I Traveled to Douluo and Split into Five People

He left messages for Zhou Xuefeng and Ning Yulin in the shared space, asking them to try directly imbuing Thousand Refinements materials with vitality. They were to observe the difference between living and lifeless materials firsthand and identify the distinction. Perhaps that would be the key to breaking through to Spirit Forging.

He sent off all the Thousand Refinements materials he had completed through the "express delivery" service of the Seven Treasures Sect branch in Gengxin City.

Another month or so passed.

Zhou Xuefeng was the first to reply.

Directly giving materials vitality was entirely different from forging spirituality into them, as the five had envisioned. However, when he removed the Life Attachment from a material, he sensed something resembling an emotional response.

It vanished in an instant.

After repeated experiments and Zhou Xuefeng's tentative comparative forging, with the Blue Silver Grass helping expand his spiritual power and sense the changes within the material, he discovered that after Thousand Refinements was completed, every hammer blow caused the material to convey an incredibly faint "emotion."

Perhaps this was the key.

Capturing that "emotion," amplifying it, and elevating it should be the key to completing Spirit Forging—or rather, not Spirit Forging itself, but the key to being able to absorb it into one's body.

Some time later, Ning Yulin gave a similar reply.

But Tang Yin followed their descriptions and tried dozens of times, yet he could not sense any so-called "emotion." There were only signs that his Soul Power was merging somewhat with the material.

"That makes no sense. Everyone's souls are about the same. Why can they sense it while I can't?"

"Could it be because of our Martial Souls?"

The Clear Sky Hammer's Soul Power was domineering and heavy. Unlike the spirituality of the Glazed Pagoda or the vitality of Blue Silver Grass, it was naturally unsuited for such delicate work. Even though it was clearly so suitable for smithing and forging.

"What if I used an ordinary hammer instead?"

But that did not seem to work either. He had specialized in the Clear Sky Hammer for too long, and using its Soul Power had become habitual. Even when he switched to the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul or the Glazed Pagoda Martial Soul, he still could not achieve the perception Zhou Xuefeng and Ning Yulin had described.

He entered the shared space and asked the two to directly share their sensory experiences from the time.

Yet it still seemed as though something was missing.

Until later, when Tian Rui shared his experience cultivating Current Drive in the shared space and asked the other four to help him research methods for cultivating the next stage whenever they had time, Tang Yin suddenly had an idea. Perhaps he could use a magnetic field to assist in sensing the changes inside the materials—the so-called "emotions."

But it did not go smoothly.

Forging could not be separated from fire. High temperatures would affect the stability of the magnetic field.

Could he use electromagnetism directly to bring materials to the Thousand Refinements level?

An idea surfaced in Tang Yin's mind. That way, the magnetic field would not be affected.

However, his Current Drive level at the moment...

He spread out his hand, and not even a spark appeared. Without possessing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, he could not generate electricity on his own. And even if he used the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, he still could not forge directly through electromagnetism.

But there was plenty of time. He could take it slowly.

Two years later.

Everyone had obtained their Fourth Spirit Rings, all of them at the ten-thousand-year level.

Ning Yulin continued along his planned Five Elements path. He found a ten-thousand-year Flame Attribute Spirit Beast and gained a Flame Attribute attachment effect. His Soul Power Level was around forty-two. His research into the Mysterious Water Pill had yielded some results, though the formula was not yet complete. He had produced several pills capable of enhancing physical qualities, but the input and output were wildly disproportionate. Considering the medicinal ingredients invested, the effects were simply wasteful.

But in the eyes of the other members of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, this was already excellent. The improvement might be small, but it was still an improvement.

Tian Rui's Fourth Spirit Ring came from a ten-thousand-year Blazing Light Fire Kite. Like the Five-Colored Glazed Peacock of his Third Spirit Ring, it also contained a trace of Phoenix Bloodline. After breaking through Level Forty, he began searching for it. Several months later, he encountered the Spirit Beast and gained a boosting Spirit Skill. It activated a thirty-minute bathing-in-fire state, increasing flame intensity, attack power, speed, strength, and other basic attributes by one hundred percent. His flames also gained anti-magic properties. He named it Crimson Kite Ascension.

That was not the important part. The important part was that it activated his Martial Soul Domain!

The newly formed domain did not cover a particularly large area yet, only around three hundred meters. Based on its effects, it had roughly four functions. Within the domain, every one of Tian Rui's attacks, whether physical or energy-based, carried Light and Sun Attributes, doubling their damage. Second, it suppressed Dark Attribute powers and their derivative attributes. Depending on Tian Rui's level, the suppression could reach one hundred percent. Targets without Dark Attributes or related derivative abilities would have their defense and offensive output reduced. Third, Spirit Masters related to Sun, Light, or Flame Attributes received boosts within the domain. Depending on Tian Rui's intentions, the increase ranged from a minimum of ten percent to a maximum of fifty percent. Fourth, it also had a certain healing effect.

Naturally, its consumption was equally terrifying. With his Soul Power at Level Forty-Four after absorbing the Spirit Ring, he could only sustain it at full power for three minutes.

He took down the Spirit Beast using a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Zhou Xuefeng and Tang Yin. When the people at Blazing Fire Academy saw Tian Rui's ten-thousand-year Fourth Ring, they were utterly stunned. Though some were curious about the secret behind it, no one had secretly made a move yet. Moreover, Tian Rui concealed things well, and not many people knew.

The dean of Blazing Fire Academy, however, called him over and asked him directly. He wanted to know whether others could achieve the same thing. Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu, the brother and sister, were family with the dean.

"I'm sorry, Dean."

That was all Tian Rui said. He did not explain the reason, leaving the dean to draw his own conclusions. The dean stared silently at Tian Rui, torn by an inner struggle.

Tian Rui looked back at him calmly, unconcerned that the man might try to seize the secret by force. At worst, he would die. Just wait and see whether I retaliate against Blazing Fire Academy after I revive.

After hesitating several times, the dean did not resort to force. Though disappointed, he did not press the matter. After all, this was an academy, not a clan. If it had been a clan, refusing to hand it over would mean betraying the family. Death!

Although the Spirit Masters who had founded Blazing Fire Academy had since become a respectable small family, the academy had both made and limited them. They had been too deeply influenced by its atmosphere and were very different from the other purely Spirit Master families. Skywater Academy and Godwind Academy were similar.

Thunderclap Academy had close ties with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and although it was also one of the elemental academies alongside those three, their private relationship was merely ordinary.

The dean asked again.

"Are you willing to represent the academy in this Spirit Master Tournament?"

Progress

In the year 2634, the Spirit Master Tournament, held once every five years, was scheduled for this year.

"I'm still sorry, Dean."

Tian Rui shrugged.

"I'm not interested in the Spirit Master Tournament. How could real combat possibly be confined to a place like an arena? With so many restrictions, how could it test comprehensive strength?"

At this moment, Tian Rui finally looked like a young man his age. The dean answered with a cheerful smile.

"That is why it is called a competition. The young people participating are the future of the Spirit Master world. If things were as you described, it would turn into a brutal and bloody contest. It probably would not be held many times before escalating into even more intense armed conflicts. In the middle of those conflicts, it could even develop into war."

Something like the Olympics?

But the Olympics had not exactly prevented wars from breaking out.

Those who held the power to speak only needed to see enough profit. They would not care whether there was a competition or not. Everyone would still die.

"Since you do not plan to compete, when do you intend to graduate?"

Tian Rui's level already qualified him to graduate from Blazing Fire Academy.

"Graduate? I never said I wanted to graduate."

The dean was greatly puzzled.

"Then do you plan to remain at the academy?"

So young, yet instead of going out to see the continent, he was already planning to settle down for retirement?

"Dean, there was a condition when I enrolled. You are not old enough for dementia yet, are you?"

A condition? What condition?

After thinking for a moment, the dean remembered.

"Skywater Academy?"

"That's right. We agreed before that I would join Blazing Fire Academy so I could more easily get close to the girls of Skywater Academy. I have only attended a few gatherings over these past two years. I can't leave the academy already."

To get Tian Rui to join Blazing Fire Academy as quickly as possible, the dean had readily agreed to that condition.

"Which one do you like? I'll go propose on your behalf."

He suddenly became curious which girl Tian Rui liked. The two academies had a good relationship, so his chances of succeeding as a matchmaker were not low.

"I like them all."

Dean: "..." Good grief!

"I'm joking, Dean. I won't participate this time. Even if I did, I would not achieve any particularly good ranking with my current strength. The next tournament... no, the one after next. If nothing comes up, I can participate then. I still won't have reached the age limit by then. As for now, I'll remain at the academy as a Teaching Assistant. I can help train Huo Wu and the others."

This kid was completely impossible to understand, but the dean agreed to let Tian Rui remain at the academy. He even welcomed it enthusiastically. He also gladly agreed to let Tian Rui help train Huo Wu and the others.

They were all young people. Perhaps they would get along better than with an old man and could learn one or two secrets from Tian Rui.

"Goodbye, Dean."

Watching Tian Rui leave, the dean shook his head.

"What a pity. This kid does not seem interested in the female students here... Well, compared to Skywater Academy, they do seem a little lacking."

Thinking back to those days, his feelings for the girls of Skywater Academy had also been... an indescribable youthful time.

After helping Tian Rui take down that Spirit Beast, Tang Yin also found a Spirit Beast for his Fourth Spirit Ring. He chose a strength-type Spirit Beast with Lightning Attribute power, hoping to make the Clear Sky Hammer carry electricity and help him sense the "emotions" of forging materials.

The resulting Spirit Skill was barely acceptable. Half boost, half attack.

It increased attack speed by forty percent. He could throw the hammer as a Flying Hammer attack with a locking effect. When it struck, it produced a certain degree of vibration that restricted the target's movement.

After the Spirit Beast hunt ended, he returned directly to Gengxin City to continue tackling the problem of Spirit Forging. He had already made a small breakthrough. By sheer coincidence, while swinging his hammer one time, his Soul Power merged with the material in a strange way. Recalling his state at the time, his mind had been completely free of distractions. There had only been the hammer and the thought of forging. That was how he found the trick.

However, he was still far from Spirit Forging. Perhaps it could be called Thousand Refinements First Grade?

As for An Lan, he obtained his Fourth Spirit Ring together with Qian Renxue. After learning what had happened to Tian Rui, he also wanted to find a Spirit Beast with Phoenix Bloodline to strengthen himself, but his luck did not seem as good as Tian Rui's.

He searched everywhere without encountering one and ultimately chose a Light Attribute Fire Cloud Sparrow.

He gained an area-of-effect Spirit Skill called Flame Meteor. The only consolation was that it increased his flame intensity a little.

There was still no progress in his research on Soul Cores. It seemed that the issue was not related to Soul Power control.

He recorded this and told the other four not to choose that Spirit Beast when they later overwrote his experience.

After Zhou Xuefeng, Tang Yin, and Tian Rui finished hunting Spirit Beasts, Zhou Xuefeng had originally planned to take the Three Sisters to live in the Northern Border for a while and gather information on the Spirit Beasts in the Frozen Forest along the way.

Even Spirit Hall did not possess much additional intelligence regarding the Spirit Beasts of the Far North.

But Zhu Zhuyun had reached Level Twenty, so she needed a Spirit Beast. Zhou Xuefeng himself had also remained at Level Fifty for some time. After taking the Immortal Herb, he had immediately hunted the Ten Thousand Year Green Lotus. After absorbing that Spirit Ring, he had already been Level Forty-Four. It took him more than a year to rise to Level Fifty, which was somewhat slow compared with his previous cultivation speed.

But that was normal.

On one hand, his Soul Power Level was already far higher than before. On the other, he had been cultivating entirely on his own and no longer used his Martial Soul to devour the energy of other plant Spirit Beasts. After being strengthened by the Dark Jade Divine Bamboo, the bloodlines of ordinary Plant-type Spirit Beasts no longer improved his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul at all. Furthermore, Zhou Xuefeng had spent a considerable amount of time researching his Fourth Spirit Skill, Blue Silver Green Lotus.

He wanted to integrate Blue Silver Green Lotus's active ability into his domain and make it a permanent ability. However, for now, he had only managed to use multiple Green Lotuses at once. He had not succeeded in integrating their abilities into the Blue Silver Domain.

At the end of the road, a carriage slowly approached, moving along the road at a leisurely pace.

On the driver's seat, a man with an expressionless face and short green hair stiffly tugged at the reins, controlling the carriage's direction. It was Zhou Xuefeng's Grassman Puppet. By now, it could already behave no differently from an ordinary person. Its combat ability even exceeded that of typical control-type Spirit Masters in their twenties or thirties.

With the Life Attachment of the Glazed Pagoda Second Spirit Skill added, it was practically indistinguishable from an ordinary person for a short time.

Inside the carriage, Zhou Xuefeng was examining Zhu Zhuqing's body, in the literal sense.

In the literal sense.

In a little while, he could begin her Meridian Expansion.

She was already more than three years old. After being fussed over by Zhou Xuefeng for a while, she became very dissatisfied and puffed up her cheeks. Yet paired with her tiny appearance, she was not irritating in the slightest. Instead, she only made people want to tease her more. Zhou Xuefeng raised his hand and pinched her cheek again.

After such a long period of cultivating his character, Zhou Xuefeng no longer showed much of the obsession and hatred he had displayed when he first reconnected with the others. The gentle aura of Blue Silver Grass surrounded him, and his first impression on others was that of a mild and refined young nobleman.

Sometimes, Zhu Zhuyun would blur the relationship between them and forget about the Zhu Family. When she came back to her senses, her feelings would become complicated. Zhu Zhuyu had likely forgotten almost everything already.

"Where are we going now?"

After composing herself, Zhu Zhuyun asked.

Still playing around with Zhu Zhuqing without looking up, Zhou Xuefeng answered casually.

"First, I'll find a place to settle them down. Then I'll take you to obtain a Spirit Ring."

The final destination was the Star Dou Great Forest, but before that, he had to arrange things for Two Cats and Little Cat. Zhou Xuefeng had already prepared the person who would take care of them.

Ning Yulin.

He planned to send the two of them temporarily to Seven Treasure City, Ning Yulin's territory. With that man's current status as Young Sect Master, there would be no problems.

Seven Treasure City

They arrived at Seven Treasure City.

Zhu Zhuyun was extremely surprised.

There were no obvious decorations of gold, jade, or agate in its streets and alleys, yet for some reason, the place simply felt incredibly luxurious!

"What is this place?"

"The headquarters of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Seven Treasure City."

It consisted of descendants of people recruited by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect over the years, relatives by marriage, and people hoping to get lucky and join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. After years of development, it had become what it was now.

Ning Yulin had arranged the specific location long before Zhou Xuefeng arrived. It was an inconspicuous corner of the city, where everyone living nearby had relatives in the sect within three generations. He had also arranged a team of trusted subordinates to look after them in secret.