in history.

Di Tian had already been a Saint Craftsman at the time. Ten thousand years had passed, and if not for the suppression of the world's rules, he would have become a Divine Craftsman long ago.

When someone like him gave a lecture on forging, even the current Divine Craftsman, Zhen Hua, had to attend. There was no other reason than the sheer weight of ten thousand years as a Saint Craftsman.

Chen Jianshu took on a few Thousand Refinement commissions, then went to a forging room to get to work.

He raised two fingers, and a silver-white card appeared between them.

Engraved on the card was a girl holding a silver-white spear. She had silver hair and silver eyes and was exceedingly pretty and adorable. It was Na'er's Character Card.

"Fuse."

He murmured the word, and the card merged into his body. His short black hair turned silver-white, and his features grew somewhat softer.

Chen Jianshu opened his eyes. His formerly black eyes had turned silver-white, with seven-colored light flowing through his pupils.

He raised the Thousand Refinement forging hammer in his hand and brought it down. While fused with the Character Card, his sensitivity to the elements had greatly increased, as had his affinity with them. His spiritual power was also boosted, sharpening his perception.

At the same time, a few silver-white dragon scales covered his arms, greatly increasing his forging efficiency. He soon finished a piece of grade-three Thousand-Refined metal and moved on to the next.

The second piece, then the third! By the third piece, his Soul Power had hit bottom. Although he could use the surrounding primordial power of heaven and earth to recover, his recovery couldn't keep up with the drain.

Both fusing with the Character Card and forging consumed a considerable amount. Above all, he was short on mana.

Chen Jianshu let out a long breath of stale air. His silver-white hair, which had looked somewhat soft, slowly faded back to its original color.

He sat in a chair and rested for a while, replaying the forging process in his mind and considering whether there was anything he needed to correct.

"Your control of the heat was good, but you were a little unsteady partway through. Your rhythm was thrown off during the last forging."

Just then, a deep voice came from beside him. He snapped his head up and saw a figure more than two meters tall, like a small giant, standing nearby. He had no idea when the man had appeared beside him.

The newcomer had long black hair with a streak of gold at his forehead. His expression was calm yet somewhat complicated, and his golden vertical pupils stared straight at him.

He looked at the man's luxurious black robe, which was covered in golden patterns. One glance was enough to tell it was high-quality.

Anyone who could appear beside him without a sound had to be at least a Soul King-level expert. He immediately rose and bowed.

"Greetings, senior..."

"...There's no need for that. I was only passing by. Also... what's your name?"

The black-robed figure looked away, glanced at the metal on the forging table, and asked for more information.

"This junior is Chen Jianshu..."

P.S. First update for July 4, two thousand Chinese characters in total.