"The power of the Golden Lotus in its first form should go beyond this."
Wang Feng didn't look at the little bird again, merely pondering, "I don't have a Spirit Ring yet. If I had one, the Golden Lotus in its first form should develop other abilities."
In other words, these were abilities that the Golden Lotus itself possessed.
Once he obtained a Spirit Ring, the Golden Lotus's other abilities would be unlocked.
Those would be true Soul Skills!
"Sure enough, it's powerful..."
Wang Feng sensed the Mysterious Green Lotus Martial Soul within him.
Even the Golden Lotus in its first form possessed such terrifying healing abilities!
If it reached higher levels later on-the second, third, fourth forms, and so on-what sort of abilities would it have?
Wang Feng couldn't imagine.
He headed toward a small lake in the distance, wanting to take a cold bath to calm his feverish heart before continuing to train!
However, Wang Feng didn't know.
Not long after he left,
the little bird chirped excitedly and threw all its strength into swinging its wings at a branch as thick as a thumb.
Whoosh! A flash of light!
The branch snapped in two!
If Wang Feng had been there, his jaw would have dropped in shock!
The branch was very slender, yet the bird had sliced it in half with just its wings...
This was no ordinary bird anymore!
It was... a Soul Beast!
This ordinary little bird had clearly evolved into a true Soul Beast!
And not an ordinary one, either!
She had gained sentience!
Watching Wang Feng leave, the little bird stood on the branch, blinking and gazing after him for a long time without looking away.
When Wang Feng had accidentally unleashed the full power of the Golden Lotus in its first form, it had far exceeded his own expectations!
It could do more than simply heal. It could also grant the ability to cultivate and awaken intelligence!
Wang Feng reached the lakeside, took off his shirt, and dove in like a carp leaping over a dragon's gate.
"Getting a Spirit Ring may still take a while. After all, hunting Soul Beasts isn't easy."
Wang Feng swam through the water as nimbly as a handsome merman, but his mind kept turning.
Wang Feng knew that his physical constitution was strong now, and his defense was excellent. An ordinary small knife might not even be able to hurt him.
His stamina was also so strong it made his scalp tingle.
But in other areas, such as speed, strength, and agility, he was probably a little more than twice as capable as an adult man.
He was slightly stronger than the special forces soldiers of his previous life. That was why he could overwhelm Little San.
But compared with the truly top-tier soldiers, he still fell noticeably short.
On Douluo Continent, that level of strength wasn't enough to hunt Soul Beasts.
The Golden Lotus in its first form had no offensive power. That meant that before he reached level twenty and the second form appeared, he might have to rely on hand-to-hand combat alone?
And without any clues, comprehending the Mysterious Humanoid Martial Spirit was unrealistic, too.
As he thought, Wang Feng swam ten laps around the lake, then climbed ashore.
He began his usual training.
First, he ran ten laps around the woods, sprinting. Then he leaped onto the branches to practice agility, moving from one spot to another without snapping a single branch.
After that came an obstacle course through the woods!
Over the past month, Wang Feng had set up nearly ten different kinds of traps in the woods to train with.
Some were pits in the ground, some were stones flying toward him, and others were obstacles made with all kinds of farm tools and sharp implements.
He had arranged them into a winding course around the woods.
It was terrifying!
Even the special forces soldiers from his previous life would probably be covered in injuries by the time they finished the course!
But Wang Feng moved through it as if strolling, without a scratch.
The reactions he had trained this way were precisely what had let him catch Little San's pebble earlier.
After that, Wang Feng began various exercises while carrying a flattened tree trunk, four or five meters long.
The trunk weighed at least a hundred pounds. Training under that load put immense strain on him, and it was hard to control, too.
However, it stayed firmly fixed on Wang Feng.
Frog jumps, push-ups, using it as a barbell, weighted runs, lifting it in the lake, and, of course, squats!
Anyway, he tried every exercise from his previous life that he could think of.
But as his physical constitution grew stronger, it became harder to push himself to his limit.
The main issue was that he had too much stamina.
Sometimes, he could exercise for most of the day without getting very tired.
The changes brought by the Meteor Tear had strengthened his defense and stamina the most.
That might also have been because of the way he trained.
"I need to build up my strength..."
Wang Feng thought, "I also need to increase the weight. Ideally, I should bind it all over my body...and keep it on for long periods of weighted training. I shouldn't take it off even to eat, drink, or sleep."
"Speaking of strength training... right, the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique."
At the thought, Wang Feng's body jolted.
He knew about the Chaotic Cloak Hammer even without Tang Hao telling him.
He had read the original story, after all.
The most powerful thing about this hammer technique was how it used force against force. After delivering a full-strength strike, the rebound could be redirected with a change in posture, bringing that rebound force into the next blow. Each strike grew stronger than the last.
Honestly, it wasn't very scientific.
It was like some kind of perpetual motion machine. In theory, each swing could be stronger than the one before, indefinitely!
But the further it went, the more energy it consumed, and the more terrifying the force it unleashed!
With Tang Hao's strength as a Titled Douluo, he seemed to have been able to swing it only eighty-one times? Wang Feng couldn't remember for sure.
But even eighty-one swings, each growing geometrically stronger than the last-one could imagine how monstrous the final blow was...
Still, he thought about asking Tang Hao to teach him this secret technique and decided against it.
Tang Hao had only reluctantly taught it to Tang San after his own son awakened his second Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer.
He'd only taught it then to his own son.
There was no way he'd teach it to Wang Feng.
"But I can try it myself, right?" Wang Feng's eyes lit up.
He just needed to train in that direction, didn't he?
Use force against force, make each blow stronger than the last...
He was a transmigrator, after all, with a broadened perspective and knowledge. The Meteor Tear had even transformed him. Why couldn't he teach himself?
The principle of using force against force had long been common knowledge in Huaxia.
Tang Hao had created this hammer technique, but why couldn't Wang Feng do the same? Why did he have to learn Tang Hao's Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique?
If he were a lazy fish, that would be one thing. But he had a cheat, so why couldn't he give it a try?
Having found his direction, Wang Feng swung the tree trunk aside and leaped up excitedly.
Then he went to Tang Hao's smithy and borrowed a hammer.
"Wait, Uncle Hao, do you have any large pieces of Raw Iron here?"
When he arrived at Tang Hao's smithy, he could still see Tang San hammering a piece of raw iron.
Tang Hao stood nearby, watching and seeming to give him pointers.
Old Jack had probably finished talking with Tang Hao.
After learning that his son had also awakened the Clear Sky Hammer, Tang Hao had taught Tang San the fundamentals of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique.
Wang Feng glanced at Tang San and could tell that he had probably learned it.
"How large do you want the pieces of raw iron?"
Tang Hao looked at Wang Feng.
"About fifty pounds each?"
Wang Feng asked, "Preferably several pieces."
Wang Feng wanted to use the raw iron to forge weighted gear that had been refined.
Fifty pounds of raw iron would probably weigh twenty or thirty pounds after being refined, right?
If he made it into gear to wear while training, the added weight would make his workouts much more strenuous.
"I have some."
Tang Hao took out several pieces of raw iron. "What do you want them for?"
"Heh, you'll find out."
Wang Feng picked up four pieces of Raw Iron weighing about two hundred jin, grabbed a hammer, and ran off in a gust of wind.
"Brother Feng must be trying to train himself... But with something this heavy on him, it won't be easy to train. Besides, he doesn't know how to forge iron."
Watching Wang Feng leave, Tang San couldn't help wondering aloud.
Tang Hao glanced at his son beside him and thought, It was true that the boy Feng didn't know how to forge iron.
But he was much more capable than you...
He could just strike a small piece of Iron Mother with a hammer, and with one full-strength blow, turn it into Raw Iron.
His endurance was astonishing. Tang Hao had no idea how many times the boy Feng had struck it back then.
"Brother Feng is going to fight that Battle Spirit Master, Su Yuntao, in three months. I really don't know what he's thinking."
Tang San added with a laugh.
"Oh?"
Tang Hao was taken aback. "This Su Yuntao you mentioned-isn't he a twenty-sixth-level Battle Spirit Master? A six-year-old child wants to fight a Battle Spirit Master?"
"Yeah, so I think it's a little unbelievable..."
Tang San thought, If I forge the Hidden Weapons, I might have a chance to trade blows with Su Yuntao.
Hidden Weapons needed to be used from the shadows to bring out their full power. In an open, straightforward fight, they would be much less effective.
When I lost to Brother Feng that day, if I'd been hiding and thrown a pebble, Brother Feng might not have reacted in time.
"Interesting. When the time comes, tell me about it. I want to go and watch."
Tang Hao said casually.
"Okay."
Tang San was taken aback, unsure why his father was interested in this.
"All right, Xiao San, you can stop hammering for now. I'll show you the technique I mentioned again. Pay attention to my posture..."
Several days later.
Tang San wiped the sweat from his forehead, set down the hammer, and murmured, "The way Dad taught me to forge iron is so amazing. I can swing the hammer eight times in a row, and that's already my limit... I wonder what Brother Feng has been doing these past few days."
But whenever he thought of this forging technique, using force to redirect force, Tang San felt incredibly excited.
"I'll go check on him... He's been coming to buy Raw Iron a lot these past few days. Could he be forging iron himself?"
Tang San couldn't help feeling curious. "But forging iron isn't that simple. Dad's place is the only one in the village with a furnace and bellows. Just hammering iron by itself won't do much..."
So after finishing that day's training, Tang San went straight to the village chief's house to look for Brother Feng.
To his surprise, Grandpa Jack told him Brother Feng wasn't home and was out running wild. Every day, he only came back at night, grinning foolishly.
"Could Brother Feng be in that little forest?"
Tang San's heart stirred, and he immediately headed toward the little forest outside the village.
After walking for a while,
suddenly,
the ground trembled slightly.
Listening closely...
Clang!
Clang!!
Clang!!!
The familiar sound of iron being forged rang out. Tang San was taken aback, then slowly walked toward its source...
Before long, he spotted a familiar figure, drenched in sweat as he swung a hammer, striking a piece of Raw Iron held in place.
Seeing this, Tang San was taken aback again and thought, Brother Feng really is... How can he forge iron like that?
As he thought this, Tang San focused his gaze... and froze at what he saw!