The next morning.
"Boss, get up! If you don't get up now, you'll be late for class."
Xie Xie nudged the blankets, trying to wake Tang Heng, who was curled up inside.
Tang Heng sleepily pulled the blankets tighter and mumbled, "You guys go ahead. I'll sleep a little longer..."
"Boss, what were you doing when you ran off yesterday?"
"If you don't pay attention in class, how are you supposed to get stronger?"
Tang Heng curled into a ball and murmured, "I went off to work hard in secret where you couldn't see me..."
In the end, Tang Wulin had to step in.
With his freakish strength, he rescued Tang Heng from his blanket-bound prison. After washing up, Tang Heng sleepily followed them to class.
In the classroom, the teacher wrote furiously on the board and spoke with a torrent of eloquence.
Down below, Tang Heng was bored out of his mind. The lesson made him so drowsy that he nearly fell asleep in his seat with a thump.
But then he thought that might be disrespectful to the teacher's hard work, so he decided it would be better to find something to do and pass the time.
Tang Heng took a cup out of his Soul Tool. A flash of purple crossed his eyes, and the extra water element filled the cup.
Time to fish~
Holding a tiny fishing rod, Tang Heng hid behind Tang Wulin and Xie Xie, dropped the hook into the cup, and waited.
Before long, bubbles rose in the cup. The float suddenly sank, and Tang Heng reeled in his line. A Sharpness Three Enchanted Book came up on the hook.
Not bad luck at all. Was it because Golden Lion had evolved?
He'd thought he wouldn't catch anything good, but now it seemed his luck had turned. He had to fish up a storm.
While the teacher lectured at the front, Tang Heng leisurely fished below. The class passed quickly, and he wound up with quite a haul.
After class, the lifeless classroom sprang to life. Few children wanted to sit through a dry history lesson.
In barely a minute, the energetic children had streamed out of the classroom and onto the playground.
Suddenly, Xie Xie came over and looked at Tang Heng curiously.
"Boss, what are you doing?"
Still copying down notes and holding his fishing rod, Tang Heng answered without looking up.
"Can't you tell? I'm just fishing."
"Hahaha, fishing in that tiny cup? Boss, are you..." Xie Xie trailed off, feeling that if he said it out loud, he'd definitely get beaten up.
The cup was so small you could see right to the bottom. How could there be any fish in it?
But the next moment, the float bobbing on the water suddenly sank, and Tang Heng instinctively reeled in the line.
A palm-sized cod came up on the hook. Xie Xie was so shaken that it felt like he'd seen something that could shatter his entire worldview.
"Wait, what?! That's a real fish!"
Xie Xie leaned in and touched the cod on the line. Its lifelike feel told him this wasn't an illusion but reality.
Tang Wulin, who had been reviewing his notes in the front row, came over and looked at Xie Xie with disdain, teasing him.
"Well? You called yourself a country bumpkin and got offended. See that? That's our bro's skill!"
"This... This makes no sense!"
"Heh. That's because you've never seen a real genius."
"I... I... This... Sigh!"
No matter how much Xie Xie wanted to argue, any words of protest seemed feeble in the face of reality.
In the end, he gave in. Whatever earth-shattering, world-shocking things Boss did from then on, he wouldn't question him.
"Want to try it too?"
Tang Heng stretched and handed the fishing rod to Xie Xie.
"I do!"
"Have fun. This is a Storage Soul Tool. Remember to put whatever you catch in here for me."
Before leaving with Tang Wulin, Tang Heng tossed Xie Xie a silver-white ring. He'd recently made the Storage Soul Tool out of Sinking Silver. It wasn't very big—only four or five cubic meters—but it was enough.
"Where are you guys going?"
"The woods."
"Oh, the woods... Wait, Big Bro, Second Bro, what are you going to do there?"
Tang Wulin glared at Xie Xie and said irritably, "Why are you asking about our business? Go play by yourself."
The East Sea Blacksmith Association, president's office.
"You actually came all the way here in such a hurry? Couldn't wait, could you?"
Mu Chen looked at the uninvited Divine Craftsman before him and grumbled.
Zhen Hua wasn't bothered. He smiled and said, "I heard there was a promising young talent. Take it from me: Heavenly Forging is too deep for you to handle. Give that kid to me, will you?"
"Besides, when he reaches the later stages of Heavenly Forging, you won't be able to teach him anyway. I'll have to take over, won't I?"
Mu Chen chuckled. This old geezer really was up to no good—he'd come all the way from Heaven Dou City just to compete with him for a student!
Why hadn't those Three-Word Battle Armor Masters locked Zhen Hua in a basement and refused to let him out until he made Heavenly Forged Metal?
"Heh, you're too late."
Zhen Hua remained unruffled and continued, "I know you've already taken that kid in, so I just came to meet him. I'll be the one teaching him blacksmithing from now on."
Mu Chen shook his head, looking regretful. "I didn't take Tang Heng in. He didn't want to be my apprentice."
"Oh? You're a Saint Craftsman. Though you're still a little behind me, you're one of the giants of the blacksmithing world." Zhen Hua thought for a moment, then smiled and said,
"Could it be that he wants to become my apprentice?"
Mu Chen didn't answer directly. Instead, he took a mechanical part suffused with a purple glow from his Storage Soul Tool.
"Take a look. That child made this."
"Hm? Let me see."
Zhen Hua accepted the mechanical part Mu Chen handed him. He only had to weigh it in his hand once or twice before, as a Divine Craftsman, he quickly noticed what made it unusual.
"Hundred Refinement Tungsten Steel can have an attribute too? No, that's not right. He used another, unknown technique to give this part a new attribute."
Mu Chen was astonished. He might be sharp-tongued, but a Divine Craftsman was a Divine Craftsman. It had taken him only a moment to see what was special about the Enchanted Metal part.
He still had a long way to go in his own cultivation.
"That's right. That child, Tang Heng, used a technique called 'Enchanting' to give this Hundred Refinement Tungsten Steel a brand-new attribute."
"And according to him, one attribute isn't Enchanting's limit. Even he doesn't know what its upper limit might be."
Mu Chen smiled, though there was a hint of bitterness in it. "Spirit Forging at seven, and he's mastered a whole new blacksmithing technique. Tell me, what right do I have to shamelessly ask him to become my apprentice?"
Zhen Hua was swept by a storm of shock. He stared at the metal part in his hand for a long time without speaking.
After a while, he came to his senses and said each word slowly. "Where is that child now? I think we should arrange a meeting."
"You still plan to take him as your apprentice?"
Zhen Hua shook his head and looked out the window. "Perhaps I can find hope for a breakthrough through this child."
"Whether it's cultivating Soul Power or blacksmithing, the stronger one is always the teacher. If I want to learn Enchanting, how could I ask its teacher to become my apprentice?"
"If he's willing to teach me this craft, then what would be wrong with me, Zhen Hua, becoming his apprentice?"
Mu Chen was shaken. He hadn't expected the lofty Divine Craftsman to say such a thing.
Perhaps this was why Zhen Hua had become a Divine Craftsman.
"By the way, Yun Ming mentioned that Evil Soul Masters have been appearing in Eastsea City lately. You should keep an eye out."
"Evil Soul Masters? How did those vermin sneak in?"
Before you continue