Di Tian's Melancholy

"That's right. The things you're learning now are actually outdated techniques that could be completely replaced by tools."

"Outdated?"

"Yes. For example, the ordinary part you forged yesterday could be made with a simple stamping process twice, whereas forging takes a long time."

"But if that's the case, why do we have to learn forging?"

"Because true forging can never be replaced by machines," Mang Tian said.

"The forging you've encountered that can be replaced by machines actually falls under the category of Hundred-Refined. Beyond that, there is Thousand-Refined, Spirit-Refined, Soul-Refined, and the strongest, Heaven-Refined. If you can complete a Heaven-Refined piece, even a Title Douluo would treat you as an honored guest."

"Ti-Title Douluo..."

Tang Wulin swallowed hard. Although he had never seen a Title Douluo, it didn't stop him from feeling awe toward these powerhouses who only existed in his fantasies.

"However, there has only been one Divine Craftsman capable of Heaven-Refining so far, so there's no need to think that far ahead."

"In any case, I wanted to ask you today: are you willing to take me as your master and learn forging from me?"

"This..."

Tang Wulin hesitated.

Wulin, agree to it. You have great talent in the path of forging, and I don't know how to forge, so I can't teach you. Besides, it's just a teacher; isn't Lin Ximeng your teacher as well?

"This, yes, I understand," Tang Wulin replied in his heart.

With that thought, Tang Wulin immediately performed the apprenticeship kowtow to Mang Tian: "Teacher, I want to learn forging with you."

"Good, good, good!" Mang Tian's face was full of smiles as he hurriedly helped Tang Wulin up.

Then, he took a box from a shelf nearby. After opening it, inside lay a pair of pitch-black, gleaming iron hammers.

"These are the Thousand-Refined Tungsten Steel Hammers I forged myself. Each one weighs eighty jin. Take them as my gift for your apprenticeship."

"Thank you, Teacher!"

"Mm, come with me. Today I will teach you some more advanced forging techniques."

"Yes!"

On the other side, deep within a gloomy forest, lay a small lake. The lake was nearly dried up, with only a small pool of crystal-clear water remaining, radiating an aura of life.

Yet, at the bottom of the lake, it was a different scene entirely.

It was a massive hollow, with a thin layer of spatial energy isolating it from the lake water.

In the center of this underground space, a giant silver dragon over a hundred zhang long lay coiled with its eyes tightly shut. Seven-colored light surrounded its body, making its oval scales appear translucent and crystalline.

Beside the dragon's body stood a verdant figure. It was a girl with emerald-green hair and eyes, wearing a long green dress that complemented the aura of life perfectly.

After a long while, she finally withdrew her palm and stepped back, her eyes filled with deep confusion.

"Bi Ji, what exactly happened to the Lord?" A man in black emerged from the shadows.

He looked to be in his forties, with handsome, resolute features and a lock of golden hair hanging down one side of his cheek.

"Beast God, I didn't discover anything. The Lord is still in a deep sleep, and the elemental storm this morning was as if it never happened."

"How is that possible? We all clearly felt the fluctuations of the elements."

Di Tian was somewhat agitated, especially since he controlled the elements of darkness and space—two elements he would never misjudge.

"But that is the reality. We haven't even figured out why the Lord suddenly fell back into a deep sleep."

Bi Ji's expression was also grim. As the matriarch of the Emerald Swan clan, she could feel that the power within the Lord's body had not diminished in the slightest, yet the Lord simply would not wake up. It was just like what humans called a "vegetative state," but she had no solution for this situation.

The Lord's spiritual cultivation was far beyond her own; how could a weak woman like her possibly shake it?

"This cannot go on. That fellow Xiong Jun, although he doesn't say it on the surface, has long harbored ulterior motives. A few days ago, he even thought about attacking the fortresses outside. Fortunately, I discovered it early..."

Di Tian was completely out of options now. Although he was the Beast God in name, the soul beast race was nearly extinct; whose god could he even be?

He had finally waited for the Lord to recover from injuries and wake from slumber, only for this accident to happen. He didn't even have a clue how to solve it.

"Hoo—, let's wait a while longer and see. We've made it through so many years; a few more days won't hurt." Di Tian forced himself to calm down.

"Bi Ji, continue to guard the Lord here. If there is any situation, notify me immediately."

"Yes."

Di Tian's figure flickered as he used spatial energy to leave the space.

The current situation left him exhausted. If it were only a matter of raw power, he was confident he was stronger than any human Limit Douluo.

After all, his strength had long reached the true level of a demigod. This was not the "demigod" status that was one of the three stages of a 99th-level Limit Douluo, but a true demigod—someone who was only a step away from godhood in soul power, spiritual power, and physical strength.

Or rather, if not for the restrictions of the God Realm's rules, he could have become a god through his own accumulation.

Unfortunately, the appearance of Four-Word Battle Armor on the human side had changed the landscape.

Although his strength was peerless, he couldn't gain the upper hand against multiple Limit Douluos equipped with Four-Word Battle Armor, not to mention the threat that mechas and fixed soul ammunition posed to ordinary soul beasts.

He couldn't help but think of the time when the Dragon God was still around.

Back then, besides the Dragon God, there were the nine Great Dragon Kings and a host of god-level dragons, who could be said to have ruled the entire God Realm.

As the biological son of the Dark Dragon King, Di Tian had experienced the days when the dragon race reigned supreme. Watching the sun set on the soul beasts now, the emotions he felt were far beyond those of Bi Ji, Xiong Jun, and the King of Ten Thousand Monsters, who were all born on the Douluo Continent.

Although the Silver Dragon King was powerful, could she truly lead their remnants to overthrow the dominance of humanity?

In the past, he could have been described as full of ambition, but the Silver Dragon King's sudden slumber had dealt him a heavy blow. Not only had their original plans been disrupted, but the future had also become shrouded in uncertainty.

He had to prepare for the worst-case scenario: that their Lord would fall into a deep sleep once again, never to wake.

This was especially concerning given uncontrollable factors like Xiong Jun; there was no telling what was going on inside that muscle-bound brain of his.

No, I have to go and knock some sense into that guy again. Having made up his mind, Di Tian immediately opened a spatial rift to track down Xiong Jun.

At such a critical juncture, he absolutely could not allow any more accidents to occur due to Xiong Jun's impulsiveness.