Douluo: The Chosen of Different Versions Gather, but the Eras Are Misaligned

"Greetings, Elder Duan."

Bai Chen's mind was quick. He immediately understood and bowed slightly to Duan Xuan.

Duan Xuan waved a hand and said with a smile:

"No need for such formalities. I heard that the young master of the Bai family possesses the exceedingly rare innate soul power of rank twenty. I am also very pleased that such a genius is willing to join our Blacksmith Association."

"You flatter him."

Bai Jiaming smoothly took over, laughing lightly.

"When you teach him later, if he makes any mistakes, please correct him immediately. Don't hold back just because you do not want to scold him."

"Haha, naturally."

Duan Xuan replied with a smiling expression.

Bai Chen wore a gentle smile, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.

Come to think of it, if this old man really was the president of the Skysea Forging Association, then his identity was anything but ordinary.

Bai Chen could no longer clearly remember the name Duan Xuan, but the moment his position was mentioned, Bai Chen immediately recalled it—wasn't this Saint Artisan Mu Chen's teacher?

Like Mu Chen, he was also a Saint Artisan.

To invite him here, it seemed his father had truly gone to great lengths.

But in Bai Chen's eyes, Duan Xuan's identity itself was not the most important thing. What truly interested him was another of Duan Xuan's disciples.

That was Divine Artisan Zhen Hua.

According to the settings of the Douluo III Era, Zhen Hua and Mu Chen came from the same school. In other words, he too was a disciple of the old man standing before him.

Although the definition of a Divine Artisan had been changed more than once, no matter when, it was always an immensely prestigious title. If he could establish a connection with Zhen Hua, Bai Chen's path in learning forging would involve far fewer detours.

But ultimately, whether he could establish that connection was not up to Bai Chen for the time being. It would depend on whether he could impress the old man before him.

Bai Jiaming sent Xu Xiaoyan and the others to the Bai Family Villa, then brought Bai Chen and Duan Xuan to the Skysea Blacksmith Association.

As the largest city on the East Coast, Skysea City was considered a first-tier city even across the entire continent. Naturally, the Blacksmith Association in such a city could not compare to those in smaller places.

The moment Bai Chen and the others entered the Blacksmith Association, they were stunned by the bustling scene before them.

Within their field of vision, almost no one was idle. Everyone was busy with their own work, appearing incredibly occupied.

After entering the Blacksmith Association, Duan Xuan naturally took over as their guide. He led Bai Chen and Bai Jiaming into an elevator and up to the highest floor.

Duan Xuan opened a door at the very end of the corridor and brought them inside, saying:

"This is the forging room I usually use. Over the next two hours, I will personally demonstrate what forging is and assess your aptitude as a blacksmith."

"Yes."

Bai Chen understood that those words were directed at him. He nodded and respectfully answered.

Bai Jiaming silently walked to a corner of the room, pulled over a chair, and sat down.

This was only the first lesson. It was mainly meant to determine whether Bai Chen was suited to becoming a blacksmith. If this truly was the right path for him, Bai Jiaming would no longer accompany him afterward. He was a very busy man, and he had specifically made time today only because he wanted to help his son fulfill his wish.

Duan Xuan was very satisfied with Bai Chen's attitude. He walked to the forging table and raised a hand. A white flash gleamed from the bracelet around his wrist, and two dark gold hammers appeared in his hands.

The instant the hammers appeared in his hands, the feeling he gave off changed as well. He became noticeably steadier and more composed.

Then, he began forging.

He did not deliberately choose a low-level forging task just because Bai Chen was a newcomer who had never encountered forging before.

Quite the contrary, he directly began Soul Forging, something only a Saint Artisan could accomplish.

Bai Chen did not understand anything yet. Even if Duan Xuan explained exactly what he was doing, Bai Chen might not comprehend it. Thus, Duan Xuan chose to use an extravagant forging display to stir Bai Chen's longing for the profession of a blacksmith.

And the facts proved that his choice had been correct.

As he listened to the clanging strikes, Bai Chen's gaze slowly changed.

It had to be said that a Saint Artisan's forging truly was extraordinary. The sound of his hammer striking metal was not harsh at all. Instead, it felt like music.

Bai Chen gradually became entranced by it.

Finally, when Duan Xuan's last hammer fell, Bai Chen seemed to remember how to breathe again and let out a long breath.

Duan Xuan turned around and asked Bai Chen:

"How was it? Would you like to try?"

"Yes!"

"..."

Seeing Bai Chen's obviously eager expression, Duan Xuan raised an eyebrow.

It seemed he had truly found a promising talent this time?

He smiled faintly, extended both hands toward Bai Chen, and passed him the forging hammers.

"Since you want to try, then do it yourself. Your task today is to strike a piece of metal one thousand times."

"Alright."

Without hesitation, Bai Chen accepted the forging hammers and stepped up to stand before the forging table.

A trace of surprise flashed through Duan Xuan's eyes. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, while the curiosity in his gaze became even stronger.

As a Saint Artisan, the forging hammers he used were naturally no ordinary items. With the weight of these hammers alone, an ordinary Great Soul Master could never have received them so easily.

It seemed this child's Martial Soul was strength-type and greatly enhanced his physical power.

Duan Xuan silently gave his assessment.

Bai Chen did not know Duan Xuan had already begun evaluating him. After Duan Xuan's almost teasing display of skill, his heart was now filled with interest.

Being reborn meant doing everything he wanted to do. The profession of blacksmith had now truly sparked Bai Chen's interest, not merely because of its lofty status.

He took a deep breath, raised the forging hammer high, and heavily brought down the first strike of his blacksmithing career.

Clang!

A crisp sound rang out, and Duan Xuan nodded imperceptibly.

He had not been mistaken. That strength had clearly surpassed the level of an ordinary Great Soul Master.

At least in terms of strength, Bai Chen had already qualified.

Forging Prodigy

But Bai Chen did not merely want to swing that hammer. What he wanted was to recreate the incomparably beautiful melody from before.

Thus, after the first strike fell, the second and third strikes soon landed upon the forging table as well.

"Hiss..."

At first, Duan Xuan watched with a calm smile on his face.

But as the number of strikes increased, uncertainty gradually appeared in his expression.

Generally speaking, when newcomers first encountered forging, they would hammer wildly and quickly exhaust all their strength.

Smarter newcomers would maintain an even pace, conserving their strength as much as possible in order to forge for longer.

Bai Chen's movements alternated between fast and slow, making him look like the former.

But after watching carefully for a while, Duan Xuan slowly realized something was wrong.

"Could it be... he is imitating me?"

That astonishing thought slowly rose in his heart.

Bai Chen was not striking quickly and slowly because he was hammering at random. On the contrary, he had deliberately chosen to do so because he wanted to recreate Duan Xuan's moving "music."

However, this was his first time encountering forging. With his current ability, trying to perfectly reproduce Duan Xuan's technique in one go was undoubtedly a fantasy.

But that did not matter. So what if he failed? Every technique humanity had ever created had taken shape only after countless setbacks. If people became discouraged after merely a few or several dozen failures, humanity could never have created such a brilliant civilization!

Sweat gradually seeped from his forehead and dripped onto the forging table, yet Bai Chen seemed completely unaware as he continued swinging the forging hammer in his hand.

By then, the polite smile on Duan Xuan's face had completely vanished, leaving behind only deep shock.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang...

The crisp hammering continued. This rhythmic and incomparably pleasant sound was clearly his forging technique.

Although it sounded somewhat clumsy, with occasional stuttering pauses in between, there was no mistaking it. This was the hammer technique he had developed himself.

How was this possible? This could no longer be described as mere talent. Even his most prized eldest disciple was not half as good as the child before him.

Bai Chen had completely entered the zone. In his perception, everything around him seemed to have vanished. Even the metal on the forging table had disappeared. In his world, only the clanging hammer strikes remained.

No, no, still not right! I still cannot perfectly recreate that pleasant sound. I can go further!

With that thought, he fiercely swung down another hammer.

Ding—

Yet that strike brought an unexpected change.

A pale golden light lit up from the forging table. That pale golden radiance illuminated the entire forging room and jolted awake Bai Chen, who had been completely focused, as well as the two stunned spectators.

Bai Chen emerged from his concentrated state. His first instinct was to continue forging, but the moment he raised his hand, a powerful wave of weakness struck him, nearly causing the hammer in his hand to pull him over.

Fortunately, Duan Xuan caught him in time and said gently:

"Relax. What you need most right now is rest."

Although Bai Chen had successfully replicated his technique at the end of that forging session, at the beginning, his strikes had been no different from random hammering, and he had wasted a great deal of strength.

As a result, Bai Chen had actually exhausted all his strength without realizing it. He had simply been too focused to notice how terrible his condition had become.

If it had been any other child, Duan Xuan would have long since declared them unqualified and unsuited for forging.

But now, he could not say such words at all. Trembling slightly, he walked to the forging table and picked up the piece of metal Bai Chen had just forged.

The metal looked completely different from before. Its surface carried an obvious sheen, showing that it had clearly undergone a complete transformation.

"Thousand Forging..."

Duan Xuan's voice trembled as he spoke the metal's grade.

Then, as if possessed, he lunged before Bai Jiaming and urgently asked:

"Bai Jiaming, has your son truly never encountered forging before?!"

Bai Jiaming was startled by his appearance, but he quickly recovered and nodded heavily.

"Yes. He had never even touched a forging hammer before."

"—"

Duan Xuan looked as though he could not catch his breath.

Thousand Forging—this was Thousand Forging!

It was not particularly shocking for a Great Soul Master to complete Thousand Forging. Many outstanding blacksmiths could do it.

But the issue was that this was Bai Chen's first time touching a forging hammer! How long had those blacksmiths spent forging Thousand-Forged Metal? And how long had Bai Chen spent?

In fact, even without asking Bai Jiaming, Duan Xuan knew Bai Chen was absolutely a complete novice. As someone who had watched the entire forging process, he could tell that Bai Chen truly knew nothing about forging. He had merely been imitating Duan Xuan's forging technique.

Duan Xuan had some idea how this child had secretly learned the technique. He had most likely used a method similar to Hammer Listening, imitating it through sound.

Understanding it was one thing. Comprehending it was another. Whether he could accept it was an entirely different matter.

"Genius..."

The words in his heart slipped unconsciously from his mouth. Duan Xuan could not help but sigh:

"What a genius..."

Completing Thousand Forging at six years old was not merely unprecedented. It was highly possible that it would never happen again.

Thousand Forging did not merely require striking the metal one thousand times. It was actually a process of gradually removing impurities from the metal, which also required sufficient strength and an understanding of forging techniques.

Normally, a six-year-old child could at most possess rank ten soul power. It was nearly impossible for one to have the strength necessary for Thousand Forging, while forging skill was even more absurdly out of reach.

Yet Bai Chen had met both requirements and achieved an unprecedented miracle.

Bai Jiaming helped Bai Chen to a seat, then asked Duan Xuan:

"Then, President Duan, what do you think of my son..."