Ning Rongrong rattled off a great deal, leaving Jun Yi stunned. He had never expected her to know so much and could not help saying, "Rongrong, I didn't realize you were so impressive."
"Of course! Just who do you think this young lady is?" Ning Rongrong straightened her back and said haughtily.
Watching Ning Rongrong answer so fluently, Bone Douluo's face filled with pride. He continued, "Rongrong is quite right, but I must tell you that the greatest benefit of a mimicry cultivation area is actually helping you meditate. Cultivating here is also extremely efficient, so Rongrong, you must cultivate here until you reach rank ten. Understood?"
"Oh," Ning Rongrong muttered with a pout, though her expression made it clear that she was not particularly willing.
"All right, all right. If you cultivate to rank ten, Grandpa Bone will give you a present," Bone Douluo said.
"A present?"
At those words, Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up, and she immediately grew interested. Her beautiful, large eyes fixed on Bone Douluo as she said expectantly, "Really? Grandpa Bone, what present? I want it right now!"
Bone Douluo chuckled. "We'll talk about that once you break through to rank ten. Go cultivate first. Don't waste this time."
"Okay!"
Ning Rongrong ran into the Mimicry Cultivation Environment, cheering and skipping.
Jun Yi pointed at himself and asked, "Me? What about me? Where should I go, Bone Douluo?"
"You should keep training your physique. Our plan is to improve your current physical condition as much as possible so that your first soul ring can have a higher age," Bone Douluo explained to Jun Yi.
After hearing his explanation, Jun Yi suggested, "Then could I arrange my own afternoon? I want to forge a few things."
"You know how to forge, kid? Isn't that a blacksmith's work?"
Bone Douluo was somewhat surprised. After all, in the world of Douluo I, blacksmithing was still a very lowly profession. The vast majority of blacksmiths came from humble backgrounds and earned their living through physical strength. Basically, only ordinary people without soul power became blacksmiths.
That was why Bone Douluo was surprised to hear that Jun Yi knew how to forge.
"I'm quite a skilled smith. Does our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect have a forging bench?" Jun Yi asked.
"Of course. Come with me."
Bone Douluo brought Jun Yi to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forging room. It was fully equipped, and even had forging hammers specially prepared, but they were covered in dust. Clearly, no one had used them in a long time.
"This place is great."
Looking around the vast, empty forging room, Jun Yi felt delighted. He began taking things out of his Soul Tool Ring: first an ordinary forging hammer, then a carving knife, followed by components, rare metals, and other materials used to forge soul tools.
After arranging his forging tools, he deftly lit the furnace, picked up a piece of meteoric gold, and melted it into liquid. Then he took out several portions of rare metals and tossed them in, controlling the flame's temperature as he slowly heated them.
"Whoosh, whoosh..."
The flames gradually turned orange-red, giving off heat and the distinctive smell of metal. Jun Yi closed his eyes and used his spiritual power to gaze at the mass of liquid in the center of the forging bench. His spiritual power enveloped the entire bench as he carefully observed its slightest movements, carrying out the forging with meticulous care.
A moment later, the meteoric iron gradually turned black. Jun Yi picked it up and struck it twice on the anvil beside the furnace. The crisp, pleasing sounds rang out in all directions.
Crack...
With that crisp crack, the pitch-black iron flakes scattered, revealing flawless white metal within. A faint, chilling gleam flickered across it, making one's heart tremble.
"Not bad. This forging attempt went far more smoothly than the last," Jun Yi said with satisfaction before setting the metal on the table for later use.
Jun Yi then began tinkering with the components on the table and assembling them. Before long, he had put together a pitch-black metal tube about a meter and a half long. Then he picked up the piece of metal in his left hand and the carving knife in his right. Coating the knife with his own soul power, he began carving the formation.
His movements were slow, but his hand was steady. Every stroke of the small knife was sure and firm. Time passed second by second, yet his body remained as motionless as a statue. Only a few fingers controlled that tiny carving knife, slowly engraving as soul power flowed into it.
Standing nearby, Bone Douluo could not tell what Jun Yi was doing. As far as he remembered, this did not seem to be what blacksmiths did.
"Finally, it worked!"
Jun Yi carefully lifted the metal block onto his left palm and slowly poured gentle soul power into it. Immediately, the metal block gave off a distinct golden light. Its soft glow formed a pillar of light that rose a full foot high.
After dozens of failures, Jun Yi had finally finished carving the formation for a Class One Fixed Soul Cannon.
Before this, Jun Yi had not awakened his martial soul and could not use soul power. Thus, when making soul tools, he had relied on the system's help to channel the soul power within his body into the carving knife to engrave formations.
Now that he had awakened his martial soul, Jun Yi could wield his soul power with greater ease, and so he successfully carved the Fixed Soul Cannon's formation.
Bone Douluo, meanwhile, was stunned by the metal radiating golden light. This was his first time seeing such metal. Although he knew its value must be extraordinary, he did not know its exact price.
"What exactly is this?" Bone Douluo asked in puzzlement.
"You'll find out in a moment."
With that, Jun Yi joined the piece of metal to the Fixed Soul Cannon barrel he had made earlier. Immediately, a powerful fluctuation of energy spread out from the Fixed Soul Cannon.
"This... could this be a soul tool?"
Within this metal tube, Bone Douluo could clearly sense fluctuations of soul power. Though extremely weak, they were indeed present.
"Yes, that's right."
With that, Jun Yi raised the barrel and loaded it with a Soul Cannon Shell he had forged long ago, then admired his fine work with satisfaction.
If the Milk Bottle was a soul tool forged at the expense of materials and effort, then the Fixed Soul Cannon was the hardest to forge. Its formation was nearly ten times more complex, if not more, than an ordinary soul tool's. It also required a great many materials and was extremely difficult to make.
Jun Yi then hoisted it onto his shoulder and aimed it at Bone Douluo's head.
Looking at that pitch-black barrel, Bone Douluo vaguely felt a hint of chill. He hurriedly stepped back. "Hey, hey! What are you doing?"
"Testing how powerful it is."
(End of chapter)