Spirit Refinement Shocks the World, a Thousand Hammers Forge a Dragon!

The morning sun had yet to disperse the thin sea mist when the furnace at Mang Tian Workshop was already burning red-hot.

The air was filled with the scent of coke that blacksmiths found so intoxicating.

Today, Mang Tian had deliberately hung a "Closed Today" sign and sealed all the doors and windows.

Because he had sensed it.

These two little monsters were about to do something big today.

"Wulin, you first."

Mang Tian stood beside the Forging Table with his arms crossed, his gaze stern.

"You absorbed a Soul Spirit last night, and your bloodline energy surged. Let me see whether your control has improved enough for you to truly complete Thousand Refinement."

"Yes, Teacher!"

Tang Wulin stood before the Forging Table and took a deep breath.

Before him lay a chunk of Sinking Silver as large as an adult's head.

Among rare metals, it possessed immense density and exceptional malleability. It was also the standard test material for entering Thousand Refinement.

Before yesterday, Tang Wulin would have found a piece of Sinking Silver this large difficult to handle.

But today, with the Golden Dragon King Bloodline Energy awakening, he felt as though he had endless strength coursing through his body.

Clang!

The first hammer fell.

He did not use Soul Power—only pure physical strength.

The tremendous boom shook dust loose from the workshop ceiling.

The hard Sinking Silver immediately caved in by a large section.

"What incredible strength!" Mang Tian's eyelid twitched.

The force behind that hammer was fully three times greater than before!

Then Tang Wulin's twin hammers began to whirl like the wind.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The dense hammering sounded like a raging storm.

A closer look would reveal a faint red glow spreading over Tang Wulin's skin, a sign of his bloodline energy boiling over.

And whenever his stamina dipped even slightly, the green-tinged Century Soul Ring beneath his feet would flicker. The life force of the Emerald Dragon Snake flowed into him like a trickling stream, instantly restoring him to peak condition.

Infinite endurance plus absolute monstrous strength!

Half an hour later.

"Rise!"

Tang Wulin let out a roar, smashing his twin hammers together and producing a dragon-like ringing crash.

On the Forging Table, the Sinking Silver had shrunk by an entire circle.

It was no longer lifeless metal. Dazzling silver radiance shone from its entire surface as a pillar of light shot skyward, reaching nearly three feet high!

Within the light pillar, a small silver dragon could faintly be seen swimming about.

Thousand Refinement Grade One—Rising Dragon Pattern!

"It's done..." Mang Tian stared at the pillar of light, his voice dry. "Nine years old, and Thousand Refinement. Wulin, you're already a Three-Grade Blacksmith."

Tang Wulin wiped away his sweat and grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "It's all thanks to what Teacher and Brother taught me. And... this new Soul Spirit is seriously amazing!"

"Don't celebrate just yet."

Tang Linyuan, who had been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

He walked over to his own main Forging Table.

There was no ordinary Sinking Silver or Refined Iron on it.

Instead, there lay a jet-black ore covered in specks of starlight.

[Star-Sky Black Iron]

It was an extremely unstable rare metal, extraordinarily hard and naturally repellent toward Soul Power.

Usually, only blacksmiths of Grade Six or above dared to attempt forging it.

"Linyuan, what are you doing?" Mang Tian's expression changed. "That piece of Star-Sky Black Iron is material I planned to use in my attempt to become a Saint Craftsman. You..."

"Teacher, lend it to me."

Tang Linyuan's voice was terrifyingly calm.

He stroked the cold black iron with both hands as though caressing his lover.

"My Tyrant Profound Divine Spear is too powerful."

"Ordinary Thousand Refinement metal can no longer bear my Spear Intent. I need a blank with a true 'soul.'"

Mang Tian's pupils contracted violently. "You want to... Spirit Refine it?!"

That was the threshold of a Five-Grade Blacksmith! The creator's domain that bestowed Life upon metal!

There had never been a Spirit Refinement Blacksmith under ten years old. Even Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua had still been playing in the mud at that age!

"I'll give it a try."

Tang Linyuan offered no further explanation.

Boom!

The deep-purple Millennium Soul Ring beneath his feet suddenly rose.

The Tyrant Profound Divine Spear did not appear, but an incomparably tyrannical Spear Intent instantly filled the entire workshop.

First Soul Skill—Tyrant Decision, Internal Version.

Tang Linyuan did not use a hammer.

Or rather, his hands were the hammers.

His right hand was instantly covered in a layer of black dragon scales—Xiao Mo's Armor Transformation—and his fingertips turned into sharp blades.

Rather than striking it, he fiercely pressed both hands onto the red-hot Star-Sky Black Iron!

"He's insane!" Mang Tian cried out, about to rush forward and stop him.

That metal was over a thousand degrees hot!

But in the next instant, he stopped.

Because he saw that Tang Linyuan's hands had not been burned.

On the contrary, that stubborn black iron began to... tremble beneath Tang Linyuan's kneading hands.

"Dragon Swallowing Breathing Technique, Reversal: Great Artifact Refining!"

Divine light surged in Tang Linyuan's eyes.

He was no longer absorbing energy. Instead, he frantically poured the tyrannical Soul Power within him—transformed by the Millennium Soul Ring and tempered by the Primordial Fiendish Aura—into the metal.

At the same time, his spiritual power poured out without reservation, forming an invisible mental hammer that wildly struck the metal's atomic structure on a microscopic level.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Though there was no hammer, deafening forging sounds rang through the air.

That was the Heart Hammer.

"Wake up...!"

Tang Linyuan let out a low growl, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

It was a sign that his spiritual power had been overdrawn.

Yet the light in his eyes only grew brighter, as though he intended to ignite this stubborn lump of metal.

Finally.

Thump.

A heartbeat.

Not Tang Linyuan's heartbeat, nor Mang Tian's.

It was the heartbeat of the metal.

The previously lifeless black metal suddenly erupted with powerful suction, madly Devouring the surrounding fire element and Tang Linyuan's Soul Power.

The impurities on its surface instantly vaporized.

An unprecedented radiance brimming with spirituality blossomed from within it.

It was a profound black, black yet shimmering with every color, black like the night sky.

Rumble!

The workshop roof seemed to be lifted away by an invisible force.

A pitch-black pillar of light shot into the sky, soaring a full five meters high!

Within that light pillar, the phantom of a miniature long spear flickered in and out of view, releasing a spear cry that looked down upon heaven and earth.

Spirit Forging: Genesis!

Metal Soul Bestowal!

Mang Tian collapsed onto the floor, his eyes blank and his lips trembling. "Spirit... Spirit Refinement... it really succeeded... a nine-year-old Spirit Refinement Grandmaster..."

"This isn't talent... this is a monster..."

The pillar of light gradually receded.

The once irregular piece of Star-Sky Black Iron had become a perfect rectangular block.

It floated in midair, pulsing faintly as though breathing.

Like a newborn child, it circled Tang Linyuan affectionately.

Tang Linyuan's face was deathly pale, and his body swayed before Tang Wulin quickly caught him.

"Brother! Are you okay?!"

"I won't die."

Tang Linyuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Looking at the spiritual metal before him, he revealed a weak yet incomparably arrogant smile.

"Teacher."

He looked toward Mang Tian, who was slumped on the floor, and spoke softly.

"Does this piece of Spirit Forged Star Iron count as my 'graduation piece' for you?"

Mang Tian gave a bitter smile as he climbed to his feet, looking at the disciple who made him tremble in awe.

"Graduation?"

"I'm no longer qualified to be your teacher."

Mang Tian took a deep breath.

"Tang Linyuan, from today onward, you are the forging world's—young grandmaster."

Outside the window, the sea wind howled.

It seemed to be cheering for this world-shocking scene as well.

At nine years old, Spirit Refinement was achieved, and a grandmaster was born.

This was not merely the awakening of a piece of metal. It was the final forging, within this tiny blacksmith shop, of the foundation of an era's future overlord.