Zhen Hua took the tea, drank a sip, and set it on the table.
Mu Ye took the tea but didn't even bother to drink it. He set it aside, pulled Lin Qingzhou to his feet, and gave him a light slap on the back of the head.
"Alright! We don't bother with that empty formality in the Body Sect. You're my disciple from now on, so quit wearing that long face all day, like everyone owes you a few hundred bucks."
Watching the two of them, Zhen Hua smiled. There was a faint look of satisfaction in his smile.
"Don't get too excited just yet."
Zhen Hua's smile faded, and his expression turned serious.
"Kid, you've built a solid foundation, but there's one problem we need to take care of first. You don't have a Soul Spirit yet, so you can't attach a Soul Ring."
"Without a Soul Ring, your Soul Power will stay at its current level. You won't be able to advance."
Mu Ye also dropped his usual carefree expression.
"Exactly. The most urgent thing is to find you a suitable Soul Spirit. But before that..."
He glanced at Zhen Hua.
"We should give him a thorough test first. We need to know exactly what level his Soul Power is, how strong his spiritual power is, and what level his physical strength has reached."
The two of them got straight to work. Zhen Hua led Lin Qingzhou to a testing room next to the forging room. It was equipped with a full set of Soul Master testing devices.
Lin Qingzhou placed his hands on the various sensor panels one after another, watching the numbers on the displays climb.
Soul Power: Level 24.
Mu Ye watched the figures changing on the testing device without blinking.
Zhen Hua activated the high-precision comprehensive testing device beside him. Several pale-blue Soul Guidance beams fell on Lin Qingzhou, scanning the density of his bones and the strength of his muscles.
After scanning him three times, Zhen Hua confirmed that the readings were accurate before speaking.
"His physical strength is around Level 34. Innate Divine Strength, combined with the tempering from the Silver Dragon King Bloodline, has given him an incredible foundation."
As he spoke, Zhen Hua couldn't help taking another look at Lin Qingzhou. A blacksmith's physical strength directly determined how many rounds of lightning tribulation he could endure. Heavenly Forging in particular tested the limits of the body with every round of tribulation.
His own Soul Power had been piled up with pills, leaving his foundation unstable. After every Heavenly Forging, he needed a long time to recover. This child's natural foundation was far stronger than his own.
When it was time to test his spiritual power, Zhen Hua deliberately switched to the most precise sensor panel and had Lin Qingzhou place his hand on it. Mu Ye leaned in, too. The two old men, who had lived for who knew how many years between them, stared at the changing numbers on the display. Together, they fell silent.
206 points. Spirit Connection Realm.
Mu Ye's breathing grew noticeably heavier behind Lin Qingzhou. He reached out and patted Zhen Hua on the shoulder. His palm struck Zhen Hua's shoulder blade with considerable force, making Zhen Hua grunt.
"Zhen Hua."
Mu Ye's voice was low, but every word brimmed with excitement he could barely conceal.
"I really struck gold this time. Nine years old, spiritual power at the Spirit Connection Realm, physical strength at Level 34, Soul Power at Level 24. Have you ever seen a combination like this?"
Zhen Hua didn't answer, but the way he looked at Lin Qingzhou had completely changed.
This boy's physical foundation could withstand the lightning tribulation of Heavenly Forging. His Soul Power had ample room to grow, and his spiritual power far surpassed that of others at the same level.
Before, Zhen Hua had agreed to take Lin Qingzhou as his disciple mostly out of regard for Mu Ye and for Lin Qingzhou's basic Hundred Refinement skills. Now things were different.
"Let's go." Zhen Hua's voice returned to its steady tone. "To the Spirit Pagoda."
The Spirit Pagoda branch in Heaven Dou City was a towering silver spire that pierced the clouds. It stood right in the center of the city, with no buildings within several kilometers rising above its waist.
The tower's exterior was covered in a layer of pale-blue Soul Guidance light, shifting colors with the changing light.
As one of the oldest Spirit Pagoda branches on the continent, the Heaven Dou City branch held a far greater stock of Soul Spirits than ordinary branches. It had everything from common hundred-year Soul Spirits to rare Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirits, and even several top-grade Soul Spirits designated as priceless treasures of the tower, which were never displayed to the public.
When Mu Ye and Zhen Hua entered the Spirit Pagoda lobby side by side, the staff at the front desk recognized them.
The chairman of the Blacksmith Guild and the sect master of the Body Sect showing up at the Spirit Pagoda together was a rare sight. Word quickly reached the tower master's office, and in less than five minutes, an elderly man in a dark-purple robe stepped out of the elevator.
"Sect Master Mu Ye, Guild Chairman Zhen Hua, what brings you two here together?"
The old man greeted them with a smile and cupped his hands. He was He Zhiqiu, the current tower master of the Heaven Dou City branch. At Level 91, he was a Titled Douluo with the title "Zhiqiu," and specialized in control.
He had a long, thin face, three wisps of gray-white beard, and eyes that hid their sharpness. He spoke in a slow, unhurried manner.
"Tower Master He, I'm here today to find a Soul Spirit for my disciple."
Mu Ye got straight to the point and pushed Lin Qingzhou forward. "The boy's nine years old and at Level 24. He needs a suitable Soul Spirit to attach a Soul Ring."
He Zhiqiu stroked his beard, looked Lin Qingzhou over, and nodded.
"A disciple personally brought by Sect Master Mu Ye naturally deserves the utmost care. Please, follow me."
He Zhiqiu led the three of them through the lobby and into a private elevator. It descended for more than ten seconds before coming to a stop.
"Since his Martial Soul is a Body Martial Soul, his Soul Rings should preferably come from beast-type Soul Beasts. As for the age, around two thousand years should do."
Mu Ye thought it over briefly, then spoke to He Zhiqiu. He hadn't taken Lin Qingzhou's attributes into account.
Lin Qingzhou didn't bring them up either. After all, his Martial Soul was extremely complex now. With the Silver Dragon King Bloodline and the Power of End, he didn't know which attributes would suit him.
The best course now was to keep increasing his strength—in other words, to overcome all things with sheer force.
Beyond the doors was a long underground corridor, with Soul Spirit storage chambers separated by high-strength glass on either side. Electronic plaques beside each chamber listed the Soul Spirit's species, age, quality, and characteristics.
Pale-blue Soul Guidance Lamps cast light from the ceiling, making the corridor seem quiet and cold.
The first few storage chambers held relatively common Soul Spirits.
A roughly hundred-year-old Ice Crystal Turtle floated in pale-blue nutrient fluid, frost flowers forming on its shell as it slowly blew bubbles.
Two chambers down, a roughly thousand-year-old Fire Feather Sparrow floated in the fluid. Its crimson tail feathers swayed gently, like a flame burning underwater.
"This Ice Crystal Turtle is two hundred and thirty years old. It has an ice attribute and specializes in defense. It suits water- or ice-type Soul Masters, and its attached Soul Ring can provide an ice-armor Soul Skill."
He Zhiqiu explained as they walked.
"As for this Fire Feather Sparrow, it's eleven hundred years old. Its Fire Feather Shield ranks among the strongest defenses for Soul Spirits at the thousand-year level."
"Since this young friend's Martial Soul is a Body-type Martial Soul, choosing an auxiliary or defensive Soul Spirit would be safer. Body Martial Souls are already strong enough on their own; there's no need to rely on a Soul Spirit to add offensive abilities."
Lin Qingzhou stood before the glass and looked at the Fire Feather Sparrow through the transparent barrier for a few seconds. The sparrow tilted its head to examine him, then shrank its neck and tucked its head beneath its wing.
It was afraid of him.
It wasn't the fear a weaker creature felt toward a stronger one. It was a deeper, instinctive recoil, rooted in the nature of life itself.
The aura of the Silver Dragon King Bloodline in his body, combined with the oppressive presence of the End-of-All Martial Soul—a presence even he didn't fully understand—would make ordinary Soul Beasts instinctively retreat.
Although these Soul Spirits had been separated from their Flesh Bodies, their instincts remained.
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