Tyrannical Spear Radiance, Hundred-Refined Fireworks!

Pushing open the heavy soundproof door of Mang Tian Workshop, Tang Linyuan was met by a wave of scorching air carrying the heat of metal.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The brisk rhythm of hammering echoed through the workshop.

Tang Wulin stood before the Forging Table, his gray work clothes already soaked through with sweat. Yet his large eyes shone astonishingly bright. Every time he swung the heavy Tungsten Steel Hammer, it was as though he poured all his strength into the iron block.

At the sight, some of the coldness in Tang Linyuan's eyes melted away.

Talent determined one's ceiling, but this tireless, clumsy effort determined one's floor.

"Teacher, Brother! You're back!"

Hearing them, Tang Wulin stopped what he was doing, wiped his face haphazardly with the towel around his neck, and ran over excitedly.

"So? What Soul Spirit did you draw? Was it a hundred-year one?"

Mang Tian said nothing. He merely found a chair and sat down with a complicated expression, swaying the large tea mug in his hand. Clearly, he had yet to recover from his earlier shock.

"See for yourself."

Tang Linyuan walked to the open space in the center of the workshop. Without explaining much, he casually grabbed at the air beside him with his right hand.

Buzzz—!

The air suddenly grew heavy, as if an invisible mountain had descended upon them.

The Tyrant Profound Divine Spear appeared in his hand out of thin air. Its shaft was pitch-black, and the dragon-scale patterns seemed to come alive. When its tip touched the ground, it let out a sharp crack that made the floor tremble.

Then, beneath Tang Wulin's instantly frozen gaze, a deep, eerie purple ring radiating a heart-palpitating aura slowly rose from beneath Tang Linyuan's feet and pulsed around his body.

"Pur... purple?!"

Tang Wulin stammered, his voice cracking.

"A... a Millennium Soul Spirit?! Brother, didn't you go draw a prize? Did the prize pool explode?"

"Something like that." Tang Linyuan's lips curled slightly. "I got lucky and picked up a bargain."

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Mang Tian set down his tea mug and snorted.

"That was a mutated vicious creature that even the Spirit Pagoda classified as 'extremely dangerous.' This brat only survived because his life was tough. Anyone else would have exploded to death long ago. Linyuan, show your brother what you can do."

Tang Linyuan gave a slight nod.

He turned toward a discarded high-density alloy steel plate in the corner, one normally used for testing hammers.

It was a tough chunk that even Mang Tian usually could not be bothered to deal with, half a meter thick and as hard as granite.

"Watch carefully."

Tang Linyuan took a deep breath, and a sharp gleam that seemed capable of dominating the world flashed through his eyes.

The Millennium Soul Ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up, but he did not summon the phantom of the Demon Python.

Under the absolute suppression of the Tyrant Profound Divine Spear, the Demon Python's vicious aura was forcibly refined into the purest, most violent source of power.

Black mist no longer coiled around the spear. Instead, it erupted with a tangible dark-golden radiance.

That radiance was incomparably heavy, as if every strand of light weighed a thousand jin.

First Soul Skill: Tyrant Decision.

There was no flashy charge-up and no sinister attribute.

Tang Linyuan merely stepped forward half a pace, united his waist and stance, and thrust out his spear.

It was power in its purest, most extreme form—

Force!

Boom!

It was not the sharp sound of something being pierced, but a muffled blast like a heavy cannon firing!

The moment the tip of the Tyrant Profound Divine Spear touched the alloy steel plate, that dark-golden power exploded.

There was no corrosion, nor was there any melting.

There was only absolute shattering.

Crack—Boom!

At the point where the spear tip struck, a transparent hole the size of a bowl instantly burst through the half-meter-thick alloy steel plate!

Then, terrifying vibrations spread wildly outward from the hole.

The entire steel plate let out a mournful groan before exploding directly into dozens of fragments, which sprayed out and struck the walls with a chaotic series of clatters.

The might of a single spear strike was this fierce and unyielding!

This was the path of the Tyrant Profound Divine Spear: no fancy attributes, only weight, only hardness, only breaking all techniques with sheer force!

"Hiss—" Tang Wulin sucked in a breath and instinctively stepped back.

He felt that if that strike had hit a Mecha, it probably would have punched straight through it as well.

"My Soul Power has directly reached Level Sixteen."

Tang Linyuan put away his Martial Soul, calmed the surging blood and qi within him, then looked at the shocked pair and explained blandly.

"Generally speaking, a Soul Spirit is only a medium. The Soul Power it provides is negligible. But this Black Water Demon Python was different. It was a mutant and on the verge of collapse, with an immense amount of Life Energy accumulated over a thousand years trapped inside its body with nowhere to go. By forcibly fusing with it, I essentially swallowed the thousand years of reserves it had built up."

"Something like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

After listening, Mang Tian took a deep breath. Looking at the shattered steel plate, his eyes were filled with amazement.

"Level Sixteen... Six years old, Level Sixteen Soul Power, a first ring of a thousand years, and such an overbearing pure power-type Soul Skill. Tang Linyuan, your starting point is already the finish line of someone else's entire life."

He rose to his feet, forcibly suppressing the fervor in his eyes and returning to his stern-teacher demeanor.

"Enough. Stop showing off and get to work. No matter how high your Soul Power is, you'll still starve if you don't eat. Forging is your livelihood right now!"

"Yes!"

The two brothers exchanged a glance and returned to their respective Forging Tables.

This time, Tang Linyuan's feeling was entirely different.

His abundant Level Sixteen Soul Power surged endlessly through his meridians like a great river, while the Tungsten Steel Hammer in his hand felt as light as a feather.

More importantly, the artistic conception of "point-piercing attacks" bestowed upon him by the Tyrant Profound Divine Spear blended perfectly into his forging.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

That night, the most beautiful melody rang out within Mang Tian Workshop.

Every hammer strike from Tang Linyuan carried a unique rhythm. His power was no longer a scattered impact, but like his spear, concentrated into a single point that instantly pierced through the metal's surface and reached its core, brutally squeezing out the impurities.

In merely half an hour.

With the final hammer strike, a piece of silver-white metal half its original size appeared upon the Forging Table, its surface covered in flowing cloud-like patterns.

Hundred-Refined Sinking Silver.

Though it had yet to achieve the life-giving qualitative transformation of Thousand Refinement, within the realm of Hundred Refinement, this piece of Sinking Silver had already reached over ninety-five percent purity. Moreover, due to the trace of tyrannical intent fused into it, this metal was even harder than ordinary Hundred-Refined Sinking Silver.

Tang Wulin, beside him, refused to be outdone. Spurred on by his brother, the Golden Dragon King Bloodline within his body seemed to stir as well. Relying on sheer brute strength and resilience, he forcibly forged an ordinary piece of iron into Refined Iron without a single impurity.

"Good, good, good!"

When inspecting their results, Mang Tian's hands trembled as he looked at the superb Hundred-Refined Sinking Silver and the flawless Refined Iron.

He took a thick stack of Federation Credits from the drawer. It was the payment from previously backlogged orders.

"This is what you deserve." Mang Tian pulled out two thousand Federation Credits and handed them to Tang Linyuan.

"By industry rules, apprentices only get ten percent. But you two... forget it. From now on, we split the proceeds fifty-fifty. I can sell this Hundred-Refined Sinking Silver for a good price."

Tang Linyuan did not decline. He took the money, pulled out fifteen hundred, and handed it to his father for safekeeping. That was for household expenses.

He slipped the remaining five hundred into his pocket.

"Come on, Wulin. Let's pick up Na'er. I'll treat you two to a good meal."

Aolai City's night market was alive with the warmth of street life.

All kinds of barbecue stalls and food stands packed the streets, while the air was filled with the mingled aroma of cumin and sizzling oil.

"Boss, thirty grilled prawns, twenty lamb skewers, one grilled fish, and three bowls of seafood noodles!"

Tang Linyuan found a clean table, sat down, and ordered with great flair.

"Brother, won't this be too expensive..." Tang Wulin looked at the prices on the menu, his heart aching a little.

Five hundred credits—this had once been the family's monthly food budget.

"We earn money to eat." Tang Linyuan wiped the chopsticks for Na'er beside him.

"Especially us. The more we train, the hungrier we get. If we don't eat our fill, how will we have the strength to swing hammers? Besides, my Soul Power circulates quickly now, so I consume more as well. I need to eat more high-energy food."

Before long, the food arrived.

Seeing the golden skewers sizzling with oil, Tang Wulin's eyes instantly turned green.

"Wow! Delicious!"

The little fellow bit into a large prawn, his mouth covered in oil as his eyes narrowed happily into slits.

Though Na'er ate elegantly, she was not slow at all.

She seemed especially fond of fish. Satisfaction gleamed in her violet eyes, and from time to time, she would look up at Tang Linyuan.

She could sense that Brother Linyuan carried an additional aura today, one that made her somewhat fearful yet strangely reassured. It was the scent of a strong person.

Tang Linyuan did not eat much.

Holding a lamb skewer, he chewed slowly as he watched his younger brother and sister feast, then looked toward the brightly lit city in the distance.

He had obtained a Millennium Soul Ring, his Soul Power had surged to Level Sixteen, and his forging had become a stable source of output.

This Tyrant Profound Divine Spear had finally honed its first edge.

The youth swallowed his final bite of meat. Streetlights reflected in his ink-black eyes, and he looked like a young dragon sharpening its claws and fangs as it watched the world.

"Full?"

"Full! Burp—"

"Then let's go home and sleep. Tomorrow's goal: two thousand hammer strikes."

"Ah? Brother, are you a demon?!"

"I'm your brother. An even stricter brother than a demon."

In the night wind, the youths' laughter and playful bickering drifted away, gradually blending into the ordinary yet warm bustle of human life.