Stacked Hammer Effect

Bai Lin took a deep breath, circulated his Soul Power, slowly raised the Heavy Silver hammer in his right hand, and lightly struck an ordinary anvil beside him that was used for testing.

"Ding!"

A crisp, melodious impact rang out, its echo lingering.

Then, before the echo could fade—

"Ding! Ding!"

Two shorter yet exceptionally clear chimes rang out, like overlapping metallic tremors, rippling after it without warning!

Three sounds!

One hammer blow, three consecutive chimes!

Bai Lin froze, then subconsciously gave it another light tap.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

It was still three incomparably clear consecutive chimes!

The rhythm was distinct!

Mang Tian's breathing abruptly stopped!

His sharp, hawk-like eyes flew open to their widest, fixed unblinkingly on the Heavy Silver hammer in Bai Lin's hand as though he had witnessed an unbelievable illusion!

The muscles on his face twitched violently. His lips trembled, but no sound came out!

Several full seconds passed before an almost uncontrolled cry burst from his throat, filled with utter shock and disbelief:

"Hammer Stacking!"

"It's the Stacked Hammer Effect!!"

"Hammer Stacking?" Bai Lin looked at his master in confusion, unable to understand what the term meant.

He only felt that the hammer was incomparably easy to use. Those three consecutive chimes seemed to contain some marvelous rhythm, as though the force of a single blow had been divided into three separate shockwaves.

"Hammer Stacking..."

"The finest among Thousand Refinement effects!"

"One of the..."

"...top effects a forging hammer can produce!"

Mang Tian suddenly stepped forward, his voice hoarse and trembling with excitement. He stared fixedly at the pair of Heavy Silver hammers, his gaze as if he were looking at priceless treasures.

"I..."

"I've forged for decades and handled quite a few Thousand Refinement works..."

"Yet I've only seen the Hammer Stacking effect a handful of times!"

"And all of them appeared in the works of renowned master craftsmen!"

He raised his head and looked at Bai Lin's young face, still filled with childishness and confusion. An overwhelming sense of absurdity and incomparable ecstasy crashed through his mind, nearly making him faint!

He slapped his forehead hard, letting out a sigh that was neither laughter nor tears.

"Kid..."

"I'm almost jealous of you!"

"Your luck..."

"Your talent..."

"You're practically leaving no way for anyone else to live!"

Mang Tian calmed the heart that was nearly leaping from his chest. With a solemnity almost akin to worship, he began explaining the terrifying nature of Hammer Stacking.

"So-called Hammer Stacking is not literally one hammer becoming three."

"It is a resonance born when force transmission and vibration frequency reach perfect alignment!"

He pointed at the hammerhead.

"When your hammer falls, its force does not erupt all at once."

"The first 'ding' is the impact of the initial force. The two following 'dings' are extraordinarily delicate high-frequency shockwaves produced as the force passes through the hammer's material itself!"

"One layer after another, like waves piling atop waves!"

"This layered vibration possesses unimaginable penetrating power and destructive force!"

A feverish light flashed in Mang Tian's eyes.

"Ordinary forging hammers deliver force directly. When faced with materials with dense structures and deeply hidden impurities, they must strike again and again to shake them loose."

"But Hammer Stacking!"

He emphasized every word, each one like a heavy blow.

"Its shockwaves can ignore surface obstructions and transmit directly to the material's very core, to its tiniest corners!"

"Like invisible blades, precisely cutting apart and pulverizing those stubborn impurities!"

"It multiplies both the efficiency and effectiveness of impurity removal!"

Bai Lin listened in fascination!

He finally understood just how precious those three consecutive chimes were!

The dark-silver stacked hammers rested quietly on the workbench, flowing with restrained spiritual radiance like sleeping stars.

Mang Tian looked at this pair of miraculous forging hammers, then at his disciple's small face glowing with the brilliance of his great achievement. His cold, hard heart was filled with an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

He fell silent for a moment, seemingly making an important decision.

Slowly, he raised his right hand. A faint glimmer of Soul Power flashed in his palm.

Two ancient-looking metal rings, their entire bodies carrying the same dark-silver sheen as Bai Lin's hammers, lay quietly in his palm.

The rings were likewise inscribed with delicate ripple-like patterns and emitted the pure aura of Thousand Refinement Heavy Silver!

"This..."

Bai Lin's pupils instantly widened as he stared at the two rings in disbelief.

Thousand Refinement Heavy Silver!

More Thousand Refinement Heavy Silver!

And in this form...

"Storage Soul Tools, the lowest-grade kind."

Mang Tian's voice carried a faint trace of sentimentality, as though recalling something.

"Each has an internal space of around one-eighth of a cubic meter. They were practice pieces from my early years."

"The material is passable, and the space is barely enough."

He held the rings out to Bai Lin.

"Take them. Consider them..."

"...your master's reward."

"They're just right for storing your precious hammers, so you don't flaunt them everywhere."

"Teacher!"

"This..."

"This is far too valuable!"

Bai Lin hurriedly waved his hands.

Thousand Refinement Heavy Silver was itself an invaluable material, much less when made into Soul Tools!

Even if the storage space was small, they were certainly not "worth only a few coins"!

"What are you babbling about!"

Mang Tian frowned, his tone brooking no argument as he shoved the rings directly into Bai Lin's hands.

"If I'm giving them to you, take them!"

"You've already forged Thousand Refinement hammers, and you're still being coy over something like this?"

He turned around as though concealing the fleeting gentleness in his eyes.

They felt cool and heavy in Bai Lin's hands.

Bai Lin looked at the precious gifts in his palms, then at his master's broad yet somewhat lonely back. A warm current surged through his heart.

He no longer refused. Taking the storage rings, he moved his thoughts slightly, and the pair of heavy dark-silver stacked hammers transformed into two streaks of light and entered one of the rings, vanishing from sight.

"Thank you, Master!"

Bai Lin's voice carried sincere gratitude.

With his back still turned, Mang Tian merely waved a hand casually, as though brushing away something insignificant.

Yet his slightly straighter back revealed how he truly felt.

Time flowed like rushing water.

In the blink of an eye, another two years passed.

Nine-year-old Tang Wulin had grown much taller. The roundness of childhood had faded, revealing the upright outline of a young boy.

Thanks to the almost plundering nourishment of the Golden Dragon King bloodline and Hei Lin's tireless guidance, his Soul Power had soared like a rocket.

Half a year ago, he had already forcefully broken through the level-twenty bottleneck and steadily entered the realm of a level-twenty-three Soul Grandmaster!

Even more astonishingly, he had no need to enter the Spirit Pagoda again.

Golden Language, the randomly purchased Golden Light Python soul spirit, was a hundred-year soul spirit and inherently possessed the potential for two soul rings!

Once his Soul Power reached level twenty, Golden Language's spiritual body, long tempered day and night by the Golden Dragon King's aura and growing ever stronger, naturally separated out a condensed yellow soul ring that perfectly merged into Bai Lin's martial soul.