Taking Zhen Hua as Master, Twin Star Sea Rings!

The air inside Mang Tian Workshop warped slightly around the freshly forged Spirit Forged Deep Silver.

Zhen Hua stood before Tang Linyuan, his gaze blazing as though he were looking at a piece of peerless divine metal.

He put on no airs and offered no empty pleasantries. Instead, he drew a deep breath, his tone more solemn than ever before.

"Tang Linyuan."

"I, Zhen Hua, the only Rank 9 Godsmith on the continent today, am willing to take you as my Last Disciple."

The Divine Craftsman's voice was not loud, yet it carried the resonance of metal and stone.

"This is neither charity nor an exchange. I truly wish to teach you every bit of my smithing skill, exactly as it is, without holding anything back. I will take you across the continent to see countless metals, until you complete Heavenly Forging and become the next Divine Craftsman—or even... surpass me and explore the realm beyond Heavenly Forging."

Cen Yue, standing nearby, was thoroughly shaken.

Holding nothing back! Surpassing a Divine Craftsman!

This was the highest promise a man standing at the summit could make to a nine-year-old boy.

Tang Linyuan neither hesitated nor offered any hypocritical refusal.

He set down the hammer in his hand, straightened his somewhat rumpled work clothes, and bowed solemnly to Zhen Hua.

"This disciple, Tang Linyuan, greets Teacher."

"Good! Good! Good!" Zhen Hua hurried forward and helped up the disciple who had so captivated him, the smile lines at his eyes spreading wide.

"However, Teacher, this disciple has one request."

Tang Linyuan rose to his feet and looked at Zhen Hua without servility or arrogance.

"Though this disciple loves forging, my foundation remains that of a Soul Master. The path I intend to walk in the future is that of a Battle Soul Master who proves the Dao through strength, not that of a purely support-type profession."

"Therefore, when it comes to cultivating Soul Power, I will proceed steadily and surely. I will never take any medicine that drains my potential merely to raise my forging rank, nor will I neglect cultivation because of smithing."

There was an unwritten rule in the forging world: to make their bodies capable of withstanding the backlash from higher-grade metals, many blacksmiths used drugs to forcibly raise their Soul Power. As a result, their foundations became unstable, and they could never break through to higher ranks for the rest of their lives.

Rather than becoming angry upon hearing this, Zhen Hua admired him even more.

"Well said! If you did not even possess such ambition, you would not deserve the title of 'Young Grandmaster.' Rest assured, as my disciple, you will have all the resources you need. I will never let you take crooked paths."

As he spoke, Zhen Hua instinctively reached out and placed his hand on Tang Linyuan's wrist, intending to examine his disciple's physical condition.

However, the next second.

The smile on the face of this Divine Craftsman, who had seen all manner of storms, froze instantly and turned into an expression as though he had seen a ghost.

"This... this Soul Power fluctuation..."

Zhen Hua abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at Tang Linyuan. "Level twenty-eight?! And the degree of liquefaction in this Soul Power... it's even denser than that of an ordinary Five-Ring Soul King?"

"How old are you this year? Nine and a half, right?"

Nine-year-old Soul Grandmasters were rare, but there were still a few of them.

But a nine-year-old at level twenty-eight, whose Soul Power was as pure as mercury—there was only one such monster on the entire continent!

"What kind of blacksmithing prospect is this..." Zhen Hua swallowed and muttered to himself. "This is practically kidnapping a future Limit Douluo and making him forge metal!"

All at once, he felt as though he had hit the jackpot.

Once this disciple grew up, he would become the most formidable Divine Craftsman in history!

"Take it."

Zhen Hua took a pitch-black token from his robe and solemnly placed it in Tang Linyuan's palm.

The token was neither metal nor jade. Its entire surface was a deep dark gold, with an ancient Forging Hammer engraved on the front and a vigorous, powerful character for "Divine" on the back.

"This is the Godsmith Token."

Zhen Hua's voice carried pride. "Seeing this token is the same as seeing me. On this Douluo Continent, whether it is the Blacksmith Association, the Spirit Pagoda, the major sects, or even the Federal Council, they must all show this token some respect."

"Take it. From now on, you can requisition any rare metal on the continent as you please. Put it on my tab."

Mu Chen's eyelids twitched as he watched from the side.

This was a Divine Craftsman's personal token! There were only three in total: one in Zhen Hua's own possession, one enshrined at the Blacksmith Association headquarters, and this third one... he was giving it just like that to this boy who had not even formally entered the sect?

"Ahem."

Mu Chen coughed twice, stepped forward, and wore a gentle smile. "Senior Brother, since you have already given such a grand gift, I, as his Martial Uncle, cannot be too stingy, can I?"

He looked at Tang Linyuan. Though there was some regret in his eyes at having failed to snatch him from his senior brother, there was even more affection.

"Linyuan, I am Mu Chen, and I am also the president of the East Sea Blacksmith Association. From now on, I am your Martial Uncle."

With a flip of his wrist, two exquisite little boxes appeared in Mu Chen's palm.

When he opened them, two ancient-looking silver rings lay inside. Their faces were set with tiny sapphires, resembling a miniature sea of stars.

"These are the Star Sea Rings."

Mu Chen introduced them, saying, "Though they are not divine artifacts, their internal space is immense—one hundred cubic meters each. They also use special spatial-folding technology, allowing them to store anything except living creatures, including certain unstable rare metals."

"A pair?" Tang Linyuan was taken aback.

"That's right, a pair."

Mu Chen smiled meaningfully. His gaze passed over Tang Linyuan and landed on the handsome boy standing silently in the corner some distance away, drenched in sweat.

That was Tang Wulin.

Tang Linyuan's astonishing Spirit Refinement had just drawn everyone's attention.

But Mu Chen, as a Saint Craftsman, had noticed that this younger brother had not stopped swinging his hammer because of it. Blow after blow, he had steadily completed his own Thousand Refinement Sinking Silver.

That temperament, that tenacity, and that inborn divine strength made him another piece of unpolished jade.

"Linyuan, my senior brother has taken away a monster like you. I admit defeat."

Holding the rings, Mu Chen walked over to Tang Wulin, crouched down, and looked at the bright-eyed child with a gentle tone.

"But your younger brother, this fine piece of jade, has caught my eye."

"You're Wulin, right? Thousand Refinement achievement, inborn divine strength. Well? Are you willing to take me as your master?"

Tang Wulin froze and instinctively looked toward his older brother.

Tang Linyuan smiled faintly and nodded.

In the original story, Wulin's forging teacher had been Mu Chen, who had helped him greatly in the early stages. Today, this had worked out by sheer coincidence, and he was becoming his disciple ahead of time.

"This disciple, Tang Wulin, greets Teacher!" Tang Wulin was overjoyed and quickly bowed.

"Hahahaha! Good!"

Mu Chen laughed heartily and stuffed one Star Sea Ring into each brother's hand.

"This pair of rings shall be my gift to you both. I hope that you brothers, like these twin Star Sea Rings, will shine upon one another and stand together at the pinnacle of the forging world in the future!"

Laughter rang through the tiny smithy.

Who could have imagined that this shabby little house would give birth to both a Divine Craftsman's disciple and a Saint Craftsman's disciple in a single day?

On that day, the wind of Aolai City blew toward the future of the entire continent.