The Body Sect of today seemed divided, but in truth, there were no major conflicts within it.
Han Tianyi served as an elder at the Spirit Pagoda, while Hu Jie headed the Tang Sect's Star Luo branch.
Mu Ye, the sect master, worked as Zhen Hua's chef at the Blacksmith's Association headquarters.
Relations between the Spirit Pagoda and the Blacksmith's Association headquarters were hardly harmonious; they merely maintained outward exchanges.
There was even less to be said about its relationship with the Tang Sect-they were competitors in every respect.
However, that did not stop the three members of the Body Sect from each serving their own masters.
At this stage of their development, the stance of a major power could no longer be summed up in a few words.
Even within the same power, there were factions with different positions, and different factions could cooperate or compete.
Thus, simply belonging to different camps did not mean their relationship was poor.
Han Tianyi had naturally brought Jiang Xia here to see Mu Ye.
"Little Jiang is going to try a thousand-year Soul Spirit for his first Soul Ring. Make the arrangements as you see fit."
Mu Ye turned to go and show off his skills, but Han Tianyi's words made his body stiffen slightly.
He turned back to look at his martial uncle, his expression a little numb.
"Martial Uncle, is that necessary? Forcibly fusing with a thousand-year Soul Spirit as his first isn't difficult, but the cost of maintaining it later will be rather high."
Successfully fusing with a thousand-year Soul Spirit as one's first Soul Spirit was not much of a problem.
With Mu Ye's abilities, he could easily feed Jiang Xia until his physical constitution could withstand a thousand-year Soul Ring.
He could even help Jiang Xia improve his spiritual power a little.
But what about his second Soul Ring?
Fusing with another Soul Spirit would clearly be impossible. After all, only upon reaching the Spirit Sea Realm could one hope to fuse with another Soul Spirit in addition to a thousand-year Soul Spirit.
Yet a genius was often very young when their Soul Power reached rank twenty!
So young that their spiritual power could not possibly have grown to the Spirit Sea Realm.
Never mind rank twenty-even true geniuses struggled to reach the Spirit Sea Realm at rank thirty.
If the first Soul Spirit were a yellow hundred-year Soul Spirit, using a few special methods to bypass the spiritual power realm restriction and forcibly fuse with a thousand-year Soul Spirit before reaching the Spirit Sea Realm would be one thing.
But if the first Soul Spirit were already a thousand-year one, bypassing the realm restriction like that would be difficult.
Han Tianyi understood what Mu Ye meant. Once a thousand-year Soul Spirit was chosen as the first, this restriction would keep holding Jiang Xia back. His future cultivation would be incredibly difficult, and his demand for resources would likewise become a bottomless pit.
The Body Sect could afford to provide them, but was it really necessary?
Upgrading the Soul Spirit later would be a perfectly viable substitute.
"A thousand-year Soul Spirit?"
Jiang Xia was stunned as well.
Even as a transmigrator, he had never considered that.
Han Tianyi remained calm and said evenly, "Don't worry. I've already studied Little Jiang's Martial Soul. The spiritual power issue involved in fusing with Soul Spirits is easier to resolve for him than for others. It's just that his Martial Soul has no physical attributes, so his physical constitution will have to be built up through your dietary nourishment."
Jiang Xia looked over in surprise.
What did that mean?
He had not even known he had that sort of ability.
Han Tianyi looked over and smiled. "Your Martial Soul, Broken Dream, can connect to other people's spiritual wills."
Jiang Xia felt as though something had pierced straight through his brain.
"So, as long as someone helps share the burden, I can fuse with Soul Spirits beyond my spiritual power rank?"
"Yes. When I connected to your Broken Dream Martial Soul earlier, I tested that."
Jiang Xia had not expected his teacher to have tested even that back then.
But Jiang Xia had read the original novel and had never seen any information about this.
Still, it was perfectly normal for a teacher devising a training plan for his disciple to study his Martial Soul and test these things.
"In other words, my spiritual power can anchor itself to someone else's spiritual will," Jiang Xia said, summing it up.
"Correct." After some thought, Han Tianyi added, "Anchoring it to another Soul Master makes you too dependent on others, so you could try anchoring it to a virtual world like the Spirit Ascension Platform."
"Didn't you already want to research the Spirit Ascension Platform?"
Jiang Xia nodded repeatedly.
This was undoubtedly good news.
Having finished their discussion, master and disciple turned together to look at Mu Ye.
Mu Ye adjusted his chef's hat and pushed his little serving cart away without a word.
"Zhen Hua, another reason I came this time was to ask you to help test whether this child has any talent for forging."
Han Tianyi did not waste the time while Mu Ye was cooking. He looked at Zhen Hua and stated the other purpose of this visit.
Because of Mu Ye, he and Zhen Hua were quite close.
Moreover, he had once studied forging. Zhen Hua had not yet been a Divine Blacksmith then, and the two had discussed forging together.
Even now, Han Tianyi was only a sixth-rank blacksmith, but he had his own unique insights into the spiritual domain. His technique of using the mind to connect with the spirituality within spirit-bearing metals was one of a kind and had once inspired Zhen Hua.
The two therefore had a good relationship.
That was also why no one objected when Han Tianyi proposed that Mu Ye, Zhen Hua, and Jiang Xia each observe their own relationships with one another independently.
He and Mu Ye truly were martial uncle and nephew, while he and Zhen Hua associated as peers.
Given their good relationship, Zhen Hua, a Divine Blacksmith, prepared to help conduct the test without any hesitation after hearing Han Tianyi's request.
"How should we test him?"
He also wanted to ask Han Tianyi which aspects he wanted tested.
"Little Jiang's Martial Soul, Broken Dream, can connect to other people's spiritual wills. I want to know whether his Martial Soul can connect to the spirituality of spirit-bearing metals."
Hearing Han Tianyi's words, a sharp gleam appeared in Zhen Hua's eyes.
It was as though enlightenment had been poured into the crown of his head, and his whole being perked up.
"That's possible too?"
Only then did he realize that Soul Masters suited to becoming blacksmiths did not necessarily need outstanding physical constitutions.
So even Martial Souls purely within the spiritual domain could possess talent for forging.
Zhen Hua paced in circles, already considering whether there were other spiritual-attribute Martial Souls like Broken Dream.
However, he stopped after just two circles.
He could think about all of that later. For now, he needed to help Jiang Xia verify this first.
He led the two into his private forging room.
Casually selecting a piece of heavy silver, he placed it on the forging table to heat.
After softening it as quickly as possible, a Snowflake Bright Silver Hammer appeared in Zhen Hua's hand, and he brought it down.
Boom!
Dazzling light erupted from the heavy silver.
Watching this, Han Tianyi marveled as well. "Your forging skills truly have reached the realm of the divine."
With one hammer strike, the force continually adjusted within the rare metal under the guidance of his spiritual power and Soul Power.
A single hammer strike equaled dozens from an ordinary blacksmith.
Boom!
Boom!
After a total of three hammer strikes, the heavy silver before Zhen Hua erupted with light six feet high.
First-grade thousand refinement!
"Connect to it and try disturbing its spirituality. I'll devote my full attention to sensing it and communicating with its spirituality."
Zhen Hua put away the massive hammer and switched to a pair of one-handed hammers. He tapped lightly around the metal, continuously resonating with the spirituality within as he entered a state of all-encompassing perception.
In this state, no change in the spirituality within the heavy silver could escape his senses.
Han Tianyi also began observing intently.
He could not achieve Zhen Hua's precision either, which was why Zhen Hua was conducting this test.