"We're both masters of the forging world, one a Divine Craftsman and the other a Saint Craftsman, yet we've fallen so low that we're being forced to take on disciples. This is really..."
Zhen Hua walked along the bluestone path through the Shen Family courtyard. Before he could finish speaking, Mu Chen, walking beside him, patted him on the shoulder.
Two towering figures of the forging world—one a Divine Craftsman, the other a Saint Craftsman. At that moment, they looked like two middle schoolers called to the principal's office, their faces full of reluctance.
"What else can we do? We can't exactly refuse Elder Shen. Besides, a child from a great family is sure to have decent talent," Mu Chen advised gently.
"Then you take him. One of us has to, and you don't have any disciples. You might as well take one and pass on your legacy." Zhen Hua immediately seized the opening without mercy.
If the boy really had talent, he wouldn't be coming to find a master at nine years old. He was probably no good at other things and had come to make up the numbers.
Mu Chen withdrew his hand, expressionless, and kept walking. "Then forget it. You can do it, Senior Brother."
"Junior Brother, that's not very fair."
"Likewise."
The two crossed the courtyard and spotted Shen Nanxun standing at the living room entrance in the distance. He had changed into a formal outfit in dark ink tones, with his cuffs fastened and his back straight. His black eyes were as calm as still water. Seeing the two towering figures of the forging world walking toward him side by side, he bowed slightly without groveling. "Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua, Saint Craftsman Mu Chen. My grandfather is waiting for you in his study. He asked me to greet you first."
Zhen Hua looked him up and down. He had heard plenty of rumors about the boy before coming, but the person standing before him now wasn't some favored child of heaven. He was simply a slender, composed boy who was nearly ten and showed his elders proper respect.
"You're Elder Shen's grandson, Shen Nanxun?" Zhen Hua stopped, his gaze lingering on him for a moment. Before coming, he had already decided that however talented this child might be, that was a matter for the Soul Master world.
Forging required control of the fire, patience, and an instinct for metal. Not one could be lacking.
The Shen Family was powerful and influential, so he didn't dare refuse outright. But if the boy truly lacked talent for forging, he had a tactful excuse ready.
He gave a light cough, took a fist-sized piece of silvery-white metal from the Storage Soul Tool on his wrist, and casually tossed it onto the anvil in the corner of the courtyard.
"Sinking Silver, a basic metal for learning to forge. I heard you studied some forging basics in North Sea City. Give it Hundred Refinement and forge it into a single solid piece. I don't care about its shape, only that its texture is uniform. If you can do that, I'll take you on as a nominal disciple."
Mu Chen raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing, simply clasping his hands behind his back. Zhen Hua's move looked casual, but it was actually a tricky test.
The most troublesome thing about Sinking Silver was how unevenly its impurities were distributed. Strike too lightly and they wouldn't come out; strike too hard and you'd leave cracks inside. For a beginner, turning a piece of Sinking Silver this large into a solid ingot with an even texture took at least a hundred hammer blows. He wanted to use this piece of Sinking Silver to make the young master, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, back down.
Shen Nanxun glanced at the Sinking Silver on the anvil, bent to pick up the forging hammer, tested its weight, and gestured for them to go ahead. Zhen Hua and Mu Chen went straight into the study.
About five minutes later, the two emerged to find Shen Nanxun lounging in a chair in the courtyard, eyes narrowed as if asleep. The forging hammer lay casually beside the anvil, its handle still bearing faint impressions left by the warmth and pressure of his palm.
Zhen Hua's heart gave a thump.
Had he given up?
He'd already worked out a tactful refusal and was just about to speak when he caught sight of the piece of Sinking Silver on the anvil out of the corner of his eye.
It was silvery white all over, its surface gleaming with a gentle luster in the afternoon sun. It was perfectly square, its edges so straight they looked as if they'd been measured with calipers. He halted, walked up to the anvil, and picked up the Sinking Silver, turning it over and over for a thorough inspection. He even sent a wisp of Soul Power inside to probe it.
The interior was dense and uniform, with layer upon layer of forging patterns arranged in remarkably regular lines. Every impurity had been removed, and there wasn't a single crack. In just five minutes, the texture of the entire piece of Sinking Silver had been raised to near perfection.
This wasn't an apprentice's level. This was the art of simplifying the complex after a thousand refinements. Zhen Hua looked up at the nearly perfect Sinking Silver in his hand, then at the boy in the chair, breathing evenly as if he really had fallen asleep. The corner of his mouth twitched hard.
"Stop pretending. Get up."
Shen Nanxun opened one eye, closed it, then opened the other, pretending he had just woken up as he sat up and rubbed the corner of his eye. "Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua, will this do?"
Zhen Hua and Mu Chen exchanged glances. In the eyes of the two towering figures of the forging world—one a Divine Craftsman, the other a Saint Craftsman—the same expression flashed.
The thrill of discovering a promising talent.
To complete Hundred Refinement Sinking Silver in five minutes and achieve an almost flawless, uniform texture—at his age, that level of skill made him a genius among geniuses.
Zhen Hua took another piece of Sinking Silver from his Storage Soul Tool. This one was a full size larger than the previous piece.
"Hundred Refinement is just the beginning. Thousand Refinement is what truly lets you step through the door of forging. Same requirements: forge it into a solid piece with a uniform texture."
Shen Nanxun took the Sinking Silver and tested its weight. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
Was this some kind of matryoshka doll?
He didn't say it aloud, though. Instead, he picked up the forging hammer again. This time, his movements were completely different. He gripped the hammer with one hand, and deep in his consciousness, the nine-colored ball of light gave a faint pulse. The part of the Dragon Prince's bloodline that held absolute strength slowly awakened with the position of his grip. A streak of dark golden light flashed between his fingers.
The power bestowed by the Dragon Prince's bloodline was already immense. Later, he had absorbed the Golden Dragon King's source energy, but of course, he couldn't fully absorb it all at once. Even so, it had already brought about a complete transformation in Shen Nanxun's strength.
Zhen Hua walked to the doorway, folded his arms, and leaned against the frame, staring intently at Shen Nanxun's hand on the hammer.
Thousand Refinement required absolute strength. Without enough power, there was no way to shake the exceedingly fine impurities out from inside the Sinking Silver, much less hammer its texture into true uniformity.
But Shen Nanxun's bloodline let him bypass that hurdle. His movements weren't fast, but every blow was steady. He gripped the hammer with both hands and drew power from his shoulder blades, driving it down his entire arm into the hammer. Nine-colored light flowed along his meridians, into the hammerhead, and then through to the heart of the Sinking Silver.
With every blow, dark golden light spread from the point where the hammer struck the Sinking Silver.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
About twenty minutes later, the final blow landed. Shen Nanxun straightened and casually placed the forging hammer beside the anvil. Then he picked up the Thousand Refinement Sinking Silver.
The silvery-white metal's surface no longer reflected light. Instead, it had a remarkably warm, subdued matte finish. Held up to the sunlight, it revealed faintly visible layers of forging patterns arranged in a regular order. It was perfectly square, its edges absolutely precise.
Shen Nanxun set it on the forging platform and turned to give Zhen Hua a slight nod. Even after such intense forging, his breathing remained steady. "Thousand Refinement. Is this good enough?"
Zhen Hua didn't answer. He simply walked over, turned the Thousand Refinement Sinking Silver over and over, and sent Soul Power inside to examine it.
Dense, uniform, perfect.
All three words sprang into his mind at once, blocking every excuse he'd prepared. Holding the piece of Sinking Silver, he turned to Mu Chen.
"Junior Brother, come feel this."
Mu Chen took it and probed it with Soul Power. After a long silence, he looked up at Shen Nanxun.
"How long did you study forging in North Sea City?"
"I studied the basics for about half a year. I usually focused on sword and spear practice, with forging as an auxiliary course." Shen Nanxun answered honestly.
North Sea Academy had started training them in secondary professions a long time ago. Shen Nanxun had simply devoted most of his time to cultivation.
But Thousand Refinement was already the level of a third-grade Blacksmith—and this was exceptionally flawless Thousand Refinement. Add to that the fact that Shen Nanxun wasn't even ten yet...
Zhen Hua and Mu Chen exchanged a glance. The former immediately stepped forward. "I'll be your forging teacher..."
"Get lost!" Mu Chen shoved him aside, smiling brightly. "I'm the one who should teach him. He might be a Divine Craftsman, but his teaching ability doesn't come close to mine."
"Mu Chen, didn't you just say you didn't want to take him?"
"Bullshit!"
Zhen Hua pushed his way over and spoke each word distinctly. "I already let you have Junior Sister Bao'er. Now you're going to fight me for a disciple too?"
"Go to hell with your guilt-tripping. Bao'er likes me. What the hell does that have to do with you? You're nothing but a Fei Yangyang!"
"Fei Yangyang?! Say that again!" Zhen Hua was so angry his beard bristled, and he grabbed Mu Chen by the collar. The two towering figures, whose every stomp could make the entire forging world quake, were now tussling in the Shen Family courtyard like two elementary schoolers fighting over candy.
"All right, all right. Stop arguing." Shen Yue's voice came from the study entrance. It wasn't hurried, but the two bickering old children froze in place all the same.
Shen Yue stood behind the threshold with his hands behind his back. A faint smile played across his aged face as he looked at Shen Nanxun. "Nanxun, you choose. Who do you want to learn forging from?"
Shen Nanxun looked at Zhen Hua, then at Mu Chen. One was a Divine Craftsman, the other a Saint Craftsman, and both were watching him with eager eyes.
Their longing was even more intense than Na'er's when she saw spicy rabbit head. He didn't answer immediately, instead taking a moment to consider before speaking calmly.
"Teachers, if one of you can help me solve a problem, I'll become his disciple."
"Name it!"
They spoke in unison, their tones identical.
"My Battle Armor needs to be compatible with the power of five different attributes."
The courtyard fell silent. Zhen Hua furrowed his brow slightly, and Mu Chen's smile froze on his lips.
Five attributes. This wasn't like Twin Martial Souls, where even the most complex Battle Armor only had to balance two kinds of power. Five attributes meant five entirely different systems of power. How could five sets of non-conflicting magical arrays be engraved on the same metal? How could the Battle Armor automatically adjust its structure as its attributes changed during combat? This was no longer a matter of forging techniques; it touched the theoretical limits of contemporary Battle Armor design.
"Five," Shen Nanxun repeated calmly. "My Martial Soul is special. My Battle Armor will need to be compatible with five Martial Souls, so to speak."
Zhen Hua and Mu Chen exchanged a glance. They suddenly understood something: taking on a disciple could be troublesome when the disciple was too talented.
Shen Nanxun wasn't looking for a master. He was inviting an ancestor into his home.
But the hesitation in their eyes lasted only a moment before a more intense gleam replaced it. Battle Armor with five attributes was an unprecedented challenge in the history of the entire forging world. But Divine Craftsmen and Saint Craftsmen existed to challenge limits.
Zhen Hua pondered for a long while before speaking. "First of all, even if this kind of Battle Armor can be made, we can't do it alone. We'll also need top-tier designers. But the first suggestion I can offer is that the entire set must be made from Dazzling Iron Gold."
He paused, his gaze turning especially solemn. "Even conventional four-word Battle Armor uses very little Dazzling Iron Gold, and only in crucial areas—like the knees, joints, and elbows, where it must withstand the greatest impact while retaining flexibility.
"That's because this material is extremely rare. An entire vein of ore usually yields only enough Dazzling Iron Gold to forge a fist-sized alloy ingot. It's also incredibly difficult to forge. The temperature has to stay within a specific range: raise it by even a fraction and all its toughness disappears; lower it by the same amount and it won't be hard enough. Even I can't guarantee success."
"But if your Battle Armor needs to bear the power of five attributes, ordinary materials won't work. Ordinary alloys develop heat fatigue when two attributes clash, and crack when three do. With five, the internal stress would tear the entire piece of metal to shreds. Dazzling Iron Gold is the only metal we currently know of that can theoretically bear the conflict between multiple attributes at once. Its crystal structure naturally allows it to expand in multiple directions, so it can fine-tune the distribution of internal stress under the impact of different kinds of Soul Power. We don't have enough of it, but we have to use it. Every piece of armor, from head to toe, must be forged from Dazzling Iron Gold."
"Though it'll be difficult, if we really manage to design it, it'll be a groundbreaking work." "With the Shen Family's resources and the two of us scheduling our work, we should be able to solve half the problem of sourcing the materials. But designing the Battle Armor will be another challenge."
He added, "Dazzling Iron Gold is extremely rare on Douluo Continent, but there are quite a few veins of it on Douling Continent. They simply don't have the technology, so they've never been developed."
One more reason to destroy the Dou Ling Empire.
Elder Shen narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed they would have to take some special measures and deal with the Dou Ling Empire ahead of schedule.
Shen Nanxun hadn't heard the latter part. He was busy putting immense pressure on a certain angelic big sister inside the Sea of Consciousness.
Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Qian Renxue sat at a desk, a tiny pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. A mountain of mechanical design manuals lay before her.
Her delicate little face was filled with frustration. She gripped a pen in her right hand and rapidly worked through calculations on a sheet of draft paper. Partway through, she drew a cross, crumpled the paper into a ball, and tossed it into the corner. More than a dozen identical paper balls had already piled up there.
She took off her glasses and tossed them onto the desk, then grabbed her hair with both hands and thumped her forehead against the tabletop.
"This is so frustrating, Shen Nanxun. This is even harder than becoming a God King!"
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have agreed just because I was craving it..."
A rabbit's head always snapped at its thinnest point—fate was playing tricks on a greedy little pig!
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