Metal Spirit Forging

"You two have truly opened this old man's eyes!"

Though everything seemed utterly inconceivable and unbelievable, enough to overturn one's worldview,

the changes in Meng Hongchen could not be faked, leaving Jing Hongchen no choice but to believe.

After all, the facts were right there.

In the end, after examining Meng Hongchen's condition, the old man Jing Hongchen finally accepted this tremendous surprise.

The flaw in Meng Hongchen's Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad martial soul had always been a lingering worry for him.

Over the years, it was not as though he had never considered ways to solve it, but top-tier ice-attribute torso soul bones were simply far too rare.

After all these years, he had not managed to find even a single one for Meng Hongchen.

This undoubtedly made Jing Hongchen feel somewhat guilty toward her.

But now, this problem had been completely resolved by Xia Yu, his granddaughter's husband. At last, his heart could feel a little more at ease.

All along, Jing Hongchen had believed that Meng Hongchen's marriage to Xia Yu was her good fortune, an absolutely correct choice.

And what had happened over the past three months had indeed proven that his judgment was right.

If Meng Hongchen had not married Xia Yu and become his wife, how could she possibly have enjoyed all the top-tier resources Xia Yu gave her?

And it was precisely because she was his wife, because of the bond between them, that Xia Yu had gone to such lengths to devise a solution for the flaw in her martial soul.

Otherwise, who else could receive such wholehearted treatment from Xia Yu?

Apart from Old Kong Deming, who was an exception, there was no one else.

Even members of Xia Yu's own clan could not receive such an honor.

Yes, an honor!

As the Sun Moon Empire's strongest and youngest Rank-9 Soul Engineer, how could Xia Yu's favor not be considered an honor?

At that moment, Jing Hongchen was incomparably grateful to his past self for agreeing to the marriage three months ago.

That decision had been absolutely right!

"Hehe, if this already counts as opening your eyes, then what if I show you this?"

While Jing Hongchen was still sighing with emotion, Meng Hongchen giggled and dealt him another devastating blow.

With a proud expression, Meng Hongchen pulled an Icebound Divine Crystal containing an Ice Spirit from her storage soul tool.

Then, before Jing Hongchen and the others could react, she used her Ultimate Ice soul power to stimulate, to the greatest extent possible, the Ultimate Ice power within the Icebound Divine Crystal.

Provoked by this, the Icebound Divine Crystal immediately released a deep blue radiance and conveyed a sense of intimacy, as though it were a living being.

"What is this? How is this possible? This piece of metal has actually reached the realm of possessing life?" Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were dumbfounded with shock.

Neither of them possessed the Ultimate Ice attribute, so they normally could not sense the Ice Spirit's presence. However, because Meng Hongchen deliberately amplified it, they could now perceive the Ice Spirit.

And precisely because they sensed the Ice Spirit's existence, they understood just how unbelievable this was.

Virtue Hall had never given up on forging stronger metals. One direction they had pursued was artificially endowing metal with life.

The purpose was simple: to make metal into a living existence, thereby breaking through its original limits and reaching a new level.

But unfortunately, no matter what Virtue Hall did, it could not grant metal life. At most, it could only enhance a metal's spirituality.

Yet now, the thing Virtue Hall had sought without success was appearing right before their eyes.

And Meng Hongchen had taken it out.

How could Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen not be shocked?

Moreover, as soul engineers, they knew far too well the value of this kind of metal.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that it could lead soul tool technology to a new peak.

Thinking of this, Jing Hongchen and the others looked at the Icebound Divine Crystal with even greater fervor, their eyes filled with longing.

"Hehe, how about it, Grandpa? Have your eyes been opened again?"

Seeing Jing Hongchen and the others' faces filled with shock and desire, Meng Hongchen became even more smug.

When she had first learned that an Ice Spirit existed within the Icebound Divine Crystal, she too had been terribly shocked and left utterly stunned.

Now that she saw Jing Hongchen and the others equally shocked, she inexplicably felt delighted.

At once, Meng Hongchen laughed even more happily.

But she was promptly punished for it.

"You little brat, making fun of your grandfather, are you? Hurry up and explain what's going on with this metal."

Seeing Meng Hongchen grow more and more pleased with herself, Jing Hongchen did not indulge her. He immediately rapped her on the head several times.

"Okay, I got it!"

After taking several knocks on the head, Meng Hongchen instantly became much more restrained and obediently explained the Icebound Divine Crystal to them.

"What? Only soul masters with the Ultimate Ice attribute can bring out the Icebound Divine Crystal's power, while anyone without Ultimate Ice cannot communicate with the Ice Spirit at all..."

Meng Hongchen's explanation sent Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen's emotions through dramatic highs and lows.

They had initially been full of anticipation, eager to learn the Icebound Divine Crystal's secrets, to know how much of this special metal existed, and whether they might have the chance to use it to forge soul tools...

But Meng Hongchen directly poured a bucket of cold water over them.

Without the Ultimate Ice attribute, forging Icebound Divine Crystal would be unimaginably difficult, much less communicating with the Ice Spirit.

Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were deeply disappointed. After such a sharp reversal, they both felt terrible, and dejection overflowed from them.

"Ahem, actually, old man, you don't need to be so disappointed."

At that moment, seeing the disappointment and regret on their faces, Xia Yu, who had said little until now, finally spoke.

He took the Icebound Divine Crystal from Meng Hongchen's hand, his expression turning serious. "I happen to be planning to use the Icebound Divine Crystal to explore a new method of metal forging. I call it Spirit Forging."

"If it succeeds, I imagine you will not lack living metals like this in the future."

"Spirit Forging?" Jing Hongchen stared at Xia Yu in immense shock. "Xia Yu, can you tell this old man the general principles behind this forging method?"

"Brother Yu, I want to know what Spirit Forging is too. You never mentioned this to me." Meng Hongchen also joined the conversation, her face full of astonishment and curiosity.

As for Xiao Hongchen, although he said nothing, the curiosity and investigative intent in his eyes were already impossible to conceal.

"Sure. There's nothing that can't be said."

Xia Yu nodded and roughly explained the Spirit Forging method from his memories.

In essence, it involved gathering a metal's spirituality, resonating with it through one's Martial Soul Origin and soul power, and artificially granting life to a spiritual metal.

"Xia Yu, this is truly an ingenious idea. We explored for so long before, so how did we never think of it?" Jing Hongchen's face was filled with amazement.

"Brother Yu, why does your method sound a little mystical to me? Can it really be done?"

Perhaps because her level was insufficient, Meng Hongchen was left completely confused. She felt that the Spirit Forging Xia Yu described sounded rather mystical.

"I'm not certain whether it can be done either. We'll just have to try."

Xia Yu was remarkably candid in response to their questions and did not make any guarantees.

Although he knew the Spirit Forging method was certainly real and had a great chance of success,

he had never tried it himself in the end, so it was better not to speak too confidently.