Spirit Forging—Star-Patterned Sunken Gold!!

Fang Le shuffled his feet, inching his way toward Shi You.

"Um, take it easy, okay? I'm afraid of pain!"

He reached out his left hand with extreme caution, turning his head away and squeezing his eyes shut.

He looked every bit like a child terrified of getting hurt.

"Hahaha! With that fear of pain, you still want to make a name for yourself on the continent? Go on, get out of here! Go hug that egg over there!"

Watching the childish Fang Le, Shi You laughed and gestured for him to go hold the capsule-like object connected to the hammer.

"What's wrong with being afraid of pain? As long as others can't hurt me, I'll still become famous across the continent!"

Fang Le pouted, poking the strange egg growing out of the hammer with his finger.

"What the... eh?! It feels so good! It's soft!"

Fang Le cautiously placed his hand on the egg.

However, the stinging sensation he had anticipated never came; instead, his hand was tightly suctioned onto the surface of the egg.

Before he could even register his surprise, the egg acted like a liquid, completely enveloping his hands.

He felt a sensation of warmth and softness, accompanied by a slight, tight, sucking pressure.

It writhed, drawing energy from Fang Le's body, and then droplets of scarlet flowed along the pipe behind the egg, surging toward the hammer.

This bizarre sight couldn't help but make Fang Le's mind wander to other places.

Though, perhaps his thoughts were a bit too vivid...

This egg hasn't been used by the old man, has it?

But before he could dwell on it further, Shi You's voice rang out right beside his ear.

"Don't just stand there, pour your soul power into it as well. If you run out, meditate to recover. Once these two pieces of metal are tempered to the right heat, it'll be time for the hammer to do its work."

While observing the metal in the furnace, Shi You summoned his martial soul, and a hammer, much smaller than the one he had used previously, appeared in his hand.

Ding, ding, dang, dang.

He calculated the heat while performing simple shaping on the metal ingredients.

The process of smithing was monotonous; Shi You hammered the metal, while Fang Le channeled energy into the auxiliary tools.

Time flew by, and the sun that had been hanging high at noon had now quietly hidden behind the mountain peaks.

The sinker silver and refined gold, two raw materials the size of fists, were indeed worth more than Shi You's entire smithy.

Corresponding to their exorbitant value was the arduous forging process.

Yet, even after working for the entire afternoon, there was not a hint of fatigue in Shi You's eyes.

On the contrary, he grew more and more excited!

He looked at the metal chunks already burning bright red in the furnace.

"The time has come!"

With a sudden shout, he grabbed the large iron hammer from the side.

Ignoring Fang Le, who was still connected to the device, he began a ferocious assault on the two pieces of metal.

The patterns on the metal hammer flashed with a bloody red; clearly, that was the blood and soul power Fang Le had injected into it.

They were shaped into two metal strips of different sizes.

Shi You began to switch hammer heads, using the flat, sharp chisel-like side on the other end.

He began to split the sinker silver.

Afterward, he shaped the two strips of sinker silver to be similar in length and width to the refined gold, but flatter.

He sandwiched the refined gold between them and tossed them back into the furnace.

"Steel-wrapping technique!? I saw this at a blade-forging competition!!"

Pulling himself up from his exhaustion, Fang Le looked at the familiar technique before him and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

He had expected Shi You to use the alloy technology that appeared in Douluo Dalu III, directly fusing the two metals together.

He hadn't considered whether Shi You even had the capability to do so.

"Steel-wrapping technique? Kid, you have that kind of knowledge? And a blade-forging competition? Has there been a competition like that around Nuoding City in recent years? How come I've never heard of it?"

Shi You scooped a ladle of water from a nearby vat, poured it over his head, and after taking a refreshing drink, asked with some surprise.

"It was a competition in a small place! I just watched those blacksmiths compete and listened to people explain it. But is it really that simple to create this so-called Blood-Forged Spirit Gold?"

Fang Le answered evasively, then looked at the metal in the furnace with curiosity.

It looked nothing like the miraculous, light-emitting spectacle described in Douluo Dalu III.

Could it be that he had been wrong? This had nothing to do with Spirit Forging?

Was it just a name that sounded more impressive?

"Of course not! If you want a precious sword, how could this little time be enough! Prepare yourself for a long stay here! It'll take at least another forty-nine days."

Shi You rolled his eyes in annoyance, stating a duration that left Fang Le feeling somewhat desperate.

Forty-some days; with that much time, if he just held an ordinary blade, he could probably grind his way to level ten.

However, his anticipation for the precious sword overcame his desire to level up.

He was already here, after all!

He wouldn't be satisfied without seeing the finished product!

"Um, Uncle Shi, does this mean... I won't have to bleed and drain my soul power every single day like I just did, right?"

"What do you think?"

"No way!"

Time flew by, and forty-nine days later.

"Is it finally finished?"

Fang Le looked with joy at the piece of metal resonating with him.

He exclaimed in surprise.

They say blacksmithing is a test of patience for a reason! Over these forty-nine days, he had barely rested.

He was either draining his blood or on the way to draining his soul power.

To ensure success, Fang Le's soul power had never stopped nourishing that piece of metal for forty-nine days.

Although the amount was small, it was exhausting enough.

The process was difficult, but the results were gratifying.

As Shi You struck the final hammer blow, the metal block erupted with a spiritual glow.

Fang Le used a dagger to slice his palm one last time, performing the final blood sacrifice.

"It's done!"

Shi You shouted in excitement.

After long hours of hammering and nearly ten thousand folds and cuts, this metal had perfectly fused with Fang Le's bloodline and soul power.

It had surpassed Thousand-Refinement and entered a brand-new realm.

Even though Shi You only possessed weak soul power, he could still feel the perfect spirituality radiating from the metal before him.

If the opportunity arose, this metal might even become a metal soul beast the likes of which the Douluo Continent had never seen before.

"Hm?"

Feeling the strange connection between himself and the metal, Fang Le reached out toward the scorching material instinctively.

Yet, the intense heat seemed non-existent, and the metal's rigid nature vanished, flowing like water.

As Fang Le made contact, it surged violently into his body.

"This! This! Hahaha! I did it! I finally did it! Blood-Forged Spirit Gold! This is Blood-Forged Spirit Gold! This is exactly what I wanted!!

Xiao Le! Quick! See if you can summon it again?! Just like summoning a martial soul."

Shi You was ecstatic, shaking Fang Le's body as he shared his joy.

At the same time, he urged Fang Le to begin the attempt he had been looking forward to most.

"Mm!"

Fang Le was equally excited, beginning to sense the metal that had merged into his body.

He could feel it; he could summon it.

As his thoughts shifted, the metal that had been on the forging table suddenly appeared in his right hand.

Star-patterned Damascus ripples and a dual-colored gold and silver luster intertwined on its surface.

It was both magnificent and mysterious!

"Is this Spirit Forging? Human potential is truly infinite!"

Looking at this miraculous metal—which should have only appeared in the third installment and required at least the strength of a Soul Ancestor to forge—Fang Le couldn't help but sigh. The potential that erupts from human passion is boundless.

Through their long time together, Fang Le had also learned of Shi You's true strength.

An eighth-level soul scholar, not even possessing a single soul ring.

Yet, this was a man who hadn't even reached the level of a true soul master.

Relying solely on his passion and spirit of research, he had forcibly forged this epoch-making metal.

Spirit Forging—Star-Patterned Sinking Gold!!