Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad

He felt an indescribable comfort throughout his entire body.

He had no idea how much time passed before the soothing sensation gradually faded. Mu Han opened his eyes, and a white ceiling came into view.

He silently assessed his condition.

His body was basically normal, and he could sense it far more clearly than before.

The spiritual power that had troubled him for so long had finally broken through, advancing from the Spirit Connection Realm to the Spirit Sea Realm.

For a Soul Master, this was an extremely important threshold.

It was a necessary step on the path to becoming a high-level Soul Master.

In theory, he was now powerful enough to cultivate all the way to the nine-ring Titled Douluo level, but his Soul Ring Configuration would be limited to five purple and four black rings at most.

After all, he had two Thousand-Year Soul Spirits and one Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Soul.

In most cases, he should have six purple and three black rings.

But a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit could provide three thousand-year Soul Rings.

And a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Soul could provide four ten-thousand-year Soul Rings.

So, in theory, five purple and four black rings were possible—and would even be a little better.

He had no idea what had happened to his Soul Spirit.

At the thought, Mu Han's mind stirred. A high-pitched dragon's roar burst out, followed closely by the clear cry of a phoenix.

The Vermilion Clear Ice Toad was still the same Vermilion Clear Ice Toad, and it was still a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit.

But behind the toad appeared an enormous, savage, and majestic dragon's head.

The dragon's head was crimson from head to tail, and beside it appeared an Ice Phoenix, its entire body crystal-white.

The noble, graceful Ice Phoenix pursued the majestic fire dragon, the two entwined with each other, their forms etched across the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad's back.

Because it lived on the outskirts of the Far North, where it bordered human territory, the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad was also known as "the king in the cracks."

It had chosen to live there because the fire attribute within the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad made it unsuited to the depths of the Far North.

In truth, though, it was mostly because it lacked the strength to measure up to the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North.

Even though Mu Han's Vermilion Clear Ice Toad Soul Spirit had mutated and gained a metal attribute, it had only felt like it had been gilded.

But now, the roar of the giant dragon and the cry of the Ice Phoenix gave it a sense of opulence.

"Could it be because of Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi?" Mu Han murmured to himself.

The original story had mentioned that their Martial Souls were the Bone Dragon King and the Dark Phantom Eagle.

Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was the Dark Eagle Dragon.

Mu Han's fusion skill with his Soul Spirit, Ice Fire Refining, had also gained a dark attribute after being enhanced.

So it had swallowed the Dark Eagle Dragon whole.

The ancestors of terrestrial Soul Beasts came in a great variety, but the ancestors of almost all flying Soul Beasts had some Phoenix blood in them.

The Phoenix was the king of birds, hence the saying that all birds paid homage to the Phoenix.

The Dark Phantom Eagle, however, was a far cry from a Phoenix.

But the Bone Dragon King was itself a top-tier dark-attribute Martial Soul.

Besides, Mu Han and his Soul Spirit, the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad, had each absorbed a drop of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian's blood essence.

The Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King's bloodline had thus awakened the Bone Dragon King Martial Soul.

And through its connection to the Dark Eagle Dragon Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the Bone Dragon King Martial Soul had awakened the Dark Phantom Eagle Martial Soul as well.

The Phoenix aura in the Dark Phantom Eagle's bloodline had been released.

Combined with the Bone Dragon King's ancestral bloodline awakening, it had produced the auspicious spectacle of a dragon and phoenix appearing together.

As for why they were a fire dragon and an Ice Phoenix...

The ice and fire within the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad happened to correspond to them. This was what made it a true Ice Fire Refining Gold Body, wasn't it?

Still, it probably couldn't be called a Vermilion Clear Ice Toad anymore.

Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad might be a more fitting name.

Aside from that, Mu Han also wanted to try Spirit Forging.

He had wanted to give it a try as soon as he broke through to level twenty.

In fact, he had wanted to try it even before his breakthrough.

Just like how he had wanted to challenge Thousand Refinement at level ten.

But Thousand Refinement and Spirit Forging were different.

If Thousand Refinement failed, so be it. How many times had Mu Han failed over the past few years?

But Spirit Forging couldn't afford failure.

Spirit Forging was a communication between Soul Power and metal, a fusion of one's heart and the metal.

Thousand Refinement merely drew out the metal's full potential.

Spirit Forging, on the other hand, triggered a transformation in the metal!

To complete Spirit Forging, he had to unite his body and mind.

So if Spirit Forging failed, the metal being ruined was the least of his worries.

His mind would inevitably suffer severe damage, and if the injury proved impossible to heal, his forging career would be over.

That was why Mu Han had never taken the risk.

Normally, Spirit Forging required the strength of a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.

In the original story, Tang Wulin had been born with divine strength, but even under normal circumstances, he still would have needed to reach the three-ring level.

Later, during the entrance examination, he had been pushed into unlocking his potential. That was how he had completed his first Spirit Forging at level twenty-eight.

So Mu Han really had no reason to try before reaching the second ring.

After breaking through to the second ring, he had already planned to give it a try, but the Class Promotion Tournament had started just then.

And he had made another breakthrough during the tournament.

His cultivation was still at the second ring, but his spiritual power had reached the Spirit Sea Realm.

Now, Spirit Forging would be a piece of cake for him.

He knew, however, that the outside world was probably in an uproar by now.

He remembered that Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi both came from families with significant backgrounds.

They weren't great clans, but they were still quite influential.

Their families' prodigies had died during the Class Promotion Tournament, and their bodies hadn't even been left behind.

How could their families possibly let it go?

It was true that fists and feet could miss their mark, but what did right and wrong matter at a time like this?

Mu Han wasn't trying to shirk responsibility.

But showing up now would only make things worse. He might as well let his adoptive father, Mu Chen, handle it for him.

The Federation was now a society governed by law, and on the surface, it claimed that everyone was equal.

But how could there be equality in a world centered on a cultivation system?

Mu Chen was a Level 8 Saint Craftsman and the junior fellow apprentice of Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua.

With Mu Chen's standing, even Titled Douluos had to show him respect.

Even the Federation authorities had to give him face.

If the Wang Family and Zhang Family accepted compensation, they would be showing him respect.

If the two families refused to show respect, Mu Chen had ways of making them "show respect."

So when Mu Han contacted Mu Chen through his Soul Guidance Communicator, Mu Chen wasn't especially worried.

There was no one on the other side they couldn't afford to offend. It was just a matter of paying compensation and settling things.

And as a Saint Craftsman, would Mu Chen be short on money?

Anyone who became a Grandmaster was bound to grow rich. How could they possibly lack money?

A Saint Craftsman's work was priceless, because the Saint Craftsman himself set the price.

That was the Blacksmith Association's rule.

Ordinarily, most Saint Craftsmen only accepted jobs when they needed rare materials.

And a Saint Craftsman could get almost anything he wanted in exchange for his work.

Just then, Mu Han sensed that someone else was in the infirmary.

He saw a familiar figure lying in the bed next to his. "Xie Xie?"

Xie Xie, a member of the original protagonist's group, was now in Class Two of the first year.

Why was this guy in the infirmary? Had Mu Han injured him too?

But their last fight had been before the typhoon.

Could he have been laid up for more than a week after being tossed around?

But he didn't look injured at all.