"I can't... what is Heavenly Refinement?"
Lou Gao broke into a sweat at Long Yue's final question. How could he know Heavenly Refinement? He had never even heard of it.
With such a clearly defined ranking system for the Divine Realm Empire's Blacksmiths, Long Yue surely wasn't making it up.
That could only mean Lou Gao himself was ignorant and ill-informed, a realization that left him feeling a little defeated.
"To perform Heavenly Refinement, you need more than an understanding of the metal itself. You also need some insight into the laws of heaven and earth. At that stage, the Blacksmith alone no longer forges the metal. More importantly, you must draw upon the power of heaven and earth to transform it completely, remaking it down to its very bones..."
Seeing the stunned expression on Lou Gao's round face, Long Yue asked another question. "The prerequisite for Heavenly Refinement is becoming a Titled Douluo, so I imagine you can't perform it, Senior Lou Gao... do you know Soul Forging?"
"Soul Forging?" Cold sweat began to trickle down Lou Gao again.
"Soul Forging isn't just forging metal from the outside. It also works from the inside out. You infuse your own Soul Power and spiritual power into the metal, then use your connection with it to forge it from within..."
Long Yue's explanation sounded so mystical that Xie Yue and the others kept frowning. Could something as lifeless as metal have a soul?
Lou Gao only half understood as well. After listening, he suddenly asked, "Long Yue, Spirit Forging is the prerequisite for Soul Forging, isn't it? Before metal can have a soul, it must first have life."
Lou Gao's powers of comprehension were quite good.
"That's right," Long Yue said. "Spirit Forging is communication between Soul Power and metal. It's