You Don't Understand Him At All

Yuanen Yehui pursed her lips. The mere thought that she had known nothing while chatting with An Lan earlier today made her feel like she had lost all face.

She was a genius with Twin Martial Souls; how could she possibly fall behind An Lan?

It was all her father's fault for not being as responsible as An Lan's teacher.

Hearing his daughter's complaints, Yuanen Zhentian didn't feel the slightest bit of anger. He quickly went along with her words, saying, "My fault, it's all my fault. Daddy didn't consider things carefully and let our Huihui lose face in front of her little friend."

After saying this, he asked curiously, "My precious daughter, why do you want to learn to be a Blacksmith? Wouldn't it be better to be a Mecha Designer or a Mecha Manufacturer?"

Yuanen Tiandang truly could not imagine his delicate and adorable daughter swinging a giant hammer to forge iron in the future.

Even though he felt his daughter was just mentioning it offhand, he still wanted to persuade her to change her mind.

Yuanen Yehui leaned against her father's shoulder, shaking her little head with great determination: "An Lan is already learning Mecha Designer, Mecha Manufacturer, and mecha repair, so I don't need to learn those. All that's left is to be a Blacksmith."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Yuanen Tiandang's face froze instantly, and his wariness toward An Lan surged once more.

His daughter's words clearly indicated that she intended to have An Lan design and manufacture her Battle Armor in the future.

One had to know that from design to manufacture, Battle Armor could never be completed in a single day. Furthermore, for Battle Armor to perfectly resonate with a spirit master, the Mecha Designer had to have an intimate understanding of the spirit master's martial soul characteristics and combat style.

This required absolute trust, and even living and breathing together to repeatedly refine the fit.

At this moment, An Lan was no longer just some average punk in his eyes—he had to strike hard!

To scare his daughter off, Yuanen Tiandang deliberately put on a serious face and intimidated her: "Forging hammers are incredibly heavy. Besides, people who forge often don't just develop a body full of muscles; they also have huge appetites, eating more than a pig. If a girl learns this, she'll turn into a big, bulky person."

Yuanen Yehui remained unmoved. She puffed out her small chest and said confidently, "I have plenty of strength and methods."

Ever since she awakened the Titan Giant Ape martial soul, a single swing of her arm possessed the force of a thousand pounds. In her eyes, what was a mere forging hammer? How heavy could it be?

Yuanen Yehui was very confident, feeling that blacksmithing was simply too perfect for her.

If her father hadn't kept avoiding the topic of Battle Armor and secondary professions, she might have already become a first-rank Blacksmith. How could she have fallen behind An Lan?

Thinking of this, she became even more determined. She absolutely could not let her father hold her back anymore, so she said, "I've decided, my secondary profession will be blacksmithing! An Lan is learning three things at once, but I'm only learning one. By focusing my efforts, he definitely won't be able to outdo me!"

Seeing his daughter so persistent, Yuanen Tiandang said expressionlessly, "He's bragging."

Yuanen Tiandang had also studied secondary professions and knew deeply the difficulty of a spirit master balancing spirit power cultivation with the advancement of a secondary profession, let alone learning three at once.

He didn't doubt that An Lan was lying; he just felt that the child was still young and had eyes bigger than his stomach. Once he hit a wall and ended up bloodied, he would naturally know to turn back.

Seeing her father disbelieve her friend, Yuanen Yehui became instantly annoyed and shouted loudly to defend him: "An Lan wouldn't brag! Daddy, you don't understand him at all, and I won't let you talk about him like that!"

As she spoke, she struggled and reached her little hands toward her mother, pouting, "Mommy, hold me!"

In an instant, Yuanen Tiandang felt his heart shatter. He didn't even snap out of it when his daughter was carried away by his wife.

Shangling City Spirit Pagoda, Mecha Room.

The entire ninety-ninth floor of the Spirit Pagoda was occupied only by Leng Qingning, Le Lingzhao, and An Lan.

To ensure a comfortable living space, Leng Qingning had divided the area meticulously: the inner side was the living quarters, the center was the exclusive cultivation room, and the largest area on the west side was the Mecha Room prepared specifically for An Lan to study his secondary professions.

The Mecha Room was fully equipped, containing the complete set of devices needed to study the three secondary professions of Mecha Designer, Mecha Manufacturer, and mecha repair—one could truly craft a mecha by hand.

Leng Qingning was wealthy and generous. Although An Lan was only three when she prepared all this, she had also conveniently included a forging room in the Mecha Room, considering he might choose to be a Blacksmith for his secondary profession.

At this moment, the Mecha Room was bright, the entire space illuminated as if it were broad daylight.

An Lan sat upright before a giant experimental table, his posture straight. His fingertips were focused on carving a Soul Guidance Array onto a piece of metal blank.

Mecha design required a deep foundation of theory and was too distant for a beginner; An Lan was currently still at the stage of learning basic theory.

The core of mecha manufacturing was engraving core Soul Guidance Arrays onto Battle Armor and mechas. Beyond memorizing theoretical knowledge, it was inseparable from day-after-day practical training.

Therefore, after Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao discovered that An Lan's theoretical foundation was excellent—having already "rolled" ahead for who knew how long—they brought him to the Mecha Room with faces full of gratification.

They called it "testing his learning results."

"Failure is the mother of success" was Leng Qingning's teaching motto, so she had prepared many rare metals for him to "squander."

To the left of the experimental table were neatly stacked rows of rare metals, cut to precise sizes suitable for practicing Soul Guidance Arrays. The Purple Copper was warm and smooth, the Mithril shimmered with light; each piece had been carefully polished and was the most suitable material for a novice to practice with.

To the right lay a pile of discarded metal, randomly tossed aside. With crooked carvings, incomplete arrays, and cracks caused by imbalances in spirit power control, these were all failed products left behind from An Lan's repeated practice, and every piece bore witness to his progress.

Le Lingzhao restrained her aura and stepped forward slowly. She gently picked up a piece of discarded Purple Copper that An Lan had just tossed aside, her fingertips brushing lightly over the carvings. She raised her eyes to look at the focused youth, her gaze filled with approval.

From the initial stage where he failed frequently before even completing one-fifth of the array, to now, where the array was nearing perfection—in just one night, An Lan had already mastered the basics.

His progress was so fast that it far exceeded her expectations.

An Lan was completely unaware of this, having already entered a state of focus where he forgot both himself and the world.

His left hand held a piece of crimson metal steadily, while his right hand gripped a custom-made carving knife. The blade was slender yet tough, its tip quenched with a trace of Meteorite Iron, making it exceptionally sharp.

His eyes were lowered, his gaze and spiritual power locked tightly onto the metal surface. Spirit power condensed at his right fingertips, and every ounce of force was controlled to perfection.

One stroke fell, precise and steady, followed immediately by the second and third. Although his movements were slow, they flowed like water without the slightest pause. In just a moment, the new array was already half-carved.

Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao stood quietly behind him, their eyes fixed intently on the gradually forming array. When they saw An Lan approaching the critical node that had caused him to fail several times before, the two of them couldn't help but hold their breath.

In the blink of an eye, An Lan steadily crossed that bottleneck and successfully carved the lines that had frequently frustrated him. His movements did not stop.

Spirit power continued to output from his fingertips, and he maintained his own rhythm, carving stroke by stroke toward the end of the array.