Enlightenment

"Xiao Xuan! Wulin! Come here."

Mang Tian beckoned to them, signaling for them to come over.

"Teacher!"

Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin walked up to him.

"Ever since I took you two in three years ago, your performance has far exceeded my expectations. Your progress has simply been too fast. Especially you, Xiao Xuan—I can no longer teach you much."

Mang Tian sighed, then looked at Mu Chen beside him.

"The President is one of the Ten Great Saint Craftsmen of the Continent. His forging skills are far beyond mine. If you wish to go further, you must inevitably reach a higher level, and that is something I cannot give you."

"Therefore, I mean for you to also take the President as your teacher. What do you think?"

Mang Tian looked at his two disciples. Unlike in the original story, he had no intention of transferring their teacher-disciple relationship.

Though he was only a Sixth-Grade Blacksmith, as Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin's guide, he felt he was qualified to sit on equal footing with Mu Chen.

Mu Chen also looked at the two with expectation in his eyes.

Disciples sought teachers, and teachers likewise sought disciples.

For a forging grandmaster like him, finding a disciple capable of inheriting his legacy was equally rare.

"Brother Xuan!"

Tang Wulin looked at Lin Xuan, wanting to know what he thought. Lin Xuan nodded at him, then respectfully said to Mu Chen,

"Teacher! Lin Xuan is willing!"

Having grown up eating at countless households, Lin Xuan naturally had no sect prejudice. If his system had been a disciple-taking system, he could have taken hundreds of teachers without batting an eye.

"I'm willing too!"

Tang Wulin stepped forward and became his disciple as well.

"Good, good, good!"

Mu Chen laughed heartily and hurried forward to help the two up. His cultivation had basically reached its limit at Soul Fighting Douluo. He had no hope of becoming a Divine Craftsman in this lifetime, but having these two fine disciples was more than enough.

Looking at Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin before him, Mu Chen's gaze turned distant. He seemed to understand why his teacher had been so happy when he and his senior brother had been accepted all those years ago.

Mang Tian smiled as he watched them. In the forging world, each lineage was usually passed down to only one person. Mu Chen agreeing to be the two boys' teacher alongside him meant Mang Tian had come out ahead.

"Xiao Xuan, you can now achieve Thousand Forging First Grade, but as you've only just entered this stage, there are still some details you need to pay attention to. Wulin, you can watch and learn as well."

Mu Chen walked straight to the forging table and spoke to the two. Having just accepted them as disciples, he naturally had to show off a little.

"Watch carefully. In this situation..."

A few minutes later, Mu Chen began demonstrating for them, swinging his forging hammer.

A few months later, on the Back Hill of Eastsea Academy.

"Slash!"

Lin Xuan's eyes flashed as he fiercely swung the longsword in his hand. A three-foot sword aura shot from the blade.

Boom!

The sword light flashed, and the camphor tree as thick as a bowl before him was severed at the waist, slowly falling to the ground.

"It's still missing something..."

Lin Xuan carefully reflected on that strike. It seemed to be lacking something.

Over the past two months, Lin Xuan's studies had also gotten on track. Every weekend, he went to the Blacksmith Association to take on jobs and repay his debts, while every half month, he went to the Spirit Ascension Platform to improve his soul spirit.

As for where the money for the Spirit Ascension Platform came from? Naturally, Lin Xuan had borrowed it from Mu Chen, fully making use of his teacher.

Of course, Mu Chen fully supported matters concerning soul master cultivation.

After all, Spirit Forging after Thousand Forging required at least Three Rings of cultivation. If he had not been worried about Lin Xuan's foundation being unstable, Mu Chen would have directly piled spiritual treasures on him to raise his cultivation.

Other than forging, Lin Xuan devoted most of his thoughts to creating a sword skill.

With his foundation in the sword, creating an ordinary sword-type soul skill would actually have been easy for him.

The problem was that he looked down on sword techniques that were too mediocre. Moreover, a self-created soul skill was best when it suited one's own Martial Soul.

And what was Lin Xuan's Martial Soul? A blade of grass!

That naturally reminded him of the Immortal King-level ultimate art from a novel in his previous life—the Azure Leaf Grass Sword Skill!

A single blade of grass could sever the sun, moon, and stars!

But even a watered-down version of such a peerless sword technique was not something he could casually create.

Over the past two months, he had only managed to work out a few strikes. Yet they had form without spirit, always falling just short of that final feeling.

"What exactly is still missing?"

Lin Xuan planted his sword beside him and lay down on the grass, letting the waves of grass brush across his face as he carefully sensed the rhythm of the blades.

Dozens of meters away, a young girl with a ponytail sat on the branch of a large banyan tree, swinging her legs. Her eyes were full of confusion as she looked at Lin Xuan lying in the distance.

"Nothing to do with him?"

Gu Yue had observed this annoying fellow for several days. Other than eating, he was sleeping here. There was nothing special about him at all.

Could there be some other reason why she had come here?

"What an idiot! What's he waving that thing around for?"

Gu Yue cast Lin Xuan a disdainful glance. This guy was always swinging a sword around here, and he looked utterly foolish doing it.

She lightly jumped down from the tree and turned to leave. She had no interest in watching this idiot sleep.

Just then, a burly boy carrying a lunchbox walked over, passing Gu Yue on the way.

"Why is it her again? Strange! Could Brother Xuan have abandoned her after messing around with her, and now she's come looking for him?"

Wang Jinxi scratched his head, his mind full of gossip as he muttered under his breath. He seemed to have seen this person several times over the past two days.

Gu Yue's retreating figure stiffened for a moment before disappearing around a distant corner.

Carrying the lunchbox, Wang Jinxi walked over and sat beside Lin Xuan.

"Brother Xuan! Today we have braised scaly fish."

Wang Jinxi handed the lunchbox to Lin Xuan. Over the past two months, he had practically become the official meal delivery boy.

"Thanks, Old Wang!"

Lin Xuan climbed up from the ground and opened the lunchbox. A rich aroma of fish drifted out, making his mouth water.

"Brother Xuan, the Class Promotion Tournament between Class Five and our class is coming up soon. Want to come have some fun?"

Wang Jinxi pulled a blade of grass from the ground and put it in his mouth, half reclining on the hillside.

The gentle breeze brushed against his face, and slender blades of grass occasionally swept past him, bringing an itchy, comfortable sensation.

No wonder Brother Xuan liked staying here so much.

Wang Jinxi secretly praised the place in his heart. On the other side, Lin Xuan glanced at him.

"Is it already our Class One's turn? Don't you three have confidence in this match?"

Over the past two months, Lin Xuan had taken a long leave from Ye Yingluo, so he did not know much about what was happening in class.

In truth, as long as they paid attention to Tang Wulin's Martial Soul restraining Wang Jinxi's, the three of them might not necessarily lose.

"That's not it. We just want to be more certain. It'd be a little awkward if we somehow lost."

"We watched several matches involving those three from Class Five before. Their strength is only so-so, though that girl among them is somewhat threatening."

Wang Jinxi shook his head. Those three were strong among one-ring soul masters, but they were still not much in the eyes of the three two-ring soul masters.

Still, the lesson from Lin Xuan taking on three opponents alone last time was still fresh in their minds. They did not dare boast recklessly. There was still a chance they could stumble.

"I'll see when the time comes. If I'm free, I'll come."

Lin Xuan spoke after a moment of thought. After this Class Promotion Tournament, Eastsea Academy would establish Zero Class.

It was still necessary to get into it. Setting everything else aside, the weekly chance to enter the Spirit Ascension Platform alone was equivalent to earning two million a month.

But even if he did not participate in this Class Promotion Tournament, getting into Zero Class would be easy enough. He could just fight his way in—the literal kind.

"Alright, then! I'll head off first."

Wang Jinxi stood up and patted his butt, then suddenly remembered something. Looking at Lin Xuan, he reminded him,

"There'll be heavy rain this week. Watch the time, and don't get soaked like a drowned rat."

Sometimes, to practice his swordsmanship, Lin Xuan would not even return to the dormitory at night. He would stay here instead, saying he was looking for inspiration beneath the starlight.

"Got it!"

Lin Xuan waved his hand and lay back down on the grass, staring blankly at the blue sky and white clouds above.

Wang Jinxi helplessly shook his head before turning and leaving. He knew Lin Xuan definitely had not listened.

But could lying here and looking at clouds and grass really help someone comprehend a sword technique?