Forging Ideas, Massacre in a Small Town

Gengxin City truly deserved its reputation as a holy land of blacksmiths. The air was perpetually filled with the scent of metal and charcoal fires. Towering chimneys, like the arms of giants, spewed black smoke into the gray sky day and night. The clanging of hammers was the city's eternal background music. From the largest Forging Workshop to the smallest streetside smithy, countless craftsmen sweated between fire and iron.

Chen Yuan (Yu Yuanchen) settled into a fairly clean and tidy inn. Once he had arranged everything, he began strolling through this city of steel, his gaze lingering most often on its forging establishments.

In his previous life, he had been quite interested in the process of tempering stubborn iron into steel and giving it shape and power, but circumstances had kept him from ever trying it. In this life, although Soul Master cultivation was his main focus, seeing Douluo Continent's unique forging culture—especially when he thought of Tang Da'er's miraculous forging skills from his memories—could not help but stir a trace of longing in his heart. Since he would be staying here for the time being, why not give it a try? Perhaps it would bring him new insights into Power Usage.

He found a reputable Forging Workshop that accepted short-term apprentices from outside—Black Rock Workshop. Its owner was a burly, heavily muscled man over fifty named Shi Tie. He was a Soul King-level Soul Master and a master blacksmith, and his Martial Soul was the forging-related Melting Geng Iron Hammer. After paying a considerable tuition fee, Chen Yuan became a temporary apprentice at the workshop.

At first, Shi Tie and the other craftsmen assumed Chen Yuan was the child of some great family who had come to experience life. Though he deliberately kept a low profile, his calmness and faint air of nobility were difficult to hide completely. They did not expect much from him. Yet Chen Yuan's learning ability and speed of progress left them utterly astonished.

His powerful Spiritual Power gave him incredibly precise control over strength, while his vigorous Qi and Blood and Soul Power granted him endurance and explosive force far beyond ordinary people. Swinging a hammer, controlling the fire, identifying materials... These fundamentals took ordinary apprentices years to master, yet he had become quite proficient in just a few days. His control of force was especially remarkable. Every hammer strike, whether heavy or light, fast or slow, was perfectly measured, as though he had been born for blacksmithing.

Shi Tie clicked his tongue in amazement and privately sighed to his assistant, "This Kid, if he devoted himself to forging, his future achievements might far surpass mine. Becoming a Divine Craftsman would be well within reach."

Chen Yuan immersed himself in the world of forging, sensing the metal's extension and transformation beneath the hammer blows. His mind was exceptionally focused. The process of concentrating all his strength into a single point and changing the form of matter through countless strikes vaguely resembled refining Soul Power and compressing thunder during cultivation. It gave him another layer of insight into Power Usage.

At the workshop, he also heard many rumors from the Soul Master World. Craftsmen were well-informed. Merchants and Soul Masters from north and south came here to commission or repair weapons and armor, bringing news from all over.

One day, he was helping Shi Tie work the bellows while listening to several Soul Masters waiting to collect their orders chat.

"Have you heard? That Kid Tang Chen from the Clear Sky Sect forged another divine weapon some time ago! They say the president of the Blacksmith Association personally praised him as 'the continent's youngest Divine Craftsman'!" one Soul Master said enviously.

"Tang Chen of the Clear Sky Sect? Incredible! His talent is already terrifying, and his forging skills are just as astonishing. Among the continent's top experts in the future, there will definitely be a place for him!"

"Divine Craftsman..." Chen Yuan's thoughts stirred. He had learned Tang Chen's name not only from the original work, but long ago from his family's intelligence and his Grandfather. Tang Chen had already been a renowned peerless Genius of the current era, though the Clear Sky Sect had kept him hidden away. It seemed he had now been sent out to gain experience as well. Chen Yuan had not expected him to possess such shocking accomplishments in forging too. The title "youngest Divine Craftsman" carried tremendous weight.

This only deepened his interest in forging. He began asking Shi Tie about more advanced techniques and tried forging some simple weapons. Seeing his extraordinary comprehension, Shi Tie was happy to guide him.

However, as his studies deepened, Chen Yuan gradually discovered certain problems.

The forging techniques of this era seemed to have entered a misunderstanding. Craftsmen placed too much emphasis on the rarity of materials, the perfection of quenching techniques, ingenious designs, and the toughness and sharpness of finished products. They regarded metal itself as a "dead thing."

They used countless hammer strikes to remove impurities, making the metal purer and tougher, but they had never considered whether some special method might allow the metal to "come alive" through forging and nurture its own "spirituality."

Chen Yuan recalled the descriptions in his memories of Thousand Forges, Spirit Forging, and even Soul Forging. It was an entirely different path—not treating metal as a tool, but as a living embryo capable of growth. Through a blacksmith's Soul Power, Qi and Blood, and even spiritual will, one could nurture it, awaken its inner spirituality, and bring about a qualitative leap.

When speaking with Shi Tie, he discreetly raised some ideas regarding "metal spirituality" and "guiding what lies within."

Shi Tie froze for a moment, then burst into laughter and patted Chen Yuan's shoulder. "Chen Kid, not a bad idea! But that's a realm only legendary Divine Craftsmen can touch! We ordinary people are already doing well if we can process materials properly, inscribe Soul Guidance Circuits smoothly, and forge powerful weapons and armor! Making metal come alive? That's far too mystical!"

Most of the other craftsmen in the workshop agreed, believing Chen Yuan was indulging in wild fantasies.

Chen Yuan fell silent. He realized that the forging system of this era had become rigid. Craftsmen had followed the existing path of pursuing "utility" for far too long, lacking the mindset of "enlightening life." Perhaps a very small number of top craftsmen had touched the threshold, but no systematic theories or methods had taken shape. The highest level of current craftsmanship was roughly equivalent to the Thousand Forges of later generations. Perhaps its techniques were more intricate and complex, but its essence remained unchanged.

"Perhaps... this is the correct path? It's simply one nobody has fully walked yet?" Chen Yuan mused inwardly. But he soon shook his head and suppressed the tempting thought.

He was not Tang Chen. He did not have that much energy to divide his attention. His foundation lay in the path of a Soul Master, in Thunder Power, and in Bloodline Evolution. For now, forging was merely an interest, a supplementary form of cultivation for his control over power. Perhaps when his Cultivation Level reached a bottleneck and he possessed a long lifespan in the future, he could try researching and opening this new path. But for now, he absolutely could not lose sight of the bigger picture.

Once he understood this, his enthusiasm for forging cooled somewhat. Remaining in the workshop would only mean repetitive technical practice, offering limited benefit to his core cultivation.

A few days later, he bid Shi Tie farewell and thanked him for his guidance. Shi Tie found it regrettable, but did not try to keep him.

After leaving the workshop, Chen Yuan began asking around for a suitable place to train. He quickly settled on a target—the Savage Beast Hills.

According to the information he gathered, the Savage Beast Hills lay in the central-western region of the Star Luo Empire. It was a vast area with an extremely high density of Soul Beasts. Its greatest peculiarity was that the Soul Beasts there were generally of low intelligence. Even Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts mostly acted on instinct and lacked the wisdom normal Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts should possess. Furthermore, their Cultivation Levels rose extremely quickly before adulthood, but once they matured, their cultivation speed plummeted to more than ten times slower than that of Soul Beasts outside. As a result, there were quite a few Thousand-Year and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the hills, but almost no Soul Beasts with top-tier bloodlines or Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. It seemed that the intelligent top-tier Soul Beasts had all voluntarily left the area. They were also extremely vengeful. If one fled quickly after hunting a Soul Beast, it was fine, but once they latched on, they were exceedingly difficult to shake off.

The Soul Master World had many theories about this. Some believed a natural force field suppressed intelligence there, while others guessed that rare minerals affecting Soul Beast minds were buried underground. Even Titled Douluo had ventured deep inside to investigate, only to find nothing. Regardless, it had become an excellent place for training—its Soul Beasts were not low-quality, their numbers were sufficient, and their lack of intelligence kept the danger manageable. It could be called a "high-end Soul Hunting Forest."

"It's perfect for consolidating my Cultivation Level, honing my Combat Skills, and collecting some Soul Beast materials." Chen Yuan made his decision.

He wasted no more time. After replenishing his supplies, he left Gengxin City and set out toward the Savage Beast Hills.

Leaving the city and stepping into the wilderness once more, Chen Yuan felt a familiar sense of freedom. He remained vigilant, his Electric Field Perception acting like an invisible radar that scanned everything around him.

Several days later, he passed through a small town at the edge of the Savage Beast Hills. From afar, the town was deathly silent. Even the usual cooking smoke was nowhere to be seen. A faint trace of blood drifted through the air.

Chen Yuan's heart tightened. He slowed his pace and quietly approached.

The moment he stepped into the town entrance, the sight before him made his pupils contract sharply, and a cold fury instantly surged from the depths of his heart!

Ruined walls and shattered buildings lay everywhere. Charred beams still emitted thin wisps of smoke. Dark red blood had congealed across the streets and inside the houses, where incomplete corpses were scattered all around. Men, women, the elderly, children... none had been spared. The entire town had been slaughtered clean. Not even chickens or dogs remained!

The thick stench of death and blood was almost nauseating.

Suppressing his fury, Chen Yuan carefully examined the scene. Most wounds on the corpses were savage and horrifying, as if torn apart by claws and fangs. Others bore obvious signs of blunt-force strikes and bites. On some claw marks, he sensed faint remnants of sinister Soul Power.

"Not the work of human Soul Masters..." Chen Yuan's gaze turned icy as he searched for further clues. Soon, in the muddy ground at the town's outskirts, he found strange tracks—wolf-like but not wolf-like, human-like but not human-like. The claw prints were deeply embedded and carried a savage aura.

At the same time, an unpleasant Soul Power Fluctuation lingered in the air, mixed with a rank, bloody stench and Evil.

A term immediately surfaced in Chen Yuan's mind—Wolf Bandits!

He had seen records about Wolf Bandits in his family's archives. They were half-human, half-wolf monsters born from the union of certain Evil Soul Masters and Gale Demon Wolves. They inherited the speed and strength of Gale Demon Wolves, along with human cunning and cruelty. Bloodthirsty by nature, they delighted in slaughter and plunder. Wherever they passed, nothing was left alive. Wolf Bandits usually moved in groups and were led by the strongest Wolf Bandit Leader, whose strength could not be underestimated.

Looking at the hellish scene before him and imagining the fear and despair those innocent civilians had felt before death, Chen Yuan could no longer suppress the rage in his chest. Though he believed in concealing his abilities for self-preservation, the pride of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan flowing in his bones and the sense of justice in his heart would not allow him to turn a blind eye to such atrocities!

"Beasts," he muttered, violet lightning flickering in his eyes.

He closed his eyes. Combining his powerful Spiritual Power with Electric Field Perception, he carefully distinguished the lingering Evil aura in the air and the direction of the Wolf Bandit tracks on the ground.

The traces were still fresh. They could not have left long ago!

Without any hesitation, Chen Yuan moved. He became a blurred gray shadow and, like the sharpest Hunter, raced after the trail left by the Wolf Bandits!

A cold killing intent spread around him. This sudden encounter had to end in the cruelest possible way.