Tang Hao's Death Countdown, Sinking Silver

The morning light of Spirit Hall streamed through the carved window lattice, falling upon Lin Xuan's brand-new Soul Master Badge and casting a faint silver gleam over it.

His fingertips traced the patterns along the badge's edge, and a thread of relief rose in his heart.

The Soul Master identity he had anticipated for three years had finally become reality today.

After verifying his Soul Power fluctuations and Soul Ring information, the attending steward handed him a Gold Soul Coin. It was a newly advanced Soul Master's first subsidy, enough for him to live comfortably at Nuoding Academy for half a year.

"Level 11 Soul Master, first Soul Ring: ten-year Blue Silver Grass."

The steward lowered his head to record the information, his tone flat. Clearly, he did not think much of a Soul Master with Innate Level 3 Soul Power.

Lin Xuan did not care in the slightest. He put away the money bag and badge, then swiftly turned to leave. He could not wait to share the good news with his companions in the Seventh Dormitory.

Then he would have them spread it throughout the entire academy!

A breakthrough called for celebration—and a little showing off.

The moment he returned to the academy, the Seventh Dormitory erupted.

"Boss, you're incredible! You really broke through to Soul Master!"

"Level 11! You're a whole lot ahead of us!"

The work-study students crowded around Lin Xuan, their faces full of envy.

Xiao Wu put her hands on her hips and proudly raised her chin.

"Hmph, what's there to be proud of? This young lady is already Level 22 and about to challenge Level 23!"

Though she spoke dismissively, she could not hide the amusement in her eyes. She secretly slipped Lin Xuan a sweet piece of candy as a celebration gift.

Lin Xuan smiled as he accepted the candy and watched everyone fool around.

Before long, news of Lin Xuan's breakthrough had spread throughout the academy from the Seventh Dormitory.

If an ordinary person broke through Tenth-Rank, it would not attract anyone's attention. But this was Lin Xuan.

The Lin Xuan who had defeated Soul Masters Xiao Chenyu and Tang San while only at Level 3.

Now that he had broken through to Soul Master, would he not be even stronger?

For a time, the entire academy was filled with all kinds of rumors about Lin Xuan.

Tang San heard them and gripped his fists tightly, an inexplicable sense of powerlessness rising in his heart.

The holiday arrived as scheduled. As usual, Lin Xuan brought Xiao Wu back to Sacred Soul Village, with a horse carriage behind them loaded full of Hundred Forging Hoes.

These forging masterpieces, worth a fortune in the eyes of outsiders, were like wholesale goods to him.

The villagers of Sacred Soul Village had long been waiting at the village entrance. When they saw Lin Xuan return, they immediately swarmed forward, their hands trembling as they accepted the hoes.

With the sickles as a comparison, these hoes were practically a gift from heaven to them!

For villagers who lived off the land, an indestructible Hundred Forging Hoe was a family heirloom-worthy treasure.

Old Village Chief Jack was grinning from ear to ear as he grabbed Lin Xuan's hand and led him into the village.

"Xiao Xuan, you're finally back! Hurry, we've already prepared a feast for you at home!"

Lin Xuan agreed with a smile and told Old Jack about his breakthrough to Soul Master. The old man was instantly overjoyed and immediately ordered several more hearty dishes, wishing he could bring out the best things in the entire village.

The table was piled with steaming chicken, duck, fish, and meat. Old Jack took a sip of rice wine and said excitedly.

"Xiao Xuan, you've brought good fortune to our village!

At this year's Martial Soul Awakening, three children actually awakened Soul Power. They all had Level 1 Soul Power. It was all thanks to the Training Method you taught back then. Otherwise, they would have been farmers for their entire lives!"

Old Jack sighed emotionally.

To be precise, they were not actually Level 1; they were below Level 1, not even reaching the full first level.

Lin Xuan paused while picking up food, then smiled dismissively. "It's only Level 1 Soul Power. It's nothing much."

In this Martial Soul-supreme world, a commoner born with Level 1 Soul Power could work as hard as he wanted, yet at most reach the Soul Master realm in his lifetime. He would only be somewhat stronger than an ordinary person and would never amount to much.

He casually instructed, "Village Chief Grandpa, have them be careful. This may not be some major discovery, but it would not be a good thing if outsiders learned about it. Tell them not to spread it around."

Old Jack repeatedly nodded. "Don't worry. I'll keep a close eye on them. Whoever dares expose our village's secret, I'll fight them to the death!

With a Soul Master like you here, Sacred Soul Village will definitely grow more and more prosperous!"

Over the next month, Lin Xuan lived an exceedingly comfortable life in Sacred Soul Village.

During the day, he either walked through the fields with Xiao Wu or shut himself away in his little blacksmith shop, where he sorted through his maternal grandfather's old belongings again.

He polished some "useless" little trinkets to consolidate his forging skills.

As time passed, an additional set of memories about Thousand Refinements gradually surfaced in his mind.

He knew that Tang Wulin had already completed Thousand Refinements forging.

Before long, his Thousand Forging Deep Silver Hammer and Storage Soul Tool would arrive.

At night, he cultivated his Soul Power and familiarized himself with the use of his Soul Skills.

The range of his Blue Silver Perception continued to expand. It could now cover the entirety of Sacred Soul Village, and no movement in the village could escape his senses.

On the night before returning to school, moonlight flowed like water over Lin Xuan's little courtyard. He sat cross-legged on his bed, circulating his Soul Power as he tried to familiarize himself with the changes brought by becoming a Soul Master. Suddenly, he felt his bloodline stir slightly, and a familiar fluctuation quietly emerged.

Before he could react, two gray heavy hammers radiating faint chill, along with two palm-sized Silver Storage Soul Tools, appeared out of thin air before him.

The heavy hammers had an ancient design, their heads covered in fine patterns. They felt incomparably weighty in his hands. Lin Xuan weighed them, estimating each one to be nearly three hundred jin. Together, they weighed six hundred jin.

They were perfectly suited to his greatly increased strength.

This pair of Thousand Forging Deep Silver Hammers was not eye-catching. They were dull gray, like perfectly ordinary forging hammers.

But upon closer inspection, one would discover wave-like Dark Patterns covering the hammer bodies and every corner of the handles. The Dark Patterns seemed to contain boundless power.

Rings of spiral patterns extended down the handles, narrowing into spherical ends before becoming sharp tails.

They were not pretty, but they were indeed Tang Wulin's ultimate Divine Weapon, the Sinking Silver Hammer.

Or rather, Sinking Silver Hammer blanks.

They were also Tang Wulin's first Thousand Refinements creations.

Aside from the Sinking Silver Hammers, what delighted Lin Xuan most were these two Silver Sinking Storage Soul Tools.

The Soul Tool Arrays carved across their surfaces gave each of them an internal space of around eight-tenths of a cubic meter. It was not especially large, but it was enough to store his forging hammers and some miscellaneous items.

"Thousand Forging Deep Silver Hammers, Silver Sinking Storage Soul Tools..." A trace of understanding flashed through Lin Xuan's eyes, and a smile curled across his lips.

He knew it. At this point in time, Tang Wulin's special opportunity had arrived again.

This Thousand-Forged Deep Silver was several times more valuable than Hundred-Forged Fine Iron, a material ordinary Soul Masters could scarcely hope to obtain. These two heavy hammers were clearly forging tools custom-made for him.

If he did not want to punch people with his fists in the future, these two little hammers would be the most suitable replacements.

He gripped one of the Sinking Silver Hammers, and Soul Power naturally flowed into it. A faint layer of silver light immediately bloomed over the hammer, subtly resonating with his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and bloodline.

This hammer was not only suited to Tang Wulin; it suited him just as well.

The toughness and weight of the Thousand Refinements material allowed the power within his body to be released perfectly. He could swing it without effort, and it instead felt completely natural in his hands.

The appearance of the Storage Soul Tools also solved his problem of having too many hammers. Even now, he already possessed three pairs of hammers.

He stored the Sinking Silver Hammers inside the Storage Soul Tools, then put the two Wrist Soul Tools on his arms.

He then returned to the storage room and took out the two Thousand Forging Tungsten Steel Hammers that had been gathering dust for a long time.

These two forging hammers had been in this world for two years and sealed away for two years. It was time to find them a new place.

Lin Xuan felt very relaxed because he knew the time was almost here.

The Sinking Silver Hammers had arrived, so could Old Tang be far behind?

He was not worried that Old Tang would carry Tang San's consciousness.

After all, this was his Golden Finger. If it truly carried Tang San's consciousness, then he would have only one path left: death.

Then this Golden Finger would not count as a Golden Finger at all.

Somehow, he had always felt that everything provided by his Golden Finger was something he could master.

"Wait another two months. In two months, I'll finally be completely free."

If Lin Xuan remembered correctly, Tang Wulin had probably met Old Tang around this time, right?

Actually, Lin Xuan was not entirely sure, since his memories were too vague.

He only vaguely remembered that it seemed to have happened when Tang Wulin was nine.