Teacher Xuan's Shock

He weighed it in his hand.

It was less than the size of two bricks.

The corners of his mouth twitched.

If he wanted to craft a set of Battle Armor covering his entire body, this amount wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

But on second thought, if it were any larger, he might not have succeeded. He had relied on his two trump cards—the Eye of Fate and the Gold of Life—to push through that final step. His Soul Power had been nearly drained, and he still felt a bit lightheaded.

He would leave it at that for now; one had to eat a meal one bite at a time.

With a thought, the Spirit Forged Sinking Silver merged silently into his right hand. There was no sense of rejection, only a gentle warmth in his palm.

Nothing looked different on the surface of his skin, but he could feel the Sinking Silver right there, like a part of his own body, ready to obey his command at any moment.

"Appear."

A flash of golden light erupted from his palm, and a thin golden plate emerged from beneath his skin, clinging snugly to the back of his hand as if it were alive.

He then picked up the piece of Sinking Silver he had hammered out earlier and held it in his hand to compare.

The hammered piece was decent enough.

But compared to the Spirit Forged Sinking Silver, it was worlds apart.

The Spirit Forged Sinking Silver possessed life, while the hammered piece was merely a high-quality metal, at best reaching the level of Thousand Refinement.

He had his conclusion.

"The path of forging is a detour for me; it's not as efficient as direct purification."

He placed the hammered Sinking Silver back on the table, sat down in his chair, leaned back, and rubbed his brow.

The process of Spirit Forging had been far more taxing than he had anticipated. His mind felt foggy, and he had depleted most of his mental energy reserves.

Xiao Hongchen decided not to attempt Spirit Forging again until he reached the Soul Saint level, as it consumed a significant amount of his Power of Destiny and the life force within the Blade of Life's Watch. Overexerting himself could potentially cause irreversible damage to the origin of his Martial Soul.

The life force within the Gold of Life was finite; aside from using it to help Jing Hongchen break through, he hadn't touched it since.

This thing could save his life in a critical moment. Hadn't he seen how the injuries Huo Yuhao sustained after Di Tian descended using his Reverse Scale—even after resisting a strike from the Death God Tower—were healed by the Gold of Life?

But the gains were real.

Even without traditional forging, he could purify metal to the level of Thousand Refinement. As for the specific grade, he wasn't sure, but it certainly wouldn't be poor.

Although Xiao Hongchen wanted to skip the one-word Battle Armor stage and go straight to crafting two-word Battle Armor, Thousand Refined metal could not be purified further to reach the level of Spirit Forging, and his technique wasn't mature enough yet. He would have to take it slow.

When Xuan Ziwen saw Xiao Hongchen merge the Sinking Silver into his body and manifest it again right before his eyes, his jaw nearly hit the floor.

The idea of giving metal self-awareness and the ability to manifest at will was fascinating, but in his eyes, it had bordered on fantasy.

What was even more shocking was that Xiao Hongchen had managed to do it in just one afternoon.

His own joy from the morning was instantly dampened; the Sealed Milk Bottle he had invented couldn't compare to what Xiao Hongchen had achieved.

To put it simply, if Spirit Metal could be popularized, every Soul Engineer would be able to nourish their prized Soul Tools with their own bodies, and every Soul Engineer would then possess a Life-Bound Soul Tool.

Beyond that, if Spirit Metal were used to carve Core Arrays, not only would the Soul Tools be perfectly attuned to their masters, but even the legendary Level 10 Soul Tools might become a reality.

"You..."

He opened his mouth, unable to find the right words.

"You made it in just one afternoon."

"Yes," Xiao Hongchen said, retracting his right hand, his tone also tinged with excitement. "It's just too small. It's nowhere near enough for a full set of Battle Armor, and the consumption is too high for me."

Xuan Ziwen paused and took a deep breath, pulling his emotions back into check.

"Tell me the process of Spirit Forging. From the beginning, every single step."

Xiao Hongchen sat down opposite him and recounted the process—from heating the Sinking Silver to testing it with his hammers, to purifying it by hand, and finally biting his tongue to use his blood as a catalyst. He explained it in great detail, omitting only the use of the Gold of Life and the Eye of Fate.

Xuan Ziwen listened in silence for a long moment, tapping his fingers against the edge of the table.

"What level do you think you need to reach before you can freely imbue metal with spirit?"

Xiao Hongchen thought for a moment and gave a conservative answer.

"By the time I reach the Soul Saint stage, I should be able to Spirit Forge with ease."

Xuan Ziwen calculated in his mind and nodded, his expression softening slightly.

"That's not too far off."

He paused, looked up, and regarded Xiao Hongchen with a serious expression.

"When that time comes, you must provide me with Spirit Metal first."

"No problem."

Xiao Hongchen agreed readily, separating the Sinking Silver from his right hand and handing it to Xuan Ziwen.

Xuan Ziwen remained silent for a moment as he took the Sinking Silver, his expression turning solemn.

"I'll study this first and see to what extent we can design Core Arrays using Spirit Metal."

"Hmm," Xiao Hongchen nodded. "Speaking of the Core Array, I have an idea I'd like to discuss with you."

He picked up the pen and paper beside him and began to sketch.

It was an outline, the lines quick and precise, capturing the general form in just a few strokes.

Xuan Ziwen leaned in to look and was momentarily stunned.

"This is..."

"Battle Armor," Xiao Hongchen said. "To be precise, it's the Battle Armor as I envision it."

The object on the blueprint differed somewhat from the Battle Armor concepts they had discussed previously. It was not a suit of armor that covered the entire body and clung to the wearer's frame, but rather a small Mecha Soldier about three and a half meters tall. There were clear array nodes at the joints, and the core section featured a humanoid cavity just large enough for a person to stand inside.

Xiao Hongchen explained:

"Current technology isn't mature enough. To create the kind of ideal Battle Armor that covers most of the body while maintaining high flexibility is too difficult, and the number of Core Arrays required far exceeds the limits of what we can currently achieve."

He tapped the core nodes on the blueprint:

"So, by taking a step back and increasing the size, we can trade space for precision, which is actually more feasible."

Well, in truth, he just wanted to pilot a Mecha Soldier; standard Battle Armor simply couldn't satisfy that craving of his.

Xuan Ziwen stared at the blueprint, his brows slowly furrowing before gradually smoothing out:

"So, in essence, this isn't Battle Armor. It's a Mecha Soldier."

"Correct. My Martial Soul Possession doesn't cause my body to undergo beast-transformation, so I don't need to leave extra space for adjustments. Sitting inside to control it is actually freer; my spiritual power can connect directly through the entire Mecha Soldier, striking exactly where I point."

"It should be feasible, but nourishing such a large amount of metal within your body—even if they have spirits and actively help reduce the burden—will still place an immense strain on your body and mind."

"You don't need to worry about that, Teacher Xuan. I naturally have my own deep reasoning for doing this."

"Also, we can start by practicing with a standard Mecha Soldier. For materials, let's use the Thousand Refinement rare metals I've purified. I don't have much of a problem with just Thousand Refinement."

"No problem."

Xiao Hongchen and Xuan Ziwen discussed the plan in detail.