"Gengxin City was once so glorious ten thousand years ago. To think it would have fallen this far ten thousand years later!"
Qian Duoduo straightened his back and gazed outside the carriage, unable to help sighing. He directed the driver toward the inn.
The two carriages bearing Shrek's insignia passed through the crowd, attracting everyone's attention. The blacksmiths at the roadside stalls all looked over curiously.
"Let's get out. We still have to visit the Blacksmiths' Guild in a bit!"
Qian Duoduo got out first. Mu Changqing held Na'er's little hand as they got out together. The moment their feet touched the ground, the warmth of the place washed over their faces.
The five walked side by side into the inn. Qian Duoduo collected the keys at the front desk and gave one each to Fan Yu and Mu Changqing.
"We'll be staying here for the next year."
Qian Duoduo spoke patiently as the five headed up the stairs together. Over the coming year, Qian Duoduo needed to become a Class 9 Soul Engineer, while Fan Yu needed to become a Class 8 Soul Engineer.
Not only did the two seniors have tasks to accomplish, but Bei Bei and Tang Ya also had their own arrangements. Mu En had decided all of these.
Over this year, Bei Bei needed to break through to Rank 30 and pass the Class 3 Soul Engineer assessment. Mu Changqing's goal was to become proficient in forging.
Na'er had no tasks. She had come purely to play. She did not need to cultivate seriously; her cultivation would rise on its own, and she would even condense her own Soul Rings.
"Meet downstairs in an hour!"
All five returned to their rooms. Mu Changqing immediately ran to the bed, sat cross-legged, and began meditating. Ever since the Eye of Annihilation had been born and opened up, he had not properly explored it.
Mu Changqing's consciousness gradually sank into his second Sea of Spirit. His second Sea of Spirit was half the size of his original Sea of Spirit, but the power within was a mixture of inky black and green-the very combination of destruction and life.
"The power here is so chaotic!"
Mu Changqing floated into his second Sea of Spirit, where a mass of power hung suspended. He possessed himself with his Martial Soul and reached his Golden Dragon claw inside.
Arcs of destruction immediately struck Mu Changqing's dragon claw, splitting several wounds across it. Golden blood flowed out, but the life element immediately healed them.
"No wonder the God King of Destruction and the God King of Life can't have children. Who could withstand this power?"
Mu Changqing withdrew his Golden Dragon claw. It was completely unscathed. He gazed at it quietly, stroking his chin.
If Mu Changqing completely fused this power, wouldn't he be able to become a God of Creation in the future? Mu Changqing smiled.
Mu Changqing immediately set the dantian within his body into motion, drawing the surrounding masses of power into himself as quickly as possible. He had only absorbed a little before his dantian was already full.
"Big Brother! Wake up!"
Na'er folded the white paper in her hands, leaned against Mu Changqing from behind, and gently shook him. Mu Changqing's consciousness returned to his body in an instant.
"Na'er, let's go!"
Mu Changqing took Na'er's hand and quickly left the room. The two headed down the stairs to the first floor. At the inn's entrance, the other three had also only just come down.
"Let's go!"
Qian Duoduo muttered this, and the five left the inn, following Gengxin City's central road north. Along the way, Mu Changqing noticed that there were very few other businesses here. Most dealt in things like casting iron.
"Big Brother, this place is so strange! Almost all the shops here either forge iron or sell it..."
Na'er trotted over to a nearby shop, took a few gold soul coins from her storage Soul Tool, and bought two daggers.
Na'er looked at the two daggers in her hands, secretly delighted. One was gold and the other silver, and they were about half a foot long.
"Big Brother, here!"
Holding the two daggers, Na'er pushed them in front of Mu Changqing, her eyes bright and limpid.
Mu Changqing accepted the golden dagger from Na'er's hand and swung it through the air a few times. It was merely an ordinary iron dagger painted a different color. Mu Changqing also understood Na'er's intention.
After walking for a while, the five finally reached the Blacksmiths' Guild. Its original structure was a castle, still retaining the style of ten thousand years ago. A somewhat shabby signboard hung overhead.
"Hello, we'd like to meet the current president of the Blacksmiths' Guild!
"Tell him Shrek Academy has a business proposition to discuss!"
Qian Duoduo took a token from his pocket and gently placed it on the counter. The receptionist's expression changed when she saw it, and she immediately contacted the current president of the Blacksmiths' Guild through a Soul Tool.
"President, some honored guests from Shrek need to see you!"
"The president will be here shortly. Please follow me!"
The five followed the receptionist toward the reception room. They entered a small room filled with iron statues.
The receptionist poured everyone some fine tea, then politely left the reception room. The five waited quietly.
Creak-
The wooden door was pushed open with brute force, and a tall, middle-aged man wearing a short white shirt walked in.
The newcomer was a descendant of the Divine Blacksmith Lou Gao from back then, the current president of Gengxin City's Blacksmiths' Guild, and a Divine Blacksmith himself.
Ever since the Sun Moon Empire's collision had brought Soul Tools, the blacksmithing profession had drawn less and less interest as time passed.
By his generation, not only had their skill fallen far short of their predecessors', but even the once-vast Blacksmiths' Guild had shrunk to one percent of its original size.
If this continued, wouldn't the blacksmithing profession soon disappear into the history of the Douluo Continent?
People like him were probably the last batch of blacksmiths on the Douluo Continent.
The great empires had already begun gradually reducing the proportion of iron armor in their armies, and orders were dwindling as well.
In the end, would this profession, passed down for ten thousand years, only be found in village farm-tool shops?
Lou Li could not accept it, but there was nothing he could do, even though he had learned blacksmithing from childhood and possessed superb forging skills.
Lou Li's forging skills could be called among the very best of all blacksmiths, and he had worked as a blacksmith for over forty years.
With the blacksmithing profession reduced to such a state, Lou Li truly could not understand why people from Shrek had come looking for him.
"Hello!"
Lou Gao scratched the back of his head and looked at everyone in bewilderment. He politely extended a hand to greet Qian Duoduo, who responded to Lou Gao with a smile.
"We're here to discuss a business proposition with you!"
Qian Duoduo immediately stated his purpose.
"What business?!"
Lou Gao's eyes lit up. Business meant money to be earned, and it could also improve the Blacksmiths' Guild's circumstances.
"Naturally, we at Shrek intend to recruit some people from your Blacksmiths' Association as blacksmithing instructors, and others to work for us."
"Our Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department intends to offer a blacksmithing course!"
Qian Duoduo smiled as he spoke.
"My name is Lou Li. Is everything you said true?"
"There's still a way forward for blacksmiths!?"
Hearing that Shrek wanted to recruit them as instructors and even offer a separate course, Lou Li felt both excited and bewildered.
"It's true! We want to hire all the existing members of the Blacksmiths' Association to develop new materials for Soul Tools."
"Low-grade Soul Tool materials can gradually be transformed through forging into mid-, high-, and low-grade materials."
Qian Duoduo took a piece of forged metal from his Soul Tool and moved it before Lou Li's eyes.