Learning to Forge: Metal Purification and Fold-Forging

The young man turned to look for someone in the back courtyard. Tang Shan stayed where he was, calmly examining the weapons on display.

He stopped before a long saber and touched it. Cold seeped into his fingertips. He took it down from the rack and studied it in the sunlight.

The blade was dark gray and reflected no light. It radiated a hard, chilling edge. When he held a finger an inch from it, the fine hairs on his fingertip stood up, and a piercing cold seemed to reach his skin.

This blade really is sharp.

Tang Shan returned the saber and wandered over to a suit of armor. He was somewhat surprised to find armor for sale on the Douluo Continent, but after a moment's thought, the reason became clear.

It came down to Soul Masters. Their destructive power was far beyond what a suit of armor could withstand. Even an entire army equipped with armor would face certain death against a truly top-tier Soul Master.

In ancient times in his previous life, privately keeping blades was no great matter, but possessing armor was a capital offense. Even in modern America, supposedly the "freest" country, where there was a "shooting every day," private ownership of body armor was prohibited.

But on the Douluo Continent, what use was a mere suit of armor? Perhaps several hundred suits of Eight-Treasure Wishful Soft Armor made by a Divine Craftsman could form an army capable of posing some threat to high-level Soul Masters. Anything less would hardly matter.

Tang Shan's ears twitched. Two sets of footsteps drew closer through the clang of metal. A moment later, two figures emerged from the back courtyard. One was Tie Qian, the young man who had greeted him. The other was a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man bore a clear resemblance to Tie Qian; they were plainly close relatives. They stood at roughly the same height, but the older man was considerably broader.

The middle-aged man approached Tang Shan with a composed expression, his burly frame giving off an imposing presence. "I'm Tie Zhong, the owner of this shop. I hear you're a Soul Master who wants to learn blacksmithing?" His voice was deep and steady, ringing like the great bell his name evoked.

"That's right. Hello, sir. My name is Tang Shan, and I do want to learn blacksmithing." Tang Shan nodded.

Tie Zhong rubbed the back of his head. "Little brother, if you're a Soul Master, why are you so set on learning to forge?"

Tang Shan smiled faintly. "I am a Soul Master, but I don't recall hearing that Soul Masters can't forge."

"That's true..." Tie Zhong shook his head. "Forget it. No sense worrying about that. You're a Soul Master, so taking you on as an apprentice is no problem. But I'll be upfront: there's no pay, only food and lodging. Can you accept that?"

Tang Shan nodded. "I can. But roughly how long would it take to learn?"

Tie Zhong thought for a moment and raised a finger. "You're a Soul Master, so your physical strength won't be a problem. Working the bellows, quenching, forging, shaping—learning all those steps would take about a year."

Tang Shan frowned slightly. "Could we speed things up? I can pay for lessons."

Tie Zhong's face darkened. "It's not that I'm holding anything back. If you don't learn the basics thoroughly, there's no point talking about the later techniques, much less mastering them."

"Master Tie, that isn't what I meant." Tang Shan felt a little awkward, but time truly was pressing.

"I only have about ten days to learn. Could you teach me the essentials? I just need enough of a foundation to continue practicing on my own afterward."

Between Tang Shan's persuasive words and the Gold Soul Coins he offered, Tie Zhong finally agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Come with me. In ten days, how much you learn will depend entirely on your aptitude and effort." He tossed a bag containing ten Gold Soul Coins to Tie Qian, then led Tang Shan to a separate forging room.

Ten Gold Soul Coins made the extra time worthwhile. Tie Zhong made no promises about how much Tang Shan would learn. He would teach him everything he could, but how much Tang Shan absorbed was up to him.

Clang! Clang!

A hammer rose high, then came crashing down.

Clang!

Sparks scattered amid the thunderous clash of metal.

Tang Shan had already activated Martial Soul Possession. Bare-chested, he gripped the iron blank firmly with tongs in his left hand and brought the hammer down hard with his right. His legs were planted solidly, absorbing the force that rebounded from each blow. His hawklike gaze never left the iron.

The fierce glow of the fire painted his body red. Though waves of heat rolled over him, Tang Shan had not shed a drop of sweat.

Tie Zhong stood with his thick arms crossed over his chest, his powerful muscles thrown into relief. He stared open-mouthed as the iron blank shrank and gradually took shape beneath the hammer.

What astonishing talent for forging! In just three days, Tang Shan had mastered the bellows and quenching and had already moved on to forging iron. At this rate, he might be ready to learn shaping in another two days.

Was the gap between Soul Masters and ordinary people really so vast? Tie Zhong began to doubt himself.

Clang!

Tang Shan brought down the final blow. He looked at the blank, now less than half its original size and beginning to take shape, and nodded in satisfaction. He put the forging hammer into his storage ring, then turned to Tie Zhong. "Master Tie, how did I do?"

"You're the most talented blacksmith I've ever seen!" Tie Zhong praised Tang Shan at length, stopping only when Tang Shan himself began to look embarrassed.

"Forge for another two days, and you can try shaping. Once you've mastered that, you'll have finished your apprenticeship." Tie Zhong gave Tang Shan's shoulder a firm pat, his eyes full of approval.

"Master Tie, I don't want to learn shaping just yet. I'd like to go further and learn other forging methods," Tang Shan said.

Tie Zhong was puzzled, but he did not object immediately. Over the past three days, he had come to know Tang Shan well enough to see that the young man had clear goals and a methodical approach. This was no passing whim.

"Master Tie, what do you think of the standing of blacksmiths?" Tang Shan brought over two chairs, sat in one, and pushed the other toward Tie Zhong.

Tie Zhong sat down, and the chair groaned beneath his weight. "We have little standing. Or perhaps every profession besides Soul Master is much the same." A self-mocking smile crossed his face, his voice heavy with disappointment.

Anyone who learned that the work they had devoted their life to would never earn much respect would feel disheartened. "I love forging. I love the whole process of refining and shaping metal. But no matter how skilled I become, it means nothing before a real Soul Master."

Tie Zhong suddenly patted Tang Shan's shoulder again, his expression solemn. "Tang Shan, I'm glad a Soul Master shares my love of forging. But I hope you won't get too absorbed in it. Cultivating your Soul Power is the path a Soul Master should follow."

Under Tie Zhong's earnest gaze, Tang Shan felt a twinge of guilt. His claim to love forging had only been a way to win the man over. What mattered to him was not forging itself, but the strength it might bring him.

"Ahem."

Tang Shan cleared his throat twice and composed himself. "Don't worry, Master Tie. I won't neglect my cultivation."

Then he changed the subject. "Have you ever thought about raising the standing of blacksmiths?"

Tie Zhong was not stirred by Tang Shan's grand prospect. He merely shook his head helplessly. "Of course. But there's no opportunity. We blacksmiths know Soul Tools are the key to improving our standing, yet we simply haven't been able to work out how to make them."

"Not Soul Tools. Another direction." Tang Shan cut him off. Given the Douluo Continent's current state, unless those two Peerless Douluo crossed the vast ocean and seized the methods for making Soul Tools from the neighboring continent, there was little hope. Even if every Soul Master on the continent joined the research, they might still achieve very little, let alone ordinary blacksmiths.

"I think we should keep purifying metal." Tang Shan's words sparked something in Tie Zhong's mind, but the thought vanished as quickly as it came. He looked up sharply, his eyes bright with anticipation. "Tang Shan, what do you mean?"

Tang Shan shifted uneasily under that burning gaze.

He's taken the bait.

"As I see it, shaping only means forging a material into the desired form. It doesn't require much technical skill, which is why I said I could put it off. Of the four stages of blacksmithing, the third is the one worth exploring further: forging to purify metal and remove impurities."

Before Tie Zhong could respond, Tang Shan went on. "Right now, once we decide a material is strong enough, we start shaping it. But why can't we keep purifying it? Have we truly removed every impurity from the metal?"

"This..." Tie Zhong's mind reeled, as though a new door had opened before him. Why couldn't they continue purifying it? Why couldn't they increase the material's strength further? Wasn't purifying metal the heart of a blacksmith's work? When had the final step of shaping become the essence of the craft?

"In fact, earlier blacksmiths may already have tried to increase a metal's strength. Perhaps they just took the wrong approach." Tang Shan broke into Tie Zhong's thoughts with his speculation. "Some of them repeatedly hammer a piece of metal, fold it, then hammer it again. Could that approach be flawed? Shouldn't we first purify the metal as far as possible before folding it?"

"Purify it as far as possible, then fold and forge it... Yes! If the metal hasn't been fully purified, folding and forging it too soon will naturally cause the elements within it to repel one another. No wonder there's a limit to what fold-forging can achieve!"

Tie Zhong was lost in thought. He muttered to himself as his expression shifted from wild joy to regret to indignation and back again.

A long time passed before Tie Zhong came back to himself. He looked at Tang Shan with fervor, as though he had met the legendary god of craftsmen.

"Tang Shan, I don't know how to thank you... If your idea truly raises the standing of blacksmiths, you'll be a Divine Craftsman of a new generation! No—you'll be the god of craftsmen himself!"

PS: This is the beginning of the forging system and an attempt to give a reasonable explanation for why Douluo's blacksmiths hadn't discovered it before. Please bookmark, keep reading, vote, and comment—any support is welcome.