The Self-Cultivation of a Liver Emperor (3)

"Old Master Huang, I'm here!"

Le Bai already knew that the old man at the Blacksmith Shop was the Master Huang mentioned by the lady who had bought his toys, so he changed how he addressed him.

"You're here!"

Old Master Huang stopped the bellows he was pumping and made room: "Get to work!"

"You got it!"

Le Bai sat down nimbly and began pumping with a relaxed expression, looking even more skilled than Old Master Huang himself.

"Tell me, how exactly did you have this sudden breakthrough?"

Old Master Huang couldn't help but laugh as he watched: "When others have a breakthrough, they just get a bit smarter, but you, kid, have even grown stronger!"

"Ahaha, I just learned how to use my Soul Power!"

Le Bai spoke the honest truth: "Although I haven't become a Soul Master yet, I do have Soul Power!"

"You kid, stop trying to fool me!"

Old Master Huang laughed and scolded: "Do you think this old man doesn't know anything? What use is that measly two or three levels of Soul Power you have? If it were really as useful as you say, the big shots at the Martial Soul Hall wouldn't have mandated that you need at least one Soul Ring to be considered a Soul Master!"

"Not at all~ I'm telling the truth~"

Le Bai said it in a joking tone, but it was the truth.

Ten days ago, on that night, Le Bai realized his understanding of Soul Power was too shallow; he had even been treating it as mere "MP" or "experience points," never once thinking about actually utilizing the Soul Power itself.

However, Soul Power is, in essence, "energy"—it is not just MP or experience points, but a "universal tool" that can produce many effects depending on how it is used!

Simply circulating Soul Power within the body can enhance physical strength to a certain degree;

Consuming Soul Power to reinforce attacks can increase their destructive power;

Releasing Soul Power directly can create shockwaves or even deal damage;

One can also alter the properties of Soul Power based on the user's manipulation, granting it attributes like ice, fire, or light.

In short, there is nothing your Soul Power cannot do, only things you haven't thought of!

Not to mention that the operation and control of Soul Power itself is far simpler than using external tools! With just a single thought, Soul Power can take on any shape required!

After understanding this, Le Bai couldn't help but exclaim: "What a convenient form of energy!"

Then, he threw himself heart and soul into developing and utilizing methods for using Soul Power.

After ten days of day-and-night practice, Le Bai's Soul Power Level and his cultivation level remained unchanged, but his skill level for Soul Power Control had soared to Lv10.

This also made Le Bai realize that he seemed to have quite a talent for Soul Power Control. It wasn't an effect of the Panel, but a talent of this body itself.

The increase in strength that Old Master Huang mentioned was also a technique developed after improving his Soul Power Control—keeping the Soul Power within his body in a compressed state while maintaining a continuous circulation. The meridians, which became spacious due to the compression of Soul Power, would absorb and recover Soul Power. If this portion of Soul Power were compressed further, the meridians would continue to absorb and recover, until finally, the compressed Soul Power filled the meridians.

Although once the compression stops, the excess Soul Power beyond his own limit would be released, overflow, and dissipate outside the body, as long as he could maintain the compressed state, the total amount of Soul Power he could temporarily control and utilize would exceed his own level limit!

Le Bai hadn't thought of a name for this technique yet, but the Panel had already helped him name it: [Spirit Power Overclocking] Lv4.

Le Bai wasn't sure how much his Soul Power had increased through Spirit Power Overclocking, but he knew that the boosted Soul Power was enough to help him do many things he originally couldn't.

Whether it was maintaining Soul Power circulation to increase strength or directly controlling Soul Power to do other things—in these ten full days, the ways Le Bai developed to use Soul Power were naturally more than just one.

"Alright, Le Bai, everything that needed to be done recently is finished, you can take a break."

Old Master Huang put down his hammer: "Having a helper really makes things go much faster!"

"Old Master Huang, can I have this piece of iron?"

Le Bai wasn't tired; the abundant Soul Power in his body greatly reduced his physical exertion: "I want to try making something."

"I suppose you can, but that piece is scrap iron. If you need some, take that piece of Raw Iron over there, but you'll have to hammer it yourself."

Old Master Huang took a drink of water and added: "That said, although it's only been a short time, you're already able to help out, so I should calculate your wages."

"I get paid!"

Le Bai looked at Old Master Huang: "How much will you give me?"

"Hahahaha, look at you, your eyes light up the moment money is mentioned!"

Old Master Huang said with a laugh: "An apprentice's wages are calculated based on how much work they put in. You've got decent skills, but it's only been a short time, so I'll start you at five Silver Soul Coins a month. It'll go up by one each month, up to a maximum of ten. When you can forge better iron, I'll raise it to twenty. But I suspect you'll have become a Soul Master long before that, hahahaha!"

"Okay! Thank you, Old Master Huang!"

Le Bai was very happy; with a relatively stable income, his life ahead would be a bit easier: "Oh, right, Old Master Huang, can you sell me some of the scrap iron in the shop for cheap?"

"Scrap iron? What do you want with that stuff?"

Old Master Huang didn't understand Le Bai's thinking: "Scrap iron isn't worth much; if you want it, just take it and use it, don't talk about buying or not buying."

This was the truth.

The scrap iron in a blacksmith shop was usually there because the refined iron ore contained too many impurities, which not only affected the quality of the iron but was also difficult to remove. Rather than wasting time and energy on scrap, it was better to just get a fresh piece.

That said, it was a pity to just throw the scrap away, so every blacksmith shop ended up with a fair amount of it accumulated.

"Thank you, Old Master Huang!"

Le Bai stopped being overly polite, thanked Old Master Huang, picked out a piece of scrap iron the size of a fist, and began to heat it until it melted.

"Phew, next is the actual test."

Le Bai took a deep breath, controlling the compressed Soul Power within his body to concentrate in his right hand before releasing it outward—to Le Bai's senses, the invisible Soul Power felt like a dense mist, yet this mist was under his complete control.

Le Bai focused his mind intensely, controlling the Soul Power released outside his body to slowly envelop the molten Iron, "grabbing" a single drop from it, and before this drop of Iron could cool and harden, he used his Soul Power to fix it into the desired shape.

Soon, the Iron grabbed by the Soul Power cooled and hardened, its color slowly fading from orange-red to a dull shade, but the Iron remained extremely hot; Le Bai controlled his Soul Power to toss it into the cooling liquid, which let out a "hiss."

Once completely cooled, he used two thin, long strips of Iron to fish it out.

This was a screw with fine threads; it was small, about 1 centimeter in length and roughly 5 millimeters in diameter. If it were in the world Le Bai came from, it would probably only serve as trash discarded on the side of the road.

"Suc, cess, ful!"

Le Bai clenched his fist in excitement, his heart cheering and leaping with disbelief.

This was only a small "experiment," yet it held extraordinary significance.

This success meant that Le Bai's "line of thought" was correct, and it also proved the "convenience" of Soul Power.

But most importantly, Le Bai had found his direction for future development.

Soul Power, Soul Power, Soul Power!

As long as he had enough Soul Power, Le Bai believed he could accomplish everything that other types of Soul Masters could do.

And then, become a "Monster"!

"But for now, the level of my cultivation method needs to be grinded; my Soul Power Level is an even bigger priority to grind; my Soul Power Control ability can't be left behind while grinding my Soul Power Level; my blacksmithing skills can't be neglected in the short term either; how should I allocate my grinding efforts from here on out?"

Le Bai once again fell into distress due to a lack of grinding capacity...