Level Ten Soul Power

Zhao Shiyan first walked to the side, rummaged around a few times, and carefully selected a piece of high-quality, good-looking Mysterious Iron from the wooden basket before tossing it into the furnace to prepare for the forging process.

Lu Lin's gaze shifted slightly.

Mysterious Iron, Azure Iron, Refined Iron, and the like were among the most common general-purpose metals. Even on the resource-scarce Douluo Continent, they weren't rare, and they were often one of the top material choices for low-level soul tools and weapons.

But rare metals like Mithril and Demon Silver were far less abundant on the Douluo Continent compared to the Sun Moon Continent.

This was one of the reasons the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology had a generational lead over the Douluo Continent.

After a short while, the Mysterious Iron had finished heating.

Zhao Shiyan skillfully used iron tongs to pull out the glowing red Mysterious Iron block. With one hand gripping the hammer, his waist and legs braced in unison, he began forging with practiced ease.

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Clang—

The first heavy, forceful strike came crashing down.

Lu Lin, observing and learning from the side, showed a look of admiration.

He keenly noticed that, unlike before, Zhao Shiyan was now using soul power during the forging process.

And it wasn't like his own method of simply using soul power to assist in hammering; Zhao Shiyan was genuinely integrating soul power into the Mysterious Iron itself.

With just that one strike, a significant amount of impurities had already been cleared from the Mysterious Iron.

So this was what real forging looked like!

From this perspective, the profession of blacksmith had established its own system on the Douluo Continent and flourished in the era of Dragon King Legend—it wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface.

Still, this line of work really depended on talent.

Lu Lin remembered that Tang Wulin's talent in blacksmithing was practically the ceiling of the field.

But even he, starting at age six under the guidance of the famous master Mang Tian, had to study for two or three years before truly beginning to work with Thousand Forgings.

And that kid had the Golden Dragon King bloodline in him—truly a born saint of hammering.

Lu Lin finally developed some interest in the blacksmith profession.

Before, he had only treated forging as a means to improve his physique.

Zhao Shiyan's teaching method was as simple and crude as ever.

He wouldn't explain; he would only demonstrate in front of Lu Lin. How much Lu Lin could grasp was entirely up to his own understanding.

Unless Lu Lin actively asked, he wouldn't open his mouth to explain.

But what he didn't say was that this kid Lu Lin, from the very start, had stumbled into using the Hundred Forgings method by accident.

Because he couldn't lift the forging hammer, he had to find a way to use soul power as a substitute.

Too bad the kid's physical condition was too poor. If only his martial soul were a hammer or something like that, he could definitely go far on the blacksmithing path...

Lu Lin had no idea that Zhao Shiyan was lamenting that his martial soul wasn't a hammer.

He simply stood to the side, earnestly studying Zhao Shiyan's Hundred Forgings technique—when to integrate soul power, the quenching time, and so on—repeatedly simulating it in his mind.

In Lu Lin's view, Zhao Shiyan's movements grew faster and faster. The hammer shadows flew, like an unending rain of drops pounding against the red-hot iron block.

Under Zhao Shiyan's repeated hammering and soul power infiltration, the Mysterious Iron visibly shrank in volume, becoming more condensed.

Time slipped away with each strike of Zhao Shiyan's hammer.

"Humm—!"

When Zhao Shiyan's final hammer fell with a light yet weighty touch, the surface of the Mysterious Iron block, now reduced to nearly half its original size, was restrained in luster and utterly unadorned.

It was completely different from the Mysterious Iron before forging, as if it had been reborn into another metal entirely.

Hundred Forgings, complete!

"It's done."

Zhao Shiyan set down his forging hammer and spoke to the man, signaling him to come over and inspect the goods.

The man followed his words, stepped closer, took the Hundred-Forged Mysterious Iron in his hands, turned it over a few times, and then nodded in satisfaction.

Then, a blue light flickered from the ring on his middle finger, and the Hundred-Forged Mysterious Iron in his hand vanished without a trace.

A Storage Soul Tool?

Seeing this, Lu Lin's eyes flickered with surprise.

He hadn't expected this man, who seemed to be a soul tool master, to possess a Storage Soul Tool.

But after a moment's thought, he felt it made sense.

After all, this wasn't the era of the Martial Soul Hall nine thousand years ago. The collision of the Sun Moon Continent and the Douluo Continent had long made soul tools widespread.

Some basic soul tools were no longer as scarce as they were nine thousand years ago. At least for soul masters with some family wealth, acquiring a Storage Soul Tool wasn't too difficult.

Besides, Frostwind City, where Lu Lin lived, wasn't some small town—it was one of the major cities in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire.

An ordinary elementary academy wouldn't have a Soul Ancestor-level big shot like Liu Yanchi stationed there.

After the soul tool master put away the Hundred-Forged Mysterious Iron, he took out a heavy gray cloth bag and tossed it to Zhao Shiyan. Without even lifting his head, Zhao Shiyan reached out and caught it with ease.

Is the blacksmithing profession really this lucrative?

Lu Lin was slightly startled, because by his estimate, that small cloth pouch contained at least forty or fifty Gold Soul Coins, possibly even more.

Still, this was a case of Zhao Shiyan having no business for three years, then making enough to live on for three years with one sale.

At the very least, in the two-plus months Lu Lin had been here, this was the first time he had seen Zhao Shiyan land such a big order.

After receiving the Hundred Refinements Mysterious Iron, the Soul Engineer didn't linger and turned around to leave Giant Rock Blacksmith Shop without hesitation.

Zhao Shiyan looked at Lu Lin, whose brows were tightly furrowed, and suddenly spoke: "Did you understand what you saw?"

"Not entirely, but I gained a lot."

Lu Lin answered honestly.

Zhao Shiyan nodded slightly: "Being able to complete Hundred Refinements Purification qualifies you as a formal blacksmith. Take it slow."

Zhao Shiyan knew his own situation well. The ease with which he now performed Hundred Refinements was entirely due to practice making perfect.

He had only been able to complete Hundred Refinements alone and truly become a blacksmith after obtaining his second soul ring and becoming a Soul Grand Master.

Hearing this, Lu Lin nodded thoughtfully.

He still remembered some descriptions of the blacksmithing system from the original story.

Hundred Refinements Purification, Thousand Forgings Sublimation.

If a blacksmith could complete Thousand Forgings, that would be considered truly entering the hall.

However, Thousand Forgings seemed to require at least Soul Elder-level soul power to sustain. That guy Tang Wulin was purely a cheat and couldn't be judged as a normal blacksmith.

And since Zhao Shiyan was only a Soul Grand Master, it seemed he hadn't reached that step either.

This wasn't Lu Lin looking down on Zhao Shiyan.

The two of them hadn't formally established a master-disciple relationship.

Under these circumstances, for Zhao Shiyan to still selflessly teach him the method of Hundred Refinements, Lu Lin was already deeply grateful.

After a few brief exchanges, Zhao Shiyan dismissed him.

The next day, Lu Lin officially began attempting Hundred Refinements Purification.

Of course, Lu Lin didn't forget his main duties.

For the first two hours, he still repeated the work of the past two months—forging iron blanks, or helping Zhao Shiyan forge simple iron tools, farm implements, weapons, and so on.

Only after those two hours of work did Lu Lin begin using soul power in his forging, touching the threshold of Hundred Refinements.

Yes, he had extended the time he stayed at the blacksmith shop to three hours each day.

Zhao Shiyan said nothing about Lu Lin acting on his own, but in the third month, he raised Lu Lin's wages to two Silver Soul Coins.

On one hand, he truly appreciated Lu Lin's temperament—neither arrogant nor impatient, steady and composed—and Lu Lin indeed had talent.

At the same time, he felt even more regret over Lu Lin's extremely poor physical condition.

But after truly starting Hundred Refinements, Lu Lin helplessly discovered that Hundred Refinements Purification was still far too early for him at this point.

The first problem was that his meager soul power couldn't support the consumption of Hundred Refinements—his previous method of using soul power as an auxiliary was barely sufficient.

The second problem was that integrating soul power into the forged iron blank was incredibly difficult, let alone removing metal impurities and altering the metal's properties.

Still, at least there was something to look forward to.

The iron blanks he forged using the Hundred Refinements method were noticeably better than before.

At the very least, they were worth the wages Zhao Shiyan paid him.

Time slipped by quietly.

This day, in the small forest behind the academy.

Two and a half years had passed since Lu Lin's martial soul awakened.

In the faint light of dawn.

Lu Lin, sitting on a rock, opened his eyes and slowly exhaled the stale air from his body.

Accompanied by a violent fluctuation of soul power emanating from him, his Soul Power Level at this moment officially broke through to rank 10.