This is my spine, call it Di Bo

"Brother Long, so you know how to forge as well?"

Mentioning forging was like finding another path of solace for Tang Wulin on his frustrating journey as a Soul Master.

Therefore, when he discovered his close friend also practiced forging, his heart was naturally filled with joy and excitement.

"But, Brother Long, why don't you use a forging hammer, and instead choose to use this..."

Tang Wulin didn't dare finish his sentence, for he knew that in this world, not all flowers and trees could be uniformly beautiful; there would always be one or two that stood out from the crowd.

Perhaps being unconventional was simply someone else's unique way of survival.

Long Zijin didn't bother with a complicated explanation: the Crow-Absolute Stone was a part of his own body, so using his forearm as a handle and the black stone in his hand as a hammer head allowed him to exert an effect that surpassed "the unity of man and hammer."

He directly tossed the Crow-Absolute Stone in his hand and said, "This is my Martial Soul."

In this way, he could not only explain why the Crow-Absolute Stone could deform and enter his body, but also justify this barbaric method of forging.

"A stone Martial Soul?" Tang Wulin took the Crow-Absolute Stone, its strangely heavy feel causing him to stumble forward, a sensory error akin to expecting an empty bottle but lifting a canister of lead.

"What a heavy black stone!"

Long Zijin introduced it simply: "This Martial Soul is called the Crow-Absolute Stone. It is a part of my Martial Soul. It is incredibly heavy and can even suppress the circulation of Soul Power."

"Is it that magical?" Tang Wulin exclaimed, feeling the same joy as when he found a companion for his Tough Grass Martial Soul.

Unable to resist his professional forging instincts, he tapped the Crow-Absolute Stone with his knuckles and listened quietly to the sound it made...

"Brother Long, you're amazing!" Tang Wulin gave a thumbs up.

He said with some excitement, "Brother Long, you are truly a genius. This Crow-Absolute Stone contains not a single impurity; it must have been purified through your thousand-fold forging."

"Thousand-fold forging your own stone Martial Soul—this idea is absolutely unique across the entire continent!"

However, Long Zijin shook his head and said, "No, my Crow-Absolute Stone Martial Soul is naturally pure. It was born having already completed a hundred-fold purification, and because it is my Martial Soul, its internal crystal lattice is extremely uniform. Thus, it is a rare material that is naturally thousand-fold forged."

"Ah?" Tang Wulin froze, holding the black stone, feeling somewhat at a loss. The sense of camaraderie from a moment ago—the "so we both have ordinary Martial Souls" feeling—vanished completely in an instant.

But Long Zijin had been very conservative in his description, because according to the classification of forging materials: hundred-fold, thousand-fold, spirit-forged, soul-forged, and heaven-forged.

The Crow-Absolute Stone already possessed autonomous spirituality and contained a mental illusion, making it entirely a "soul-forged" level rare material.

As long as it underwent one heaven-forging, it could stimulate the laws of heaven and earth within it, such as the emotion of "love," thereby reaching the pinnacle in one step and becoming a heaven-forged level material.

Of course, this was also the path of evolution paved for the Crow-Absolute Stone Martial Soul by the Dragon Emperor with his world-shaking wisdom.

After all, the God level was not the end, but the beginning...

Long Zijin stepped aside and pointed to the Amethyst Blade Blank, signaling, "Come, give it a try."

Tang Wulin had long been eager to try; he immediately bypassed the Holy Dragon King and walked to the forging table.

He looked at the pitch-black stone layer on the forging table and the red ring embedded in the center of the table; it seemed the fire used for forging was provided by this red ring.

Tang Wulin carefully avoided the curtain of fire, then raised the Crow-Absolute Stone high, imitating Brother Long's consistent way of exerting force, aimed at an uneven spot on the Amethyst Blade Blank, and then struck down with force.

"Clang!"

It wasn't the melodious "ding-ding" sound, but a harsh, dull noise.

Tang Wulin shuddered as if he had caught a chill, trembling in place for a few arcs before his entire right hand began to shake uncontrollably.

A wave of pain and numbness spread through his right arm, as if all the god-level networks below his right shoulder had been shattered by the recoil in an instant...

Fortunately, a wisp of warmth emerged from his muscles and bones in time, gradually offsetting the numbness and slowly repairing the damaged tissue.

"Br-Brother Long." Tang Wulin's teeth chattered, as if the lingering effects of the recoil were still wreaking havoc.

At this moment, he felt self-doubt regarding his thousand-catty strength, and gave the Amethyst mineral only one impression:

"It's... it's so hard..."

However, Long Zijin just shook his head slightly, flicked his index finger to retrieve the Crow-Absolute Stone through the air, and instructed, "Go out and play, come back at dinnertime."

Tang Wulin: Damage +1.

But his inherently stubborn nature made his eyes suddenly firm as he said, "Brother Long, perhaps my method of exerting force and the tool were wrong. I want to try using a hammer."

Long Zijin raised a single eyebrow and said, "Are you sure?"

Tang Wulin clenched his right hand in front of him and nodded heavily: "Yes!"

However, two seconds later...

"Clatter-bang!"

"Crackle-snap..."

"Whoosh—"

With one strike, Tang Wulin, his left hand still trembling, held only the broken half of the Tungsten Steel Hammer handle, standing there in a daze.

He had summarized his experience just now and used a completely different way of exerting force, intending to suppress the recoil force entering his palm.

As a result, the Tungsten Steel Hammer that had accompanied him for three years was shattered into debris all over the floor after just one strike, caught between the recoil of the Amethyst Blade Blank and the counter-force from his left hand...

Tang Wulin picked up the tungsten steel fragments, squatting there, wanting to cry but having no tears.

"What kind of material is this? Why is it so strangely hard?"

Long Zijin was excessively frank: "This is the bit of bone from the end of my spine."

Tang Wulin felt a bit embarrassed and annoyed: "Brother Long, you don't need to tease me to make me happy. I'm not a little kid anymore; I won't cry."

"Besides, in three days at most, I'll have a new set of forging hammers, and they'll be forged from deep silver, too."

He followed up with curiosity: "By the way, are you planning to use that rare material to make claw blades for a medium-sized mecha?"

Long Zijin shook his head, gesturing with his chin toward the door: "My bodyguard, Old Di, lost his personal machete, so I'm working day and night to forge him a new blade that suits him."

"Is that so?" Tang Wulin turned around, scratching his head with a laugh: "Uncle Di is quite careless, but I suppose it's a blessing in disguise, haha~"

Ever since his stomach had been filled, Tang Wulin's mood had never been bad.

But Di Guangming looked at the silly-grinning host of the Golden Dragon King and fell into a sudden silence, then said inexplicably: "You'd better call me Uncle Di or Grandpa Di, because later on, you'll meet an Uncle Di."

"Huh?" Tang Wulin was puzzled, scratching the back of his head even more vigorously.

But seeing how young the Holy Dragon King looked, he chose: "Alright, Uncle Di."

Di Guangming couldn't help himself, reaching out to ruffle Tang Wulin's hair.

For the remainder of the days after graduation.

Tang Wulin moved between his home, the Spirit Pagoda, and Mang Tian Studio.

Over the course of three days, he finally finished forging that piece of Blood-Sacrifice Thousand-Refinement deep silver, and carrying the two Thousand-Refinement Deep Silver Hammers, he went to show them off silently to his peer, Long Zijin.

Although he was mature for his age, he was still a nine-year-old child after all, and he couldn't help but want to show off his first finished Thousand-Refinement piece that gave him such a sense of accomplishment.

Even though his face was filled with happy smiles, Tang Wulin knew in his heart: these days of being well-fed and happy would only become fewer, and he cherished each day more than the last.

Because...

The day of parting was drawing near.