Second Soul Skill, Berserk!

"But I want to try, because I think it's really easy."

Tang Wulin fluttered his long eyelashes as he spoke with complete seriousness.

The moment he said that, the noisy square fell deathly silent. Then came a chorus of scornful jeers.

"Kids these days are getting more and more fond of talking big."

"Learn a Divine Craftsman's Thousand Refinement technique after watching it once? I wouldn't believe that if you beat me to death. Not even the many fourth-rank blacksmiths here would dare say that."

"Agreed... if he manages Thousand Refinement, I'll stand on my head and eat shit right here."

The adults were genuinely furious. They no longer cared whether Tang Wulin was a child, because his words had slapped every one of them in the face.

"Interesting. Go ahead and try, then."

Zhen Hua looked at the earnest child without getting angry. In that case, he might as well let him try.

Tang Wulin walked over without a trace of fear, and then... then he discovered that he wasn't tall enough. The forging table was meant for adults.

"Bring him a stool of the right height."

Zhen Hua's expression darkened as he gave the order.

"Uncle, give me some forging hammers too... I don't have any."

Tang Wulin continued, and Zhen Hua provided those as well, his face expressionless.

"These are the fifth-rank tungsten steel forging hammers I used when I was young... I won't ask you to achieve Thousand Refinement. If you can manage Hundred Refinement, these hammers are yours."

Zhen Hua could see how confident Tang Wulin was. Perhaps the boy really did have something to back it up. Was he about to discover a promising talent today?

"Whew!"

Tang Wulin took the forging hammers with ease and held them in his hands. Everyone's eyes narrowed at the sight.

Together, the two hammers weighed over a hundred jin, yet he held them so effortlessly. This child was no ordinary boy.

Tang Wulin also chose heavy silver. Soon, it had been heated red-hot and placed on the forging table.

The next moment, Tang Wulin took a small breath, then unleashed his strength.

Both forging hammers smashed into the red-hot heavy silver almost simultaneously, instantly flattening the metal a notch.

Bang, bang, bang!

Clang, clang, clang!

Countless hammer blows rang out in quick succession, like music following a drumbeat. Before everyone's dumbfounded eyes, the heavy silver changed, its impurities being removed.

"That's Hundred Refinement... he succeeded that quickly?"

The crowd cried out in astonishment, and Zhen Hua's eyes narrowed too. But that wasn't the crucial part. The crucial part was that Tang Wulin hadn't stopped at all.

He kept hammering furiously, and the heavy silver continued to transform... advancing toward Thousand Refinement.

Zhen Hua also noticed that Tang Wulin's forging technique really did bear some resemblance to his own. In other words, this child had learned most of his technique after watching it just once.

Soon, however, the rhythm of the hammering slowed, as though his stamina was failing... he was only a child, after all.

But in the very next moment!

Tang Wulin released his Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit Martial Soul. Two purple Soul Rings slowly rose around him, shocking everyone present.

"Two purple Soul Rings! He's a Soul Grandmaster!!!"

"Heavens, how old is he?"

"A genius... an unparalleled genius."

"Second Soul Skill, Berserk!"

Indeed, Tang Wulin had absorbed the Four Great Spiritual Objects and broken through the second of the Golden Dragon King Seals. Naturally, his Soul Power had also risen by two levels along the way, reaching level 21.

He had also gained a second Soul Skill, but it was neither Intangibility nor Invincible Golden Body.

It was Berserk!

But it was every bit as underhanded.

Its effect was to increase his strength by at least one hundred percent for a short time, rising with his anger to a maximum of five hundred percent. During that period, he was immune to mental attribute interference, but afterward, he would fall into a weakened state for forging.

How should one put it?

If he couldn't win, he got angry. Once he got angry, his strength increased... if he still couldn't win, he got even angrier, and his strength skyrocketed!

With Soul Power bolstering him, Tang Wulin's rhythm rapidly accelerated. As his final hammer blow fell—

The heavy silver erupted with brilliant light.

It rose nearly ten feet high.

Thousand Refinement had succeeded—First-Grade Thousand Refinement!

Zhen Hua stared, his face full of disbelief. First-Grade Thousand Refinement... and high-quality First-Grade Thousand Refinement at that. In other words, Tang Wulin already possessed the ability of a fourth-rank blacksmith.

A six-year-old fourth-rank blacksmith? What kind of joke was this?

Zhen Hua, who had always considered himself extraordinarily gifted at forging, began to question his life.

Tang Wulin, who had succeeded at forging for the first time in this life, also felt a wave of exhaustion. His strength was naturally sufficient, but the problem was that his height and reach were inadequate. He couldn't bring his full strength to bear with the forging hammers.

Of every ten parts of strength, he could use only three. The difficulty was easy to imagine.

"A drop of blood!"

Zhen Hua could also tell that this was Tang Wulin's first Thousand Refinement. He immediately helped draw his blood so the metal could recognize its master. This was a vital step.

Then he gathered the weakened Tang Wulin into his arms.

Zhen Hua's excitement was impossible to conceal.

"Child... was this your first Thousand Refinement?"

"To be precise, it was my first time forging."

Tang Wulin clarified, leaving Zhen Hua even more astonished.

Seeing that Tang Wulin had truly succeeded at Thousand Refinement, everyone else wore expressions of shock mingled with complicated emotions. He had actually done it, and on his very first attempt at forging.

He truly was a monster.

"Where's the guy who said he'd stand on his head and eat shit if the boy succeeded at Thousand Refinement? Come out..."

Someone shouted, but that man had clearly decided to play dead and didn't utter a sound.

Just then, a graceful figure approached, her voice thick with worry.

"Wulin... where are you?"

Everyone turned to look, then stared in a daze, for the newcomer was simply too beautiful.

Long wine-red hair draped over her shoulders, and she wore a red dress. Her long legs were particularly eye-catching, her features exquisite, her lips small and cherry-red. Yet there was no coy allure to her, only a heroic air. Her phoenix eyes gleamed with such sharpness that no one dared meet them directly.

It was none other than the Spirit Pagoda's Vice Pagoda Master, Leng Yaozhu!

She had brought Tang Wulin here today, intending to first contact a few eighth-rank Saint Craftsmen on good terms with the Spirit Pagoda and ask them to plead his case. No matter what, she had to get the Divine Craftsman to accept Tang Wulin as his disciple.

But she had turned around only to discover Tang Wulin was gone. How could she not worry?

"Teacher, I'm here!"

Tang Wulin waved, and Leng Yaozhu immediately looked over in excitement, only to freeze.

Tang Wulin was actually being held by the Divine Craftsman, Zhen Hua!

Still, Leng Yaozhu didn't dwell on it. She merely thought it was a fortunate coincidence. Since that was the case, she would cut straight to the chase.

"Your Eminence, Divine Craftsman, my Wulin has a good talent for forging. Might he become your disciple?"

"Your Eminence, Heavenly Phoenix, your Wulin has an incredible talent for forging. Might he become my disciple?"

They spoke almost in unison, then both were utterly astonished.

What was going on?

Once Heavenly Phoenix Douluo finally learned what had happened, the way she looked at Tang Wulin changed completely.

She had been eagerly bending over backward to pull strings and get this boy apprenticed to Zhen Hua, yet he had relied on sheer ability and talent to make Zhen Hua practically beg to take him as a disciple.

He truly was a monster!!!

Zhen Hua, for his part, had never expected Tang Wulin to already be Heavenly Phoenix Douluo's disciple.

An incredible Martial Soul talent, and an equally terrifying talent for forging... he was truly a monster.

He was taking this disciple, no matter what!