Forging! Forging!

As Little Black went ahead to start the slaughter, Li Ang focused more on observing the surroundings, or rather, studying this precious environment that belonged to the Star Luo Great Forest.

He studied with great focus, but to prevent any sneak attacks, he still raised his hand and cast a Jade Shield upon himself.

The Jade Shield was one of the innate talents that came with the Geo Archon Rex Lapis template, formed by condensing the surrounding elements.

After his careful study, he determined that the primary defensive capability of this shield was roughly ten times his own physical defense.

Furthermore, if one factored in elemental gathering, the shield's strength would increase in areas where the elements were more potent.

There was also a crucial point that others might not realize, but Li Ang easily deduced: the fluctuations of the earth elements in the vicinity.

Although he did not understand what earth elements were, through his own insights, deductions, and continuous analysis of his Jade Shield, he discovered certain patterns.

In previous tests, he had easily grasped one principle.

That was that the intensity of the surrounding earth elements, or rock elements, directly influenced the strength of the Jade Shield.

Therefore, as Li Ang stood still, he first pulled a handful of soil from his pocket; this was local soil he had found in the small garden beneath the Spirit Pagoda.

This soil contained rich earth elements, and the rock elements belonging to the Geo Archon Rex Lapis had already permeated it.

He scattered the soil into the air, and with a slight ripple of his power, the soil dissolved into a sky full of elemental particles.

As the soil fell to the ground, or rather, scattered around him, the surrounding rock elements began to appear at a faster rate, while the rock elements originally contained within the soil quickly converged toward him, forming the first layer of the Jade Shield.

Feeling the strength of the shield around him, Li Ang nodded in satisfaction, and then his figure began to venture deeper.

Of course, Li Ang's pace was not particularly slow.

He mostly focused on observation; unless some Soul Ring-bearing beasts actively approached him, he would not take the initiative to attack them.

On the other side, Little Black stood quietly, its surroundings already littered with the corpses of various beasts, most of which were ten-year Soul Ring beasts.

Of course, there was also the corpse of a hundred-year beast, but at this moment, Little Black's eyes were filled with a blood-red glow.

Its sleek, shiny fur seemed to carry a faint trace of blood-red light.

Because it possessed the bloodline of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, Little Black's sharp claws were not only extremely lethal but also carried the Berserk skill, which provided a boost in power.

At this moment, as Little Black used its power to devour the corpses of these beasts, the age of the Soul Ring on Li Ang's side also began to increase.

Watching the yellow Soul Ring change toward a deep yellow at a speed visible to the naked eye, Li Ang did not stop his pace.

He had already ventured quite deep, although there was still a long way to go before reaching the intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.

However, he was already in a relatively deep area of the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform.

As he walked, Li Ang's pace suddenly slowed down.

His gaze swept left and right; at this point, the trees here were becoming increasingly tall, and there was almost no sunlight filtering through.

His gaze swept over the trees; they looked no different from ordinary trees, but his powerful spiritual power and intuition told him that there were definitely other creatures nearby.

This feeling was very strange, causing Li Ang to frown deeply.

As he released his control over the surrounding rock elements, they spread across the ground like a tide, quickly helping Li Ang pinpoint the creature's location.

His gaze fixed on a patch of grass in an open area; the grass was exceptionally still, with no fluctuations within it.

However, the moment Li Ang's gaze swept over it, he suddenly sidestepped and threw a punch.

Elements condensed on his arm, and the terrifying punch kicked up dust, forming a massive rock fist imprint that slammed fiercely into the grass.

A figure suddenly bolted from the grass—it was a Wind Wolf, or perhaps a Forest Wolf. It was extremely fast, and under the enhancement of wind elements, it charged directly toward Li Ang's position.

Facing the hundred-year Wind Wolf, Li Ang did not even frown; his body was completely enveloped by the Jade Shield.

As the Wind Wolf's massive jaws clamped down on the Jade Shield, the shield emitted a creaking sound, yet not even a single crack appeared on its surface.

Looking at his intact shield, Li Ang fell silent for a moment, then, without hesitation, he raised his fist, which felt like a sandbag, and brought it down with a boom.

One ton of force—this was not much different from being hit by a large truck.

The only difference was that a truck had a larger surface area and could turn a person into a meat patty.

Li Ang's fist was small, focusing the impact on a single point.

In the cultivation chamber, as the hatch opened, Li Ang sat up, feeling somewhat exhausted.

He rubbed his head; this upgrade had raised Little Black from an ordinary hundred-year beast to about three hundred years.

According to his predictions, if he were willing to take a few more naps in the Spirit Ascension Platform, it shouldn't be difficult for Little Black to reach a thousand years.

As for the jump from a thousand to ten thousand years, while the difficulty would increase, it should still be manageable; the hardest part would likely be the transition from ten thousand to one hundred thousand years.

This stage should be the most difficult, especially since he had not yet mastered the Douluo Planet, making it very hard for him to bestow a lightning tribulation upon Little Black to aid its growth.

"It's a long road ahead. But it doesn't matter; I'm only six years old this year anyway."

"At most, in a few more years, Little Black should be able to grow up."

Li Ang muttered to himself, stood up, and yawned, then returned to his room to sleep.

The next day followed the same routine: a simple breakfast in the morning, followed by the driver taking Li Ang to the primary academy.

However, he didn't run into Xie Xie today; Xie Xie had asked for leave for some reason, and he heard it was for several days.

Regarding Xie Xie's leave, Li Ang only paid a brief moment of attention to it, not taking it to heart.

After all, he and Xie Xie had no real friendship yet, and he had no idea why the other party was asking for leave.

However, when class ended this time, he did not head straight back to the Spirit Pagoda.

At the entrance of the Spirit Pagoda, Shen Ming opened the car door and sat in the back row as well.

He cast a glance at Li Ang, a hint of helplessness on his face.

"Let's head over directly. Your teacher Cen Yue has returned today. Go have him test your forging talent, and then just let him take you on as a disciple."

"As for this forging business, if we can learn it, we learn it; if we can't, it doesn't really matter. At worst, I'll just study something slack like mecha maintenance. Either way, it's all the same."