Above Spirit Refinement Lies Heavenly Refinement

"Who's trying to hit my disciple?"

Qian Duoduo was about to strike again when an angry roar rang out. Another burly man approached.

The middle-aged man had bronze skin, wore cool shorts and a vest, and carried an iron hammer over his shoulder. His face full of bulging flesh, he glared threateningly at Qian Duoduo.

"Old Hammer, I'm doting on my disciple."

"What's it got to do with you?"

Both were tall, powerfully built men. They glared at each other without any courtesy, and the atmosphere immediately tensed.

"What disciple? You're his mistress."

"My disciple was right. You're almost ninety and still haven't won Xian Lin'er over. Back then, Yan Shaozhe and Lin'er were... So what Ninja Dragon? Ninja Turtle suits you better. Isn't that right, Turtle... Douluo?"

"Still, Xian Lin'er's mother is an elder of the Sea God Pavilion. You became her son-in-law... and landed the position of vice dean of the Soul Guidance Department. What a bloody bargain."

Tie Wuji burst into laughter, and Qian Duoduo's face turned utterly livid. He truly had liked Xian Lin'er back then, but Yan Shaozhe had been Shrek's peerless handsome man.

The Bright Phoenix's martial soul had been both powerful and dazzling. Xian Lin'er and Cai Mei'er had been his strongest contenders, yet he had ultimately chosen the latter.

Qian Duoduo had happily stepped in to take over, only to discover that her mother was one of the Sea God Pavilion's elders. Thus, even though he had earned his position as dean of the Soul Guidance Department through his own strength, people still mocked him for gaining benefits by marrying in.

"Damn hammer, you really love talking about hammers, don't you?" Qian Duoduo snapped. A round shield engraved with Wulong appeared in his hand, and a dragon's roar shook the heavens.

Tie Wuji did not hold back either. He pointed his iron hammer forward, and a vast force capable of shattering the sky rose to contend with that Dragon Might. Nine Soul Rings appeared at once.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black. They were the optimal Soul Ring configuration. Tie Wuji's martial soul was the most ordinary iron hammer, yet he had returned to simplicity and cultivated all the way to become a Title Douluo. He had not appeared in the original work either.

Because he had devoted himself wholly to forging, he was Shrek's only Level Six Spirit Refinement Fusion Refinement blacksmith. He also believed that forging had no end, and that beyond Spirit Refinement lay...

Mu Baobao's forging teacher. Even so, Tie Wuji did not dare call himself a Divine Craftsman. Lou Gao, Tai Tan, Tang Hao... Divine Craftsmen who had not even reached Level Five Spirit Refinement—the Forging Department... truly had a whole roomful of them.

One held a shield, the other an iron hammer. The two were ready at any moment to demonstrate a clash of defense and strength. Mu Baobao was speechless... These old men had probably been as affectionate and close as the protagonist's generation when they were young.

Why were they now so incompatible after growing old? He did not want to see his workbench smashed to pieces.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?"

"Don't smash up my workbench—no, the Forging Department. Otherwise, I'll just have to go to the Spirit Department..." Mu Baobao complained with a curl of his lips. If two Title Douluo fought, the Soul Guidance Department's soul tool formations might protect it, but the Forging Department could still easily be wrecked.

"You dare?!" the two men roared in unison.

Qian Duoduo disliked Yan Shaozhe, and Mu Baobao was also one of the ways he could curry favor with Xian Lin'er. Naturally, he did not want Mu Baobao going over to the Spirit Department.

As for Tie Wuji, Mu Baobao possessed exceptional forging talent. He had already become a Level Four blacksmith at eighteen—how could Tie Wuji possibly let the Spirit Department take him?

"Damn hammer, let's go to the Soul Fighting Zone and have a spar. There are giant soul tool formations there, so we won't have to worry about breaking anything..." The two shoved each other as they headed outside. "Spar my hammer. School hasn't even started yet."

"I'm giving him some special coaching—ptui, makeup lessons. Go back and court your Lin'er."

Tie Wuji chased him off. Mu Baobao had also learned soul tool knowledge from Qian Duoduo, but he had not pursued that path deeply. Soul Engineers were soul masters who crafted Soul Tools. Legend of the Dragon King had also added Mecha Masters and Battle Armor Masters, while Ultimate Douluo had warship pilots.

Looking at it that way, blacksmithing was the most practical, because all those professions needed forged metals. Mu Baobao only needed to understand the relevant knowledge of the other professions.

Once you became amazing at forging, what could you possibly lack?

"Tch, then take your time teaching him!"

Qian Duoduo waved him off. Though he did not know why Mu Baobao had not continued studying Soul Engineering, if the boy learned Old Hammer's skills, the Soul Guidance Department would no longer need to rely on this fellow for weapon-making metals. Just imagining that guy's face looking like he had eaten shit was satisfying.

Before leaving, however, he reminded Mu Baobao that Xian Lin'er would also give him special coaching in martial soul combat. His Ultimate Ice Dragon could not be wasted.

"What's there to learn from your soul tools? Forging is the most practical thing. What doesn't use metal these days?"

Tie Wuji muttered, while Mu Baobao was somewhat horrified. Martial God Douluo Xian Lin'er... she was a battle maniac. The longer she fought, the crazier she became.

A savage beating was unavoidable. Learning combat from her... was like Xu Sanshi being dragged by Ma Xiaotao to suppress her Evil Fire. It could not get any more miserable.

"Forget the task. Teacher will teach you Spirit Refinement." Tie Wuji waved and beckoned Mu Baobao over.

"But Teacher, I'm still studying Thousand Refinement Fusion Refinement. Isn't it a little rushed to learn Spirit Refinement now?" Mu Baobao replied. Tie Wuji immediately shook his head. "Enough. Fusion Refinement is like old man Zhuang's pill refining. Fusion Refinement also needs the proper formula to create unique metals."

"Hundred Refinement, Thousand Refinement, and Spirit Refinement only require the corresponding Soul Power Level. Fusion Refinement is meant to grind away your time. You're already Level Sixty, so you can learn it. Like medicinal ingredients, metals have reactions of their own. The day you develop an exclusive metal formula, you'll be able to sit among the masters."

Artifact refining and pill refining... two professions common in fantasy worlds. Their principles truly were not that different. Metals and medicinal ingredients could each complement one another.

With the wrong combination, one would produce scrap metal and useless pills. The quantities required also had to meet the proper requirements.

Single refinement was like extracting a medicinal ingredient by itself.

"I'll first tell you about the origins of Spirit Refinement. It was a story from ten thousand years ago, involving Tang San of the First Generation Shrek Seven Devils—the Sea God and Asura God—and Senior Lou Gao of the Blacksmith Association, the predecessor of blacksmiths."

"Even though the Tang Sect had declined, its stories still spread across the continent. It was famous for technique-based and mechanical hidden weapons, and the latter required the support of superb blacksmiths. One day, Sea God Tang San approached Senior Lou Gao to forge hidden weapons. Yet no matter how Lou Gao forged them, there was no sign of success."

"Finally, he had an epiphany and used himself as a sacrifice to enlighten the metal, forging one of the top three mechanical hidden weapons. Though it no longer held much advantage against Soul Tools, there was no denying that it had influenced an entire era. That was the origin of Spirit Refinement..."

"When the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent, it brought soul tool technology, and only then were blacksmiths valued."

Tie Wuji sighed. The more Mu Baobao listened, the more something felt wrong. Tang San had known that creating one of the top three hidden weapons required someone to sacrifice himself, yet he had never told Lou Gao.

He could not have thrown a living person into the furnace in front of Lou Gao. Yet in his previous life, he had also forged one of the top three hidden weapons. He had definitely done such a thing before... It showed just how hypocritical that fellow was. Exploiting Lou Gao's obsession with forging was only one of his many deeds.

"Shrek Academy helped the Heaven Dou Empire of that time defeat the ambitious Spirit Hall Empire, which sought to unify the continent, bringing peace."

"Hm?" Mu Baobao's eyes widened. How the hell could he lie so shamelessly with his eyes open?

Shrek City occupied the former site of Spirit City. The Inner Court and Sea God Pavilion had also been where Spirit Hall and the Pope Palace stood. Spirit Hall had stopped countless wars between the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, while Shrek Academy simply acted as a local tyrant and let them fight.

"Then beyond Spirit Refinement, are there higher levels of forging?" Mu Baobao knowingly asked.

Beyond Spirit Refinement were Soul Refinement and Heavenly Refinement. Spirit Refinement fused Soul Power into the metal, giving it spirituality, while Soul Refinement used spiritual power to make it seem as though it possessed a soul.

Heavenly Refinement even granted it life force. Metal forged at that level was already alive and even had to endure lightning tribulation. Soul Refinement did not exist yet because spiritual power had not become an established system. Even a Title Douluo's spiritual power was likely insufficient for Soul Refinement.

Heavenly Refinement consumed an enormous amount every time. The amount of Heavenly Refinement metal a Divine Craftsman could forge in a lifetime was likely limited by what his body could bear. That was why Tang Wulin's teacher suffered from poor health. Tang Wulin possessed the Golden Dragon King's origin.

For him, forging Heavenly Refinement was like playing around. That tiny bit of consumption was nothing at all. There was no Level Ten blacksmith in Legend of the Dragon King... If there were, that would be Heavenly Refinement Fusion Refinement.

Fusion Refinement at every level was extremely difficult, especially Spirit and Soul. Consciousness and souls, like the rejection response of human cells, resisted each other with increasing intensity.

A feverish light appeared in Tie Wuji's eyes.

"Of course there are. Spirit Refinement fuses Soul Power into metal. Of a soul master's three great abilities, there are also spiritual power and life force, both of which are harder to mobilize than Soul Power..."

"Unfortunately, spiritual power and life force are both far more difficult to cultivate than Soul Power. They do not even have systems of their own. Perhaps they will in the future, but in this era, achieving it is very difficult. Spirit Refinement fuses Soul Power into metal. As for spiritual power, I call it... Soul!"

Mu Baobao was shocked. His forging teacher had actually already touched upon this field.

But no matter how outstanding someone was, an era could still become the sorrow of many people. Their ideas were too far ahead to be realized. A system required time.

The Soul Spirit System had been created by Huo Yuhao, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Ice Empress... several ferocious beasts, and Electrolux the Necromancer, through Necromancy Magic. If other soul masters had researched it instead—

they might not have developed it even after tens of thousands of years. Its core was still Necromancy Magic. The essence of Soul Spirits was the undead.

Ten thousand years later, it had become the Spirit Ascension System, allowing the age of Soul Rings to increase. Such cases had also existed during the Peerless Tang Sect era: Evil Soul Masters.

By continuously devouring soul masters and soul beasts, they increased the age of their Soul Rings. In Legend of the Dragon King, the Spirit Pagoda had also colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult. Thus, Mu Baobao had a terrifying suspicion: the Soul Spirits inside the Ascension Pagoda were fundamentally undead spirits placed there after being hunted down.

The Soul Spirit System had indeed prevented soul beasts from being hunted to extinction, but for them, it had merely delayed the process while helping humanity grow. Soul beasts in Legend of the Dragon King were pitifully scarce, and were even officially raised in captivity by the Douluo Continent.

They had completely failed to honor Huo Yuhao's request. Soul beasts had been tragic from beginning to end. Humans could hunt them for Soul Rings and Soul Bones, but they could not do the same to humans.

The Dragon God created the God Realm, only to be slain by human deities who seized the God Realm. They even prevented soul beasts from becoming gods from then on. In that battle, divine blood spilled across the Douluo Continent, and martial souls were born from it.

Soul beasts had long lifespans, but after becoming a soul master's Soul Spirit, they had to die when that soul master died.

This continent... had never been fair.