Heaven Dou City, headquarters of the Blacksmith Association.
Zhen Hua sat in a rocking chair, basking in the warm sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A plain-looking young man stood beside him, reporting some intelligence.
This was the heart of Heaven Dou City. One could take in the entire city's splendor without even stepping outside.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the office.
Zhen Hua raised an eyebrow. Sensing the visitor's aura, he chuckled and said, "What brings you here today?"
A man stepped out of the shadows. He was handsome and tall, and looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.
Yu Hua couldn't sense a trace of Soul Power from the man. He seemed like an ordinary passerby one might see anywhere.
But Yu Hua was certain that this man was no ordinary person.
The man had slipped into the Blacksmith Association's headquarters without making a sound. If President Zhen Hua hadn't spoken, Yu Hua would never have noticed him. And he was already a seventy-nine-rank Soul Saint, only one step away from becoming a Soul Douluo.
"Shouldn't you be keeping Ya Li company in the Sea God Pavilion? Why come see an old man like me?"
"Hahaha, I was passing by, so I thought I'd stop in and see how you were doing."
Yu Hua was stunned. His expression shifted from confusion to disbelief, then to wild elation.
"Senior, you're the legendary Sky-Prop Douluo, Yun Ming, the Sea God Pavilion Master?"
Yun Ming smiled and nodded, confirming his identity.
Yu Hua hurriedly straightened his clothes, afraid of offending this towering figure at the pinnacle of the Douluo world.
"Senior, h-hello! I'm your fan! Could I get your autograph?" Yu Hua pulled a notebook from his coat, bowed at a solemn ninety-degree angle, and held it out to Yun Ming.
Yun Ming smiled, took the notebook, and pulled out a permanent marker. He wrote the two bold characters "Yun Ming" on the page.
"Keep it safe. I'm just here to catch up with President Zhen. If I'm getting in the way of your work, I can wait off to the side."
"Not at all! It's just some routine association business. Take your time talking with the president. I can handle it on my own." Yu Hua tucked the notebook into his coat, grabbed the files from the desk, and hurried out.
"Woohoo!"
Yu Hua's excited voice could be heard even through the door. Zhen Hua was at a loss for words.
"Look at you. Even after keeping to yourself for all these years, people still remember you. It's just an autograph—look how excited that kid got."
"Hahaha, I might be more famous than you, but you're much better connected. You're the only Divine Craftsman on the entire continent. Don't those youngsters without four-word Battle Armor have to keep you happy?"
Zhen Hua shot Yun Ming an exasperated look, picked up the teacup beside him, and slowly blew across its surface.
"Do you think Heavenly Forging is easy? Did you forge any of the materials used in your four-word Battle Armor yourself?"
Heavenly Forging consumed one's energy and spirit more than anything. Anyone lacking the strength simply couldn't do it.
That was because Heavenly Forging had already transcended the limits of humanity. To achieve it, one needed not only to understand the metal itself, but also to grasp the laws of heaven and earth to some degree.
At that level, it wasn't just the blacksmith forging the metal. More importantly, he had to draw on the power of heaven and earth to completely transform it.
Otherwise, why hadn't the Saint Craftsmen in the association chosen to pursue Heavenly Forging?
It was because they couldn't do it.
Zhen Hua suddenly thought of the prodigy Mu Chen had told him about some days ago. A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Perhaps it won't be long before I'm no longer hounded by Soul Masters demanding divine metals."
"Oh? So President Zhen Hua has found his successor. Was it that young man just now?"
Zhen Hua waved a hand. "Yu Hua is already a seventh-level Saint Craftsman, and he has a real talent for forging. Unfortunately, his Martial Soul falls short. He'd need a miracle to become a Divine Craftsman."
"It was Mu Chen. Some time ago, he recommended a child to me. I heard the kid could manage Hundred-Refinement in One Hammer at six years old. A year later, he had mastered Thousand-Refinement perfectly—even reaching first-grade Thousand-Refinement in One Hammer."
Yun Ming's interest was piqued.
Though he wasn't a blacksmith, he knew just how difficult the craft was. He'd worked with many blacksmiths because of his Battle Armor, so he understood how impressive first-grade Thousand-Refinement was—especially in a single hammer strike.
"The child's Martial Soul is decent, I take it?"
Zhen Hua nodded, sparing no praise for Tang Heng. "The ancestor of strength—the True Dragon Martial Soul, the Golden Dragon!"
"How about that? Pretty impressive, right?"
"Certainly. Then let me congratulate you in advance, President Zhen Hua, on taking in such an uncut gem."
Zhen Hua rocked back and forth in his reclining chair with a laugh. "I'll take your good wishes. But geniuses are usually proud and unruly. I'll need to think about how to prepare if I want him to accept me as his master."
"Enough about me. You've been holed up in the Sea God Pavilion for more than a decade. You'd never leave unless something was up."
Yun Ming had no intention of hiding the truth from Zhen Hua. He was an old friend, and knowing the purpose of the visit wouldn't change the outcome.
But instead of answering, Yun Ming took a novel from his Soul Tool. Its cover bore the words Great Love Immortal Venerable.
"This is that bestselling novel everyone's talking about? I think it's called Great Love Immortal Venerable."
Yun Ming nodded. "It's a brilliant book. The clashes between the demonic path and the righteous path keep you on the edge of your seat."
The protagonist, Fang Yuan, had endured five hundred years of hardship without ever abandoning his purpose. Surrounded by the demons, he crushed the Spring Autumn Cicada and returned to five hundred years earlier, beginning a legendary life.
The supporting characters were just as vivid and lifelike as the protagonist.
At first, Yun Ming hadn't thought much of this kind of book. It wasn't centered on love, or the romantic entanglements between men and women. There had never been a novel like it in the Federation.
But Heng Venerable—Tang Heng's pen name—was simply that talented. Just as nobody believed a C-grade aptitude like Fang Yuan could save the world and break free of God Court's control through Fate Gu, Heng Venerable had risen above a crowd of stories about love and trampled all the others beneath his feet.
"There's a poem in it I really like."
"The eagle strikes the sky, the whale rules the sea. Unless you try, how can you know dragon from earthworm?"
"How could common folk ever understand me? I won't quit until I'm driven to the end of the road!"
Yun Ming's eyes filled with longing. He sighed softly. "I felt an instant kinship with Heng Venerable. When I read about Fang Yuan's dogged perseverance, and how he held fast in Reverse Flow River and fought off ten thousand immortals, even this hundred-year-old man felt his blood surge."
"Perhaps I can keep going a little longer. Even if the Divine Realm is gone, I can forge a divine position of my own! Break through the plane's shackles and ascend to the realm of the gods."
As he spoke, a sliver of Yun Ming's imposing aura slipped out. His surging fighting spirit was almost too much for even Zhen Hua, a Titled Douluo, to bear. Zhen Hua had to remind him to rein it in.
"So you're going to find Heng Venerable?"
Yun Ming shook his head, a trace of ferocity flickering in his eyes. "It's been too long since I've stretched my muscles. This novel has my blood pumping. Rather than sit around cultivating, I'd rather fight a powerful opponent to the death."
"According to the information I have, Ghost King Douluo, one of the Holy Spirit Cult's two emperors, is said to have connections to the Spirit Pagoda. I want to investigate and follow the trail to see if I can find that defeated enemy of mine."
"I failed to root out that menace all those years ago, and he's still alive, causing harm to the world."
"This time, I'll make sure he's wiped out completely!"
Zhen Hua nodded. Evil Soul Masters posed a great danger to society. If children who awakened evil Martial Souls were properly guided, they'd be far less likely to go astray.
But powerhouses like Ghost Emperor, who had long since made a name for themselves, were already great evils of the world.
"So where are you headed next?"
"Eastsea City. That's where Ghost Emperor was last seen."
"I'm headed to Eastsea City too. Why don't we go together?"
Before you continue