The shop owner's face no longer held that fawning expression. It had been replaced by genuine admiration.
He gave a bitter smile.
"I really don't know why someone like you would visit a little shop like ours."
To be honest, the golden light released when the Thousand Forging was completed had truly frightened him.
To people of this era, it was no different from food glowing gold while being cooked, or clothes bursting apart while eating—an anomaly of nearly the same level.
Bai Chen raised a finger to his lips and gave him a mysterious smile.
"Some things don't need to be understood so clearly. It's better for both of us that way, understand?"
"I understand."
The shop owner said tactfully,
"I'll pay you the highest wages possible. You can do whatever you want while you're at the shop... would that be all right?"
In his heart, he had already regarded Bai Chen as some young master from a great faction who had come out to experience ordinary life.
Such skill was absolutely not something an independent smith could possess. He had better pretend he had seen nothing.
"All right. Thanks for the trouble."
Bai Chen nodded in satisfaction and made a done gesture toward Scarlet King and Bai Yueqiu.
With that, they had successfully taken the first step.
But they could not relax yet. The next stage of the plan was the most important.
This was the core city of the Heaven Dou Empire. Any slight movement would draw the attention of every faction. What he needed to do was gain as much profit as possible during this process and build up the financial foundation for his future plans.
Heaven Dou City in Turmoil
At the same time Bai Chen and the others settled into Heaven Dou City, turmoil caused by him was unfolding somewhere beyond his notice.
"The cultivation speed of all the soul masters in Heaven Dou City suddenly increased?"
Within the Heaven Dou City palace, Xue Qinghe could not help but freeze upon hearing the report.
The person reporting respectfully said,
"Yes. As far as we know, since this morning, the cultivation speed of soul masters in Heaven Dou City and its surrounding areas has collectively doubled. Even now, this strange phenomenon has yet to disappear."
"Hmm..."
Xue Qinghe's expression immediately turned serious.
She said solemnly,
"Please summon my teacher. Tell him I have an important matter to discuss with him."
"Yes!"
Watching the information bearer leave in haste, Xue Qinghe let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair.
The collective doubling of cultivation speed among Heaven Dou City's soul masters was simply too terrifying. She could not afford to take it lightly.
Very soon, the door to the room opened once more, and an elegant-looking middle-aged man walked in.
"Your Highness, I'm here."
Xue Qinghe hurriedly rose to greet him.
"Uncle Ning, you're finally here. How much do you know about this matter?"
She did not ask whether he knew about it. As the sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Fengzhi's intelligence network would not be less informed than hers.
Ning Fengzhi took a deep breath and shook his head.
"Regrettably, I also had the experts of my sect investigate it, but we found nothing. The cause of this anomaly, how long it may continue, and even how to stop it are all completely unknown."
"I see..."
Xue Qinghe's expression immediately grew grave.
As the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, the collective doubling of cultivation speed among Heaven Dou City's soul masters was naturally a good thing for the empire.
But as the crown prince, Xue Qinghe had to consider more than just the immediate effects. She also had to consider the series of disturbances that might arise afterward.
If this was true and continued to develop, Heaven Dou City would become a sacred cultivation ground coveted by every soul master.
A full doubling of cultivation speed! What did that mean? It meant mass-producing powerful soul masters would no longer be empty talk!
When that time came, the situation of the entire world would change because of this phenomenon.
To say nothing else, would the Star Luo Empire simply stand by and watch the Heaven Dou Empire become a holy land for soul master cultivation?
It was foreseeable that if this phenomenon continued, the Star Luo Empire would most likely launch a war directly to prevent the Heaven Dou Empire's strength from rapidly increasing.
And beyond the Star Luo Empire, the various soul master factions would certainly not sit idly by either.
Especially Spirit Hall, the foremost soul master faction. That woman would definitely...
At that thought, Xue Qinghe frowned in disgust.
Her position was rather special. At the very least, she did not want matters to develop so quickly for the time being.
Xue Qinghe asked in a deep voice,
"Then, Uncle Ning, what do you intend to do?"
Ning Fengzhi sighed.
"I have already asked Uncle Sword and Uncle Bone to speed up their investigation, but we still have no leads. No matter what, determining the cause of this strange change is our top priority."
"Yes, you're right."
Xue Qinghe nodded in complete agreement and said,
"I'll also have my people investigate it as quickly as possible. If this phenomenon was caused by some object, then we must seize it for ourselves!"
It was not only Xue Qinghe and Ning Fengzhi. Similar conversations were taking place in countless corners of Heaven Dou City.
For soul masters, this change was simply too obvious. Anyone with even slightly sharp sources of information would find it hard not to notice.
Meanwhile, Bai Chen, the culprit behind this upheaval, was completely unaware as he continued his work in the blacksmith shop.
"Phew... finally finished."
Inside the private forging room the shop owner had prepared for Bai Chen, he stretched lazily.
Various tools were laid out before him, the basic equipment needed to create Soul Tools.
He had long anticipated this day, so he had learned how to make these tools in advance. Sure enough, they had come in handy now.
In his hands, meanwhile, was a pair of crimson-gold forging hammers.
These forging hammers were the result of his Blood Sacrifice in this era. Just as expected, they had awakened a powerful trait related to his Martial Soul.
This trait was extremely strange. Every time he struck with these forging hammers, it would randomly select, like flipping a coin, the special effect of the next strike.
At its weakest, it could add ten percent more force. At its strongest, it could directly apply one of his own elemental attributes. Like a slot machine, these forging hammers had completely blind-box-like effects.
If any other blacksmith had been here, this bizarre forging trait would definitely have given him a splitting headache.
After all, forging emphasized stability. Uncertain forging effects like this would only negatively affect the final result.
Without bringing down the hammer, there was no way to know what effect that strike would produce. To every blacksmith, this trait was a disaster-level influence.
But Bai Chen alone was an exception.
With Future Prediction supporting him, the effect of the next strike was not unknowable to him.
At the same time, he discovered that whenever he actively chose to alter the future, the trait drawn for the next strike would also change accordingly.
And perhaps because he himself was a gathering point of fortune, his luck was absurdly good. At least so far, he had only rolled an ordinary trait once. All the rest had been extremely powerful and useful effects.
Although the effects of these forging hammers were not very controllable, there was no doubt that their theoretical upper limit was the highest.
Clang! Clang!
Even as Bai Chen relaxed, the sound of metal colliding continued to ring through the room.
At another forging table behind him, Bai Yueqiu held a forging hammer and diligently struck the metal laid out on the table.
Since people of this era generally knew nothing of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, Bai Yueqiu had directly chosen her own race as her Martial Soul this time.
In other words, her Martial Soul was exactly the same as Bai Chen's. Theoretically, her forging talent should also be outstanding.
Bai Chen had taught her a little with the mindset that there was no harm in trying, and it had indeed turned out as expected.
She picked up forging at an astonishing speed. After only one day, she was already doing a decent job.
That was good too. Bai Chen intended to establish his own faction in the future, and his faction certainly could not have only one blacksmith. With Bai Yueqiu assisting him, many things would become far more convenient.
At that thought, Bai Chen smiled and called out,
"Yue Qiu."
Clang! Clang!
As though she had not heard him, Bai Yueqiu continued hammering the metal in front of her.
Ambition to Change the Era
Bai Chen's mouth twitched, and he changed the way he addressed her.
"Big sister."
"Mm, what is it?"
Hearing that, Bai Yueqiu immediately stopped pretending to be deaf. She halted what she was doing and looked down at him from above.
Bai Chen was amused by her childish behavior. He patted the chair beside him and said,
"Come over here. I'm going to start making Soul Tools. Haven't you always been curious about how they're made?"
"Oh?"
Just as expected, Bai Yueqiu's curiosity was instantly piqued. She tossed aside her forging hammer, skipped over to Bai Chen, sat down beside him, and urged,
"Hurry, hurry! I've wanted to learn about this for ages!"
"Heh, all right. Listen carefully..."
Bai Chen picked up the equipment for making Soul Tools and began explaining their principles.
But very quickly, he realized something was wrong. Bai Yueqiu's gaze had clearly started to drift. One look was enough to tell that while her body was still sitting here, her soul had already flown elsewhere.
"..."
Bai Chen's mouth twitched, and he lightly tapped her on the head.
Bai Yueqiu immediately snapped back to attention and asked somewhat flusteredly,
"W-what is it?"
"You're asking what it is... Do you know what I was just explaining?"
"Uh... how to use the various tools for making Soul Tools?"
"That was what I said at the beginning. I only talked about it for two minutes before moving on to the next subject."
Bai Chen rolled his eyes.
It seemed this girl was not suited to learning about Soul Tools.
Bai Yueqiu could also see his disappointment and pouted unhappily.
"So I can't pay attention in your lessons. What's the big deal... Besides, what's the point of learning this stuff? According to your memories, even twenty thousand years later, the upper limit of Soul Tools still hasn't reached the level of killing gods, right? In my view, Soul Tools are practically useless to beings like us."
"That is true when it comes to increasing our strength." Bai Chen nodded frankly, but then changed the subject. "But who told you I learned this merely to increase my own strength?"
Bai Yueqiu asked in return,
"Then what do you want to do?"
"Of course, advance human society."
Bai Chen said calmly,
"I want to use knowledge from the future to rapidly transform human society in this world toward the future."
In Bai Chen's eyes, mere personal strength did not appeal to him that much. The achievements born from wisdom were what he loved most.
For example, in the Douluo I Era, humanity's overall strength was vastly inferior to that of Soul Beasts. As long as the strongest Ferocious Beasts mobilized, humanity would have no ability to resist. The combat power of Ferocious Beasts stood absolutely above that of humans.
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