Watching Li Ang's calm refusal, Long Hengxu fell silent for a moment, then gave a bitter smile and nodded.
"Li Ang, you can return to Class Two of Grade One for now."
"But let me make this clear: if you want to join Spirit Class later, it'll be much harder for you."
"Spirit Class requires you to sign a confidentiality agreement. Once you've seen the benefits, it'll be difficult to get in afterward."
"Understood. Thank you for the guidance, Director Long."
As he spoke, Li Ang smiled at Long Hengxu.
He understood Long Hengxu's advice, but it didn't matter much to him.
When he returned to Class One of Grade One, Ye Yingluo, standing at the front of the room, was stunned to see him.
She had assumed the boy would head straight to Grade One's Spirit Class.
After all, whether in terms of teaching resources or the students' strength, Grade One's Spirit Class was far superior to Class One of Grade One.
Seeing Li Ang return, Ye Yingluo was initially at a loss.
But after thinking it over, she ultimately said nothing.
When the bell rang, Class One of Grade One continued with its lessons.
The teacher explained the material while Li Ang sat quietly, occupied with his own things.
The morning classes soon came to an end. As soon as the lunch break began, Xie Xie and Tang Wulin came over.
Both looked puzzled, unable to understand why Li Ang had made this choice.
"Li Ang, why didn't you join Grade One's Spirit Class?"
"Our class has a great learning environment, and Teacher Wu is our instructor. He's incredibly strong."
Xie Xie spoke with a hint of excitement on his face.
Because of the confidentiality rules, he couldn't tell Li Ang about the chance to enter the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform.
Still, he wanted to drop a hint to his good friend.
But as Xie Xie met Li Ang's gaze, Li Ang calmly shook his head.
It wasn't important to him.
With his current three-ring strength and physical prowess, the school's affairs could no longer affect him.
"All right, let's go eat."
"I've got the afternoon off. Wulin, sorry for the trouble, but bring me dinner."
After speaking, Li Ang looked at Tang Wulin.
Since returning, he had also learned the details of the competition that day.
Tang Wulin had used the Clear Sky Hammer at the end, stunning the entire arena.
With the Clear Sky Hammer's overbearing power, he had ended the match with a single blow, defeating the two-man Martial Soul Fusion Skill outright.
When Li Ang turned his gaze toward him, Tang Wulin paused, then nodded.
He had become a capable blacksmith and received plenty of support.
Even so, he remained grateful to Li Ang.
So even though he no longer needed the few thousand yuan, he was still happy to run an errand for Li Ang.
A table laden with food sat in the restaurant. The three of them ate and chatted.
"Li Ang, do you know that Na'er in your class?"
"She's really beautiful. We were all stunned when she joined our class."
"She's not only a two-ring Soul Master, but I heard she's even stronger than Wang Jinxi and the others."
"I just don't know why she didn't compete in the Class Promotion Tournament."
Xie Xie spoke as he ate.
Besides praising Na'er, he talked about all sorts of everyday things.
None of it mattered to Li Ang. It was practically pointless chatter.
But he still listened attentively to Xie Xie.
"You mean Na'er? She doesn't really like competitions. Everyone's different."
"You have special training every night, too? Sounds like Teacher Wu's teaching methods are pretty good."
Li Ang answered Xie Xie one sentence at a time, not particularly bothered by his rambling.
While the two chatted, Tang Wulin stuffed himself with food.
They parted ways after lunch.
Tang Wulin and Xie Xie returned to class to wait for their afternoon lessons, while Li Ang left for the Blacksmith Association.
Over the past few days, the two youngsters had been improving their cultivation by hunting Soul Beasts.
Li Ang had been busy, too. He had reached some conclusions about Spirit Refinement.
But he couldn't be sure whether those conclusions were correct, so he planned to ask Mu Chen to help him examine them.
He got into a car, and it began to roll along.
Li Ang sent Mu Chen a message in advance.
Mu Chen was a little surprised by Li Ang's sudden visit, but didn't think much of it.
This sort of thing happened often. Li Ang was an unusual kid, and Mu Chen understood that.
Unlike the others, who trusted him with something close to worship, Li Ang had no such attitude toward him.
Instead, he regarded their teacher-student relationship in a steady, almost equal manner.
Mu Chen didn't particularly dislike Li Ang's straightforward, unpretentious nature.
Li Ang arrived at the Blacksmith Association quickly.
He went upstairs, took the elevator straight to the top floor, and entered Mu Chen's office.
After three years together, the two were already quite familiar with each other.
When he saw Li Ang, Mu Chen got to his feet almost immediately.
"Go on, kid. What do you need help with this time?"
"Teacher, I want to try Spirit Refinement. Could you take a look and tell me if it's feasible, or if there are any other problems?"
"Spirit Refinement? You can do it already? That was fast!"
Mu Chen's voice held rare surprise.
After all, Spirit Refinement was a major hurdle, one that many people never crossed in their entire lives.
He hadn't expected Li Ang to break through it in just three years.
And knowing Li Ang's character, if he said he could perform Spirit Refinement, he had most likely already simulated the process and might even be able to do it successfully.
He just wanted Mu Chen to check whether there were any issues.
After hearing Li Ang out, Mu Chen hesitated only for a moment before leading him down to the forging room.
Inside, Li Ang wasted no time. He picked up a standard piece of Black Iron and began using his ability.
A deep-yellow glow surged forth, clearing away the impurities in the Black Iron.
A piece of metal, black with a silvery sheen, lay there quietly.
Looking at the metal, whose foundation was already equivalent to Thousand Refinement, Mu Chen watched Li Ang closely.
Li Ang raised his hand and brought the hammer down gently.
Then he struck again and again, each blow landing almost perfectly on the metal's natural rhythm.
Under Li Ang's hammer, the impurities within the metal were gradually removed.
Without impurities, the metal reached Thousand Refinement quickly.
In just a few dozen breaths, it had completed a standard Thousand Refinement and reached the crucial stage of Spirit Refinement.
Feeling Mu Chen's gaze on him, Li Ang remained calm.
Spirit Refinement gave metal a spirit.
The reason he had never been able to succeed was that traditional forging required him to produce a spark of spirit within himself.
It was difficult—or rather, there was no reasonable explanation for it.
It was as though it depended entirely on talent.
If you could cross that hurdle, you would simply know how to do it.
But if you couldn't, you might never learn it in your entire life.
That hurdle couldn't be overcome with brains or intelligence.
It depended on a feeling, an absolute natural talent for metal.
And Li Ang clearly didn't have that talent.
So for the past three years, he had been doing one thing: building a ladder.
He had been figuring out how to use his own advantages to climb over that hurdle and perform Spirit Refinement directly.
Now, after all this time studying the problem, Li Ang had finally settled on the method he would use.
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